Do you need a Mining Risk Assessment?
The UK has a long history of coal mining and mineral extraction, no area more so than the North East of England where coal mining and non-coal mining has taken place since Medieval Times (though potentially earlier extraction has also been argued).
The North-East is located within the Northumberland Coalfield, an area where the Pennine Coal Measures are easily accessible from the surface, either outcropping directly or accessed via the steeply incised rivers within the area. Further west in the Pennines, the Alston and Stainmore Formations were found to have high natural abundance of vein mineral deposits.
Over time both of these resources have been investigated, accessed and exploited, resulting in the presence of a pock-marked landscape of mines and spoil heaps and potential presence of instability arising from mining and opencast workings across the land.
The Coal Authority is a statutory consultee for proposed developments within the Coalfield and often require a Coal Mining Risk Assessment to be undertaken by a Consultant to assess potential risks on a site-specific basis. Where potential risks are identified there is often a requirement to investigate these issues with recommendations for remediation following as necessary. Records of vein mineral extraction are often harder to identify and usually of significantly lesser areal extent though have the same requirements for assessment and investigation.
