From 1986 to 2010, 10 deadly explosions occurred in underground coal mines in the United States. The risk of explosion involves an interrelated chain of events. A source of heat (such as a spark) ignites methane gas in the air of the coal mine tunnel. The sudden pressure created by that blast stirs up deposits of coal dust from mine surfaces. Those combustible particles, now airborne, catch fire too and propagate the explosion with devastating force. Ignition sources, methane, and coal dust all must be controlled to avert risk. Applying large amounts of incombustible limestone dust to mine surfaces, to reduce the risk of airborne coal dust igniting, is one of those control techniques.
To know whether enough limestone dust has been applied to prevent the coal dust from igniting (and whether other controls have been successful in reducing the amount of coal dust in the mine in the first place), you have to analyze a sample of dust to estimate the amount of coal dust in the mix. The challenge: having a reliable method to differentiate between the rock dust and the coal dust in air samples.