Wednesday 29th November 2023

pm. John Cooper and Mike Kushy. John on the surface hauling and mixing cement, Mike underground. Cleared the spoil Mike created with plug and feathering. Then 3 mixes of cement (8 loads) and loads of building rocks sent down to Mike for wall building. There’s probably enough sand for 1 good mix left. 2½ hours. John.

Before cementing. Photo MK.

Cement Work. Photo MK.

Cement Work. Photo MK.

Sunday 26th November 2023

am- Mike Kushy and Sam Hill. Setting charge. Strong draught.

pm- MK and SH. SH clearing the bottom, MK on winch and buckets. After an hour or so MK went to join SH at the bottom and evaluate. Sketchy looking boulders everywhere with gaps between. Decided to clean up rock and prep for cement. 2 1/2 mixes done. John Cooper joined us near to finishing. Right hand side looking into dodgy chamber now stable and the pillar built last week has held up well. Can probably cut some steel to put in place at the roof of chamber, strangely draught lost in the afternoon. Plan is to keep driving down in the floor closer to the shaft and try to stay clear of the dodgy chamber, but leave accessible if needs must.

Before cement work. Photo MK.

Cement Work. Photo MK.

Floor of the Dodgy Chamber. Photo MK.

Thursday 23rd November 2023

John Cooper. Went to drill some holes in the bottom. 6 holes 300 – 400mm deep ready for Mike next time he’s about. Nice draught from below. 1 hour.

Sunday 19th November 2023

am: Michael Kousiounis and Dave Morrison . Setting of charge. All went well. Samuel Hill joined us at the end. 1 hour.

pm: Started about 12.30. SH cleared the bottom with DM on winch and MK emptying buckets. After an hour or so SH came up and MK went down to inspect. Some more movement to previously stabilised rock, but still holding. Several more buckets were cleared then we started cement work. A pillar was built from a solid floor hoping to stabilise a large boulder in the ceiling that's dropping Also some stabilising of the right hand side. John Cooper joined us in the midst of this and Monica's mum and brother came to see.

Spoil after bang. Photo MK.

The dropping boulder in the ceiling, note the cement work opening up. Photo MK.

Some decent voids that draught very well are now visible in the floor, just off to the side of the vertical shaft. It's tempting do use a charge to get rid of a few boulders in the floor and see what happens and deal with the outcome. Getting in and stabilising anymore will be dicey in itself. Finished around 3pm, so 3 hours.

The voids in the floor. Photo MK.

Possible next step. Photo MK.

Pillar has been built up from the slab marked by the green cross to support the dropping boulder above.The blue crosses are the boulders that could be removed to perhaps reveal more void below. Mike.

Wednesday 8th November 2023

John Cooper. Went to drill some holes in the bottom. 8 holes 300 – 500mm deep ready for Mike next time he’s about. 1 hour. John.

Sunday 5th November 2023.

 Mike Kushy and John Cooper. 

AM- set off charge, laid and fired in half hour.

PM- after setting charge at Valinor we cleared WR. About 2 hours clearing. A bit of movement after the charge, some large boulders in the horizontal bit have dropped and some of the concreted boulders have moved slightly. Not too concerning though. Ready for drilling. Mike.

Bottom after clearing. Photo MK.