Lake E Daily News, Saturday, 18 April, 2009
Its common to see tourist posters in this part of the world that read "Chukotka -- the land where day breaks!", with reference to our immediate vicinity just west of the international dateline. But today at Lake E we got two big breaks of another kind.
First, the drilling and science crews worked all day to break free the drill rig from the lake ice and spillage around the rig. This was our first attempt to see if the rig could be hydraulically jacked up a few centimeters in such a way that we could eventually move the rig as one unit using a bulldozer, after we finish the bedrock sequence in hole 1 C. The group worked all day in tight spots under the rig chipping away at the ice on the runners, using the jack to progressively lift each corner and shove pieces of plywood under the runners. It worked well and is now 3/4ths complete. The entire periphery of the rig was lifted today and tomorrow they will finish the central portions of the inner sets of runners. Even the few skeptics among us are now very optimistic. The plan is to put sections of dented HQ pipe under the runners and roll the rig on the pipe with one dozer to the new position some 10m from the old hole. The successful jack-up test today means that we should be able to move the rig easily, and in the shortest amount of time to start drilling hole 1D and replicate the sediment section below -150m after the breccia section is complete.
Our second break was totally unexpected. Chico Perales (CPS) and Doug Schnurrenburger (DOSECC) now both in Pevek, have managed to acquire 6 of the desperately needed hard rock lifter cases we need from Kinross Mining Co. This is the same outfit who sold us 8 tons of mud (now only 90 kms away waiting for assistance through the snow) and also allowed us to twice borrow a water pump. So we are now really in debit to them and huge thank yous will be forthcoming. The plan now is to see if we can get a helicopter flight out from Pevek to the lake on short notice on Monday after Doug et al pick up the parts....its worth a shot. After all, Doug is motivated because he left money and 2 of his personal credit cards under his camp bed! He flies to Moscow and on to the States on Tuesday. Getting the lifters on Monday or Tuesday buys us back 3-4 days of precious drilling time.
Also today, Jerry and Joey made repairs to the drill head and got the second Frost Fighter working again. The entire rig on the inside was cleaned and organized. Jerry even polished the rig control panel.
Never a dull moment around here..... Julie BG
