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Events/Disaster · 1960

Coalbrook colliery collapse

Disaster, 1960-01-21, South Africa.

What happened

About 900 pillars at the Clydesdale colliery at Coalbrook in the northern Free State collapsed on 21 January 1960. The Heritage Portal says 437 miners were buried alive about 180 m down. The rescue effort failed.1,2

Why it matters

The Heritage Portal says the rescue effort brought no positive result.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. Hawks Nest Tunnel silicosis disaster

    NPS calls it the greatest silicosis death toll in US history.3,4

  2. Manhattan Project begins

    Manhattan Project begins.5

  3. Centralia No. 5 mine explosion

    It is one of the larger US coal mine disasters after 1940 in the MSHA list.6,7,8

  4. Coalbrook colliery disaster, South Africa

    Wikidata lists 435 to 437 deaths in one of the worst coal mine disasters on record in Africa.9

  5. Newman: inception recorded

    Newman has an inception date of 1966 in Wikidata.10

  6. Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969

    The Act is the British statute on the security of tips. The opened page does not link it to Aberfan.11,12

  7. Orapa mine officially opened

    Orapa was the first mine opened by the company, ahead of Letlhakane (1977) and Jwaneng (1982).13,14

  8. Wieliczka salt mine inscribed

    UNESCO World Heritage listing event.15

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Where next

Events

An example ofSenghenydd colliery disasterCoalbrook buried 437 miners in 1960. Senghenydd killed 439 in 1913.1An example ofBois du Cazier fire at MarcinelleCoalbrook buried 437 in 1960. Marcinelle killed 262 four years earlier.16

Sources

  1. The 1960 Coalbrook Disaster The Heritage Portal (H. Muller)
  2. Coalbrook mining disaster (item Q19903859), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Hawks Nest Tunnel Disaster US National Park Service
  4. Gauley Bridge (item Q2245446), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  5. Wikidata item Q127050 (Manhattan Project begins)
  6. Fact Sheet 95-8: Historical Data on Mine Disasters in the United States US Mine Safety and Health Administration
  7. Underground Coal Mine Disasters 1900-2010: Events, Responses, and a Look to the Future NIOSH (Brnich and Kowalski-Trakofker)
  8. Centralia (item Q575126), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  9. Wikidata item Q19903859 (Coalbrook mining disaster)
  10. Wikidata item Q651074 (Newman)
  11. Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969 (c. 10), arrangement of sections UK National Archives (legislation.gov.uk)
  12. London (item Q84), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  13. Report to Stakeholders 2014 (key milestones 1967 to 2014) Debswana Diamond Company
  14. Orapa diamond mine (item Q859817), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  15. Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  16. Crime and non-punishment: how the justice system failed the Marcinelle dead European Trade Union Institute (HESA newsletter 30)

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0; Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).