[www.fresnobee.com]

This happened nearby. There are thousands of old mines in these hills.

A friend found some gold in a parking lot over the weekend.

More miners may die. Not in the parking lot.

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A man who is of "sound mind" is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key.
(Paul Valery)

sounds like a darwin award

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shafted.

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The three "were not doing anything wrong, but you need to be cautious," Guillemin said.

They weren't dong anything illegal perhaps, but they were doing something wrong.

Hmmm ... would these guys qualify for a Darwin award?

There was a guy killed in an old gold mine in Washington a year or two ago. He used a rope to climb down into the shaft, got onto a ledge at the opening of the mine, then untied from the ledge and went inside. When he decided to leave he realize that he left the rope dangling in the middle of the shaft and he couldn't reach it. No one is sure exactly how he died, but it was either dehydration or hypothermia. He didn't tell anyone where he was going or what he was doing so unsurprisingly, no one thought to look for him 150ft down in a hole in the ground outside Leavenworth WA.

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Ztirffritz
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

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Death by carbon monoxide poisoning in caves is actually quite common. I went to a lecture years ago by a Rocky Mt rescue tech and he described in detail how carbon monoxide builds up inside of caves because of the complete lack of air/wind movement. And since it's heavier than air, it builds up as thick as soup. You walk down into a cave, your mouth passes the CO leve, and it only takes 1 gulp of that air—now completely void of oxygen—and boom, you're passed out. He says most groups found dead follow the same patter: they see one in their party suddenly drop. The others race ahead to see what's wrong, their own mouths pass into the CO soup, and instantly pass out. The tech described a recent rescue of 4 young boys that were all found stacked on top of each other, each one trying to rescue the other.

His story scared me straight from exploring any of the caves throughout Colorado.

CORRECTION: from a better informed source:

Quote

carbon DIOXIDE is the primary gas involved in carbonate cave formation, volcanic offgassing and so forth. Carbon dioxide and methane (sewer gas which comes off rotting/decomposing organic matter in a low oxygen atmosphere) are much bigger threats to cavers than CO. CO and CO2 are both heavier than air, and tend to stratify at the bottom of pits, or low passages, but it's mainly CO2 (carbon dioxide) that kills people in caves

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Boulder, Colorado



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2008 10:30AM by tuqqer.

My grandfather worked at an iron ore mine for most of his life. When I was still a little kid, he & made me look him in the eyes & promise that I'd never, EVER go inside an abandoned mine. I never have & never will. And there's a bunch of old mines in the Birmingham area.

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If you're going to go into a mine, you need to do two things.

- Use a gas detector to check for gases that are either poisonous, combustible, or displace oxygen.

- There need to be people outside of the mine who can rescue those inside the mine.