GIANT CLEANER

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 9th Year

Issue

Issue No.

1

Date Released

Sep 1955

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1SAM WATSON, D.C.L.
2. 2VALLEY MATCH
3. 3POINT-TO-POINT
4. 4GIANT CLEANER

Story

Story No. within this Issue

4 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: Manvers Main coal preparation plant, Yorkshire.
NCB Commentary - At Yorkshire’s Manvers Main Colliery the biggest coal preparation plant in Europe nears completion.
From four surrounding collieries this gigantic plant will process thousands of tons of coal a day. From Barnborough, 2 1/2 miles away, coal comes in by rail. Specially built rail waggons holding 25 tons each are tipped in a separate building. Conveyors take the coal on its way, while from Manvers itself further conveyors and a skip winding installation converge on the main perparation plant. The whole flow through the plant and its ultimate destination are controlled from a central switchboard with a chart which lights up to show what’s what.
The project is in three stages. Stage 1 is now in operation. In Stage 2 machinery is still being installed. Stage 3 of the plan is as yet very much still under construction. After being broken down to size, raw coal is cleaned to get rid of shale and dirt. In giant baths different grades of coal are separated and cleaned.
After treatment the output is fed through boom loaders direct into the waiting railway trucks. Huge settling tanks handle the medium in which the coal is floated in the cleaning process.
Everything goes back into circulation at Manvers. The fine solids, still containing very small coal, are separated and dried out, some to be used in the coking plant, another past of this mammoth project still under construction.

Keywords

Mining

Locations

Yorkshire; England

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /3 Scripts for Mining Review, 1949-1956

Credits:

Production Co.

Documentary Technicians Alliance

Sponsor

National Coal Board