|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
||
I. — Description Of The Colliery
General
Barnburgh Main colliery is situated at Barnburgh in the County of York, 6¼ miles west of Doncaster. There are two shafts, No. 5, the upcast, being 18 feet in diameter and No. 6, the downcast, 16 feet in diameter. The shafts are sunk to the Parkgate seam, 755 yards deep, intersecting the Newhill seam at 340 yards and the Barnsley seam at 508 yards. Both shafts are regularly used for winding men and material. The mine produces nearly 4,500 tons of coal per day with 2,040 men employed underground and 379 on the surface.
Ventilation is provided by an Aerex fan producing about 328,000 cubic feet per minute at a water gauge of 47 inches and there is a Walker Indestructible fan of equal capacity as a standby.
Management
The mine is in the No. 3 Area of the North Eastern Division of the National Coal Board and the principal officials are as follows :—
| Area General Manager | Mr. H. Heap (appointed 1.6.57) |
| Area Production Manager | Mr. C. A. S. Moore |
| Deputy Area Production Manager (Operations) | Mr. F. Darley |
| Deputy Area Production Manager (Planning) | Mr. W. T. Marsh |
| Group Manager | Mr. J. Ford |
| Manager | Mr. S. Beaumont |
| Under-manager Parkgate Seam | Mr. R. Edwards |
| Under-manager Newhill Seam | Mr. W. Hayselden (promoted from overman on 26.4.57) |
Seams worked and Lamps used
The seams being worked, in descending order, are the Newhill and the Parkgate. The Barnsley seam, situated between the above, has been extensively worked but at the present time is not in production. The Barnsley and Parkgate seams have been extracted below the area of the explosion.
The lamps in general use throughout the mine are Ceag Type C.G.L. electric cap lamps, with Ringrose Automatic Detectors, and Protector, Type 6, flame safety lamps as the firedamp detectors.
The Newhill Seam
The seam, which has a volatile matter content of 35.8 per cent., has been worked for 12 years and is four feet three inches thick, overlain by fairly strong well laminated shales and underlain by strong clunch. At the time of the explosion there were seven producing districts in the seam, one single and six double units, with a total length of face of 1,336 yards. The method of work is longwall advancing, the coal being cut by machine and, after blasting by sheathed explosives, hand filled on to face belt conveyors. Trunk belts take the coal from the face to a spiral chute from which it is loaded into mine cars for transportation to the skip bunkers.
