Grandpa making sure Kailee's lamp is securely in place and ready to go for the tour!
Better than Charlie's Angels!!!
Grandpa was on shift today and the girls loved seeing him at work. I think he had a good time showing off his granddaughters too! I love that it was my dad that got Thayne into mining. I grew up around mining and have a great love for it and all that it does for us. My dad was always my hero and I loved seeing him out here today!
I love this face... I really love this face!!!
Mom and the girls diggered out and ready to go....
Kassi loved the sign.... "The Journey Begins With You"
In the chippy, ready to go... and yes Kinzee we are actually going UNDERground! hahahaha
In the chippy... it says no more than 6 people... I am so glad at least 3 of the people in here were skinny little things... not sure I would want to be in there with 6 BIG people! We were only going 1800 feet underground... I'm sure it wouldn't be the fall that would kill ya! ;)
Do I have a lazy eye??? Why yes Kassi, you do!
Girls... I don' know who told you it was a good idea to stand behind a big truck while it was being filled but it is NOT okay... now get out of there before your dad sees you! ;)
Garrett was working today... or more accurately, Garrett was eating candy and listening to his I pod... not a good plan when the boss walks up and you have your ear phones in! :) And for the record, he had my favorite candy and never even offered me a piece! SHEESH!
Garrett's truck.... waiting for a load of backfill
Not very reassuring when you are walking right under the sign!
Our sweet ride... dad's Kabota!
Dad making sure his girls are buckled safely in!
Kinzee rides shotgun!
I think Kassi was trying to get Kailee in trouble for something!
Kinzee sticking her tongue out at me... RUDE!
Kinzee.... well, just Kinzee making a face!
Important information if you plan on setting off any fuses.....
I just think this is the most ironic sign... explosives... really... how many people lit up by the explosives before they had to warn them to stop????? ;)
Funny the people you meet as you drive around underground.... my baby brother Shalum was on shift today so we got to hang out with him for a little while!
Discussing the blast.... or was that when they were discussing our next weekend wood cutting trip... hmmm....
My baby brother.... it was so fun seeing him underground today!
After Kinzee looked up so far she made her hard hat fall off, Kassi leaned forward and told her that arms and legs must stay in the ride at all times and hard hats must stay on the head! :)
More venting, and you can see the wire and shot crete that keep the ground supported and safe... the bolter puts the bolts in that holds the wife and shotcrete, which makes the ground stable for them to work in....
Shalum heading out to get the blast ready....
The vent that carries fresh air into the mine...
The belt carries the ore out of the mine where they pile it outside.... this part of the belt is a huge magnet that will pull anything metal from the ore and throw it off the belt into a caged area.... it's one powerful magnet!
Rock blood... yes, this disgusting stuff just seaps through the rock!
Underground... amazing to think of all that goes on under the earth while we are just living our lives. We don't realize what the work that goes on underground does for our lives. It's true when they say if it isn't grown it must be mined. Think about it... what do we have that doesn't need something that comes from the earth?
A truck taking ore to be taken outside... it's funny when people hear Thayne works in a gold mine that they think it is big chunks of gold you can just pack out. Nope... the gold is in this black, ugly ore.
Danger... unsupported ground... do not enter!
I couldn't help it... I loved this graffiti on the wall... Please don't hit me... REALLY? This is electrical stuff people... do you need a sign to tell you not to hit live electircal boxes? Shocking!
Here is an escape route... through the door and there are stairs that would get you safely out of the mine in case of an emergancy. Thayne was talking about how there are far too many of the miners underground that are too lazy or too stupid to know where the escape routes out of the mine are. That seems very sad to me!
Wouldn't the old time miners be surprised that now they have WiFi under ground, computers underground able to run everything!
Kassi thinks she should be a model.... for what? Diggers?
The girls thought they could make a break on dad's Kabota!
Kassi... well, just being Kassi... but I think the pose she is going for here is contemplating whether or not we were going to be safe once Shalum lit those fuses!
Shalum had just come to tell us it was almost time... he was leaving here to clear out the area and make sure it was safe to blast!
Kinzee's checking to see how deep the mud actually is!
Mama always told you not to play in the mud Kassi.... it seems you don't really listen to your mama! haha
Waiting for Shalum to clear the area so that he could light the fuse for the blast... unlike all of the smart people, we were sticking around to witness it. I asked Thayne if it was safe and he said it was as long as Shalum's men did their job correctly (Gee, no pressure there!) and as long as it didn't scare us! I have to say, it was amazing... the force of the blast blew in our faces even though we were around the corner! Everything shook! It was AMAZING!
Just another picture of Shalum lighting the fuse for the blast....
I guess everyone needs a friendly reminder to stay alert...
My friend's husband works out at the mine. He was working in the wash bay so we surprised him and took a couple of pictures.... he wanted Thayne to know that he had done an excellent job of washing his Kabota for him, which explains the wet seatbelts!
Mike striking a pose so I could give it to his wife....
Aw... the doors! Last time we went out to the mine we had our friends Melissa and Mike. Thayne was looking at something on the wall of the mine. Melissa asked what he was looking at so she would shine her light over where he was looking... finally after several tries of the door starting to open and then closing again Thayne realized that Melissa's light was closing the door everytime he opened it... so this time Thayne told us we weren't allowed to look at the wall... there is a sensor that they shine their light into and the doors open and then shine them again on the other side and the door will close!
Kailee and her dad!
These are the lamps the employees wear underground. They have a tracking device that makes it possible for each miner to be accounted for at all times underground. In case of emergancy they would be able to locate every miner underground. They can see their movements at all times if they needed to. I guess that is a good or a bad thing depending on your work ethic!!! ;)
A Bolter....
There is gold all over in this mountain....
This isn't Thayne's mine... just one of the other mines on the property. This is the portal or entrance to the mine.
Just following the trucks winding our way along to get to the mine....
There's gold all over out here... it's amazing to see all of the work that is being done.
These are the big haul trucks... they are huge! On the mine roads you drive on the left hand side of the road so that the drivers of these trucks can see you... the girls thought they were amazing... they couldn't get over that Thayne's work truck would have easily fit in the back of one of these with room for more... the tires are huge.... you never, ever want to get in the way of these haul trucks!
Water truck refilling... these are huge trucks, as you can see with the full grown man standing on it...... they water the roads to keep the dust down.
The headframe.... the hoist takes men and equipment up to 1800 feet underground.
A shot of the ore pile and of the headframe as we get to the mine...
Ore pile... the conveyor belt brings the ore from underground and dumps it here on the surface.
These are the ore piles... there is one of ore, and one of waste. Not the normal 'gold' that most people think of when we tell them Thayne works in a gold mine. This has to go through a refining process to get the gold. There are different grades of ore depending how much gold is in the rock.
Mom and dad... what a great way to spend a day!
The bolter... installs the ground support so that the ground doesn't fall in. Thayne used to run the bolter and held the record at his old company for the most bolts installed in a shift... now he's just the boss! :)
Who knew we would be wading in the water....
The girls playing in the water....
Daddy's girls... they loved going to the mine and touring with their dad! What great memories!
Kinzee checking out the mine...
Shalum works for the contractor that works for Thayne's company. It was so fun to see him on shift (he is one of the shift bosses) He was ready to blast and it was so great to be able to be there to experience it!
Shalum lighing the fuse for the blast....
There is so much dust in the air that it's sometimes hard to get pictures... they do water the roads to keep the dust down but I guess it's hard to avoid since you are completely underground!
Love the signs.... this is the fuel station where the trucks go to fuel up.... how cool is that to have a gas station underground!
It's always good to know where the primary escapes are!
30 ton truck....
One of the big trucks dumping ore... these are 30 ton trucks that carry about 20 tons of rock/ore/muck.... they try to get 4,000 tons of ore a day, 4,000 tons of cemented backfill a day and about 2,000 tons of waste.
Thayne explaining how, in the event of an emergancy, would get into the chamber, and what it will protect the miners from. Thayne isn't sure how many they have underground, maybe 20... at around $100,000 a piece and it 's not even something that is mandated by law to have. The company really does put safety of their men as their highest priority!
The rescue chamber.... maybe not comfortable but in an emergancy it would sure be a life saver... literally... a life saver!
Kailee loves big trucks, even if they are underground! (The girls tried their hand at the 6 yd loader)
Kassi... even blonds can do this! :)
Kinzee thinks mining would be fun....
This is the underground warehouse....
Headed to the cage....
Headed out after spending an awesome afternoon touring Thayne's mine!
Just more important signs...
Ready to unload supplies... they send the supplies down on the cage.... underground is absolutely amazing, it's like an ant hill where there is a flurry of activity that you could never imagine unless you get the opportunity to see it!
Waiting for the cage to be unloaded of supplies so we could ride up in the cage rather than the chippy.....
Ice anyone? All we needed was a Pepsi machine! Though I am still trying to figure out why you need an ice machine 1600 feet underground... but you know, mining is a different way of life!
All of these important signs for us..... this is the reason, after the cager had us turn our lamps out so we could see the absolute blackness underground, and I turned and found Thayne standing next to me instead of across the cage, and I told him I though he was coming over for a quick kiss as we were speeding through time and space, and he told me that no horseplay is allowed and the cager had the power to throw us out! :) Now since when is kissing your wife in the dark horseplay?????
Ummmm... Okay I am just not sure.... Kassi can always make me smile though!
There are just no words to describe how amazing this was underground... Shalum stood out to take this video of the fuses going off... he stepped back around the corner for the actual blast but you could hear the pop, pop, popping, and then the explosion and then the ground just shook then we busted it out of there and turned on the fans to clear the smoke out. It's just something that was amazing to experience! Thanks Shalum!!! He wasn't kidding when he reported over the radio, "FIRE IN THE HOLE".....
Jace still not minding his mom when I told him to give me a GOOD smile.... real nice Jace!!!
