# cleaning out an old shaft



## solarsmith (Jul 15, 2012)

from yesterday. cleaning out a 130 year old shaft . It is about 8 ft deep now and had compleatly backfilled its self . I am finding lots of rotten wood and hand made nails. Im using a 12 volt winch and a propaine tank as a bucket. I can do a least 50 lifts at 100 lbs a lift. we are using the excavated dirt and rocks to contore and revegitate the old waste pile. this old mine is about 30 miles west of denver colorado.. thanks Bryan


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## publius (Jul 15, 2012)

Shore it up as you move down. being suffocated in a trench collapse is a very slow way to die... Tale it from a heavy construction inspector that has witnessed such collapses...

Robert Jeffery, CWI


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## BAMGOLD (Jul 15, 2012)

Cool!

How are you keeping the battery charged? Winches draw ALOT of power.


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## solarsmith (Jul 15, 2012)

yes I am shoring with 6" by 6" by 8' timbers . the battery is just a regular car battery and im charging it a home with a normal battery charger. after 50 lifts of about 12 to 14 ft it was running slow so next week I will hook a second battery and an inverter to to run a saw to help cut through some of the the rotten wood I am coming across in the shaft. 
Bryan In Denver Colorado


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## Harold_V (Jul 16, 2012)

I get visions of a shaft that is endlessly deep, with timbers placed strategically to seal the opening. Should that be true, the fall that results won't be in your best interest. 

Don't be too sure that the shaft wasn't sealed intentionally, as a safety measure, and that it is much deeper than you might assume. The random wood you mention sends up a red flag for me. 

I can relate something similar to what I described, in the Cardiff mine in Utah, which had been abandoned just three years prior to our explorations. The difference was the shaft hadn't been sealed, as it was well underground, taking the miners to a lower level. The drop was remarkably long, with water flowing at the bottom. A friend tried the ladder and was fortunate to have escaped falling when a rung collapsed. This was way back, 1955, just before he joined the US Air Force. 

Harold


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## Geo (Jul 16, 2012)

i shiver just thinking about all the mines and caves ive been in and the dangers i didnt even consider way back then. you really might consider using a safety harness and tieing off to something heavy. just in case.


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## ericrm (Jul 16, 2012)

how do you poeple find these old mine, the little boy in me just wish to dig one of those hole


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## BAMGOLD (Jul 16, 2012)

solarsmith said:


> yes I am shoring with 6" by 6" by 8' timbers . the battery is just a regular car battery and im charging it a home with a normal battery charger. after 50 lifts of about 12 to 14 ft it was running slow so next week I will hook a second battery and an inverter to to run a saw to help cut through some of the the rotten wood I am coming across in the shaft.
> Bryan In Denver Colorado



A car battery isn't rated for a "deep cycle" like your doing, I hope you don't expect to use the battery for anything important after this.


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## glondor (Jul 16, 2012)

A 4 foot steel probe may be in order here. Use the probe to determine voids. 3/8 steel rod with a T handle. 

It looks like competent soil which will hold a vertical wall based on the picture however any depth beyond 4 feet should be shored. If it is sandy it will fail. Looks like silty clay till.

If your shoring is designed right you can bridge from shore to shore and never need stand on the floor of the excavation. Load your propane tank with clamshell type digging tools for reach. If you reach a void floor, get out and reevaluate. Make sure your bridge boards can not fail if there is a floor collapse. 

Wear a harness and lanyard and work out how to make it secure and winchable.

Be very carefull. Pay attention to soil movement. If you see any fractures forming in the soil, it will fail, get out.


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## solarsmith (Jul 17, 2012)

i buy car batterys from car scrappers . I charge and test them all. I keep the good ones and sell the bad ones for a profit. I now have a bunch of good batterys. I will soon be using more than just one to run the winch so I will not be drawing down the batterys to far. the digging in the shaft has exposed what I beleaveto ba a slipway at a 45 deg. It is made of wood and is 5 ft wide with what looks to be 2 chanels for ore sleds boxes to work as a counter balanced lift systen with a mule as horse power. At this time Im not woried about ore there is tons of it and Iv not had an assay done yet. One wall of the shaft in the picure is raw untouched vien of mixed pyrite quartz . a hard swing with a pick might penitrate 1 to 1.5 inches. 2 of the walls are back fill and will need to be shored up and are no threat of caving or slumping in at this time. the 4th wall is the real trick. The ramp goes down hear and there is a colapsed wood celing/head wall with a waste pile on top of it. all of the dirt rock in this wall is very soft. To dig down the ramp wall I would have to do some very good over head shoring.I will try to get a good pick of this next weekend. Bryan in Denver Colorado


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## BAMGOLD (Jul 17, 2012)

sounds very cool, a YouTube video would be great.


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## solarsmith (Jul 19, 2012)

Im even making some of my own timbers


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## etack (Jul 20, 2012)

If you can a chainsaw with a jig will save allot of time


https://www.google.com/search?q=chainsaw+jig+milling&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=655&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=SGkJUPGrIOGQ6wHu4IiHCg&ved=0CA8Q_AUoAA#q=chainsaw+sawmill&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&psj=1&ei=3GkJUJCzOa_16gGUo4GGCg&ved=0CFkQ_AUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=12a47851b9e014b3&biw=1280&bih=655


Eric


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## shaftsinkerawc (Jul 20, 2012)

Don't forget to consider ventilation as you could have bad gasses down the hole. Stay safe.


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## Smack (Jul 20, 2012)

etack said:


> If you can a chainsaw with a jig will save allot of time




https://www.google.com/search?q=chainsaw+jig+milling&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=655&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=SGkJUPGrIOGQ6wHu4IiHCg&ved=0CA8Q_AUoAA#q=chainsaw+sawmill&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&psj=1&ei=3GkJUJCzOa_16gGUo4GGCg&ved=0CFkQ_AUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=12a47851b9e014b3&biw=1280&bih=655


If you do decide to use a chainsaw for this make sure the chain is for ripping, yes there is a difference. (FYI)


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## solarsmith (Jul 24, 2012)

a pic from this weekends digging. On the right is whats left of the old ramp structure. on the far wall with the ladder is the untouched material made out of decomposing pyrite (rust) and quartz. this week we lifted out 51, 100 lb buckets with a 12 volt winch on 2 car bateries tied together. No loss of power noticed this time.
Bryan in denver colorado 303 503 4799.


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## Geo (Jul 25, 2012)

have you panned any of that to see if your in paydirt?


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## solarsmith (Jul 25, 2012)

In a week and a half I will be up there again and will be shaving down that wall to plumb vertical I will be looking at the matereal from that wall very close to see whats in it. The mineralized veins in this area can be very thick with the pgms at the edges along the foot wall and the head wall. this shaft may have only gone down the head wall zone. finding the limits of the vein is only one gole I have for this progect. I will make a cross section drawing and post it soon so every one can see what Im doing. thanks Bryan in Denver Colorado USA

I added a pic this is the view from the mine waste pile.


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## kadriver (Aug 1, 2012)

Making his own timbers - this fellow is a true craftsman!

kadriver


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## solarsmith (Aug 6, 2012)

This is what I beleave to be an ore pocket in the corner of the shaft.(low left side of pic)
Its partially decomposed pyrite (rust around the edges) its on the virgen undesturbed wall of the shaft. As I dig down I am shoring up the distubed side of the shaft and diging straight down. Eventualy I will dig back towards the old shaft hopeing to find open air( yes Im mineing for air). There is no danger of the ground opening up under me as im am digging down through virgen ore. I suspect this shaft was an air -haulage shaft for a very important tunnel some 200 ft lower. the maps from 110 years ago show the wood ramp I have been diging up in the old shaft is on corse for that tunnel. 
Last night I ordered a remote controll for the electric 12v winch. A movie of the winch in use is in the works. thanks Bryan


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## solarsmith (Aug 12, 2012)

spent today raising the collar of the shaft 1 foot .
3 more feet to go. also today created leval space all around the shaft using mostly wast from out side the shaft and twenty 100lb buckets from inside.


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## NoIdea (Aug 13, 2012)

Hi Yah Solarsmith - i have been quietly watch this post like it was a televison series, man oh man, can't you dig any faster? :mrgreen: 

Deano


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## Hephaestus (Aug 13, 2012)

Wow! I admire your effort. Are you doing it all yourself?


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## solarsmith (Aug 13, 2012)

I am doing this with the help of my brother. He is the one you see in the pics.
he is making a video. 
And if I go to alaska it will be for a vacation not to make a fool of my self on tv. I just panned a small shovel full down to about 1 big spoon full and looked at it under a microscope. I saw a lot of gold colored flakes ( the crisp pyrite type) I hit it with muratic and they all seamed to have disolved (expected) I only did this to see what would happen the the mettal looking flakes. I will have to get an assay on this ore soon. half of the waste pile is very sandy and a lighter bleached color. (Mineing salts and milling?) BRYAN in DENVER COLORADO if you all need special info feal free to ask..


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## solarsmith (Aug 22, 2012)

a few pics from this weekend. we worked on a trail and got an sample for an assey (see pic) also a view from the inside up . we also dug out some space for more crib style shoreing at the 12 ft level. thanks bryan in denver


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## DarkspARCS (Aug 23, 2012)

Those red hard plastic olive barrels really work well, in many aspects of mining don't they Solarsmith? I've used them to haul ore, run chemical batches, protect sensitive ore types from the elements etc. since day one - you're the 4th person who I've observed that uses them too lol....


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## solarsmith (Aug 30, 2012)

The youtube video is now up .Look for ( cleaning out an old shaft)
you will get to see me doing a short bit of digging and even busting up a rock.
My brother made this video with an old camera phone so some shots are a bit fuzzy. This Is his first youtube video. I will relay your thoughts on his first video . He is nearly blind. looks like I should get him a good camera for xmass. now If I can just figure out how to post a hyper link here. thanks Bryan In Denver Colorado 303 503 4799


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## jimdoc (Aug 30, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvMu5VPWh8


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## Hephaestus (Sep 2, 2012)

I like the video, great shots. Documentary style!


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## Palladium (Sep 2, 2012)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyvMu5VPWh8[/youtube]


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## solarsmith (May 25, 2014)

Back at it again this year. Iv been up to the shaft 2 times so far. as of yesterday there was stil 4 feet of snow in the bottom of the shaft. (see pic) it must have blown in through a very small gap in the timbers I used to cover it for the winter. I will do a better job of covering it in the fall. There is also about 3 feet of rock and dirt in the bottom of the shaft that washed in during the floods at the end of the summer last year. Last summer I was laid up for about 12 weeks due to an injury. (broke 5 bones) the last 3 visits my brother and I worked mostly on levaling off the high spot in the old tails pile next to the shaft so it will hold mulch and water to grow a natural grass mix i got today at the nursery here in denver. I did fix the gap in the perminant cribing with temp shoring (lower 2/ 3rds of pic) to hold back any drirt from any heavy rain. I will be compleating the cribing this summer . Bryan in denver colorado


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## Smack (May 25, 2014)

Can't see the whole pic Solar.


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## dannlee (May 26, 2014)

Tell us the "(broke 5 bones)" was from a lovers' jealous husband or a swipe of an alaskan kodiaks paw and not taking the express route to the bottom of that shaft?

Get some s'fate-y... umnn safety rails up, as a flat-lander even some mild 6500 or 7500 foot altitude would have me punch drunk trying to work from low O2!


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## justme2 (May 26, 2014)

30 years ago the wife and I spent much of our time exploring Death valley and the desert regions of Nevada and California prospecting from Oroville and Aroura to Paharump to Palm Desert. 

We dry washed the deserts, panned and sluced the American and Sacremento , hard rocked the San Bernidinos, and explored many mines (shudder to think) 
We found a few keepers here and there but never hit the big one although, a friend of ours found one across from state line Ca/Nv and sold it for 2 million. We had one of a hell of a great time.

I'm Now 70 and reduced to Urban mining. Live life to the fullest while you can, have fun be safe and prosper. mcw


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## Reno Chris (May 26, 2014)

So what was your assay and what do you plan on doing with the ore. As far as I know, the nearest smelter for that ore is in Mexico, and shipping could be 500 to 1000 a ton, so I am curious to your plan.


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## solarsmith (May 27, 2014)

the plan is to concenrate to as high a grade as posible via froth floataion. then ither direct smelt on my own to dore bars or sell what will be a small amount of concentrate to a comercial smelter. The shaft in the pics is mostly just part of a cleanup project to stablelize and revegitate an old mine site. When I was able to dig on the foot wall side of the bottom of the shaft I did find a layer of ore that the old timers(1800s) had mised. assays of the same rock a few hundred feet away ran from 1 tenth to 6 tenths of an oz per ton. I did get one xrf that said it was 7 oz per ton. thats why no one trust xrf for quantity readings. Im working on a small scale hybred froth flotation column that shoud give me a very high grade concentrate. In the minning district that my mines are located in there is a vein every 80 ft on avarage. With an avarage grade of 1/2 oz per ton. and vein widths runing from 0 to 10 ft in width. If any one is in the denver area I will be more than happy to give you a tour of what Im working on. Bryan In denver Colorado


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## solarsmith (Mar 20, 2016)

looking forward to getting back to digging this year. made 4 new ore buckets . they have a plywood disk in the bottom to keep rocks from blowing them out. they will hook on to a chain one above the other for the ride up the shaft.


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## solarsmith (Mar 20, 2016)

before the cover / headframe was built.


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