Funniest (or Not So Funny) Stories From The Coal Face
No matter where you go in the mining industry, people have stories to tell about their experiences while working at a mine somewhere. Tell us your story by using the “Post a Comment” link below.
I have a few, but I will post them one at a time, so let’s get started…
One night, I was the Maintenance Engineer in charge of the shift. I received a phone call sometime in the middle of the shift, “can you come to the coal plant - I think we have a problem”. You know the type - don’t bother asking any questions on the phone, just get up there now. When I arrived, the plant was in full operation, but that was the only good news.
The operator told me that the gantry conveyor tripper wouldn’t move, so he was limited to placing the coal where the tripper was currently located. I checked the status of the ROM (run of mine) system. The longwall was busily producing coal at top rate, with very little spare capacity between the longwall and where this tripper was located.
To cut a long story short…
It turned out that the tripper motor had burned out, so we had to change it. We got the replacement motor and headed up to the tripper. I had better explain…
The temperature outside was below freezing, the sleet was blowing almost horizontal, and we had to manually carry the motor up the gantry. We slung the motor on a pole with one person at each end of the pole.
Once we isolated the whole system and got the old motor off (with the sleet still hitting us in the face), we all agreed that we were not going to manually carry the faulty motor back down the gantry. We discussed a few options, then decided on a plan. Because the coal had already completely filled up below us, we decided that we would just drop the motor on to the coal “hill” just a few metres below us. It should hit the coal stack, then roll down another few metres into a gully in the coal pile. We could then retrieve it with one of the CAT loaders. Simple, right?
Well, it didn’t hit the coal stack and roll down. It just hit the stack and went straight down and disappeared from sight!
Funny? We didn’t think so at the time, but things do seem to get funnier with time.
Now, what about your story? There are just a few rules:
- The story must be true
- It must not promote an unsafe situation
- Either it must have happened on a mining site or it must have something to do with the mining industry (ie mining equipment in an overhaul workshop, etc)
- We reserve the right to not publish a story
I’m looking forward to hearing from you - get those keyboards going. Tell us your story by using the “Post a Comment” link below.
Calvin Close
Managing Director
miningreference.com - Australia’s Premier Mining Directory
ps We did manage to retrieve the faulty motor later.
September 18th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
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
December 5th, 2006 at 9:21 pm
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.