| Author | Message | ||
     John Beech Prolific User Username: jbeech Post Number: 202 Registered: 10-2016 |
Vladimir, I recently read an article about NT mining towns. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-17/should-the-top-end-revive-traditional-mining-towns/8209294 Is FIFO your experience, as well, or do you live what's in effect, a company town? And are you in iron ore country, or something else? Finally, what's the predominant form of mining where you are, open pit, underground, strip? -- Cheers, | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 730 Registered: 2-2013 |
No I have only worked for contractors outside the mines who feed on the mines. Mines in Australia are bureaucratic bastions of lunacy IMO. They all deserve to go broke ASAP. There are all types of mines eg open cut underground and strip in Queensland. To get into a mine as an employee you have to get past a young human resources person who knows virtually nothing about your trade and simply asks questions from a list prepared by somebody who also know nothing about your trade. I knew a guy that came straight out of jail for stupidity and had an affair with a human resources girl and got hired very quickly. I once had to deal with a Canadian who was in charge of a big fleet of a 4wds at a mine. This guy did not have a bloody clue about mechanical things. Frankly, mines destroy small Queensland towns totally. They destroy local businesses. And they all leave a gigantic hole in the ground. Do I hate mines? You betcha ! | ||
| Robert Noel Reddington Grand Master Username: bob_uk Post Number: 1313 Registered: 5-2015 |
Mines are dangerous places easy to get killed fatally dead. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 2447 Registered: 4-2003 |
Conversely, I love mines of all types and I have been fortunate to visit many over the years thanks to my employment. I have been to the huge Pilbara open cut iron ore mines, the Kalgoorlie and Norseman underground mines in W.A., the Eloura mine in Cobar and virtually all the NSW underground coal mines in the Wollongong and Newcastle regions plus the Hunter Valley open cuts. Just mention the possibility of an underground visit and I am there complete with steel cap boots, reflective overalls, utility belt for cap lamp and self-rescuer and my helmet and hearing protection which is covered with priceless Atlas Copco reflective stickers from the 1980's [reflective stickers are worth their weight in gold underground if you want something done - one night I had to walk out of Nebo Colliery near Wollongong during a night shift as the mine shuttle train driver wouldn't do a one-off trip for me between shift changeovers unless I had stickers for him which I didn't as I had already given my stickers to the miners at the face who were testing a new roof bolter for Atlas Copco. Nebo was the last Illawarra mine to use underground pit ponies and they were wonderful to watch pulling props to collapse the roof during retreat mining where the coal pillars holding the roof up were extracted while the roof was supported with timber props which had ropes attached to them; when the pillar was removed, the horses would pull the props away in sequence and the roof would eventually collapse but not before making the characteristic noises that experienced miners would hear and know when the ground was about to give way and fall. The ponies spent 48 weeks a year underground in special stables and only came to the surface for 4 weeks during the annual mine holiday shutdown from Xmas to the end of January. The interesting thing was the horses preferred their life underground and it was never a problem getting them to go back after their surface holiday!]. Many will have opposing points of view regarding the values and consequences of mining activity however almost all of the privileges we enjoy in life involve products and services dependent on mining for their development, manufacture and distribution. However, you will get no argument from me regarding the importance of ethical and environmental considerations during mining activities; I never forget walking the streets in Kalgoorlie in 1980 and encountering unfenced open abandoned mineshafts adjacent to the footpath as the miners had no obligation to make safe the shafts and adjacent areas when mining ceased; they just walked away and left them for someone else to fix. Same thing at Wittenoom in the Pilbara region of W.A. where the asbestos tailings from the mine were just dumped on the ground and left exposed to be blown around by the wind. The asbestos-contaminated houses were left as bare frames with their roofs intact for some-one else [the local Council in this instance] to have the responsibility for the expensive remediation and disposal of the contaminated materials and ground [I understand this area is now restricted and public access is no longer permitted]. I still have a sample [stored in a safe container] of the Blue Asbestos ore from the mine, the raw asbestos has a powerful and hypnotic attraction that is highly irresistible and you cannot help but pick it up and closely examine it. It is as if the material knows it has lethal effects and does everything it can to attract potential victims. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 1153 Registered: 4-2016 |
David, When I worked for Eaton/Road Ranger I too had the sticker situation. I ended up having a pretty good variety of stickers made up for truckies and their kids. Everyone wanted an 18 speed Road ranger sticker for their truck or tool box. However none were reflective. Please bring your mesmerizing sample with you when next we meet please mate. I'd like to see it. | ||
| Chris Gillings Prolific User Username: chrisg Post Number: 105 Registered: 4-2001 |
I worked for a while in the coal-mining industry in the 'eighties and was bemused by the stickers-as-currency thing. My employer produced stickers for our products to give away and I still have some. They were mostly reflective stickers and I expect will be quite rare. My Stickers I never got to go underground but I did get out onto an open cut mine in the Hunter once. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 1156 Registered: 4-2016 |
Gents, This is a great thing. I never knew about the sticker currency. I guess that's why the guys in the Hunter were so keen on my Road Ranger stickers. Good selection there Chris. | ||
| Tony Taylor New User Username: ajt Post Number: 3 Registered: 12-2013 |
Re stickers As part of an "enemy force" tasked with testing the Aust. Army's abilities to defend mine assets around Emerald, QLD, in the 1980s, we contacted friends in advertising who made up copies of the stickers on the above ground mine vehicles. Placed on our hired 4wds we traveled far and wide through police/army roadblocks doing our job. They looked just like the mine company ones, apart from the weapons tucked away throughout the vehicles. Wouldn't happen now though. Still carless but hoping. | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 1157 Registered: 4-2016 |
Good story there Tony. How's the leg? | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 2448 Registered: 4-2003 |
Patrick, Just checked my Sydney storage for my mining kit without success so it is stored in my country storage shed with what is left of my mineral collection. The Blue Asbestos [Crocidolite] sample is there and I will bring it down next trip for you. The pull of the asbestos seams in the host rock does not occur with photos but it is a different situation in real life viewing. I was hoping my safety helmet was here in Sydney so I could photograph the stickers on it and this will also have to wait as well. The ABC did a documentary on Wittenoom some time ago and this is one of the more recent warning signs that were not there when I visited Wittenoom in 1980. I have some slides I took there and elsewhere in the Pilbara, I will get these out of storage, copy them as image files and post here as they may be of interest:  . | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 2449 Registered: 4-2003 |
Further to Robert Reddington's "Mines are dangerous places easy to get killed fatally dead"; the following links relating to the Wittenoom mine make interesting reading/viewing [I hope the 4 Corners video link is functional for our international members]: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-05/wittenoom-home-of-australian-asbestos-population-three/7793902 http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2011/08/08/3288499.htm If the direct link does not work, the programme is available in 2 clips [Clip 1 and Clip 2] on the ASO [Australian Screen] website operated by the National Film and Sound Archives which I understand is accessible internationally: http://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/four-corners-blue-death/clip1/ . | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 1158 Registered: 4-2016 |
Mate, Looking forward to seeing anything you have. | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 2450 Registered: 4-2003 |
Patrick, My time in the Pilbara was very fortunate as I was there to see the final months of the original Pilbara "Wild West" lifestyle before Woodside Petroleum started to move their employees and families to Karratha at the beginning of their North-West Shelf Project. I was also privileged to encounter the original "Red Dog" of movie fame at the Hammersley Iron 7 Mile Railway Workshop near Dampier not long before he died; the dog's smell referred to in the movie had to be experienced to be believed, he used to roll in the prolific road kill that had stewed for several days in the tropical sun. The movie was largely true to life but they didn't mention the fact Red Dog had a bank account at the Karratha Branch of the Bank of NSW that the Hammersley employees contributed to for payment of vet fees. The main fiction based on my knowledge was Red Dog being shot by the caravan park owner at the end of the movie; I was told Red Dog died after eating a dingo bait laced with poison after the baits were placed around Dampier and Karratha to reduce the dingo population as they were becoming a major nuisance. Within 12 months, the arrival of a large number of women and families in Karratha brought civilisation to what had been a "male only" hard-drinking and often violent lifestyle. I vividly remember sitting in the corner of the old Walkabout Hotel bar in Karratha on my first trip drinking my beer and trying to be inconspicuous so I did not get caught up in the frequent brawls between drunks who had nothing better to do than disagree and then fight to resolve who was right!! . | ||
| Vladimir Ivanovich Kirillov Grand Master Username: soviet Post Number: 738 Registered: 2-2013 |
All mining CEOs should be compelled to consume asbestos at breakfast with their eggs and bacon. Each should have a target sign at front and back. And should have a bounty large on their heads. A public stoning of them should be widely publicised. A detailed torture plan should be in effect. Adani and his brethren have sucked the government in. His mine will possibly destroy my historic ghost town. A female neighbour of mine can not work out which way to croak him but she is deadly, and not to be trifled with especially is she is holding a hammer. Last time she took a gun to a snake she put 20 rounds in it just to be sure. Even the conservative cow cockies want him to dissapear. The last time my town went crazy with 2000 people fist fighting the police were beaten up and down the road until they did not know which direction in which to flee. Miners or rather mine owners have made themselves really unpopular up my way. Even the Prime Minister would be given a smaller public flogging if he turned up. Mines built up the dreams of countless families in north Queensland and then pulled the rug from underneath them. Apart from that I do enjoy seeing powder monkeys blowing the blades off million dollar bulldozers. Good for the kiddies I say!! | ||
| David Gore Moderator Username: david_gore Post Number: 2460 Registered: 4-2003 |
Here are the stickers on my mine safety helmet as mentioned above:      My stock of stickers for mine give-aways was always carried between the elastomer safety cage for the head and the outer shell of the helmet. Patrick, Will bring the Blue Asbestos [Crocidolite] sample back with me for you to see when we next meet. However, here are some photos of my sample for anyone else who may be interested in this highly dangerous mineral - note the fibres which are the catalyst for mesothelioma if inhaled. The photos cannot capture the depth and magnetism of the blue asbestos:    . | ||
| Patrick Ryan Grand Master Username: patrick_r Post Number: 1198 Registered: 4-2016 |
David, That asbestos is just stunning. I have never seen anything like it before. |
