Friday 6th February 2026

 Mike Kushy. Drlled holes and set charge. Fired fine. 2 hours.

Wednesday 4th February 2026

Kushy, John Cooper and Trevor Hughes. A total of 30 skip loads hauled up the shaft, a lot of mud but also breaker derived rock from the eastern wall. A proper, albeit mud filled, pot is starting to appear. Trevor.

Looking North. Photo TH.

Friday 23rd January 2026

Mike Kushy, David Morrison and John Cooper. JC was already on site when MK and DM arrived at 1.30. He had been moving smaller rocks by bucket from the big spoil heap to the track. DM went to work on cleaning the dumper, whilst JC and MK worked Templetwin. With MK down the hole and JC winching a total of 42 decent buckets cleared. The breaker was used in between bucket fills by MK. Still more to do and the whole floor vibrates. Hopefully we won't need to use any HE for a while. The mud hole in the floor is getting larger and some nice solutional patterns forming on the western wall above this hole. 3 hours. Mike.

Looking at the mud hole in the floor, Western wall up top. Photo MK.

Same again, further away. Photo MK.

Friday 9th January 2026

Mike Kushy and Trevor Hughes. TH clearing with MK hauling, 22 loads done. Then MK took pfs down to break up larger rocks and TH did winching. Nearly 50 loads in total and at the end the large shelf started peeling away and all the floor moves, so loads more to clear yet. No standing water on arrival and there's a large mud pocket which looks to be taking the full drain. Ladder that was left in during charge completely unscathed, although it currently doesn't sit on the floor (extra anchors needed). 2 hours, Mike.

Looking at the floor, facing south. Photo MK.

Looking South, horizontally. Photo MK.

Looking North, horizontally. Photo MK.

Sunday 4th January 2026

AM - Mike Kushy and Lee Venning. LV went down the bottom to use the breaker with MK on surface hauling. 15 buckets. 2 hours. Mike.

View from the bottom looking up. Photo LV.

Looking at the floor, facing North. Photo LV.

PM - Mike Kushy and Trevor Hughes. TH drilled holes and MK set up. The floor is really odd and kind of crystalised so not sure what the outcome will be. 3 holes drilled and 2m of 40 used. Mike.

TH drilling. Photo MK.

Friday 2nd January 2026

John Cooper, Mike Kousiounis and Dave Morrison. Kushy arrived first and started work with breaker. When John arrived he started hauling out until Tuska arrived when Kushy stopped breaking up the floor. The final bits of debris were removed and then Kushy started installing the ladder. Secure for the moment but extra work still needed securing top (cement scaffold pole in place and securely fix top of ladder to it). Only 10 loads today. 3 hours.

MK cutting pole with JC in support. Photo DM.

Temporary fix. Photo MK.

Looking down to base. Photo MK.

Thursday 1st January 2026

Mike Kushy, Hollie London and John Cooper. MK and HL to begin with. HL went to the bottom and MK winched, 25 loads cleared then JC turned up. HL stayed down at the bottom with MK and JC hauling. HL came out around 1330 and MK went down to the face and smashed apart some more spoil and cleared some more with JC.  Breaker work next. The floor has gone back to conglomerate again and sounds very hollow, nice solutional rift to one side. 10.9m deep now. 73 buckets cleared today in total. 4 hours. Mike.

Video of the current dig face

Before clearing. Photo MK.

After clearing, looking North. Photo MK.

Looking South. Photo MK.

Looking at the floor, facing West. Photo. MK.