The Phoenix arises

The Dynant Fach Colliery Co. Ltd are now into their first year of producing premium-quality anthracite for domestic use at their opencast coal site near the village of Pontyberem, Camarthenshire.

Established in 1996, the company acquired the old Dynant Fach drift mine, together with adjoining land, for the purpose of opencast mining, although it took almost four years to obtain the requisite planning consents before overburden removal and coaling could begin. The operation is being carried out using six Volvo A25C articulated dumptrucks, a Volvo EC460 excavator on primary extraction, a Volvo EC290 excavator for both coaling and secondary extraction, and a Volvo L90D loading shovel.

The EC460 is equipped with a 2.5m3 heavy-duty bucket to cope with the fairly hard digging conditions. The A25C dumptrucks are used for overburden removal as well as hauling coal to the washing plant. The ability to run the trucks in either 6 x 4 or 6 x 6 drive, the use of differential lock combinations and the flexible bogie-beam-suspension system means that the trucks are productive whatever the operating conditions. The EC290 is equipped with a Miller Bug coupler suitable for coal stripping and part-time removal of overburden. Buckets can also be reversed, allowing the machine to work as a skimmer loader.

The project is scheduled to enter into its second phase at the end of this year and is envisaged to run for at least a further five years.