DASHED AGAIN
AUSTRALIAN HOPES OF COAL
CANBERRA, July 11. - A blunt warning to the Australian public to prepare for restrictions on the use of coal was given today by the Prime Minister, Mr. J. Curtin. "It is a matter of getting more coal' or consuming less," Mr. Curtin said. "We are not getting it, so I am considering the question of restrictions on its consumption." -•
An experiment designed to obtain about 350,000,000 tons of coal left unmined in old workings will begin at Cessnock, New South Wales, next Monday.
This coal is valued at more than £250,000,000. Mining experts estimate that at the present rate of consumption it would last Australia for 30 years. Six-inch holes will be bored through the overburden and top coal. Sand will be poured into the workings and then forced into place by water pressure. This will support the roof while the top layer of unmined coal is extracted. Experts thus hope to win much of the coal now locked in the pillars (solid blocks of coal left as roof supports) and in the tops above the pillars. If the experiment is successful, the life of the Maitland coalfield in New South Wales will be extended by 60 years.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 10, 12 July 1944, Page 4
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204DASHED AGAIN Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 10, 12 July 1944, Page 4
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