November 2013

Back at the Shallows.

Thought it was finally time to get the blog going again. I intend to do a monthly post to show what I am doing both with the mining and what I am cutting in stones and other interesting pieces.

I have finished mining on Gernot's lease after 5 years as the lease has been sold so it is now time to concentrate on our own lease  - The Shallows. I have had some up and down years  but every years mining brings more experience in both mining and processing, and with the purchase of a 9 inch auger drill, I have been able to narrow the percentages of finding opal more in my favour. As a result the last couple of years have been pretty good and I have a little stock of rough which I can process at my leisure as I get stuck into mining at home.

I have got back to putting some stones on the website for sale and intend to do much more of that and showing just what this great product from this very small but special opal field known as Koroit is all about. Check out the website - www.cooperopals.com . Here is a sample of stones and specimens that are on the website.


a lovely multi pattern pendant



eye catching green pattern pendant

 

" Opal Snake "



a nice specimen













I am working on my own again - have been for a couple of years now as Mitchell has left and is now working in Scotland. A lovely little English backpacker arrived in Cunnamulla working at the same hotel he was working at and that was the end of Mitchell! She went back to England in Aug last year and he followed in November and they have been working in Scotland this year - good luck to him!





The camp with the drill in foreground





The camp hasn't changed much over the last few years - just updated the solar system and we are now connected on mobile phone via a cable hooked to an antennae on a 10 metre tower on the roof. This has been a great addition to the satellite internet. Here are a couple of photos of the camp from on the lease with the drill in foreground and below -  the original hole as I left it 5 years ago.





the original hole

another great outback sunset over the mine.
 









I have started again in the original hole virtually where I left off 5 years ago. I have always wondered how far down the bottom level is and now with the drill purchased in 2010, I have been able to find out. The bottom level is at 36 feet where I am starting at the southern end and at the northern end where I have discovered the levels pinch out it is at 40 feet so it is reasonably consistent right through with a few ups and downs in the middle which I predict will give some nice material.
I have also discovered that the bottom level has a huge amount of  petrified wood mixed in which is really exciting for me. There are 3 levels altogether - the first at around 15 feet, the 2nd at 24 feet and then the bottom one with clay underneath - this adds up to a huge amount of rock to remove and break over the next few years. The total area I have to open up is a big area - about 80 metres by 30 metres and down to 40ft means a lot of dirt to remove, stack and then backfill into the hole. I can't really estimate how long it will take but many years of hard work with the usual amount of highs and lows. I have yet to drill all the area but will undertake this task soon and then I will know what I have to look forward to and it may mean some areas will be left alone if drill results are ordinary.

I have opened the hole up to allow me to get to the bottom level at the southern end ( closest to the camp ) and have benched down to around 25 ft and then dug a further 16 ft to the bottom level. I have found some nice wood there which I have cleaned up and sold. There was plenty of trace and a couple of small pockets of nice matrix skins which I have been busily cutting.


Starting in the hole at the southern or camp end.



part of the nice petrified wood found before being cleaned up.

I could only open up the bottom for a small area as the hole is not big enough at present so the last 3 weeks I have been moving the top 15 ft down to the first level at the northern end and this has been a slow process as I have had to truck it all to a new mulloch heap at the eastern end of where the hole will eventually finish. This entails dropping it in truck loads then pushing it up in a heap with the loader and also then taking the excavator up on top and doubling the size of the heap to ensure I have enough room. Very time consuming on your own but the least of my worries as time is not a problem.


the hole looking from the southern end showing the area in foreground dug to 36 feet and the steps taken to remove each level at 15 feet and 24 feet then the final level at 36 feet.



looking from the northern end with camp in background.

the mulloch heap I am carting all the dirt to from the hole - below with the Cat excavator on top moving dirt higher.

So that is where I am at present - I have another couple of weeks moving the top out then have to build another ramp into the hole and then it is down to business again removing and breaking rock.

I will be taking photos and hopefully for those who are interested, you will be able to follow what is happening and get a small sense of what happens in a small scale open cut opal mine. I have yet to work out the best way to present the posts but I will work that out as I go.

 Feedback - good or bad is welcome - at least I will know someone is reading this!