1. You can’t leave abandoned mine shafts ……. Any ideas why not?

2.
Gold Rush clip …. Land reclamation

3. MINING, QUARRYING AND RESTORATION OF SITES
Bingham Copper mine, Utah, USA
The Earth’s Dynamic Systems by W. K. Hamblin

4. 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.

5. Coal shearer below ground
Hydraulic props
Coal seam
Shearer blades

6. overburden
Open cast coal pit
Coal seam
Coal Authority

7. 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

8. 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.

9. Filling old coal shafts on the Staffordshire Pennines
Coal Authority
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.

10. Reclaimed coal mining land in West Wales
Waste coal tips have been turned into valuable farming and forestry land.

11. 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

12. Restoring old spoil tip settlement ponds
Settlement 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

13. Restoration of a colliery site in S. Wales
Coal Authority

14. Acid mine water out flow from mines under Jackson Bridge, near Holmfirth.

15. 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

16. 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

17. Clay working for cement in S. England.
Open cast clay pit, screened by trees

18. Limestone quarry near Ingleton, N. Yorkshire
Here the limestone is crushed and then graded (sorted by size).
Main quarry face
Bench 5m wide
Face 10m high
Water pumped out continuously.

19. 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

20. Restoration of gravel workings near London.
Landscaping, tree planting and recreational use.

21. Slate quarry in Snowdonia, N. Wales
Waste tips
Slate cleavage planes
Benches and faces
Inclined plane to take slate to loading bay for lorries and trucks.

22. Ironstone mining near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire
Backfilled with waste once ironstone is removed.
Overburden – fossiliferous sandstones and shales
Soil and rock overburden is removed, stored and used for backfilling.
Ironstone, about 10m thick

23. 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.

24. Restored coal mining area, Huddersfield
The hillsides would have been covered with spoil tips and buildings. Vegetation has grown back and buildings have been cleared away.
Picture by Rosie Tingle

25. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26611073 deep sea mining for rare minerals

26. This limestone quarry in Derbyshire has become the National Stone Museum.
THE END