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A slag heap is a pile built of accumulated tailings, which are by
products of mining. These waste materials are mostly composed of
shale, as well as smaller quantities of carboniferous sandstone and
various other residues.
Slag heaps may be conical in shape, hence appearing as conspicuous
features of the landscape, or they may be much flatter and eroded,
especially if vegetation is established thereon. The highest in
Europe is in Loos-en-Gohelle in the former mining area of
Pas-de-Calais.
A slag heap is at best a hideous thing, because it is so planless
and functionless. It is something just dumped on the earth, like the
emptying of a giant's dustbin.
The steep sides of the Welsh valleys are lined with small, terrace
homes sitting against the hillside. You could tell which were the
miners cottages because that was the day of the week when they had
their small piles of coal dumped outside them.
The Aberfan mine used a crane on one of the tips for hoisting the
trams and tipping their contents onto the slag heap.
Aberfan Coal Mines
Slag Heap Shale
Cracks Land Slide
Farm Cottage
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