NTL Talisman Mine/Pilot Plant Visit - June 2019

Introduction

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Talisman Mine in Karangahake. I was passing through the area to, among other things, visit the many antique shops in Paeroa. I highly recommend the antique shops in Paeroa.

I called the company and arranged to head out there and meet with some of the NTL and Terra Firma team including Matthew Hill.

Outside

The mine workings have come a very, very long way since my last visit. What was previously a 20 minute walk down the mine now takes about 2 hours. Time seems to disappear completely when you’re down there.

Discussionwith Matt Hill

Before thetour began I thought I’d put Matt Hill through his paces with some of the comments from HotCopper.

I read to him material such as the recent comments by @Newbie22 and @fatboyj about management and other related topics. I was having a bit of a laugh while reading, it’s not often you get to lay HotCopper comments directly at management. He was pretty good about it. Could be a good segment for the next AGM to reply to some popular topics from HotCopper. He made some reasonable points about cost to prove up the JORC 2012 resource using the historical data he got hold of for a song, and the amount of work completed to date for the price.

I mentioned communication kept coming up on HotCopper and he told me he only tends to announce when he has something tangible to say that hasn’t been announced and that most shareholders read the announcements for that reason.

In the end Matt Hill said look Robbo just go into the mine and see how much work has been done since your last visit and when you come back up tell me if you think we’ve given value for money. As discussed below I think he makes a good point.

Mining Site

Last time I was at Talisman there was no airlock or ventilation fan. The massive ventilation fan is very quiet. I could not hear it from 6-7 meters away,and even standing right next to it is barely noticeable. It’s about as loud as putting your head really close to your desktop PC or laptop fan. Very impressive feat of engineering. Inside the mine the fan is a bit noisier but you simply cannot detect it from outside.

Outside the fan

Inside the fan

The site runoff garden is looking lush and green. The plants look very health. Wayne said that the Regional Council had tested the run-off water and it was cleaner than the water in the river. Seems like a good thing.

Water run-off garden

Down the Mine

I was given equipment and a safety briefing by Terra Firm a and by Wayne Chowles. The Terra Firma guys are good blokes. Wayne took me down the mine and he is a good rooster too. Good to see the company has solid lads working for them.

Safety stuff

The last time I went down the mine I don’t think we even got down as far as Kellar’s Cross Cut (towards Mystery Vein). It goes a heck of a lot deeper now.

Services installed along the mine

Water containment

The is services and ventilation are installed right the way down to the BM37 section of Dubbo. The naturally occurring water coming into the mine is captured and collected in containers for recirculated use, or is channeled away into its natural path.

Sealedoff part

A lot of work has been done to close off old, disused shafts and other areas that would affect the ventilation.

Anothersealed off part

It is a heck of a lot bigger, wider and cleaner down there than it was last time. All of the old wooden structures have been removed and replaced with rock bolts. The width of the access tunnel is noticeably wider. There was a bogger down the far end of the mine that can travel the entire distance of the mine.

Rock bolts where there used to be a big wooden thing

When I last went down they were working on removing all the old workings and installing rock bolts. They reckon they have finished everything and they are ready to start bringing up ore.

We walked for what seemed like ages. If the mine is refurbished 800m down the mine, then all the little side paths and the crosscut into Crown area must be even longer. I guess we must have walked somewhere between 2km and 3km all up? It’s hard to tell with certainty but the mine really is very long and deep.

More in the next post - had to split it up as it became unworkable