DAIRY CO’S. COAL MINE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4578, 22 June 1923, Page 2

DAIRY CO’S. COAL MINE.

GLEN AFTON VILLAGE. WORK COMMENCED. Away back in the hills in the triangle between Huntly and Ngarua- . wahia a large settlement has sprung into being within the last twelve 5 months, with whirling dynamos, smoking chimneys,, a large number of concrete and wooden buildings, and a railway line. This is Glen Afton, <the new village, where the N.Z.C.D.C. has opened its coal mine. On Wednesday last (states the Waikato Times) the first coal in bulk was removed from the mine when 40 min-' ers, with the necessary complement of truckers and contingent of labourers, • staffed work. The output is estimated to exceed 200» tons,! which, it is expected, will be increased to 750 tons before long. The mine consists of 1200 acres of freehold property, while an adjoining property of 2000 acres has been secured under ( a mining lease. The ease with which the mine has been developed is due to the great natural advantages that attend this field. No deep shaft has been required. All that has been necessary was to drive straight into the face • of che hillj, and in that way there has been tapped a field, which is estimated to contain up to. 15,000,000 tons of coal. The plant is the biggest individual coal-minxng one in the North Island being - operated from an electric power house. The trucks are worked by gravitation principle over the first portion of their haulage, and later by electricity to the main line at Pukemiro Junction. The whole of the company’s factories will be supplied with Glen Afton coal in. the coming season, which will constitute an advantage not oply from the point of view of reduced costs, but also in regard to the regularity of supply and the establishment of reseive stocks. The company is putting, up a fine type of miner’s cottage, and: Glen Afton promises to become a mining centre of note, as the coal is of the very finest quality, and In practically unlimited supply. ’