Abstract
PROF. C. LE NEVE FOSTER has conferred a great benefit on the Welsh mining industry by directing attention to a new method of slate-mining recently tried in the Pyrenees. At Labassere the wire saw is employed to make horizontal cuts across the inclined beds of slate, severing off great blocks without blasting. Believing that a similar system could be employed with advantage in North Wales, Prof. Le Neve Foster recommended that Mr. G.J. Williams, H.M. Assistant Inspector of Mines, should study the question on the spot. The Home Secretary having acceded to this suggestion, Mr. Williams has drawn up a very valuable report, which is published as an appendix to Prof. Le Neve Foster's annual report to the Home Office for the year 1900. The investigation clearly, shows that slate might be worked in many quarries in North W7ales by the wire saw method with conspicuous advantages. There would be lessened blasting, fewer falls of ground, less waste of good rock, reduced cost of working, less cost of explosives, a saving in the cost of unproductive work, a saving in the cost of re-moving rubbish, no need of quarrying worthless rock in underground workings, and the cost of examining and securing the roofs and pillars would be done away with.
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The Use of the Wire Saw for Quarrying . Nature 65, 84–85 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/065084a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/065084a0