The new company had introduced a system of coordinates to specify locations within the mine, centred on Smith's Shaft. Thus the 940N Winze was north of Smith's Shaft (even though that shaft did not connect with the 175 Fathom Level.) The 940N Winze was sunk in 1939 to a new 200 Fathom Level in the heart of the rich North Ore Shoot. In 1943 the Capital Winze was sunk at 1400N and 214 Fathom sublevels were driven north and south from it.
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The Ross shaft was started in 1934, a second winze from the level reached , and a third winze from was started in 1937. The Yates shaft was started in 1938. Production ceased during World War II from 1943 until 1945, due to Limitation Order L-208 from the War Production Board.
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A winze is a minor connection between different levels in a mine. When worked upwards from a lower level it is usually called a raise; when sunk downward from a higher level it may be called a sump. The top of a winze is located underground and it is not equipped with winding gear, in contrast to a shaft, which is a deeper connection between levels and does have winding gear, whether the top of the excavation is located on the surface or underground.
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At from the portal a winze was sunk . A drift went north with a raise to the adit level. The lower adit extended north with a crosscut west at the face. A portable compressor was in operation and five men were working.
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1891, Clark formed the Hecla Mining Company with Albert Gross and Charles Kipp. On 14 Oct. 1891, the company was incorporated in Idaho by Clark, Charles Kipp, John A. Finch, Amasa B. (Mace) Campbell, John Dorsey, Healey and Hardesty, and 500,000 shares issued. By 1897, the mine had three tunnels and a 150 foot winze.
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Upon entering sandstone wall-rocks the fault became mineralized and some stoping was seen to surface (20m) near the end of the drive which extended but was inaccessible but almost certainly extends below two surface shaft collapse located above. An inclined shaft or winze to indeterminate depth (presumably to 18 fathoms (~35m) was also located along the course of the adit with a 10cm rib of galena on the fault plane.
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The gold was shipped to the Denver Mint. By 1906, the Ellison Shaft reached , the B&M; , the Golden Star , and the Golden Prospect , producing of ore. A disastrous fire struck on 25 March 1907, which took forty days to extinguish after the mine was flooded. Another disastrous fire struck in 1919. In 1927, company geologist Donald H. McLaughlin used a winze from the 2,000 level to demonstrate that ore reached the 3,500 foot level.
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The west vein area, leased to W. W. Gilkey and Crouse L. Elgin, is situated west of the 17-Monte Cristo Gold Mine vein. The upper level on this vein consisted of an adit extending north . At a winze was sunk and a small underhand stope, by , produced ore valued from $18.00 to $40.00 per ton. Fifty feet below, a crosscut was driven to the vein, and a drift along the vein extended north .
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Such techniques may also be used inside a mine to explore a winze, shaft, or steep incline. Similarly, some traverses and slopes may be roped for safety, particularly if organized groups are taken into the mine. Mine exploration shares some interests with Urban Exploration, primarily that of gaining access to abandoned or sometimes restricted locations. Mine explorers share an unspoken code of ethics, that of leaving sites in the same condition as they were found.
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Upon entering sandstone wall-rocks the fault became mineralized and some stoping was seen to surface (20m) near the end of the drive which extended but was inaccessible but almost certainly extends below two surface shaft collapse located above. An inclined shaft or winze to indeterminate depth (presumably to 18 fathoms (~35m) was also located along the course of the adit with a 10 cm rib of galena on the fault plane.
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Because of the low price of tin operations were suspended at the end of the year. In 1937 the north workings were prospected and broken stopes retimbered; of wolfram and of tin were obtained. In the spa lode behind the boiler shed a winze and shaft were sunk for of good ore in 1938. A new shaft to on the eastern lode in 1940 and prospecting shafts were put in; of old dumps were treated for of concentrates.
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Another winze at 530S was started, but suspended when it encountered quantities of water. As the North Ore Shoot was growing richer with depth, work began in 1943 on the North Shaft, another inclined shaft for winding cages, north from the bottom of Murray's Shaft. It was while this shaft was being sunk that shales from the Skiddaw Group of rocks were first encountered at about below the Lucy Tongue Level. Soon afterwards shale also appeared in the 214 Fathom north sublevel.
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An electrical fault one weekend may have started the fire. When the men went to work on the Monday morning (7 July 1952), the air compressor was started up, and air from a broken air line fanned the flames, releasing poisonous carbon monoxide gas which began to circulate round the mine. Some of the men began to collapse when they reached the 175 Fathom Level. Four men who had descended the 940N Winze were killed, and rescuers were driven out of the mine by the gas.
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Shallow shafts, typically sunk for civil engineering projects differ greatly in execution method from deep shafts, typically sunk for mining projects. When the top of the excavation is the ground surface, it is referred to as a shaft; when the top of the excavation is underground, it is called a winze or a sub-shaft. Small shafts may be excavated upwards from within an existing mine as long as there is access at the bottom, in which case they are called Raises. A shaft may be either vertical or inclined (between 45 and 90 degrees to the horizontal), although most modern mine shafts are vertical.
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He joined the Mount Lyell company as a junior engineer in 1900, and became engineer in charge of mines following the death of W. T. Batchelor on 27 October 1906. Every stage in his rise in the Company was resisted by general manager Robert Sticht, who saw him as an ineffectual intellectual, constitutionally unable to deal with the Union in the tough unyielding manner that characterised Sticht's leadership. :North Lyell mine suffered a disastrous fire on 12 October 1912 which started in a pump-house 700 ft below ground and spread to the shoring timbers, and some 42 miners working below that level died from carbon monoxide poisoning who might have survived had the winze (inclined passageway) between the 700 ft and 500 ft levels been clear. Murray gave evidence at the subsequent Royal Commission, supporting the Company's contention that an electrical fault was an unlikely cause of the fire.
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