Dangers With Old Workings From Lifes "Experiences"

[Croc]

I used to work full time for a well trained rescue organisation, that included confined space rescue. (Not the fire brigade)
Mbasko and Goldierocks have done you all a service with this info. Old mines are deadly. All of the gases mentioned exist in most old mine workings, with the concentrations varying, Pockets of gas can move around the mine with the changes in temperature and slight air movement. So as in some caves one spot that was ok may not be ok the next time entered. Many gases are not detectable by smell, and within 30 secs you could be unconscious. Ground movement can make the old workings unstable, earthquakes, and pressure changes over the years takes its toll on the original tunnelling. I have seen posted on forums pictures of people risking their lives with little to no equipment, standing on 100 year old beams with a pit underneath them. May as well play Russian roulette with a loaded gun. If there was still a lot of gold in these mines, do you think the old timers would have left it? Is your life worth more than a few ounces of gold? Unless you might be a few yards from the entrance with fully equipped backup personal standing by if something goes wrong, it may not be a rescue, but a body recovery. I have had to do a few of those over the years, in industrial and domestic situations.

 

[blisters]

There's certainly no such thing as a safe mine let alone an old one. I went on a geology excursion in an active NSW copper mine and we were all looking at the vertical shale/slate at the end of a drive. It was like one of those cartoons, our lecturer pulled out a small bit must have been a few cm long to look at it and a slab about four foot long fell and smashed him on the head and hit the geologists leg. The lecturer's hard hat squished down and put a nice cut on his nose and she had some nice gashes in her leg. Let's just say it was every man for themselves bolting down the drive I certainly wasn't hanging around. Earlier in the excursion the geo decided not to take us under a raise bore and if she did then timing would have been perfect to have a crap load of boulders tumbling on our heads so we were a little jumpy already.
Jon

 

[shakergt]

Stay out and stay alive its that simple

 

[iamagoldenoldie2]

a few months ago I was detecting on crown land outside of the bathurst region, there were a few obvious open shafts and I found what looked like an excavation that angled from ground level down at a 45 degree angle, so I went detecting in the hole and side walls had a target in the bottom and started to rake out the soil in the bottom , a small cavity appeared , mmmmm what's this , so I evacuated the hole, found a long dead pole and shoved it into the hole, well well the 3 metre long pole went down the hole , looks like I found a shaft covered over with who knows what that could have been me gone deeper and not the pole use caution when in the bush and be with some one just in case

 

[Wishfull]

I came across this one recently. Those sticks are rotten youd go straight down. Thing is sometimes with dead leaves and stuff gathering ontop you may not even see it.

 

[just starting]

I am late to the party . Sorry . I only joined a few days ago.

I will take everything you said on board, Goldierocks. What an eye opener your posts are.

Having explored tunnels in the past and walking over old boards inside one of them ,only to find out from locals later on there was a 350 foot drop under the boards , i realised the danger i put myself in and your posts reinforce that fact and a myriad of other reasons not to venture into them.

I haven`t been in mine tunnels for a few years` and with all that info now in my head, i won`t ever be again.

Have a happy new year and thankyou for sharing your knowledge with us.