Sixteen tons on the skip side sounds about right but the skip on top of the cage was smaller - probably ten tons. I spent one year circa 1971 cagetending/skipping muck in Subbury. The mine was in a development stage at that time; so the skips were smaller. I also worked at a copper- zinc mine though not underground. We lost a skip at one time. The Shift Boss forgot to put a bintender on surface. The muck was good that day and we filled the bin in no time. The skip got caught on the lip of the bin because of the muck and eventually cut loose. It broke the cable and dropped 2300 feet in freefall. When it went by me in the loading pocket about ten feet away all I saw was sparks though I could hear it coming for a long time beforehand. Afterwards there were was lots of debris coming down the shaft. My partner and I hid under the shutes in the loading pocket but the phone was ringing and eventually my partner answered it. It was the underground super and the first thing he said was, "Are you both still alive?"
Every third Sunday we had to do shaft inspection. One time the hoistman started dropping us too fast as we were standing on a tray on top of the skip. The shift boss was there and my partner. When the skip started dropping too fast I instinctively backed towards the centre of the tray. When I did so all I could feel was two asses pressing into my ass and nobody was moving.
I always used to get a creepy feeling when we were doing shaft inspection below the loading pockets. Some years later I spoke to a lady who was a widow. The door of the loading pocket had accidentally opened when her husband, his partner and the shiftboss were doing shaft inspection below the loading pocket. All three were killed. Somebody told me they rewrote the Mining Act after for Lockout. But sometimes I still wake up at night thinking about loading pocket doors above my head.
Are you convinced yet that I am an old miner? Yeah, I was a kid at the time but I could tell you a million stories (as could anyone who ever worked underground).
