National Coal Board Research Articles

An example of the use of bacteriophage as a groundwater tracer

A recent experiment at the site of Coedely Spoil Heap (National Coal Board Tip. No. 214) in Glamorganshire, Wales, indicates that the injection of bacteriophage grown under laboratory conditions has a potentially useful rôle to play in future studies of groundwater movement. In the experiment, the movement of shallow groundwater beneath the tip was traced over distances of up to 680 m, confirming deductions which had been made previously from a study of the hydrogeological characteristics of the site. As a tracer, bacteriophage do not seem to suffer absorption in certain media as experienced with various other tracers, particularly organic dyes.

Assessment of radiological progression of simple pneumoconiosis in individual miners.

Liddell, F. D. K. (1974). British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 31, 185-195. Assessment of radiological progression of simple pneumoconiosis in individual miners. The studies reported aimed to determine the best method of assessing radiological progression of simple pneumoconiosis in the individual, so that his progression score could be related to other known information about him. The main concern was with subjects for whom three serial posteroanterior chest radiographs were available at approximately quinquennial intervals. As in other investigations, the 12-point scale of the National Coal Board elaboration led to markedly lower observer error and variability than did the 4-point International Labour Office classification, without distorting levels of progression. Side-by-side reading led to substantially lower observer error and variability than did independent reading. Although the levels of progression in side-by-side reading were on average a little lower than in independent reading, the effect varied between readers and sessions, being frequently reversed. Of the three possible methods of side-by-side assessment, the only one without contraindictions was that in which all three films for each subject were viewed together, and there were some specific indications for this approach. Viewing only the first and last films led to some loss of information; viewing all three possible pairs was very expensive of time, both in organization and in actual reading, and was not entirely consistent (additive); and disguise of temporal order of the films proved impractical. It is concluded that the method of choice for assessing progression in the individual from serial films at roughly quinquennial intervals is to view all films together in known temporal order, recording into the most detailed classification available.

Planning for the future in coalmining

David Jones' article on North Sea Oil rightly stresses that energy planning, with its manpower and training implications, can be done effectively only over the longer term. Recent events have discredited the impression, commonly held in the 1960s, that sources of energy could be turned on and off like a tap to correspond with short‐term fluctuations in their price. Over the years, the National Coal Board have repeatedly emphasised the hard geological fact that coalmining capacity, unless it is continuously worked, can so deteriorate that it might be lost for ever. Much the same kind of consideration applies to coalmining skills. They cannot be turned on and off like a tap either. They take time to acquire, and people are not going to acquire them unless they have some assurance that they are going to be able to use them.

Recent developments in strata bolting in National Coal Board mines in the U.K. Proc. Symposium on Rock Bolting, Wollongong, 1971 : Carr, F Nat. Coal Board, Doncaster, GB 8F, IT, 3R. Australian Inst. Min. Metall. Illawarra Branch, 1971, 20P

Recent developments in strata bolting in National Coal Board mines in the U.K. Proc. Symposium on Rock Bolting, Wollongong, 1971 : Carr, F Nat. Coal Board, Doncaster, GB 8F, IT, 3R. Australian Inst. Min. Metall. Illawarra Branch, 1971, 20P

National Coal Board Medical Service Annual Report 1971-72

National Coal Board Medical Service Annual Report 1971-72

National Coal Board Service: Annual report, 1971–1972, Chief Medical Officer, Hobart House London

National Coal Board Service: Annual report, 1971–1972, Chief Medical Officer, Hobart House London

A radiographic survey of monumental masonry workers in Aberdeen.

<b>Lloyd Davies, T. A., Doig, A. T., Fox, A. J., and Greenberg, M. (1973).</b><i>British Journal of Industrial Medicine,</i><b>30,</b> 227-231. <b>A radiographic survey of monumental masonry workers in Aberdeen.</b> A survey of radiographic appearances of the lungs of monumental masonry workers in Aberdeen was carried out to determine the present prevalence of abnormalities and to serve as a standard for future comparisons in view of changes in methods of working. No major change could be detected in the status of these granite workers in Aberdeen over the past 20 years but the different methods of survey used by Mair in 1951 and by the present study did not allow of strict comparison. Chest radiographs were reported on by three readers independently using the National Coal Board elaboration of the ILO classification and a score was given to each film using Oldham9s method. Multiple regression analysis showed that ϰ-ray changes were related to years in granite but progression was slow in comparison with foundry workers. The prevalence of radiographic appearances of category 1 or greater was 3·0% overall and 4·6% for workers in dusty jobs. Evidence of pneumoconiosis was not observed in workers exposed for less than 20 years. With the environmental control attained the threshold limit values for respirable dust were not often much exceeded.

Mortality of British coal miners in 1961.

<b>Liddell, F. D. K. (1973).</b><i>Brit. J. industr. Med.,</i><b>30,</b> 15-24. <b>Mortality of British coal miners in 1961.</b> In an earlier enquiry, a sizeable proportion of deaths officially ascribed to coalmining occupations was shown to have been in men who had worked in the industry but not in jobs specific to coalmining, or who had left the mines and taken up other employment. This led to overstatement of mortality among miners, and particularly among face workers. A new coding of occupations was introduced in 1960, and the present investigation was concerned with all 5 362 men aged 20 to 64 who died in 1961 and were recorded as having last worked in a coalmining occupation or for the National Coal Board. The occupation at the time of last employment was determined from colliery records or after special enquiry by medical officers of health, and again was found to be at considerable variance with that on the death certificate. `Promotion9 into coalmining occupations existed in all coalfields and depended on age at death and year of last appearance at work. `Promotion9 to the face was particularly marked; however, more men had been working in the industry than were recorded as in specifically coalmining occupations. The effect of retirement from the coalface to other mining work was investigated. In occupied miners underground, mortality was less than in all occupied and retired males, substantially so at the face. Miners generally had high rates of deaths from accidents and pneumoconiosis, and low rates for lung cancer. For most other causes, face workers had very low rates, while other underground workers and surface workers had rates below and above the national rates for occupied and retired males. Death rates were higher in Scotland than in the other British coalfields.

National Coal Board Medical Service and Medical Research Annual Report

<h3>Abstract</h3> Ontogenetic data obtained by synchrotron microtomography of a marginal jawbone of <i>Lophosteus superbus</i> (Late Silurian, 422 Million years old), the phylogenetically basalmost stem osteichthyan, reveal developmental relationships between teeth and ornament that are not obvious from the adult morphology. The earliest odontodes are two longitudinal founder ridges formed at the ossification center. Subsequent odontodes that are added lingually to the ridges turn into conical teeth and undergo cyclic replacement, while those added labially achieve a stellate appearance. The stellate odontodes deposited directly on the bony plate are aligned with the alternate files of the teeth. Successive odontodes overgrowing the labial tooth rows become tooth-like and the replacement teeth near to them are ornament-like. We propose that teeth and ornament are modifications of a single odontode system regulated and differentiated by the oral and dermal signals; signal cross-communication between the two domains can occur around the oral-dermal boundary.

Appendix. Faulting in the Kent coalfield

Nearly all the information, available on the faulting in the Kent Coalfield is from provings in the workings of the four collieries from which coal has been won extensively — Chislet, Snowdown, Tilmanstone and Betteshanger. The known faulting at Snowdown and Tilmanstone has recently been studied in considerable detail by the author for the purpose of preparing conjectural fault-patterns in areas planned for development at these collieries. These faultpatterns were required for exercises in Geosimplan, a simulation technique developed by the National Coal Board’s Geological Branch for measuring the likely economic outcome of working, over a period of a few years, areas in which there is uncertainty regarding the detailed geology.

Basement control of structures in the Mesozoic rocks in the Strait of Dover region, and its reflexion in certain features of the present land and submarine topography

The purpose of this paper is to review current information and opinions on the structures of the concealed Palaeozoic rocks of southeastern England and adjacent parts of northwestern Europe. The authors attempt a regional synthesis, which suggests that certain structural trends in these older rocks have been reactivated several times in the subsequent history of the area, and in some cases control the alinement of present-day surface features. We have drawn on the accumulated data of field surveys, deep boreholes and geophysical investigations carried out by the Institute of Geological Sciences, and also information obtained during the commercial search for coal and oil. The results of marine gravity measurements recently made by I.G.S. and the Admiralty in the eastern English Channel and southern North Sea are presented for the first time. Similarly, we are glad to include data from M r P. L. Rumsby’s recent analyses of fault trends in the Kent collieries, for the National Coal Board. Reference is also made to some of the results of the Channel Tunnel site investigation 1964 5 (Destombes &amp; Shephard-Thorn 1971). Published literature and maps form the basis of our remarks on northern Europe, though we are grateful to Destombes for unpublished information on the Boulonnais.

Interview

Education and Training talks to Lord Robens, former Chairman of the National Coal Board, whose book Ten Years' Stint was published recently.

Power: the case for home fuel

National Coal Board chairman, Derek Ezra, believes that a further run‐down in the coal industry will endanger the security of Britain's fuel supplies. His warning comes at a time when Middle Eastern countries are demanding a bigger stake in oil production. Chris Phillips reports.

INQUIRY REPORTS:Report of a Court of Inquiry into a dispute between the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers

INQUIRY REPORTS: Report of a Court of Inquiry into a dispute between the National Coal Board and the National Union of Mineworkers Get access P. L. D. P. L. D. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Industrial Law Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1972, Pages 107–108, https://doi.org/10.1093/ilj/1.1.107 Published: 01 June 1972

O.R. Comes of Age: A Review of the Work of the Operational Research Branch of the National Coal Board, 1948-1969

"O.R. Comes of Age: A Review of the Work of the Operational Research Branch of the National Coal Board, 1948-1969." Journal of the Operational Research Society, 22(4), pp. 383–384

O.R. Comes of Age: A Review of the Work of the Operational Research Branch of the National Coal Board, 1948-1969

O.R. Comes of Age: A Review of the Work of the Operational Research Branch of the National Coal Board, 1948-1969

General Discussion

T he main part of the discussion was devoted to the need for improved methods of recording, storing and recovering geological and geotechnical information collected during site investigations. Several figures were quoted which illustrated the large amount of information which is either currently available or has been obtained in the recent past. For example, a figure of five million feet of drilling carried out on behalf of the National Coal Board was quoted as an important source of information virtually untapped for more general engineering or geological purposes. It was suggested that about one hundred boreholes per day were drilled in south-eastern England alone at the present day and any attempt to synthesize these data must bear in mind the information that has been obtained over the past two decades within the same region. Clearly it was impracticable to store core material on this scale and a figure of some 300 tons of core for recent site investigations of tips in South Wales was quoted as a case where adequate records were essential to prevent a physically intractable situation. It was fully recognized that greater uniformity in the quality and type of record needed to be achieved. The work of the two Engineering Group Working Parties on Core Logging and Geotechnical Mapping were agreed to be an important step in this direction. However, greater attention needed to be given to the type of person who was given the responsibility of recording site investigation data. There was some dissatisfaction expressed that drillers

Lynemouth and Ellington -- O.R. Works for a Coal-Mining Business: National Coal Board

Lynemouth and Ellington -- O.R. Works for a Coal-Mining Business: National Coal Board

COAL INDUSTRY ACT 1971

1971 CHAPTER 16 An Act to provide further finance for the National Coal Board in respect of pit closures and for the making of payments to workers in the coal industry made redundant; to increase the limit of the Board's accumulated deficit and provide for its subsequent alteration by order of the Secretary of State; to enable the Board to borrow money otherwise than in sterling and to join in furnishing technical assistance overseas; to make further provision as to the power of the Secretary of State to give directions to the Board with respect to their activities and accounts; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. [30th March, 1971]

An approach to the simulation of mining subsidence phenomena in an elastic, layered model

Summary The author comments on the background to model-analysis of mining problems, and describes the use of urethane rubber in the construction of a layered model simulating strata over mine workings. The unique properties of this rubber allow models to be constructed with layers of varying moduli, and needing only to be subject to a gravitational loading of 1g to be activated. The properties of the material allow models to be used many times, over long periods, and can be used to observe 'dynamic' development of mining and tectonic features. In the dynamic model described, the development of a full subsidence profile was observed and calculations showed it to be realistic with respect to equations developed by the National Coal Board to describe observed subsidence curves. Previous experimental work by other researchers using elastic homogeneous models has yielded model 'angles-of-draw' in the region of 45°. In this paper the author describes angles-of-draw below 35° and also the subsidence development profile of the model in relation to those observed for some European mines. The author concludes by suggesting possible future applications for this type of model work.