Selby Coalfield Faces – Selby Superpit

List of Coal Faces at Stillingfleet Mine

Plan of coal faces at Stillingfleet Mine with seven worked in the North Selby Mine area.

The first coal faces at Stillingfleet Mine were worked from the east / west lateral roadways. The first face worked in Jan 1988 was H01Bs on the west side of the mine. H01Cs started production in May 1988 at the east side of the mine. The lateral heading to the east of the mine was the connection with the North Selby Mine lateral conveyor roadway called West 2 and was completed in July 1989. The heading was driven by two Dosco Mk 3 roadheaders with heading being driven from both mines simultaneously and was over 3,600m long on completion.

The early face developments were driven using Dosco Mk2a Revised Hydraulics roadheader setting arch supports with Dosco Mk3 roadheaders driving the lateral roadways. As the mine progressed the face heading development roadheaders were replaced with BJD flat chain mat continuous miners (Heliminers) and roof bolting replaced the arch supports to achieve faster drivage rates. Lee Norse LN800 continuous miners were also used in the mid 1990s.

Dosco LH1300 roadheaders were used for the lateral roadways to replace the Dosco Mk3 roadheaders.

The Gascoigne Wood coal clearance connection roadway to the south of the mine was completed in Dec 1987 to load coal into Gascoigne Wood Mine, via a 2000 tonne, 7.5m diameter staple shaft called Bunker 6. A ventilation connection already existed from Mar 1987 and this was kept in use with a .8m diameter borehole.

Plan of Bunker 6 and Ventilation Borehole Connections to Gascoigne Wood Mine

The Bunker 6 Westerland feeder coal clearance connection from Stillingfleet Mine.

The conveyors in the east and south lateral roadways at Stillingfleet Mine had to transport coal from North Selby and Stillingfleet Mines. Roadways in the drive house areas of 5m high by 7m wide, square section stanchion girders were created to house the double, 6.6 K.V. 750kw, steel cord conveyor drives. The South Drive House was situated at the furthest point of the south lateral roadway which loaded onto a lower lateral roadway which delivered via a 2000 tonne staple shaft into the Gascoigne Wood Spine Tunnels.

Stillingfleet Mine developed the east and west lateral headings to the furthest extent and worked faces from 1988. The west side of the mine worked 12 faces, the last being H219s in 1998 and the east of the mine worked 6 faces, the last being H256s in 1995 very near to the North Selby Mine workings. During this period the north lateral headings were developed and a further north east lateral was driven where 2 faces were worked. As the mine progressed northwards a west and east lateral was developed with 9 faces worked from 1995 to 2002.

The South side of the mine had east lateral heading developed and started production in 1995 with H300s and finished with H307s in 2004.

When North Selby and Stillingfleet Mine merged in 1997, reserves became available to be worked from Stillingfleet Mine in the North Selby area. Seven faces were worked in this area, the final face being H853s which finished production in August 2004, one week after H272s.

From production starting in Jan 1988 until closure in August 2004, Stillingfleet Mine worked 49 longwall coal faces, 7 of which were in the original planned area of North Selby Mine. The faces were worked using Anderson Strathclyde AM500, 375 KW D.E.R.D.S shearers with face equipment supplied by Gullick Dobson and Dowty Meco. As the mine progressed, Joy 4LS shearers with Joy face equipment replaced the original equipment on the faces.

List of coal faces at North Selby Mine.

The faces worked at North Selby Mine at the North and South West of the mine.

As you can see from the plan, the faces marked were taken when North Selby was a stand alone mine before the merger with Stillingfleet Mine. Nine faces were mined at North Selby in this area. Four coal faces are shown, but not marked, as they were developed at a later date working from Stillingfleet Mine.

The faces taken at North Selby Mine at the South East of the mine.

As you can see from the plan seven faces were mined at North Selby in this area. One face is unmarked as it was worked from Stillingfleet Mine at a later date. This area of the mine was very hot with heat exhaustion being a major problem due to the working depth of 1100m.

North Selby Mine and Stillingfleet Mine merged in July 1997 but in its short life of 7 years, 16 coal faces were mined. The first face started in November 1990 at North Selby which was H801s.

It was the first face in the country to have a remote face support pump system and supplied the face at 4,500 psi. North Selby Mine was also the first mine in the UK to both develop and use load centres instead of individual gate end boxes to supply the coalface equipment.

On the nightshift of 6th December 1992, North Selby H903s coalface, using an AM 500 DERDS coal cutter sheared 5055m of coal (3.14 miles). This was a European record and along with Thoresby Mine the first time 3 miles of cutting was achieved in a single shift.

The face headings were developed using Lee Norse LN800 Continuous miner. The lateral roadways were developed using Dosco LH 1300 roadheader machines with a Dosco MK3 roadheader driving the west connection to Stillingfleet Mine. As happened at Whitemoor Mine, the heading developments were taken by mining contractors with British Coal/ RJB Mining teams working the coalfaces from 1993.

The faces were equipped with Anderson Strathclyde 375 kw AM500 DERDS or 375kw Joy 4LS DERDS shearers. The face equipment was initially Gullick Dobson and Dowty Meco. Due to mergers of mining equipment suppliers in 1994, Longwall International equipment was used.

List of Coal Faces at Whitemoor Mine.

Whitemoor Mine West and South faces.

Whitemoor Mine North and East faces.

During it’s 10 year life Whitemoor Mine worked 18 longwall coal faces. The machines used to carry out the lateral drivages were Dosco LH1300 and Anderson Strathclyde RH22 roadheaders. The face drivages were developed using Joy CM 12 Continuous miners. From March 1993 all underground tunnelling was carried out by contractors with British Coal/ RJB Mining, men working the coal faces. The faces were worked using 300kw BJD Ace DERDS and 390 KW Joy 4LS DERDS shearers. The face supports and A.F.Cs were supplied initially by Dowty Meco and Gullick Dobson. Due to mergers of the mining equipment suppliers Longwall International equipment was used from 1994 onwards.

Whitemoor Mine face plan showing connections to Riccall Mine.

List of Coal Faces at Riccall Mine

From production starting in January 1988, Riccall Mine was a great producer of coal. It had it periods where individual faces were problematic but due to working multiple faces the production remained high throughout it’s working life. It was the first mine in the complex to produce more than 2 million tonnes in less than a year on 14th March 1992 finishing the year producing 2,200,000 tonnes.The following year year production was up again to 2,579,000 tonnes and in the year of privatisation, Riccall produced 3,060,000 tonnes, the first pit to produce over 3,000,000 tonnes of coal in a year.

In its short life of 16 years Riccall worked 43 longwall coalfaces with exceptional production figures over the life of the pit. It was also the only mine in the Selby Coalfield to work two seams, the Barnsley and Stanley Main seams. The Stanley Main seam faces were designated SM and were worked over the east side coal faces.

List of coal faces at Wistow Mine.

Due to the severe geological and water ingress problems encountered on the first two faces, H01AW and H02AWs at Wistow Mine the mine was totally re-planned. The entire development of Wistow Mine changed from mining longwall faces to a system of single entry coal faces taken from the west side of A Block area of the mine. As the mine developed shortwall and longwall faces were introduced at the east of the mine.

Above: A Block

Above: South West

Above: North East

Above: North East off North Trunk Road

Above: Black Fen No2 and No3 Return

Wistow Mine was the only mine in the Selby coalfield to have water problems and, due to the replanning and redesigning of the mine, full production was not achieved until early 1990. Wistow set many records during its life; it was the first mine in Europe to mine 100,000 tons in a week; it was the first mine to produce 2.5 million tons in less than one year and was the first mine to produce not only 200,000 tons in one week, but a record of nearly 116,000 tonnes from a single coalface in 1995. It also produced 3 million tons in 1994 along with Riccall Mine in the same year. Wistow overcame very difficult mining conditions and had to develop more roadways than any other mine in the complex due to the single entry face system. During its working life Wistow Mine produced not only outstanding production figure but amazing drivage rates to achieve these production figures.

Many thanks to my wife for her spreadsheet and data work on this post.