Today was a slow morning of writing up procedures. The rain come in and then an awesome thunderstorm. It was very close indeed. During the storm we had pea size hail. Mike, a legend, was out in the rain with garbage bags as a coat. 
We got the word that we needed to resample some old core to assess lower uranium grades at one of our projects, West Bear. Brendan and his team needed help, so my role as “pinch hitter” or “jack of all trades” come in. I packed my bag and moved to Points North, an airstrip and cargo drop off zone servicing the mines and exploration camps in the area.
We sorted out some of the gear we needed and boarded the chopper to assess what needs to be done. We had to unstack boxes of Sonic core. This core is drilled using vibration and slowly rotating string with casing following the hole down and used to drill through soft clays and sands with awesome core recovery.
First thing Brendan and I noticed was the frogs. They were everywhere and the location of the core farm is in muskeg, swampy, wet ground with areas of competent ground with peat moss. The frogs were all of the same species and we spent some time playing catch and release. The macro on my camera turned out well too.
The core intersects graphitic pelites. I haven’t seen such graphitic rocks before so it was a real treat. At the some time, the core has quite a lot of nickel and cobalt in it and when it weathers and oxidises it produces nickel and cobalt blooms (secondary minerals). Within a short time these minerals had already developed on the core!
Wes, our new chopper pilot, has 28 years of experience and they way he lands and takes off is very smooth. We commented that we wanted to see wildlife and said it had been very quiet. About 8 miles from Points North, I saw two brown figures in one of the shallow lakes. I was hesitant to say anything into I saw the sun shinig off the v ripples made from the animals moving. Wes swung it around and there were two moose, a cow and a calf. My first moose sighting and I was the one to spot them. It was very exciting. There was a buzz in the chopper. Moments later, Wes swung around to see some more, (which I thought was unusual or very lucky) we got in close and the green backed brown rocky looking moose didn’t move. He spotted some rocks with tufts of grass in the lake. It was laughs all round. Brendo told Wes that Mark the other pilot did the same thing to those two rocks a week ago as well.
Back at Points, I got my room and settled down. The office has super quick internet so I had a chance to Skype etc. I learnt about online movie and music sharing too. I shared “Fubar” – a Canadian mockumentary on two down and outers. The Raven Camp use phrases from the movie all the time so I had to get it to put everything into context.
The office we have is in the airport lounge. Out the window, I can see choppers and aircraft coming to and fro. Dad would love it here. A lot of Americans come here to fish and there are posters up about Minor Bay and Wollaston Lodges with big pike, similar to my trophy fish. One sign mentioned this areas is a dry “First Nations” indigenous reserve and another says “Tackle Boxes and Fish Finders Not Allowed as Carry-On Luggage”. I’m in my element.
Watching the sun set on the helicopters parked up was pretty good (ours is on the right).
We got the word that we needed to resample some old core to assess lower uranium grades at one of our projects, West Bear. Brendan and his team needed help, so my role as “pinch hitter” or “jack of all trades” come in. I packed my bag and moved to Points North, an airstrip and cargo drop off zone servicing the mines and exploration camps in the area.We sorted out some of the gear we needed and boarded the chopper to assess what needs to be done. We had to unstack boxes of Sonic core. This core is drilled using vibration and slowly rotating string with casing following the hole down and used to drill through soft clays and sands with awesome core recovery.First thing Brendan and I noticed was the frogs. They were everywhere and the location of the core farm is in muskeg, swampy, wet ground with areas of competent ground with peat moss. The frogs were all of the same species and we spent some time playing catch and release. The macro on my camera turned out well too.
The core intersects graphitic pelites. I haven’t seen such graphitic rocks before so it was a real treat. At the some time, the core has quite a lot of nickel and cobalt in it and when it weathers and oxidises it produces nickel and cobalt blooms (secondary minerals). Within a short time these minerals had already developed on the core!Wes, our new chopper pilot, has 28 years of experience and they way he lands and takes off is very smooth. We commented that we wanted to see wildlife and said it had been very quiet. About 8 miles from Points North, I saw two brown figures in one of the shallow lakes. I was hesitant to say anything into I saw the sun shinig off the v ripples made from the animals moving. Wes swung it around and there were two moose, a cow and a calf. My first moose sighting and I was the one to spot them. It was very exciting. There was a buzz in the chopper. Moments later, Wes swung around to see some more, (which I thought was unusual or very lucky) we got in close and the green backed brown rocky looking moose didn’t move. He spotted some rocks with tufts of grass in the lake. It was laughs all round. Brendo told Wes that Mark the other pilot did the same thing to those two rocks a week ago as well.Back at Points, I got my room and settled down. The office has super quick internet so I had a chance to Skype etc. I learnt about online movie and music sharing too. I shared “Fubar” – a Canadian mockumentary on two down and outers. The Raven Camp use phrases from the movie all the time so I had to get it to put everything into context.The office we have is in the airport lounge. Out the window, I can see choppers and aircraft coming to and fro. Dad would love it here. A lot of Americans come here to fish and there are posters up about Minor Bay and Wollaston Lodges with big pike, similar to my trophy fish. One sign mentioned this areas is a dry “First Nations” indigenous reserve and another says “Tackle Boxes and Fish Finders Not Allowed as Carry-On Luggage”. I’m in my element.
Watching the sun set on the helicopters parked up was pretty good (ours is on the right).
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