

SOUTH BULL! AND BKLLA.MBI COLLIE1UKS. 18!> 



recent than the dykes. It would appear that these rolls 

 are purely local in their origin, and from facts collected in 

 connection with them, it would seem that the shales forming 

 the floor had swollen, possibly due to an access of water, and 

 in order to re-adjust itself to the altered conditions, formed 

 corrugations and contorted the coal, which, being soft and 

 fairly thick, took up the brunt of the force, transmitting 

 but little to the roof-shale. Gases may also have assisted in 

 developing the pressure. 



Four tunnels are used at the South Bulli colliery; coal 

 is hauled out of two, while the other two are used for air and 

 travelling ways. At a point a mile and a half from daylight, 

 four intakes come together, and from there onward four 

 roadways are carried forward. The haulage roads are twelve 

 feet wide and 7ft. Gin. to 8ft. high. Parallel roads are twenty 

 yards apart from centre to centre, and cut-throughs are made 

 between them about every forty yards. There is a solid bar- 

 rier of coal 55 yards wide, between the haulage ways and the 

 working places, which are only broken through every 20 

 chains for side roads. These side drifts are driven in such 

 a direction that they cross the stone rolls at right angles 

 in order that the bords driven off them can be put in parallel 

 to the stone rolls. As the roof is not good enough for ten 

 yard bords to justify the extra expense of timbering, the 

 bords are made eight yards wide. When extracting the pil- 

 lars, a skirting is first taken out parallel to the bord and 

 rock roll, and then the coal 011 the rock roll itself is mined. 

 For blasting the softer parts of the seam, bobbinite is used ; 

 for ordinary pick ground, monobel; while for heavy shots, 

 e.g., over coal cutter holing, kolax is used. Saxonite is em- 

 ployed for rock blasting. 



A new tunnel is being driven in the four-foot seam below 

 the Bulli seam, underneath the old workings ; this will save 

 straightening and repairing the old haulage ways, and will 

 enable the coal of the pillars overhead to be won in e the most- 

 economical manner. 



The Bellambi workings are connected with those of the 

 South Bulli, but they have two tunnels of their own. The 

 haulage is done by the main and tail rope system, and steam 

 power only is used at this mine. 



Steam is generated at the power house in Lancashire 

 boilers, the ashes from which fall through a plate in front 

 to skips below, which convey them to the waste heap. Feed- 

 water heaters are employed at this colliery; that for the haul- 

 age engine raises the feed-water to ITOdeg. F., while that at 

 the fan engine raises the temperature of the water to 206deg. F. 



The old generating plant for 105 k.w. is one of the 

 General Electric Company's, of New York, 60 cycle alterna- 



