18/01/2026 - Afternoon

 18/01/2026 - Afternoon - Alex Randall, Sam Hill, Oli Hill and Tom Jackson , Tuska (surface)- 2 hrs.

Spoil removed:

3 skips this session, 4 skips total for the year so far.

Following a morning trip to Stock Hill Mine Cave (well worth a visit) we headed over to Templeton to squeeze in a bonus session, so we'd be ready to blast again in the week.

SH quickly headed down to the face to start clearing, while AR sent the skip down for OH and TJ to fill. Tuska also arrived, to assist with dumper starting but despite our best efforts this just resulted in a bruised elbow when it backfired. Oli came back up to report the skip full and had a go at cranking the dumper, but with the same result: a bruised arm and a still not running dumper so this was abandoned. Tuska plans to return tomorrow with Kushy, who is either fearless with regard to the dumper or has the magic touch!

Skip was then raised emptied, sent down, filled, raised and sent back down, and AR, OH and TJ went down to the bottom to start hauling. By now SH was ready to start drilling, so did so until the bit broke. Good thing they're on £13 from screwfix...

It now being well past 4pm a retreat was made, just hauling up enough to fill one more skip, which was raised and added to the dumper.


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