This morning we got up first thing to head to Efemçukurm, to see the Tüprag mine. After a long winding drive in we got to meet the Geology manager, Nadir Arslan. We started by learning about the site and what we needed to do in order to maintain our safety. We were given hard hats, glasses, ear plugs, ID badges, dust masks, gloves, coveralls and hard toed rain boots.
After a brief introduction of safety procedures we learnt some history of the mine. The discovery and initial exploration occurred in 1992, from then until 1997, there was exploration drilling/engineering and environmental study. Once that was complete they had to do an EIA Study in order to get there positive certifications and permits by 2005.
From 2005-2008, they began detailed engineering, land acquisition, and construction. And by 2012 the mine was fully operational. So far the mine has been successful in their mining efforts, they have mined 3,240 KTon of ore @ 7.9 g/t, over 160 Km of drilling, 205 Km of soil sampling and 160 Km of geophysics work.
The mine lies on the Izmir-Ankara suture zone, full of Miocene sediments Phyolite, Schist, Phyllite, Serpentinite, Spillite, and Hornfels. So now that we had learnt about the mine and what we were likely to find there. We hopped into vehicles to enter the mine, and began our trek downwards, after a 15 minute decent into the earth.
At our first stop we got to mine for some Galena and Pyrite, with a rock hammer we smashed away the wall and cracked open the treasure we had found. While comparing our samples we went on another trip venturing further into the mine.
At the second site we saw lots of Quartz and got to learn what mining can really be if there are not safety standards in place. We all turned off our headlamps and took in the mine.
It is dark. It is not exactly ‘dark’; it is beyond ‘dark’. There is absolutely no light - and this doesn’t require for you to be especially deep underground either; just into a system far enough that you are beyond the reach of the light above ground. You can almost ‘feel’ the space around you, but that feeling is deceptive. You could be on the edge of a vertical drop, or you could take a step and run into a wall. You cannot SEE. And since mines are typically irregular shapes, if you make a sound and try to ‘feel’ the space from the echoes, you can readily be deceived. But if you don’t make sound it is mind numbingly silent.
Afterwards, we left the mines to go and see core samples, and learn more about what geologists are looking for in the samples. This experience shaped a lot of students vision for the future. We are all so thankful to Nadir, Chem, Professor Pysklywec, Professor Henderson and the mine for allowing us to have this opportunity to learn about mines and future possible careers.
After the mine we hopped back on the bus to go to our hotel, Back at our hotel we decided to go for apolar bear dip before heading out for dinner and calling it for the night.
