COAL AGE Established 1911— Mcgraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc
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COAL AGE Established 1911— McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc. DEYOTED TO THE OPERATING, TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS PROBLEMS OF THE COAL-MINING INDUSTRy SYDNEY A. HALE, E ditor New York, May, 1936 ♦ Geophysical Windows well above tide, geophysical methods may re- veal natural water channels by which the mines JuST what may we be privileged to see may be drained after drillholes have been sunk through the geophysical window? Thus far, to them. resistivity methods have been used successfully The geophysical window still is a little to find level beds of coal below glacial drift and murky. It is clearer with some coal and some to determine bed-rock outcrops of anthracite rock than others; it gives a Iow rangę of visi- where the seams do not come to the surface. bility except with seismic methods, which, In Spain, structure has been mapped seismically though they give distance, do not give defini- and coal beds have been discovered by drills tion, and which are effective only with the spotted where structure thus determined indi- harder rocks. But in so far as they are effec- cated probabilities. tive, geophysical methods should be used. Seams also have been found in this country Meanwhile, their techniąue should be devel- of which operating concerns theretofore had no oped. knowledge. Such discoveries might be multi- plied, for in the anthracite region seams near the surface often spoon out and spoon in, al- Silicosis Rackets ways covered, however, with a mantle of ob- scuring wash. Moreover, anthracite seams are I nterest in silicosis should be aroused in amazingly prone to split, and one or more of the mining industry, for whenever employees these splits may be entirely undiscovered. can recover damages for silicosis under the When other seams are being stripped, such common law there will be some day an enter- splits are likely to be covered with spoił, and prising attorney who will profit by that fact, when so burdened it is doubtful whether they urging on a host of persons who may or may ever will be found even by improved geophysi not be affected by that disease that they are cal methods. yictims of an insidious malady which, though But the greatest loss is where the coal seam it has not hurt them thus far, will eventually lies undiscovered in the profundities of the end their unhappy lives. Such cases will be mine. It would seem advisable to institute tried in the courts before juries that will be promptly underground geophysical surveys to sympathetic with men who have to spend their find such splits before mining has been aban- days in the dark mines. doned and approach is made impossible. Coal Diagnosis of silicosis is none too certain. also has been lost where breasts have caved or A conflict of evidence is almost inevitable, and loose coal has run down the chute so that no the jurymen unable to weigh the testimony will one now knows how far the breasts extended be disposed to give the plaintiff a verdict. If, or how far the coal above the face of the breast however, this occupational disease is made may have broken away. Geophysical sur- compensable at reasonable rates and the de- veys in lower or higher beds may enable these termination of the issue is allowed to rest with forgotten coal areas to be discovered and a medical board or commissioners, decisions worked and to determine where counters should are less likely to be rendered that will run be constructed to reach them. In level beds counter to the facts and bankrupt the com- panies chosen by the attorney as suitable de- open the door to recovery of some of the pre- fendants. vious losses to competitive fuels, check further Distressing cases of such action by “ ambu- encroachments and thereby ultimately increase lance chasers” warn industry to be on its guard the opportunities for additional mine employ- and get legislation passcd that will assure the ment. Can there be any doubt as to which is workman of proper compensation for damage the preferable road? done and will prevent the payment of blood money to those who have not been injured by the disease. Too often the workman who gets After You a common-law verdict loses all he makes by A LITTLE consideration should convince payments to lawyers, by court fees and pro- the public in the mining regions that it would longed idleness, for any man who wants to be poor policy to clean up mine pollution too prove total disability is well advised if he greatly until sewage pollution is removed, for ąuits work, at least from the time of com- it is acid water that keeps the sewage from mencing suit. Thereafter, also no one will putrefaction. The same is true of other indus- employ him underground, for, winner or loser trial wastes, though many of these are not in of his plea, he bas declared himself a silicotic. semi-urban regions, as is the coal industry, and therefore they are not so helpful as that of coal in abating urban nuisances. Facing Realities But let the coal man not overlook the neces- sities of the situation; some time he and all So MUCH EMPHASIS has been placed upon other industrialists will have to clean their the unemployment problem in the last five years sloppy water. It is perhaps too much to hope that blind attacks upon the machinę as a major that all will start cleaning together and do it or contributing factor in creating that problem in a quinquennium or even a decade, but it will too often have fallen upon sympathetic ears. be done doubtless concurrently and by degrees; As a result, mcntion of “ labor-saving devices” and if good judgment is shown by sanitary com- is almost taboo in polite society and some missioners and industry it may not be a stagger- manufacturers and users of modern eąuipment ing burden for anyone. which might be placed in that category seem Some mine effluents are not acid now but dis- reluctant to advertise their activities. Such charge alkaline waters into acid streams and an attitude, however, helps neither proper rivers. It might be well to study why their understanding of the situation nor a sound effluents are alkaline. Perhaps it is due to an approach to a distressing problem. operational policy not at all directed to that In the coal-mining industry, survival de- end— one successful without intention and not pends not upon abandonment of the machinę helped by a particularly sulphur-free coal. but upon its increasing use. Coal is primarily Some of the worst effluents come from mines in competition with the so-called “laborless” with coal of Iow sulphur content. fuels. Unless coal prices are on a fair com- petitive basis, coal will continue to lose busi ness to its rivals, and opportunities for em- ployment in mining will be further and perma- "Narrow-Minded" nently curtailed. Lower production costs are A c c o r d in g to Senator Norris, father of imperative if coal is to maintain or improve TY A and apparently eager to sire a M V A its position. That is an inescapable fact. (Mississippi Valley Authority), coal men Costs may be reduced without the machinę opposing the competition of federal hydro- by the simple expedient of depressing wage electric power produced as a byproduct of levels so far that the advantage oil and gas grandiose schemes of flood and navigation now have in direct labor charges may be wiped control take “ a narrow-minded view of the out. Or management may lean more heavily matter.” But what, may it be asked, should on the machinę and so reduce costs while mak- the business man do when the government ing a higher wage scalę supportable. Admit- threatens the integrity of his investments, the tedly that may involve some temporary dis- employment of his workers and eventually asks placement of workers, but lower costs will him to pay the bill? Stand up and cheer? 170 COAL AGE — V olA l, No.5 LOW COST AND SAFETY + Keynote of lmprovement Program A t Valley Camp*s Wheeling D ivision Mines By IVAN A. GIVEN Associate Editor, Coal Age AS A R ESU LT of improvements r \ niade largely in the past two years, Wheeling division mines of the Valley Camp Coal Co. now take their place in the growing group of opera- main, face and butt, or room, entries, (Fig. 1), thus saving the expense of tions which have been revised for in- driven at riglit angles to each other. taking it to the outside for disposal. creased efficiency, lower cost and greater Main entries consist of four to six Developnient of new territory is re- safety. Included in the Wheeling divi- headings 10 ft. wide. Six headings, stricted largely to the winter season, sion are the Dartnell and Mobley mines driven in pairs on 35-ft. centers, is the when sufficient entries are driven to take of the Elm Grove Mining Co. of West practice where a long air travel is antici- care of the summer lake trade and other Virginia, Elm Grove, W . Va., and the pated. Distance between pairs of head business for the rest of the year. M in Alexander mine of the Glendale Gas ings is 70 ft., ineasured from the centers ing progress and other activities in a Coal Co., Moundsvilie, W . Va., each of adjacent headings. The resulting particular year are summarized in an- rated at 3,000 tons per day of Pitts- 60-ft.