Hey Guys, we have all noticed the strong rush of cold air coming from the hibernia mine adit.

But does anyone know the source of the air that is circulating through the mine? Obvisouly it has to be drawn from one end to go out the other, so where is it being pulled from?

This is tough to say. There are a few large mines I've visited with the same effect and no other obvious entry points. There are in fact other air canals to the Hibernia Mine and it is far larger than most people think. By sealing the mine as they did, prevents the mine from reaching its full potential as a bat hibernaculum. I still wonder how many bats are dead due to the reclaimation that nobody is talking about...

Miner Mike

I still wonder how many bats are dead due to the reclaimation that nobody is talking about...

Miner Mike,

What do you mean? Please exsplain, thanks.

Miner Bond

The closure work that has been done at Hibernia over the years has sealed off MOST of the Hibernia Mine. What most people think of as the "Hibernia Mine" is in actuality just the haulage tunnel plus a couple small voids for bats. Even the tunnel is blocked a distance in and prior to reaching massive workings offering much more hibernation potential. It would be absurd to assume an effort was made to be sure there no bats were trapped in the many levels and stopes of the mine when the shafts were blasted and bulldozed in during the 70's and 80's. Remember, even the adit was concrete capped to the ceiling for quite some time before anything was done to "save the bats" and was also during this time, the ONLY way in. The bats were either entombed or blocked out of their home. There are numerous dry large stopes in the mine and tunnels above the water table no longer accessible to even bats.

Miner Mike

I was just there again for the 2nd time this week I must say, I have never seen any bats around there... someday I'm going to make it a point to sit on the watch bench thinger for an evening and see who goes in and out. There's mad amounts of bat droppins everywhere all over the grate and rocks near the entrance so there has to be some at least...

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"Gir, your waffles have sickened me... fetch me the bucket!"

I usually see the bats zooming in and out of the mine closer to dusk but only occasionally during the daytime. There have been many times when I have been in front of the adit for a while and not seen any bats at all. We always respect our fellow winged friends if we happen to see them in a mine.

Miner Mike

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

"Fellow winged friends" ...? So this means you admit to having wings?! This I would like to see!

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"Gir, your waffles have sickened me... fetch me the bucket!"

Hibernia thoughts?
I know for a fact that miner mike has wings like a bat! How else do you explain the descending without any rope? I have seen it right before my eyes. Half miner half bat. Where is Batman these days anyway?

Miner Bond

Speaking of bats, we saved a bat's life once at the Hibernia Mine. We were checking out the entrance, then we here some bat squeals... Looking around at the entrance, we saw this bad hanging by it's wing on a pricker bush. The pricker was through the wing, so the bat was just flopping around. I was thinking about touching it, but you know how bat people scare everyone with these rabies stories, so we decided to try to use a stick to free the bat. We managed get the wing out of the pricker, than the bat flew away. It was a brown bat, one of the most common bats in this area. So thanks to our mining, we saved a bat!

No, I don't have wings, just a jetpack... Yes Miner Greg, we've probably saved more bats than most people.

Miner Mike

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

... I know I weight more than you... but do you think that thing would hold 2 people? ... or maybe I should just borrow it... I would LOVE to fly, haha. How cool would that be to use in a mine!!!! At a low speed of course...

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"Gir, your waffles have sickened me... fetch me the bucket!"

I'm glad that Greg and Mike saved the bat friend of mine. True bat heros! Looking forward to seeing more bat stories written like that one by Greg and Mike. Jetpacks? Batman doesn’t use jetpacks!

Mike,

Has it been awhile since your last visit to the Hibernia mine. Anything look different? How many bats have you counted? Thanks

BATMAN

The thing that seems to change the most there is the amount of crumbling rock from the 1989 blasting of the adit. If they really intended to cave the adit (as they did), they should have completed the mission, not left blasted rock there that continues to fall. I think I only saw one bat flying around when I last visited a couple weeks ago.

Miner Mike

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the update and I couldn't agree with you more that they should have finished the job. Well, I'm glad they didn't because at least you can still visit the area to see the adit. See ya on the next visit.

Miner Bond

Ok so how do i get to check out the bats too? Seems like im err in the dark here..