▶ Coinbase Website: Coinbase.com
▶ CEX Website: cex.io
In this episode, we wrap up the final drill-and-blast cycle of the season in the Martin Drift and push hard to see what the vein is doing before winter shuts everything down. After a long day of mucking, washing down the face, and extending track, we finally get back into the area we wanted to reach and start seeing more of the vein again. Along the way, we pull out some impressive material from the old-timers’ muck pile, including Mount Baker lightning quartz, heavy sulfides, and ore that looks promising enough to bag, tag, and save for milling. There is a lot of discussion underground about whether the material is rotten vein, shot ore, or remnant high-grade left behind over 100 years ago—and plenty of excitement as more beautiful pieces keep turning up.
The heart of the video is the last major shot of the year: 30 holes loaded for one final blast around a curved section of the stope. It is an ambitious end-of-season round, done partly for exploration and partly to answer the big question hanging over the drift—does the vein keep going, does it widen, or does it pinch out? After the shot, we come back to inspect the results, scale loose ground, wash the face, and study the structure in detail. What we find is mixed but encouraging: the vein narrows in one area, starts widening again up dip, and shows interesting sulfides, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and gray mineralization that could be important. There is no giant pocket of visible gold waiting in the face, but there are enough signs to keep the story very much alive.
Before closing the mine for the season, samples are taken for assay so there is real data to work from before next year begins. There is also the reality of underground mining on display here: worn-out gear, wheel problems on the strap rail system, the cost of blasting supplies, dirty air, hard labor, and the constant balance between exploration, safety, and production. By the end, the trucks are loaded, the portal is shut, and the season comes to a close—but the work is far from over. The ore still needs to be milled, the gold still needs to be recovered, and the results of this final round could shape where the next season begins. If you enjoy real hard rock mining, underground exploration, quartz veins, sulfides, ore sorting, and the challenge of chasing gold where every round reveals something new, this one is for you.
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▶ Coinbase Website: Coinbase.com
▶ CEX Website: cex.io
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