Comments on: Funniest (or Not So Funny) Stories From The Coal Face http://www.theminingblog.com/index.php/2006/09/funniest-or-not-so-funny-stories-from-the-coal-face/ Where The Mining Industry Talks Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:12:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Calvin http://www.theminingblog.com/index.php/2006/09/funniest-or-not-so-funny-stories-from-the-coal-face/comment-page-1/#comment-23 Calvin Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:21:00 +0000 http://theminingblog.com/?p=9#comment-23 Here is a funny story by Tony White:<br /><i>Whilst working in the admin office at a large open cast coal mine in Swillington, West Yorkshire, UK a disaster happened. This area of Yorkshire had been extensively mined underground for coal for hundreds of years and now it was time to dig a massive hole 70-80m deep to extract that final seam.<br /><br />Unfortunately due to past mining efforts in the area and the many forgotten holes in the earth, the deep ground was becoming unstable.<br />It didn't help that right next to the pit was the river Aire, a major 30-50m wide river. The Bosses were too greedy and too eager to get that coal and over night a huge crack appeared in the wall of the mine right next to the river and guess what... all the water started pouring in.<br /><br />Nobody was injured and it took 3 days to fill the hole with water. At one point the biggest waterfall in Britain was created and afterwards the biggest man made lake was formed.<br /><br />At the botton of the pit were two huge excavators, which despite heroic efforts were unable to be saved. Unfortunately their top speed was about 1km/hr!<br /><br />All jobs were lost and after an enquiry and a law passed in parliment the river was re routed and the hole drained. It took ten years though!<br /><br />The main people at fault were the company Geologists.<br /><br />My job at the time ...... Work placement as a Geologist!</i><br /><br />What do you think? Do you have a better story than Tony?<br /><br />Tell us using our <a href="http://www.miningreference.com/html/feedback_form.php">feedback form</a>. Here is a funny story by Tony White:
Whilst working in the admin office at a large open cast coal mine in Swillington, West Yorkshire, UK a disaster happened. This area of Yorkshire had been extensively mined underground for coal for hundreds of years and now it was time to dig a massive hole 70-80m deep to extract that final seam.

Unfortunately due to past mining efforts in the area and the many forgotten holes in the earth, the deep ground was becoming unstable.
It didn’t help that right next to the pit was the river Aire, a major 30-50m wide river. The Bosses were too greedy and too eager to get that coal and over night a huge crack appeared in the wall of the mine right next to the river and guess what… all the water started pouring in.

Nobody was injured and it took 3 days to fill the hole with water. At one point the biggest waterfall in Britain was created and afterwards the biggest man made lake was formed.

At the botton of the pit were two huge excavators, which despite heroic efforts were unable to be saved. Unfortunately their top speed was about 1km/hr!

All jobs were lost and after an enquiry and a law passed in parliment the river was re routed and the hole drained. It took ten years though!

The main people at fault were the company Geologists.

My job at the time …… Work placement as a Geologist!

What do you think? Do you have a better story than Tony?

Tell us using our feedback form.

]]> By: Calvin http://www.theminingblog.com/index.php/2006/09/funniest-or-not-so-funny-stories-from-the-coal-face/comment-page-1/#comment-9 Calvin Mon, 18 Sep 2006 18:57:00 +0000 http://theminingblog.com/?p=9#comment-9 <b>What about the time we were doing maintenance on the mine's main ventilation fan?</b><br/><br/>For those that work in underground mines, you know the importance of having the main ventilation fan operating.<br/><br/>One night, we were doing maintenance on the main ventilation fan motor. It was a scheduled outage. We had until 7am to have everthing running again correctly so they could resume production.<br/><br/>To give you an idea, these motors are about 3 metres long and are 1 metre in diameter.<br/><br/>About 4am, we were having trouble adjusting the brushes on the DC motor. No matter what we tried, we could not quite get the brushes into the correct position. Testing of the motor revealed excessive arcing on the motor's commutator (for non-electrical people, it is the spinning bit of the motor that you put electricity into).<br/><br/><b>We were stuck between a rock and a hard place.</b> Either we get it corrected, or risk a motor failure during the following days. That would mean changing the motor which takes at least 24 hours.<br/><br/>Finally, my best electrical leading hand (who was working with us) said he had an idea. He ran off to get "something".<br/><br/>When he got back, I was horrified. <b>In his hand was a 14lb hammer!</b> I just knew he had to be joking.<br/><br/>You see, when we do maintenance on these motors, you treat them with upmost care. One wrong move, and the motor has to be changed out. <br/><br/>Anyway, He got the hammer and a piece of 1" bar resting against the brushes holder frame and started belting this bar with all his might - he even had the hide to ask me to hold the bar for him!<br/><br/>Well, it worked. The brushes were adjusted correctly.<br/><br/>We got the motor back together and the main ventilation fan running again at about 6:30am.<br/><br/><br/><br/>Calvin Close<br/>Managing Director<br/><a HREF="http://www.miningreference.com" REL="nofollow"><br/>miningreference.com - Australia's Premier Mining Directory</a> What about the time we were doing maintenance on the mine’s main ventilation fan?

For those that work in underground mines, you know the importance of having the main ventilation fan operating.

One night, we were doing maintenance on the main ventilation fan motor. It was a scheduled outage. We had until 7am to have everthing running again correctly so they could resume production.

To give you an idea, these motors are about 3 metres long and are 1 metre in diameter.

About 4am, we were having trouble adjusting the brushes on the DC motor. No matter what we tried, we could not quite get the brushes into the correct position. Testing of the motor revealed excessive arcing on the motor’s commutator (for non-electrical people, it is the spinning bit of the motor that you put electricity into).

We were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Either we get it corrected, or risk a motor failure during the following days. That would mean changing the motor which takes at least 24 hours.

Finally, my best electrical leading hand (who was working with us) said he had an idea. He ran off to get “something”.

When he got back, I was horrified. In his hand was a 14lb hammer! I just knew he had to be joking.

You see, when we do maintenance on these motors, you treat them with upmost care. One wrong move, and the motor has to be changed out.

Anyway, He got the hammer and a piece of 1″ bar resting against the brushes holder frame and started belting this bar with all his might – he even had the hide to ask me to hold the bar for him!

Well, it worked. The brushes were adjusted correctly.

We got the motor back together and the main ventilation fan running again at about 6:30am.

Calvin Close
Managing Director

miningreference.com – Australia’s Premier Mining Directory

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