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is being worked. This has an average thickness of about 130 feet, so that it is very much thicker than any of the seams found in the United Kingdom. The thinnest portion of the seam is found at the eastern end, where the thickness is about 35 feet; at the western end it is about 200 feet in thicknese, while at one part the thickness of the seam is estimated to be about 400 feet. A conservative estimate of the quantity of coal in the field places the amount at 800,000,000 tons.
The seam now being worked is about one mile in width, and slopes at an angle of about 30 degrees towards the river, Its outcrop is found at the foot of the range of hills which lie behind the town, and it is here that the coal is at present being worked. Parallel to, and at a distance of about a mile or half a mile from. the river a large fault occurs in the strata, the depth of the seam at this point being approximately 3,500 feet.
Mining Operations.
The coal is at present being worked in three ways: (a) From pits, (b) inclines, and (c) open working. Of these the last will be dealt with separately.
There are at present four pits and four inclines in operation, the names of the pits being Chienchinchai (or “C” pit), Oyama, Toge and Laobutai (or "L",pit). Of these the deepest is the Oyama pit, which strikes the seam at a depth of 1,160 feet and has a depth of 1,234 feet. The Togo pit is 930 feet in depth, while the other two are each, about 320 feet deep.
The names of the four slopes now in use are Yangpaipn (worked in conjunction with the Togo pit), Wantawu (worked in conjunction with the "L" pit), Lungpukan and Heintun. A new shaft, to be known as the Lungpu pit, is now being sunk at the extreme eastern end of the concession, and has already reached a depth of 400 feet. The total depth of this shaft, which it is expected will be completed in about two years. will be approximately 2,500 feet.
Method of Working.
At the outset the coal was worked by the pillar and stall system, but about 1912 the sand-flushing system, by which a very much larger percentage of the coal can be extracted, was introduced. The results obtained were highly satisfactory, and the system is now in use throughout the mine, the plaat connected therewith being of the most up-to-date type. Sand is procurable in plenty from the bed of the River Hun, whence it is transported by electric railway to the pits, into which it is Aushed by high water pressure. By these means about 80 per cent. of the coal can be extracted, and considerable saving of expense is effected in labour and the cost of mine timbers.
The coal is blasted at the working face, the powder used being dynamite with 50 per cent. of non-explosive matter mixed with it. The mines are comparatively free from fire-damp, and explosions are of rare occurrence, though there have been disastrous fires at the mines, e.g., in 1918, when there was a big explosion in the Oyama pit involving the loss of a large number of lives.
The underground haulage is mainly mechanical and where mechanical means are not available coolies are used. There are no pit ponies. Open Workings.
There are two open-cut mines in operation at Fushun and these form one of the principal features of the colliery. As stated above, the seam now being worked comes to the surface at the foot of the hills forming the valley of the Hun River, and in April 1914 operations were commenced with a view to mining the coal at the western end of the concession from the surface on a scale hitherto attempted. The work has progressed satisfactorily and some four years ago another open-cut mine was commenced nearer the hills and on the other side of the existing railway line. These two open workinge are eventually to be joined, and the work of mining the coal from the surface will be continued in an easterly and northerly direction right under the existing town It will therefore be necessary to move the present station and to build a new town, which will be situated at a spot much nearer to the river. The scheme has in fact- already been taken in hand, as no new buildings of any kind are being erected in the present town. It is anticipated that the two open cuts will be linked up in from two to three years' time.
Coal from the open workings can naturally be obtained with a much smaller outlay than in the case of pits, and this is especially the case at present, when the workings are comparatively shallow. All that requires to be done at present is to clest away the upper layer of soil and stone until the coal is reached, though as the seam
dips from south to north a layer of shale which overlies the coal and increases in thickness with the depth of the seam has also to be removed. And it is here that the principal obstacle to the further development of the open workings will be met with, as the problem of the disposal of the shale presente considerable difficulty. Hitherto the shale has been piled up round the lip of the workings, but this has not proved altogether satisfactory as, owing to the existence of a comparatively high percentage of oil in the shale, spontaneous combustion occurs when it is exposed to the heat of the sun, while the fumes from the burning shale make the town anything but a pleasant place in which to live when the wind is in a certain quarter. To avoid this difficulty and has been thrown on the shale; but there is a limit to the extent to which this can be done, and the problem of the removal of the shale is now engaging the serious attention of the authorities. How serious the problem is will be realised when it is stated that the management of the colliery are planning to work the coal by means of this Bystem to a depth of 1,000 feet. The shale, however, is said to contain about 8 gallons of heavy oil to the ton, and there is a possibility that plant may be installed with a view to the extraction of the oil as a by-product.
But, however this may be, it is certain that in the course of a few years, provided the open-cut system is further developed, large hauling plants will be required. At present the depth reached is only from 100 to 120 feet and comparatively little plant is required as coolie labour is abundant and cheap.
The present daily output of the open workings is about 1,000-tons.
Plant.
The winding, pumping, ventilating and hauling plant in use at the various pits and inclines is of various makes-British, German and American predominating.
There are two power plants from which current is supplied to all the pits and workings. The first was installed when the colliery was first taken over by the railway company, and is equipped with two Parsons turbo-generators of 1,000 kilowatts each, while one Curtis turbo-generator of 5,000 kilowatts was added later. There are ten Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers. This plant is situated near the Oyana pit, to which it supplies power as well as to the other workings in that part of the concession.
The second power plant the Mond gas plant was first installed in 1914, and originally had a gasifying capacity of 240 tons of coal per day. Since then the plant has been doubled in size, and there are now thirty-six producers, the generating plant consisting of two sets of 1,500- and three sets of 3,000-kilowatt turbo-generators. Refuse coal is used for the plant, and the proportion of nitrogen in the coal being comparatively high, fair results have been obtained. The quantity of coal required, however, to produce 1 kilowatt of power is somewhat excessive, being as much as 7 lb.
Of the by-products, the sulphate of ammonia is principally exported to foreign countries, while the tar is used by the railway company for preparing railway sleepers and other purposes. During the war large quantities of sulphate of ammonia were sent to the Dutch East Indies for use in the sugar plantations, and owing to the high prices prevailing considerable profits were made out of this branch of the mining business. There are two sets of sulphuric acid producers with a daily capacity of 50 tons.
A third power plant is now in course of erection near the river.
Coke,
There are thirty coking ovens at the mines, hut they are not at present in use, The railway company's principal need for coke is in connection with the blast furnaces at the Anslian Iron Works, but it is found more profitable to manufacture the coke on the spot, and the coal for this purpose is therefore first conveyed to Anshan. The coal from the eastern end of the concession is the most suitable for the manufacture of coke, and it is for this reason that the South Manchuria Railway Company have acquired the rights over the Talien Mine, which adjoins the Fushun concession, and which produces col suitable for the production of coke. It is proposed to mine the coal on the Talier concession from the new pit mentioned above, as being in course of construction at the extreme end of the Fushun arva.
Nature of Coal.
It
Fushun coal is of fairly uniform quality, though, as stated above, that found at the eastern end is better suited for coking. In colour it is a lustrous black; it burus readily, is rich in volatile matter, and has a heating power of about 7,000 calories, is very suitable for consumption in locomotive and marine engines and also for gas making. The quantity of sulphur found in the coal is small, as is also the proportion
of asb.
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