Gold Prospecting

[borgasm]

if it was a 100 meter shaft you wouldnt see the bottom. even if your eyes are adjusted to the dark. Ive been half way down a 72 meter pitch and couldnt see the top or bottom in a cave with a big fuck off light. If you can see the bottom it will be less than 30 meters. would like to make sure the rope reaches though

Temp wont be too much of a problem. you're in SA yea? underground temp ranges from 16-20. will feel warm soon enough. No winch, they fail and cause problems. I use SRT and climb the rope back out tyvm. you can haul the gold out in a bag with another rope.

[Dv8]

Cool , so these shaft obviously would at the bottom the corridor out , yer ?

Wont be till Oct/Nov wont be setup before then , also a reporter got halfway down a shaft and reported the same thing , water at the bottom glowing gold , so im assuming just gold dust , but havent been touched for 100 odd years , obviously a no-go zone ...

This is speculative cause im only thinking maybe an ounce maybe in each shaft if that , have to pan it in the shaft , with light , not even sure how deep the water would be , im assuming inches if that , and havent used climbing gear ...
After i check them out i may get back to you on it , but many ppl know the golds there and no-bodies gone down yet , so im assuming its very risky , im not gonna risk it for an ounce unless i can be properly setup , i,d like to give it a go but i have to have a look at then price the gear needed ...

Just frikkin tempting ..

[INKoRP]

DV: I take it you'll have company?

bOrgasm: Sounds like you had fun? Were there any tight spots? That shit would freak me out.

[Gubben]

[Dv8]

I can pull myself up a rope no-prbs with just my arms , upper body strength is good , i do probably 200 pushups a week at least ..

Faith in my equipment lolz , yes well , just been talking to a miner for a few hours , got a sh*tload of maps , and seems best thing to do is pull the dirt up and pan it up top , but it aint a sure thing yet as i,ll be the one going down the hole , i dont mind going down its the getting back up im mostly concerned about ... cave in , dont think that will be a problem ...

A mate will be up top , just wondering to if uhf will reach down the hole ?

[borgasm]

UHF will reach if you are at the bottom of the shaft, but reception will drop off rapidly if you go down any corridors.

I'd assume that at the bottom of the shaft there would be pathways that just go to dead ends, but ive only been in a few mine shafts, and nothing that old.

"Jumar"ing and SRT are pretty much the same thing. The equipment that I have uses more leg strength than anything else which makes it easier. Its two, one way devices that lock into the rope, one moves while the other holds. squat, stand up, squat, stand up ... repeat 50 times then scream from the burning in your legs and then keep going. At least you can just let go and stop and stay safe tho.

Your main issues to look out for when you go back, is check the depth of the hole (drop a long tape or rope, with a weight on the end), check the stability of the walls at the top of the hole for loose rocks and major cracks, check if there is anything nearby to attach a rope onto.
Issues once you are in the cave is temperature, falling rocks and possible bad air. let me know if you have any more questions.

[Dv8]

thankyou , cheers ..

[Mr_Bombadil]

fk dv8 thats full on, cool though, goodluck m8, and be careful.

yeah borg, went caving with a group of about 5, two very experienced, in a few caves around mole creek over a long weekend years ago, also exit cave down south, for about 1km.
anyone hasnt done it and you get a chance just do it, its fkn insane lol, yeah amazing stuff.

[borgasm]

Ive spent a few weeks around Mole Creek, and caved in Exit cave as well. My favourite was Milk Run. we went about 150m underground and then had to climb out. Its awesome stuff down there. I love the vertical stuff, and the flowing creeks. I even got to help find a new cave down there and we found a blind fish (or maybe a shrimp, long time ago) that was unique that one cave. It had been isolated so long it had evolved differently to all other cave fish.

[Gubben]

[frodo]

[borgasm]

Bad air is pretty rare. Ive never experienced it myself. Its more likely in a mine shaft tho I believe due to disturbing the rock structure and opening pockets up. My brother doesnt go caving anymore because he had a bad experience he never talked about and my sister is now petrified of snakes due to an encounter in a cave. Ive been stuck in tunnels before, only for an hour though. always managed to get myself out after calming down and thinking through it. The snakes Ive seen were never really aggressive, just scared themselves, or curious.

[Dv8]

Im if anything only going to the bottom of the main shaft , bag up the soil send it up and straight out , im assuming there'd have to be an ounce at the bottom of every shaft , these havent been down in 100 odd yrs , lot of variables to consider before i go down , ie
drainage , they could be 2 mtrs deep in water yet , no way im going down unless im comfortable its safe enough and wont be till at least oct after winter rains have way past , hopefully going up soon to check out some shafts ...

Seen plenty of snakes where i go camping/shooting , browns , king browns , placid and allways take off , but tigers a different story , both times we,ve encountered tiger sankes up there they have come for us , while the others go the opposite direction ...


Like your comment of calming down and thinking through it , it is the "only" way to proceed , panic is disasterous , same as that guy who recently got bitten by a sanke , first thing he did was calmy got a beer out of the fridge and sat down then rang 000 , classic and really was the best thing to do , one beer would of relaxed him , job done ...

Used to be in contact with a guy who had probably 20-30 venomous snakes for his business , going around mining sites educating ppl on snakes on worksites .. He asked me to come in and help him feed them one night after dropping him off , i was a chauffer at the time , i jumped at the chance , when standing there the bottom glass cabinet that had two black tasmanian tiger snakes wasnt closed properly after he;d just roused them ready for feed , they both came out slithering over my shoes around my legs etc , very very placid , the only snake that was striking the glass every time i walked past was a striped coral snake , nasty thing that was ...

Saw a 6 ft carpet snake up the river once , saw it swim into gum tree roots , took the boat over it was still there , grabbed it , very placid , had a look , let it go , i reckon there cool ...

This is my brothers 7 ft bredils python , i hand feed it , it is really placid , cool i reckon

[Saratoga]

Was bitten, hospitalized & traumatized by a brown snake only 3 weeks after arriving in Oz as a kid.
I have a healthy respect but I still fkn hate snakes !
Just a little fellow on the prowl here, he's about 12-13foot ...

[Dv8]

you could grab that python quite easily it would be very placid ..