The Pyne Mine was a vertical shaft

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the ...

mine operated by the Woodward Iron Company and located near the Lacey's Chapel community outside Bessemer,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

, in Shades Valley. It was, along with Woodward's Songo Mine, one of only two shaft mines dug in the Birmingham District, and the last ore mine to operate in the region, closing in 1971.

Operation

Drilling began for the mine's , concrete-lined vertical shaft in 1918 a few miles south of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company's Muscoda mines. The slope mines built near the ridge of Red Mountain were depleting the most accessible parts of the Clinton formation ore seams. Pyne was built over a "down dip" in the seam, beyond the lower extent of the Muscoda tunnels. Operations ceased after only a few years of production due to the post-war drop in demand. The shaft was left to flood and the surface works closed down. With the renewed demands of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the mine was reopened in 1942. A 1947 rock fall accident killed one miner.

Equipment

A tall

headframe A headframe (also known as a gallows frame, winding tower, hoist frame,Ernst, Dr.-Ing. Richard (1989). ''Wörterbuch der Industriellen Technik'' (5th ed.). Wiesbaden: Oscar Brandstetter, 1989. pit frame, shafthead frame, headgear, headstock o ...

was erected over the shaft to operate two hoists, one for ore skips and another for men and materials, riding in double-decker cages. The hoist cables were fed from massive cable-drum

winch A winch is a mechanical device that is used to pull in (wind up) or let out (wind out) or otherwise adjust the tension of a rope or wire rope (also called "cable" or "wire cable"). In its simplest form, it consists of a spool (or drum) attac ...

es located inside two red brick hoist houses situated directly behind the headframe. Nearby was an ore-crushing and screening plant and a plant for pressing the crushed ore into briquettes (built in the 1950s, now demolished). The miners' bath house, designed to accommodate a work force of 500, contained a rack system so that clothes buckets could be suspended out of reach near the ceiling. Other surface works on the site included an electrical substation, a lamp house, a compressor house, a machine shop, tool shed, boiler house, pay house and office.

Production

Despite emerging sources for imported ore, Pyne was one of the most productive ore mines in the Birmingham District, removing as much as 1 million tons of ore per year. Innovative mining methods, custom-designed equipment and an efficient surface layout kept the facility competitive. The ore was originally loaded onto trains on the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was a United States Class I railroad formed in 1900, though predecessor railroads had used the ACL brand since 1871. In 1967 it merged with long-time rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coas ...

for delivery to area iron and steel furnaces, but later was trucked to Woodward No. 3 Mine for loading. When the mine reached a

thrust fault A thrust fault is a break in the Earth's crust, across which older rocks are pushed above younger rocks. Thrust geometry and nomenclature Reverse faults A thrust fault is a type of reverse fault that has a dip of 45 degrees or less. If ...

which would have required enormous efforts to overcome, the decision was made to cease operations. The pumps which kept the shaft from flooding were idled and the shaft itself was capped off.

Road aggregate

After the mine was closed the site continued to be used for the production of road aggregate, made by crushing mine

tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction ( gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overl ...

from the site.

References

External links

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