Exploring an Underground Mine (THE DEEPEST I’VE BEEN)
Register for the Dirt World Summit NOW! dirtworld.com/dirt-world-summit
In this episode of the Germany Series, Chase and I explored the depths of a potash mine where potassium is extracted to be used as fertilizer. (I mistakenly refer to it as a salt mine throughout the duration of the video. SILLY ME!) #mining #construction #germany
FOLLOW ME:
Instagram: / aaronwitt
LinkedIn: / aaronwitt
Facebook: / aaronwitt
TikTok: / aaron_witt
FOLLOW MY COMPANY: BUILDWITT
We have an APP: www.buildwitt.com/software/co...
Website: buildwitt.com/
Podcast: buildwitt.com/dirt-talk/
Instagram: / buildwitt
LinkedIn: / buildwitt
Facebook: / buildwitt
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:34 - Correcting My Mistakes
1:35 - Potash Mine Project Explanation
3:28 - Going 800 Meters Underground
5:05 - Explaining the Modification To Underground Loaders
6:59 - Marveling Over the 992K and 992G
10:53 - Showcasing How Dusty It Gets
12:22 - Exploring the Loader Production Area
13:51 - Drilling For the Sake of Mimicking the Earth
15:30 - Checking Out the Testing Area
16:22 - Mining Simulation
18:16 - Explaining How the Material Is Processed
19:25 - Caterpillar D10T
21:28 - Outro
Register for the Dirt World Summit NOW! dirtworld.com/dirt-world-summit
Does anyone else find it amusing that there are body lights for visibility, but the coveralls are essentially 0 vis salt camouflage?
They probably do it so they always look clean, if they chose a different color, they end up more or less white anyways ...
potash is actually called "Kalisalz" in german so thats probably why they referred to it as a salt mine, because "Salz" means salt
To expand upon this, according to google translate (I am not fluent in german), potassium in german is "kalium". as stated above, "salz" is salt. "kalisaltz" is a contraction meaning "potassium salt" (one of the common names for potassium sulfate, a.k.a. potash).
@@PicklesBrandt It's a salt in the chemistry sense, its just people always think of salt as sodium chloride/table salt but its just a compound with specific properties.
@@PicklesBrandt As someone who speaks German, you are correct. That is also where the K for the periodic table comes from, the official name for potassium
Aarons reaction to the air filters cracked me up. Great video. Super wicked operation
The air filters are quite expensive
They are mining for potash, which they will crush and screen to separate the potassium which is used as crop fertiliser, and a very good natural one it is. The by product is called rock salt, and is typically used to grit icey roads. They have such a large stockpile in preparation for winter.
They are vastly overproducing for usage. they add almost 7 million tons annually. I'm sure that's after you account for municipal usage. salt is heavy and you need to pay to transport and store it, so even if they give it away, there's just not the demand for it The only practical way would be to make it into a slurry and make a salt brine pipeline, but where's it going to go?
@@seldoon_nemar I’ve seen both happen, export for use on the road, and brine being pumped to sea.
Good job for repeating what he said like 90 seconds into the video. Lol
In Brazil we use it to make caustic soda and various other things like insulating tape
I don't mind the salt issue, but I have been in foreign countries and there always seems to be someone fluent in English everywhere I have gone. Maybe not in the general public, but any industrial setting I have ever been in, there was English being spoken. I cannot honestly believe that no one corrected the salt slip. Perhaps that they were all playing a joke on you and had a good laugh after you left. Great production as usual!
And the part about taking power station ash back down to store 😂
Or too nice to correct him?
Salt is not wrong, it is just a mix of ⅔ regular salt (sodium chloride) and ⅓ potassium salt (potassium chloride).
The company which runs the mine is called K+S wich is short for Kali und Salz. So salt is not wrong…
@@bigdick19 I work at their mine in Saskatchewan Canada. It's not underground though, they use solution to dilute the salt and suck it out of the ground.
That dressing room is so neat. Never seen suspended baskets like that allowing the floor to be clear for easy cleaning. So smart.
That's how you see it in almost all German mines
@@varox9587 that's impressive. Love the use of space. Wonder if we do it here in USA too. It's a good idea.
@@S4R1 we do
@@S4R1 Yes, very common in US coal mines. Though the bath houses are never that clean.
@@RC-mo8tl are you supposed to take a shower upon entrance/exit? I wish there was a video just on those rooms lol
Moral of the story............Never buy a dozer that has been painted.
This is why you don’t buy anything that’s been repainted. There trying to hide something.
Never buy a used dozer period. Some of them are well kept and some are beaten senseless and polished up before the auction
@@williambaldwin1707 Right... Says you that owns how much equipment?
@@ShainAndrews he’s right
Unless of course you buy it direct from the Military. Always low hours. Always serviced on time. All parts off the shelf OEM Seldom abused equipment.
The breathing "apparatus" also known as a self contained rescue device or self rescuer (scsr) Depending on what version is not oxygen but breathable air. Some units depending on the model use compressed oxygen while the more common units W65 Self-Rescuer uses oxidation Hopcalite® Catalyst to convert toxic carbon monoxide to non-toxic carbon dioxide. The self rescue breathing apparatus consists of an outer course-dust filter and an inner fine-dust filter to remove dust particles, the Hopcalite Catalyst, and a drying agent to protect the catalyst from moisture. The underground mining self rescuer exceeds NIOSH specified service-life requirements of 60 minutes against 1% carbon monoxide in air 25 ̊ C, 95% RH, at a continu- ous flow rate of 32 liters per minute.
Did you literally copy and paste that off of the website....?
Heads up, if you ever need to use one of these, the chemical reaction in here is VERY Exothermic. A LOT of heat is released as it works, enough that after about 20 mins, breathing will be painful. Like sucking in air from an oven. It will also taste like bitter dust, as you inhale microscopic bits of the catalyst. But it'll keep you alive!
It is surreal to me how watching this video can bring back all the creepy crawley feelings I get when I work at the 200ish foot deep stone quarry that I occasionally visit
Practical engineering has a great explainer video about those reinforcement tiebacks drilled into the ceiling. it would be cool if you linked to it! I think your viewers would get a lot out of it.
Cracking video.... best so far of this trip 😍😍 Aarron's bloopers and explaining of things are brilliant 😂😂
Hey Aaron you may be aware but in Mt. Morris, NY there is a very large rock salt mine run by the American Rock Salt Company. Would be pretty cool to see you there.
Potash is super corrosive, and calling it salt isn't too far from the truth. Thanks for the tour!
Growing up in Saskatchewan these mines are scattered everywhere and it just never gets old seeing them
I've worked in the manufacturing of wood products and I am amazed at the vision and innovation some people have to continually improve and compete in our world. Very fascinating. Thanks for your time and effort in producing this video.
Love the content I live in northern Idaho and in the forestry industry and wish you would do a video on the new Weller forestry equipment.
Underground Mining :- Such a great and interesting field to be covered. This reminds me of my days (mid 1980's) when I was working in the world's deepest Copper Mine at the time. Our main shaft was 2700m down to the sump. Then it further twist and twirl down to some mining points. This specific mine was then in the Gold Fields Mining Group - the Copper Mine was the OKIEP Copper Mine and the specific shaft was called Deep Ore. Now a few underground terminology corrections:- We call it a Hoist System and not a lift. At "Deep Ore" we had a single deck Hoist "Cage" as it is called. This "Cage" could take 90 men per single transfer and you are so right it move people at massive speeds (8 to 12m's per sec) up and down. On the surface you have a Hoist Room where a Hoist-operator is doing all the controls of lifting and lowering of workers and ore. The Gold Fields mines on the Gold Reef Belt here in South Africa our gold mines can reach depths of 5 to 7km's which is immensely deep. There you need sub vertical shafts with its own hoist rooms and hoist operators. Comming back to the loader machines. The side operating machines is called a Scooptram. Back then we used the Wagner (Sweden) and Eimco scoop-trams with the Deutz Diesel Air Cooled engines. Two of the Eimco's were V12's and certainly your butt will feel that engine's vibrations. Very very powerful machines. Today I believe the underground mines around here in South Africa are more into the more modern Sandvik brands of machines. (not sure if Wagner and Eimco still exist). As a standard underground mining health practice all diesel driven machines are equipped with Exhaust Catalytic Converter / Purifiers. This process “converts” the harmful gasses into water vapour and carbon dioxide (CO2) which is nontoxic to humans. (Browse this interesting scientific process) Oh our mine became redundant by turn of 2000. If I am correct some of the deepest opetating Underground Copper Mines today are to be found in Canada. Sorry for the long writing but it's such a great & interesting topic that's very least covered. So I just touch on a few pointers here. Hope someone will cover on Video these deep Gold Mines of South Africa. Thanks so much 🇿🇦🇿🇦
The moment I saw that it was 2700m deep I knew it was in SA. Interesting stuff you wrote. Theres a few deep mines in Canada now but not sure that deep in comparison. Northern Ontario has a few that go to 2.4 km and deeper.
I imagine the air filters on the loaders are big as Aaron, and changed at every coffee break. 😶🌫️ Awesome show. 👍👍
i think you did a spectacular job on this. i accidentally clicked on the video but i stayed and watched the whole thing and i don’t regret it i think you make a great reporter
where i am in canada almost all of our potash mines are actually solution mines, so we pump super heated water into the rock which melts the potash and turns it into a brine before we pump it back out. Its quite cool to see a conventional potash mine
Its fascinating down these Potash mines, I visited Boulby Potash Mine in '91 as part of our engineering apprenticeship and right to the active front. I think it was around 1400m deep and couldn't believe how hot it was down there. We also went to the Nuclear Power Station at Hartlepool onto the reactor floor, very eery.......
That dozer at that point in time had only been running for less then a year and a half. Crazy!! I remember coal dozers always looked good, they had a 12 year old dozer with many hours and remans at the mine in Wyoming I was it and it obviously showed it’s age a little bit but still looked new… crazy what salt does!
I used to work in ag retail as an applicator spreading potash fertilizer among many other things. Back in 2020 our location was selling potash for ~$400/Ton.
It's pretty interesting seeing the "Mindeswettermenge" written on the 992G, basically saying how much additional air they need to pump underground when it's running!
I have always wanted to go in one of the salt mines in southern Louisiana. Probably pretty similar to the Germany mine. Great video.
That tag system they use it actually quite common, at the summer camp I went to you got a tag when you passed your swim test and it was color coded based on proficiency (basically like “can swim enough to not die” and “can actually swim”), and when you went to swim they wouldn’t let you through the gate until you put your tag on the board. Same reason essentially, if anything were to happen while swimming they would be able to know if anyone is potentially still in the water and who
What a beautiful clean, organised mine!!...I'm in zimbabwe & work as an engineer on a mine here...no comparison! The Germans are super well organised!
Would have been good for you to explain the heat in different areas. The drifts are usually good with air flow but where they had the loaders was probably quite a bit hotter. I've been in parts of potash mines where it's 30-40°C, dusty and no air movement. Also tools and equipment or anything metal that goes underground will look brand new until it comes back to the surface and then will stsrt to rust out immediately
The amount of infrastructure in that mine 800m below the surface is mind blowing, looks like your just inside a concrete building or something. Really cool operation
well then you should look at mines that are 5,290m deep it a complete city down there, with lunch room, mechines shops, and pumping stations. and yes that the deppest man has ever been. Kloof 4 shaft now called tat tona (rand mining)
That performance of being the salt was so convincing, better than most of the method actors in the world.
So I was watching your video and noticed the Ralph Wadsworth Sticker on your fridge . That’s pretty awesome I work them as a carpenter out in Utah love videos 🤙
Neat video! The “master” key (battery key) is usually a tight fit, and you’d have to turn it off to pull it out. They lock in when “on” 😊
Incredible!! Everything gets dissembled sent down small elevator and rebuilt👎🏻🤯. And state of the art - dang!!
Coolest video yet, thanks for bringing that to us.
I worked there myself. the sheap on the salt mountain doesn't really belong there, it ran away from the owner several times and kept going to the salt mountain so that the shepherd eventually stopped fetching it. since then the sheap lives on the salt mountain.
Nice video, as always !
I worked in a shop under ground at 1262 meter we also have a ramp that you can drive all the way down and a 2 floor cage we mined ore for copper zinc and pretty much what ever we can find sadly it closed but might open in a few years again
Mines will never not be interesting, loved this video
When learning English fails... Double negative much?
Nice to See you at K+S. Thats an amazing mine in Germany Greetz from North Germany
Love watching your videos, from Finning (CAT) in Saskatchewan Canada
Wow thats deep In germany. What a operation for Fertilizer. Man thats a lot of salt being Extracted.
Ive been in the Merkers K+S Kali salt mine before which has a public visitor tour programm in a less active part of the mine. Its pretty cool, ngl.
This is way different then the potash mines where I'm at in Canada but it's neat seeing how they do it in Germany
What a great traing Machine. To teach how a loader feels, even in the seat!!!!. How can you beat that for training???.
At 15, I went down a coal mine in (then) west Germany. Just an inbelievable experience! Reminded me how, with just a squidge of earth movement, I could have been scrubbed off earth. Humbling.
Just out of curiosity, do you now where it was or the name? :D
I am in Ontario Canada and work underground. It’s 5200 feet deep.. we can drive down it’s a 15 kilometres drive to the bottom...
We've got a salt mine here in Kanopolis ks and it has this equipment underground.
Awesome video, thank you!!
they have old mines that are the size of citites and they are currently using those and converting them into underground bases/ shelters. if you look it up youll see that there are MASSIVE ones that go for hundreds of miles underground. Crazy
Ive built buckets like that with runners the biggest loader ive welded on is 980g and 980ks
"Oh yeah, I'm really salty!" - followed by the Austin Powers meme had me in stitches! Now my belly hurts from all that laughing... 😂😂😁😂😂
What a great idea having the hanging clothes bags instead of lockers ,great upload indeed.
Dang that is awesome!
Cargill has a salt mine in Cleveland they sell all the salt they mine. So I'd have to believe that the salt here is rich in Potassium and the salt must be of poor quality and not fit for Human consumption or use on roadways. Why they aren't using it to fill the abandon mine shafts I don't know. I understand they're filling some with ash from power plants but.... I suppose it's more cost effective that way. Good video at any rate Aaron. Thanks for the journey!
Great video . Great humility in the “salt “ error 😂 typical German efficiency in the operation 👍
Hey I'm only just came across your channel so I'm not sure if you only do mines, but if not I was wondering if you've ever been to Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada? It's the largest reservoir of crude bitumen oil in the world, a massive oil sands. It's a huge operation there with some incredibly massive machinery, it dwarfs that bucket you were standing in. Anyways just figured I'd mention it in case you didn't know, it's worth checking out.
Kinda new to your channel. I'm digging your groove. Thumbs up, subscribed... Yup.
Should try and get a tour of the salt mine in Goderich Ontario Canada. Biggest salt mine in the world
So clean! 😳
Aaron you have the coolest job in the world!
Glück auf⛏️
The frikin anchors in the ceiling had me puckering still I don’t care how safe it is that’s crazy
17:37 that's one hell of a simulator 👀😆
that was awesome
The size of that mound of material is shocking to think it is just a portion that was taken out from the mine.
The cyclinder seals on that t2 must get changed so often😅
Great video. Salt? Lol. Broat approved potassium mine.
Go to the salt mine in utah. Redmond salt
Its a shame that our last Coalmine closed in 2018 in Bottrop, Germany. I would have worked there too like my grandpa and my uncle but the end was inevitable The deepest they have been is 1253 meter and started around 1850 or something. That would have been a cool video aswell. But they started filling it up in 2020
Prosper Haniel was 1253m deep at its deepest point and RAG Anthrazit Ibbenbüren the other mine, that was closed in 2018 was 1575m at its deepest.
There a place here in the United States called West Virginia. Upon passing through a few times traveling, from an outsider looking in, be happy your not a coal miner. Looks like an extremely depressing existence. At least, from what I’ve witnessed in W. Virginia.
@@Bdigital9482 here in germany coal miner wasn't really a bad job but still pretty hard, but you got to retire like 10 years before other people with full payment. I know many people who used to work in the coal mine close to me and they liked it very much. I think working in germany is better overall from what I hear, so it doesn't surprise me, that miner is a bad job in the US and a good job in germany.
@@jonasbrock3959 Most of the coal mining in West Virginia was done in "company towns" from what I recall, where the mining company builds a mine, a town, and a railroad link in the middle of the mountains (cause that's where the coal was), so everything is owned by the mining company. I think it's a lot better now, but back in the early 1900's there were a lot of strikes, violence, and general complaints.
What blows my mind is the fact there is no respiratory equipment, being in a confined space like a mine with that much dust.
Seriously though, initially thought the air device he held up was going to be a hepa belt mounted filter like some welders etc use not just a 1hr emergency air supply
For freaking real
@@snafu_vfx8662exactly!
I can feel my blood pressure rising through the salt on the screen.
Shoutout to the guys who have to strip that D10 down... must be a real bad week when a salty one rolls in
Also those anchors all together are worth 20.3 million bucks freaking crazy
when you said underground, you meant UNDERGROUND! Wow. just amazing.
Those low profile machines remind me of ants! Haha! I’m amazed that they have those two loaders down there. Do you think they’ll leave them down there? Ifff things were to ever shut down.
How many miles of tunnel are down there? And is there a pressure change going underground?
Wow, thats so interesting.
I want to see how fresh air is delivered 800 meters underground.
BIG fans.
Vacuum brother. Fan circulate it.
What’s wild to me is that those dozers will not ever see the light of day again
Great video
Very cool experience
👍 Very entertaining thank you
So what do they eventually do with the byproduct?
I’ve learned you can’t say I’ve never seen anything like this while sitting there looking at said thing lol
Amazing😁😁
at 15:50 thats essentially the core-idor of the mine
14:40 Rock is really good at redistributing force and making arches or circles, which is where the pillars come in. But as you can imagine, equipment doesn’t work too well in a circular tunnel. The majority of the rock doesn’t really mind our square tunnels and still redistributes forces as though it was an arch, which only becomes a problem when the area not included in the arch is made of incompetent material and cannot support itself. Roof bolts are just to support that first few meters or so of material, either to keep as skin support to keep the weak first layer of roof from collapsing, to suspend multiple layers of weak rock from a more competent layer of rock, or to squeeze multiple layers into a much stronger “beam” to then support weaker rock above the beam. With how short they are and how they were lacking a face plate, they were probably used for beam building. If you ignore the fact this image is upside down, this makes a great illustration of the different uses of a roof bolt: www.researchgate.net/figure/Roof-support-mechanisms-A-simple-skin-support-B-suspension-C-beam-building-D_fig1_266347284
I'm really curious how they don't have an issue with the dust becoming explosive like a grain silo or coal dust. I was terrible with chemistry but potash is potassium chloride IIRC...?
Smoking is banned in these tunnels
This particular dust isn't flammable or explosive
Explosion hazard is mostly a thing in coal mines. Not only do you have potentially dangerous coal dust there, but methan leaks can also happen.
19:25 And the black sheep is the boss from the company ^^
it's cool. hard to believe you went all the way to Germany and didn't know it was a potash operation?
Hey when your in germany come to Leipzig we have some big coal mines👍
good vid dood!!!
Those loader tires must be that new airless type shit.. otherwise I'd reallllly hate to be the crew that does a repair/new one on those.
So beautiful
Good one
have lots of potash mines where i live
As a retired operator,this was a great video. But honestly, I've only been as deep as God has blessed me with.
That dozer just looks like everything in NY. Welcome to the northeast.
Bruh I have been down 6500 for a cage drop at full speed to 7200 feet underground in sudbury i think we are at 10k now but idk only been there a few times