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"Mr L F Braun" <braunli1@pilot.msu.edu> wrote in message
news:39892EAA.BF50F2E3@pilot.msu.edu...
> I'd always been under the impression that the grade of coal in the exposed
> seams wasn't quite up to RN standards (they only want the best anthracite,
> have to keep that smoke down to a minimum!)
As far as I'm aware, that wasn't a problem, as steam ships were pretty damn
thin on the ground back then. Coal was used for heating and furnaces,
mostly. Besides, only the couple of metres of coal which is closest to the
surface suffer from environmental damage. Once you tunnel far enough into
the seam, it's up to its full grade.
> > The first coal mine discovered by geological survey, was the Balmain • seam,
> > which began operations in mid 1820's.
>
> Whereabouts is that? I didn't know any extensive geological surveys were • made
> outside the immediate areas of major settlement (~80km from shore) until
> nearer the end of the 19th century. That's kind of interesting, given • that
> most of the (future) US territory wasn't surveyed by that time!
Balmain is about 5 km due west of Sydney Cove, which is the original Sydney
settlement. In fact, they were mining for a period of time directly under
Sydney Harbour. The mine closed about 1930's, I think.
> Magnificent that they've actually got a book on the history of coal mining • in
> a specific region; everything I've read is horribly steeped in • generalisations
> across huge swaths of territory.
Coal mining has always been very big in Australia, (still is the single
biggest industry, in terms of $), and the AusIMM (Australian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy), is always keen on printing books. :) The book I'm
referring to is very good on detail, since there are only a few major
coal-mining areas, and most of them have a well-documented history.
later,
David Drew.
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: PS Enterprise
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| (...) I'd always been under the impression that the grade of coal in the exposed seams wasn't quite up to RN standards (they only want the best anthracite, have to keep that smoke down to a minimum!)--but I may be wrong, because I'm going off the (...) (24 years ago, 3-Aug-00, to lugnet.loc.au, lugnet.pirates)
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