A system of mining established for many years in British coal mines. The longwall face is undercut, blasted, and loaded by hand to a face conveyor. The conveyor is then moved forward ready for the next day, the packs are built and the back props withdrawn. Such faces still produce about 60% of the total output and is known as conventional machine mining. It has the disadvantage that there are limits to production because it is cyclic mining, e.g., it involves separate operations as enumerated above.