My name is Chris and I have worked in mining all my life from the age of sixteen. I grew up in a village surrounded by pits in the 60s, with family members who all worked in the local coal mines, New Monckton Colliery and Royston Drift Mine. I am the sixth generation of miners in my family going back to mining in the Black Country and Catcliffe so I suppose you could say mining is in my blood. I was always interested in mining history and my mining heritage from early in my career. Around the same time I had the urge to research my family history as I was told miners were in my family as long as anyone could remember.
I am obviously the last generation of coal miners due to the sad closure and demise of the industry so this gave me the idea of researching the Selby Complex, the last big mining project undertaken in this country. I worked at Riccall Mine, one of the Selby pits, which was a huge advantage to starting my research. It is my intention to research all aspects of this marvel of mining and civil engineering and will include the history, concept, geology, mines rescue provision, planning, including the public inquiry, design and social impact that the Selby Superpit had on the 110 square miles of villages and on the town of Selby.
All information and memories are correct to the best of my knowledge. Sorry if the information about Riccall Mine seems more in depth but that is where I worked as a coalface and H.V. installation electrician so most of the information is from my own experiences or friends I worked with. Anyone who has further information about any of the Selby Mines please let me know and I will edit accordingly.
So … let’s get started.
My grateful thanks to Eddie Downs for his permission to reference his book ‘Yorkshire Collieries 1947 – 1994’ which has proven to be an invaluable resource and an inspiration for this blog. Downes, W., n.d. Yorkshire Collieries, 1947-1994.
Photographs of Dosco tunnelling machinery kindly provided by my mate Rich Teasdale ( Rich Tea ) who worked as a field service engineer for Dosco Mining Machinery.
The coal faces at the east side of Riccall Mine were worked to the boundary of the Whitemoor Mine workings at the side of H630s face. The East Conveyor and East Return roadways were started in October 1990 and completed in April 1993. Eight coal faces were worked from the East Return roadway. H501s was the first face which started in May 1992 and the last face was H499s which completed production in August 2000. One coal face, H510s was worked from the East Conveyor Roadway and finished production in July 2001. To continue with production at Riccall Mine a new area of the mine was planned and the development started at the north east of the existing east side as seen on the plan above.
In April 1993 the North East Conveyor development heading was started by Thyssen who were already the contractors for all of the east side tunnelling developments. A junction was created 60m outbye from H505s main gate in the East Conveyor Roadway. The heading progressed 150m and was then stopped. In September 1994 the North East Return Roadway was started and a stub heading was created and the heading was then stopped. Both headings used a Dosco LH1300 Roadheader machine in the developments.
The North East Conveyor Roadway was restarted in August 1994 heading towards the north of the mine. After 500m of development the heading turned 45° and headed north east. The roadway was on 1 in 15 uphill incline heading towards the coalfaces which were planned near to the boundary with Stillingfleet Mine. When the heading had progressed a further 200m a cross slit roadway was created to the east to install a 6.6kv substation to supply the coal faces in the new area of the mine. The heading then progressed a further 1200m to the north east and was stopped in April 1996. The depth of the seam at this point was 970m and the working temperatures were extremely hot at over 40°c.
During early April 1996 the North East Return development was restarted from the junction created in the East Conveyor roadway opposite H505s main gate. The heading was driven to the north of the mine by Thyssens contractors using a Dosco LH 1300 Roadheader running parallel with the North East Conveyor road. When the heading had progressed 500m it turned 45° and started driving in a north easterly direction. A 6.6kv, 185mm, armoured electrical supply cable was run out and jointed and a ring main substation using Brush SF6 switchgear was built in the cross slit roadway which had already been created between the two lateral roadways at the 700m mark. This was to supply the planned North East heading and faces. The North East Return roadway progressed a further 1000m and turned at 45° heading in a north westerly direction. The heading developed a further 400m to start H514s tail gate and crossed under the North East Conveyor heading. The heading stopped in October 1997.
Plan showing North East Developments
Andy Johnson preparing to set arch girder.
Thyssens North East Development heading team, Mick Holland (Tunnel Tiger), The Johnsons, ( Polly, Andy and Jonny) Joe Perlich and Malcolm Turner with Dosco LH1300.
Thyssens North East Conveyor installation team, Graham Silcock, Ian Cracknell and Mel Fletcher
At the end of 1997 the announcement was made by RJB Mining that Riccall Mine had seven years of production left if we were lucky and that the Selby Coalfield was to close. At this point Thyssens contractors were withdrawn and the North East developments ceased. Shortly afterwards the North East area of the mine was abandoned.
The new plan for the mine was to develop two drifts up to the Stanley Main seam. Planning permission was granted in 1999 to mine up to nine million tonnes of coal in the seam. The faces were developed over the existing Barnsley seam faces at the east of the mine. The mine closed in October 2004 having worked five faces in the Stanley Main seam over a three year period. The last face was SM 504s.
15 April 2026. Many thanks and kind regards to Mike Liddington, Director of Latch and Batchelor, for organising such a great afternoon and for spending so much of his time from his working day during my visit to the factory. He was a great source of information and made us very welcome. He very kindly gave me a Latch and Batchelor Technical guidance book along with a Ropemans Handbook.
Latch and Batchelor supplied mining ropes to the world mining industry for many decades before the development of the Selby Coalfield and during the 1970s they supplied mine winder ropes to over 300 mines in the UK alone, which were all manufactured at Hay Mills in Birmingham.
Hay Mills factory 1856
Winder rope designs
The company was created by Mr Arthur Latch, Mr T.C. Batchelor and Mr H.H.C. Horsfall to develop locked coil and flattened strand ropes developed by Mr Batchelor in 1884 and 1888. These rope were to become what we know as the modern mine winder ropes used throughout the world. Latch and Batchelor ropes range from tiny stainless steel ropes, used for shark fishing traces, to massive 78mm diameter locked coil dam building ropes.
Rope and fittings display cabinets
Latch and Batchelor made haulage, coal cutter and slusher ropes for mining as well as crane and lift ropes and slings for engineering trades. They also make structural spiral strand ropes used for bridges and masts throughout the world.
The company associated with Latch and Batchelor is Webster and Horsfall, which is over three hundred hundred years old and was formed in 1720 in Penns, Sutton Coldfield. They are a wire drawing company making the finest high tensile wire and pioneered the process of ‘patenting’ developed by James Horsfall. This process of heat treatment, using molten lead at 400°C, as a coolant for the wire, allows wire to be drawn while maintaining ductility and tensility, by changing the molecular structure. This allows drawing to very fine grades.
I visited Mike Liddington, director of Latch and Batchelor Limited at Hay Mills, Birmingham and he very kindly gave me a tour of the factory, offices, archives and the company history display cabinets. Below is some of the information and photographs I took whilst on my visit.
Above is the wire sculptor commissioned for the 300 year anniversary of Webster and Horsfall Limited.
Display cabinet showing the entire rope collection.
The factory at Hay Mills ceased manufacturing ropes in 2015 when Kellingley Colliery, the last deep mine was closed. They now supply locked coil ropes shipped from the Latch and Batchelor factory inJohor Bahru, Malaysia to supply winder ropes to two mines in the UK. They also have factories in Malaysia and Vietnam producing ‘Verope’ crane ropes.
Latch and Batchelor supplied ropes to the Selby Coalfield from day one supplying haulage ropes, winch ropes, winder ropes and specialist lubrications to all the pits. Examples of the shaft ropes supplied at Wistow Mine are listed below.
The tower mounted friction (Koepe) winder used six, 26mm diameter locked coil ropes. The ground mounted double drum winder used two, 51mm diameter locked coil ropes for two cages.
The guide ropes were 45mm diameter.
Balance ropes were 65mm- 75mm.
The 26mm diameter winder ropes weighed 381 kg per 100m and had a breaking strain of 58600 kg.
The 51mm diameter winder ropes weighed 1470kg per 100m and had a breaking strain of 226000 kg.
The 45mm diameter, half locked coil guide ropes weighed 1110 kg per 100m and had a breaking strain of 103000 kg.
The balance ropes weighed over two tonnes per 100m with a breaking strain of 198 tonnes.
All winder ropes were pre stretched at the Birmingham factory before being shipped to the mines.
Rope diameters from Wistow Mine (above) provided by my mate Dave Scott who worked at Wistow Mine.
Rope weights and breaking strains provided from Latch and Batchelor Technical data booklet shown below.
The Latch and Batchelor Technical data and guidance notes booklet.
Above is some of the information on display at the Hay Mills Headquarters.
Thanks again to Mike Liddington for making us welcome and for spending so much time with us.
Riccall Mine roof bolting standards board situated in concourse.
Once the Selby Coalfield mines received the required exemptions to use rockbolts as a primary support system from the H.S.E. each individual mine had a legal requirement to have a Rockbolting Co-ordinator to supervise the systems of routine monitoring and maintain high standards for the installation of rockbolts. This operational standards board was situated in the concourse area of the mine and visible to all of the men for reference. Extremely high standards of roof bolting were expected during the bolt installation to prevent roof falls and to mitigate future problems and repairs during production. Below are the photos explaining the issues encountered when using roof bolting as a support system.
Shear Break or Guttering Developing.
This can lead to total roof failure and can cause failure of the roof on the face.
Bolthead broken off and strap tearing.
This may lead to localised roof failure.
Overloaded side bolts end plates.
This is due to high immediate rib movement on installation.
Dome plate inverting.
This is a sign of strata movement within the bolted length and or resin loss on installation.
Immediate roof bulking.
Caused by the roof being squeezed in areas of high horizontal stress.
Failed of bolt in excess of 100m of thread.
Probably caused by wrong nut size, low air pressure, poor resin or faulty gopher drilling machine.
Broken strap.
Due to roof being squeezed in areas of high horizontal and vertical stresses.
Floor blow.
Associated with high vertical and horizontal stresses mostly common due to direction of drivage with relationship to major stress line and or face retreat.
Failed bolts with immediate roof bulking, straps shortening, angled bolt and gap in roof mesh.
Caused by incorrect cutting horizon in this case.
Good roadway standards due to good supervision, high standards of bolt installation, correct cutting horizon and early additional support of roadway.
The control measures for most of the issues shown were installation of extra roofbolts, strussed cable bolts, wooden legs, steel supports or Fibcrete stacks.
Plan above showing Riccall Mine south side faces showing faulted area on H443s coal face panel.
During the development of H443s face in August 1988 a section of sandstone intrusions appeared in the heading at 730m mark. These intrusions continued for over 100m and then disappeared. The decision was made to continue with the headings to full distance and start the face as planned at 1600m mark. As the face retreated a plan was created to transfer the equipment onto a new face line which bypassed the faulted area and continue with the face. The loss of production was a problem but another issue was on the horizon which was the royal visit by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip planned for the 9th December 1989. Below is the step by step planning document created by the management team overseen by Denis Allchurch, Riccall Mine Deputy Manager and all the departments responsible at the mine for the timely and safe transfer of equipment from one face to another.
Covering description from Denis Allchurch
Acknowledgementsof staff
Critical path analysis
Bolting and meshing
Building new shearer and dismantling existing shearer
Maingate move out
A.F.C. salvage, cables and hoses
Powered supports
Electrical co-ordination
As you can see from the booklet above describing the face to face transfer, the process of moving thousands of tonnes of equipment in such a short time is incredibly difficult. Organisation and briefing with experience and input from all the staff is the key to safe working. As you can see from the mine plan at the top of the post the face ceased shearing coal on 11th October 1989 and the new face was shearing coal on 7th November 1989. The transfer left a month for the face to be established before the Royal Visit.
Many thanks to Denis Allchurch, Riccall Mine Deputy and later Mine Manager for the information in this post.
I have been talking to Andy Mortimer who was an assistant surveyor at Gascoigne Wood Mine from 1981 until 1989. Here are a few of his memories. His information shows how technically difficult the development of the 12.2 km spine tunnels, which were the backbone of the Selby Complex, were to complete.
Andy did his training as a surveyor at Glasshoughton Colliery between 1975 until 1979. From the ending of his training until 1981 he was an assistant surveyor at Saville Colliery and Gascoigne Wood Mine working at both sites for two years. He was promoted at Gascoigne Wood in 1981 as an assistant surveyor supervising the South Spine Tunnel project until completion in 1988.
When he started at Gascoigne Wood the drifts were nearing completion and the two specially designed tunnel shield Dosco SB600s, used to sink the circular drifts were about to be removed and replaced with Dosco Mk3 roadheaders. These machines developed the spine tunnels up to the installation of the Robbins T.B.M. in the south tunnel at 1600m mark and the subsequent installation, at 2891m mark, of the Meco Titan E134c Roadheader in the north tunnel.
When the drifts reached 794.6m mark the surveying team set the angles of further tunnelling to a line of a 4000m curve to gain the correct level for the installation of the spine tunnel conveyors. This curve ended at 836 metre mark in the South Spine Tunnel and 833m in the North Spine Tunnel.
Bottom of Gascoigne Wood Drifts showing the start of the spine tunnel developments
The tunnels were then driven in the Lidgett Seam which is approximately 65 metres below the Barnsley seam at a gradient of 1 in 33 heading east. This level gave the correct depth for the future staple shaft bunker installations at the individual pits. The roadheader progressed well up to the 1600m mark using 17 x 12 ft arch support girders. This was the point where the Robbins TBM erection chamber was constructed in the South Spine Tunnel. The North Spine Tunnel Dosco Mk3 Roadheader progressed at around 65m per week to achieve the first connection with Wistow Mine.
Gascoigne Wood spine tunnels showing connection to Wistow Mine
The Robbins 193-214 Tunnel Boring Machine erection chamber was created in three separate part using benching of the strata due to the sheer size of the 240 tonne machine. After the initial cuts were completed and square section girders with shutterings were installed the top section of the chamber was concreted with heavy duty lifting beams installed to handle the weight of the machine sections. The middle 2.5m section was cut and concreted. The lower 2m was cut with a semi circular base to allow for the 5.8m circular cutting head to be installed. When completed the chamber was over 40m in length, 6.8 metres wide and 8.6 metres high.
The Robbins T.B.M.Erection Chamber
The Selby Coalfield was designed and developed using the very latest mining technologies and equipment. Gascoigne Wood mine development was no exception. Flameproof laser beams were used in the underground tunnels by surveying teams for complete accuracy from the start of the mine. The lasers were very heavy pieces of equipment and were mounted in the left of centre in the roadways. The large mounting brackets were manufactured from girders and needed four, two metre roof bolts to anchor the equipment in the roadway. During the early use of the lasers it was realised that in dusty conditions the integrity of the beam was diminished. The beams were refocused by the manufacturer to give a sharper, intense beam for surveying to take place. The lasers had to be moved forward every 150 metres, which was often less than a week due to the rapid development speeds in the Robbins TBM South Spine Tunnel.
The surveying team at Gascoigne Wood used various systems to cross reference and ensure the accuracy of the spine tunnels. All the Selby mines were referenced to the Ordnance Survey Grid Reference System which is known as the British National Grid (B.N.G.).
Gascoigne Wood Mine
Gascoigne Wood Mine had a marker point beacon on the covered stockyard (marked Coal preparation plant on photo) with other points in the area being on the top of the winders at each of the five satellite mines marked with flashing beacons for reference. Carlton Towers, Pontefract Water Tower, Sherburn Church and York Minster were also reference points in the area. Andy ‘fondly’ remembered carrying huge batteries up to the top of the 72m high main tower at York Minster, through the very tight internal staircase, to power the beacon.
York Minster Towers
He then set up a tripod with a theodolite and measured to the flashing beacons on the winder towers at the satellite mines and the covered stockyard at Gascoigne Wood. This process was repeated at each pit to achieve the triangulation surveying readings.
North Selby Mine Winder Towers
These surface reference points along with the huge amount of borehole depth, shaft depth data and use of the laser beams ensured the accuracy of the spine tunnel developments.
As the spine tunnels progressed connections were made to Wistow Mine for ventilation and the coal clearance system which was operating from January 1983. Ventilation slits were also made between the spine tunnels to improve the working conditions in the headings. The plan was to connect to Wistow, Stillingfleet and Riccall mines for ventilation and coal clearance.
Spine tunnels between Wistow connection and Stillingfleet Bunker 5 and 6
As the spine tunnels progressed past the second ventilation shaft from Wistow at 7916m mark the next planned ventilation connection was Stillingfleet Bunker 5 and 6 at a gradient of 1 in 12.9 towards the east. During this stage of development in the South Spine Tunnel the extreme temperatures were getting increasingly difficult due to distances from ventilation boreholes. The heading teams were increasingly suffering with heat stroke with men collapsing on multiple occasions and had to carry up to 10 litres of water to get them through the shift. At the back of the pantechnicon a water storage tank for the TBM cutting water was sited. Andy used this on occasions to cool his arms when having the signs of heatstroke as it was slightly cooler than the ambient temperature of over 45° centigrade. Incredibly the teams operating the Robbins machine achieved tunnelling rates in this period which culminated in a world record breaking week in January 1986. 19m in one shift, 43m in one day and 152.3m in a week.
The world record breaking AMCO Heading Team January 1986.
Due to the high cutting speeds of the Robbins TBM machine, the North Spine Tunnel Titan E134c Roadheader was unable to maintain the same rates and started to lag. Due to the unavailability of ventilation slits and problems with the ventilation connection road from Stillingfleet Mine at Bunker 5 and 6 the South Spine Tunnel heading was nearing the limits of the available air flow from a single leg ventilation.
In early 1987 the Robbins TBM machine hit an area of very soft ground. The development stopped for a few weeks for remedial work. At this point a tunnel was started from Riccall Mine called the Stillingfleet Connection running above and parallel with the projected South Spine Tunnel. When this roadway was completed a 1 in 1 drift was driven down to the South Spine Tunnel using 10 ft x 8 ft arch girders to give a ventilation connection with Riccall Mine. The Robbins TBM went onto complete the South Spine Tunnel on the 22nd June 1987. Andy supervised the surveying work and completion of the Riccall Mine No 7 and No 8, 7.5m diameter 60m deep staple bunkers and bunker slits. The Robbins 193-214 Tunnel Boring Machine continued driving forward at the completion of the development and was abandoned.
The completed spine tunnels at the Riccall bunker connection.
Andy went on to work at Riccall Mine for six months and then gained promotion to Kellingley Colliery in 1989 as Deputy Surveyor and then Unit Surveyor where he stayed until the closure of the pit in Dec 2015.
Many thanks to Andy Mortimer for his time and information provided for this post.
Setting up structures and systems for the management of a multi billion pound project such as the Selby Coalfield was a very complex task. After buying the land for the sites of the five satellite mines and Gascoigne Wood, which was the largest site with two surface drifts, coal handling plant and railway loading facilities, a team of surveyors, which is a statutory role at a mine and surveying staff were needed at each site. They were managed from North Yorkshire Area H.Q. at Allerton Bywater.
The first two pits to be sunk were Gascoigne Wood and Wistow Mines. Gascoigne Wood drift tunnelling started in March 1978, Wistow No2 shaft sinking started Jan 1978 and Wistow No1 started in June 1978. As you can imagine a huge amount of surveying preparatory work was carried out on the sites before any sort of construction could take place.
Initially the surveying of the sites were organised from North Yorkshire Area H.Q. where the Selby Coalfield Project Team was set up. Two surveying teams were created called East Side to survey North Selby, Riccall and Whitemoor mines and the West Side to survey Gascoigne Wood, Wistow and Stillingfleet mines. Each team had a surveyor, assistant surveyor and a linesman team. The head surveyor for the Selby Project was Tony Shirley and deputy surveyor Dennis Aitchison.
As the site construction progressed and the sinking of the two shafts on each site were under way, the workload increased massively.
The teams at each mine were created and included a unit surveyor and two assistant surveyors. These posts were advertised nationally in the NCB as new roles open for promotions of existing members of staff as were the management roles within the complex. A team of linesmen and support staff were transferred from closing collieries. Surveying offices were also built on each site.
When the surveying teams at each of the six individual mines were created the East and West Side teams responsibilities were handed over to the new teams at each mine as the site development progressed. The Selby Project team was wound down in 1984.
Tony Shirley, who had been surveyor in charge of the Selby Project was promoted to North Yorkshire Area chief surveyor and the existing chief surveyor, Eddie Garner retired.
Many thanks to Dave Wilson who provided his time and the information in this post. Dave did his training to be a surveyor at Rothwell Colliery and applied as an assistant surveyor working under unit surveyor Jack Donachie at Stillingfleet Mine. He started in 1984 and was later promoted to deputy surveyor. He worked at Stillingfleet until 2003. He worked in outside industry and returned to mining at U.K. Coal at Howarth Park in the planning department in 2008. As the industry wound down he transferred to Kellingley Colliery as mine planner until closure in Dec 2015. He now works at The Mining Remediation Authority.
The Selby Coalfield was designed and planned to produce 10 million tonnes per annum when in full production from the five pits. This figure meant that each pit had to maintain 40,000 every single week which was no mean feat. The first year this figure was exceeded was in 1992/1993 when the complex produced 10,806,000 tonnes of coal in the financial year ending March 1993. Wistow Mine produced 2,938,000, which included a European record of 173,156 tonnes in one week, Riccall Mine 2,600,000, Stillingfleet Mine 1,506,000, North Selby Mine 2,024,000 and Whitemoor Mine 1,801,000 tonnes of coal. These figures were an outstanding achievement with records for production and tunnelling broken on a regular basis. Twenty two longwall, two shortwall and 13 single entry faces were worked in this financial year.
As the coal production was ramping up, face development rates had to improve which was achieved by the introduction of rockbolting throughout the complex. Nearly 59,500m of tunnels were developed in the financial year 1992 /1993 to open up the coal faces needed to mine over 10,800,000 tonnes of coal production. All in all a good year for the Selby Coalfield.
In the year 1993/1994, the complex was set up for another record year and produced 12,091,000 tonnes of coal. In this year, Riccall Mine produced a European record of 3,060,000, achieving an average production of nearly 60,000 tonnes every week.
During the year, Riccall Mine worked three faces at the west of the mine. H474s, H475s and H476s were all 250m in length and retreated over 2000m. Three faces were worked at the south west of the mine. H430s, H432s and H433s were 230m in length and retreated over 1500m. Three faces at the east of the mine, H501s, H502s and H503s were all 250m in length and retreated 1800m. A total of five, face to face transfers of equipment were completed during this twelve month period. This was a very busy year of seven days a week and twelve hours shifts for the teams, including the electrical installation team of which I was a member.
Pete Wordsworth and Ian Lloyd with West Side face team.
The lads on the photo are Pete Wordsworth who was Top Nana( Face Deputy ), Ian Fisher, Ian Lloyd (Under Manager), Mark Light, Maurice Kent, Don Cook, Unit fitter, Richard Yarrow (Teapot), Simon Craven, Stuart who was a chock fitter (Mr Blobby) Terry Haywood, John Barnfather, Dennis Nicholl.
Above is the press release from Selby Area Director Alan Houghton confirming the European Record of 1,000,000 tonnes in 14 weeks and 3,000,000 tonnes in 51 weeks.
Wistow Mine produced 2,900,000 tonnes, Stillingfleet Mine produced 1,952,000 tonnes, Whitemoor Mine produced 2,221,100 tonnes and North Selby Mine produced 1,853,000 tonnes of coal. Twenty six longwall, two shortwall and ten single entry faces were worked and over 58,000 metres of tunnels were developed during this year.
This was the final year that British Coal managed the coal industry with RJB Mining taking over in Jan 1995.
Since coal mining began the roof in a mine was supported to ensure the rock strata over our heads didn’t collapse onto our heads. This was initially achieved by setting wooden props from the floor to the roof to stop the strata moving, fracturing and collapsing, often with catastrophic results. For hundreds of years this simple system was used often in conjunction with wooden bars set over the props to span roadways.
Prop and bar
Steel support joist, known as girders or arches were introduced due to their greater inherent strength. Many types of mining arches, square section girders and joists were developed for different seams, conditions, weight, speed of setting and cost. The roof above the girders were usually covered with corrugated steels sheets to stop rock falling onto the men. The Selby Coalfield, which worked the gassy Barnsley seam was slightly different in that open steel mesh was the only coverings allowed above the supports. This ensured full access to the roadway and ensured it could tested for methane without hidden pockets behind steel sheeting.
Gascoigne Wood North Spine tunnel
Gascoigne WoodSouth Spine tunnel
Steel arches in H504s T/G at Riccall Mine
Using roof bolting as a primary support system for strata control was developed in the U.S. during the 1940s and into the 1950s. They were initially used to replace wooden props and bars used in the American mines and was thought as a more effective and safer system of roadway support. Roof bolting as a secondary support system to supplement flat top girders was used with great success at Hartley Bank Colliery at Netherton, Wakefield as early as 1953 on both headings and longwall roadways.
Legislation stated that rockbolts may only be used as a principal support system in a coal mine if the H.S.E. has granted an exemption from the requirements to set recognised authorized supports. An exemption was only given if the roofbolting system was tested and proven at each individual mine to be safe and a geotechnical assessment and site investigation was carried out by a suitably qualified and competent person.
Below are the requirements to be taken into account when carrying out the site investigation;
Geology: including the strata section, rock properties, faults, cleat, parting planes, presence of water or any substance likely to flow, borehole information and gradients. All factors need to be correlated relative to the mining horizon;
Stress: the direction and magnitude of the stress field components for pre mining, mining induced conditions and interaction;
Pillar design and effects: the assessment needs to include drawings and diagrams to illustrate potential risk areas;
Environmental effects: the effects of ambient temperature, mine water and associated impurities.
Bond strength: measured by short encapsulation pull tests using the proposed rockbolting materials and components. The tests need to be carried out for all major roof horizon changes within the length of the proposed rockbolt and the effects of wet flushing or alternative dust control system on the bond strength determined.
Standup time: dilation related to distance from the face.
Information taken from H.S.E. guidance on the use of rockbolts to support roadways in mines.
In the early 1980s Allerton Bywater Colliery used roof bolts in the Middleton Little seam on 56Bs district, as part of a trial, when mining small panels of remnant coal referred to as finger panels and proved a great success. A consequence of the trial and the technical information gained, they became the recognised experts and leaders of roof bolting in the U.K. The introduction of totally rockbolted supports was introduced on 56As which was the next panel to be worked.
This system of roof support was used in the Selby Coalfield in early 1986 when HO2DRs, one of the first two faces at Riccall Mine were developed. D2s tailgate was a trial using rockbolts in conjunction with flat profile arches using a Lee Norse LN800 1TT continuous miner.
Lee Norse LN800 1TT continuous miner.
Rockbolting was introduced as primary supports at Wistow Mine in 1990 due to difficulties with the geology at the mine.
During the development of the Selby Coalfield new technologies were introduced very quickly as they became available. Roof Bolting was one of these system to revolutionise the speed, cost and safety of roadway developments initially on coal face access roadways. As the technology and monitoring was improved, main lateral roadways and face support salvages, which were previously supported by girders, became supported by roof bolts and cable bolts.
Roofbolting used for face support salvage at Riccall Mine.
Stopping roof collapses in a coal mine was always seen as spanning the gap created when coal or rock was removed by setting a support in this void therefore holding the roof up from below. Roof bolting and cable bolting are a completely different way of looking at this problem. Roof bolting uses the inherent strength of the strata situated above the roadway as a support. A hole is drilled to specified length and diameter into strata which has the required strength passing through the weaker layers of strata. Resin adhesive capsules are entered into the drilled hole and a steel bolt is then inserted. When the bolt is rotated and forced into the hole, by action of the rock drill, the resin capsules and hardening agent are mixed and fill the gap between the bolt and strata, known as the annulus. This creates a solid bond between the bolt and the surrounding strata. When the bolt is fully entered the nut is tightened onto a flat plate against the roof and tensions the bolt which holds the strata together. If this process is carried out quickly after the roof is exposed during mining process, the bolts and resin hold the strata together ensuring no bed separation of the rock and no roof falls occur.
The roof bolts used at Riccall Mine were threaded high tensile steel with a diameter of 22mm and were 2.4 metres in length. The roof bolts were installed into a 27mm drilled holes using two part high strength polyester resin. The resin capsules used were colour coded red for quick setting and green for slow setting. Two slow and one quick setting capsules were inserted into the holes and the bolt was drilled into the hole using a compressed air drill known as a ‘Gopher’. The drilling action and the sharp wedge tip of the bolts punctured and mixed the resin capsules which created a very powerful bond between the bolt and the surrounding strata. Once the bolt and resin are set to an adequate strength the 24mm nut is tightened on to a conical insert and plate up to the roof.
This system of rockbolting became standard throughout the Selby Coalfield and was used in conjunction with either W bars or flat straps with 1m spacing holes across the section of roadway. Each support was set at a 1.2m spacing. Steel or plastic mesh was used as part of the support.
To apply for an exemption to use fully rockbolted roadways many test were carried out. Roof / Strata movement measurement, rockbolt strength tests, rockbolt pull test and strain gauge tests which were all designed to check the performance of the rockbolt /resin/ rock system. Below are the areas of a mine where rockbolts may provide principle support;
Development headings and junctions; Coal face development drivages; Retreat district gate roads including the face ‘Tee’ junction; Room and pillar coal production districts; Special purpose drivages, eg to house equipment.
Four examples of places which may not be suitable are: Goaf scours; Gate roads serving advancing faces; Cross measures drifts; Headings formed by shotfiring off the solid.
Once a safe system has been designed and tested through the four stages of acceptance, the exemption to use rockbolts as a primary support is granted. The Mine Manager and Rockbolting Co-ordinator were required to instigate a system of routine monitoring and recording called the’ Scheme for the routine monitoring of roadways’
The system of monitoring included visual indentification of roof movement called dual height telltales.
Dual height telltale showing general assembly
The telltales were installed in the rockbolted roadway at intervals not greater than 20m apart. They were drilled to a height of at least twice the height of the rockbolts and basically monitored the movement of the strata above the roadway. Two spring loaded wires were anchored into the strata above the roadway and were given a copper tube set at the roof height as a reference point. If the strata moves downward the telltale will move upward and gives an indication of movement in millimetres. The telltales are monitored on a shift basis and recorded by the district official. Any movement is recorded. Excessive movement (25mm) must be reported to the senior official and action taken to remediate the movement should be carried out quickly.
Multiwire-extensometers were used and acted in a similiar manner to dual height telltales. This system used a four wire system set at four levels in the strata in a 7m hole and were set at 200m intervals in a roadway. This system is recorded by suitably trained people and could be tested manually or by remote electronic systems and was part of the ongoing roadway monitoring system.
Multiwire Extensometer
Information taken from H.S.E. guidance on the use of rockbolts to support roadways in mines.
Fully rockbolted headings became very common in face developments in the early 1990s, as different types of continuous miners which were ideal for rectangular section roadways were introduced throughout the Selby Coalfield. BJD(Jeffrey) Heliminers were used at Wistow and Stillingfleet Mine’s. Whitemoor Mine introduced Joy CM12s with North Selby and Riccall Mine’s used Lee Norse LN800 machines.
Rock bolted heading at Riccall Mine
Fully rockbolted headings were introduced at Riccall Mine in July 1991 on H474s and June 1992 on H430s. During the H430s face development in mid 1992, the teams set a European record of 180m of development in a week using a Lee Norse LN800 continuous miner using the fully roofbolted system. This record was surpassed many times at various mines throughout the complex as the system was perfected.
H473s tailgate showing rockbolted heading with arches as primary support
Stanley Main SM501s tailgate showing roofbolting and plastic side meshing. Glenn Bryan is carrying out methane boring using an EDECO mobile drill rig( Moonbuggy) in the photo.
When a roof support rockbolt is used for lifting or slinging the load must not be greater than 1 tonne.
If bolts are needed for lifting of greater loads, specially installed bolts called anchor bolts (we called them spot bolts at Riccall Mine) along with suitable colour coded lifting shackles should be used. They must be identified as lifting bolts with safe working loads shown.
In late 1989 Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were due to officially open the Selby Coalfield. As part of the royal visit they were to visit Riccall Mine and go underground onto H443s coalface. Changing facilities of a very high standard were expected for the royal visit and as the existing pit head baths were not quite up to royal standards a new facility was built. Due to the great expense of building a shower facility for one purpose the building was to have a second life as a sports pavilion and rugby pitch. A three month window was given to complete the new changing and showering area with totally separate areas for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. Ron Bruce and the estates department had the building designed, drawings made and land made available adjacent to the main building at the mine. Needless to say it was completed on time. Sadly the Queen did not attend due to illness. The building was eventually used as a weight training gym, changing area and football pitch for the Riccall Miners.
Thank you to Ron for his memories of the event. It’s always good to speak with experts who contributed greatly to this amazing project and my sincere thanks go to Ron Bruce who contributed the information in this post. Without people like Ron being happy to speak with me, these memories are lost forever.
When the Selby coalfield was planned one of the first major issues to be raised was the East Coast Main Line running over the planned workings of Riccall Mine and Stillingfleet Mine. The concern was that a mile wide section of coal would have to be left to maintain the integrity of the railway. This would have cost the N.C.B. a huge amount of time and money due to lost available reserves and having to plan a mine around the mile wide pillar of coal. Thirty coal faces would have been affected had the line not been moved. As with most mining projects a solution was found. The solution was to move the railway line to the west of the Selby Coalfield. This was called the Selby Diversion. Below is an amazing insight into this marvel of engineering within a marvel of engineering.
The new 13.79 mile Selby Diversion line was built between 1980 and 1983 to the very latest specifications. In 1983 the old line was abandoned. A new section of the A19 road was built on the old railway from a new roundabout sited at the south of Barlby near to British Oil Cake Mills (BOCM) factory and pickle factory to the north of Riccall. This created a much needed bypass of the villages and was opened in October 1987. The abandoned railway at the north of Riccall became a part of the Trans Pennine Trail cycleway to York as part of the Sustrans scheme.
Selby Superpit 