East Cleveland Image Archive

Seeing this image gives me a new respect for the modern breed of miner – this has to be a pretty bad environment to earn a crust in!

As Alan says: ”Milling was done after a heading was mined, if there was still a good grade of Potash in the floor or to regain a passable roof height. If the roof had dropped or the floor had heaved; it was easy tonnage as generally no probe drilling or roof bolting to do, as in usual face mining.”

The Heliminer has now been identified as a 1060 by N. Readman, who also advised: ”The motors go straight through into the head and it has no prop shaft.”

Image and information courtesy of Alan M. Franks, thanks to N. Readman for the identification and update.

You know those car stickers that say ’If you can read this you are too close’ – the mining equivalent would be ’If you can see this it’s too late!” A set of charged holes ready for firing – now you can see what the augers are used for.
Image courtesy of Alan M. Franks.

Now you can see why those stacks are like they are, when the pressure comes on they crush – like the taper on a pit prop they give early indication of an impending problem!!
Image courtesy of Alan M. Franks.