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	Louis Frost Sydney	Scotia No. 7		Old No. 3	Alexander Colliery

The Louis Frost Notes 1685 to 1962 NOVA SCOTIA STEEL AND COAL COMPANY LTD. No. 7 Colliery This mine was started as a strip mine operation on the Lloyd's Cove Seam in 1946, and was continued underground by the Company as a completely mechanized colliery, when the depth of overburden in the stripping operation reached an average of 60 feet and the operation was discontinued by the stripping contractors. The colliery was located immediately in front of the abandoned Oxford Fort, 10,300 feet northwest of Florence Colliery and approximately 1600 feet northwest of the workings of the abandoned Alexander, or Old No. 7 Colliery. The surface stripping operation was discontinued in 1950, having produced 115,195 long tons. The underground workings were first confined to a longwall operation to a point 1,000 feet from the shoreline. This was done in order to provide room for a future shaft operation to work the undersea coal. The depth of cover at the shoreline was only 155 feet. Approximately 50 per cent of the underground workings were longwall and the balance of the coal in the land operation was recovered on a room and pillar system, with rooms 25 ft. and crosscuts 18 ft. wide. Pillars 20 ft. wide and 75 ft. long were left in to support the surface overburden. The room and pillar operation was completely mechanized with an Arc Shearer for cutting and a Joy loader for loading the coal. The coal was transported to the surface on chain and belt conveyors. The coal, which averaged 80 inches in thickness, was a good steam coal and suitable for domestic use. However, it had a tendency to fire spontaneously when stored in bulk. The underground operation produced 153,866 long tons of coal, with a total of 269,062 long tons from this operation which was finally discontinued on April 30, 1956.

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Last Modified: 98-01-06

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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