Quote: JerryChicken "All of the miners that I knew when I lived in the north-east in the early eighties knew that they didn't have a job to go back to very early on in the strike, all of the sea pits in the north east were closed BECAUSE of the strike not in spite of it.
I heard a very interesting comment from a retired power station worker yesterday talking about the miners strike and the little known fact that the political solution to closing the pits was to import coal from south america and eastern europe which was inferior to the point of being almost not coal at all when compared to the supply of British coal - he quoted the levels of ash left behind after burning in the power stations, not much at all for the British coal, huge amounts left by the cheaper suppliers, the main reason being that British coal was deep mined and the imported stuff was mainly surface mined, open cast, and the deeper the coal the better the quality - something I didn't know.
None of which mattered to the political masters who just paid the bills and thought that the problem was solved.'"
Power Station Fuel (PSF) was typically 15 to 20% ash and was produced via washeries to be at that level deliberately.
The reason was that this was the optimum level for our typical bituminous coal to give the heat output needed but not overstrain the boilers.
Needless to say coal is priced on its calorific value with a reduction in price for its ash content (among other things, like sulphur content).
It is true that the deeper the coal the higher its calorific value, but don't forget deep coal seams can be uplifted over the eons and bring high grade coal near to the surface.