The New Mine

About the film

An overview of the progressive facilities at a modern coal mine in Scotland, with an emphasis on the steps taken to ensure worker welfare there.

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Details

• Release year - 1945
• Director - Irene Wilson
• Production company - G.B. Instructional
• Producer - Donald Carter
• Running time (minutes) - 16 mins 27 secs

Original description

Comrie Colliery

'A modern colliery in Scotland, situated in unspoilt country instead of an ugly mining town, has up-to-date machinery, the latest ventilation and safety devices, and new methods in mining practice. The surface buildings of this model colliery are built on symmetrical lines.'

(Films of Britain - British Council Film Department Catalogue - 1947-50)

Did you know?

• When The New Mine was made in 1945, there were around 1000 coal mines operating in the UK. Today, there are less than a dozen.
• Described in The New Mine as a "pit-head of the new world", Comrie Colliery in Fife operated from 1936 to 1986. In spite of the film's optimistic claim that the mine would “stand the test of time”, and comments on the safety of its operations, the Comrie Colliery site is now derelict.
• Despite The New Mine's praise for the cutting-edge techniques employed at the mine, the disused site was recently described by Fife Council as the "largest area of post-industrial dereliction in West Fife". The land around the mine, clearly discernible from above, is reported to be heavily polluted, contaminated with cyanide, and the 40 metre high pile of coal waste (seen forming in the film) has purportedly been burning since the 1970s. Nonetheless, there has recently been movement towards the redevelopment of the site.

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