The following is a set of images and specific stories involving the pictured individuals of C-crew. These are the crew that I am and was happy to work with during my initial tenure as a longhole driller with Boart Longyear's PDS drilling division starting in 2017 until later 2018. In 2019 I would return to C-crew and resume my work with most of these men. C-crew's faces have all but changed entirely since that initial starting period, with only a few of the faces still present on that crew today. This remains part of an ongoing project to document and explore Canada's mining industry.
Chris Lang, or otherwise known as Big C, was my primary mentor throughout my first year as a longhole driller. It's difficult to describe a specific experience with Big C due to the sheer amount of them, most of them being boring, run-of-the-mill activities at various drill sites. I can, however, ascribe most of my knowledge and training in daily operations to Chris.
Eric "Charley boy" Charlebois started in the PDS division at around the same time that I did. Much younger that I am, and much more experienced underground due to his previous experience in the coring division of Boart Longyear. We would bicker constantly whether or not he was training me any time we worked together, which was both frustrating and hilarious at the same time.
Aaron "A-Aron" Hisey had knowledge of basically anything underground despite his young age. Serving as his rod handler while drilling an inverse raise, Aaron hit a pocket of water drenching me for the next 3 days while I placed and removed rods for him. He gave me his oilers, and they helped, but only a little. I still came to surface every day drenched and cold, as it happens.
Kyle Tindale had been working various drill rigs from surface coring to underground PDS for who knows how long, and maintained an expansive knowledge of drilling. Kyle was the first person I was paired with to go underground, and throughout my time spent with him I would consistently learn new techniques and ideas just by proximity and his willingness to spend time helping me understand an industry totally alien to me.
Phil Heath was a consistent source of self-esteem and Newfoundlandish wisdom in a demanding profession. Phil would consistently reassure me and others (I assume) of our abilities, allowing me to work with drills far in advance larger and more advanced if he felt I was capable of working with it.
Karol Krolczyk has spent the better part of 2019 and ongoing into 2020 trying to break my spirit. It hasn't worked, and it won't. Despite such things, Karol was the first to show me how to load a drop raise with explosives, and we specifically enjoy setting up bar and arm drills.
Pete Corcoran always ran the bigger, far more intimidating drills that a new guy like me was too inexperienced to do much with other than lift rods. On the rare breaks where we actually worked together we had the experience of watching a slab of loose the size of a small office building peel off a blasted raise, shaking the ground and sending enough dust into the air to have us retreat out of the heading.
Roger Boulet was the first one I entered a new mine with. As the Cochenour mine was being revamped we had the opportunity to build a drill together in late 2018, which was a new experience for me alongside the novelty of entering a different mine than the Campbell and Balmer complexes I had been to before.
Robert Crawford maintained, by far, the most experience of anyone else on the team due to sheer amount of time spent underground. Bob was a consistent source of un-thought-of information and I spent a great deal of time learning some of the ins-and-outs of ITH drilling during my first year underground with Bob.
