Birthday Tunnel Company Adit Berringa

[lenners]

I found the birthday tunnel company adit today in Berringa, I had read on the forum that some of the berringa mines have bad air in them. I wanted to hear other peoples experiences of the mines in the area before I enter this one, especially considering I don't own a gas detector. I was unable to locate the main No.1 shaft so it may have been back filled or capped, which would no doubt affect the ventilation throughout the mine. Here is the map of the mine, the adit being the No.1/tunnel level.

 

[Swinging & digging]

You would be wise not to enter at all without a gas detector.
I do confined space entry at work and it is very surprising how many pits, holes and tunnels have bad air!

Just 6 weeks ago we entered a space very similar to a mine, its like a tunnel has a tee branch at the end 60 metres in and descends down about 6 metres to a pump well either side. On entry a gas detector went into alarm for low oxygen, we put fan forced ventilation in with flexible ducting to make the air safe. Went to lunch and turned the fans off on return to the job the gas detector was in alarm again for low oxygen.

One year before one of our workers got called to this installation and was going to descend to work on some faulty equipment, not realising it is a confined space ( bad signage ), lucky for him he fixed the fault at the other end of the cable. When i told him about the bad air we encounted on the job he was very happy he never went in as the oxygen was down to 18 %.

 

[stoyve]

Gday Lenners,
I know the mine you have found as the Enfield/Berringa area is what I call my play ground.
I would advise you strongly against entering this particular mine system for two reasons.
1. I went into that mine 4 years ago because of my love of exploring our history but this one is especially dangerous.
I'm a very experienced explorer of mines in this region and this one is dangerous because of the iron content in the ceiling which is oxidizing and splitting the rock causing cave ins.
It's extremely dangerous for that reason alone.
2. There certainly is no other oxygen source other than that entry point so without the proper gear it could be fatal.

I soooo wanted to go in this one and explore because of the multiple levels but only went in about 25 metres and called it quits .
It's just not worth it.
If you want to know about other mines that you find in that region, just pm me and I'll let you know if it safe enough to have a look.
I know most of them.
Cheers Steve