Coal Wash Pipeline Extension Into Ocean

Colliery To Pump Coal Wash 1600 Feet Out To Sea

Work on the project started last week and is expected to finish in a month’s time. A team of skin-divers from the Commercial Diving Company, Wollongong, will use Hooka line breathing equipment for the initial part of the project. However, when further out to sea the divers will use high compression air tanks.

Strong currents and irregular rock formations under the sea are expected to hamper operations. The pipeline starts from the colliery and extends about 5000 feet (1.5km) underground through the original mine. The first part of the project started about 10 years ago when the pipes were first laid underground. However, the coal-wash was still being expended through Coalcliff’s Stoney Creek.

Residents in the area complained bitterly that the coal-­wash was ruining Coalcliff beach. The colliery recently spent $130,000 in building a culvert across the creek to filter the wash. But after meeting local deputations the company decided to extend its original plan of taking the wash further out to sea.

The pipeline will have a total length of about 2000 feet (609m). The skin divers will have to couple the pipes to depths of 90 feet (27m) below the water surface.