FIGHT AGAINST GAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 114, 15 May 1924, Page 11

FIGHT AGAINST GAS.

BELLBIRD REOPENED.

MAKING MIXING HISTORY.

(From Onr Own Correspondent.)

SYDNEY, May 8.

Mining history is being made at the Bellbird Mine, Cessnock, near Newcastle, New South Wales, where unique methods have been adopted to cleanse the shafts and tunnels of the deathdealing gases they are known to contain.

Bellbird, it will be remembered, was the scene of one of the worst mining disasters in the records of mining in New South Wales, and after the numerous explosions a fire started. When the survivors had been rescued, the mine was scaled down and left for six months, and it is hoped that by this time whatever fire there was—it was not ascertained whether the blaze was extensive—will have burned itself out.

Preparations for the reopening of the shaft have been in train for months, and already several hundreds, of' feet of the tunnels have been opened up. The method of reopening the colliery is understood to .be unique, in Australia, at least. The old method wae to unseal the entrance, and then working parties had to enter the pit to arrange for its ventilation and seal off any sections considered dangerous. In those circumstances there was ever present the risk of explosion or a recurrence of the fire.

But the method employed at BelTbird, arrived at after numerous conferences and carried out under the direction of mining experts, should prove of immense interest to mining men in all parte of the world. Working In Relays. Armed with self-contained breathing apparatus, parties of four men, working in relays, are opening the tunnels in sections. They enter the airtight chamber at the opening, of the tunnel, and from there make their wav into the gas-filled tunnel. The first party on Tuesday, carrying motor horns for communication with one. another, safety lamps, and a signal bell, cleared the track of skips left there when the mine was sealed, hauled in a truck loaded with timber, and prepared everything in readiness for the next party. . The second four advanced forty-four yards into the tunnel, and then constructed an airtight wall with the timber, which was specially grooved and tongued, over which they erected brattice covering. This work completed, they withdrew, and then the work of clearing that section of gas was begun. In this manner it is proposed to treat the whole of the mine, and it is considered that the sections of fortyfour yards provided for the safety of the men working, and are sufficient to clear at a time. It will be a slow process, but eventually the whole length of the tunnels will be so treated, and then the big fans will be set to work to pump fresh air through the. whole mine.

The bodies of the men killed at the time of the explosion are over a mile down the tunnel, and it will be some days before they are reached, if they were left whole by the terrific blasts. Trained Ken at Work. Interviewed on the field of .operations, Mr. Angus, chairman of directors, was sanguine of a successful clearance. "We have the best and most modern authority for the class of work to be done," he said, "and the men have 'been trained , for their, task. This is a very gaseous coal, and, of course, we cannot use the air-fan until it has been ascertained whether fire is present still. Bcllbird is one of the best ventilated collieries in Australia, and so tremendous is the draught admitted by the fans, that if it reached a fire in .a dormant state it -would mean the loss of the colliery altogether. "Of course, we may find that the fire has not done as much damage as was expected, or that the force of the explosions was diminished by heavy falls of coal blocking its exit. Some think that the explosions found their outlet in the fan shaft, saving the mine from greater damage down below. Probably some of the 'bodies have been consumed by fire or buried under the falls of coal.

"Once the manager makes up his mind that the fan can be set going we can clear the mine of foul air in 24 hours."

The greatest interest in the operations at Bellbird is being taken all over Australia, and all papers are featuring the details of the work.