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 Post subject: State help sought on open mine shaft
PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 2:39 pm 
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Location: Above the Sterling Hill Mine
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Arc ... oduct=MDRB

State help sought on open mine shaft
Jenna M. McKnight

State help sought on open mine shaft
JEFFERSON -- Township officials are conferring with the state about how to best close an open mine shaft that was recently discovered by utility workers near Weldon Road, just off the Route 15 ramp.

Township Administrator James Leach said JCP&L workers were doing right-of-way work about two weeks ago when they discovered the opening of a hoist shaft for an old mine.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:17 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:44 pm
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Location: Hamburg, NJ
Awesome! lets go hoist some ore!!


hehe the links not working..


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:40 pm 
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Location: Winnemucca, NV
Funny, they discovered the mine there once before while they were originally building the ramp! It's amazing how quickly we forget where our mines are.

Miner Mike

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 11:54 am 
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For people who don't know, this is the Hurd Mine (the one in Jefferson). There were a bunch of different shafts and propect pits that were all originally at that site. All of it was filled in so there were no remains. I don't think this is the same shaft that opened up when they were building the ramps for Rt 15 as this is not really near Rt. 15. But I took at look at it on Saturday. It was difficult to go near the shaft as the ground was very unstable. There was no crater around the rim of the shaft yet and the dirt was high above the bed rock. I know if I stood next to it, the ground would give way and I could end up down in the shaft. But it looks like the shaft went down around 40+ feet. It did NOT hit any water which was shocking.

Based on the location, I do agree that this appears to be the hoisting shaft for the Hurd Mine. I haven't plotted the coordinates yet and compaired them to the old maps, but it does appear to be in the proper location of the hoisting shaft. There were two shafts on this side of the road which were both caved and probably filled in by the land owners. I'm sure this shaft will open up more as time goes by. The other shaft on this side will eventually do the same thing as no proper remediation work was done for these.

I will post pictures soon..


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:21 pm 
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Location: Hamburg, NJ
Good work Greg, the hurd mine was one heck of an operation back in the day. One of the biggies in the state, and not to mention very deep. We look forward to seeing the pictures.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:24 pm 
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Cool Greg,

Today I had a electrician that works for TSQ talk to me about the Hurd Mine shaft that opened up. It was neat talking to him about it. I had thought that he was going to tell me about the history of the mine or anything interesting about the mining area but nothing more came from the conversation. It was still cool that he knew of it and knows right where the shaft is. Greg have you been over to see the area yet?

Miner Bond


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 27, 2005 3:57 pm 
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Location: Hamburg, NJ
Well I drove by and sure enough the mine shaft was right there, with a dinky orange tape fence around it. I went over the fence and got as close as i could, it is very dangerous and appears to go down into darkness. I stretched out my camera and held it over the hole while leaning back away from the shaft. i got a few shots of the inside, but nothing really good.

I wonder what they plan to do to seal it.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 10:39 am 
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Yeah, I did the same with my camera to attempt to get a few shots. I did not want to get too close to the shaft without any safety gear as the walls look very unstable around the shaft. It probably looks a little worse now since it has been a month since I have seen it. When I was there, it did not hit water. Has it gotten any deeper? I'll try to post my shots tonight that I took to see if you notice any changes.

I would imagine that they would have to cap this. Especially since this is a deep shaft, new state laws require it to be properly capped in order to be considered safe. I don't think they are allowed to backfill it anymore. In addition, backfilling this would be a temporary fix as I am sure the current bottom of the shaft will probably open up further.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 4:08 pm 
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Ill post my shot as well. Not sure how they can cap it unless they go down to the bed rock? looks like there is a good 5 feet or more of overburden where it opened up. Thats probably not the shaft collar but an area in proximity to it. I didnt look inside and held myself back as much as i wanted to, so i couldnt tell where it went, only saw darkness. If i had a rope i would have gotten closer.


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