mining photography

First Time In The Test Mine|Sudbury Mining

I finally had the chance to shoot at the bottom of the MacLean Engineering Test Mine located right here in my hometown Sudbury, Ont. Previously I had only photographed at the entrance and around the first bend but this time it was direct to the bottom.

The subject? MacLean Engineering’s SB 12 Blockholer.

Here is a well written description of the blockholer from Ernest V. Schaffernicht

“Blockholers are very important to modern mines as they are an essential part of the ore flow process. Even under the best of conditions and practices drill and blast or block cave operations have to deal with oversize pieces of rock that won’t fit into a scoop bucket. Sometimes these big chunks occur further up into the draw point.

These single boom purpose built drill rigs will drill the holes and load the explosives (emulsion or “pencil” bombs” remotely with TV cameras and radio remote control (RRC).”

Thanks again to Stuart Lister and MacLean Engineering for the opportunity.