Cutacre Opencast Mine

It is often very difficult to get a decent photograph of opencast workings due to the huge bunds of stripped material that surround them. In this case the circumstances meant I was only able to take this rather jumbled shot of machines, dump trucks and a glimpse of coal seam.

The Cutacre site at Little Hulton, between Bolton and Wigan, is being worked by UK Coal who intend to take out the seams and also wash the massive spoil tip which remains from many years of deep mining in the area. The planning permission is for 900,000 tonnes of surface mined coal and 850,000 tonnes from tip washing.