Earthwatcher's photos with the keyword: drilling rig

This is a view of Maltby colliery in South Yorkshire in 1981. The two existing shafts are visible in the background, with a drilling rig situated on the site of the newly approved No.3 shaft to be sunk to the Parkgate seam at a depth of over 900 metres. A fully cored borehole was drilled in order to provide information about the ground conditions (rock strength, fracturing, water flows, etc) prior to letting the contract and commencement of shaft sinking. Today (in 2008), this view would be obscured by the massive No.3 Shaft winding tower, visible for miles around. At the start of 2008, Maltby Colliery is one of the few operational deep mines still remaining in the UK. It is owned and operated by the Hargreaves Group. 2020 update: It's all gone now, of course :-(

Originally uploaded for the GWUK group. This is on Mynydd y Gwair - an extensive moorland commons between Swansea and Ammanford in the South Wales coalfield. The camera location is on Mynydd Garn Fach and is looking north-westerly. The photo shows a Foraky rotary drilling rig on a borehole known as 'Ceunant Borehole' (named after nearby Ceunant Farm just out of view to the left). This was drilled to prove the Red Vein coal seam in October-November 1982 as part of a series of boreholes to prove additional coal reserves for Betws Mine, about 5 km to the north, near Ammanford.

Drilling an angled borehole prospecting for shallow coal at Tinsley, Sheffield, around 1989 on the abandoned steel works site for the proposed Sheffield airport. The dust cloud is due to the compressed air flush removing the cuttings from the borehole at high speed. Taken with a Zenit 'E' on Kodacolor film