Coal mining.

[mickdundee]

It's a shame to lose the industry. I'm A North East lad originally and remember when the saying "taking coal to Newcastle" meant doing something stupid or impractical. But now it's a reality. As with many industries though I feel we implement very high H&S, and employers welfare and rights make production expensive, and then we price ourselves out of the market. Catch 22. I don't think many people would want to return to what people like miners had to endure even 50 years ago, therefore our traditional industry dies out.

I do think the blame culture has forced employers to take ridiculous measures to protect themselves. I'm in the army and the change to training and day to day tasks over the last 15 years is unreal. Took all the fun out it haha

[djbobbins]

Coal is definitely not homogenous, in the same way that oak, ash and pop don't burn identically. There are a wide range of calorific values, sulphur contents, grindability, volatility etc. Power stations were designed with certain coals in mind, e.g. stations to burn South Wales coal had taller boilers as the coal was slower burning and therefore needed.

 

At the other end of the scale there is lignite and then "coals" like US Powder River Basin, which although just about classed as a hard coal spontaneously degrades on exposure to air. http://krtcommodities.com/files/PRB%20COAL%20DEGRADATION.pdf

[matelot]

tbh, sending guys down a mine to extract coal seems Victorian to me. It's sad that centuries of tradition are dying out and communities will be devastated, but at the same time I can't help thinking closing coal mines is a "good" thing.

 

On the bright side a lot of old coal mines are used as a power source - they extract methane from them.

[ArthurBottlesworth]

tbh, sending guys down a mine to extract coal seems Victorian to me. It's sad that centuries of tradition are dying out and communities will be devastated, but at the same time I can't help thinking closing coal mines is a "good" thing.

 

On the bright side a lot of old coal mines are used as a power source - they extract methane from them.

 

I was going out with a nurse when goldburn colliery caught fire in 1970's

She was on a&e when they brought them in

She said their fingers were like sausages that had been overcooked and burst their skins

That Image has always stayed with me ........

 

Also if your hurt down the pit it can take hours ( days even) to get you out

[agrimog]

they dont need mines or pits anymore, opencast mining has taken over, up until february this year, when scottish coal went bust, 47% of the uk coal was produced within 30square miles of where I live by open cast, whats left looks more like a bomb site and is going to take tens of millions to try and put back.......go local planners

[Mike Dempsey]

We have the same problem in Fife! Tens of millions of pounds have been spent clearing up the bings and holes in the ground. When my mum moved up from Devon to Fife in the early sixties she said Fife looked like the moon.

 

Mike

[agrimog]

ah fife, scottish coal strike again !!

[ArthurBottlesworth]

We have the same problem in Fife! Tens of millions of pounds have been spent clearing up the bings and holes in the ground. When my mum moved up from Devon to Fife in the early sixties she said Fife looked like the moon.

 

Mike

 

Oh pennington flash when I was a kid

an area of subsidence a mile long that had flooded, you could still see roof of house that had been flooded when land sank....

Pit rucks, ground that burned, local council waste tip, maggot farm , rats as big as cats , dead dogs floating in the cut.....

that was my playground as a kid

 

Wonder why I moved to rural wales asap?

[scraggs]

they dont need mines or pits anymore, opencast mining has taken over, up until february this year, when scottish coal went bust, 47% of the uk coal was produced within 30square miles of where I live by open cast, whats left looks more like a bomb site and is going to take tens of millions to try and put back.......go local planners

 

I'm sure we could send you up plenty of landfill to help out