Rotary Drill

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The drill digs holes necessary for blasts. After the hole is drilled, it is filled with explosive slurry which is made on the IOCC compound from fertilizer and fuel oil. The amount to fill one blast hole is equal to the amount used to bomb the Walter P. Murrah building in the Oklahoma City bombing. There are from 100 to 200 blast holes ignited for each weekly blast.

To gain an idea of the size of this drill, the mast stands 150 feet (45¾ m) from ground level. IOCC has ordered new drills that will use water to eliminate some of the dust.

When it is -40°C (-40°F) you can break a tire tool over your knee like it was dried kindling. Therefore, when the weather is that cold, the metal cables of the shovels and drills break easily. So, you want to be a field mechanic? Since IOCC is a 24 hour operation, these have to be fixed on-site and as quickly as possible. It is quite a trick when you consider that during winter extreme cold conditions, wind chill temperatures reach -73°C (-100°F) or colder. Would you want to climb a 150 foot (45¾ m) mast during this type of extreme temperatures? Men that work outside in those temperatures work for about fifteen minutes then get to set in a pick-up truck to warm. The trick is not getting sweaty in the warmth and having your damp clothes freeze to your body when you return to the cold.

Luce Mine tends to dominate the landscape in the mine area since she is still above ground level. It's hard to believe that four years ago this mine seemed very distant from the other mines and now seems to dominate the landscape.