Day 2: Off to the Tanzanite Mines

Day 2 in Tanzania (See Day 1). After waking up from a much needed night's sleep, Matt Bigelow (professional photographer and family friend) and Steve Moriarty set off to visit the Tanzanite mines in Tanzania today. Steve has visited plenty of mines in Tanzania over the past 10 years, but still gets excited every time he gets to visit a new mine.

FIRST STOP...EXPLOSIVES

Yes...visiting the mines today, Steve and Matt needed to pick up explosives, and of course, the paperwork to allow them to use the explosives in Tanzania. Before they set off to the mines, they stopped off for some supplies, snacks and water.

The mines that Steve and Matt were going to visit today were only about 1-2 hours from where they were staying in Arusha, Tanzania, so they decided to take a scenic route so Matt could take pictures. This scenic route was one of the worst rodes they have ever been on, but the pictures Matt was able to take were worth it.

On the way to the Tanzanite mines, Steve and Matt ran across some miners hanging out by the mines and sifting through "dump" piles. What are dump piles? These are basically the extra material that was excavated from the Tanzanite mines. It garbage to the mining companies, but you can still find Tanzanite if you sift through these "dump" piles. Matt wanted to take some pictures of these miners, so they stopped and did a few photo shoots...Steve even got into the action and did some "dump" pile sifting.

ON TO THE TANZANITE MINES

When the pictures were finished, Steve and Matt moved on and finally arrived at the Tanzanite mines in Tanzania. When using explosives for the mines, there are a few things that need to be done. They set up the fuse, the charge and the explosives. They were all ready to blow the mine, but then the power went out. This is very common in Tanzania...power outages. Because of the outage, it was not safe to detonate the explosives and go into the mine. While waiting for the power to come back on, Steve, Matt and their new friends decided to eat and take some pictures.

NO POWER...LET'S GO!

Because it was getting dark, and there was really no sign of the power coming back that day, Steve and Matt decided to at least head down a little into the mines to get to see them. Only armed with a lamp, a cable and ladders here and there, they both headed into the mines with the local miners. It was dark and damp...and the minerals in the mines glistened when the light touched them. What an experience.

It's hard to really tell how dark it was down in the mines. There was absolutely no natural light. At one point they turned off the lamps and it was pitch black...no light at all. Very scary! See that little tiny hole there, that's the entrance. Really shows how far they traveled into the mines.

When they came back up from the mine, they decided to see what the miners had gotten from the day at the mine. Wasn't much, but still exciting to see what was pulled from the mine by the few miners that were there.