There is a very big hole in the Ground North Of Newcastle. It has undoubtedly cost an awful lot of money to produce, is it just me that thinks we are missing a trick by simply filling it back in when it’s finished ?

How about a Eden type roof and making a National snow dome ?
Maybe a MTB park tagged on the side ?
something else perhaps ?

call that a hole ? this is a hole !

It’s a working coal mine, isn’t it? i agree, there are better uses, but that may be somewhat difficult if it’s still in use.

Klunk: That’s a kimberlite/diamond mine in Russia, isn’t it?

Yes Mikey it still working atm, was thinking of when they have finished mining.

That’s not a hole in the ground. This is what a real hole in the ground looks like!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bingham_Canyon_Mine

Been thinking the same thing with the opencast mine in Merthyr. It’s massive and has the right geography of steep on one side, steady gradient on the other. It even has an access road into all areas 😀

There’s also one in the FOD that’s due to be decomissioned soon, Stowfield Quarry. It would be a brilliant mud-free trail centre.

So much possibility if funds and a bit of lateral thinking could come to fruition 💡

don’t they need constant pumping out ?

don’t they need constant pumping out ?

That one Klunk posted looks like it goes all the way to the center of the World!

Amazing how most people blissfully unaware of the level of destruction that goes on to get precious minerals and valuable metals for our consumer goods and electronics.

I would guess it would cost far too much money to convert anything like that into something safe for the public to use.

That’s the Shotton Opencast Coal Site including the Nortumberlandia landform constructed from part of the overburden mound.

The ‘right geography’ that Milky mentioned is actually the high wall ‘steep face’ and the low wall ‘shallow gradient’. The low wall is formed by the waste material or overburden being placed back into the previously worked area as the mine develops.

the working pit needs to be pumped from groundwater ingress and surface water run off, however, surface water runoff can be managed by some extent by adequate surface drainage, (ditches). There is also water from old underground mine workings.

You want to get some defences in there before Raiders start populating it.

Wait…is this real life or Fallout 4? I just don’t know anymore…

Mine remediation is big business and can result in some superb habitats for nature as long as the mining has been done responsibly and the land isn’t polluted. Even then, they can decontaminate, depending on what the pollution is, although it can take time and expense.

Like the naked lady off to the side 😀

Apparently that was built from the stuff dug out of the big hole

Isn’t there a Cornish fella named Trevethick who knows how to pump mines out?

Handy for getting rid of landfill too.

that’s several naked ladies, stacked one on another

phwooooaaaararrrrrrr

See: Ratho Climbing Centre

It is not quite so simple to construct a landfill site from an old opencast site. There is quite a lot of engineering or groundworks involved and all at great expense. Then there are the environmental such as groundwater pollution and also the planning issues.

Discussions regarding possible after use can include possible outdoor activity use, however, the landowners do have concerns regarding safety and possible legal action if there was ever an accident. The site above, Shotton, covers a far larger area and is much deeper than Ratho, and the land was intended to be restored back to agriculture on completion of the OCCS. The landowner in this case has also made millions from this mine and the other mines that have been worked on his land.

Landfill is also a industry difficult to make money out of currently.

The one next to Sydney is loads bigger

Lots of things you can do with an old mine. This is what they’ve done with all of them round these parts.

Old coal mines and old quarries are very different in geological terms. Quarries tend to be nice strong rock – hence why it was a quarry. Coal tends to be layered with a load of shale and sand and sandstone – not so suitable for anything other than filling in again.