Newman - Mt Whaleback Mine

Tuesday 9^th August

We packed up the caravan and went down to the Visitors Centre ready for our Mine Tour.  After getting outfitted with Hard Hat, high visibility vests, and safety glasses, we boarded our bus and were driven up to a lookout in the mine. 

On the way we were filled with heaps of technological information about the mine, most of which went over our heads.

From the lookout we could see down into the bottom of the mine. The lookout was at the highest point of the mine, and that was 120 meters below the original height of the mountain. 

The mine is about 5½ km long, 2 km wide, and the present bottom working level of the mine is  about 400  meters below the original mountain top.  That’s a bloody big hole in anyone’s language.

The mine never stops operating, and on any one 12 hour shift, they have thirteen 190-tonne haulpaks, and forty three 240 tonne haulpaks, working in the mine.  Some are carting the raw Ore to the crushers, while others are shifting waste materials to the edge of the mine.  The whole mine is run from a central control room, with the aid of GPS systems. 

Using this system, every machine in the mine can be tracked to within 10 cm of its position.  They even know the amount of ore each machine is carrying, its fuel consumption, and the intended destination of its load, speed, and mechanical condition of the engine.  If a machine develops a mechanical problem, the control room operator can detect it before the driver becomes aware of it, and the operator then directs the driver to take his machine to a maintenance station. 

In fact, every vehicle owned by the company, no matter whether it is operating in the mine, or elsewhere in the country, is monitored from this control room. Takes the saying ‘big brother is watching you’, to a whole new level doesn’t it?

I could fill you in on heaps of other mind (or is that Mine) boggling facts and figures, but at the end of the day, our lives will carry on regardless, and besides who needs it?  Let’s just say this is a huge operation.  If you want to get into the share market, I would say BHP Billiton would be a fairly safe bet.

After the tour we went into the shopping centre for some groceries, before heading back to the Auski Roadhouse.  As we pulled in to the shopping centre car park, wouldn’t you know it, there was the bloody Lanz Bulldog again.  Shit that thing gets round.

We then had a leisurely drive back to the Auski Roadhouse where we booked in for two more nights.

Just as we were settling down to have some tea, we got a visitor.  “Hi I’m your Census Officer”.  We knew that today was Australia’s Census Day, but didn’t expect it to involve us.  We tried to escape it by saying we were from NZ, but that didn’t help.  We were going to have to fill in the form whether we were Aussies or not. 

Some of the questions were really interesting, like, ‘Does the person ever need someone to help with, or be with them, for self care activities’, and ‘Does the person ever need someone to help with, or be with them for, body movement activities’.   It would appear that questions of this sort had been included to help the government gauge the future needs of its population.    Good thinking to help with future budgeting. 

That night Cameron and Christel made a delicious chocolate milk shake, part of Cameron’s technology school work.  Tomorrow we will explore the Karijini National Park.