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Boulby
May 13, 2012 15:27:34 GMT -5
Post by welderpaul on May 13, 2012 15:27:34 GMT -5
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Boulby
May 13, 2012 20:44:51 GMT -5
Post by John on May 13, 2012 20:44:51 GMT -5
I'll have a good look at that tomorrow Paul, thanks. I think the shafts went through the old Boulby ironstone mine workings, I know our mine rescue teams went into Boulby ironstone mine to do some training a few times. That over pass near the bottom of Loftus Bank I remember well, just a few yards from it is the turn off to Skinningrove where I lived a couple of years before moving to Loftus[. I have many fond memories of the area, the Tiger Inn at the top of Boulby Bank, I frequented, had a few beers in the old Skinningrove working mens club, and can't recall the name of the pub, but the one in Loftus square opposite the Westminster Bank.... All fond memories, I worked with a great set of guys, had some of the best bosses I've ever worked under, and some of the best electricians in the world that I worked alongside of. Conditions were tough in that heat, but I survived./b]
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Boulby
May 14, 2012 12:06:43 GMT -5
Post by welderpaul on May 14, 2012 12:06:43 GMT -5
I found it suprising that the tunnels were stated as closing-up by a metre every three months. Is this similar to coal mines? Was it a fairly regular operation to dint and back rip in coal mines (Er..i think thats the correct terminology? (back rip by taking some off the roof, and dinting by taking some off the floor?)
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Boulby
May 14, 2012 14:37:38 GMT -5
Post by John on May 14, 2012 14:37:38 GMT -5
It's called convergence Paul, everything is in equilibrium before we start mining, then we extract a mineral and alter those forces, so nature does it's best to close up what we have opened.
Some collieries have bad weighting and floor lift problems, where the strata around the seam is weak, Yep dinting the floor and backripping a road. You also have to understand Potash is what is called "plastic" it "creeps" Hard to visualize unless you have witnessed it. That's the main reason Boulby drives it's roads in salt, salt is more stable than potash, and the main roads don't need as much maintenance.
I've only ever witnessed convergence that was causing problems on one coal face, it was gradual though, enough to cause the face crew extra work. One face chased the men off of it at my first pit the year I was doing my basic training. Closed up almost solid within a few minutes. The powered roof supports, AFC, shearer, in fact everything on the face was lost.
Back then the yield settings on roof supports was probably around 100 tons, Daz will know better, he's a fitter. Modern roof supports yield anywhere from 1000 tonnes down to 450 tonnes. They are selected by the mining engineers and the mine Manager for the conditions prevalent in that seam.
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Boulby
May 14, 2012 14:46:14 GMT -5
Post by John on May 14, 2012 14:46:14 GMT -5
I don't have any photos back from when I worked down Boulby, management would have frowned on us taking cameras with flash's underground anyway, plus it would be a good way to screw a camera up in the salty atmosphere down there. I do however have a CD of photos sent to me by a gentleman who used to Be A shift supervisor, then Production Manager up until his retirement. I'll go through it and select some pictures and post them here later.
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Boulby
May 14, 2012 15:02:00 GMT -5
Post by John on May 14, 2012 15:02:00 GMT -5
I totally disagree with this statement in that article.
"Production at the outset was of the order of 7,100 tonnes per day, rising in 1974 to around 1,000,000 tonnes per annum"
Never in a million years did CPL get one million tonnes production in 1974!! It was still a development mine in that year sending men, materials and minerals all up and down No2 shaft with a small skipping system. No1 shaft was still being set up in 1975 and production wasn't transferred to that shaft until mid to late 1975. Full production started around August of 1975 when we started a split shift system and changed over on the face in the East Panel. I doubt very much we turned a million tonnes in 1976 as we were still experiencing geological problems.. I kept diaries of the last three years I was there as I worked a lot of overtime, I needed to keep track of those hours, I'm sure I noted weekly production figures too, I'll check and see.
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Boulby
May 14, 2012 15:08:57 GMT -5
Post by welderpaul on May 14, 2012 15:08:57 GMT -5
It would be good to see your photos John.
How were roads back ripped if the roof was gradually lowering...did the steel arch girders have to be taken out and replaced?
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Boulby
May 14, 2012 15:18:51 GMT -5
Post by John on May 14, 2012 15:18:51 GMT -5
The only steel arched road I recall way back was along No 5 conveyor road, between the crusher and the East conveyor road, and that was after it had been backripped by MCC the mining contractor who developed the mine. Roof bolting and "W" straps were used as the principle form of roof control. MCC used air drills and explosives to backrip roads, CPL used a heliminer when it was being trammed to a new face from pit bottom or the workshops after being overhauled.
OK, I'll sort that CD out and get some photos from it later, couple more trees to fell before my dinner.
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Boulby
May 16, 2012 12:51:13 GMT -5
Post by John on May 16, 2012 12:51:13 GMT -5
It would be good to see your photos John. How were roads back ripped if the roof was gradually lowering...did the steel arch girders have to be taken out and replaced? Like I said, initially, the only support was pillars and primarily roof bolts for roof control. During my years there, only one roadway was fitted with steelwork, that was C5 conveyor road from the East trunk conveyor road to the crusher, after it lowered so much. After August 1975, I don't know what roads were installed with rings or steelwork.
Here's some photos I posted...coalmine.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=OM&action=display&thread=878&page=1
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Boulby
May 22, 2012 12:02:34 GMT -5
Post by John on May 22, 2012 12:02:34 GMT -5
I pm'd the webmaster of that site on Boulby Mine, he queried the figures with CPL, their mistake, they sent the monthly tonnages to the webmaster as weekly tonnages, hence the screw up. I thought it odd as the No2 shaft was being used for everything in the early couple of years, and mucking was restricted to just a few hours per day in very small skips. Day shift was very limited as the shaft was being used for materials, main manriding and plenty of rides in between materials for engineers, management etc. Afters was mostly mucking out and nights mucking out and materials.
We did have a plate belt bunker just around the corner from pit bottom, I don't think it was ever full, probably only held a few hundred tonnes.
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Clive
Shotfirer.
Posts: 168
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Boulby
Apr 28, 2013 14:10:38 GMT -5
Post by Clive on Apr 28, 2013 14:10:38 GMT -5
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Boulby
Apr 28, 2013 15:02:35 GMT -5
Post by John on Apr 28, 2013 15:02:35 GMT -5
They are a lot further out than when I first started there Clive in 75...Back then it was undercut, drill and fire, then muck out with Eimco LHD's.
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Boulby
Apr 29, 2013 12:26:43 GMT -5
Post by John on Apr 29, 2013 12:26:43 GMT -5
Was having a second look at that video, at the start it shows the process plant with the No1 shaft tower to the back left...Looks like they have started building the new steelworks for the new tower and tower mounted winder.. I'd love to be there when they cut, jack up and move the old tower out of the way and roll the new headgear into place.. I hope someone makes a video of the operation from start to finish...
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Boulby
Apr 29, 2013 15:01:26 GMT -5
Post by Sam from Kent on Apr 29, 2013 15:01:26 GMT -5
On radio 4 the other night (well someone has to listen to it.......) there was a report that a new potash mine was proposed about 5 miles away from Boulby, but as it is in a national park, the NIMBY's are protesting, although the Council's planning authority is in favour. The applicants advise that this is a multi BILLION pound project with a life expectancy of over 100 years
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Boulby
Apr 29, 2013 16:07:52 GMT -5
Post by John on Apr 29, 2013 16:07:52 GMT -5
On radio 4 the other night (well someone has to listen to it.......) there was a report that a new potash mine was proposed about 5 miles away from Boulby, but as it is in a national park, the NIMBY's are protesting, although the Council's planning authority is in favour. The applicants advise that this is a multi BILLION pound project with a life expectancy of over 100 years That's at Whitby Sam, a tad more than 5 miles, do a search for Yorkshire Potash, and also go to Youtube and do a search on there for Yorkshire Potash!! If it goes ahead, which it probably will now, it will be the deepest mine in Europe, and it will be the UK's largest mining venture... The company are talking 5 million tonnes per year production, multiple winders in one shaft.
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Boulby
May 1, 2013 8:06:40 GMT -5
Post by John on May 1, 2013 8:06:40 GMT -5
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Boulby
Apr 7, 2014 6:52:57 GMT -5
Post by Minutor on Apr 7, 2014 6:52:57 GMT -5
I totally disagree with this statement in that article.
"Production at the outset was of the order of 7,100 tonnes per day, rising in 1974 to around 1,000,000 tonnes per annum"
Never in a million years did CPL get one million tonnes production in 1974!! It was still a development mine in that year sending men, materials and minerals all up and down No2 shaft with a small skipping system. No1 shaft was still being set up in 1975 and production wasn't transferred to that shaft until mid to late 1975. Full production started around August of 1975 when we started a split shift system and changed over on the face in the East Panel. I doubt very much we turned a million tonnes in 1976 as we were still experiencing geological problems.. I kept diaries of the last three years I was there as I worked a lot of overtime, I needed to keep track of those hours, I'm sure I noted weekly production figures too, I'll check and see. You are absolutely right, John. The mine didn't hit 1 Million tonnes until the early 1980's, I remember we all got a commemorative CPL mug, can't remember the year though and the mug has long gone!
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Boulby
Apr 7, 2014 9:33:00 GMT -5
Post by Minutor on Apr 7, 2014 9:33:00 GMT -5
I found a picture, it was 1980
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Boulby
Apr 8, 2014 6:58:41 GMT -5
Post by John on Apr 8, 2014 6:58:41 GMT -5
I totally disagree with this statement in that article.
"Production at the outset was of the order of 7,100 tonnes per day, rising in 1974 to around 1,000,000 tonnes per annum"
Never in a million years did CPL get one million tonnes production in 1974!! It was still a development mine in that year sending men, materials and minerals all up and down No2 shaft with a small skipping system. No1 shaft was still being set up in 1975 and production wasn't transferred to that shaft until mid to late 1975. Full production started around August of 1975 when we started a split shift system and changed over on the face in the East Panel. I doubt very much we turned a million tonnes in 1976 as we were still experiencing geological problems.. I kept diaries of the last three years I was there as I worked a lot of overtime, I needed to keep track of those hours, I'm sure I noted weekly production figures too, I'll check and see. You are absolutely right, John. The mine didn't hit 1 Million tonnes until the early 1980's, I remember we all got a commemorative CPL mug, can't remember the year though and the mug has long gone! I put in a lot of overtime at that mine, we were so short staffed that if one man was off sick, electricians that is, we either covered it with double shifts or split the absentees shifts into twelve hours. At one stage I used to say I put more time in than the winding engines, and they were bolted down.
Because of a "cockup" when I was C shift central area elec, my three collegues had all booked their two weeks holiday at the same time....Long story as to why and how this happened, but my first shift was 24 hours. I had sump pump problems all day, sump time was a minimum six hours at double time...So that shift was paid as nearly one weeks pay for one day, as I was already on double time!! The rest was covered by me as 13 twelve hour nightshifts, 8-00pm to 8-00am.. Took me a while to recover from the first shift, 24 hours on your feet all shift!! I was walking around like a zombie by the early hours.
Then the callouts, stopping back to complete repairs to a breakdown....
Central area Elecs and Winder Elecs where the only elecs that didn't need permission to stay on a breakdown, and we had many many hours of overtime. We had our perks, like early rides at the end of the shift if we wanted them, although I didn't abuse it, I don't know if the others did or not. Problem was, and it happened a few times, I'd get to bank, and be told I was needed back underground, something had broken down.. But even with an early ride, we couldn't get showered until the next shifts elec was changed and lamped up to relieve us When I find that missing diary, I'll post tonnages I logged and a run down of my hours I worked.
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