Putting a Tunnel Machine Underground Part-1 Oct-10-2002 & Mining for Opal in Coober Pedy

Here are 13 more of the photo's on drilling shafts and some of my friend Greek George getting ready to put his Tunneling Machine down the shaft, as you are going to see it takes some effort and help from his friends.

George is the Driller who owns this drill is trying to drop the bucket on the ground near his tunnel machine, then he will lift the machine up to lower down the shaft.

George is trying to see if there is enough room to drop the bucket here, as this is the easiest side, you can see there is a hydraulic arm with cables that pulls the bucket to that side.

There is not enough room here between the drill and the trailer with the tunnel machine on and will have to be put on the other side of the drill, but first the bucket will have to be removed as normal on the drill as the Kelly and bucket cannot be pulled to the other side in this way.

This is how the bucket is normally taken off, the bucket is lowered into position and a metal bar as you can see is inserted through the hole's (one either side of the bucket) so the bucket can rest on it, this is how the bucket sits as the drill travels around from site to site.

Here the pin that holds the bucket to the Kelly Bar in is being removed, then they will attach the Kelly to the drill so it is kept in position and cannot move, it also stays this way when the mast is lowered and the bucket just rests on the pipe, swinging freely as it travels around from field to field.

Here George is raising the Kelly, to position it and lock it in place, then he will attach a second cable to the bucket so he can lift it and put it on the ground, but will need some help as seen below.

Here he has connected the cable and a safety rope so they can pull the bucket to the side by hand and George will let the bucket down slowly to the ground.

Here the bucket is safely on the ground and now the cable can be removed to get ready for hooking up to the tunnel machine for lowering it down the shaft.

Here they are lowering the machine to the ground so they can re-attach the cable in a different position at the back for lifting and lowering the machine down the shaft.

They are taking the cable off here, but this photo gives you a better idea of what the machine looks like from the front, the head or teeth, are raised and lowered with hydraulics and the operator (George) sits on the back of the machine, he moves machine forward about 4 to 6 inches and then lowers or raises the head which travels slowly cutting the dirt away, this machine in good ground can tunnel about 10 feet in one hour, bit different from me as I can only drill and blast 4 foot in one day.

There are more in this series, the next lot show you the machine being raised and lowered down the shaft.

Hope you have enjoyed this issue and look forward to the next one, hopefully I will have some more good photos to show you in the next issue and maybe some of Good Looking Opal and lots of it, I am still hoping that this will be a good year for us in mining, so stay with us over the next few months and find out what goes on in our part of the world as far as Opal Mining goes.

Stay Tuned for the next Issue, who knows what I will have to report.

Until the next issue.........

and wish me lots of LUCK.

Cya Later, Stuart Bird.

To return back to the Archived Page for more Updates click, Here!