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A couple months ago, Mojave Underground acquired an old hoist from friends in Arizona. The hoist was purpose built for dropping mine shafts and extracting heavy equipment. Hundreds of man hours went into the reconstruction of the hoist, making sure it was safe and ready for the toughest of tasks. Last Sunday, Mojave Underground's MMT finally got to put our hard work to the test by dropping into the Montana Shaft above the Ophir Hill Mine.
The mine owner has been wanting an ore cart out of that mine for quite some time now. His faithful nagging finally paid off as I drove the 1500' cart up the long, narrow, rocky road to the mine shaft. After backing it into position, we all got straight to work, rigging up heavy steel beams and an A-Frame which supported the weight of the 600lbs+ ore cart and provided a safety point. We cut the grating on the shaft with grinding wheels, lined up all the vertical equipment, and got right to business. After thoroughly testing the system, Robert, our rigging expert, dropped down the shaft first. He was followed by Stuart, and later by Jeremiah. Using our specialized UHF radio system, we were able to communicate wireless with ease. The ore cart and other mining relics were secured to the winch and slowly pulled out. The hoist pulls around 1mph. Once all the equipment was extracted, Crystal and Stuart went up and down the shaft together to test out a tandem system, and I finished the adventure by descending, collecting some last pieces of gear, and getting pulled back up.
The hoist has proven to be an extremely valuable resource. It's true potential has yet to be explored.
Photos
The Video can be viewed here:
YouTube
High Quality Download (350MB, 480p)
The mine owner has been wanting an ore cart out of that mine for quite some time now. His faithful nagging finally paid off as I drove the 1500' cart up the long, narrow, rocky road to the mine shaft. After backing it into position, we all got straight to work, rigging up heavy steel beams and an A-Frame which supported the weight of the 600lbs+ ore cart and provided a safety point. We cut the grating on the shaft with grinding wheels, lined up all the vertical equipment, and got right to business. After thoroughly testing the system, Robert, our rigging expert, dropped down the shaft first. He was followed by Stuart, and later by Jeremiah. Using our specialized UHF radio system, we were able to communicate wireless with ease. The ore cart and other mining relics were secured to the winch and slowly pulled out. The hoist pulls around 1mph. Once all the equipment was extracted, Crystal and Stuart went up and down the shaft together to test out a tandem system, and I finished the adventure by descending, collecting some last pieces of gear, and getting pulled back up.
The hoist has proven to be an extremely valuable resource. It's true potential has yet to be explored.
Photos
The Video can be viewed here:
YouTube
High Quality Download (350MB, 480p)
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