How far from a mine entry is 'safe'?

ronaldo7

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying my first home and after finding a mine entry within 20m of the first property I looked at I'm now wondering how far is considered safe?

How far away would a mine entry need to be to not affect the resale value of the property or the house insurance premium?

Is anything over 20m considered 'safe'?

Cheers

ariba10

It would depend on what sort of Mine entry it is.

If it is a Shaft or a Drift. (Hole going down into the ground or tunnel going into a hillside.)

ronaldo7

Ok thanks, so I'm assuming if it's a shaft (straight down into the ground) anything over 20m away is fine?

If it's an adit (tunnel) then the distance would need to be larger?

kingstreet

IIRC it won't show up on the report if it's more than 20m away?

Socksey

Not necessarily.
My bathroom is built directly on top of a mine adit..... I like to think of it as excellent drainage for the house..... but on a serious note, the mortgage lender had no issue with it. The house has been there 100+ years and has no movemeent at all in it.
It will depend on the angle and your position in relation to the shaft. It will also depend on the rock types and their structural integrity... etc...

ronaldo7

Thanks all.

Do you think a house located 300m away from a mine shaft would be ok?

I'm thinking as an investment here, not just whether the house will be ok structurally but will the resale value be affected?

Cheers.

davidmcn

Correct, if it's over 20m away you won't know about it - or rather, 20m away from the boundaries provided to the Coal Authority - so depending on how big your garden is, the search could show up an entry which is close to your land but nowhere near your house. Or you sometimes see searches covering a whole housing development, and realise why they haven't built on certain parts!


I can't see anybody caring about 300m.

ronaldo7

davidmcn wrote: »

Correct, if it's over 20m away you won't know about it - or rather, 20m away from the boundaries provided to the Coal Authority - so depending on how big your garden is, the search could show up an entry which is close to your land but nowhere near your house. Or you sometimes see searches covering a whole housing development, and realise why they haven't built on certain parts!


I can't see anybody caring about 300m.

Thanks davidmcn!!

Socksey

davidmcn wrote: »

Correct, if it's over 20m away you won't know about it - or rather, 20m away from the boundaries provided to the Coal Authority - so depending on how big your garden is, the search could show up an entry which is close to your land but nowhere near your house. Or you sometimes see searches covering a whole housing development, and realise why they haven't built on certain parts!


I can't see anybody caring about 300m.

Depends... it's not just the entry but the path the thing takes... if it is 300m away and the shaft runs close to the surface following a coal seam etc and the house is directly over it, you might have a problem... but that's why you pay for the mining reports etc

ronaldo7

Socksey wrote: »

Depends... it's not just the entry but the path the thing takes... if it is 300m away and the shaft runs close to the surface following a coal seam etc and the house is directly over it, you might have a problem... but that's why you pay for the mining reports etc

If it's a mine shaft (as opposed to an adit) is the path it takes not just straight down directly into the ground beneath it?

chris_m

ronaldo7 wrote: »

If it's a mine shaft (as opposed to an adit) is the path it takes not just straight down directly into the ground beneath it?

Yes - but what about the tunnels leading off from the shaft? Not all mines were deep mines.