Thursday, June 02, 2005

A 58-acre underground mine fire burning for 31 years near the village of Youngstown, on the flank of Chestnut Ridge in Fayette County, has defied emergency efforts to contain it.

Yesterday, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced it will spend $3.2 million from the federal Mine Land Reclamation Fund to finally snuff it out.

"It is absolutely imperative that we eliminate this hazard in order to safeguard the health and well-being of people living nearby and protect their homes from damage or total loss," said DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty.

GAI Consultants of Homestead, a firm experienced at extinguishing underground mine fires, has been hired to do the work. It plans to inject a wet mixture of calcium-gypsum and coal ash from Reliant Energy's Elrama Power Plant into the mine void where it will harden like concrete.

Stan Michalski, GAI senior staff geologist, estimated that at least 110,000 cubic yards of the material will be needed to seal the mine and extinguish the fire. About 350 six- to eight-inch diameter holes will be drilled in and around Youngstown. The deepest will be 180 feet but the average depth will be about 100 feet.

"We will drill and fill the perimeter bore holes first to contain the fire and then use bore holes inside that perimeter to inject more material and put the fire out," Michalski said.

The wet grout is expected to lower the fire temperature and flow into voids and cracks, filling them and eliminating oxygen sources that feed the fire.

Michalski said it will be the first time such a grout will be used to extinguish a mine fire, but it has been used in other mines to prevent subsidence. Work will start in July. The project contract is for two years but he said it should be finished before that. The site will be monitored for a year after the project is finished.

The fire, located northeast of Uniontown near Route 119, is believed to have started by burning trash in 1974 and over the last three decades has been moving north and south between a flooded underground mine pool on the west and an outcrop of the Pittsburgh coal seam on Chestnut Ridge to the east.

It is one of 39 underground mine fires burning in Pennsylvania and 112 in the United States.

Over the years, the DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine land Reclamation and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement mounted several projects using coal combustion flyash and clay aimed at slowing the fire's movement and directing it away from Youngstown properties but have not attempted to extinguish it.

A clay wall that was built underground in the 1980s failed because the fire bypassed it before it was completed.

The money for the Percy Mine project comes from the $24 million allotment the state gets each year from the federal Mine Land Reclamation Fund. The fund, which started in 1977, is supported by a small assessment on every ton of coal mined and has an unspent balance of $1.4 billion. It has been extended several times, most recently in April, but will expire in September unless Congress acts to reauthorize it.

OAKWOOD – A Buchanan County mine idled by a Valentine’s Day methane fire could begin producing coal again by the end of the month, a company official said Thursday.

The 400 workers out of a job for more than three months have been told to report back to the Buchanan Mine, said Tom Hoffman, a vice president for the mine’s owner, CONSOL Energy.

Workers have been pumping water from the mine in addition to making equipment repairs, he said.

"We’re planning to be back in production by the end of the month," Hoffman said. "The guys are back working."

Specially trained mine teams completed a safety examination on Thursday. Regular work crews have gone underground to repair equipment damaged by the fire and by water that seeped into the mine during the shutdown, Hoffman said.

Company officials do not know a cost estimate on the damage caused by the fire and water, according to Hoffman, who said the mine teams found only limited damage to the equipment and mine infrastructure. The damage should be repaired quickly, he said.

The company has restored limited power to the mine as the workers make repairs. The miners have been working primarily on fixing the stoppings – block walls built across various underground mine entries – that control airflow.

Methane gas built up in the mine on Feb. 14 when a cave-in blocked ventilation. The buildup sparked a blaze, and miners escaped without getting hurt.

The company sealed the mine to starve the fire of oxygen and unsealed it recently after determining the fire had gone out.

"We’re back in the mine in a short period of time," Hoffman said. "A lot of the credit goes to the people down there who acted quickly. They made sure that we didn’t have a fire that burned for days and days and days."

The Buchanan Mine, the state’s largest and one of the nation’s top 50 in production and size, turns out 4.4 million tons of coal a year.

----- Original Message -----

From: Rob McGee

To: minerescue@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 3:59 AM

Subject: [USMRA] State DEP to snuff out stubborn mine fire in Fayette County

State DEP to snuff out stubborn mine fire in Fayette County

Thursday, June 02, 2005

By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A 58-acre underground mine fire burning for 31 years near the village of Youngstown, on the flank of Chestnut Ridge in Fayette County, has defied emergency efforts to contain it.

Yesterday, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced it will spend $3.2 million from the federal Mine Land Reclamation Fund to finally snuff it out.

"It is absolutely imperative that we eliminate this hazard in order to safeguard the health and well-being of people living nearby and protect their homes from damage or total loss," said DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty.

GAI Consultants of Homestead, a firm experienced at extinguishing underground mine fires, has been hired to do the work. It plans to inject a wet mixture of calcium-gypsum and coal ash from Reliant Energy's Elrama Power Plant into the mine void where it will harden like concrete.

Stan Michalski, GAI senior staff geologist, estimated that at least 110,000 cubic yards of the material will be needed to seal the mine and extinguish the fire. About 350 six- to eight-inch diameter holes will be drilled in and around Youngstown. The deepest will be 180 feet but the average depth will be about 100 feet.

"We will drill and fill the perimeter bore holes first to contain the fire and then use bore holes inside that perimeter to inject more material and put the fire out," Michalski said.

The wet grout is expected to lower the fire temperature and flow into voids and cracks, filling them and eliminating oxygen sources that feed the fire.

Michalski said it will be the first time such a grout will be used to extinguish a mine fire, but it has been used in other mines to prevent subsidence. Work will start in July. The project contract is for two years but he said it should be finished before that. The site will be monitored for a year after the project is finished.

The fire, located northeast of Uniontown near Route 119, is believed to have started by burning trash in 1974 and over the last three decades has been moving north and south between a flooded underground mine pool on the west and an outcrop of the Pittsburgh coal seam on Chestnut Ridge to the east.

It is one of 39 underground mine fires burning in Pennsylvania and 112 in the United States.

Over the years, the DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine land Reclamation and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement mounted several projects using coal combustion flyash and clay aimed at slowing the fire's movement and directing it away from Youngstown properties but have not attempted to extinguish it.

A clay wall that was built underground in the 1980s failed because the fire bypassed it before it was completed.

The money for the Percy Mine project comes from the $24 million allotment the state gets each year from the federal Mine Land Reclamation Fund. The fund, which started in 1977, is supported by a small assessment on every ton of coal mined and has an unspent balance of $1.4 billion. It has been extended several times, most recently in April, but will expire in September unless Congress acts to reauthorize it.

___________________________________________________________
United States Mine Rescue Association
www.usmra.com

 

Visit http://www.usmra.com/chinatable.htm for a summary of recent China mine disasters

Facing serious coal shortages and frequent accidents, China is determined to exploit its coal mine resources more safely and efficiently.

China's coal industry must find a sustainable way of development with high efficiency, high safety, good economic benefits and less pollution, according to an executive meeting of the State Council held here Wednesday, which was presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Coal, an important basic energy and raw material, takes position of strategic importance in China's economic development. Priorities should go to scientific planning of coal production and the development of large scale coal producers, according to a press released of the meeting.

Due to a loose management system, China's coal industry is in a disorderly state and small-sized coal mines account for a large percent of the country.

Efforts should also be made to speed up construction of major transport channels and ports.

The meeting requires concerned departments to improve the management system, enhance producing technology, regulate the coal market and build a stable coal supply system.

To tackle the coal mine accidents that have baffled the country for years, more investment should be put into establishing a security system for work safety, in particular for coal mine gas control, said the meeting.

Efforts should also go into the industrialization of clean coal technology and the building of a recycling coal economy, it said.

Mine Safety (NYSE:MSA), based outside Pittsburgh in O'Hara Township, is recalling the Redpoint and Auto-Belay Descenders, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday.

The safety panel said the products, which assist wall-climbers during descent, have a faulty bearing that can cause the brakes to fail.

When this occurs, wall climbers risk rapid descent with no braking capability.

The company in April issued a "stop and return" notice for Redpoint.

For more information on the recall, call MSA customer service at (800) MSA-2222.

    The provincial coal mine work safety administration said Tuesday that though rescue work continues, the trapped workers have a very slim chance of survival.

    Nine injured, including Sun Jisheng, the only one of the trapped miners who has been rescued, are all in stable condition, according to local hospital.

    The explosion occurred at around 3:00 a.m. on May 19 when 85 miners were working underground at the Nuan'erhe Coal Mine. Thirty-four of them were lifted up to the ground, and 51 others were trapped.

    Most of the dead were identified and compensation work has begun, according to the administration.

    Located at Nanzhangzi Village in Bajia Township, the coal mine used to be state-owned, but was auctioned to the Beijing Guodian Zhongneng Electric Fuel Investment Co., Ltd. for 65 million yuan (about 7.8 million US dollars) in December 2003.

　　The five suspects were accused of negligence in maintaining coal mine safety, including the legal representative of the coal mine Guo Zongwen, deputy head of the coal mine He Zongfa, deputy manager Jia Linding, and technicians Han Yongzhang and Luo Peicai.

    The accident occurred at about 9:15 p.m. on April 28 in the Shangyukou Coal Mine, a private coal mine near Xihancun Village, trapping 32 miners working underground. Only ten people survived.

    The seven victims were working underground when a large amount of poisonous gas suddenly filled the pit at the Zijiang Coal Mine in the city of Loudi Wednesday morning.

    The specific number of miners working in the shaft when the accident occurred is currently unavailable but it is thought that at least 20 are trapped inside, for reasons unknown.

The accident happened around 11am (0300 GMT) at the Zijiang coal mine in Loudi city, Hunan province, the Xinhua news agency said.

China Central Television reported that 19 bodies had been found and two workers were unaccounted for.

It said 86 miners were in hospital but gave no news on their condition.

A Hunan work safety bureau official told AFP that 224 miners were in the pit at the time.

Six rescue teams were at the site, Xinhua said.

In a separate development, Xinhua said four more bodies had been retrieved from a coal mine in north China's Hebei province following an accident on May 19. It took the death toll at the Nuanerhe mine to 49.

Safety at China's mines is often sacrificed as mine owners pursue profits at all cost to meet a rising demand for coal to fuel China's economic growth.

Official figures show that more than 6,000 miners died in accidents in China last year, although independent estimates say the real figure could be as high as 20,000.

The State Administration of Work Safety has said it would not be until 2020 that China's mining industry would reach the level of safety seen in "medium developed countries," such as South Korea.

China has pledged to invest 1.8 billion dollars into improving coal mine safety this year.

　　The gas blast occurred at around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday in Shilongxiang Coal mine when a total of 34 miners were working underground.

    Among the 34 miners, 24 escaped and seven others were saved and hospitalized for minor injures later on Tuesday. The rest three were confirmed dead early Wednesday morning.

    The colliery is a licensed private operation.

___________________________________________________________
United States Mine Rescue Association
www.usmra.com

    The two poisoned are out of danger.

    At around 5:00 Tuesday morning, a mining team head went down to the shaft of Jinxi Gold Mine in Sonid Right Wing Banner of Xilin Gol League, wearing no security gear. One technician and two miners were trying to seek him underground but fainted from the toxic gas.  Later, rescuers found the team head, who had already died in the shaft, and the three others. One of the three died after failure to first-aid efforts.

    The cause of the accident is being investigated.

21 people have died at mines and quarries in accidents since 1999

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Treating the off-road vehicle with respect is another way of saying safety rules. Forgetting it could make the difference between life and death.

Nobody's sure what caused a Bentleyville couple to ride their ATV off a cliff last month or what role safety or lack of it played. But David and Lori Creek were found drowned May 9 in Pigeon Creek after a Sunday afternoon ride.

One thing is clear: David, 30, and Lori, 32, were riding at an abandoned mine. Their deaths were the second and third ATV-related deaths this year at abandoned mine sites in the state.

Last year, seven people died in ATV accidents at abandoned mines nationwide. Twenty-one have died since 1999, when the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration began keeping tabs.

One of those deaths occurred in August 1999 on a former strip mine site off Main Circle in North Fayette when Ashley Tomko, 6, died from chest injuries suffered in an all-terrain vehicle accident in the former mining area.

Tomko, of North Fayette, was a passenger on the four-wheel recreational vehicle driven by her mother's boyfriend, Robert Burgoyne. Tomko was not wearing a helmet when the vehicle flipped over in a hilly, wooded area, according to authorities.

Burgoyne pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and received a sentence of 11¹/₂ to 23 months in prison. According to court records, Burgoyne's blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was 0.19, which is more than twice the legal limit for driving on roadways today.

The mine was owned by the Aloe Coal Corp. and is part of about 250,000 acres of abandoned mines in Pennsylvania with 10 percent of the population living within a mile of one. Riding ATVs at abandoned mines can be a lethal combination of which the state Department of Environmental Resources, Office of Mineral Resources Management, is acutely aware.

"Abandoned mines present a wide range of issues. The other problem is a quarry. It presents all the same dangers. The main problem with quarries is people fall while climbing or swimming in them and drown," said Tom Rathbun, spokesman for the office of mineral resources management.

The solution is twofold: Get property owners to reclaim sites and fix them, and educate the public about the dangers.

Spoil, or coal refuse piles consisting of rock, dirt and coal, are particularly hazardous because they are unstable, Rathbun said. The Somerset County accident occurred on a spoil pile, he said.

People visiting abandoned mines have to be aware of unmarked openings, portals and ventilation shafts. Some mine workings can be covered by vegetation. The ground gives way and people fall in, Rathbun said.

To correct the problem, the state tries to locate owners, who are responsible for posting no trespassing signs and reclamation. Sometimes, however, the original owner has gone out of business or is bankrupt.

The difficulty lies in locating and contacting owners. It's important that they take the problem seriously, Rathbun said.

"The situation in Washington County was tragic. [Mittal Steel, which owns the site] has responded promptly. We're pleased with the response we've seen from them."

That's not always the case, however. If the state is unable to locate owners, it can request as much as $25 million a year in federal funds to address the problem. The federal Office of Surface Mining lists sites it will fund based level of hazard, Rathbun said.

"It's a big problem and we don't have the money to fix them all. We're going to spend the money as wisely as we can," he said.

North Fayette police Chief Michael Smith said, with the help of Aloe Mining and people who live near the mine, they have been able to deter riders in that area.

"We've had some success and not had the problems that we did a few years back," he said. "We've had a lot of cooperation. There were trails all through there, but we aren't getting the complaints like we used to."

Meanwhile, the federal government is educating the public.

In 1999, the Mine Safety and Health Administration launched a Stay Out Stay Alive program to alert the public to the dangers of abandoned mines.

"We have no real jurisdiction over those properties. Education goes toward prevention," said John Ray Correll, deputy assistant secretary for operations for the agency.

Since the program's launch six years ago, 21 children and adults have died in ATV-related accidents at abandoned mine sites. Each year, MSHA, whose Web site is www.msha.gov, kicks off the program, usually in April, with a news conference and follows up with school visits. The agency also tries to reach adults through news releases.

More than 70 partners, public and private, participate in the Stay Out Stay Alive program. The Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, which sponsors the ATV Safety Institute, is not among them, however, according to Mike Mount, a spokesman.

SVIA, based in Irvine, Calif., is a trade industry group whose manufacturer members offer a safety course. It lists eight Golden Rules for ATV riders on its Web site, www.atvsafety.org.

The safety course, costing $125 for adults and $75 for riders as old as 15, covers three main topics: how to operate a vehicle safely, proper protective gear and environmental responsibility and local laws.

Ranging from 150 pounds for a youth model to 600 pounds for the largest, the ATV is a vehicle demanding respect, especially in regard to where it's ridden.

___________________________________________________________
United States Mine Rescue Association
www.usmra.com

    If the ventilation systems had met safety standards, the tragedy would not have claimed as many lives, said Huang Jiaxun, chief engineer with the Hunan colliery safety supervision bureau that is investigating the accident. Currently 22 miners have been reported dead.

    The expert estimated that only six miners, working at 200 meters underground, would have been affected if the mine had used standard ventilation systems, which would have dispersed the poisonous gas.

    When the accident took place at about 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Zijiang mine in Loudi, 232 miners were working underground. About 124 escaped from the scene and 37 miners are hospitalized.

    Xie Guangxiang, director with the bureau, has confirmed that the Zijiang mine is operating illegally with no production license.

    The mine was on a list of 61 that fell short of basic safety working conditions. The State Coal Mine Safety Supervision Bureau had required all mines on the list, released in May, to stop production and improve their safety conditions.

    The mine was founded in 1958 and sold nearly 50 years later to a local private company. Its coal production capacity reached 220,000 tons last year.

The Haizhou coal mine in Fuxin, northeast Liaoning province, was Asia's biggest in the 1950s and by 2003 had produced more than 200 million tons of coal, Xinhua said.

But remaining reserves at the state-owned venture stood at only 870,000 tons.

The closure will cost about 860 million yuan (HK$808 million), including payoffs averaging 20,000 yuan to the venture's 100,000 workers - for whom it is supposed to find new jobs. ($1 USD = 8.276 Yuan)

Over 400 mines across the country have been closed or face the same fate as Haizhou, the report added.

China's coal mining industry is the deadliest in the world.

But strong coal prices and demand for energy to fuel booming economic growth means that government attempts to improve or close unsafe or inefficient mines have met with mixed success.

This week, accidents at coal, gold and iron ore mines have killed 36 people across the country.

The death toll from the worst disaster, a gas leak Wednesday at the Zijiang coal mine in central Hunan province, rose to 22 Thursday, said Chen Zhiping, a manager at the company that runs the mine.

``The working conditions at the mine are bad,'' Chen said, referring to high gas levels in some sections. ``Accidents happen almost every year.''

Beijing has pledged more than 50 billion yuan in coming years to improve mining safety and has cracked down on illegal and failing mines and unscrupulous mine owners, but the safety campaigns have had limited effect.

More than 6,000 people were killed in a grim series of coal mine disasters in 2004 and another 1,100 died in the first three months of this year.

On Tuesday, three miners were killed in a gas blast at a coal mine in Zhenxiong county in Yunnan province, China Daily said.

Two miners died the same day from carbon monoxide poisoning in the Jinxi gold mine in China's northern Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua said.

And nine workers were killed at an iron ore mine in Hebei province Wednesday, with eight others injured, when an above-ground explosion threw nearby buildings into the air, Beijing News said.

"The mine ... is not allowed the store explosives on site. But after the blast, there was talk that more than 70 crates of explosives had been kept in a garage,'' it said.

After the leak, family members of the victims ransacked an office at the mine, while others stood outside weeping, manager Chen said.

State media previously reported the colliery had continued running despite being one of 61 mines ordered to suspend operations for failing to meet basic work safety conditions.

    The victims, including a four-year-old child, came from Hebei and Shaanxi provinces. The wounded were under treatment in hospital and in stable condition.

    The above-ground explosion occurred at 2:00 a.m. Wednesday close to a miners' dormitory in Baita Township of Shahe City. The explosion, fueled by 70 boxes of dynamites totaling 1,000 kg, has turned seven nearby dormitories, a workshop and a warehouse into ruins.

    Only one dead miner has been identified, and the remaining nineneed to be identified through DNA tests.

    The owner of the iron mine has fled with money, said the police, who are chasing the suspect. Initial investigation showed this was a criminal case.

Workers recovered the body of the 26-year-old victim from beneath rubble in the Tracy Lynne Mine about 30 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Armstrong County Coroner Robert Bower said. The miner was not immediately identified.

State investigators said he was operating a roof bolter — a machine that inserts bolts meant to reinforce the mine's roof — about 200 feet underground at the time of the collapse. The miner was wearing a tracking device that let co-workers know he was in distress, officials said.

Officials with Rosebud Mining Co. of Kittanning called state police Friday evening to report the roof collapse. A rescue crew was dispatched because it was first thought other workers were trapped, but authorities quickly determined nobody else was in that part of the mine, officials said.

The collapse was being investigated by state and federal agencies. Officials did not immediately comment on what might have caused it.

Paul Agnello, who is listed as the mine's foreman on Rosebud Mining's Web site, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.

Rosebud operates nine deep mines in Pennsylvania and is the state's third largest underground coal producer, according to its Web site.

In July 2002, nine miners were rescued after becoming trapped in Quecreek Mine, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, when the men accidentally cut into an adjacent mine that was abandoned and flooded. The incident led to calls to update antiquated mining regulations in the state.

(this last paragraph is bullshit.  Rosebud Mining had nothing to do with Quecreek incident.  And the antiquated mining regulations referred to are still in force in PA  three years later.)

    Banking accounts of the fled mine owner have been frozen and his earnest money of 500,000 yuan (60,241 US dollars) has been confiscated for aftermath treatment for victims and related families, the police sources said.

    Taking place at a miner's dormitory of an iron mine at Baita Township of Shahe City at around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday, the blast killed 10 people, including a four-year-old child, and injured seven others. The wounded were under treatment in hospital and in stable condition.

    Fueled by 70 boxes of dynamite totaling 1,000 kg, the explosion has also leveled seven nearby dormitories, a workshop and a warehouse.

    According to preliminary investigation, the blast was plotted by a drunken miner for revenge.

Rising metal prices have made the prospect of mining for zinc, copper and lead on Parys Mountain on the north coast of Anglesey a viable proposition again. The company heading the project plans to extract 350,000 tonnes of ore from the hillside every 12 months for six or seven years. The metal would be worth at least £250m.

Local people are excited, believing a new mine would bring much-needed jobs to the town of Amlwch and extra tourists to an area often bypassed by visitors despite a proud history and the extraordinary lunar landscape left by 18th century mining works.

Bryan Hope, the secretary of the Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust and author of a book on the history of mining at Parys, said: "This is a good thing for the town. It will create new jobs and be a boost to tourism. We will be able to show visitors how mining has been taking place here on and off for 4,000 years and is still going on. It could make the town great again."

Though evidence has been found of bronze age mining at Parys, the mountain's industrial heyday was the late 18th century when a large deposit of ore was discovered.

A huge, steep-sided opencast mine was dug by hand. A visitor to the opencast, one Rev Bingley, described it as a "vast and tremendous chasm" and reported that the pit "excited the most sublime ideas intermixed with feelings of terror".

The mine turned the hamlet of Amlwch into a bustling town and the harbour into one of the country's most important ports. The mountain also played a vital part in military history, its metals being used to "copper bottom" British warships, including Nelson's HMS Victory, and so give a vital advantage over the French.

After the usefulness of the opencast came to an end, Cornish miners moved in and dug 12 miles of tunnels, some 320m below the surface.

Mining ceased at the start of the 20th century and today what remains is the vast chasm, an other-worldly place of vivid red and yellow rocks which is occasionally used as a set in science fiction films. Visitors pay 20p for a guide and trudge around a heritage trail and cavers explore the tunnels.

Meanwhile the town of Amlwch has suffered economically. The area is not one of the island's tourist hotspots and many traditional jobs have been lost. A chemical factory which was the town's biggest employer shut down recently with the loss of 200 jobs.

The restart of mining at Parys would be a huge boost for the town. It would create 100 jobs at the mine and many more ancillary jobs in the region. In the late eighties Anglesey Mining Company was formed to try to re-develop mining on the mountain, its main target zinc.

But the price of zinc dropped sharply when Russia and China began exporting it and the operation was suspended. Now Russia has largely stopped exporting zinc and China is importing it.

The price is on the up and Parys again looks a good prospect. Copper, lead and Welsh gold - the favourite of the royal family and increasingly rare - would all be extracted.

Ian Cutherbertson, the company's finance director, said: "It is an exciting time. We are optimistic that this could be a real success."

Peter Tyler, a geologist working at the site, said that the combination of metals found in the ore made Parys a unique site in Britain. He said: "The potential of Parys mountain is huge."

He said that if the mountain had been in the US or mainland Europe it would have been thoroughly explored by modern mining companies - because Parys was remote, its possibilities had remained largely forgotten.

This week a drilling rig arrived at Parys from Ireland to the excitement and curiosity of residents. More exploratory work is needed ahead of, its supporters hope, the start of major mining work.

Lionel Joynson, a caver who leads tours into the old underground works, said: "The town is watching it all very carefully. We will have to wait and see what happens but it could be the start of something very exciting."