Factors that affect the success of mining are elements in the process of mining that influence the amount of profit that can be made. For example, the location of a coal-field can make a large difference to a company’s profit. If it is near existing consumers of coal, it is likely to make more money than if the coal has to be transported a long way. Similarly, if the reserves of coal in a mine are easy to access i.e. open cast mining can take place; a mining company is likely to be more successful than if the coal reserves are buried deep underground. The grade of coal in a mine will also affect it’s success, if it is a high grade with a high energy density the mine is likely to be successful. However, if the coal is of a low grade, the mine will have to excavate more coal to make a profit. Another factor that influences a mine’s success is the cost of running the plant. If labour prices and cost of running machines is high, the mine is unlikely to be very successful.
When a mine is in the exploratory stage, no money is being made from the actual mine but few are employed in the research for the mining company. This number increases as people are needed to construct the actual mine. As the mine begins to produce coal, the amount of people employed rises rapidly due to the mine’s need for labour. This increase in employment opportunity brings new people to the area, this causes a surplus of labour and unemployment begins to rise too. As there are more people in the area with a disposable income, the service sector begins to grow.
During the period of time when the mine is steadily producing, it gradually becomes less competitive as more efficient machines are used elsewhere and mining processes become dated. This forces the company to update it’s machines which reduces the amount of labour needed and therefore some jobs are cut. When this happens, people begin to move out of the area as unemployment rates rise. As the mine begins to run out of coal, the number of jobs available decreases causing a rise in unemployment and out migration. Soon, unemployment rates are higher than employment rates and those left working in the mine are older. Young people continue to move out of the area, so much so that the retired population grows to exceed the amount of under 15yr olds, causing the death rate to exceed the birth rate. Meanwhile, the number of people employed in the service sector is ever increasing as people are searching for work in places other than the mine.
The town of Maesteg in South Wales is an example of a mining town that has declined. It started as a new town to serve the nearby iron works in the 1820s but was soon dominated by the coal mining industry the town continued to grow until the 1920s when the demand for coal decreased. Then, as in the product cycle model, out migration began and jobs were lost in the mine. The rate of out migration was not as rapid as it would have been though as many found work at a nearby steel works and industrial estate. This other supply of work meant that out migration slowed and steadied and effectively turned Maesteg into a dormitory town. The closures of the mines meant that the heaps of spoil and wasteland produced by mining could be landscaped, in fact many of the valley sides were planted with conifers by the forestry commission.
Generally when a mine closes and that is the sole income for most of the people living in the area, the area becomes run down and derelict as there is no money going into the town. However if there is an alternative source of employment, like in the town of Maesteg, the area may not decline so readily.
Another previous mining area that has decline is Ebbw Vale, however, unlike Maesteg, the Ebbw Vale area had few alternative places work. to try to stop the area declining and unemployment rates rising uncontrollably, the Welsh Development Agency set up a scheme to provide over 1000 jobs. It involve transforming the valley into a giant garden attracting 40,000 people a day. Another more recent example of this move to the tourist sector is the Eden project in St. Austel, Cornwall this has renovated a previously abandoned china clay pit into a tropical garden attracting 1000s of people per day. All of these alternative employment schemes made by local and national authorities are implemented to try to avoid an area going into the final stages of the product cycle model.
Many of the
