September 30, 2005 Opal Mining Update - No 53 Things going Well, but still no Opal as yet.

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Wish I had a crystal ball, then I would not make statements like I do, seem like I was wrong again I told you that I thought I had about 10 feet or so of virgin ground in front of me, but looks like I was wrong as you can see by the photos below, by pure chance I hit a pillar head on and when I look in the hole on the right I could not see right round the corner and thought it was all virgin, but they had done a drive to the left for about 20 feet, so this is the end of this drive for me, time to pull the machine back and get ready for another one to the right of this one.

Here is all the pipes I have used so far, I have another 3 down the drive and it is very tight right now at the top of this drive, but now I have just finished a drive I will have room to put all of these the next time I take them off and then I will have plenty of room to move around, now to set the machine up for the next drive.

Here I am ready to start the next drive or so I think, when I come to work tomorrow I may have to move it around a bit more, I have a piece of timber across the shaft at the top, we place it on the frame of the hand winch so all I have to do is look up the shaft to see what direction I have to go, then realign the machine if I have to, you can see that for a change  have used the long flexible hose instead of the normal elbow, this allows me some space that I would not have if I put the elbow on, I only use this for about 3 feet and then I change back to the normal elbow etc as I move forward.

This is the direction of the new drive, I am supposed to just catch the side of a square shaft that is about 30 feet in front of me, then I will keep going to see what is on the other side of a fault that is about 14 feet past the shaft, I will go about 10 feet or so and if there is nothing in the level by then I will quit and bring the machine back ready for the next drive.

So here we are going well and some 6 feet into the drive at this stage, I am starting to go up slightly again till I can see the level, never know may find something in the drive.

Now I have pick up the level again, but there is nothing in it as yet, not sure I like this level as yet, used to having a ironstone level now a lot easier to see and follow, does not mean that I would have found any opal, but this level comes and goes and at times is hard to follow, still early days yet.

Here I have a problem, I was not expecting a drive on this side of the shaft, I did not pick one up with the wires, but looks like I am breaking into a drive for sure, may be the end of this drive.

Yep a drive for sure, have had a peak inside right here, I can just see enough to tell me what I want to know and I have made a mistake in my alignment of the machine, instead of heading for the right hand side of the shaft I have in fact missed it and I am about 7 feet to the left of the shaft, hard to believe that I could be so far out in such a short distance, 27 feet, I thought about 30 but when I came up top after I have finished for the day, I see that the strong wind must have moved the piece of timber, this must have happened during the night, the night before I started the drive, I never thought to have a look at the timber before I started work, then again I never thought the wind would move it even if it was strong, now I will have to make sure that the timber does not move again the next time.

Here I am crossing the drive and starting to cut into the other side, the floor is raised as it has mud down the shaft through rain over the years, but it is dry so is no problem getting through it, no sign of a level or any material, so I can assume that the old miners did not find anything in this drive and it was just a prospect one, which means that you do a few feet just to have a look at the ground in a certain direction, which is just what I am doing here, to see if I can cut a level with some material.

I have only gone 4 feet and I am in trouble again, looks like another drive, again I did not pick up a drive with the wires this far over for a drive or I would not have gone in this direction, but then again I am supposed to be about 13 foot over to the right, if I had gone in the right direction and above me is a large mound of dirt that was put there when they noodled my dump from the old claim, so very hard to use the wires on that, can do it but hard to climb up and down on it, I like flat virgin ground and am only this way to make sure that I get to know here the level is at, so far not impressed, but that's mining and the ground as you have seen in the past can change very quickly.

Yep its a drive alright, but as luck would have it I am half in solid ground and half in the drive, they did a drive along side of the other one, this may have been done by other miners at a later date as the drive has come form the left and the shaft to my left and the other drive that I have just crossed came from the shaft to my right, so they are done by two different miners at different times.

The floor in this drive is about 2 to 1.5 feet below my floor, but as I have half of the dive in solid ground I can cross this as some of the ground I cut is falling and also getting pushed to the left and filling in the floor so the machine can just crawl over it, the floor is soft now on the left side, but as the cutters are about 2 feet in front of the tracks, I am not far from cutting in the opposite wall before the tracks are on this soft ground, first time I have done this and was quite easy, for second I though I would have to abandon the drive, but would give it a go first and glad I did, never learn if I don't try.

Here is a peak just inside the drive as I go past it (slowly) you can see another drive coming of this one, so I went inside with a light and had a look to see what they did and where they went, they had done another drive towards me but couple of shots deep so nothing to worry about, this is the last or should be that was in my way, from now on it should be virgin ground, but it very hard ground with plenty of gypsum in the face and has slowed me down a lot.

This is the first drive I went across the one that came from the shaft I was supposed to have connected to on the right, the ground is that hard right now in the face I am thinking about quitting the drive as the level is virtually none existence and have seen no trace or material as yet, will think on it over night.

When I went to work this morning the first thing I did was to make an adjustment to the diesel fuel injection pump on the blower and then I went with the wires again around the drive area that I have the machine in, I have found that the square shaft that I missed was not put in the right place by them,. they thought they had put it down in what is called a corner, that is a corner between 2 faults join up and are both facing in, but they had picked up 2 slips. ( I know that you don't know what I am taking about) A slip is a small minor fault that goes between levels and is not the same a main fault or a slide, bit to learn in this game eh, anyway based on this and finding where the fault is and the corner which I am no where near right now, its far, far away to the right, but the fault in front of me is now some 40 feet plus away, so I decided to keep the drive going for another 40 to 50 feet to have a look at the ground and it turns out that I was right for a change, another 4 feet in and the ground is not as hard and I saw a skin shell (potch) near the roof on the right hand side and as shells are below a level not above one, so I was down to low or there was another level above. So I started the machine to go up and within a foot a level came into view, which is below, there is a small amount of potch in view on the left and from there all the way to the roof is a line of chalky potch, thin, but this can turn to potch or opal at any time, so things have improved just like that.

Here just under the gypsum and above alanite is potch, I did dig a bit out of here for about a foot and I did see a touch of green in there, I have tumbled this already and there is nothing of value in it, but I am happy that I have got this in the wall, now I have a chance and something to look forward to for change when I come to work tomorrow, wont keep me a wake but I will sleep better.

Here you can see that I have gone about another 18 inches and have been digging potch out all the way and I say potch no opal as I saw at this point, but here it has gone thick which is a heart breaker, this is what I want to see but with good color, there will still be some in the side wall I should think and the ground under the level here has gone very soft, but the rest of the ground is rock hard.

Here you can see how thick it is and I have already tumbled this lot and there was a bit of color in there and now I have edited this photo I can see some color in the middle piece below and the biggest piece weighed in at 1 ounce 15 pennyweights, pure potch, the ground here is so hard I cannot use the small hand pick I have to use the electric jackpick, I am even having trouble knocking nails in the wall.

Now it has all gone, I may at some time dig into the side wall to have a look but I doubt if there will be anything worth while in there, I have also at this point taken the machine down a foot as well as you can see from the roof, to bring the level up a bit more for me and if you look at the side wall you will see a hole in there, this is from a bomb from the end of the drive next door, lucky I just missed it hard to tell how far a drive is just by taking a look round the corner, but did not think it was long enough for me to hit it, but it was close, now there is no more in front of me or on the side.

This line on the right hand side started to carry a bit of potch, but that did not last long and was gone within 9 inches, I tried to move this light on the right before I finished for the day, but cannot get a nail into the wall, I have got a couple more of these work lamps ordered and when they arrive here next week I will have a day off and make a couple of brackets to mount them on the machine, this will save me time and trouble not having to move them and not having to dodge the cables as I go to the front of the machine and back, so long as the globes last due to the vibration on the machine when I hit the gypsum and alanite, apart from that the vibration is not bad with just normal cutting.

Here I am at last don't see much of me do you, hard taking a self photo at times, I am putting some hydraulic oil in the tank as I have a couple of leaks from the controls that need attention, I have put 15 liters in but it needs more, about the same I would say the tank holds around 90 to 100 liters at a guess and as the oil level gets down to low the temp get up to high when working for a couple of hours, when full the volume helps to keep itself cool, this is also helped by the airflow that passes through the crusher box which is just behind the floor cutters and is what the dirt gets sucked through the hydraulic oil is also connected to this box just like a small radiator, except there is no fins just a bubble if I can call it that that the air flow runs over on the inside of it helping the oil to cool.

I have had some trouble with the extendable cutting head slowly getting dragged out as I am cutting, especially in very hard ground, the way was with 2 bolts and lock nuts was not good enough and they wood not lock it in place, so here I have drilled a 1/2 inch hole through the arm and will now fit a 1/2 inch high tensile bolt through and put a spring washer and nut on it, this will stop it for sure.

I am now lined up the 3rd drive and this time I am right in the direction I want to go in, I will not be connecting to a drive on this drive but I will be heading for a corned between two faults that lean in towards me, it is some 73 feet from the pipe you can see here, so with some luck I may find some material or opal.

Here I am about to start the drive but have to jackpick some of the roof down, in actual fact it is the pointed part that is between the 2 drives from when I open up, I have to get rid of this so the cutting head can rotate right over, here it will catch on the roof and I cannot start cutting until this is done, I have to do when I change the angle of the machine to go up or down, as the head catches the sides of the drive as the cutters digs in, but the back of the cutters (the head itself) needs to also have some clearance and I have to give it that, its alright after about 3 or 4 inches.

The oil leaks are getting worse, I am loosing quite a bit now when the oil gets up to working temp, I can see the one on the right just dripping away but I cannot get to it, will have to pull the machine out next week to fix it, have been down to Ross's today and found out that he is going away to Alice Springs for 5 days and will not be back at work until next Wednesday or Thursday, so I have bought a couple more 500W work lamps and they have just arrived today, so I will be down at Ross's tomorrow (Thursday) as he does not leave until Friday and make a couple of brackets for them so I can bolt them to the machine, that will take up one day and then I will have to work for a couple more and just put up with loosing some oil for a few more days and then I will pull the machine back down the drive to get it out and bring it home for some TLC.

Here are the new work lamps fitted, did a good job with them and they give me all the light I need in this position, but I already knew that as I held one of the old ones in place to see first, now I do not have to worry about knocking nails in the wall as sometimes the ground is so hard I cannot get one in, especially when it is Alanite or Gypsum and they had to go up at the right height as I had to duck under then as I went up front to have a check or pick in the face and no more leads to worry about either, everything is tucked away nice and neat, the only problem was that after I had been working for about an hour and half a piece of dirt for the face got thrown back and hit the globe and blew it.

So I had to make these covers up with mesh on to protect the globes, the lights when new have a front cover on with glass in, but they are to heavy and get far to hot with the glass on so we take the covers off or take the glass out and I have never had a problem with the lights getting hit while they were on the side wall, but now they are in a more direct line for when pieces are thrown back, but now these are working well so far and again I am please with the job, I like to do nice and neat work.

Here I have a side plate off the machine that stops dirt from getting in front of the tracks, it had a piece of rubber in between the plate you see here and the angle iron that I use to stop this happening but I ripped it off bringing the machine back, I have done this 3 times before, the last time was in the last drive and it was the one on the other side of the machine, this causes problems for me as you will see, so I have to replace it and to do so I have to bring the machine back where I can get at it, the plate has a square corner to it and here you can see that the fine dirt has made a little pile and falling in front of the track, causing it to lift.

This is what happens when this angle iron side plate is not on, you can see the drive has gone around a corner, this is because some dirt has got under the left hand track causing that side of the machine to track up and so it in fact leans to the right, I  tried to realign the machine a few times but did not have much luck the way it was cutting so put up with it till I was finished,  you don't really see this as you are working its only when you come back down the drive and look back up it you see the bend, so when I finished the drive and brought the machine back I put it back on again, only this time I left off the rubber which made a complete seal against the side of the drive but was a weak point as the rubber allowed the bolts to flex and then break when under pressure, so no more rubber, just bolt the angle iron on and is now a solid fixture now, so should last.

Here is the angle iron back on, does not do a lot but there is a small gap between the front crusher box plate and the side wall there is some fine dirt thrown back through this gap as the front floor cutters are cutting and as it plies up it tends to fall down sideways in front of the track, its not a lot but enough the make the climb, this one below I also ripped off in this new drive I an doing as I bought the machine back to take the floor down a bit, I continued working for a day but soon realized that I would have the same problem, as the last drive only this time it want to go to the left and it also affected the way I operate the machine with one track always wanting to climb higher than the other one, so I bought the machine back to the beginning of the drive after I have put the lamp covers on and fixed it., now this angle iron which is 3 inches wide stops this dirt from getting in front of the track and I can now control the machine as I want.

One of the main problems with this machine when I bought it was they (and me) could not stop it from climbing up, I had been talking to the last owner that operated this machine, not the one I bought it from as he did not use it at all and this man ( who is deceased now was killed this month in a mining accident) and he asked me if I have stopped the machine from climbing and told him I had and this is how I did it, bit of trial and error but I am getting there, the machine is coming together nicely but takes time to modify things and iron out problems along with normal working breakdowns, but we are getting it will be a good machine when I am finished with it, might not be quick, but better than a pick and shovel. Now I have worn a hole in the bottom elbow, has seen a bit of work over the years so was due I suppose but now we are using the tunnel machine this will be a regular occurrence, when I bring out the machine to fix the oil leeks, which are the O rings that have perished from the machine standing around for years in the weather, I will also bring up the telescope which is connected to this elbow and the elbow itself up for repairs, I will put a wear strip inside of the elbow this time just like I did to the elbow on top, this can be replaced when it is starting to wear through and prolong the life of the elbow, but for right now I have put a rubber patch on it with some tape and that will keep me going.

This is the 3rd drive I am doing right now, you can see on left of photo that the machine was starting to drift of course again, I did align it a few times but that was wasting more time than it was worth that is why this time I decided to stop and fix it, between the lamp covers being put on and bringing the machine back and fixing the angle iron back on and taking the machine back to the face took an hour, so was worth the stoppage, but the sad part is there is nothing in the level for me to look at so far, now I have fixed the side angle plate you can now that the machine is tunneling straight.

I have finished the 3rd drive which was a waste of time and money as I found no material or trace at all in it the 70 feet that I did, so I have pulled the pipes etc up and brought the machine back to the shaft, have greased the machine and now I am cleaning up the side wall so I can maneuver the machine into position too start the next drive.

Here I am now starting the drive as you can see I am right up against the elbow, will have to turn the machine to the left slightly when I get past the elbow as I am heading for a shaft again, it is not one that I have drilled and is about 40 feet away, could not measure as the truck is in the way, but have to pass through this shaft to get to a main fault and go through it to have a look on the other side of it, this fault is the one that is helping the opal to form on the bottom level and hoping that it will do the same up on this level, just a matter of finding out where if any at all.

There was a small ironstone level but near to the ground, this is not where the level is supposed to be and thought that it may have been a squibby level (false level as we call it) it was carrying some potch and have had a dig in the wall for a couple of feet and then it ran out and here you can see that in fact it is the level but has dropped towards me, so this level should continue to rise as I go in more until it gets to here it should be, this is what we look for a falling level and when it is carrying material or opal it sometimes makes nice pockets but not in this case, but after I have done this drive I will be doing another in the middle of this one and the last one to the left of photo, there may be some opal to the left of this drive, never know where it makes, but I am happy that I have found some potch, means that the ground is carrying so there is a chance that I may find something else in front of me.

Here is a snippet or two of information from Coober Pedy. The Coober Pedy drilling program is moving ahead with in excess of 300 holes drilled on the Field. The drilling logs for 17 of these holes are now available and any miner wishing to view the logs can do so by calling into the Coober Pedy be targeting PIRSA office on Hutchison Road.

Pictured above: The beginning of the drilling program, Ross Sawers from the Northern Regional Development Board (right) with the Hon MLC Minister for Mineral Resources Development and another guest at the official opening. The runs south of Coober Pedy on Allan's Rise and Reynolds Ridge continue to and practical produce good opal trace, another new area has been found approximately 34 kilometers south of Coober Pedy opposite the Opal Valley field, this named Opal Ridge. There are good early indications that this may develop into another productive field as many floaters have been found in the vicinity, there are currently about 50 claims pegged and six drills prospecting in the area. Miners are reminded that these areas are within the Woomera Prohibited Area and entry permits must be obtained prior to entry, these entry permits have conditions attached that must be adhered to. Miners are reminded that they are not allowed to set up permanent campsites in the area and should not be camping in the area overnight. Any miner wishing to have a caravan on site may do so but the van must be situated on their registered claim and be able to be removed at short notice. If you intend to prospect in these areas please visit the office and PIRSA staff will be only too happy to advise you of the conditions that are required to be met to mine within the Woomera Prohibited Area. Miners are also reminded that the 50-metre road reserve over the Stuart Highway applies in these areas and mining is prohibited within this reserve, this is critical as the TELSTRA fiber optic cable lies within the reserve and any person who damages the cable can expect a substantial repair bill from TELSTRA. HOG's Pig Out on Hutchison St. Approximately 2,000 Harley Davison motor bikes were on their way to Airs Rock and Alice Springs for the 2005 HOG Rally, which started on Wednesday Me 14* of September. Once again, Coober Pedy's strategic location on the Stuart Highway, provided locals with an ideal vantage point to watch a procession of classic vehicles, belonging to the 'Harley Owner's Group'. For those who missed seeing the bikes on their way north, there was another opportunity a week later as they roared their way south again. The HOG rally had 1,800 Harley Davison motor bikes registered, but at least 2,000 bikes attended. In motor bike terms the Harleys apart from being in mint condition varied in engine capacity up to 1550cc 2 cylinder v twin, the apparent maximum. End................ Hope you have enjoyed this issue and look forward to the next one, hopefully I will have some good photos to show you in the next issue, of opal with color of course, I am hoping that this will be a good year for us, but only time will tell, so stay with us over the next few months and find out what goes on in our part of the world. But normally it Patricia Until the next issue......... 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!

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