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my years in the mines
13:05 Aug 07 2010
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I have spent many years working at mine sites both above ground and underground and in my time doing this i have seen some interesting things and rather spectacular colour formations in the rock.

I have learnt to operate some weird and bizarre machines both big and small.



One of the machines I had to clean one day ( i was an industrial cleaner hydrojet operator) is called a bogger, it looks like a massive front end loader that has been squashed flat and is operated by remote control(this is fun too but i'll save that story for another day)



We were at the blast pad when 2 of the boggers arrived and needed to be cleaned. they were covered in grease, mud, dirt, rocks and a whole host of associated crap from being underground and they wanted them spotless so they could repair and service them.



Now each and every machine that goes onto the mine site MUST have a fire suppression system installed on it and be rigged to heat sensors so if they ever catch on fire the machine will put itself out. the suppression systems use a type of AFFF extinguisher (Aqueous Free Forming Foam)



back to the cleaning.

I was cleaning the outside with my offsider on the gun because i had decided to have a lazy day and couldn't be bothered suiting up into a blast suit (heavy rubber suit designed to attempt to stop you getting wet(may as well sit in a pool for all the good they do)) and attempt to stop the water if you ever get hit by the stream (not going to happen from a stream that is .9 of a millimetre around and at a working pressure of 33,500PSI ( more than enough to cut a human in half)

we had opted to use the standard rotary head with twin .9 nozzles in it to aid in speed of cleaning as this was easier to operate for a smaller person which my offsider was. Any way as he was cleaning we got told over the radio to clean the motor and around the suppression system so i told him to and to watch out for the main sensor wires on the suppression tank. he gave me the ok sign and continued to clean. About 5 minutes later i see him giving me the kill it all emergency sign so i hit the emergency shutdown thinking he had hurt himself and started to grab the rescue radio to call for aid when all of a sudden the suppression system on one of the boggers goes off.

All of a sudden the entire blast pad is an off WHITE and looks like the stay puff marshmallow man after the ghost busters blew him up. Masses of foam everywhere, if you think the movies with a washing machine overflowing is a mess then times that by 100 at the least.

My offsider finally walks through the foam ( way over his head) to find me rolling on the floor laughing my ass off over the radio to the whole mine site about it. needless to say i made him clean it up but it took him 3 days to do and we couldn't use the blast pad for those 3 days but it was well worth the laughs and the look on his face when the system went off.