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Post by dazbt on Sept 10, 2008 7:23:06 GMT -5
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Post by John on Sept 10, 2008 7:30:49 GMT -5
I wonder if anyone has new plans for any new pits though??
Shame they closed Selby with all the reserves it has.
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Post by dazbt on Sept 10, 2008 11:50:45 GMT -5
I wonder if anyone has new plans for any new pits though?? Shame they closed Selby with all the reserves it has. If coal prices rise again as they did a month or so ago, I'm having one in the back garden, twenty spade depths or thereabouts will put me in the money. Re Selby, it is the greatest shame that the Selby group closed, but I suspect that much of the excuse relating to geological difficulties wasn't that far from the truth. Even before the first sod was lifted some people expressed an opinion that it wasn't a wise decision to venture into ground that our forefathers had looked at and rejected because of known geological disturbances and water. Apparently hundreds of test bore holes had been drilled one hundred years prior to the later proposals, the conclusion that was reached then by the coal hungry Barons of the day was that even the temptation of the much sought after high quality Barnsley Bed coal was not worth the expenditure because of the geological difficulties that they identified. What I do recall is that when North Selby Mine opened up the area that was proposed for the first Longwall panel the geology was completely different to what was expected and had to be abandoned, the second and third panels were similarly found to be unworkable, unofficially it was talked about the possibility of having to abandon the mine before it had even cut a cobble of face coal. It did eventually take off but with a much shorter life expectancy than first envisaged. So, at a guess, although there is no doubt that Selby is the situated within acres of quality coal, there has to be serious doubts as to whether it would be viable to re-enter the area. There's always the possibility that Mr Budge or a gang of Russians could come along and prove different of course. |
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