Fall 2010 Drill and blast than repeat and repeat and repeat again. I am making a nice trench along the mineralized zone but it is a little disappointing that no pockets are showing up. The south walls looks very promising it looks like the mineralized zone has taken a sharp dive down which if this holds out is a little disconcerting as it will mean that I will be going deep fast. The good news is that I have a good set up with a level bench to work the drill on, this is making relatively easy work of the drilling aspect and even though I am working with my favorite crew of Otto, Toot, me, myself and I, and only one of us is doing anything, things are moving along at a steady pace. Otto has to come and check things out about every hour to make sure everything is going all right and to get his back scratched. Toot usually hangs out in the truck unless there is a stick to be had. The one thing about not finding any pockets is you can sure move a lot of rock.
After a blast I usually check things over and throw some water over the blast area to see if there is anything hidden under the dust. It is amazing to see the water bring out any color that might be in the rock. Even though I have been blasting and working the edge of the mineralized zone it has been a slow year as far as pockets go. Of course being a miner you need to be an optimist and wonder what is hidden in the rock a few feet away. This gives us the motivation to do this difficult work, most people you could not pay them enough to do this type of work. Don't think it is all fun blasting the rock because at some point after it is blasted it needs to be moved. Getting the waste rock out of the mine is soooo boooooooooooring.
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| This picture was taken after dark it is the just opened Otto's pocket looking at the edge of a large smoky parallel growth piece |
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| large smoky quartz below the cleavelandite has separated from the ceiling which is feldspar on one one side, and quartz and muscovite on the other |
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| Ray Sprague photo Although not a great picture here is the smoky from the above photos. |
After a blast late in the afternoon in late October there was a large area of lepidolite that was loosened. It did not want to come out easily and after some pawing with the excavator bucket it was removed. Behind this was a large area of feldspar and looking closer the feldspar happened to be fairly well broken up. This is a good sign and often means that you are on the edge of the pocket. As it was getting late in the fall it was quickly getting dark and I contemplated leaving but thought I would give it a few more minutes and see if anything showed up, all of a sudden I had broken into what would later be named Otto's pocket after my faithful dog who would spend much time with me working on this pocket.
I called Ray Sprague and he decided to come up and see what all the excitement was about. Smoky after smoky came out of the pocket and Ray would repeat over and over most excellent. It is days like these that we mine for. To be continued...
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| Ray Sprague photo |
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| Ray Sprague photo |
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| Ray Sprague photo |
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| Ray Sprague photo My favorite from this this area with the darker and lighter smokies. The white is a clay kaolin which just washes off with water |
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| Ray Sprague photo Me working Otto's pocket. A productive day of mining. |
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