Open-Cast Mine Ablaze

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30091, 27 March 1963, Page 12

Open-Cast Mine Ablaze

(NJS. Press Association) AUCKLAND, March. 26 A fierce fire is raging unchecked in a three-acre section of tiie Maramarua opencast coalfields, six miles from Mercer. Late tonight tongues of flame reaching hundreds of feet into the air roared from the mouths of old mining tunnels and lit up the whole field as gangs of workmen struggled to complete a pipeline to the fire. The mine manager, Mr G. W. McGregor, estimated that 50.000 tons of coal, worth £150,000, would be destroyed. The fires burst out with explosive fury at 8 a.m. today. Men working on the field were startled by a sudden explosion and flames shooting from the mouth of an old tunnel on a major spur in the field. The area was not being mined at the time. A small heap of coal on the spur had been seen smouldering on Saturday; but

it was not considered dangerous. Fed by a hurricane-force draught which swept through a network of tunnels, the fire rapidly took hold of the complete spur. Attempts to extinguish the blaze with a small hose near the site failed, and workers began to build a 900 ft lOindiameter pipeline from Large sumps flooded w’ith drainage water in the middle of the field.

A decision early in the day to blast the spur with gelignite to expose the fire so' it could be smothered . with overburden was abandoned when the spur became too hot and insecure for the exptoeive to be drilled and placed. By the evening the heat from the fire was so intense that it ignited coal lying on the floor of the field 50 yards from the blazing tunnels. Men working unprotected on the pipeline near the spur were affected by the heat but continued at their task. Water sprayed on the pipeline to cool it enough to be handled immediately turned to steam.

. A conveyer belt 100 ft long which carries coal from the floor of the field up to the aerial buckets was in danger of catching fire. A hose was played on it continuously to check the threat to the vital 3ft rubber belt.

The intensity of the fire was caused by the terrific draught in the tunnels. These were mined in 1900 and were about 30ft in diameter and 90 yards long. "Jt may go for days,” said Mr McGregor tonight. “We will just have to keep at it. "Tbe new pipeline installed today by about 20 men was a great effort It will enable us to bring two more hoses into play.’’ Mr McGregor said the men would try to flood the tower part of the tunnels. The mine is owned by Maramarua Coalfields, Ltd., owned jointly by the Government and the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd. Coal in the spur on fire is sufficient to keep the Mercer steam power station operating for at least a month.