rios Posted May 12, 2017 Author Share Posted May 12, 2017 29 minutes ago, jasong said: Fascinating, it's like watching a forum version of Gold Rush Africa, except with just good parts, the mining. Keep us all updated! If you ever are looking for volunteers let me know. Especially if you need anyone to operate a detector, which I guess probably is not something needed if you have that much mudstone. But if I could get away from work for a trip long enough, I'd love to see all the mining in Africa firsthand, that stuff just isn't happening over here much anymore. Haha in Africa we havent even started exploiting the ground resources. Its a pity our laws are bad and the political risk is too high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rios Posted May 22, 2017 Author Share Posted May 22, 2017 I am thinking of sinking 2 shafts now, maybe 30 to 35m deep then digging a tunnel to connect them. That way will I not intercept the reef? How feasible is that? The cost of digging the 2 shafts is very low here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rios Posted May 22, 2017 Author Share Posted May 22, 2017 Meanwhile on the other shaft the guys are now 10.5 meters deep. Progress is slow but I am hoping the pace will quicken this week as I now have 10 guys digging. The rock is changing from weathered granitoid to more competent granite and soon we should be in bluestone which is quite hard. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rios Posted May 28, 2017 Author Share Posted May 28, 2017 13.7m now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rios Posted May 28, 2017 Author Share Posted May 28, 2017 And got to visit a place nearby with old german shafts. The guys there are pumping out water with the hope of mining there 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rios Posted July 27, 2017 Author Share Posted July 27, 2017 Quote I am attaching photos of the progress so far. We had intended to drive into the reef at 35m and then tunnel along it but the grades there were too low and we decided to continue sinking the shaft down. Water is coming out of the reef so we dug a sump at 35 m in the drive so we pump water from it while we sink downwards. The shaft is now 38m deep. Our target is 55 to 66m as that is the depth where the guys in the area have been getting high-grade ore. There is a lot of water but we are pumping it out well using a diaphragm pump. So currently we are 38m down-shaft and progressing slowly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northeast Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 Mate, your kohunas must be made of solid steel . There is no way you would get me down there. Hope you find some good stuff but remember, it is only just gold. Good luck and stay safe 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rios Posted July 27, 2017 Author Share Posted July 27, 2017 6 minutes ago, Northeast said: Mate, your kohunas must be made of solid steel . There is no way you would get me down there. Hope you find some good stuff but remember, it is only just gold. Good luck and stay safe What is a kohuna? To some people it is a matter of life and death getting down there. They would rather be down there than on the ground and watch their families starve. As you might have heard, my country is not exactly blessed with white collar jobs but it has vast unexploited resources. I have personally gone down that shaft countless times using that 13mm steel rope and I weigh 123kg. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northeast Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 Kohunas = testicles Not sure if it is a saying over your way but if you are pretty tough they say you have "balls of steel". 123 kg - you beat me by about 5 kg. And yes, I do understand that putting a feed on the table is pretty tough over your way. Just make sure you make it out of the hole each time. I hope it works out for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klunker Posted July 27, 2017 Share Posted July 27, 2017 Thank you for the update Rios. I think everyone here is hoping for you to make a phenomenal discovery. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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