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Galena
Pocket 1999
Renisonbell
mine is located in Rosebury on the Nth West coast of Tasmania
.It is a large scale tin mining operation with mining activities
nearly 1 Km underground in depth . I have been fortunate to have
gone underground numerous times in the past 10 years . Wonderful
green flourite specimens were found in the 1970 's by Mike Phelan.
Sporadic specimens have been found over the past 20 years including
Calcites , Pyrites ,Quartz ,Chalcopryrites and small Flourites
. During my trips underground it was rare to see more than a few
scraps of pyrite or calcite on my trips. When told about the new
Galena pocket I was very excited , I managed to get a trip underground
helping collect sample bags and drill cores . On reaching the
stope ,spray paint on the wall indicated the direction of the
cavity . It was in the roof of the stope about 20 ft up, ,unfortunately
the cavity had been raided by the miners . The grid mesh was place
on the roof to stabilise and secure any loose rock that might
fall . The grid was ripped open , which really was quite dangerous
,and the best specimens removed, the cavity was about 3 ft wide
opening to a large room that a man could easily move around in
. I could see a faint glimmer of Galena from where I was standing
. I was not in a position to reach the pocket and remove any specimens
as this was not the purpose of the trip , but it was a great experience
to see where they came from. My camera lens kept fogging up as
it was quite hot and humid . A loud noise could be heard in the
background , further down there was a miner drilling the roof
and inserting large steel rods into the room the stabilise it
.
I
managed to obtain some specimens later from a few dealer as seen
below .One of these had galena crystal over 1 inch across , ,
small crystals were associated with fine quartz crystals ,often
coated by calcite .
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Heaps
on Crystals written on wall of stope
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Cavity
in roof
20
ft up
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wire
to prevent rock fall and roof stabilisation
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stabilising
roof with steel pins
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