The Project Team accomplished two tasks during the third quarter: preparation and presentation of professional papers; and development of simulation models and sub models of the hypothetical variable wall mining installation. The project team also continued its search for the suitable animation software to be adapted to the underground mining systems. Meanwhile work is progressing along the lines of updating the original open loop flow diagram that deals with the automatic control of the thrusting, advance, and rotation of the auger train which both cuts (extracts) and transports the coal across the face. The team is integrating the control systems into a deterministic mathematical equation for optimizing the mining and material flow rate in the operating system. The long range plan is to integrate the current deterministic equations in a suitable animation program with a number of adjustable and controllable parameters. This will enable coal operators and engineers to visualize how the variations can affect the safety, cost and production levels of the system.

Anomalously pressured gas (APG) assets, typically called ''basin-center'' gas accumulations, represent either an underdeveloped or undeveloped energy resource in the Rocky Mountain Laramide Basins (RMLB). Historically, the exploitation of these gas resources has proven to be very difficult and costly. In this topical report, an improved exploration strategy is outlined in conjunction with a more detailed description of new diagnostic techniques that more efficiently detect anomalously pressured, gas-charged domains. The ability to delineate gas-charged domains occurring below a regional velocity inversion surface allows operators to significantly reduce risk in the search for APG resources. The Wind River Basin was chosen for this demonstration because of the convergence of public data availability (i.e., thousands of mud logs and DSTs and 2400 mi of 2-D seismic lines); the evolution of new diagnostic techniques; a 175 digital sonic log suite; a regional stratigraphic framework; and corporate interest. In the exploration scheme discussed in this topical report, the basinwide gas distribution is determined in the following steps: (1) A detailed velocity model is established from sonic logs, 2-D seismic lines, and, if available, 3-D seismic data. In constructing the seismic interval velocity field, automatic picking technology using continuous, statistically-derived interval velocity selection, as well …