Abbeydale Geoscience Logo The Abbeydale Geoscience logo. We provide geotechnical and geo-engineering services across Yorkshire and the whole United Kingdom.
Icon showing coal and shallow mining investigation (also known as a geotechnical mining investigation and historical mining investigation). Abbeydale Geoscience investigate the impact of these on ground stability.

Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation

A Coal and Shallow Mining Investigation is a critical service for anyone planning to develop land in areas with a history of coal or other shallow mining activity. If you are a property developer, landowner, or consultant, understanding the risks posed by historical mine workings is essential to ensuring the safety and stability of your project. Our Shallow Mining Investigation services assess the potential for ground instability caused by unrecorded mine workings, shafts, or tunnels, helping to mitigate risks such as subsidence, structural damage, or costly delays. Through detailed Ground Stability Investigation techniques, including boreholes, geophysical surveys, and historical records analysis, we identify potential hazards and provide expert recommendations. Whether you need a Shallow Mine Workings Investigation for a residential development, a Geotechnical Mining Investigation for infrastructure projects, or a Historical Mining Investigation to assess past coal extraction, we have the expertise to deliver accurate, reliable assessments. If you are concerned about mining subsidence investigation, don’t leave it to chance, contact Abbeydale Geoscience for professional and friendly guidance and peace of mind. We can explore the impact of coal mining or shallow mining and what that means for your project.

Finding what's there to be found
Service Type:
Investigation
Service Level:
secondary
Mining investigation, holding a lump of coal. Understand the risk of coal mining and shallow mining with our cost effective investigation.
Finding what's beneath your feet

Out Of Sight... Out Of Mined

When a Mining Risk Assessment or other feasibility study highlights a potential risk from shallow mining, the next step is often to carry out an intrusive shallow mining investigation.

Discover the cost and risk of coal mining on your project, with our coal mining investigation report.
Shallow mining and coal mining investigation services in Yorkshire. Abbeydale Geoscience prepare coal mining reports to help you understand the cost and risks associated from the effects of mining.

We do this to look for any signs of possible shallow mine workings and assess whether the minerals or workings are shallow enough to be a potential risk should they collapse in the future.

Do You Have Questions About Shallow Mining Investigations? We Have Answers!

Why Is Shallow Mining Investigation Needed?

We do this to look for any signs of possible shallow mine workings and assess whether the minerals or workings are shallow enough to be a potential risk should they collapse in the future.

The most significant of these is usually the potential for collapse of shallow depth underground mine workings - this can lead to instability if the collapse migrates to the surface.

How Do We Carry Out Shallow Mining Investigations?

To do this we drill down to confirm the depth, thickness and state of the coal or mineral seams or any associated workings that might be present. Most often we drill boreholes using rotary open-hole methods just to confirm the above, but rotary coring techniques can also be used where lots of information about the bedrock is needed.

What Are The Benefits Of Shallow Mining Investigation?

By getting the information that you need to understand what’s happening in the ground beneath your site, we can assess the extent of areas that need treatment if there could be a risk of land instability at the surface, or areas where the risks are lesser if mineral seams or mine workings have enough rock cover above them.

But before any intrusive fieldwork is undertaken we liaise with regulatory authorities such as The Coal Authority to get permission to drill through any coal seams or mine workings, and get their agreement for the proposed works to be undertaken. Health and safety should always be at the forefront of a shallow mining investigation.

Old shafts and mine entries

Where old mine shafts or mine entries are identified or suspected, a shallow mining investigation can also locate recorded mine entries and confirm their position. Shafts and adits can pose a significant risk to land stability if they haven’t been infilled properly in the past!

Once they’ve been located, there’s often more investigation needed at a later stage to probe drill any shafts, to confirm if they’ve been filled to the bottom, or only partially infilled.

Locating a mine shaft can also be useful to help make adjustments to design out some of the inherent risks from buildings over or near to mine shafts. Ideally if lower risk activities can be designed to be over mine entries then their potential impact is lessened.

Mining investigation report / mining survey in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Abbeydale Geoscience's mining reports investigate the cost and impact of coal and shallow mining on your project.

What happens next?

The data collected from a shallow mining investigation determines if remediation works need to be undertaken to stabilise any shallow mine workings or treat mine entries as part of the development of a site. Often shallow mine workings needs to be “drilled and grouted” to consolidate the works and substantially fill any remaining voids. This reduces the potential of the workings settling further in the future and causing ground movements if this were to happen.

If located, mine entries will also need to be probe drilled and either grouted to consolidate any existing infill, or filled with a suitable material, and then often a concrete cap is placed over the shaft at bedrock level to allow building on top of the shaft afterwards.

Making adjustment to a proposed site layout can be one of the most effective ways to reduce the potential risks from mining legacies. That’s why we like to work with our clients and get involved with projects as soon as possible in the feasibility and design process. By relocating buildings or using certain areas for lesser risk activities can reduce the potential risks a lot.

At Abbeydale Geoscience we’re experienced in producing drilling and grouting strategies and scopes of treatment works for mine entries, and we work closely with our clients and their designers to provide robust and cost-effective treatment solutions to ensure that the risks of historical mining legacies are understood and can be mitigated.

We are proud to offer our Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation across Yorkshire and the wider United Kingdom

Do you need top quality, cost-effective, geotechnical and geo-engineering services, near you? Do you like working with a small but professional local business? Do you want to be treated like a human being and not an invoice number? Do you want to work with people who genuinely care about your site or project?

We thought so and we look forward to working with you!

Abbeydale Geoscience operate across the entire Yorkshire area and the wider United Kingdom. Below is a list of some of the many areas locally that we provide and have provided our Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation services. We are proud of our heritage as a small West Yorkshire based business.

West Yorkshire

  • Wakefield
  • Leeds
  • Bradford
  • Huddersfield
  • Halifax
  • Dewsbury
  • Pudsey
  • Pontefract
  • Castleford
  • Ossett
  • Morley
  • Brighouse

North Yorkshire

  • York
  • Ripon
  • Harrogate
  • Scarborough
  • Northallerton
  • Whitby
  • Selby
  • Skipton
  • Knaresborough
  • Filey
  • Pickereing
  • Tadcaster

South Yorkshire

  • Sheffield
  • Rotherham
  • Doncaster
  • Barnsley
  • Wath upon Dearne
  • Bentley
  • Wombwell
  • Chapeltown
  • Maltby
  • Mexborough
  • Thorne
  • Stainforth

East Yorkshire

  • Kingston-upon-Hull
  • Bridlington
  • Beverley
  • Goole
  • Cottingham
  • Hessle
  • Driffield
  • Anlaby
  • Hornsea
  • Pocklington
  • Willerby
  • Withernsea

Need Some Help With Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation?

There are so many reasons why Abbeydale Geoscience are the perfect choice for Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation... but we'll just list a few:

  • Honest, friendly and down to earth service from a team who care about you and your project. We're sure you'll find this refreshing in this day and age!
  • Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation carried out to a professional level by an experienced and robust geoscience team. We do it all, without any cutting of corners.
  • We provide what you need and nothing more. We don't do upselling or pushing services you don't require. We would much rather have a valued client's loyalty and repeat business.

A first class Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation service

Get in touch now. Are you looking for the highest quality geotechnical and geo-environmental services near you? Just use the contact details below. Ask us about our professional Coal And Shallow Mining Investigation service.

Mining investigation, holding a lump of coal. Understand the risk of coal mining and shallow mining with our cost effective investigation.

Working Hours

Monday to Friday: 9am – 5pm

Office Address

4 Neville Street, Wakefield, WF1 5EF

Call Us On

(+44) 01924 376622
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