5/6/2019
Yes, it was Monday. Here you can see the broken bit of plastic that required the drillers to “make a trip” up from about 600’. That tiny little bit of white plastic is the seal between the hammer and the bit. With that broken, the air wasn’t going to the bottom of the hole to pick up the broken rock.
The bit that finished the hole. You can see the two air channels at the bottom that let the compressed air blow the tailings up and out of the hole. The driller is holding a precision caliper. You can only see the bottom arm of it in this photo. He’s making sure that the bit he’s putting on is no larger in diameter than the one that broke. If it was bigger, it would get jammed in the hole. That’s why they keep used bits around that have been worn down in diameter, to finish the hole when the starting bit breaks.