The Mascot Mine above Hedley, BC, has a treat in store for visitors. The Upper Similkameen Indian Band had an opportunity to implement the Snaz’ist Project recommendations developed by Aldrich Pears Associates.

ConeHouse was engaged to provide a key interpretive element for the 2005 tourist season—a chance for visitors to immerse themselves in the belly of a gold mining operation. ConeHouse designed, supplied and installed sound and light effects inside the main tunnel. The objective was to create a sense of miners working in the Mascot Gold Mine.

As visitors enter the tunnel, they are absorbed by the darkness and take a moment to adjust their eyes to the space—much like the miners would have done day after day. The air around them is immediately cool and moist.

The visitors, equipped with hardhats and headlamps, walk down a 200m tunnel to a standup “theatre” space at the junction of 3 tunnels. One of the tunnels, approximately 90 degrees to the left, forms part of the “stage,” as does the tunnel continuing ahead. A 5-minute sound and light show is triggered by the guide. The story, without narrative, takes place just before the end of an imaginary shift. After the visitors are asked to turn their headlamps off, a brief burst of fog is released to simulate dust. Almost immediately, headlamps are seen straight ahead, as if miners were working 15–20m away, their lamps lighting the floor and walls through the “dust” while indistinct conversation is heard. Programmed intelligent moving heads are used in conjunction with multiple oscillating lights to create the illusion of headlamps.

To the sound of air pressure building and escaping, a spotlight lights up a drill. Suddenly, loud drilling sounds are heard in the tunnel straight ahead. Dust, as fog, rushes down the tunnel. The sound effects are moving, with a 4m Bose Cannon delivering bass notes that are felt as much as heard. Scaling and mucking sounds follow. An ore cart sounds like it is traveling toward the visitors and through the “theatre” using 4 speakers spanning 30m. As it passes, spots light up an existing ore cart in the tunnel to the left. A creaking door opens out of view and simulated daylight illuminates a tunnel wall. Visitors hear ore being dumped from the cart down the side of the mountain. The doors close one after the other, the tunnel re-darkens and the cart seems to be moving back toward the visitors. The lights on the real cart dim as the sounds pass and the ore cart continues back to the drilling area. More voices are heard as workers continue mucking before they put their tools down and start walking toward the theatre area again. The shift has ended without a signal, as it would have. As they approach, we hear them chat about the end of the shift and laughter creates a sense of optimism on arrival in the theatre space. It’s quiet again as we hear five distant knocks, indicating a pending blast in an adjacent tunnel. Five knocks from the theatre area answer that it is clear to go. We hear a familiar warning call, “Fire in the hole!” and a startling series of blasts echoing down the tunnel. An interesting part of the audio research and design process revealed that the tunnel itself rang in the key of E major. Another very subtle sound is produced by the tunnel—a deep echo repeating three times per second. These characteristics were layered into the sound of drilling and blasting captured in the tunnel to take advantage of inherent resonance, as if the system plays the mine like a didgeridoo. The final control system includes 3 Bose amplifiers, 5 Bose speakers, Martin Lightcorder DMX lighting controller and solid-state Akman MP3 playback units all contained in water-resistant cases with built-in environmental controls to manage unpowered cold condensation or excess heat. The mine has very dark walls, so the technology in the mine is fairly transparent, leading one visitor to speculate that holography must be used to create the effects.

ConeHouse installed the sound and light elements of the tour while tours continued. Programmer and installer Michael Gove noted, “It was exciting to be able to witness peoples’ reactions to the show. They applauded!” Apparently, after every five-minute show in a dark, cold mine, just about every tour group responds the same way.