Document XOqR9v1Qy0Eg0VBKYvGjxLEBK
FILE NAME Colonial Sugar Refinery CSR
DATE 1956 Dec 6 DOC CSR144
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Govt Inspection Results - Ventilation -
Wittenoom - Australian Blue Asbestos
ott
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PLAINTIF 'S
EXHIBIT
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G.
M.FI 280
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.
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.
KALGOORLIE
District Inspector
6th December 1956
Mines
Department + Department Department
KALGOORLIE
Produced in Asbestos Personal
Injury Cases Abrams lead and copied to Richard F. Scruggs
Ventilation - Australian Blue Asbestos Ltd. Wittenoom
I visited the mines operated by the above company . from November 25th to November 27th and inspected the under-
ground workings and surface plant
An air survey of the
underground workings was also carried out in the company of
District Inspector Ibbotson
Conditions in both mines were satisfactory although
the Wittenoom Mine is below the standard of the Colonial Mine
This is to be expected because of the fact that the Wittenoom
is the older mine of the two
:
Attached is a copy of dust counts and temperatures recorded in the mine and dust counts in the treatment plant
AIR MEASUREMENTS
All measurements measuremewnetrse taken with a Metrovick Velomete
Wittenoom Mine
Exhaust measured past fan
Intake through New Portal
60,000 c.f.m.
39,000 c.f.m.
ts
Sert -cSaepesleae.tao at Se ST ' u3therefore hard ce ae Pat
te
a
*.
Although air entering through the sealed off adite
would not amount to 21,000.c.f.m the amount of intake
air -,[, measured up e i. # hausting how re
totals satisfactorily and the fan used for ex-
is capable of exhausting this amount of air
It
to imagine this large descrepancy could
is aris
.: The intake air flows through the working places until eventual
ahs
it is exhausted by the fan
The fan used is a Richerdson 60
fgis % *
sterA.F. with 25 P. motor driving it against 1.0 9.W.4
.
oy
.
.
.
an
y
.
.
rh
The surface plant is situated close to the main adit
3:
of this 22.
dust vo
mine and when the wind blows in the right direction th
from the mill is passed into the underground workings
Dust counts taken when conditions were fairly good show
[ues 07 *
re
Ls
When
ad
air
fi
appears
"
fr^efrom dust
to be picking up
some
dust
130 p.P. 380 p.P
When these dust counts were taken the wind w
:
the mill dust away from the main adit except for an oc
gust
4
3
ek
i wh La wm
From these
only a bazard to the
workers
figures it
mill hands
appears that the mill
but also to the under
Colonial Mine
;
Th
Ventilation of this mine is now by a Richardson
A.P. class A Electric Fem running at 700 r.p.m. with a 20
motor driving it against 0.4 8.W.6
69 P.
t. 2 _
2
.
114
two No.
Besides the other openings to
2 cliff Opening
main adit
the
gorge
gorge
and the exhaust wilt there are
vis NoNo.. 1 Cliff Opeining and
measured _ Exhaust
,
before fan
75,660 c.f.m
Intake total
ry
wa
'
82,000 c.f.m.
The total intake being made up as follows
Main Adit
33,500 o.f.n.
No. 2 "
"
22,500 a.f.m.
The discrepancy arrived at here totals 6,340 c.f.m.
which is quite satisfactory
It is quite possible that this
error was arrived at when measuring the intake at the No. 1
cliff Opening because if a rake of trucks were passing through the main adit entrance the fan would draw more air through this
No. 1 Cliff Opening in preference to the No. 2 Cliff Opening on account of its lower resistance hence the higher intake total
obtained
From this deduction it would be possible to assume
the intake through No. 1 Cliff Opening to be approximately
20,000 c.f.m. instead of 26,000 c.f.m.
=
oe
ST SSS
te
.
A conveyor belt is still used for transporting the ore
underground into a transfer pass which is fitted with an air-
water spray which completely eliminates the dust except when the
motor trucks are being filled in the Ore Truck Adit
As the
obute is opened a puff of dust rises from the transfer pass but
this is of such small amount that the danger present is of a
very small magnitude
"ke
*
. . ss, The Truck Adit is ventilated by a No. 1D
:
Richardson Electric Fan foreing the air This fan appears to
soe
aoe
7.
for be toosmall the job and a better system would be to fit a
B.7.4A Electric Neco
Pah so it would be exhausting intead of
: forcing the air into the adit
This would ensure fresh air
being filled 77-1 entering adit the time A dust count taken while the
iv
,
+
truck was
showed 260 p.p.o.a
.
on Treatment Treatment Py ee 3 ace
& :
toe
. Treatment Plant
wan
2
Fe
_ As this was my first visit to this mine I cannot com-
> ipaA '2: pare the plant with an earlier visit but the impression I gained
yess
,
a
.-" . was pltha e n plat nt is of a very low standard with a very high
Wittensom dust
~
hazard not
only
to
the surface workers
but also
to
the
underground workers at the
Mine
Poe
ee
etoar:
Personal
_".. The proposed alterationtso the plant which were
allow for the use of water had to be abandoned because the
of the fibre refused to buy fibre which had been wet
to
buyer
lead Scruggs
lead
Scruggs
Abrams
Asbestos Abrams
Abrams
Asbestos Richard
Cases
Produced Cases
Case Cases copied
, copied
Injcoupriyed
*
Ae
.
The management of the mine is trying every possible
avenue to eliminate the dust hazard and have contracted H.F.
Gregory ^ Co. Ltd. to instel a Dust Collection System for a
cost of 50,000
This system should be operating by the end
of March 1957
General
At the time of my visit I was advised that the ore
was being obtained from the Colonial and Wittenoom Mines in the proportion of 8 to 3. It appears as though the Wittenoom Mine is practically worked out and it is envisaged that a new mill
vill be built at the Colonial Gorge in the future
a 1
oe
3
.
118
The average dust count obtained at
the mill was 690
as compared with the underground workings
p.p.c.c.
Wittenoom Nine Colonial Kine
330 p.p.c.o. 230 p.p.c.c.
ground
Secondary ventilation is used where and is supplied exclusively by electric nfecaensssary
under-
Compressed air - water points in order to eliminate dustsprays are used at all scraping
Even though the dry bulb temperature
rose as the day progressed the wet bulb
outaide the mine
~
constant
temperature remained
Temperature 9 a.m.' -
*
-78 Dnrcsne 71 .
.
70.5 .
It was noticed during the inspection of the
workings that although the dry bulb temperature
underground
bulb temperature remained fairly constant
varied the wet
.
the
During the process of counting the dust particles
slides particular attention was paid to the
on
fibre present in each sample
With the
amount of asbest
only an occasional fibre was
underground samples
a higher percentage of fibre observed but with the mill samples
The higher fibre
was present although not eXCOBB^ T^
No.
3
Trommel
concentration would
and
be
at
the
Bagging
Station
vicinity of 40-50 pt.hep.cS.ccr.eeniTnhge Srteasttioonfantdhe wmoiullld woonullyd be in the
only about 10 p.p.c.c. of asbestos fibre
average
s
e
Produced
Produced in Asbestos
Personal
Personal Cases Abrams lead and
Injury copied to Richard F. Scruggs
93864-356-
T^ BULATION Or Dusi CUUIio
hdd avi,
_ DATE
MINE
AUSTRALIAN BLUE ASBESTOS
TEMPERATURE
PLACE
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COUNT DAY | WET
REMARKS
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Temp BIBI 69
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3907 7570
75.5 72.5 260 77 69.5
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