What are the hazards and risks associated with former mining activities?
• Collapse of shallow coal mine workings; • Collapse of, or risk of entry into, mine entries (shafts and adits). • The Coal Authority has records of over 171,000 coal mine entries, although there are thought to be many more unrecorded. • Gas emissions from coal mines including methane and carbon dioxide; • Spontaneous combustion or ignition of coal which may lead to the production of carbon monoxide; • Transmission of gases into adjacent properties from underground sources through ground fractures. • Coal mining subsidence; or • Water emissions from coal mine workings. • We help to clean up water from coal mines; and • We give people advice and information about past coal mining. It is estimated that as many as 2 million of the 7.7 million properties across the coalfields may lie in areas with the potential to be affected by these problems.
