Hi, my name is Jason with Mt. Baker Mining and Metals
and we just got back from a two week trip to Migori Kenya
where we donated a 4' x 8' shaker table
to Julius who is the president of the MICA gold mining cooperative
and we did this to help reduce the use of mercury by the local miners
this is video 1 of a five part video series
I hope you guys enjoy it and I look forward to your comments and questions, thanks for watching
This is one of the shafts here in Migori
I don't know how far it goes down but
several meters, tens of meters maybe
this is where they come out and hand sort
this is all there dumps
we are going to take a tour down this shaft here
this gentleman here is going to take us down
there is no ladder we just haft to
go down the lagging on the side
how far down? around 60 feet
60 feet so 20 meters or so
okay, yeah good
there they go just right down into the hole
we are underground now, going down the drift
There is another little shaft there
They have it all lagged up on top
We are down, what you think? 40 meters now
and this is the reef they are mining
it's probably 3 or 4 inches
they are just following this down, it probably dips at 45 degrees
Do you know what the grade is George?
4 grams a ton or more?
this one is slightly above 4 grams or more
4 or 5 grams, 6 grams a ton
and they take these
buckets and pans and fill them up with ore
than they take them back up the shaft
so you are now working right here
yeah, it got big
the vein now is probably 25 centimeters
this is your working face is right here
and this is about 20 grams per ton
and you drifted a little bit
that way and they are opening up a shaft
its hard to focus in the dark
there is a shaft all the way and they have kinda been
stockpile there waste
in the old shaft
are you drilling and blasting?
yeah good one
we are in Kenya, Migori Kenya, near Migori
mining underground
quartz veins they call them reefs here
like the Australians
yeah good one, yeah yeah
get them for you or just leave them here?
leave them for him he can crush them
no problem, no problem
very hard Solomon
its hard quartz
he has a flashlight banded to his head
he is down here with a hammer and chisel
This guy is 19 years old
yeah, yeah yeah
okay Solomon, thank you very much