Prediction of rotary drilling penetration rate in iron ore

[Anita Bensoussane]

All they did was dig out the tunnels, no pit props or anything, but there were no rock falls.

If I remember correctly, most of the tunnels in the Great Orme Copper Mines are pretty narrow so I suppose that minimised the chance of rock falls.

About six weeks ago my son and I went to see my daughter in Birmingham and the three of us went on a Dudley canal trip which was mostly underground, passing through canal tunnels and limestone mines. It was very interesting. Mining limestone used to be so hazardous - because of limestone dust and accidents - that a miner typically only lived to the age of 27. (We also visited Winterbourne House, whose gardens are absolutely beautiful, and did an escape room with an Alice in Wonderland theme).

[Moonraker]

I have been researching the mining of treacle. Was it in Wonderland where this was mentioned?

The village of Sabden in Lancashire cultivated a considerable body of folklore about local treacle mining in the 1930s. The local newspaper helped foster the myth, publishing numerous stories about the fictitious mines.

The paper mills around Maidstone in Kent were known as "The Tovil Treacle Mines" by locals, after the area where one of the mills owned by Albert E. Reed was situated. The company helped the myth with a float in Maidstone carnival with a "treacle mine" theme.

One suggested source of the story in this area is a rumour that the paper industry was threatened during the Second World War because there was no imported timber. Fermentation of straw was tried, creating a sticky goo. There were attempts to make paper from other than rags in the 19th century and an early commercial success was achieved by Samuel Hook and his son, Charles Townsend Hook, using straw at Upper Tovil Mill in the 1850s. The road next to Upper Tovil Mill became known, and was later named, as Straw Mill Hill. To produce pulp, the straw was cooked in hot alkali. After separation of the fibre, the remaining liquid looked like black treacle. Upper Tovil Mill closed in the 1980s and the site was used for a housing estate.

Tudeley and Frittenden in Kent are also said to have had treacle mines. A tank wagon on the Kent and East Sussex Railway was painted in sham "Frittenden Treacle Mines" livery in 2009.

Suggestions of a treacle mine in Buxted were published by the "Friends of Horwich".

Tadley treacle mines had a local hotel named after them and a Tadley Treacle Fair is held. Legend says the name derives from using treacle tins to store money because banks could not be trusted. The tins were buried around the village. Criminals mined for tins.

As with copper mining - and much of coal mining, there is little shafting being done these days.

[pete9012S]

As with copper mining - and much of coal mining, there is little shafting being done these days.

A most sobering post Nigel.
Oh, if only it was mines and not people who end up getting shafted these days.
Still, there are quite a lot of good people about.

[John Pickup]

We forgot to mention the jam butty mines in Knotty Ash.
Pete, have you read the latest edition of Iron Ore Monthly, it came out last week. Some very pertinent debate about how certain sub-strata configurations were formed by volatile extreme heat which actually decreased their porosity. I would have expected the opposite.
Actually, the wife bought a copy of Iron Ore Monthly mistakenly reading the title as Iron More Monthly. She's always on the lookout for tips to get her laundry pressed.

[Anita Bensoussane]

...there is little shafting being done these days.

Probably because of coronavirus restrictions such as social distancing!

[Lucky Star]

Best comment yet.

[pete9012S]

Yes, superb comment.
Also, many thanks John for the tip about the iron ore magazine.

My newsagent, Pete The Pipsqueek, loves the challenge of getting obscure titles for me.

[Courtenay]

Mining used to be the main industry many years ago down here, Pete. There's disused tin mines all over Cornwall. And dangerous shafts now made safe and blocked up. I believe a few are still open in the Redruth area for visitors to experience what it must have been like. All part of the Cornish history now long gone.

Yes, I've been to a couple of preserved tin mines during holidays in Cornwall. The "Poldark Mine" near Helston (real name Wheal Roots, but naming it after the famous series grabs more people's attention, obviously) is an 18th-century mine that was abandoned before modern machinery was invented, so it gives one a sense of what mining must have been like for most of its very long history in Cornwall. I've also visited a modern one, Geevor Tin Mine near Penzance, much of which has been preserved exactly as it was when the mine — one of the last operating ones in Cornwall — closed down in 1987.

I can't pretend to make head nor tail of all the technicalities of mining (ancient or modern) — and it's not a job I would ever want to do even if I were a bloke — but it's fascinating from a historical standpoint!

In the 1970s tv series The Goodies, on one occasion, when Tim, Graeme and Bill were prospecting in Cornwall, they found a cream mine followed by a scone and jam mine.
Does anybody else remember this particular episode?

The Bunfight at the OK Tearoom. Possibly the finest half-hour of comedy, ever, in the world. I think so anyway.

I hope they put the jam on first...

[dsr]

The Bunfight at the OK Tearoom. Possibly the finest half-hour of comedy, ever, in the world. I think so anyway.

I hope they put the jam on first...

Actually, they found something else to fall out about. Whether scone was pronounced (correctly) with a short O, or with a long O.