Monktonhall Colliery – Scotland Shafts 1 and 2 – Scotland, 1988
A large network of flooded and abandoned workings were causing a rise in ground water levels and leaking into the operating section of Monktonhall Colliery. An extensive cement grouting program was tried but failed to stop the increasing inflows. Some 220 tons of cement were used during a period of nearly one year.
No. 1 Shaft. By June 1988 the water make in the shaft interval 0-1015 feet was 2,880 liters per minute and increasing quickly. It was then decided to apply SCEM66 in an effort to reduce the water make to 450 liters per minute. Grouting started on June 7 and by July 21 the water make from this same shaft interval had been reduced by 96% to 104 liters per minute using 15,000 liters of SCEM66.
No. 2 Shaft. Following the successful sealing of the No. 1 Shaft, it was decided to treat the No. 2 Shaft. Because of their proximity, the water make from the No. 2 Shaft had already decreased from grouting of the No. 1 Shaft. When work commenced on August 29, 1988 water inflow in the shaft interval 0-986 feet was 785 liters per minute. After SCEM66 grouting, the water make from the same shaft interval was reduced by 85% to 110 liters per minute by October 13, 1988. Additional work was then undertaken in the shaft interval 1000-1400 feet where inflows were also reduced from 188 liters per minute to 47 liters per minute.
