Kellingley Colliery - History

History

Kellingley employs about 800 people. In March 2004, the pit received £7.2 million from the Coal Investment Aid Scheme.

Exploratory boreholes sunk in the 1950s established that there were up to seven workable seams of coal at Kellingley. Sinking the two shafts started in earnest in 1960. Sandy and porous geology down to about 600 feet (180 m) was waterlogged and about 36 boreholes around each shaft position had subzero temperature brine pumped through them which froze the ground down to about 640 feet (200 m). The sinking personnel then had to work in subzero temperatures until the shafts were sunk below this frozen ground. The shafts were eventually sunk to a depth of around 870 yards (800 m).

After a concrete lining sealed the shafts, the cooling brine was stopped and the frozen ground allowed to thaw out. Grout, a thin cement mixture, was then pumped, at high pressure, through holes bored through the concrete lining of the shafts, into the water bearing strata. When this set, it sealed out most of the water leaking through into the shafts and stabilized the ground around the upper part of the shafts. The pressure needed to pump in the mixture also caused the ground above to bulge up unevenly, causing the Winding Engine towers mounted above the shafts to tilt slightly. This had been anticipated and provision had been made to jack up each of the four legs that each tower stood upon. This was done regularly during this pumping phase to bring back the towers to the correct alignment. To keep the shafts to the correct alignment, plumb lines were used. Four steel lines, evenly spaced, were suspended around the inside of each shaft, all the way to the bottom of the shafts.

The colliery began production in April 1965. When planning and building the surface infrastructure for the new colliery, facilities were provided for the employment of 3,000 mineworkers but due to updated methods and machinery, only about 2,000 were ever employed there at any one time.