C—2

During the year a considerable amount of work has been performed in two drives to the surface. These were put through for the purpose of making the main haulage road a direct route to the surface and a return airway respectively. Both these drives have been lined all around with reinforced concrete for a considerable distance. Work is proceeding with the installation of a torpedo fan which is rated to produce 150,000 cubic feet per minute against a 4 in. water-gauge. During December the haulage system was altered at Alison No. 2 Mine. A new endless-rope hauler has been installed on the surface and the mine rope now pulls direct to the surface. A complete new haulage road has been constructed on the surface for the purpose of taking the coal to the screens. Alison Opencast: During the year an opencast venture was commenced on the company's property at the Barker's Road area. This area has opened up very well and coal is now being produced. This coal is hauled in lorries to a siding on the railway-line which runs to the Alison Mines. Boring Programme : During the year boring operations from the surface on the company's property at Rotowaro were proceeded with. These, together with the boring operations from the previous years, have revealed vast deposits of coal in the following areas : Callaghan's Dip Area : Forty bores have been sunk over an area of 400 acres, of which 300 acres proved to be coal-bearing with seams up to 25 ft. thick. Overlaying the mining seams there is opencast coal extending over approximately 43 acres. No. 3 Rotowaro Mine (Stone Drive Area) : Three bores sunk here proved that in the vicinity of the mine workings the coal-seams are split by seams of fireclay. Alison No. 2 Mine : Two bores put down in Rotowaro Township ahead of C Section proved 19 ft. of coal. Crook's Area (East of Rotowaro Railway-station) : Forty bores approximately 5 chains apart here proved up to 13 ft. of coal covering an area of about 70 acres, of which 35 acres could be worked by opencast methods. Maori Farm Area : Seventeen bores here covered 90 acres and proved coal-seams of maximum thickness of 51 ft. Between Maori Farm Area and Wilkie's Dip. Rotowaro Mine, a bore proved the coal-seams to be split by intrusions of fireclay. Huntly West: Thirty chains south of Ralph's Mine workings eighteen bores sunk proved, in some cases, coal up to 40 ft. thick, thus disclosing a further coal area here of 50 acres. Alison Nos. 1 and 2 Mines : At the end of the year thirty-one bores had been sunk to the north and east of the Alison Mines, proving seams up to 22 ft. thick and disclosing many acres of both opencast coal and areas suitable for mining. Boring in this locality was still proceeding at the end of the year. Glen Afton No. 1 Colliery (W. C. Inglis (First Class), Mine-manager).—Coal-winning operations during the year have been carried on by 17\ pairs of miners placed in the L, H, and E2 Sections. The L Section, which is located inbye from the terminus of the main rope road, is a small section lying between two faults, where 5 pairs have been engaged on pillar-extraction. The work of extraction has presented very little difficulty and practically complete extraction of pillars has been achieved. The area from which nearly all the coal has been removed will be abandoned at an early date, and in anticipation of this preparatory work is well advanced towards the opening-up of another pillar section outbye from the present terminus of haulage road. In the E2 Section 10 pairs have been employed in the extraction of pillars. The conditions here have not been so good as in the L Section, due to the existence of a number of step faults inducing slippery lines of break up into the roof stone. These have caused extreme care to be exercised in the removal of the pillars on account of their treacherous nature and necessitated erection of extra timber throughout the whole of the section. On the other hand, good outputs have been secured, due to the physical structure of the coal being influenced during the period of faulting, evidence of this being seen in the existence of numerous lines of break, these being in the nature of cleats in the seam rendering it more free to work. In the H Section 2\ pairs have been employed opening up a strip of coal placed between two faults, one of these being a step-up fault of approximately 40 vertical feet displacement. This fault is really the continuation of the J Hill 60 ft. fault. In addition to the foregoing number of men, a pair of shiftmen have been employed driving a stone drift on a grade of 1 in 7 to cross the 40 ft. faulting and so gain access to an area of pillars in K Section ; these have been left for a number of years. This drive is now completed and preparatory work in connection with the extension of endless-rope haulage system is well in hand. Glen Afton No. 2 (Mac Donald Colliery) (H. Stirling (First Class), Mine-manager).—Coal-winning during the year has been carried on in the E and H Pillar Sections, and for the greater portion of the year in H2 Right Panel. Pillar-extraction has been completed in H 4 Left and H 3 Right Panels. In addition to these pillar sections, development work has been carried on in the HI Left Panel and the extension of K rope road. Two panels were in course of being developed at the inbye end of the K rope road, this work being completed towards the end of the year, and it is proposed to start pillarextraction in this area early in the New Year. In K Section sufficient coal-dust to cause apprehension was being made during mining. With a view to improving the working-conditions and at the same time raise the safety factor it was decided to spray the working-faces and for some distance back from the face with water. This decision materialized in the installing of a high-pressure pump supplying

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