11/03/2026 - Evening

 11/03/2026 - Alex Randall, Sam Hill, Trevor Hughes

An excellent session. AR arrived a little early, so the big skip was already down and ready when the others arrived. SH head straight down to the bottom to start clearing spoil. Lots of it. So much spoil all he did for the next 1.5hrs was fill bags, followed by chiselling off some of the loosened rock to fill more bags. The result: the end of the dig is now a comfortable crawl, and there's enough space to be able drill holes in any direction we like at the end. 

Speaking of the end, see the video below. The main way is a 90 degree corner to the right, which has increase slightly in size and has a good echo. Interestingly there is a shallow horizontal slot leading 45 degrees to the left. If the LIDAR work done last week is to be believed this left would be roughly the correct direction to intersect the North Pot, so this could be how the fumes and sound get through to there, and the righthand passage will head into the unknown. Only time, and some more work will tell.

While SH was doing all this, AR and TH worked the railway non stop. Wilco and Coleman have turned our jerry-rigged contraption into a well oiled machine. The part they welded worked flawlessly, with the trolley staying on the track the whole session, even when AR overloaded it. The upper sections haven't been welded yet, but didn't cause any major issues.

Once the bottom was all bagged up, and the pub was calling the team made a working retreat with a few bags being brought up to the 166' as we went. Here all the small stone stored on the 166' platform was loaded into the skip and brought to surface.

As a minor bit of housekeeping, in future we should store spoil in the tunnel leading to the South Pot until we're ready to bring it out, not on the 166' platform where it's in the way.

That's the 10th skip to surface this year.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

01/07/2025 - Evening

 01/07/2025 - Alex Randall, Sam Hill, Ed Ford, George Brookes, Hollie London Two big skips surfaced, 2025 total to date: 12 Alex R used a combination of plug and feather and a hammer to remove a lump preventing the lowest ladder from being moved to the left. The aim of this is to align the ladder with the rift above, and install another ladder in the rift to act as a track, so one hoist will be able pull buckets of spoil from the bottom of the ladder to the top of the rift. There are two further lumps that will need removing, but these will require some delicate use of chemicals. The rest of the team worked tirelessly pressing the hoist buttons, with Ed loading the Echo hoist and Sam driving it, and loading the South Pot sled. George and Hollie drove the the South Pot hoist and loaded the big 166' skip. After removing the lump discussed above AR returned to surface, raised the 166' skip and sent it down for refill. Then had to deal with GB inconsiderate parking to empty the dum...
Read more

22/04/2025 - Evening

 22/04/2025 - Alex Randall, Mike Kushy, Hollie London, Sam Hill - 3hrs 4no big skips lifted to surface - 2025 running total 7no. On arrival MK started up the plant and sent the surface skip down. AR arrived and continued trying to turn a beer keg into a larger skip for the Echo Pot hoist (this is using far more grinder discs and batteries than expect and may prove a complete waste of time). MK went down, filled the skip, then came back up, to raise it and empty it. HL now arrived, so MK & HL went back down as AR lowered the skip, and they filled it at the bottom then started hauling with the electric hoists lower down. Meanwhile AR went to visit Wayne, who had just arrived back from holiday, to collect supplies, and returned to site to raise the now full surface skip and send it back down with with 2no drills and other required kit. Late for the second week in a row SH now arrived. AR headed down to the end with the drilling equipment to complete the holes started last week. Th...
Read more

26th March 2025

Image
David Morrison (Tuska), Mike Kushy and Alex Randall. MK and DM did some more work at baby Templeton in the morning. Clearing out run in and shaping the surroundings. AR arrived around 1pm ish and we all set to work on wiring up sockets. 2 x outdoor 13amp double plug socket boxes wired up with braided 2.5mm cable, we decided we'd cut and fit the 16amp connection plugs in situ. Fired up the generator and laid the winches (with 13amp plugs fitted), tools, lights (with 13amp plugs) and drill into the sled. AR and MK headed on down to greet the sled. The first winch bracketed onto the original steel great. AR concentrated on fixing the socket box onto the wall with a wooden backing, whilst MK concentrated on cutting the braided wire to length and fitting the 16amp plug to connect into the existing wiring. Went smoothly and lights/winch worked well. We then lowered the 2nd winch, drill and tools down the South pot sled. The steel runners could do with a cleaning up/rubbing back and greas...
Read more