Uncharted territory...

A week or so ago, one of the geos accepted another job so that he could stay closer to home. I was sad to see him leave, but secretly pretty excited that a geo-void had been left. This means that a few of the many (and I mean many - we could probably do with 1/2 the number we have) geotechs floating around site would most likely be trained up to learn how to 'log core'.

Logging core is a very important skill necessary when working in the mining and exploration industry. It involves careful and detailed study of the core that comes from the drills, keeping a keen eye out for various sulphides (pyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, molybdenite, or potentially even small amounts of visible gold). Various types of alteration (oxide, clay, chlorite, sericite, and silica) are ranked on a 0-5 scale based on intensity. Veins must be measured and recorded, any fracture angles, and other vital pieces of info must be recorded to accurately describe the rock.

Myself and one other geotech (the one who worked here last year) have been chosen to get trained up to log core on a semi-regular basis. I finished the tail end of a hole yesterday, and today I started my very own! It's 26 boxes (which represents about 100m) and it's MINE ALLL MINE!!!! muah ha ha haaaaa

I'm pretty excited to get the experience. Even though I'll be in the core shack until I leave for break (4 days...eeek!) I'll be asking lots of questions and making sure I do it right!

Also, one of the core cutters has decided to leave to go start playing football, so we're getting trained to cut core, too! The core that I have tech'd, logged, and sampled is now getting CUT by me. We cut it in half lengthwise with a giant diamond-blade rock saw. It's pretty mindless work but just one more thing to add to my resume and experience! I was taught how to do it yesterday and it turns out I was better than the other guys getting trained up!

Core Cutting: one of my hidden talents.. (?)

Lots of new things to learn, lots of new skills to work on, and lots more stuff to do!

Hooray!

I'm off on break as of Wednesday, so I probably won't be able to post again until I'm back on the 21st. When I do that though it might just be on my new iPad2!!! Yaaaaaaay!

Until then!

-Char