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You can’t leave abandoned mine shafts ……. Any ideas why not?
http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/gold-rush/videos/committed-to-land-reclamation/
• Gold Rush clip …. Land reclamation
MINING, QUARRYIN
G AND RESTORATI
ON OF SITES
Bingham Copper mine, Utah, USA
The Earth’s Dynamic Systems by W. K. Hamblin
Winding gear at a colliery, Ebbw Vale, S. Wales
The cable around the wheel winds cages for miners up the shaft. Coal and coal waste is usually moved using a second shaft.
Coal shearer below ground
Coal seam
Hydraulic props
Shearer blades
Open cast coal pit
Coal seam
overburden
Coal Authority
Map of UK
coal fields
Scottish coalfields -mostly open cast N.E. England
- all open cast mines
Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire – mostly deep mining
South Wales – open cast Coal Authority
RESTORATION OF OLD MINING AREAS
• Many areas of Britain were mined in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when most power came from coal.
• These mines are now derelict and their ground is polluted from coal waste and oil.
• There are many coal waste tips throughout the mining areas which need to be brought back into profitable use.
• Water draining from old mines is acidified and polluted and so it needs to be cleaned.
Filling old coal shafts on the Staffordshire
Pennines
40 tonnes of stone were used to fill this coal shaft which was subsiding dangerously. First the peat around the shaft was carefully removed. The helicopter unloaded the stone near the shaft, then the shaft was filled and the peat replaced.
Coal Authority
Reclaimed coal mining land in West Wales
Waste coal tips have been turned into valuable farming and forestry land.
First stages in reclamation of an old colliery
site.The work will include: removing contaminated soil, removing old buildings, filling old shafts, draining the land, contouring the slopes, replacing the subsoil and adding topsoil.
Coal Authority
Restoring old spoil tip
settlement pondsSettlement
ponds were used for removing mud and coal dust from mine water so that it could be returned to rivers. At Warsop they are being planted with reeds and trees and a nature reserve has been created for the local community.
Coal Authority
Restoration of a colliery site in S. Wales
Coal Authority
Acid mine water out flow from
mines under Jackson
Bridge, near Holmfirth.
Use of reed beds to treat acid mine
water.Acid mine water is fed into settlement ponds for the mud and heavy metals to settle out. They will be removed and dumped safely. The water is still too acid so it is drained into a reed bed. The reeds reduce the acidity of the water so that it can be discharged into rivers.
Coal Authority
Taff Merthyr Colliery mine
water scheme, S. Wales
At Taff Merthyr the colliery was cleared, cleaned and landscaped. Acid mine water is treated in settlement ponds and there are 18 reed beds. The whole area is now a parkland and nature reserve.
Coal Authority
Clay working for cement in S. England.
Open cast clay pit, screened by trees
Limestone quarry near Ingleton, N. Yorkshire
Here the limestone is crushed and then graded (sorted by size).
Bench 5m wide
Face 10m high
Main quarry face
Water pumped out continuously.
Gravel working in old river terraces, near Heathrow, London
Grading process produces piles of different size gravel.
Gravel pit now filling with water
Gravel from post-glacial river terraces of R. Thames
Restoration of gravel workings near London.Landscaping, tree planting and recreational use.
Slate quarry in Snowdonia, N. Wales
Inclined plane to take slate to loading bay for lorries and trucks.
Slate cleavage planes
Benches and faces
Waste tips
Ironstone mining near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
Overburden – fossiliferous sandstones and shales
Ironstone, about 10m thick
Backfilled with waste once ironstone is removed.
Soil and rock overburden is removed, stored and used for backfilling.
Opencast mining for shale to make pipes for
Hepworth Pipes, Crow Edge.
Shale quarry, with benches and faces.
Once backfilling has been completed the land is restored for agriculture.Quarrying is proceeding from right
to left.
Restored coal mining area, Huddersfield
Picture by Rosie Tingle
The hillsides would have been covered with spoil tips and buildings. Vegetation has grown back and buildings have been cleared away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26611073
deep sea mining for rare minerals
This limestone quarry in Derbyshire has become the National Stone Museum.
THE END