March 22, 1918.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

587

______________________________

MANCHESTER GEOLOGICAL AND
MINING SOCIETY.

A meeting of the Manchester Geological and Mining
Society was held on Tuesday, March 12, Mr. Pickles,
the president, in the chair.

Utilising Inferior Fuel.

An address on “ Wastes, Shales and Lower Grades of
Small Coal, their Nature, Recovery and Use for Oil
and Power Purposes," was delivered by Air.
J. Drummond Paton (.see p. 585).

Discussion.

The President moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Paton
for his address. That gentleman, he remarked, was
an authority, not only on hydraulic stowing, but on
all matters connected with waste from collieries. The
points raised in the address were of the utmost
importance, and it was to be hoped would bear fruit
later on, because when the war was over competition
would no doubt be most keen, and everything possible
in the way of economy, particularly in the consump-
tion of coal, would be needed. As they were no doubt
aware, the Government were at the present time
enquiring into the composition of spoil heaps and shale
dumps, and efforts were being made to ascertain
whether the shales undergound possessed any value
from the point of view of oil extraction.

Mr. Bramall asked if there was any central
laboratory or depot to which samples could be sent
for analysis. Mr. Paton mentioned that Lancashire
coal contained 40 per cent, of volatiles. They had a
coal with over 50 per cent, of volatiles, and he had
come across many coals which would be quite suited
for the purpose Mr. Paton had in view. It was essen-
tial that some arrangement should be made whereby
a careful and proper analysis could be obtained,
because at the present time two analysts would get
results showing a difference of 8 to 10 degs. of volatile
matter in the coal. Another point to be borne in
mind was that low-temperature distillation as com-
pared with high, gave entirely different results.

Dr. Hickling supported the general tenour of Mr.
Drummond Paton’s observations. For some time he
had been interested in the Lancashire coalfield in a
general way, and that, perhaps, made him more
strongly impressed with the case put forward in the
address than the individual colliery manager might
be. When one had constantly in view the coal field
as. a whole, and not merely a single pit, or particular
seams which happened to be worked, and was con-
stantly examining sections of the measures throughout
the coal field, one realised, more strongly than the
individual manager was ever likely to, the really small
proportion which the coal actually worked bore to the
total coal available in the field. The individual
manager, in sinking his pit, passed through a number
of seams which he regarded as obviously worthless.
They were recorded in a section and, to all intents
and purposes, forgotten. It would be no exaggeration
to say that fully half the coal of Lancashire was
contained in seams which had never been worked, or
named, and in that respect vast resources were to
be found up and down the country. The material
which Mr. Paton urged them to utilise was what had
been left and forgotten because, at the old value
placed on coal, it was regarded as inferior to the
seams which were worked. With the methods of
utilisation formerly in vogue, the colliery manager
could not see his way to work them, and probably
for the very best of reasons—for which no one could
blame him—namely, that he might ruin himself if
lie tried to do otherwise. That, however, had to be
changed; better use must be made of the country’s
resources, and quite apart from that, the modern
developments of low-temperature distillation, and so
forth, made it possible to obtain value out of those
coals which it was not possible to with older methods.
No doubt many of those present could criticise Mr.
Paton’s scheme in detail, but it was not criticism
of detail that was wanted at the present time. For
instance, one might criticise some of the arguments
in respect of the microscopic structure of coal, but he
(Dr. Hickling) would be prepared to fully endorse the
broad general principle put forward, namely, that
the light coloured constituents in the microscopic
sections represented the more volatile substances,
whilst the darker colours—the red brown and opaque
substances—were volatile only at a higher tempera-
ture, if at all. Of the broad correctness of that view
he did not think there was any doubt. He himself
had argued on a previous occasion that the micro-
structural examination might be of very great service
in the actual study of the coal for practical purposes.
He would also like to suggest, in regard to bastard
coals, that in discussing the matter it might be well
to bear in mind that they were dealing with two
different things. Some of the inferior coals which
Mr. Paton had been specially referring to were
undoubtedly ordinary coals of highly bituminous
character showing, under the microscope, a very high
proportion of light coloured, transparent constituents.
On the other hand it was probable that some of the
bastard coals were to a large extent not coals in the
same sense at all, but were actually shales which had
become impregnated with volatile materials driven
off from the coals among which they lay. In his
opinion it was extremely likely that some of the very
pale colours, paraffin, and so on, to which reference
was made, were not the altered vegetable product,
but were actually volatiles which had been driven off
from the vegetation and accumulated in the shales.
That was the method in which all natural petroleums

had been formed. The lightest petroleums, as a rule,
were contained in the sandstones, whilst the heavier
ones accumulated, possibly, in the shales, and it was
a puzzle to know why there was no petroleum in
the coal-measures sandstones. No doubt the explana-
tion was that it had been allowed to escape, because
petroleum could only remain in the sandstone so long
as there was no outlet. It was a well-known fact that,
all over the world, wherever petroleum was found, it
occurred in sandstone which was invariably in the
form of a dome covered by an absolutely impervious
top. If a hole was made through the impervious top
the petroleum was driven out; as a rule, in fact, it
spurted out. The petroleum could not be retained
in strata which had been badly broken, as the coal
measures all over this country had been, with the
result that the petroleum which at one time existed
in the sandstone had escaped, but some of the heavier
volatiles had been retained here and there in the
shales. Some of the bastard coals Mr. Paton was
interested in were of that nature.

Mr. Fielden stated that in the course of experi-
ments made in connection with the overlying shales
in Lancashire and Cheshire, he had got as much as
25 to 30 per cent, of volatiles out of the roofs, indicat-
ing that to a certain extent they had been driven
off from the coal.

Mr. Siddall agreed with Dr. Hickling that the
subject was one of the utmost importance, and any-
body who studied it at all would be in agreement
with the broad lines upon which Air. Paton had
framed his address. In a different sense, perhaps,
to Dr. Hickling, he (the speaker) had taken a great
interest in the coalfields of Lancashire and Cheshire,
owing to his position as Government inspector, and
had had opportunities of seeing many of the collieries
in the area. He, too, had been struck by the large
number of seams which had hitherto been considered
useless, but to which the coal owners had been obliged
to turn their attention owing to the exhaustion of
the better seams. If by means of research into the
different systems of working those seams, or different
processes for dealing with the product, they could be
turned into paying propositions, then the work was
of vital importance to Lancashire and Cheshire.
There was no doubt the real nature of many of the
shales and coal was not known; so far as the ordinary
process of putting into the fire or coke oven was con-
cerned, they were useless, but if it was possible
through research or process, such as the low-tempera-
ture carbonisation, to prove that they were more
valuable, probably, than anything else underground,
then steps should be taken to make experiments in
order to test the efficiency of any new system. He
had devoted some time to the study of questions such
as low-temperature carbonisation, and he found that
the crux of the matter, and the point upon which
they all failed, was that they could not get through
the retorts a sufficient amount of coal to pay for the
working of the process. In high-temperature schemes
it seemed possible to get at least double the amount
of coal through the retorts that could be taken through
with a low-temperature system. That w as where the
latter seemed to fail.

Mr. Whittaker said he had hoped to hear some-
thing in regard to the natural outlet of oil other than
by distillation. He was most interested in that phase
of the subject because, wuthin the last few weeks, at
the colliery he was engaged at, they had a very
unusual, he would not say outburst, but outlet of
oil in its natural state. He would be glad to knowT
whether members had experienced similar occurrences
in connection with other seams in the Lancashire area.

Mr. Fielden pointed out that in at least one col-
liery he had been interested in, they had obtained
several barrels of oil in its natural state—heavy oil
like crude petroleum—almost like black tub oil.

Mr. Stanley Atherton remarked that Air. Paton
had not referred to foreign shales. He had had an
opportunity of seeing what Australian shales would
produce when chemically treated, and he understood
they had worked out to within 25 per cent, of what
the laboratory test gave. In regard to Canadian
shales, none had been efficiently distilled, and ho
would like Mr. Paton, if possible, to refer to the
difficulties which had been met with.

Mr. Dixon suggested that an opportunity should
be offered to the members of the society to visit a
plant in working order. Colliery managers had not
Forgotten that there were unworked mines in their
district and, if it wrere possible, they would be only
too glad to get at them and make use of them, because
it was not nice to work 19 in. if a great deal more
could be taken out. He had occasionally seen, in
several of the pits below the Arley Aline, a solid oil
given off, not in a way that could be described as
an outburst, but simply leaking out.

Replying to the discussion, AIr. Paton remarked
in regard to the question of the establishment of a
central laboratory, that he had fought for the co-
ordination of the educational systems and mining
administration in Lancashire, but he would go a step
further and declare that what was really wanted was
not a Scholastic London Fuel Conservation Com-
mittee, but a Alining Board, whereby the adminis-
tration of the industry in Lancashire and Britain
would be put on a par with that existing on the
Rhine. It was no use blinking the fact that some
things were done in other countries much better than
they ivere done at home, and the whole of the mining
industry must combine for its own protection. He
appreciated Dr. Hickling’s remarks on the general
scheme he had put before the meeting. On the ques-
tion of the total coal worked, he believed that by
hydraulic stowing in the Walsall and Birmingham
area, wffiere the territory wTas in a very dilapidated
condition, the industry could be revived to such an
extent as to produce, from mines already lapsed, suffi-
cient coal to supply the demand for 300 years. In
the Wigan district many of the disused mines could

be reopened and worked successfully if modern stow-
ing methods were adopted. The location of volatiles
in roof or floor was a matter of relation to the struc-
ture. In some cases, where there was a super-
structure of a dense, close nature, there might be
distillation and emission downwards, and in the case
of a close floor with a loose superstructure, there
might be emission upwards. Those volatiles were
more valuable because they were liable to be distilled
at the lower temperature, and they contained the
petrol series which were valuable from a commercial
and industrial point of view. He hoped Lancashire
and Yorkshire mining men would take the question up
without waiting for London, and form their own Coal
Conservation organisations. To his mind, London
was not the place for the Fuel Conservation Committee
to conduct its operations; it should be established in
the heart of the coal fields, and he would like to see*
the first established in their own home county.

________________

MINING EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS.

The Board of Trade Labour Gazette reports that
employment in coal mining during February was good,
but there was still some time lost owning to difficulties

of transport. Compared with January there was a
decrease of 682 (or 0’1 per cent.) in the number of work-
people employed at collieries making returns, and there
was an increase of 7,768 (or 1'4 per cent.) on a year ago.
Of the 568,224 workpeople included in the returns for

February, 245.928 (or 43'3 per cent.) were employed at
pits working 12 days during the fortnight to which
the returns relate, and a further 185,493 (or 32 6 per

cent.) were employed at pits working 11 but less than

12 days.

Districts.

W ork-
people
em-
ployed
in Feb.

1918.*

Average No. of
days worked per
week by the
collieries in fort-
night ended

Inc. () or
dec. ( —) in
Jan. 1918,
on a

J2a6n- F2c)j- Month Year

1918. 1918. 1917. ag0' ago'

England Wales.	Days. Days. Days. Days. Days.

Northumberland ... 44,586...5T3...4'73...4*26... + 0’40... +0'87
Durham ........... 89,169...5'20...5'07...4'89... +0'13...+0'31
Cumberland ...... 7,600...5'79...5'89...5’74... —OTO... + 0'05
South Yorkshire ... 64,479...5'89.. 5 93...5'87...-0'04... +0'02
West Yorkshire____ 23,919...5'88...5'85...5'89 .. +0'03 . -0'01
Lancs. & Cheshire... 51,386...5'90...5'88...5'68... +0'02... +0*22
Derbyshire __........... 34,309...5'84...5'83 . 5'75...+0'01...+0'09

Notts and Leicester 36,741 ...5'66...5'69...5'67...-0'03...-0'01
Staffordshire ...... 28,962...5'92...5'91...5'72... x 0'01... <-0'20
AV ar wick, W orcester

and Salop.........	9,798...5'90...5'69...5'73... +0'21... +0'17

Gk/ster & Somerset	5,740..5'97...5'64...5'97... +0'33... —

North Wales ...... 11,582.. 5'99...5'89...5'93 +0'10...+0'06
South Wales & Alon. 111,173...4'99.4'76...5'58...+0'23...-0'59

Total ...... 519,444...5'50..5’39...5'46...+0'11...+0’04

Scotland.

West Scotland .... 21,566 . 5'44...5'47...5'41...-0'03... + 0'03

The Lothians ......	2,713 . 5'41...5'50...5'47...-0'09...-0'06

Fife ............... 24,043 . 5'33...5'41...4'91...-0'08...+0'42

Total ....... 48,322...5'38... 5'44...5'16... -0'06... -r 0'22

Ireland...........	458...5'09...5'70...5'67... — 0'61... — 0'58

_______

Total, U.K______ 568,221...5'49...5'39...5'43...+0'10... + 0'06

* At the collieries included in the table.

The following table shows the numbers employed and
the average number of days worked, distributed accord-
ing to the principal kind of coal raised at pits at which
the workpeople were engaged:—

Inc. (+) or
dec. ( —jin

Dec. 1918

on a

Average No. of
days worked per
Work- week by the pits
Description	Peo»le	in

em- ended
ofcoaL	ployed	,------>-----,

in Feb.	Feb.	Jan.	Feb.

1918 *	23,	26,	24,

1918. 1918. 1917.

__________

Month Year

ago. ago.

Days. Days. Days. Days. Days.
Anthracite ........ 6,534..5'00...5'11..4'39...-0'11...+0'61
Coking ............ 27,663...5'64...5'71...5 75...-0'07...-0'11
Gas................. 34,091...5'05...4'79...4'67... + 0'26... +0'38
House.............. 54,943..’.5'66...5'57...5'52... +0 09 .. +0'14
Steam............... 197,455...5’37...5'15 ..5 47... + 0'22...-OTO
Mixed............... 247,638...5'61...5'60...5'48... +0'01... +0'13

_______

All descriptions ... 568,224...5'49...5'39...5'43... + OTO . +0'06

* At the collieries included in the table.

Iron Mining.—Returns received for each of the three
periods named below, relating to the same mines and
open works in each case, show that 19,711 workpeople
were employed at mines included in these returns in
February 1918, an increase of 51 (0'3 per cent.) com-
pared with January, and of 2,386 (13'8 per cent.) on a

year ago.

Districts.

Average No. of
days worked per
Work- week by mines
people in fortnight
em- ended
________
ployed (---------*-------x

in Feb. Feb. Jan. Feb.
1918.*	23,	26,	24,

1918. 1918. 1917.

Cleveland........

Cumberland and

Lancashire .....

Scotland ........

Other districts ...

Inc. (+) or
dec. (—) in
Feb. 1918
on a

__________

Month Year

ago. ago.

Days. Days. Days. Days. Days.

7,322 ...5'97...5'87...5'86... <-0'10...+0'11

7,041 ...6'00...6 00...5'92... — ...+0'08

695 ...5'99...6'00...5'93... -0'01... +0'06

4,653 ...5'95.. 5'74...5'82...+0'21... + 0'13

Total ..... 19,711 ...5'98...5'89...5'87... +0'09... +0'11
* At mines included in the returns.

Shale.—The returns show that 3,485 workpeople were
employed in the fortnight ending February 23, 1918, at
mines which worked on an average six days per week,
compared with 3,531 workpeople in January at mines
which worked 6 days, and with 3,205 workpeople in
February 1917, at mines which worked 6'02 days per
week.

Pig Iron.—Employment continued good, and showed
an improvement on both a month ago and a year ago.
Shortages of labour, material and railway wagons were
reported.