Following a fire that caused the site to close last March, operations have been underway to secure the site.

Unusually, due to the immediate evacuation of the site during the fire, all operations to seal the two shafts have happened above ground.

With the mine closed, priorities are to extinguish the underground fire by cutting off the air supply and isolating mine water from a local aquifer.

JMC Engineering (UK) has been appointed to complete the closure and demolition of the Daw Mill site. It has been working alongside ECS to design and construct the structure that will allow shaft No.1 to be filled safely.

The completed structure had a span of 6.5m and can support a load in excess of 200 tonnes.

There are 14 wire ropes, each weighing 14t. These are fitted with eight, two-bolt clamps that are then raised to allow a second set of clamps to be installed below the first.

This allows the tension in the wire rope to be released and disconnected from the head gear framework.

In addition to work on the two shafts, the drift will also be filled, which will cut off the air apply and extinguish the fire.

Once these operations are completed, the surface structure will be demolished and the site can be prepared for a new purpose.