jma1009
Elder Statesman
Posts: 5,901
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Post by jma1009 on Apr 23, 2014 9:12:01 GMT
hi ray, yes they are and if they get to a 'good bit' certainly the cardiff club seem to get tipped off and send up a lorry to collect as much of it as they can. i get the coal for my lounge coal burning stove from one particular coal merchant and it is pretty good stuff as my lounge stove is very particular on the type of coal. one of the coal agents some years ago had a stock of 'steam coal' from a drift mine at a compound in skewen. i had a few bags of it but as commented on by Ben had a high chlorine content so wasnt suitable. unfortunately the idea that Ffros-y-Fran opencast workings would once again provide a source of decent steam coal most of us remember using doesnt seem to have materialised. ive driven the car quite close to the Ffros-y-fran opencast workings on a minor road and when you see how the stuff is extracted it isnt difficult to see how earmarking particular seams isnt easy. and the guys on the huge lorries and extractors are only paid about £250 a week in what are quite hazardous and unpleasant conditions. cheers, julian
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smallbrother
Elder Statesman
Errors aplenty, progress slow, but progress nonetheless!
Posts: 2,269
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Post by smallbrother on Apr 23, 2014 14:18:11 GMT
Hi Julian,
The whole purpose of opencast mining is to expose large areas of one seam at a time. A decent excavator driver can strip the last few inches of crap off the coal and then load out very clean buckets full with very clean coal. The opencast mines that have been operating around and adjoining FyF since the second world war have been exposing old pillar and stall workings in the seams. The coal cannot possibly have "gone off" a hundred years later.
I just think the emphasis must be on producing the cheapest stuff for power station useage and the best products are lost in the process.
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