Northern NSW Australia Coalfield 1947 - Hunter Valley Area

[rob52]

Was given a book, “NEWCASTLE 150 Years 1797 - 1947” NSW AUSTRALIA.
Produced by direction of the Council of the City of Greater Newcastle to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the Landing of Lieutenant Shortland R N at the mouth of the Hunter River.  Published 1947.

"Newcastle, industrial and commercial seaport city in New South Wales. Third port of the Commonwealth, Newcastle is the capital of extensive coalfields. A city built on Coal."

Pg9
"The Northern Coalfields of New South Wales, for which Newcastle is the seaport, are among the richest in the world for gas coking and steam coal. Over 300 Million Pound worth of mineral has been produced, yet barely a tithe of the quantity available has been won. It was the immense coal deposits close to Newcastle that influenced The Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd to establish its steel works on the foreshores of Newcastle Harbour. Coal remains the most important of the State’s resources.

Coal from the Northern Coalfields has earned a worldwide representation as fine bright bituminous coal of first quality for gas, steaming, household & coking purposes.

In the production of coal in the Northern District, about 9,000 men are engaged in 81 mines which are working. Normal coal production of the Northern District, Newcastle and neighbouring areas is about 7,500,000 tons a year. The record output was 8,300,356 tons in 1942. Fourteen mines all have normal daily production of over 1,000 tons, whist Richmond Main and Burwood produce 2,000 and 3,000 tons daily respectively.

Pg11
Little of the production of New South Wales Coalfields now finds its way overseas. The demand for coal by industries in Australia is so great that production is below demand.

The Steel Works of BHP at Newcastle alone requires 30,000 tons of coal each week. =>> BOS Now Closed & Demolished all that remains are muirA hanging on by a thread with its rolling mills, wire rope & sdahnoD.

In recent years there has been a gradual change from pick and shovel methods of coal getting to the introduction of mechanisation in most mines in the northern district.

Caledonian Collieries Ltd recently developed two open cut mines on the Greta seam, Caldare and Caledon, each produces 500 tons a day.

JA Brown and Abermain Seaham Collieries Ltd is the largest coal-producing organisation in the Southern Hemisphere. The company controls 10 collieries winning about 9,000 tons daily. In the Northern Coalfields boom year-1942-Brown collieries produced about a quarter of the fields total output of 8.25 million tons. More than 4,000 men are employed in the Brown Mines."

Pg12
"The following companies with collieries they operate are important coal producers of the Hunter Valley:
Caledonian Collieries Ltd. :
Aberdare Colliery, Cessnock - Greta Seam;
Aberdare Central Colliery, Kitchener - Greta Seam (Ceased production after underground fire in 1945, has been reconditioned and expected to recommence soon);
Aberdare Extended Colliery, Cessnock - Greta Seam;
* Aberdare South Colliery, - Greta Seam;
Waratah Colliery, Charlestown - Both Borehole & Victoria Tunnel Seams;
* West Wallsend Colliery, - Borehole Seam;
* West Wallsend Extended Colliery, - Borehole Seam;
* Caldare Open Cut Colliery, - Greta Seam
* Caledon Open Cut Colliery, - Greta Seam

The Hetton Bellbird Collieries Ltd. :
Bellbird Colliery, Bellbird.

Hebburn Ltd. :
Hebburn Colliery, Weston;
Hebburn No.2 Colliery, Weston.

BHP Collieries Pty Ltd. :
Elrington Colliery, Kearsley, Weston;

The Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd. :
Burwood Colliery, Redhead;
John Darling Colliery, Belmont;
Lambton Colliery, Lambton;


Cessnock Collieries Ltd. :
Cessnock No.1 Colliery, Ellalong, via Cessnock;
Cessnock No.2 Colliery, Cessnock;
Neath Colliery (West & North Tunnels) Neath.

The Newcastle Wallsend Coal Co. :
Pelton Colliery, Bellbird.

The Wallarah Coal Co Ltd. :
Wallarah Colliery, Catherine Hill Bay - The Great Northern Seam, The Wallarah Seam.

J&A Brown & Abermain Seaham Collieries. :
Pelaw Main Colliery, Pelaw Main - Maitland Seam;
Richmond Main Colliery, Richmond Main, via Pelaw Main - Maitland Seam;
Abermain No.1 Colliery, Abermain - Maitland Seam;
Abermain No.2 Colliery, Kearsley - Maitland Seam;
* Abermain No.3 Colliery, - Maitland Seam;
Stanford Main Colliery, Stanford Merthyr;
Stanford Main No.2 Colliery, Paxton;
Stockrington No.1 Colliery, Minmi - Borehole Seam;
Stockrington No.2 Colliery, Minmi - Borehole Seam;
Duckenfield No.1 Colliery, Minmi - Borehole Seam;
Seaham No.2 Colliery, West Maitland.
* Four Mile Creek, East Maitland;

Bloomfield Collieries :
Bloomfield Collieries, East Maitland.

R W Miller & Co. Pty Ltd. :
Airfield Colliery;
Millfield Colliery;
Northern Colliery.

Stockton Borehole Collieries Ltd. :
Stockton Borehole Colliery, Teralba."

NSW Government
Awaba State Mine, Awaba - The Great Northern Seam.

'* Mine name' = mine not listed as significant but discussed/mentioned in the book
**Maitland Seam, renowned for its gas coal**
*** Borehole Seam, high quality steam coal***

Pg33
"Installation of high-pressure generating plant at the Zara Street Power Station was completed in March 1947.  This new equipment increased the capacity of the station from 35MW to 77MW.  The station now has seven (7) turbo alternators and fourteen (14) boilers in service.  Its average coal consumption is some 4,300 tons per week.  Cooling  water is drawn from Newcastle Harbour at 80,000 Gallons a minute."

Pg35
" The City of Newcastle Gas and Coke Company has coal at its back door.  The gas has not stopped on Newcastle since the company started in 1866.  Coal for Newcastle Gas comes from the Maitland fields - mainly the Greta Seam, an enormous supply of low ash, highly-volatile mineral found about 25 miles by rail from the gas works.  The company's annual coal consumption is about 65,000 tons."..."The plant is a vertical retort system, with a producing capacity of five million cubic feet daily.  Quality of teh gas is 550 British thermal units to the cubic foot." 

"The Maitland Gaslight company was founded in 1874, it produces 70 million cubic feet of gas annually with a quality of 545 BTU.  Its coal consumption is 4,700 tons a year.  Employing 41 men, the plant operates five (5) benches of horizontal retorts in summer and six (6) in winter.
 
Pg43
" Coal through the port, in 1946, about 3.685 Million Tons of the Newcastle fields output of 5.885 Million Tons of coal was shipped from the port. The record shipment in 1924 was 5.409 Million Tons of an 8.1 Million Tons Coalfileds yield."

Rob

[rob52]

Some Stats
Posted below:

Year    NSW Tons   Cwlth Tons       Pound per Ton
1881   1,769,597   1,846,372        0.345
1891   4,037,929   4,375,622        0.436
1901   5,968,426   6,880,501        0.378
1902   5,942,011   6,858,453        0.385
1903   6,354,846   7,115,004        0.368
1904   6,019,809   6,853,225        0.399
1905   6,632,138   7,495,957        0.309
1906   7,626,362   8,596,416        0.311
1907   8,657,924   9,681,095        0.341
1908   9,147,025   10,193,635      0.369


Noting the quote posted under Wallarah
Pg54
"By the end of the war in 1945, the coal industry was in a sorry state. The mines had operated through the war at a profit. At that time equipment was not available for replacement and development. Now there was no incentive for reinvestment in a turbulent industry. A fragile industrial peace had been bought by appeasement. The nation suffered its first great energy crisis. A Commonwealth Coal Commission had been set up towards the end of the war to oversee the coal mines. This legislation now lapsed and State and Commonwealth Governments made a combined approach to seek rationalisation of the coal industry, essential for the Nations's post war recovery. And so, in 1945 the Joint Coal Board was brought into being... The way to rehabilitation and a modern industry was opened. The Joint Coal Board encouraged, cajoled and coerced the mining companies to modenise and mechanise their mines. Free technical advice was provided by the Board (it often went unheeded) and when capital was not forthcoming, machinery could be made available on lease. Repayments were made by a special increase on the selling price of coal....."

** The following elaborates on the above WRT The Australian Coal Industry & the Financing of Coal Mining in Australia - Just Prior to the State and Federal Gov’t in Australia driving change with the 1945 Joint Coal Board.

"
Eight companies paid 10% to 15% as dividends their ordinary paid-up capital and market value of the shares indicated that a return of 8% to 10% was expected on monies invested in the coal industry. In 1927 the coal industry showed all the signs of prosperity. From 1928, the earning capacity of these companies commenced to deteriorate and by 1930 the following position was evidenced:

1930 Figures:
Paid-up Capital 4,209,615 Pounds
Published reserves 434,061 Pounds
Dividends paid 60,700 Pounds
Dividends % to Capital 1.5%
Thus in three short years the depression had shattered the prosperity of the industry, reduced the reserves of these companies by over 80,000 Pounds of by more than 15% and reduced the dividends pay by over 85%. From this position the industry had never fully recovered before the outbreak of war in 1939 as exemplified by the following:

1936 Figures:
Paid-up Capital 4,718,865 Pounds
Published reserves 363,038 Pounds
Dividends paid 20,525 Pounds
Dividends % to Capital 0.5%

The story of these years is also exemplified in the following table of saleable coal produced and its average value per ton at pit mouth.

Value/ton
Year - Total Tons s : d
1927 - 11,126,114 17 : 7
1928 - 9,448,197 17 : 6
Saleable Tons
1929 - 7,264,219 16 : 10
1930 - 6,747,121 15 : 9
1931 - 6,054,277 14 : 2
1932 - 6,332,108 12 : 6
1933 - 6,785,471 11 : 10
1934 - 7,598,839 11 : 2
1935 - 8,335,756 10 : 9
1936 - 8,861,747 10 : 10
1937 - 9,724,090 11 : 2
1938 - 9,258,583 12 : 0
1939 - 10,864,820 12 : 8
1940 - 9,237,293 13 : 6
1941 - 11,417,266 14 : 7
1942 - 11,896,798 16 : 1
1943 - 11,232,832 17 : 2 x
1944 - 10,793,814 17 : 10 x
1945 - 9,942,999 18 : 7 x
1946 - 10,958,820 18 : 10 x
x Includes subsidies


The demand for coal from 1932 to 1939 increased by more than 70%, however the average value per ton only increased from 12/6 to 12/8 and was still below the pre depression value.

From September 1939 “Price Control” was applied - subsidies applied to cover rising costs. Only the same margin of profit per ton was allowed per individual coal producers by the Prices commissioner and later the Commonwealth Coal Commissioner, as these producers were receiving at the outbreak of war.

From 1940 - 1946 output generally fell short of demand. These figures include output from open cut mines, which yielded 40,000 to 60,000 tons per annum from 1940 to 1943.
"

Rob

[rob52]

Coal Mining in Australia
Harold S Elford and Maurice R McKeown
YOP 1947

As of 1946.....
"
Coal is one of Australia’s most important primary industries. Direct employment is provided for 24,000 men, who each year receive more than 8,000,000 pound in wages. Production of black coal is about 14,000,000 tons each year, valued at more than 10,000,000 pounds. Impressive as the statistics are they do not indicate how tightly the Australian Economic structure and coal mining are interlocked.

For each ton of pig iron produced at the blast furnace at Newcastle, Port Kembla and Whyalla, approximately one ton of coke is required, which to produce consumes 1&1/2 tons of black coal. Australia’s iron and steel industry at present has a total installed blast furnace capacity of 1,720,000 tons of pig iron (used for steel production and castings). To produce this quantity 2,500,000 tons of black coal is thus required. This is equivalent to more than one-sixth of the total Australian Coal Output in 1946.

For the manufacture of gas for domestic and industrial heating, black coal of a particular type is needed for the most economical results. Coal from the Maitland District New South Wales gives a high yield of gas and is much sought by gas making companies. Annual consumption of coal for gas making in Australia is about 1,700,000 tons. Greta Seam Coal is high in volatiles and is thus suitable for gas manufacture. It is worked to a thickens of 26ft

Summary of Black Coal Usage in 1946
Power Generation - exceeds 2,600,000 tons for 352,000 H.P. (263MW) installed capacity
Steel Blast Furnace - 2,500,000 tons
Manufacture of Gas - 1,700,000 tons
Small factories (canned foods, confectionary, paper and chemicals) using process steam - 2,500,000 Tons
Railways - exceeds 3,400,000 Tons

Usage of the total Black Coal Mined
Exported - 1%
Bunker - 1%
Factories - 17%
Power Plants - 20%
Railways - 23%
Gas Works - 13%
Coke Works - 13%
Domestic - 12%

Australian Black Coal Production in 1946 by State
State    tons
NSW    11,308,000 (Anvil Creek in the Greta-Cessnock-Maitland field,Southern Field Mount Kiera Area,Western Field Lithgow and Kandos)
Qld      1,568,000
WA      642,000 (Collie)
Vic      191,000 (Gippsland, Wonthaggi for Railways Coal)
Tas     159,000 (Mainly Cornwall Mine in the Fingal District)
SA      135,000 (Leigh Creek 380 miles north of Adelaide)

NSW is the predominate Black Coal Producer, total coal production in NSW since production began to the end of 1946 amounts to 491Million tons.
* Northern District - 333 Million tons
* Southern District - 99 Million tons
* Western District - 59 Million tons

Australian production in 1946 was 14,003,000 tons, below demand by atleast 1,000,000 tons. Obviously, unless coal is produced at a steadily increasing rate, year on year, the industrial expansion will be halted. All our dreams of industrial greatness will be shattered. This matter is of outstanding national importance and therefore deserves very close study.

Clearly Australia has abundant Coal to meet even a greatly expanded demand for very many years. With demand assured, and the reserves more than adequate, the problem is one of production - of mining.


Developing a Coal Mine in NSW
(1946) During the last few years there has been a drive to develop open cut mines and output has increased. In NSW a total of 15,000 tons weekly is being produced from a number of open cuts. Appreciable as this is it is but 7 percent of the total coal mined. The remaining 93 percent is won by underground mining, using shafts and tunnels.

In underground mining of coal, the old hand methods are still used very extensively throughout the commonwealth. When using hand mining, miners generally work in pairs and are usually paid by contract on the quality of coal loaded into skips.

Hand mining is hard work and the output from a working place is low. For these reasons great interest has developed in the use of power operated equipment.

Mechanical equipment for underground coal mining comprises cutters, borers, loaders, and locomotives for haulage of the filled skips.This mechanical equipment is grouped together into a “Unit”. The “Unit” comprises a coal cutter, a boring machine, a coal loader, a locomotive and the necessary number of skips. For the operation of a “Unit” a number of working places, frequently seven, must be available, equipment being used in various places in a definite sequence or roster. Usually about 20 men constitute the team for a “Unit”, working under the supervision of a Deputy.

Considerable progress has been made in New South Wales with the use of mechanised “Units” since the first mobile coal loading machine was installed in 1935. However, a factor to be considered in the use of mechanical “Unit” is the high cost. The combined cost of the cutter, borer ( 1&3/4 to 1&7/8 Inch for 6ft holes), loader, locomotive and skips is at least 40,000pounds. In addition, considerable relaying of track for the transport of the heavy equipment is usually required. In an old mine, long worked by the hand method, this cost alone may be prohibitive unless there remains in the mine a large quantity of coal.

Further, with mechanised "Units” special facilities have to be provided underground for repairs the equipment, and a wide range of spare parts must be kept in a store.

Output from a mechanical unit varies from 200 to 350tons daily depending on such factors as character of seam, delays and efficiency of the team. The output per man (into skips at the face) is up to 17 tons daily, which is appreciably higher than with hand mining.

When the plan for the use of a mechanised “Unit” was first introduced there was considerable opposition from the miners. However, after some years of experience, during which the benefits have been seen, this opposition is fast disappearing.

There still remains an embargo by the miners’ union on the use of loading machines in the extraction of pillar coal and in fact the New South Wales Coal Mines Regulation Act prohibits the use of mechanical loaders in pillars unless permission has been given by the Minister of Mines.

Conditions are now favourable for a much greater use of mechanical equipment in Australian Coal Mines. The equipment has been proved in use and found highly satisfactory; the claims that mechanism reduces the hard work inherent in coal mining have been substantiated; the use of the equipment by the miners is no longer opposed; higher production per miner is possible; because operations can be centralised into fewer working places, the risk of accident is reduced.

At present mechanical equipment is only being used to any extent in New South Wales, and there only in a minority of the mines. In 1945, only 26 percent of the coal mined underground in New South Wales was loaded mechanically. In Western Australia and Queensland, mechanisation has not been adopted, almost the whole of the coal being mined by hand.

Adoption of mechanised mining in an existing mine is not a simple matter and much reorganisation is necessary. The capital cost of the equipment is high, the management of a mechanised mine must be very efficient, and all operations must be carefully planned and supervised. Because of these three factors, the steady rise in output that Australian Industry will need must come from new or remodelled mines of large capacity. These mines will need to be laid out from the commencement to use the latest types of mechanical equipment.

1799 coal was first exported from what is now Newcastle. Between 1826 and 1828, the annual output from the Newcastle field was only 3,300 tons. The Australian Agricultural Co then commenced coal mining and from 1832 to 1840 its total production amounted to 123,000 tons.

Export of coal to South America began in 1850, in which year the output from all mines was 67,000tons. Steady expansion followed, stimulated by export possibilities and growth in population.

The important Southern Coal Field, located 60 miles south of Sydney, first produced coal in 1857 when the Mount Kiera Mine was opened to work the same seam that had been found 60yrs before at Coalcliff. It recorded that the output for May 1857, was 143 tons. The mine is still being worked in 1946.

Production from 1830 to 1946
Year    NSW Tons      QLD Tons        Aus Total
1830    4,000
1840    30,000
1850    67,000
1860    368,000       1,230
1865                       33,000
1870    868,000       22,600
1875                       32,100
1880    1,466,000    58,000
1885                       209,700
1890    3,060,000    338,300
1895                       323,000
1900    5,507,000    497,000
1905                       529,000
1910    8.173,000    871,000
1920    10,715,000  1,110,000
1930    7,093,000    1,095,000
1940    9,550,000    1,285,000
1945    10,237,000  1,635,000
1946    11,308,000  1,568,000        14,003,000

1946 Australian U/G Coal Mining Practice
Main Entries - comprise a group of two to six parallel roadways driven at 86ft centres and 12 by 7ft or 15 by 8ft in cross section. Sectional area and distance apart of these roadways depend on local conditions such as thickness of seam, nature of roof and floor and depth from the surface.

Bord - Width 6yd to 10yd
Cut-throughs - Width 5yd to 8 yd - Spaced at 40 to 44 yd centres
Pillars Typical dimensions from operating mines - 14 to 40 yd, 17 by 44 yd, 33 by 44 yd, 36 by 28 yd, 44 by 33 yd, 44 by 44 yd.

Advancing Longwall utilised at Stockton Borehole Mine, Newcastle NSW and Wonthaggi Victoria
"

Rob