1 ’ SALT REVENUE DEPARTMENT FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1897-98.
2 of 427 feet of it is lined with masonry walls and a log roof,
3 which answers well, as the tunnel is a narrow one.
4 The mine tramways worked during the year with the
5 greatest efficiency. All of the salt removed from the mine was
6 carried over the tram lines to the Warthganj depét. Measured
7 from the mine mouth inward, these lines now cover an extreme
8 length of 6,800 feet, and are laid at different levels, so as to
9 bring them as near as possible to the workings in the mine.
10 The main tram line is laid in what is called the new tunnel.
11 It now extends inward from the mine mouth, a distance of 3,015
12 feet, and this length is being added to. Another length of 162
13 feet of tunnel is being prepared for a tramway extending to a
14 large field of salt little more than touched as yet.
15 Tam glad to be able to say that though many of the work-
16 ings have now been carried below the level at which water
17 might be expetted to give trouble, the mine hill has proved
18 remarkably dry. Some water has accumulated in five of the
19 old workings, but there is no increase to this. In fact there is
20 less water now in the mine than there was twenty years ago,
21 owing to the annually increasing number of drains constructed
22 to carry off the rainfall from the surface of the mine hill.
23 There are now 883 lineal feet of these drains, and they have
24 had the best effect in preventing scouring on the surface, and
25 percolation into the interior of the hill.
26 The Warcha Mine.—The mine worked at present is being
27 excavated on the same scientific principles as the Mayo mine,
28 with chambers 45 feet in width, and continuous walls between,
29 25 feet in thickness, for the support of the roof. The advance
30 in this mine is very slow owing to the trade being small. The
31 seam at present worked comprises two strata of salt, each 10
32 feet in thickness, with a thin layer of marl about a foot thick
33 between them. The supply of salt is ample.
34 Heavy falls continue to occur in the old mine which was
35 abandoned many years ago. This old mine is being gradually
36 filled up to the roof with waste salt, and is so being made safe.
37 There is very little water in the Warcha mine. Some
38 percolation has occurred in an exploration tunnel, but the
39 quantity is very small and does not cause inconvenience. This
40 percolation water hag in admixture a small proportion of pe-
41 troleum. *
42 Eighty lineal feet of exploration tunnelling were driven
43 during the year in order to test the contents of the hill below
44 the salt seam being at present worked. This tunnel is still
45 progressing, and so far it has not yet exposed a really good
46 workable seam of salt.
47 The Nurpur Mine.—This is very small and supplies local
48 demand only. It is being exgavated on the same principles as
49 the Mayo and Warcha mines, and it is quite safe.
50 The Kalabagh Quarries.—These are all open excavations
51 on the eastern face of the Saudagar hill near the town of Kala-
52 bagh, where exposed seams of rock salt appear. The salt ob-
53 tained from these quarries is of very superior quality, and
54 work in them was carried on satisfactorily during the year.
55 14. It is satisfactory to be able to note that there were no
56 accidents of any kind at the Mayo, Warcha, and Nurpur mines
57 during the year. At the Kalabagh quarries a miner's foot was
58 crushed by the fall of some rock salt upon it. This was the
59 only accident which occurred.
60 ( 1)
61 REVIEW BY SECTIONS.
62 PANJAB MINES.
63 The Warcha mine.
64 The Nurpur mine.
65 The Kalabagh quarries,
66 Accidents in the mines.