In underground coal extraction, a brow can refer to a roadway or gallery driven across the working face to facilitate material transport. In broader mining usage, it describes the upper edge or entrance of a vertical shaft, winze, or steep incline. The structural integrity of a brow is critical, as any failure there can drop massive amounts of rock onto equipment or personnel below.
Scale the loose rock off that brow before we start moving the loader down the ramp.
Related terms
Browman
The surface worker stationed at the top of a mine shaft to manage the loading and unloading of cages.
Coalface
The advancing boundary of a coal seam that is actively being mined.
Heading
A horizontal tunnel or gallery being driven into an ore body or coal seam.
Winze
An internal mine shaft excavated downward from one underground level to a lower one.