Coal preparation, the separation of rock and dirt from the coal and the sorting of the coal according to size, was done by the screening and washery plants.

Prior to the introduction of mechanised mining at Pleasley Colliery in the late 1930s, very little dirt or rock came to the surface - it had already  been separated by the colliers at the face who used it to form packs to support the roof.  What did surface was separated by hand on the screens - a job often done in the 19th century by women.  After that the coal was passed over a series of grids, each with different sized holes. The coal which fell through the grid was carried by conveyor belt and loaded into the railway wagons below the screens.

Mechanised extraction tended to produced much more of the small output which could not be easily separated. This smaller run-of-mine (ROM) material was sent to the washery were it was seperated by a flotation process exploiting the difference in weight (specific gravity) between the coal and dirt. Following separation, the coal was mechanically sorted in the same way as on the screens.

Page updated on:

In case of problems contact:

05 May, 2009