Opal Mining Newsletter September-30, 2003 on Mining Underground for Opals in Coober Pedy

Well its another week and the test I did on the 4x4 last Sunday with the boat on the back worked out alright for which I am very happy as I did not really want any more problems right now with it, so now its back to work and move some dirt and hopefully find some color if possible.

The photo below is after I have finally blown the roof down in the last shot, so today I will just pull this to make sure the back is alright before we get to carried away and I have to check after with the tape measure how far out I am from the pipes and to also check the direction up top again to make sure where I am heading.

This is my neighbor, (photo below) they have brought in their drill to make things easier for them, they drilled another shaft so they could set the blower up on it and finish opening up but so far they have found no opal so have not brought the blower here as yet but are chasing a bit of trace that is in the level, if it does not pay off for them soon they will move on and if they find some opal they will bring the blower here and set it up, so we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Here is a photo showing you the way I am driving now underground, the drive I am in right now is the one on the right and I am going to change the angle of it from 68 degrees to 15 degrees so it runs parallel with the main slide to the right on the other side of the blower and the yellow line to the left is where the next drive will be going.

This is the first hole and the first to get fired, which we call the opener, you can see that I have followed the angle of the elbow for the direction, also I took this photo by mistake without the flash, I took another but this is a far better photo, pity I did not zoom in a bit closer, but hey I am still learning, better next time, I promise.

Here I am drill one of the 3 shot holes in the roof, again it was taken without the flash and the photo is in more detail, you can see the dirt coming out of the hole like a little waterfall, again would have been better a bit closer, next week I hope to do better.

This believe it or not is some of the fumes that are present after the shot has gone off, quite a lot of them have gone by this time, but I though I would give you some idea of what it looks like down there just after the shot, I will get a better shot when I have made the drive a bit longer and then I will be able to have the camera ready as the bombs are going off, then I will be able to take a quick photo before I have to get rid of them as they are very dangerous and can kill if you breath them in, which I don't.

This is after the shot and I am ready for checking the level which I have to take down with the jackpick, the level had a very small bit of green trace in it but no opal.

Went to work and pulled the last shot, the ground has changed it has now gone harder and the level has dropped a bit and has got a bit of thin trace in it, this is very good for me and I am excited about the next 2 shots or what might be in them, the plans are at this stage working out just fine, the drive was 25 feet 6 inches out from the pipes and when I measured up top with the tape out 25 feet 6 inches, this is exactly where the slide is that I picked up with the wires and the shot that I have done is the first on the other side of this and that is why there is a change in the ground, so there might be opal in front of me soon, time will tell.

This is a couple of guys that are new to our town, they are running a small goods shop here and want to learn about mining, so I was asked by a friend of mine if I would not mind taking them down under and teach them a few things, they are from Russia and speak excellent English, they lived in Adelaide for 3 years before coming here to live and I hope that they stay on for quite some time and become miners as we need new blood to replace some of the old ones that have died or the ones that have moved on from here.

Went to work, but the wind was up this morning, was yesterday as well but today it was really bad it is what we call "blowing a gale", to bad for me to stay on the field and set up as the dust would have possibly got into the filters on the blower and the generator, which is not good, so rather than take the risk I came home, pity I was looking forward to making the shot today, always get a bit excited when there is any trace in the level, get to start thinking, if you know what I mean.

Today the weather was the same as yesterday, so stayed at home again, hope its better tomorrow, need to get back to work and find some color.

Finally got to work, today the weather was great, so I got to drill the shot as you can see below, also if you look close you will see the ironstone lever is getting thicker and the Alinite has climbed up in the roof a bit, just what I want sandstone above the level, now I might get some good trace to came back in the level.

As I have now crossed over into the next section or past the fault that is above me I ma now hoping that within the next 3 shots including this one, I might find a good sized pocket of opal in the middle of this and the next fault which is some 26 feet way.

This is the shot and I took this photo without the flash, you can see the level is dropping to the left of the photo, this way is running parallel to the faults and I will be chasing opal this way later on as there are 5 faults, I opened up between the first 2 and I am heading for the middle of the next 2, after I get there I will either open up a ballroom if I find a pocket or I will come back to the pipes and start another drive in the same direction as this one, but there will be a pillar some 5 feet wide in-between.

I had the light in front of the camera for this shot and that was a mistake, but I forgot about the light and where it has to be on close up shots anyway, there is some colored trace in the level, this lot is white potch and a little bit of color, the color I found came from near the back of the shot next to the wall or what will be the wall face when I have pulled this shot.

As I was picking down the level, I came across this band of vertical gypsum, makes it look like the ground is in blocks, which you get on some fields and is very dangerous but the ground here is not blocky and is pretty safe to work in, just don't see this to often.

And just to top it off as I was approaching town, in fact I was slowing down to turn left into town when the front left hand tire blew, thankfully I was going slow, who knows what would have happened if I going at speed on the highway.

The tire is shot and to make it worse I could not get the spare off from under the truck, has been on there for a few years and never been off, so I had to get a lift back home, some 800 meters or so and then I called the one and only tow truck in town to come and get it, at a cost of $30.00, still better to get it home where I could work on it, still could not get it off at home and I had to make a call and order 2 more new tires for it as they are 7.00-15 which are not a common size here and will be from Adelaide on Saturday morning, when I can then get them fitted.

Tried to get the spare tire of the back with no luck, as it is hanging from a chain and there must be rock or it is sized up with dust I don't know, but I will have to cut the chain with a angle grinder to get it off and then I can change the front wheel so I can drive it down and get the new ones put on.

Having the day off as I think I have a cold coming, as I was next to a mate of mine in the pub yesterday and he has the flu, first time I have been in this week as well.

Off, Have got the cold alright, coughing a lot and the chest is sore, so did not go down and get the tires fitted as I have not got the spare off as yet.

Off still, the cold is worse today, now it has got to the head, but I must get the spare off tomorrow and get it fitted on the front, like it or not, will probably need some air in it which is problem with the compressor on the back of the truck and then take the truck down and get the tires fitted, they cost $124.00 each fitted, don't know if there is any fright on that until I get down there, if I don't get them done tomorrow I will lose another day off work, so I might as well do it while I am sick and then I can get back to work as soon as I feel up to pulling a shot, I smell some more opal in front of me.

Again I 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.

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