I see quite a few posts where people make light of the dangers of entering old mine workings, and I know a lot of you are newbies to mining.
Because of your interests, a lot of you may consider a mine job in the next boom (I have seen four booms come and go now, the "old industry" crap of politicians is nonsense, at least for many decades more). Consumption of minerals has been increasing without break, as has population and standard of living (except for a few years in the doldrums at a time) since Adam and Eve, and virtually everything you use comes out of the ground (the sole exceptions being some things that are grown such as food, timber and natural fibers like cotton and wool). If you have had one of the above accidents and anyone knows about it, don't even consider applying for a job with a mine, they will not even consider you (and don't ask me either - mining is dangerous like high-rise construction, I don't want any cowboys working with me)
The best rule is don't go into an old working of any type. I guess I make odd exceptions - lay on my stomach with feet pointing outwards to look down the first couple of metres in the collar of a shallow shaft to see what rock type is there, perhaps tying a rope to a tree before I approach closely if in doubt (but I NEVER to try to see the bottom of a deep one and ABSOLUTELY never go down one), I might also poke a shallow trench with branches to check it really is as shallow as it looks. That's it though - I do go into them because it is part of my full-time work, but in the company of an experienced practicing miner who leads the way.
- most people think the main danger is a rock falling on your head - I've known people killed that way - in working mines one person "bars down" each shift to check for loose "hanging" - in an old mine that may not have been done in a hundred years and there will be lumps weighing tons everywhere just waiting for a bump or vibration[/*]
- it is far from the only one danger- gas is a major issue[/*]
- carbon dioxide is heavy so displaces air from workings by collecting at the bottom of shafts and decline tunnels - and it doesn't sustain life (it is very common) - a mate in a Victorian shaft just survived but had stopped breathing when they got to him[/*]
- carbon dioxide is also toxic at high concentration, so can poison as well as suffocate you - killed two boys in an Eildon tunnel[/*]
- equipment like pumps can emit carbon monoxide, which is as much fun as cyanide (same effect, attaches to the red blood cells) - killed another mate in Laverton - I have been told breathing into a paper or plastic bag can help an affected person because you breathe out carbon dioxide and breathe it in again, and the carbon dioxide helps get the carbon monoxide out of your blood, and then breathing air outside the bag helps displace the carbon dioxide[/*]
- methane is explosive (and not good for you) and forms from rotting vegetation, so is very common in old alluvial workings - it regularly kills people in coal-mine explosions eg 12 in one recent fire in Queensland, 29 in New Zealand, up to 450 people at a time historically[/*]
- there are other gases - nitrous oxide from old explosives that burnt instead of exploding can be fatal - and some gases don't accumulate at depth but instead in high points (I think methane is light enough to do that) - people throw rubbish and dead carcasses into old workings and they make nasty gases[/*]
- inadequate lighting can cause you to fall down an internal shaft in a mine[/*]
- the floor may not be the floor - branches fall into a shaft and block it near surface, dirt falls on top of the branches, you jump into an apparently shallow shaft and keep going -sayonara [/*]
- an unsupported trench less than 2 m deep can be fatal, especially after rain (hard to beathe under soil, hard to breathe even if it is only up to your chest) [/*]
- equipment used by novices is often unsuitable and scaling ropes, using old or left-behind ladders etc is ridiculous - even just bumping your head on a low roof without a hard hat can give severe concussion, foot damage is inevitable without steel-capped boots[/*]
- standing close to the edge of a shaft can be fatal, especially after rain - often the first few metres from surface can be soil, and your weight can cause a conical failure (with its point downwards, widening upwards to where you are) with soil around and even behind you further from there shaft sliding into the shaft (when you see that circular crack appearing behind you it is too late)[/*]
- often timber was used in old mines and will now be rotten - often broken rock was then spread onto the timber platforms which could support them when hew - the tunnel floor you think you are walking on may actually be a 20 cm broken rock layer on termite-ridden timber above a 100 m deep open cavity[/*]
- running out of lighting can be fatal when underground[/*]
- mad people enter mines alone - a foot in a crevasse, a rock that pins your legs, a hole that opens up between you and the entrance - oops, who knows I am here - starvation and thirst are nasty deaths, and causing searches inconvenience won't make you popular and could cost you a lot of money[/*]
- walking in a mine floor with water above your ankles is suicide, you will drown when you reach an internal shaft, also mines can flood during rain storms (a bunch of students died that way in a Tasmanian cave a few years ago)[/*]
Because of your interests, a lot of you may consider a mine job in the next boom (I have seen four booms come and go now, the "old industry" crap of politicians is nonsense, at least for many decades more). Consumption of minerals has been increasing without break, as has population and standard of living (except for a few years in the doldrums at a time) since Adam and Eve, and virtually everything you use comes out of the ground (the sole exceptions being some things that are grown such as food, timber and natural fibers like cotton and wool). If you have had one of the above accidents and anyone knows about it, don't even consider applying for a job with a mine, they will not even consider you (and don't ask me either - mining is dangerous like high-rise construction, I don't want any cowboys working with me)
The best rule is don't go into an old working of any type. I guess I make odd exceptions - lay on my stomach with feet pointing outwards to look down the first couple of metres in the collar of a shallow shaft to see what rock type is there, perhaps tying a rope to a tree before I approach closely if in doubt (but I NEVER to try to see the bottom of a deep one and ABSOLUTELY never go down one), I might also poke a shallow trench with branches to check it really is as shallow as it looks. That's it though - I do go into them because it is part of my full-time work, but in the company of an experienced practicing miner who leads the way.