Miners prepare for work at Daw Mill Mine, Arley, Near Coventry, Warwickshire, the largest coal mine in the UK.
Miners prepare for work at Daw Mill, Near Coventry, the largest coal mine in the UK. Pictured, Even though it is freezing conditions above ground, down in the mine it is warm enough for the miners to wear shorts and T shirts. Underground mine worker Jon Wright, left and Command Supervisor Melvin Holmes prepare to go down the mine. For these men at UK COAL's Daw Mill Colliery in the West Midlands, that means stripping off to shorts and T-shirts for a shift on Britain's most productive coalface which last year (2009) produced three million tonnes of coal - enough to meet the energy needs of over two million homes. Explains UK COAL spokesman Stuart Oliver: "Whilst it's sub-zero on the surface, natural heat in the strata and from the high powered equipment used underground warms the cold air as it circulates around the tunnels deep underground. The lads are quite happy working in shorts and T-shirts." Coal fired the Industrial Revolution in Britain, which at one time had more than 3,000 mines and over a million miners. Today, there are just half a dozen deep mines in production in the UK. Daw Mill is the biggest colliery, employing 600 men. Britain produces around 18 million tonnes of coal a year from its deep and surface mines, which collectively employ almost 6,000 people. Most of the output is railed to power stations to generate electricity. While coal generated around a third of Britain's total electricity output last year, coal burn can almost double during periods of daily peak demand and cold weather snaps,
Size: 3413px × 5120px
Location: Daw Mill Mine, Arley, Near Coventry, Warwickshire
Photo credit: © David Warren / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: coal, daw, frost, helmets, lamps, mill, miners, pads, safety, shin, shorts, snow, torches
