I've been following this discussion for some time, all speculation and I do wonder if Sirius are trying to prove the reserves exisit then make themselves a fortune by selling the (proven) rights without actually mining them (if that makes sense). But if parts of the old S&W railway get re-opened then all the better.....
Anyway, on Kettleness tunnel, this photo shows things pretty clearly:
It's also pretty obvious "on the ground" as it were - at the north end a shallow cutting very obviously leads towards the cliff edge, but then disappears. It's been a while since I was there but I recall investigating whether it would be possible to walk round, but it looked far too dangerous....
I believe (can't find the reference now) the orignal route at Sandsend was intended to go round the cliffs as far as Keldhowe point, then through a much shorter tunnel, then along the cliff edge again. A tad optimistic maybe, but those Victorians certainly had self belief!
I could be wrong but it looks like theyre drilling another tunnel, to finish the job that the first contracter failed to finnish the line on time , another classic case of you gets what you pay for. The first tunnel was the downfall of the first contracter in being to close to the cliffe face , it is possible to walk the tunnel but it is bricked up at both ends and the brickwork inside is in a sad state , on my last visit after a few yards came out , after all I'd done it before, I've also walked grinkle , pre Potash.
This thread seems to have ambled off down a branch line...what the heck, I thought you guys may be interested to see this wagon label from my collection. It doesn't say what was in the wagon but I guess it must have been building stone, mortar or drainage pipes? I've got at least 2 other labels from "Inspector Cook" so he seems to have been a busy man.
richard wrote:I wonder if he was from a local family?
Richard
I imagine you must mean Captain Cook?! I actually have 9 wagon labels to Kettleness of which 4 are signed Inspector Cook, made out from Whessoe Lane , West Hartlepool, Lackenby and South Stockton. Unless he was a roving Inspector he must have had a wide area under his control.
Heard today that test drilling has been and is being done in the area with Hawsker being done and I believe Ugglebarmby is also being drilled currently.
The subject has not gone away its progressing slowly.
I think they are just checking the extent and depth of the deposit rather than drilling at prospective pit sites.
However saying that it would be different especially if the railway was routed there.
Well I checked it on Google Maps and I notice Ugglebarmby is nearer to Sleights station and at a higher level so it may be they are thinking of some sort of tunnel to load the stuff onto trains at Sleights? If I was the owner of Sleights station I would be very worried now.
Sounds like they're trying to get a ground-truth on the quality of the deposits at various locations, and also the true depth.
The area will have been covered by older (oil&gas) seismic surveys which are probably now publically available. The Permian evaporites show up as very strong reflectors in British seismic data. Still, we don't know the quality of the survey data (much of it is probably old 2d data lacking modern post-processing), and even with modern data in excellent condition, it is always a good idea to get a ground-truth - even if it costs a few million pounds to do so.
I have spoken with reps of the company direct. They plan to extract 3m tonnes annually - five times what Boulby does. Their plan is to build a pipeline across the moors to the deepwater terminal at Tees, chip the potash and propel it down the pipe, assisted by a slight natural gradient. So we can all stand down....and the owner of Sleights can relax.
Most of it could be underground - there's precedent such as the Dinorwic Pump Storage Scheme which is in a national park. From memory, I believe they also buried the national grid connection. There was a lot of publicity in the 1980s when they did it. Shell did something similar about the same time - "spot the pipeline" advertising with a panoramic landscape view.
It would be a truly epic project and would presumably mean cutting a deep trench which when filled in would have pumping apparatus at ground level. Who knows though?
