RECONSTRUCTING FRENCH COALPITS.
The task of reconstruction is being pushed on with feverish activity in the Nord and Pas de Calais among the mines destroyed by the Germans, and every day brings the moment nearer when they will once more be in full swing.
The report of the work accomplished during 1921 shows wonderful results. In the Nord the four groups have been linked up again; pumping operations are virtually terminated at Azincourt, Thivenceile, and Vimy; and at Eecai'pelie the lower stages of all pits will be dry by the end. of this year. Between now and June the Amaury, d'Aiemberg, Temple, R«ux, and Blaise-Borne pits will be dry, and the remaining five pits will be cleared by the same date next year. In the' Pas de Calais, at.Dourgas, Courrieres. Lens, and LieVin, many pits are already- dry and in others < water is fast-disappear-ing from the bottom, up to the present water have been pumped out. Reconstruction j>f . pit bottoms is proceeding apace, considering the appalling havoc worked by the enemy. Nearly 2000 miles of galleries had to be rebuilt, of which 600 miles had been abandoned during the German occupation and 1375 miles systematically flooded. The reconstruction of the bottom is the all-important task, and it can only be carried out step by step. The advance varies between 40 and .20 inches a: day, and workers liaVe to face the constant menace of landslides and of asphyxiation by gas produced when a floor is ,laid bare. „
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Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17452, 12 May 1922, Page 13
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247RECONSTRUCTING FRENCH COALPITS. Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17452, 12 May 1922, Page 13
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