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	Louis Frost Sydney	Dominion No. 25		Schooner Pond Mine	Old Gardiner Mine

The Louis Frost Notes 1685 to 1962 Dominion No. 25 Colliery Gardiner Seam This colliery was opened on the outcrop of the Gardiner Seam at Gardiner Mines, near the Town of Dominion, in 1941. The pitch of the Gardiner Seam in this area is in the vicinity of 31/4 per cent and when the colliery was opened the transportation system was designed to permit electric trolley locomotives to deliver trains of cars direct to the screening plant on the surface. The Gardiner Seam at this colliery had an average height of 4'0". The coal was of good quality, suitable for coking and metallurgical purposes. Roof and pavement of the seam consisted of weak shale. The mine was not gaseous and the ventilation was provided by an electrically driven "Keith" fan with a rated capacity of 35,000 c.f.m. at a water gauge of 3 inches. The underground workings were completely electrified and worked on a room and pillar system. Pillar recovery was attempted in one section on the West side of the mine, but was abandoned due to a large increase in the make of water in the section. The coal was cut by Goodman self-propelled electrically driven chain coal cutters, and bored with electric rotary drills. In 1952 the mine was completely mechanized and the coal where possible, was loaded onto chain conveyors by 12 BU Joy loaders. The coal was delivered to centralized loading stations by 30 inch wide conveyor belts. Ingersoll Rand Radial Coal Cutters and Jackhammers were used in driving narrow work development places. The main transportation system in the working sections and the main deep was by 20 ton Electric Trolley Locomotive, delivering the coal directly to the screening plant, three locomotives being used for this purpose. All auxiliary transportation by electrically driven haulages of the main and tail and drop hoist types. The surface plant consisted of a motor generator set supplying direct current for the operation of the trolley locomotives and a screening plant of wood and steel construction equipped to handle 200 tons per hour, making Run-of-Mine, Screened and Slack coal. Within the area operated by Dominion No. 25 Colliery, the possible reserves of coal available when the colliery was opened was estimated to be 3.5 million tons. When the colliery was closed for reasons of safety on August 7, 1959, it had during its life produced 2,071,639 long tons of coal from a worked over area of 128 acres. The seam in the location developed by the colliery is overlain across its entire area by a water carrying fault lying at a height determined by boring of sixty feet above the roof of the Gardiner Seam and pitching in the same direction and on the same gradient as the seam. Extensive investigation underground and on the surface following the flooding of the lower portion of the mine in 1954, failed to locate the source of the water, or to isolate it from the unworked portion of the seam. On January 16,1954 a small roof fall occurred near No.4 South Level in the area of a minor fault zone of small displacement. Between this date and March 18, the inflow of water increased from 100 gallons per minute to a maximum of 1954 gallons per minute, as determined by later wier measurements during the dewatering of the flooded sections. The presence of water to this extent, and at a relatively high pressure above the seam, created a very great hazard in the operation of this seam from an unexpected and unavoidable inrush of water, and as a possible recurrence could not be guarded against, it was considered expedient to close the colliery, in the interests of safety and the operation was discontinued after a very exhaustive investigation and the colliery closed on August 7, 1959. It was most unlikely that the remaining portion of the coal which is of somewhat inferior quality, can be profitably recovered with any degree of absolute safety. Shortly after the colliery opened, an unfortunate accident occurred which resulted in the drowning of two workmen. On May 22, 1943, when the colliery main deeps had only reached No. 1 South Levels, No. 3 room, No. 7 Slant on the West side of the deeps, broke through into the workings of the old Gardiner Mine. As a result of the enquiry into the drownings, it was determined that the workings in the old Gardiner Mine had advanced a distance of 325 feet beyond the location shown on the plans available to the Dominion Coal Company when the workings of No. 25 were projected. The old Gardiner Mine had closed in 1893 and had never been worked by the Company.

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Last Modified: 98-01-05

Authored by: Louis Frost

IMPORTANT
The information contained on this site is not provided for the purpose of factual
representation. Instead, it is provided in an historical context. Every effort has
been made to ensure that this information represents the actual content of the
original document authored by Louis Frost for the Dominion Coal Company
on or around 1962. Nevertheless, no warranties are provided in any respect.

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