Europe’s longest overland conveyor completed
ATH Resources plc, Scotland’s second largest coal producer, have completed the construction of a 12.2km conveyor link to transport coal from the company’s Glenmuckloch opencast coal site to their Crowbandsgate railhead facility near New Cumnock in Ayrshire.
The conveyor link, which commenced operations earlier this week, is Europe’s longest overland conveyor and allows the coal to be transported without travelling on public roads. In total, some 2.8 million tonnes of coal will be transported by the conveyor, removing the need for approximately 54,000 lorry journeys each year and greatly reducing the impact of coal transport on both the environment and the road network.
The conveyor project was part-funded by a £2.2 million Freight Facilities Grant from the Scottish Executive, in recognition of the environmental benefits of transferring the movement of coal from road to rail.
Meanwhile, as indicated in their preliminary results, ATH Resources have recently submitted an application to East Ayrshire Council for an extension to their Grievehill OCCS to allow approximately 1 million tonnes of coal to be extracted from a 25ha area of land located adjacent to the existing site. The coal will be extracted from the same sequence of seams that occurs throughout the original site and the extension will operate through the existing infrastructure and site facilities at Garleffan and Grievehill.
An extension to the original coaling area at Grievehill, allowing the exploitation of a further 370,000 tonnes, was approved by East Ayrshire Council in October 2006 and is presently in production.
In a recent development south of the border, ATH Resources have this month completed the purchase of a 12-acre site near Pinxton, in Derbyshire, for a consideration of £2.2 million. The site has been acquired to facilitate the recovery of coal from the former colliery spoil tip at Langton, subject to obtaining planning permission.
The Langton tip, which is owned by ATH Ogden Ltd, is believed to contain some 375,000 tonnes of recoverable coal, as well as a 62,000 sq ft factory/warehouse and a second 12,800 sq ft warehouse. These will be used to house and manage the plant equipment and to gain access to the tip, and will have the potential for future redevelopment following the completion of the operation.
Commenting on the recent developments, ATH chief executive Tom Allchurch said: ‘We are currently seeing exciting and significant developments at ATH. We are working on a number of development projects that will both improve the efficiency of our operations and contribute to an increase in Group reserves year on year. We are also confident that these projects will maximize the long-term benefits to the surrounding environment.’
