this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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Work at an underground mine, and the answer is yes. The hoist is operated by a person that has manual control of the cage and there is a cage tender that uses a belling system to tell the hoist operator what to do. The people hoist at mine is 3 tiers, but somewhere around 10-14 feet height of standing room for each tier and with full doors so you can't fall out.
How deep is the mine you work at and how long does it take the elevator to go up and down?
I think the bottom station is around 6400 feet, I've only gotten off around 5000 feet but that's about 2-3 minutes down and probably 4 up. It's fast enough down that my ears don't adjust on their own and I have to manually pop my ears about 2-3 times on the way.
Scary stuff, whatever you're mining, thanks. I couldn't do it.
No praise needed, it's gold and I'm not doing the hard work. I'm in a support role and work on surface. But thank you anyways!
Yes, fellow surface-dweller, I see. I've been in a few caves and didn't like the experience. Maybe man-made tunnels are different but I ain't gonna go find out.
Fresh heading? Gotta scale that to get rid of loose rocks and beware moving machinery. Established area? Already scaled, metal screening installed, and possibly shotcrete added which makes it pretty safe. There's offices down there, with AC and whatnot. Just no plumbing in the traditional sense. It's pretty neat, but I definitely still prefer surface.