Prince of Wales

(A Photograph will appear here, as soon as I have one available)

Background

The Prince of Wales Colliery was constructed on the site of an existing mine, on the northern edge of Pontefract in West Yorkshire.

Work on the drift tunnels was started in 1975 and production commenced in the Castleford Four Foot seam in 1980. Since then, three other seams have been exploited. At this time, work is concentrated in the Warren House seam.

In 1995, the colliery was acquired by RJB Mining

Because Prince of Wales is a drift mine, coal is brought to the surface via a single flight Cable Belt, whilst the other drift is used for transporting men and supplies by the use of rope haulage.

The South Warren House area lies between the Kellington and Stubbs Lane faults and here, at a depth of 500 m and with reserves of 5.2 million tonnes is where Prince of Wales is currently extracting coal. The seam varies in thickness here, from 2 to 4m.

There is an additional 12.6 million tonnes in reserves in the adjoining Went Edge and Badsworth areas, and another 1 million tonne of resources in the north-east area of the High Moor seam. Whether or not these reserves can be economically exploited remains to be seen.

Another area which could cause a problem for the Prince of Wales future is the current washery tipping site, which has a projected life of only three years. Another site which may give a further eight years of tipping has been identified but will require planning approval.

Although RJB is studying plans to drive two drifts into the Warren House seam, this area lies within the Kellingley Colliery boundary and will not prove to be a viable source of extraction for the Prince of Wales colliery. With constraints due to faulting, (the faces from nearby Askern Colliery terminated at a fault line) and a sterilised pillar to support the Wentbridge Viaduct, which is situated on the surface above the Went Edge area, the future of the Prince of Wales Colliery is limited.

Update Spring 2002

UK Coal, (previously RJB Mining) announced closure of the Prince of Wales Colliery, with the loss of 500 jobs. It is expected that the mine will cease to operate by September 2002.