The Mine Shafts Project. Hydrology.

[The Old Ruminator]

First job was to get a new lower pole across on pins and a screw jack. Vertical poles to go in to hold the timber. I guess because its a mine you can justify all of this rigmarole. Not really good in a cave. Ultimately the summer has been too wet to get lower so its a matter of securing the dig before a return next summer though our licence expires in April. We had a renewal last time so heres hoping.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

The others wanted a higher level pulley for hauling so we set up a gantry.



Drilling for a pin. As ever the others do the work whilst I " supervise ". Well I do the designs, acquire and cut materials and get it all to site.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Recently returned from The Berger MW now whizzies up the SRT line.





He makes it to the top. A good view of the transfer platform and straws hanging from the cap.



The elderly take a more leisurely route. This where we need to transfer ladders as there is a ledge there. All transfer points have a sling fitted to clip onto.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Back down again on Tuesday hopefully.

 

[braveduck]

Fascinated by this dig . You know there is a cavern ahead discovered by miners . But you are digging something that looks pretty solid .
Can you explain to me ,are you following an unworked vein ,or is it a backfilled mine passage please ?

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Fascinated by this dig . You know there is a cavern ahead discovered by miners . But you are digging something that looks pretty solid .
Can you explain to me ,are you following an unworked vein ,or is it a backfilled mine passage please ?

There are two main shafts 360m apart and connected by an adit thats always flooded. We nearly got it open last year. The laddered shaft you see above is not where the caverns might be. We are digging the bottom where the timbers and material has fallen blocking any way to the adit. We wont get there this year as its been too wet. Just setting it all up to hope there is a dryer summer again next year. The adit could be very near or a metre or two away as we do not know what the uphill gradient from the outlet is.

The other laddered shaft is where the cavern dig is. We are following the byrite lode back to where we think thay are. All the way from the shaft to the dig is natural cave. Mostly a large passage filled to the roof with hypogenic clay and rocks apart from the one open bit we have lunch in.

So top left is the shaft. From X to Y is the dig in natural cave. 1 - 2 is the open chamber we found and now have lunch in. Final end of dig added in brown going forward to hopefully intercept the byrite lode which we have lost at the moment. The caverns had byrite ( heavy spar ) in them and digging on the lode will be easier. Basically we enjoy the digging and I am obsessed with scaffolding. We may never find anything but I dont really care about that.

 

[braveduck]

Thank you very much for that explanation . Yes I often found that the digging was more enjoyable than the result !

 

[The Old Ruminator]

What a way to spend my Birthday. Todays redacted account.

All arrived at the car park early in the heat. Quickly dispensed with the birthday " Kissogram ". It was Brian with awfully white legs.
Straight around to ******* with two more poles and the usual gear. hammer, hatchet, buckets, spanner, nails, clips. The new lock fitted well in the box though I could have got a better one. I will make a lid for the box. Mr G. measured the lid opening for further reference.475mm x 475mm x 670mm diagonal . All bods and gear down the shaft. Replaced the too long gantry pole with a shorter one. I supervised while Brian got the upright poles into place then we manouvered two long planks in behind them. Brian's patience stretched to the limit. I was worrying where the spanner might go. All collapsed for lunch.
Digging ensued after lunch mostly rather slimey mud but more timbers. Mr G. ( he of the dew ponds ) dug. Brian hauled on the pulley. I tipped the slop into the bags. Four quarter ton bags filled. A start made on the one ton bag. Water was reached at 158 cm. The prodding pole went under the back wall at a low angle for two metres. At least that looked promising. Last two Tuesday visits were 137cm and 150cm so the water is going down. In view of a blistering hot week ahead we decided on ***** next week as the Friday Nighters are out of gear.
Sorry Brian. Next weeks shoring. Can you please bring two x 2m planks say 175mm wide and 25mm thick.( REMIND him on Sunday Mike ). I will bring four plank clips to hold them in. An easy job. ( ? ).
Mike. Friday. I thought ******** with the capping kit . Please bring drill. Look at that strike development to see if its a slab or the wall at the end. Like I said. Slab its widening. Wall is narrowing. You really cant tell. If a slab we can deal with it next Friday as well as the tunnel. Obviously going along strike would be better. Anyway it has to be better than A. or C. but up to you.
The main ladder needs extending into the dig. I will look at Steptoes yard tomorrow.

No photos. Camera went wonky though it seems to work now. I have a new one as I cant stand unreliable kit.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

The world turns. Summer slips into Autumn our digging days for 2023 at this site are numbered now. Seriously hot but got the ladder lowered down one shaft for fitting into the dig on Tuesday. Hopefully another days work will make it all safe for Summer 2024 IF we get a licence renewal.



Over to the other shaft with the cavern dig ( optimistically stated. ) Somebody let go of the hauling line so the drill bag splashed into the water after plummeting down the shaft. All retrieved. Dug out ten bags and rocks from the end ready for more work next Friday night. Tried out the new TG6 with these two images. The other Friday Nighter thinking that just maybe there might be more useful ways of spending Friday evenings. Its all dark and spooky in the woods now. Hope there is nothing horrible lurking. Might just make HE on the Saturday afttr the evening session. Do say hello if you see an old man moping about the stands it might be me. Hope I can get in for Mr O'Docs blurb. A whole hour. Better bring the popcorn.



Wish I was home -----

 

[Ali M]

The world turns. Summer slips into Autumn our digging days for 2023 at this site are numbered now. Seriously hot but got the ladder lowered down one shaft for fitting into the dig on Tuesday. Hopefully another days work will make it all safe for Summer 2024 IF we get a licence renewal.



Over to the other shaft with the cavern dig ( optimistically stated. ) Somebody let go of the hauling line so the drill bag splashed into the water after plummeting down the shaft. All retrieved. Dug out ten bags and rocks from the end ready for more work next Friday night. Tried out the new TG6 with these two images. The other Friday Nighter thinking that just maybe there might be more useful ways of spending Friday evenings. Its all dark and spooky in the woods now. Hope there is nothing horrible lurking. Might just make HE on the Saturday afttr the evening session. Do say hello if you see an old man moping about the stands it might be me. Hope I can get in for Mr O'Docs blurb. A whole hour. Better bring the popcorn.



Wish I was home -----

It could be worse, Mike - you could be in a mud bath in LVS.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

It could be worse, Mike - you could be in a mud bath in LVS.

He will be next week. It must be your inherant charm Ali x

 

[The Old Ruminator]

You buy a new TG 6 this week then they bring out a TG 7.

Redacted report from Yesterday.

Arrived early at ******. Time to clean the car. One person turned up but not the other. Several frantic phone calls achieved nothing. Went over to *** where the other person had been for an hour. Snoozing part of the time. People dont read the emails.

Two planks went down plus a short pole and a bag of clips. Brian got the ladder in place under my supervision. After a lot of faffing and discussion ( I was right ! ) the planks were got in behind the upright poles down to water level. One long upright pole to add. The lower plank on board clips so it wont drop out. Most of the water had gone so we dug out a lot of sloppy mud. The water came back levelling at 1630mm which is a 50mm drop on last time.

At the end all tidied up in case we dont get back this year. The probe went 2m into the back wall at 30 degrees. The darn adit cant be far.

I suppose you will want some photos with the new TG6 Grrrr

Hopefully a Friday Nighters trip at the other shaft at the end of the week.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Brian tying in the ladder extension in the dig with a chain and bolt.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

I will revert back to the medium size upload in case the hosted images are too large for others pc's. Fine on mine.

Bucket hauling position.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Shaft dig shoring.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Hauling position and shaft ladder.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Cutting shoring plank.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Base camp ( literally ). You could never have this mess in a cave. This is 22m down a shaft with limited floor area so the only answer is to bag the mud. We have pallet sections to sit on and keep kit clean. Our shaft cap access hole is only 450mm across dont forget.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

End of play as the water flows back in from the flooded adit below. Levels were 1.5m lower last year but this dig had not progressed this far down before the shoring was put in. It might go lower yet this year or start the usual rise over winter months. We need another summer like last year.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Quarter ton mud bags.