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VII 2013 – Madan, Bulgaria, part II

 

GO TO: PART I

 

We arrived to the place where we climbed to upper horizon using old wooden ladders. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Asia on ladder. M. Southwood photo.

 

And here we are – in the big stope rich in minerl specimens. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Mining activity stopped because of our visit. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Heaving fun with the drill machine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Very happy miner. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Mark drilling in the wall. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Looking for pockets. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tom in the zone extremely rich in pyrite crystals, note sparkly zone near his boots. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Hundreds of pyrite crystals in situ. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Well formed pyrites in situ. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

More pyrite. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Asia collected some small specimens for hel collection. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We found also some matrix specimens. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Malcolm with big pyrite crystals. M. Mauthner photo.

 

Quite big pyrite crystals. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Zone we visited has produced in last weeks very good quality pyrites. here are a few examples we saw in madan - all of them came from the same stope. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Group of pyrites on quartz with calcite. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

The best specimen from the find, in collection of Ivan. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Same specimen, it is extremely lustrous - you can see the grass and home from out of the window. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

A few weeks before the same stope produced a small find with very good chalcopyrites with quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Finally we had to leave the stope and walk back to the lift. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Going back to the lift. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Miner waiting for the lift. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Waiting for the lift. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We were quite tired but ... J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

... very happy :-) J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Lift is coming. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Time to go up. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And we are in the upper level walking to the exit. Here is the sign "look-out for trains". J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We are back to the sunlight :-) J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Dirty and happy Tom and Malcolm. J. Gajowniczek photo.

  

Our team and miners after visit in the mine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Next day, after morning rest, we went to visit 9th September mine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

  

9th September mine has been closed for many years but we know secret entrance and we are in! J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

After short walk along the main tunnel ... J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

... we made a small camp leaving part of the equipment. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Soon after using old ladders we went down to the lower level. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Happy Asia going down. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Old metal ladders. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And more ladders. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Lower tunnel is partly flooded. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

There are several colapsed zones. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We had to carefuly crowl in several places. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Sometimes it is quite difficoult. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Further there is more water. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

On the way to the productive zone there are several intersections. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And more collapsed zones. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

The old shoring. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And more collapsed zones :-) J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And more intersections :-) J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Finally after a few kilometers walk we reached a big stope. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

There the real fun started. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We had to climbe on almost vertical wall. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And walk through some quite dangerous places. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And more climbing :-) J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

At the end we walked through an old dam. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And reached another stope rich in pockets. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

There has to be some minerals! J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tom digging a small pocket. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Pocket with pyrite. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Pyrite on quartz from the small pocket. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Sphalerite with quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Another pocket with quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And much bigger pocket with galena and quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And even bigger one. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Close-up of the pocket wall with galena and quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Mark found a very long cavity. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And started disappearing inside of it. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Finally he was gone. He is showing a specimen from the photo below. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Big galena crystals collected by Mark. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Another galena specimen. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Huge block with galena, definitely to heavy to carry with us all the way back. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Unique pocket left by miners. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Close up of the pocket with well formed galena. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Pocket with sharp galena crystals, ring as a scale. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Another specimen collected in the mine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Another specimen collected in the mine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

When we finished collecting we started going back the same steep path. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Going down. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Going down. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Almost on the bottom. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

And than we hit the mud again :-) J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Collapsed ore-shut. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Collpased tunnels. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We reached second collecting zone where we made a small camp. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Second collecting zone. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Malcolm and Tom examining rocks. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tom inside the pocket. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tom inside the pocket. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Condensing water. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Malcolm collecting galena specimens. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tom and Mark collecting. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Mark prize - nice galena on quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

  

Freshly collected cleiophane with galena on quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Galena on quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Crazy skeletal galena. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Another skeletal galena from the second collecting zone. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Finally it was time to go back, it was very late. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Must on a wall. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Old mining cart on the way back. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Going back to the exit. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

We had to go through all collapsed zones again. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Finally we reached ladders and climbed up with heavy backpacks. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Mark is going out, he looks quite hapy :-) After about 8 hours underground we came back to the surface. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Next day we visited another friend - Gieorgiej - who owns the old store which is now full of speicmens. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Hundreds of speicmens in Gieorgiej`s shop. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Some of the better speicmens. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tom, Gieorgiej and Mark discussing specimens. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Very unusual spinel law twinned galena crystals coated by quartz crust. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Very nice specimen from Gieorgiej`s inventory. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Galena with calcite. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Galena on Mn-calcite. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Interesting two generation calcite crystal. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Naturally melted galena cubes. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Calcite with galena. J. Gajowniczek photo.

  

Cleiophane from the old find in Krushev Dol. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

At the end we visited one more delaer who has a house placed very nicely with a view to Madan town. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Spinel law twinned galena from Krushev Dol mine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Very nice cleiophane from the Krushev Dol mine. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Tetrahedral sphalerite with quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Galena on quartz. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

Very unusual two generation galena on calcite. J. Gajowniczek photo.

 

It was time to pack everything to the car what was not an easy challenge - 5 people with luggage and stones in one car :-) J. Veevaert photo.

 

Leaving the town we took some "good bye" photos at the Madan sign. On the photo Tom, Asia, Mark and John. M. Southwood photo.

 

On the way back to the Sophia we stopped for short time in Laki mining area. Google maps.

 

Location of the two mines in Laki area. Google maps.

 

Socialist realism in the center of Laki - miner with the ore. M. Mauthner photo.

 

Monument dedicated to the miners who died in the mines. M. Southwood photo.

 

Shaft of the Djurkovo mine. M. Southwood photo.

 

last view to the Djurkovo mine. After that we spent a night on the way to Sophia and took a flight to Poland. M. Southwood photo.

 

GO TO: PART I

 



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