Opal Mining Underground in Coober Pedy Looking for Opals With a Tunnel Machine, December-31, 2007 Newsletter

So here we are in another and the last month of 2007 and for me I am glad this year has just about ended or will have when you all read this newsletter as it has not been a good year for me with the opal and other small things that have happened to me and my wife, thankfully Patricia has not had another problem with her heart, the pills seem to be doing a good job and now she makes sure that she has something to eat at lunch time to keep her blood sugar levels up, I feel that this was something to do with her problem although she does not agree with me, but who cares as long as she eats something at lunch time, which she never did before.

Well contrary to what I said at the end of last month I have decided that it was not worth the effort to move the blower and put the pipes back down and set up again just to do a couple of short drives as that is what they would have been due to the wet ground, so after thinking about it I decided that it would be better for me to bring the machine back to the big shaft as planned and pull it out and bring it home.

So I went down to see the company that has the crane and asked when it would be possible to hire it to pull the tunnel machine out for me and they said Friday the 7th would be good for them as they had other jobs to do and this would fit in with them about mid morning and as this was Tuesday the 4th gave me plenty of time to go back out to the claim and get the machine back to the big shaft and get the machine ready for lifting.

But like all good plans that I make something went wrong to mess them up once again, when I got up on Wednesday morning Pat said to me to have a listen in the kitchen while it was quiet (before I turned the PC on she meant) as there was a strange noise and sounded like water leaking under pressure and sounded like it coming from the sink area and behind the wall.

So after I had got myself ready for the day I rang the plumber on his home phone and left a message and then rang the mobile number and let one on that as well and he rang me back about 8:30am and told me that he was not in Coober Pedy but working on this mine south of here, but his son was in town and he would ring him and tell him my problem and see if he could get round to help me out, which he did he rang about 15 minutes later and came round at 9:45, by the time he had cut out 3 sections on the wall in the bathroom and found the pipe he decided that he would try and find it from under the sink through the cabinet.

Found it straight away as the back of the wall was very wet and looks like it had been leaking for a while but the pin hole got bigger and so we heard it, after he had cut a small section out of the wall right on the leak he marked where it was, went and got a tool and a piece of pipe with fitting on it, I went and turned off the water and he had it fixed in less than 5 minutes, put the cut out sections back and he was on his way, job done, cost $60.00 and I was very happy with it and cheap too, makes a change for here I can tell you.

But that had messed my plans up again for the morning, still I could always go out tomorrow and get the machine ready, I had plenty of time or had I as I still had to go back to the company that had the crane and get them to confirm that they were good for Friday morning as they first said, so when I went down there at 5pm as asked, the boss was not there and the crane operator said he did not know what was on for Fr8iday as the boss had not said anything and he asked me to call back in the morning at 8am.

Which I did and was there as the crane operator, Kevin was opening the door, he then turned and said to me was I good to go for this morning, I told him as I had already organized a friend to come out with me on Friday morning, this friend may have already gone to work on the field but I would drive over to his place and see if he was still there as it was not far from this shed and my luck was in as he was still in bed having a lay in so I knocked him up and he said he would come with today Thursday, so I went back and told the crane operator I( was good for this morning and would see him out there at 10:30am then I went back to my friends house and we had a coffee [his breakfast] and then a friend of ours came by for a chat and a coffee, the guy I bought my tunnel machine from in fact, then around 8:40 we went back to my house and got the 4x4 ready for hooking the trailer up with a towbar that is for the tunnel machine and then I drove the 4x4 out to the field and he took the truck and followed off we went about 9am.

When we got there, I parked the 4x4 and trailer to one side and set the truck up on the shaft and went down, Frank stayed up top as the crane was due in about an hours time, so I had plenty of time to walk the machine back and get it ready, the machine only travels at the rate of 10 feet in 3 minutes so is slow, so the 100 feet I had to bring it back would take me 1/2 hour to do then I had to undo the extendable head, [the outside cutter] I had got the machine back to the big shaft and was trying to get this head undone when the crane arrived.

I looked at my watch and it was exactly on time and I was still not ready for it as yet, I was struggling trying to wind this head out even hitting the socket ratchet with the hammer to get it move as I thought it was rusted up, then I realized that I had a bolt anchoring two pieces of rubber together from either head, so I had to wind this head in again a couple of turns to get the pressure off the bolt, then I undid it and took it out and continued to unwind the screw and the head and now it was coming a lot easier, now did I forget this bolt, panic had set in now the crane was here, it was costing $2.00 per minute so I was trying to get the job done faster and it was not working I had forgot something due to rushing, I knew that I should have stuck to my original plans and gone out the next day with the crane and today I could have taken it easy in getting the machine ready.

At last after I do not know how long I finally got the head unscrewed the last one and half inches was real bad, I had found a piece of pipe to use as an extension for the socket ratchet [we call a Strong Arm Bar] to make it easier to undo this screw I thought it was really rusted up inside, anyway it was loose, so I put the head up in the air and called the crane driver to let the hook down, on the 2 way radios that work from underground.

When the hook got down I hooked the hard to it and told the operator to slowly lift it up but after it had come out of its brackets about 2 inches it got stuck and was lifting the front of the machine up, so I had to have it lowered again, this went on for a few times until I got it most of the way out, I was starting to think that I did not have the machine lined up under the shaft properly and had checked this again and all looked good to me, I was also rocking this arm as it was being lifted but was no good it would not come loose.

Finally it came loose from the brackets and shot up or I should say the machine fell down a couple of inches and all of a sudden there was this spray of oil everywhere, bugger if I had not forgot to undo and take off the hydraulic hoses connected to the motor on this extendable head, how in the hell could I have forgot these, lucky for me they had broken on the coupling where they screw into the motor and so are easily replaced, once I get the hoses off that is, so as the machine was being lifted there was oil leaking from these hoses, as I normally have caps on them when I take them off, does not pay to rush.

This lifting of the extendable head and then lower the hook again and pulling the machine out normally take about 1/2 hour to do and this time it took 1-3/4 hours to do, so it did cost me for my mistake, but it was because we do not pull these machine out that often and I did not have the time I should have had to get the machine ready, next time I will get the machine ready before I even go anywhere near the crane people, then this can never happen again as I will be ready for them.

Also on the way in I have done a tire in on the trailer [going flat below] it is an old one that I got the last time I had trouble from the wrecking yard here [now closed down] and these are a old type of tire and not readily available anymore although there are a lot in this town on old trucks like my blower but not to buy, I had a look around and checked out a couple of places, but had to order a new one at a cost of $185.00 fitted will be up here next Thursday so I will take this one off on Thursday and take it in on Friday to get it changed over, bit hard buying a new tire as this old home made trailer does nothing all year and is only good for the tunnel machine and I have only used it 3 times in the last 4 years.

So here it is under the new car port, when I get the new tire on it I will pull the trailer right out in the open and clean it with the high pressure water cleaner then put it back and take off the broken hydraulic hoses and get them fixed, in the meantime I will go back out to the claim and start pulling the bits and pieces of equipment that I use out, I have to pull the pipes up and the big cable etc, will take while to do by myself, not been a good day again.

They had forecast Thunder Storms again for this area and sure enough this time they were right, its turns out that it was lucky that we did in fact pull the machine out a day early as on Thursday Afternoon the storm came up and as usual it started out as a dust storm, but what a dust storm, I as down at this shed where I got the crane from to pay the bill and was having a beer or 2 with them when this hit, it was the worst dust storm with the highest winds I have every seen in the 15 years I have lived here.

This is Toms Tourist Mine just on the road out of town on the main hwy and heading for Alice Springs and the strong wind it blew this old blower over, it does have a big sign attached to it which helped it blow over, but look at the sign with the flags on poles, it has bent the poles so that is some force, I took this photo on Friday afternoon after Pat came home from work and told me about it as I had not gone out of the house all day so did not know anything about it, luckily this blower is of no use anymore and only good for using as a display.

I managed to get out to my claim about 3 days later and inspect everything, which was aright there had been some rain out there so just as well I stayed at home, on the way out I did see a small crane bogged on the side track that we use to bring the machinery in on, but was to far off the road to take a good photo and I was not going to drive over there in the damp ground in the 4x4 not knowing if the ground would support the 2 ton weight, I did not want to get bogged and have to dig it out, there are still some idiots here that have to go out straight after rain, not only do they get bogged, but the worst is that they cut the track up and make deep ruts in it when they get pulled out making it imposable for people like me who may want to bring in a blower, till the council go out and repair it and that could take months.

Friday the 21ft, for the last week we have been having Thunderstorm warnings everyday, it has been overcast, some days with a little sun coming out now and again, but most days the sky was like a blanket, it did sprinkle a couple of times and then we got one, small and quick on the 18th, then they forecast again for the 19th and we got no storm but a few drops of rain for a few minutes, nothing really, then again they forecast thunderstorms and this is not just for us but right from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the South and as far as the East Coast, so it was pretty wide spread.

Then yesterday in the morning it was good, sun was out and I took some photos of jewelry, went out for a coffee at the Mud Hut and came home, worked on the computer [again] and Pat came home from work and shopping, Thursday is out main shopping day as the food trucks for each of the two supermarkets come up here on a Wednesday night, then the weather changed around 4pm and it became overcast real bad, the wind picked up and thunder started in the distance, got louder and nearer and then it hit, only lasted about 16 or 17 minutes.

Our yard gets flooded very easily when it rains hard like this and the rain stopped not long after I had taken this photo, so it did get a bit worse, but later on just after it had turned dark another one hit, bigger and stronger than this one, with plenty of lighting and thunder, so the yard must have got really flooded, could not see because of the dark, but the storm then passed right over top and there was couple of big thunders and then there was one almighty clap of thunder, the loudest I have probably every heard and the lights went out in the house, so I thought that the power grid went out as it does sometimes.

Then Pat went into the bedroom where she was recording a program on the video machine and it was still running, so went and switch on the bedroom light and it worked, so got torch and found the fuse wire and went outside the fuse box and started playing around with that, turning al the power off before removing the fuses, but did not have to go far it as was the first one I pulled out, blown, so fixed that and switched everything back on and still no power to the front room, so off with the main switch again and pulled the rest out [3] and it was the last one, that lighting bolt and thunder cap where every it had hit knocked out 2 fuses, the first and last in the row, this was a first for us, never a dull moment.

So I have not been able to get out to the field to do anymore to the claim as yet and looks like I will not now until after Christmas after this rain, not that I am in any rush, as I only have to bring all of the pipes and bits and pieces back to the big shaft ready for bringing up top, then I have to drag the tunnel machine cable back down to were the blower is right now, so when I pull the pipes up, I will then pull this cable up and coil it on the blower after I start the blower and move it forward a few feet, then put the pipes on it and the hand winch on the back of it and it is ready to move to the big shaft where after I bring up the pipes from underground I can also put them on the blower, then it will be ready for bringing home, so I have to get this done before I go on holidays.

Friday the 21ft - 3:40 pm and another thunderstorm has hit, starting with the normal dust storm followed by some rain, this is only a small one, few thunders so far and no lighting, just a baby, Pat hates the dust storms as being a housemaid for the Mud Hut it causes her a lot of extra work cleaning up after one of them as hit, so tomorrow she will have extra to do and as far as I know more are predicted in the next couple of days, lucky I have this computer to play around with so I don't get bored with life indoors.

Then at 4:55 pm another thunderstorm hit, this time no dust just heavy rain, some thunder and then at 4:55 the power went off, this time the grid had gone out and it came back on at 5:58 and again we had blow a fuse that controls our front room and the hot water system, in the 9 years we have been here we have only ever blown one fuse through normal use, but this, 4 thunderstorms in a row and 3 blow fuses, what is going on and still more to come I believe.

I have here some photos that were sent to me by a Jens Vikström in Sweden, that's him in the middle and on the left is Tomas Binett and to the right is Christer Wiklund, these pictures are from a quarry in Torsboda, county of Timrå.

Jens Vikström is an eager prospector for any metal deposits and rare minerals on a spare time basis but due to the high cost of fuel, his search for these happens in the vicinity of his home place, this high fuel cost is a big burden that all small time miners have to endure and for us Opal Miners that run equipment that eats the Diesel this is our biggest problem and cost, my equipment uses 17 liters per hour and I am one of the small tunnel machine miners here, so for guys like Jens and his friends that only do this for a hobby it must be hard to travel around to have a bit of a dig here and there.

Jens lives in the east and middle of Sweden at the coastline, here the country is hilly, and covered with vast woods of spruce, pine and birch, extensively used by the paper-industry, leading to bare ground for him to prospect on, Quarries are also one of his favorite grounds.

The Pictures below are from a Calcite find of his from a nearby quarry, the guy to the left made a nice find of a Moonstone Plagioclase after a blast on his worksite( he's a road engineer ) a bit further up the coast

And here I am at the ladders or the big shaft which is just on the left edge of the photo, I have to bring all of the equipment back to here and will take it out up the shaft where the ladders are, piece by piece, I will be able to get a lot of the smaller items in bags and take them up, will take me a couple of days at least to get my act together and get it all out, I also have to pull the pipes from at the blower then the cable and then start the blower and move it so I can get all of the 10 foot pipes on it for bringing home.

This photo was taken with my new camera which I have only had a couple of weeks and still getting used to it, this also is the one that I will be taking some short movies with underground on the mining next year and some good ones of us catching fish, well Patricia anyway as she always gets the Big ones if they are around.

This is the last newsletter for this year of 2007 and in all it has not been a good year for me, I must admit that I have not worked a lot of hours with the machine due to one thing or another and being in wet ground has not been the best, I have at time lost interest in going mining and when I had a problem was too easy to stay away for a couple of weeks or more, in reality I should have got out of this claim a long time ago, I keep saying I would but never did, but now I have made the jump, all finished here at this claim at 11 mile.

The Tunnel Machine is at home and needs a little work on it before I take it back out mining again, nothing big just couple of small modifications, weld a tooth back on the floor cutter that broke off and weld 4 brackets on where the side running boards are so they do not dip backwards or forwards when I walk on them, have to fix the broken hose connections that I did when pulling the machine out, stupid me and before I do nay of this I have to move it out I the yard and clean it down with the high water pressure cleaner.

The next newsletter will be at the end of February as there will be nothing to take photos of or talk about in January, so hopefully I will have a couple of short movies on hooking and landing a big fish, I will be back in Coober Pedy the first week in April and so will start looking for a new spot sometime after then, no more wet ground for me, if I cant find opal then it will be in dry ground, what field I have no idea right now, but am leaning towards somewhere closer to town, if I am not going to be on material then I have to be able to do some footage in morning shift, no more 4 foot per shift for me unless I am stopping and picking out material, no sir not any more.

I would like to thank all of my faithful readers of the past year and I hope that you have enjoyed what I have brought and shown to you, pity I did not make any money at all this from opal, its only been the web site that has kept me going in expense's this year, still I like the game and at my age there is not much else I can do, at least I can hobble around and work at my own pace and it has taken me a lot of years to get all of the equipment that I have right now and as I have still not found my fortune I will keep going for some time yet.

Patricia and I would like to wish all of you a very Happy New Year and see you again at the end of February.

xxxxxx

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 Fish and lots of them, I am still hoping that this next year 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 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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