Sydney
No. 26
Pits
Colliery
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| Louis Frost Sydney | Dominion No. 26 | Lorway Pits | Princess Colliery | ||
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Harbour Seam This colliery was opened in 1943 through a cross-measure tunnel from the motor road in the Phalen Seam, to work the seaward extension of the Harbour Seam fronting Dominion No. 1-B Colliery. The haulage and intake tunnel is 2,000 feet long and is located 14,100 feet from No. 1-B Colliery hoisting shaft, which serves this mine. The tunnel enters the Harbour Seam at a point 408 feet below the sea bottom. The Harbour Seam is of good metallurgical quality, low in sulphur and ash and high in volatile matter. It has good coking qualities. The seam in the centre of the field is 86 ins. high, but thins on the flanks to an average of 6 feet with a shale roof and pavement. The method of working is room and pillar above the 1200 ft. cover line and longwall advancing below this point. No pillars are drawn. The colliery is 85 per cent mechanized with DOSCO Continuous Miners operating on the longwalls and Joy loaders loading into chain conveyors in the room and pillar workings. In one section of the mine, where the coal is relatively high, hand loading into mine cars is still the system, but this is being eliminated at an early date. The mine is gassy and is ventilated by a Sirocco fan located on the surface, which serves to ventilate the Phalen workings in No. 1-B Colliery and the Harbour workings in No. 26. The fan is of the Sirocco type, driven by a 1200 H.P., AC motor at 6600 volts and has a rated capacity of 400,000 c.f.m. against a water gauge of 10 inches. At present the fan delivers 260,000 c.f.m. against a water gauge of 12.2 inches. Of this amount, 166,000 c.f.m. is used to ventilate the workings of the Harbour Seam. An underground booster fan is used to assist the ventilation of the workings on the South side of the Harbour Seam. This fan is an Aerex axial flow fan, delivering 56,000 c.f.m. against a water gauge of 7.9 inches. The airways in the Phalen Seam serve to provide intakes and returns for No. 26 Colliery and are connected by cross-measure tunnels. At this date 26.3 miles of airways, exclusive of those used for haulage, are in service for the ventilation of this mine. 11.2 miles serve as intakes and 15.1 miles serve as return airways, which are inter-connected between the Harbour and Phalen Seams by an inclined tunnel 480 feet long, pitching at a gradient of 45 degrees to the horizontal. Fourteen and one-half miles of the airways are constructed with steel arches weighing 38 lbs. per yard. The make of water is relatively light and amounts to only 15 gallons per minute. This water is pumped to the surface by the main pumps located near No. 1-B Colliery shaft bottom. Compressed air is supplied through l2", 10" and 8" lines and connected to the main air supply for Dominion No. 1-B Colliery. The total length of these main air lines, including the main air supply in No. 1-B, is 44.7 miles. Electric power is used mainly for coal getting and compressed air is used for cutting with Ingersoll-Rand Radialax Coal Cutters in narrow work development places and Ingersoll Rand Jackhammers for boring coal and rock. The mine cars have a 36 inch gauge and are of wood and aluminum. The aluminum cars have a capacity of 3 tons and the wooden cars 2.05 long tons. Electric hoists deliver the coal to main landings, whence it is transported by 5 - 15 ton Goodman Electric Trolley locomotives to the shaft bottom. The main haulage is in intake air and is at this time 35,300 feet. (6.7 miles long). The present average output is 3,590 tons per day, but is being developed to produce 5,000 tons per day. The colliery since it was opened in 1943 has produced 7,268,093, long tons of coal from a worked over area of 1,574.4 acres. The No 1-B surface plant serves this colliery. |
Last Modified: 98-01-05
Authored by: Louis Frost
IMPORTANT
The information contained on this site is not provided for the purpose
of factual
representation. Instead, it is provided in an historical context. Every
effort has
been made to ensure that this information represents the actual content
of the
original document authored by Louis Frost for the Dominion Coal Company
on or around 1962. Nevertheless, no warranties are provided in any respect.
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