old mine shafts !!

H2s gas can be found in some caves,You'll only smell rotten egg for a couple of seconds,If you're lucky ...It WILL render victims unconsious very quickly,and all would be rescuer's too.
 
H2s gas can be found in some caves,You'll only smell rotten egg for a couple of seconds,If you're lucky ...It WILL render victims unconsious very quickly,and all would be rescuer's too.
Click to expand...
I've never encountered h2s gas around caves or mines, but I don't rule out the possibility. It's most common around pertolium processing facilities and wells. Huge swaths of public land (our land) is inaccessible for recreational use due to H2S dangers.

I've had a safety training class in H2S, and here's what I recall. At 1-2 parts per million it smells like rotten eggs. It's safe to work an 8-hour shift in conditions up to 10ppm, although our safety sensors were set to 6-8ppm. At 20ppm and higher it starts to make you sick and deadens your sense of smell so you may not even realize you're in H2S. At 600ppm it's fatal. H2S is heavier than air.
 
Hydrogen sulphide is considered more dangerous than hydrogen cyanide. It might be a problem in areas where iron sulphide is common, together with acid rain.

I've personally measured ground water acidity levels in old copper mining areas of pH1 to pH2. That's concentrated enough to react with many other minerals and give nasty stuff.

Another potential hazard are minerals like arsenic. It generally occurs as arsenopyrite, but the arsenic tends to form a skin on the surface where it is exposed to the air. Picking up lumps of arsenic with bare hands is not a healthy passtime. I've got a nice collection!

Needless to say, I've explored the occasional mine/cave/pothole in my time. Most old mines in the UK are already so 'picked over' that there's no point looking for nice samples there any more. Exploring open mines/quarries immediately after blasting is more rewarding.
 
didnt have a busse with me but close, i had my ranger rd7 , ropes, harneses,lotsa light and batteries , and a bunch of other stuff . i did leave word with numerous people of my whearabouts but it was still a dumb thing to do . some can argue that climbing and rapelling are stupid / dangerous . i dunno. i will admit it was really fun though in that little kid sort of way . ive gotten some history on the place and have deemed those mines as being extremely unsafe due to the condition and type of rock theyre hewn from. loose and very wet shale . most are flooded , especially the vent shafts . spookiest place ive ever seen . all ill say is that its in dayton and its not the mines that everybody there knows about , you have to know where to cut off trail to get to them and i aint tellin .
 
The biggest danger that comes to my mind is a simple one- it has been abandoned how long? What condition is the structure like? It's one thing to have the roof fall in in front of you. Another to have it fall in behind, and on top of is a third.

If you are honestly curious, check with your county/state mining office or geologists, they'd know if there was a map, or at least with your local climbers. Keep in mind that caves are nice to camp in, and more than just humans know this. Getting in between something and the exit isn't a very good idea either. :P
 
Coal mine. Be very careful. You read what happened in Utah. Well, if you get caught in there, there will be no drill rigs trying to drill down to you. Again. Be very careful. Bet I could find it. :)
 
There were a lot of silver mines in the hills around where I grew up and I think every kid in that town back then, visited them mines, ignoring the warnings of our parents, LEOs and the owner of the property.

Every year there were a couple of kids that got killed in one of the old mines. They finally sealed off all the openings with rebar and concrete. So now I guess the kids go up and tag them. :D
 
I live in Wilkes Barre PA. This was the place that anthracite coal was first burned by Judge Jesse Fell. This place was mined until the Knox disaster occured in the 70's. The coal miners dug so close to the bottom of the Susquehana river that the river crashed right into the mines. My grandfather was a coal miner.

We have so many old underground mine heres that we must take out mine subsidence insurance on our homes.

I've been into a lot of coal mines. I've explored walk in mines, and one that still had tools in it, and a calendar held by wire still hanging on the wall from December 1953. I've also climbed down a few airshafts with rope and that's just plain scary. I climbed down an incline shaft that still had all the framework, and pulleys for the car. About 200 ft. down the mine was completely filled with water.

Also real common around here are small walk in mines that were bootleg operations. They call them dogholes. Basically it's just a small scale illegal mine. There's one in back of my house that has two levels both with donkey rails, and a couple of cars still in it. I found a giant metal can of Dupont black powder in it when I was kid.

I've watched a super neat video of some guys here in PA that explore old mines. They have all kind of air sensors, respirators and tanks. They film all their mine explorations.

Old mines are scary as hell.
 
Hey Gutsy,
All things considered, I'd probably get a reference (grid or gps) of the mine and let the town know what you found and where.

I don't know the laws of the area that you found it, but common sense says that it should be blocked up.

That's my $.02 fwiw.
 
thanks for all the advice and information guys , ive learned alot . about gasses inparticular . i need to go back up there and get some good pics of the enterances and terrain so you guys can see them.
 
There are a lot of old mines around here. Most of our hills are limestone, IIRC. I sometimes will walk up to a vertical shaft (some are fenced off and some aren't) just to look down, but have never been tempted to enter one. At all.

One old mine shaft in the middle of nowhere, I found a HUGE squared-off timber sitting next to one of the two entrances. It was about ten feet long, three feet wide and almost that thick.

Dog and I ate lunch sitting on it.

We have a lot of endangered bats living around here, because of natural caves -- most still wild -- and the mine shafts. Interesting bits of history, is all they are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top