Thursday, 29 August 2024

Thursday 29th August 2024

Mike Kushy. Went in at 4pm. Retrieved bang wire and stated clearing debris. Bit fumey in the boulder chamber, but below this the air was okay. Bang did just as needed. Cleared back as much as possible and broke up the easy to pick rock. Lots of cement work to be done before attacking the next boulder ahead. A view beyond this boulder shows the floor dropping away more steeply. A cross section where fault and bedding passage meet ahead and what looks to be a significant hole at the bottom. Draught present, but not obvious. 3 hours. MK

MK's YouTube video from today

Bang debris. Photo MK.

After clearing. Photo MK.

Wednesday, 28 August 2024

Wednesday 28th August 2024

John Cooper and Trevor Hughes. John arrived at 18.00 and went to in to deepen the holes already drilled. Did the two on the right and the one in the floor but didn’t touch the ones on the left. Brought drill out and Trevor arrived about 19.00. Charge set up but holes not cooperating as wished for. Out by 20.00 leaving reel at top of ladder to be removed next time. 2 hours for me. John.

There are now 3 bags of sand, 2 of dust and a new bag of cement on site. Plus 25L water container topped up.

Monday, 26 August 2024

Monday 26th August 2024

John Arnold, John Cooper and Mike Kousiounis. Mike went in first to free up bang wire used Sunday which I hauled up to surface and wound onto drum. Then JA followed him in whilst JC did a cement mix, 1 bag of sand, ¼ bag of dust and same of cement. JA returned and lowered this down to JC in 3 buckets. JC ferried the first and second down to the shelf before collecting the third. At the 10ft climb JA went down and JC lowered a bucket of cement down which was stashed away whilst Mike cleared the dig face. JC collected the other 2 and ferried them down to the 10ft climb. One was taken on down by JC and used cementing boulders at the climb into the Boulder Rift connection. JC then used up the second one continuing the work and also losing boulders by cementing them into the floor. The third bucket was delivered to Mike who asked for another mix. JC took out the two empty buckets and did another mix of the same size (collected water from cattle trough). JA arrived with the third bucket, now empty, so when the mix was ready the same procedure as before was followed. Two of the buckets were used by Mike at the face whilst JC used a bit more on the floor. Once 2 buckets were empty JC took them out and cleared up on the surface before returning to Upper Pitts for tea and cake. JA and Mike continued for another hour. Need all cement supplies replenishing now. 3½ hours for me. John C.

The bang did as expected. Cleared rocks back and passed bags of shrapnel back to JA to lose behind the sloping block. JC arrived with 3 buckets of cement and set to building walls higher up cave. I used the 3rd bucket at the dig face. Another 3 buckets came in and I used 2 of these at the dig face again. Propping up large rocks and building a wall to the left and across the ceiling. Hopefully stable enough now to bang without much movement. Used the drill to make 5 holes. 4 1/2 hours. MK
 

Bang debris. Photo MK.

After clearing, with 5 holes drilled ready for bang. Photo MK.

Sunday, 25 August 2024

Sunday 25th August 2024

 Mike Kushy, solo. Setting up charge, all went well. 1 1/2 hours. MK.

Wednesday, 21 August 2024

Wednesday 21st August 2024

Mike Kushy and John Cooper. 

MK got to the dig around 10am. Took drills in and downsized the rocks at the dig face. Cleared clatch behind the sloping block on the right. Drilled 2 12x400mm holes in the floor. Moved rocks up cave and got to surface just before 1pm. Started making a mix and JC showed up just after 1pm. JC and I took a bucket of muck down to the face each. When the first bucket was used JC headed out with it to make another mix whilst MK carried on cementing, JC remarked on the noticeable draught when he came down the 10ft. 2nd bucket used up MK headed out and caught JC coming in. They transferred buckets and JC headed up to grab the last bit of mix whilst MK went to use the 3rd bucket up. A sizeable pillar has been built up to the roof on the left and the gap in the ceiling has been cemented up, also some more cement around the boulder ahead. The cement left over was used to build steps onto the steep slope to ease passage, JC also used some cement around the boulder rift connection area. Cool, strong draught. All ready for a charge Sunday. 5 1/2 hours for me. Mike.

After clearing rock. Photo MK.

Cement work. Photo MK.