West Cliff Colliery has announced that it has achieved a new record for the most coal won in a day, a week or a month by using long wall mining.
The seam mined has resulted in coal removed from an underground trench three hundred metres wide - by three miles long.
What nobody seems to mention is that this has created a cavern deep in the earth that will have an effect on those wishing to use the land above. Eventually - mother nature will fill in that hole - and that is called " subsidence ".
Where land is subjected to subsidence there are strict limitations on what can be built on the surface above. Where housing is permitted it is usually restricted to large land areas, and such houses must be on a slab and constructed of lightweight material. Brick and tile are banned and restrictions apply to all out buildings.
Subsidence also results in limitations on road and rail construction. The fact that the earth is likely to subside places a form of sterilization on any activity other than grazing or some forms of farming.
Perhaps we are missing the point. That underground chasm presents an opportunity for those with open minds.
Landfills are running short in places like Sydney and Wollongong. When coal is removed the vacant space could become the new home for the nation's waste, given the engineering possibility of erecting a dumping shaft.
There is also talk of capturing C02 gas from coal burning power stations and sequestering it. What better place than a giant hole in the ground - that has already been filled with garbage - to be pumped full of this planet warming gas ?
If we are to be a smart country we need to think beyond the proverbial " nine dots ".
Opportunities present themselves and some see them as simply liabilities.
Liabilities can be transformed into wonderful opportunities - provided positive thinking is applied !
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