Coal - Wet Cleaning at the Tralee Preparation Plant

THE Tralee preparation plant, owned and operated by the Semet-Solvay division of Allied Chemical and Dye Corp., is located on the Virginian railway, near Mullens, Wyoming County, W. Va., and the mine, which is in the Winding Gulf district, produces coal exclusively from Pocahontas No. 3 seam. The property, comprising 4900 acres, is leased from the Pocahontas Land Corp. Prior to 1930 four separate mines were operated in this tract, some having been started about 1916. Plans for the preparation plant were formulated soon after World War 11. Construction began in the spring of 1948, operation early in 1950. The plant was designed to be operated with minimum labor. It was equipped for production of first quality graded sizes of coal for house heating and 3/8x0-in. slack suitable for high-standard metallurgical coke. In the beginning, a thorough investigation was made of the property by means of core drilling, prospect openings, and sections from shallow mines on the property, as well as sections and analyses from mines in the immediate vicinity. After the extent of desirable coal had been established and the average seam section and nature of overlying and underlying strata had been determined, it was decided to install a system of mining which would load the full seam and would clean the product mechanically. Pocahontas No. 3 seam is characterized by draw slate and bone and rock partings. It was not known what the washing difficulties and cleaning plant requirements would be for processing the raw product of full mechanical mining. Arrangements were made, therefore, through the courtesy of the property owner, to obtain a large sample from a section of the mine along the adjoining property line. The