Continuous surface mining system

A surface mining system for removing material from a surface mining block, the mining block having a substantially vertical and laterally extending mining face, the surface mining system comprising:

• a miner moveable in a lateral direction along the mining face, the miner including a rotating cutting member mounted to an end of a vertically ranging cutting arm and operable to remove material from the mining block;
• a face conveyor extending along the mining face, the face conveyor including a discharge portion and operable to convey material removed from the mining block toward the discharge portion;
• and
• a plurality of conveyor translation devices associated with the face conveyor and operable to move the face conveyor toward the mining face as material is removed from the mining face by the miner, each conveyor translation device including a secured configuration in which the conveyor translation device is substantially fixed with respect to the mining face and an unsecured configuration in which the conveyor translation device is moveable with respect to the mining face.