RSVP Blog

Posted by: leowoman at August 29, 2008 10:27 PM

the differences between the miners are that underground miners cannot be suffering from clostophobia, you will need to have a certificate giving you clearance from that. the mines rescue is also somewhat different, also underground miners needs to know about the dangers of certain gases that could be potential killers.

Once a year they are required to undergo medical fitness testing to be working underground. My ex father in law worked in the underground mines for many years until he was hospitalised due to the roof collapsing ( while underground) on him, that's another hazard underground miners face.

Posted by: eek990 at September 9, 2008 1:23 AM

the industry being sexist??? I think the woman needs to be prepared to be treated as one of the boys ( so I have been told) in order to survive in the industry. Lots of swearing and cursing and it wouldn't be a good thing for a female to tell them to tone it down lol.

I know that even the clerical workers in the mining industry are paid the bonuses that the miners get. Not a bad place to be in I guess, if that's the kind of work you want to do, very difficult to get into...it's a case of who you know, not what you know.

Posted by: sonny51 at October 31, 2008 5:48 PM

Where have all the Miners gone.... Long time passing... Where have all the miners gone... Long long time ago...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at October 25, 2008 9:24 AM

Miners... rock...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at September 23, 2008 9:49 PM

My first little point is in reguards to the title of this blog, 'Miner Misconceptions: Mining Men' because I am a young woman who is studying to break into the mining industry and it just seems a little ... sexist for the want of a better word. (not that I'm this raging feminist or anythig, but women need a bit of recognition also.

Also just adding that I am studying to do a double degree as and Electrical Engineer/ Business. I would like to do project management in the Central Queensland mining industry.

Posted by: eek990 at September 9, 2008 1:23 AM

please some how contact me please mrs B and I shall too meet the man of many words and wisdom

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Amour AKA Karleene xxxxx

Posted by: amourmoi08 at September 4, 2008 4:40 PM

How lovely for you B, what fabulous news- I hope it all works out wonderfully!

Posted by: willow29 at September 1, 2008 1:48 PM

Oldergent has asked me to say hello and pass on his best wishes...he is busy preparing to go to China for a 9 month teaching position...adventure before dementia, he calls it! I will get to meet him before he leaves, that will be a hoot!
My profile is hidden now as I am in love...:-)
Cheers,
B.

Posted by: bm1960 at September 1, 2008 1:26 PM

Posted by: dvj2008 at August 29, 2008 11:08 PM OMG I am looking on line for a job as we speak for those nice jobs and people ;-)

Hey a big "we miss OG" hello and I miss reading all his funny ways. Now there is a diamond in the rough of us.

Hope he is happy and found a good person to share his happiness with...

ps would it be possible that we could have one final encore from him????????/please, please please, please???????/xx

Peace out xxxx

Posted by: amourmoi08 at August 30, 2008 8:32 AM

Posted by: leowoman at August 29, 2008 10:27 PM - That sort of thing is a bit like saying "my footy team is better than your footy team". Both probably have unique skills, by they are also both good, if you know what I mean.

In the early days, I guess underground mining involved a lot more manual work like 'leg-drills' etc. and was inherently more dangerous due to it's very nature, whereas above-ground open-cut mining employed more use of machines. It just wasn't feasible to get big things town tiny shafts, and by she same token above ground, why use a wheel barrow when you can use a truck?

And in the really early-days, just about everything was done with a pick, shovel, and sledge before the advent of dynamite. To this day, some of the 'blood diamond' mines etc. in third world countries still employ slave labour and everything is done the hard way, above ground or not.

Today, the modern underground mine can represent a subterranean freeway - huge tunnels with those same big machines you see above ground thundering around.

I think you're always going to hear those "I'm real, you're not" kind of stories, but at the end of the day, anything to do with mining is usually hard yakka. Even amongst the underground miners, there'll be those that say that working in a 2 1/2ft crawl-space scratching out coal is 'real mining' compared to driving a mucker up to a coal face. Fortunately, a lot of that has changed.

Now I'm sure there's going to be people out there that might give me a broadside and say "Nup - we're the *real* miners here". In my opinion, they're ALL miners, and have my utmost respect.

Posted by: dvj2008 at August 29, 2008 11:08 PM - I know your Major has been taken out of context. I'm sure he meant well, but the media have twisted things around to give the whole thing a real sexist twist. And you know what? If it works, and more women venture up your way to even the numbers up a bit, then good on him. I'm sure there was no malice intended in what he said. The 'precious' ones it affected wouldn't have been going up there anyway...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 30, 2008 8:28 AM

Re the fuss about the Mayor encouraging girls to head for the mines. Don't know what the fuss is all about. Pretty darn good advice for some women .My ex ( who incidentally was a 10 and in great demand in Brisbane) heard similar stories about the Central Queensland Mines. Needing a bit of respiter from the hordes of doctors, solicitors and similar "snivelling gentry" (according to her) she packed her beauty case, armed herself with a few skimpies over her number one super quality birthday suit and strutted herself around the local centres of industry and waterholes . Married the mine Explosives Manager first time and when that ran out of steam she teamed up with the Mine Manager, Don't know about her being happy but from last report she sounds to be living pretty comfortably and kept in a lifestyle she's pretty content with. There's more than coal and ore in the country girls .. some is pure gold.. depends what you're looking for and how keen UR to find it. Guess the guys need to also show immediately how much imported merchandise is valued and secured before others make the winning bid . Seems like Mt Isa could be a good place for any girl to be, Her outcome and income may well depend on input, inteeligence and interest created which is just as relevant even if the numbers are not so favourable.. Take care Live for today tomorrow is never guaranteed Terry

Posted by: datelessnotdesperat at August 30, 2008 5:09 AM

Theres a slight rage against comments made by Mt Isa mayor, WELL ok it zipped around the world lightning speed, that mt isa needed woman, any type of woman.

The funny thing is, one of the mayors daughters married and had a child with one of my very close mates, now if my mate had more choice, he may never have married the mayors daughter. A whole blood line might of been lost. Dangerous ground being played.

As for myself I grew up in mount Isa where the female to male raito from ages 18-35, were I was led to believe was always 10 to 1. And I did alright. Ok, most of my girlfriends were nurses or teachers as this was the only influx of woman coming into the town.

Mount Isa is like a very large industrial estate in brisbane thats be placed out in the middle of no where and the average wage is double the national average.

theres, good, bad and ugly anywhere.

Posted by: dvj2008 at August 29, 2008 11:08 PM

I have been around mining areas for a number of years, primarily open cut or surface. However I am now having contact with underground miners who claim to be "the real miners". Is this a widely held view?

Posted by: leowoman at August 29, 2008 10:27 PM

BM, pass on to Oldergent that l enjoyed his posts, his ocassional jousts and his humor....thanks..................K

Posted by: auntykaz at August 29, 2008 10:03 PM

Posted by: missright33 at August 24, 2008 9:35 AM - LoL. That SO reminds me of Larry Laffer - of Leisure Suit Larry fame, the old PC game... :)

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 29, 2008 8:14 PM

Hi Everyone, I just read some of your comments and you all sound great. I live in Melb & don't know much about mining communties. I'm single & looking for love, now it seems maybe in the wrong places?

Posted by: missright33 at August 24, 2008 9:35 AM

Hi to all the hardworking people in the mines! Watching the coaltrains pass through here reminds me that you are all working out there somewhere. Take care....and good luck in finding love!!

Posted by: lovelylady1963 at August 24, 2008 9:24 AM

I'm quite happy working in a mining community as an IT based person. Everyone is easy going and friendly. Hell, I've been here for 8 years now, so I must like it :D

Posted by: ddnewcy at August 21, 2008 9:55 AM

OG is as happy as Larry and chuffed that some of you have asked after him and he sends his regards. He is busy being OG and has me in stitches with some of his comments in his emails....I reckon he is too busy being OG to find time to write about being OG when he was a Young G....:-)
Cheers,
B.

Posted by: bm1960 at August 19, 2008 10:14 PM

Hey all.... it seems OG is too busy out there living the next chapter in his book to find the time to start writing! he has had me in stitches in how he relates his stories to me. He is touched that he is remembered on here, but I can't repeat everything he has said cos some is somewhat un-pc...as it would be..:-) I must say, it was not offensive or discriminatory, but would be judged un-pc by many...to me, he is just expressing himself in a way he was able to do so for most of his life. Then again, I work in a world where I have to navigate between the corporate way of life but interface with the older generation who were not exposed to the PC brigade.
Live and let live....works for me.
Cheers,
B.

Posted by: bm1960 at August 19, 2008 9:44 PM

Amber; Dito get on to it mate

Posted by: outbackdrifter at August 19, 2008 11:50 AM

Oh and tell him to get cracking on that book!

Posted by: amberlight58 at August 19, 2008 11:16 AM

Hi BM,
Yes it was an interesting way of putting it wasn't it? I didn't even realise until your comment! (Freudian slip?)
Wish him all the best won't you? :)

Posted by: amberlight58 at August 19, 2008 11:15 AM

OG chose to remove his profile. I am happy to pass on messages as he doesn't read the blogs anymore. He does want to hear more about Drifters Goggomobile. And he will be amused how you asked if he chose to leave, Amber :-)
Sorry if this reply appears twice but one was accepted a couple of hours ago and didn't make it to the screen as yet.
Cheers,
B.

Posted by: bm1960 at August 19, 2008 10:39 AM

BM was he de-registered by RSVP or did he pull out himself?
Didn't always agree with him, but he was okay!

Posted by: amberlight58 at August 18, 2008 10:22 PM

bm1960, Why in BL&%�Y H*%$L was OG deregistered, You tell him from me that he has mates here & if he wants I will message you & give you my email addy if he wants

Posted by: outbackdrifter at August 18, 2008 6:04 PM

Having never lived in a mining community some of your experiences have been a revelation to me. It sounds like hard work and a bit lonely to me (except for the mateship).
It seems to me you would have a harder time finding a partner because of the isolation. If you do travel/fly back to a major city centre how do you find someone to date?? (Hence RSVP?) From my point of view I didn't even realise there were hard working men like you guys wanting gals in Brissy to go out with! Good luck fellas.

Posted by: curiousandcreative at August 18, 2008 5:34 PM

Oldergent, Robert, has de-registered from RSVP. He asked me to pass on his regards to his mates.
Cheers,
B.

Posted by: bm1960 at August 18, 2008 11:38 AM

From the Herald Sun:
AN appeal for "beauty-disadvantaged" women to move to Mt Isa to fix a gender shortage has sparked outrage.

There have been calls for Mt Isa Mayor John Molony to apologise for comments in local press that, "with five blokes to every girl, may I suggest beauty-disadvantaged women should proceed to Mt Isa".

"Quite often you'll see walking down the street a lass who isn't so attractive with a wide smile," Cr Molony said.

"Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness.

"Often those who are beauty-disadvantaged are unhappy with their lot. Some, in other places in Australia, need to proceed to Mt Isa where happiness awaits."

Posted by: willow29 at August 18, 2008 10:23 AM

good morning Mount Isa and good morning Mayor John Molony

Posted by: campcooking at August 18, 2008 9:39 AM

We miss OG but I think like a girl and suspect that he is going within his own inner mine with a torch bearer.

The question I want to know OG is do you have any nice sons, that are single, can dance (waltz), I am an old so tulrapped in the body of youth!

Posted by: amourmoi08 at August 13, 2008 9:24 PM

Say... anyone seen OG around? Haven't seen any posts for yonks...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 13, 2008 7:08 PM

Yes it is hard to get into the mining industry. I had the same problem here in Perth. I found that the agencies where so overwhelmed by CV's that they where using any excuse to filter the applicants down to a few recommended people. (Remember their job is to recommend a few to go forward to be interviewed. They don't employ you). The best way I found was to front up to the agencies, rather than just post a CV. This way they can recommend you by your personality, over the axe murederer hidden in the cv's on his desk. I have had several qualified and unqualified friends enter the indusrty and we all say its the guys you work with that make it fun.

Posted by: campbellmoa at August 11, 2008 9:06 PM

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 6, 2008 1:19 PM

RE: If I had taken this approach when building my home I would never have built it myself, rather I would have thought "I am not a licenced builder so I cannot do it"

Nice words. There is a wise builders story that my brother told me about.

It goes something like this:

Loyal worker of 65 years gives notice of retirement.

Boss says: before you retire would you do me one more Job and I will pay you well.

Builder says: OK boss but I am busy planning a life and never really want to pick up or look at another hammer after this job.

Boss says: No worries mate.

The builder rushed the job in haste to get to his well planned life of enjoyment without hammers and nails. He cut corners that he would not normally take.

The builder finishes his job and hands the key to the boss and says:

Boss I have finished the last job but did not do my best so please don't pay me a thing.

Boss accepts the keys from the hand of his builder and looks him in the eye with a dewness not seen often on site.

Boss takes the hands of the builder and shakes it firmly and hands him a gold watch and says thank you for making my life better every day.

You have made me a wealthy man and I would like to share my bounty with you for your loyality.

The builder starts to weep and says but I don't deserve the watch or your bounty boss.

Boss turns to builder and says:
These keys are yours to keep and the house was my gift to you.
When you are ready to live in it and not let it fall down on your silly head, live in it and love it well as we do you.

With that the builder stands in front of the house and weeps more and the boss walks away knowing the best investment in life is people.

Moral of the story? Whatever you want it to be.

Peace out xx

Posted by: amourmoi08 at August 11, 2008 1:29 PM

A wise and good friend of mine is working in the mines. I have many friends in WA and in NSW that are slogging thier guts out.
It is easy to take a shot at someone from the safety of a keyboard, in a well lit room, with the olympics playing in the background all of which is not possible without this industry. It is not perfect and never claimed to be. But we rely on it everyday in every way so jump of your horse and take a trip down the mine with a miner and help to find new, clean energy rather than wasting all your time shouting your moralist views from a tax payer funded university laptop and please make sure you pay your hecs fees so that I don't have to support you forever as a professional student, master of nothing other than hard knocks. Live well - peace out Amour 08 xx

Posted by: amourmoi08 at August 11, 2008 9:24 AM

Just google Mining jobs Perth and you will find heaps of employment sites and heaps of jobs in the mines. People are moving to Perth every month by the hundreds to work in the mining industry. The large companies use employment agencies as they don't take up their time with screening applicants but there are heaps and heaps of jobs and relatively easy to get.

Posted by: iaminperth at August 10, 2008 7:46 PM

Posted by: oldergent at August 7, 2008 9:43 PM
OG you are not the only one getting maudlin.. I do regularly and also get to giving up point.. but always a spark of life to keep me hopeful!
Thanks amber for the compliment too.
OG if you get down to writing and I do too we can see who gets published first :-)

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 10, 2008 7:20 PM

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 8, 2008 1:32 AM
Really enjoyed reading your post and mostly you get it so right...

Posted by: forevernow1 at August 9, 2008 9:45 AM

heart2heart ~ 1.32.a.m. ~ Articulate, well written, loved reading what you wrote.

Posted by: here2cwotswot at August 8, 2008 3:27 PM

BTW OG,
have loved reading your stories about country life (on the Farmer's Blog) and mining days on here. Are you sure you shouldn't write a book about it?
Perhaps you and H2H could put your heads together and write someting on-line and WN47 also wites some great stuff about the country, so you two could collaborate as well.
The only way future generations are going to know about this stuff is by people like you guys writing it all down.
Hope they won't be needing RSVP (and these blogs!) until they are much older!

Could be great gift for those grand-children!

Posted by: amberlight58 at August 8, 2008 12:21 PM

heart2heart ~ 1.32.a.m. So well put. You hit the spot with so many of your words. Such a pleasure to read.

OG ~ Guess you and I have been on the same page a bit lately. Hey? Anyway, I'm ready for the positive to start coming in again. And you know what, it already has. There's some pretty special people round these here parts.

Jen x

Posted by: jenniferhi at August 8, 2008 7:18 AM

OG - yeh, it can pretty much suck sometimes, hey? Apart from the shit-stirrers that come on here from time to time, and seem to go out of their way to bag others in the Blogs here on RSVP, there are many genuine people here as well. And, bluntly, everyone one of them is looking for basically the same thing. Finding a 'partner'. Someone to share their lives with. Good and bad. No matter what all the 'lib' and 'pro' movements have achieved, humans are by nature gregarious. We crave the company of others. Different levels for sure, but deep down, we still crave.

Most 'normally' adjusted people enjoy the same things - being with other people, being with that 'special' person, and being alone. Again, different levels for different people. One problem with getting 'older' is that we lose people. For good. And we can at times feel that we are an island. Alone.

But mate, friends are the best thing since sliced bread. They may not be able to replace someone else who has graced our lives. They may not be able to take our pain from us (even though many would if they could). But they are our salvation. They are what keeps us getting out of bed in the morning when the chips are down. You've made some good friends here on RSVP. Forget the rubbish - those kinds get a kick out of inflicting pain on someone else. Karma will catch up with them sometime. This life. The next. Who knows. Who cares.

What's important is that you find the things that make you happy. Mates to lean on, have a beer with. Have a yarn with. Talk crap. If you're lucky, a lady-friend to share those precious intimacies with. Just like in the mining camps. Look after ourselves, and each other. Anything special that comes along is a bonus.

We don't often get to deal the cards - we just have to play the hand we're dealt. With a bit of manoeuvring, we might be able to push things in a certain direction. We might not. Point is, we're alive, and we're trying. When the final curtain comes down - that's when all hope in this lifetime is gone. Until then, chin up cobber. Roll with the punches. Give, take, laugh, cry, and enjoy.

Hold on to all your memories, for they define *you*. Believe in hope. Hope is what gets us through our darkest hours. Don't ever let them beat you. For every thousand tons of mullock, a single tiny diamond will do me.

You are one of those diamonds. Never forget that...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 8, 2008 1:32 AM

WN47.
Point taken about the height, lol, but I am sure Marcus would have some pertinant comment to equalise the height thing,lol.
I have never been embarassed about a woman being taller than me, younger or older than me. ( have you any decent sized pillows you could fit him on or you sit on ?)Each had their own mystery to explore and wonder at. I have just been attacked for my views on another blog and have had my responce blocked, so at the moment nympth, I am pretty disgruntled at this mob. Hopefully here in a much gentler setting and amongst nicer people this one will get through. Really it was not meant as a compliment to any lady on this site just my observation of the younger set, I am not one of those people who give a compliment to make himself feel important. Well to be honest, those of my age, like me are not attractive to those younger, or it seems of the same age, something I am coming to grips with. That is why I have not purchased anymore stamps. Back to the old way of thinking, why go searching when if it is meant to happen it will find you.
I can truly emphasize with the snuggle up, just feel at peace with someone, just to be close and as one. It happens so few times in a lifetime. The worst of it is when it happens and you lose it, you spend the rest of your life trying to regain it. Getting maudlin so time to go.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 7, 2008 9:43 PM

OG thanks for the compliment! ... But you would be astounded at how many knock backs I get on here .. mostly from men older than me who seem to be seeking somone younger than me. I realise my height puts some guys off as they dont like a woman to be taller than them. It's not such a big deal for me .. but in all honesty I have to admit it is a nice feeling to be able to put my head on a man's shoulder and snuggle into his chest .. without buckling at the knes or getting a kink in the neck LOL !! :-)

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 7, 2008 6:12 PM

Uhuh Mule - A wise monkey is a monkey who don't monkey around with another monkeys' monkey... :)

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 7, 2008 5:16 PM

Actually I have applied for positions in IT before, where I was unsuccesfull and found out later via inside information it was because the ones interviewing me felt threatened by me ( and not in a physical assualt way )

I would venture to say it was my experience skills and can do attitude - mind you they were all public service typres

I am sure it was not in the physical sense - any way I believe that

"DONT GET LAID WHERE YOU GET PAID"

Just goes to show how insecure people can be

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 7, 2008 1:51 PM

H2H

I live by 2 rules

1. - NEVER mess with another mans woman
2. See rule 1

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 7, 2008 1:48 PM

WN47.
Never, I do not think I have seen a Lady bloggers profile (get that one WB) that would have to migrate to attract a male. Actually it is one of the wonders I find that you have to be here. Then not any of you youngsters seem to have enough sense to realise that and older male is the better value,lol

Willow,
good comment, goes to say what I said about the younger crop of males being a bit softer and get it easy.
We (us older timers) were there till the grog got us or we sobered up and went South before we went "Troppo". Know a bloke over here that does the month and fortnight thing to WA, certainly has made him a lot more attentive to his better half, now he wants to migrate and do the 2 and 1 thing. As H2H said they are a protective mob. Willow "what to do?" see post to WN above,lol.

Posted by: oldergent at August 7, 2008 12:50 PM

Waternymph - even if we do head for the hills - they go home on their week off... what's a girl to do? :)

Posted by: willow29 at August 7, 2008 12:21 PM

OG are you suggesting some of we "less than gorgeous and perfect" ladies head for the hills .. ie the hills where the desperate miners abound ??? Just a thought (chuckle) :-)

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 7, 2008 11:56 AM

H2H.
Yep, not only protective, but nasty suspicious minds. Goes to show that there is no such thing as an ugly woman. Dangerous places, for good looking young studs like us to be, especially when the women would not leave us alone. lol. Said in a previous post that it was a womans paradise and a mans graveyard some of those places up the top end.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 7, 2008 9:21 AM

OG... I was being fair-dinkum. Small community, not many 'sheilas' to go round. Protective lot them miners, some times...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 7, 2008 1:22 AM

Posted by: oldergent at August 6, 2008 2:32 PM
OG I just love the satire.. thanks for the chuckle!!!
Mule certainly can't grumble for lack of options now thanks to Willow!

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 6, 2008 8:15 PM

Mule, you might be just plain to good looking for the job too yanno. And no, I'm not taking the p*ss. Some might feel threatened by your presence. Just a thought...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 6, 2008 8:10 PM

I think that is more prevalent in big cities where there are more choices from the pool of potential workers. Never had a problem finding a job in Darwin. Mind you, couldnt get a good job for love nor money in Burra! I did have 6 casual jobs though :)

Posted by: willow29 at August 6, 2008 2:46 PM

Mule @ 1.19pm.
Never truer words said, we are stuffed by mindless govt officials with no idea, desperately seeking ways to keep their positions safe. With nothing better to do than dream up ridiculous rules, that only hinder progress.

In the past I never said, when asked, if I could drive this or that machine or operate any machine,did I said no, I always said if it moves I can drive it or if it can be started I can operate it. Only one smart arse said ,well I have a 3 engined Dragoon aeroplane out on the strip I need a pilot for.
I just said well lets go and have a look at it and take it for a spin, soon be able to tell you if I can fly it. Didn't get that job, they got a pilot from down South, but I did get friendly with him and he let me get my hands on the controls a couple of times, distrusting bugger wouldn't let me land or take off, which was a bit of a dissapointment,

Willow29, a beautiful person to go with beautiful looks. So very nice to meet a helpfull person.
Why not "Yahmulegiddyup" you never know they may not have a mule driver up that way, with a name like that he may be Boss material.lol
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 6, 2008 2:32 PM

There is also a new mineral sands mine starting in Ouyen, with 300 jobs becoming available. The website is http://www.iluka.com/?page=mbsexpressions

Posted by: willow29 at August 6, 2008 1:46 PM

My contact is fairly high in management. If you contact me, I will send you the email and I'll tell them who to look out for. Obviously I can't say "Yaahmulegiddyup" *vbg*

Posted by: willow29 at August 6, 2008 1:30 PM

The issue is I believe, that many mining companies outsource recruiting to agencies.

My interactions with agencies ( within the IT field) is that more often than not they are staffed by incompetent straight from uni grads with absolutely no life experience etc.

As such more often than not they ( the recruitment companies and their mindless drones) rigid guidelines for example

"must have at least 6 months experience on machine make - blah , model xyz

are so strictly adhered too that a person with experience in

machine - make - blah model - abc

although being close and relevant is dismissed as not being suitable for the position

If I had taken this approach when building my home I would never have built it myself, rather I would have thought "I am not a licenced builder so I cannot do it"

Rather I got my owner builder permit and built the home myself and in the process saved at least $140,000 that the builder would have made in profit -- now add to that interest on that ammount if it had been mortgaged from a bank -- so in the long run I have saved oh what at least $300,000

Australia used to be a great country for anyone with a "can do" attitude and willingness to get in and get it done, people and employees admired this and encouraged it.

Unfortunately now everything is over "pigeon holed" to the point I will need a formal qualification from some educational institution to prove I can wipe my own arse

That good people is a by product of globalism

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 6, 2008 1:19 PM

I actually have a good friend that lives in Perth

Has tickets for numerous pieces of heavy machinery, He currently drives buses for the local council.

Interesting thing is that in approaching mining companies

His tickets/skills/experience were deemed to be non required

Yet has tickets for forklift/Front end loaders/excavators etc etc as I do

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 6, 2008 12:55 PM

The interesting thing is that for a period of 3 months early this year I spent considerable resources in contacting many companies with so called "shortages"

I liaised with many a HR department only to somehow disappear into the circular file of their organisation

Either the skills they seek I have not or they have very lackadaisical HR employees

I still believe there is a element of smoke and mirrors going on

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 6, 2008 12:49 PM

Willow that would be much appreciated and very considerate of you to be pro-active in such a way.

As a bachelor with no family and various tickets/education/experience I believe for remote sites I would be a good proposition as I will have no "family " concerns to be of any hindrance

Spank you very much :)

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 6, 2008 12:39 PM

Yamulegiddyup: In response to your plight, I followed up with a mining company I know and here is the reply:

"Na there is so much work its ridiculous…
Right now we would probably hire anyone who had a HC/MC license and forklift ticket then if they had a Dangerous Goods license as well they would be a shoe in"

Obviously this was a private conversation and cannot be held as legal or liable but if you want any more info, let me know. Btw, this is an Adelaide based operation with mines all over the place.

Posted by: willow29 at August 6, 2008 12:10 PM

I believe mining is still a closed shop -- you have to banging the bosses daughter to get a foot in the door

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 5, 2008 1:27 PM
Hey Mule .. perhaps if you ask OG nicely or one of the serious minded people here who have had connections to mining they may put you on the right path! Set you straight .. so to speak !

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 6, 2008 11:39 AM

blondeattimes, I have answered you but apparently it is not going to be posted
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 5, 2008 9:56 PM

... and little green men...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 5, 2008 6:54 PM

Ogre August 2, 2008 8:02 PM
Good comment on Geology and Microbiology Ogre.
NASA are doing a bit of mining on Mars. They have their diggers and borers and transfer samples to the spectrometer for analysis. 2 weeks ago they reckoned the soil could grow Asparagus; latest reports have them finding chemicals that are associated with biological waste products.
Who knows they may yet find microbes.
Cheers Marcus

Posted by: laughsandtalks at August 5, 2008 3:00 PM

My dad has been a miner since I was born basically, and is very well known in the industry. My sister has now started working in the mines as well, and has found the man of her dreams. Having grown up in mining towns I feel connected to miners more than anything. If I could work in the mines I would, but with two very young children, the fly in fly out thing just doesn't work for me. I dont know how you guys do it, and trying to find love. I know how hard it is just being a single mum, let alone one/two weeks on, one/two weeks off.
Keep you the good work.

Posted by: shyperthgirl at August 5, 2008 2:15 PM

I am amazed personally that the mining industry claims they have a shortage of so many people to fill positions at all levels across all professions..

When making inquires whether either my skills in IT or the fact I have just about every ticket for machinery bar the space shuttle is of any demand that they say there are no positions at all and unlikely to be any

I believe mining is still a closed shop -- you have to banging the bosses daughter to get a foot in the door

Posted by: yaahmulegiddyup at August 5, 2008 1:27 PM

The hard working and respectful trade of miners have granted all aussies access to the 8 hour a day for a fair days pay deal that we love to have and work hard to protect.
We love the balance of work and life and have much to thank this industry for.
No different to any trade and job there are always the quirky, poor mannered village idiots but I know a few MP's that behave the same way so my theory may just be proven.
Nothing like a great miner to show you the sights and delights of a hard days work and a good game of pool or show you the wineries etc. Go you good things

Posted by: amourmoi08 at August 5, 2008 12:33 PM

Hi blondattimes.
Most of the mines I have worked in have had the majority of men at the face, but as always when you really look at the movement of the ore or coal it took a lot of personell off site to complete the job. The only people I knew who worked the mines did it for the money.

How did any man cope with being away from the person you are most concerned about, in one word, "Trust". In my day the only reliable form of communication was by snail mail. The arrival of one was the highlight of the week (maybe several would arrive together, they were then sorted into date of postage and read sequentially, then carefully put aside to be read again and again. I was engaged to be married at the time, there was no physical side to the relationship, but that did not make the 12 months I was away any easier to bear, just made the finances a bit better for when we were married. But that was long, long, ago in what seems a planet far, far away.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 5, 2008 8:51 AM

Hi guys,
Reading here, i have no idea what most of you are talking about. Good to see a blokes bloke conversation... Keep it up....

Do most people actually work in the mine itself or elsewhere? It all appears to be hard dirty work but obviously you enjoy it the little I have read...

Can anyone tell me what it is like from your perspective of working away from home for extended times. It's probably a stupid question because you are prob. single, but how do you cope with being away from your partner and how did you mainatin the relationship while being away so often?

Posted by: blondeattimes at August 4, 2008 11:32 PM

H2H.
my sentiments exactly howsomever, a no. 8 was the closest implement I could find.
But I must admit a no start tag in those days was a rarity.
Still I was a twice delightful occurence, being able to belt the superior bastard and then have him sacked, all without come back.
I reckon there should be 2 degrees at Uni that should be absolutely free.
1 Geology
2 Microbiology
these are the essentials if we are ever to find the secrets of other planets should we ever get there'
Thanks for the participation in this blog, also to all the other posters I also enjoy your contribution in other blogs,
isn't it nice, not to have the worries of human relations and ego's for a change. The same for the cafe/cattle subject.
Nice people nicely met
Thanks, OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 2, 2008 8:02 PM

OG - Anyone that takes a TAG off a board deserves to be marched out into the bay (hopefully full of sharks and crocs), and drilled with #12 quail pellets - not enough to kill them, but heaps enough to draw plenty of hæmoglobin rich bright red blood. Just the thing the sharks and crocs could get a sniff of, and finish the job. Those creeps are in no way different to murderers. You take a tag off a board, you are taking somebody's life. Why are the tags there in the first place? Because somebody is WORKING in there - idiots...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 2, 2008 2:58 AM

H2H--Question answered, what we called bull quart, mongrel stuff to bust.
The silica bricks we used on the O/H at Newcastle were keyed and fitted onto a steel support, even when the steel collapsed they still locked on to each other.

We had a brickie forman named Bronco, one of the old time bosses not much on safety, we were up checking the state of the roof on number 4 O/H. I put my safety rope on and made him put his on if he wanted me to go with him. Needless to say the first time he heel tested in he went, to the full 6 foot of the rope, I swear he came up as fast as he went in. When you looked at the 30 odd feet to the bottom of the flue, you knew he would have been dead before hitting it, and cremated within 10 minutes. I didn't like the open hearths, they had a bad habit of breaking out of the bottoms and on winter nights the crews had a habit of making brattice beds under them. If you seen the wastage of the silica bricks you would have cried, no wonder we were not competative in our steel prices.

Every word about the pitchblend true, the counter that was swung above the final bin belt was the biggest and most accurate in the world at the time (courtesy USA) it was buzzing when the stuff was dumped and went beserk and stayed that way for the 16 hours we took to get rid of it. They ran residual tests for week after but we never got to see those results. As I said in a previous post the dust extractor would only last 5 minutes then pack it in, no such thing as a respirator and at the end of shift you could have an inch of dust on the top of your head in the dry and a layer of mud in the wet. When I left the Jungle I worked with my father in Pest Control, the chemical at the time was Chlordane, mixed it with bare hands at times, was wet from it most days.
I have had 3 children none of them deformed or malfunctioning in any way, above average intelligence, none of their offspring have tails.
yet the greens and environmentalists carry on about both the products. My opinion the sooner we go to nuke power stations the better, the improvements in designs and construction has got better to the point of must be used.

I used a Symons cone crusher as you described, it was the secondary crusher. The ore came in through the bin fixed grizzlies, down over the roller grizzlies and magnet into the Jaw crusher up through the belts then over the 3 part screen the bigger stuff then went down to the cone crusher and so the smaller stuff went up to the holding bins (about 50 ft high and 40 across)
so it was a continuous return system. The next stage,not under my control was through the rod mill for turning into a thin paste and so on down the line till it came out as yellow cake. I have actually been in the belly of a cone crusher cleaning out the pug buildup and had an engineer take my tag off the controls and start the thing. Luckily it was 3 phase stuff and you could feel it vibrate before really kicking in. The first time he got a tongue lashing, he actually done it a second time and got flattened with a shovel, and the sack, apparently an idiot that would work in those conditions was harder to find than an engineer. He was called "double dick" the reasoning was that he couldn't be that stupid with just one. But there was a pride that we were working in the Nations interest.

I suppose OHS has a part in the nature of things, but glad I am not a boss having to put up with all the regulations or a worker having to have someone looking over my shoulder all the time.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 1, 2008 11:12 PM

OG - Silcrete is a 'sort of quartz' in that it's still silicon dioxide (SiO2), but it's been re-dissolved by acidic ground waters, then redeposited as Silcrete - or so the theory goes. It rings like steel when struck with a hammer, and shatters like glass in its purest of purest forms. Whereas quartz has many impurities, Silcrete is a good source of virtually pure SiO2. The open hearth BOF bricks we used to make from it had to be extremely pure to take the temps generated in the ceilings of the furnaces used to make steel. From memory, pure silica brick softens at around 1740 deg C, and completely poo's itself at 1760 deg C (or somewhere in that ballpark) - point being the softening point and melting point are really close together, but high enough up there to take the extreme heat in a BOF. Any impurities in the mix, and that softening point dives dramatically due to 'fluxing' within the brick. They were a fair pig to manufacture too - not a lot of bonding agent to 'dry press' the brick (again, bonding agents contain fluxes), so they were pretty close to what a sand-castle made at the beach would be like - touch it, and it falls apart. Even after firing, they were still very delicate. In their day, Silcrete bricks were about the only thing that would sustain the massive temperatures required to produce steel. I'm sure they've moved on from that these days, with their modern ceramics.

Interesting you should mention working with pitchblende. Are you crazy? I remember that stuff from my student days - the Geiger Counter would chuck a spaz when a 5-cent piece of the stuff was 50ft away. LoL. But no, seriously, that was pretty evil Munti. You're lucky you don't glow in the dark, or have 3 penises! (a good one for the pub, but not as popular with the ladies as you'd think *G*). And let's hope you never inhaled a lot of dust during crushing...

Speaking of crushing, the crusher you described as a 'jaw crusher', we used to refer to as a 'conical crusher' - dirty big parabolic cone that would gyrate around within a massive steel girdle, yeh? Whatever you dropped in there would just slowly pulverise into little bits according to what the skirt height was set at. So long as what you were feeding it was brittle. Anything containing clay would just goop-up along the bottom edges.

We also used to use a traditional 'jaw crusher' - two massive steel jaws, one fixed, the other on a rocker-cam not unlike a locomotive engines wheel. Anything unwanted that fell into that sucker was history in about as long as it would take you to scream - thank Gawd it was pretty well guarded-off. We'd often crush raw materials in two stages - jaw-crusher first, then feed the output into the conical-crusher for a finer mill. From there, some stuff would go out to a rod mill, or a ball mill etc - depending on how fine the end product needed to be. Fortunately, most of our gear was fairly well protected, though we did have a guy lose a few fingers and part of the palms of both hands working a Boyd Press one day. Truly a sad occasion. The press had 'magic eyes' all over the place, but somehow he managed to get his hands around a dry-press brick without the auto-stop mechanism kicking in. After that, there was no way to stop the humongous flywheel from turning enough to drive his body parts back down through the mould. Indeed a sad, sad day.

Yes, OHS these days has at least made things a LOT safer than they used to be. People may have bitched about 'Unions' back then, but at least they made sure Dad came home to his family in one piece...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at August 1, 2008 8:52 PM

Hi OG,
Where is Long Flat .. I cant recall?!
I know this is the miners page but I dont have much to contribute despite my early years being in the Copper Triangle at Moonta.
I do know that if you love a mining man he will often be away for long stretches and unlikely to be working a 5 day a week 9-5 job ... Not that that would bother me .. being a fairly self sufficient type! A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do! LOL

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 1, 2008 5:11 PM

Hi Real waternymph47.
Message understood, late night, long day, inattention all to blame, maybe those last two glasses of Dolce Rosso helped.
My last batch of blogs did not make it to air, maybe this one will. Would agree the Long Flat series has had a good run, I spent part of my school days at Long Flat strangely enough.

Wn47, the lad has been like that since I have been blogging, some complimentary so not so, I copped OGre from him, in a way I probably asked for it, but he was quick to sieze on it, as has others, so now I look upon it as a pet name on this site. I could think of names for a few people on here but do not use them because they would be much less than complimentary, then they are generally know as "blog hogs" so I leave it at that. Other very regularly posted people can at least articulate over a wide range of subjects and do not just push their very heavily laden barrow full of their ego, that is for both sexes. I have had a rather unpleasant couple of incidents lately thay I cannot get posted ( by false profilers). I agree that the idiocy has to be stopped and soon, for mine this and the cafe/cattle have been the most enjoyable blogs for a long time with the nicest people participating, hopefully a lot more will join in before that are pulled.

Hi Kurli,
Pity there is no facility for the posting of pictures, though someone got the one of the lion through, maybe if you have the link it could get to those interested. I did have a photo of one of the biggest (of many) gaffs made at the jungle. But Butler Airways and their cavalier method of baggage transfer usually lost my luggage each trip. If I had have been in one port I could have got to London, then it was sent back here, it dissapeared never to be heard of again.
Ah the good old days.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at August 1, 2008 12:56 PM

OG and H2H:
Thought of you both this morning when a mate in Kalgoorlie emailed pics of the Norwich Park Dragline that slip-slided away.

Posted by: kurli at August 1, 2008 10:33 AM

OG this the real Waternymph here .. I'd change nick but no doubt still get targeted so I'm not caving in..You need to take a much closer look at how the name is written .. as with Oolalalala as opposed to the real Oohlala.
BTW I did find Tyrells Long Flat White a good wine... shared one once to cement the start of a long running friendship with a lovely lady friend! Have also tried their red and found it drinkable!
You may note on other Blogs Marcus having a go at me for supposedly dobbing him in re name calling.
As long as this idiocy stops I'll be delighted regardless of who dobs who in!

Posted by: waternymph47 at August 1, 2008 10:16 AM

H2H,
I am not geo specific, we used to have a similar quartz up in the territory that could get to that size. We called it Bull quartz, a lot of the times as you say it could be read if you knew how to do it. Other times it couldn't and the only way to clear the grizzlies was to get the Hough Payloader in and roll it out or blast it. Didn't like the blasting as I had to shut down the crusher, clear the staff while it was being popped. Then the grizzlies more often than not had to be straightened.
We used to use those bricks on the O/H and BOS at the works in Newcastle too. Now that was one of my least favourite jobs, anything to do with the BHP, worked as a brickies labourer, then the coke ovens and sinter plant for a very short while, but banjo sinter spills all day and you got very fit, gyms were for sport in those days,(if you could find one) clubs for serious drinking. I found the steel works more dangerous than any mine. Safety was the big cry, all sorts or rewards for it and a lot of PR, but it went out the window while it interfered with production, same in the pits.

Back to the Territory, the worst two things I had to crush and hated them was Pitchblend, there was so much secrecy about it, never knew where it came from just came in on tippers, they installed special geigers on the belt past the final screen. Posted a Boffin on it to keep us plebs from seeing the readings. It sounded different from the moment we started, we spent a week cleaning the crusher down so it did not contaminate the test crush. As soon as the first run went under the geiger all hell broke loose with alarms going off, nearly as quick was the Boffin hot footing it out of there. I shut down to ask a few questions and was ordered back to get the stuff crushed and out as quick as possible. I would only do it if I could get my staff out and "the staff" in, they were not happy, but it happened in every section down the chain. It was the hottest stuff I ever had to crush, and they bought it through only a few times after that. That is a source of great wonder to me with the "greens" they squeal about the dangers of "IT" They have never seen it far less worked with it, would not know yellow cake from yellow chalk, shudder at just the though of it, yet here am I, 51 years latter still alive and kicking arse, (do not start me on the organophosphates Chlordane and Deildrin) when it warrants it.

The other regular crush was Manganese Pyrolucite, black and as hard as an Irishmans skull, and I had to dry ball it in the mill, so you could imagine the dust created. The Cyclovac dust extractor would work for about 5 minutes before it packed up and did till the day I left. The first time I crushed it I finished late and went down to the army canteen at Bachelor, walked into the wet canteen and ordered tea, a double rum and beer chaser, Mick the idiot Checo bartender would not serve "No blackfellas here mate"I pull my shorts half way down to show the white ( I was very sunburned anyway) and it was as black there. A few choice expletives that were usually directed at him convinced him who I was. It took me nearly 15 minutes to get it off in the shower. At that time I was probably the only non govt working type to use sheets on my bed in the camps. they were grey in the morning, and it never really came out, but they did not last long after that, (another story). But they were odd occurences, the most feared thing was the "Pug". Think pottery clay, not wet, almost impervious to water, if it was dumped in with the ore on the grizzlies it went through in slabs, down through the rollers and into the primary Vickers Ruwoldt jaw crusher, for the people who do not know the machine, it is a stationary base back with a swinging concentric moving plate that opens and closes to any set position, as the ore enters it gravitates down till broken down to the required size, (open and close you jaw quickly to get the effect). Those that didn't do that consider yourselves reprimanded, LOL.
Pug when it entered (no trouble going over the rollers) used to mould itself into the pattern of the jaws and the only two ways to get it out was to stop the plant (heaven forbid) which the bosses frowned upon. Or stand on the crusher when it was operating and with a specialy made jumper bar with a flat welded bar forming an upside down T to push it through. Imagine standing on a round tube rocking back and forth with large wheels either side of you, balancing and pushing down on a rod weighing in the vicinity of 30 pounds, knowing that if you get it wrong you would go into those jaws and slowly get minced up from the feet up, the pug would take you and hold you and the big fly wheels did not stop for a couple of minutes. Only once did one of us fall in, luckily I had stopped the rollers pushed the prime magnet out of the way, Darkey forever after know as Whitey, lost his balance and went in, a couple of the crew got onto the rollers and were able to hold him up till the fly wheels stopped. All sorts of discussion went on with the bosses about putting a platform over. Never happen up until the time I left and I learned later never did.

I did an OHS course a while back, got talking to the instructor along the vein I just spoke of, his reaction was hilarious, indignant outrage, turning to near apolexy when I told him this country would never be where it is now under his regime.
Sorry fellows if us oldies think the modern man might be a little soft.
By the way absolutely loved your post, have know Pyromaniacs like him.
H2H, thanks for these chin wags
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 30, 2008 5:44 PM

Neanderthal - you mean those noisy frikken grey birds you see on a golf course ?? :)

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 30, 2008 1:13 AM

Time for another yarn OG. Years ago, I was working in the Goulburn area mining 'silcrete' - a rather evil form of SiO2 best described as quartz, with an attitude. A bit like diamond actually - tap it with a hammer in the right place, and it just spalls like glass, belt the beejeezus out of it with a drop-ball all day, and it just sits there looking back at you. The stuff we were mining had to be 99.9% silica, and was used to make the ceiling bricks in the open hearth BOF iron ore furnaces in Port Kembla. Just to make it interesting, the surrounding countryside was Basalt - the worst possible contaminant you could have (causes fluxing during kiln firing).

Anyway, I was the Geo on an AirTrak, hooked up to a GD-650 compressor. The driller was this hulk of a bloke, who used to start the morning (-8C sometimes) fire with a can of aerostart. Follow up with a couple of litres of diesel, and ~voila~ - instant fire. Until the day he left the can of aerostart in the fire. Kind of resembled a napalm-bomb. With us standing a few metres away, warming our tooshies. Have to admit, they warmed up REAL quick when the concealed incendiary device went off.

Now this driller you didn't want to argue with - the guy spat the dummy one day with a rod in both hands, and hurled them like matchsticks. Message to self "don't piss driller off" LoL.

Anyways, kundies that were waaay too big to get in the back of a tipper, and didn't respond to the gentle persuasion of a 5 tonne drop-ball falling from 50 feet, had to be 'blister shot'. A sausage of Tovex 400 (or two) on top usually did the trick - noisy as all hell, but you usually ended up with a couple of rocks that would load in the awaiting truck.

One day, we had this real stubborn sonnamabitch that just wouldn't give. So our resident powder-monkey instructed the driller to tap a few holes in her with the AirTrak, and poke a couple of half-plugs of Tovex in. Not too many holes, and not too much explosive, right? Wrong. Well, Gronk drills this thing like a swiss cheese and laces the holes with a good coupla kilos of go-bang stuff. Unbeknown to me, who was doing some reco mapping on the other side of the gully, and with no siren for a warning, I'm suddenly sitting on my @ss wondering what the hell had just happened. Next thing I hear is "click... clank... whizz.. thud!". All the bits that went up, gravity now said must come down. Around me. Oh, joy! So I did what any level-headed person would have done - ran like mad.

I get back to the blast site to see our powder-monkey standing there looking at a scorched patch of dented ground just shaking his head. In those days (70's), that stuff used to fetch 80 bucks a tonne, and to see a 40 tonne boulder reduced to shrapnel put an end to recouping that days fuel costs alone.

Oh, heavy-handed drillers - gotta love them, dontchya?

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 30, 2008 12:59 AM

In a cavern, In a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner forty-niner,
And his daughter Clementine

Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh my darling Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine.

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 30, 2008 12:12 AM

My only experience with a mine is the tourist one at Sovereign Hill here in Victoria.
I did visit the Solomans (?)caves in Tassie almost 15 yrs ago.

Posted by: egernia at July 28, 2008 11:26 AM

Waternymph.
Tyrells 74 not bad, my all time favourite affordable red was the Tulloch Brothers, Pokolbin Dry Red, (private bin) 1964. Used to be a friend of Barry Drayton, way back, he was a joy to go away shooting with, a suit case of white one of red wine, his shooting box and an overnight bag for his clothes, all the wines where what he was working on, so whe got to taste some very good and unusual wines. The family certainly have had a very sad journey through life, which is so sad as they are wonderful people.
Open cuts have a place but they are so impersonal (modern) not like the atmosphere (old) of the pits.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 28, 2008 12:18 AM

OG - The Hunter, and Cessnock bring back memories too. My project area for my BSc Hons thesis at the University of New England (Armidale, NSW) was in Pokolbin. Cessnock was my Friday night treat - beef in black been sauce and two pints of Tooheys New. Beat the crap out of baked beans and tinned corned beef and freezing my buns off in a tent at night. I even shouted myself the luxury of grabbing an overnight 'van - money was tight in the student days.

Up on Koolan, I was only the 2IC drill geo, so I got the down-the-hole percussion rig. Dirty, sweaty, noisy bloody thing that was. But hey, we did some meterage on that thing compared to the diamond drillers in the main pit. And yes - jam a bit or a hammer down the hole, and it's all hands on deck to try and recover the thing. Diamond bits are expensive enough (including the wire-line barrel), but the down-the-hole hammers were even more pricey to lose from memory. The down side of the percussion rigs was that you could drop a button or two off the bit if you hit bad ground, and tungsten on tungsten really screws the rest of the bit up. You could usually tell when that happened - you didn't make any meterage. Pull her up, and sure enough, the bit end of the hammer looked like a mangled set of false teeth. You'd usually have to abandon the hole, coz those big loose buttons of tungsten carbide were still down there - a new bit would just get pulverized again. LoL.

I too was amazed to see how far below sea level the main pit ended up going - it would have still been about 30 or so feet above sea level when I left. But that's why we were there in the first place - to delineate the reserves of the main pit, and explore possible extensions over at what became Mullet Pit and Eastern Pit (I think). As I said before, Iron Ore base price is that good these days that they are thinking of reopening Koolan - a lot of work to re-seal the dam wall, and remove all the equipment which was scuttled into the water when BHP bailed. Aztec I think are the ones looking into it - be interesting to see if they go ahead with starting it up again.

I think all those abandoned fossil sites might slowly start coming back into vogue in the not too distant future as the price of energy continues to soar. I guess it has a lot to do with what the asking price for a tonne of coal will be in the next 10-20 years. But the proposed carbon trading scheme could put the kybosh on it anyway.

I guess we'll just have to 'watch this space'.

Cheers,

H2H.

Footnote: they announced today that they are going to bring the Turrum project online in Bass Strait - a $1.4 billion oil and gas project. Fossil ain't dead yet mate...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 27, 2008 5:35 PM

oldergent.............come on man...........out of the pit and into the opencut of life........youv'e got it man forget about the nicknockers , there all winery buffs now, no more coal dust just a 1974 Tyrells Monastry.

Posted by: waternympho at July 27, 2008 5:01 PM

h2h57,
gone are the days when I forced the Breweries to put an afternoon shift on to keep up to me,lol. Yes most of the blokes in those days in the industry, weren't too bad, tough men, usually fair. But those that weren't were absolute mongrels, they were usually quickly sorted out and pissed off. They seemed to gravitate up that way after the big money but usually did not want to work for it. The Territory in those days was a mans graveyard and a womans Paradise, no such things as squealing for equality, from the ladies, they had too many priviledges to lose. Yair had a lot of mates amoungst the Diamond drillers, up there and one down South. Was amazed at the lenghts they would go to to retrieve a lost bit, and the wails when they couldn't, I understood when I found out the cost of them. I live away about 50 klms from the open cuts in the Hunter but you feel and then hear when they are blasting. I have a in-law in the game, also had a mate visit today, he was a Deputy in the pits around the Cessnock area a ways back, I showed him your posts and he was facinated, gone home to google Koolan he could not believe that it was so far under sea level. But he was a Goanna boy. Then John Darling pit went about 3 miles out to sea, on a couple of units. I could not understand why the fossil hunters did not exploit those units before they closed the mine down, and now have probably lost that chance forever.

I will have to see what the next month or so brings, if it doesn't pan out I would love to have a beer or several with you, if it works out, maybe in a years time me might, then I might have some more "whoppers" to share about fossils.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 27, 2008 4:31 PM

OG - Yep, I reckon they'd run out of beer if we got a group of us together reminiscing about 'the old days'. Labouring in that gold mine was a real eye opener. Like I said before, I was mainly a Geo, but I always enjoyed being with 'the boys'. Hell, they're good enough to work with, they're good enough to drink with. Most of them are pretty genuine blokes. A lot of Geo's were snobs - I'd rather share a few sherberts with the drillers than the 'egg-heads'. LoL. I used to have a pretty good rapport with my drill crews. I actually ran a small Mindril rig myself once, so I respect a driller who knows his ground.

I also did some powder-monkey work, and watching an expert can do with delays is truly a work of art. Throw it to the left, and heap it like it was put there by a machine. Magic. From the small 6-plugs of jelly gold mine shots right up to the 70,000 tone ore shots up north, it was all good. 14 metre deep 14 inch holes takes some nitro to fill! Man, it sure is something to see petrol-tankers full of anfo filling holes. And as the siren rang, the whole island used to shake when the button was finally pressed. Simply awesome stuff.

I've read recently that, due to the increase in iron ore base price, they are going to re-open Koolan Island. No mean feat, when you consider most of the No1 Pit was a long way below sea level when BHP finally scuttled it. I Google-Earthed it the other day, and to my surprise, they mined all the areas I drilled back in the 80's. I got an immense sense of achievement and satisfaction when I saw that.

We might just have to get together sometime and have a good old yarn - and a few brews... :)

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 26, 2008 7:23 PM

Oh, h2h @ 9.21 pm.
It is so good to find someone nowadays that has been there and done that "no shit", yair the "crib in the rock mines were a lot different to the coalies crib (which was the eating room) occupied by the pywyes if you did not secure the crib. Still if the rockies crib went up when you were coming down you went up a lot faster. Wasn't it amazing, if something went arse up you could always go up faster than you went down. Only worked a couple of rockies, tin in the territory and not for long, back in the South, supposed to be gold or uranium, for the silly bastard who owned it, when I did an assay for him it was 37% copper, so rich it was silly, and the silly idiot gave it away to one of the biggies for a song. To this day I would like to know how they got their hands on the assay report. But Gordon was one of those "educated types" that knew every thing. As far as I know the biggie is still sitting on it.
I have met types like your mate, no brains but an ability to have no fear and a ton of luck with explosives. We had a powder monkey up at the jungle whose favourite trick was to set a large "bull quartz" maybe half to a ton. put a quarter plug on, pug it up. put his hat on it set it off, shatter it, then pick his hat of the top of the pile. but that was only on the ones I couldn't shatter with the sledge in about 10 whacks, seems we could both read the rock.
Back to the scary things, I used to sit on the first belt chitter picking, on the first run of all I grabed the det cables and pulled, they kept running up the belt so I held on then over all the noise of the crusher I heard this "PLOP" behind me, walked back through the dust and found 16 sticks of gelly,that had somehow been, jumped, dets still attached. I reckon I shat spaghetti for a week, but made bloody sure my workers did turn and turn about chitter picking. The bosses never did get to find out how, but all noticed when I had the crusher running they were conspicious by their abscence.

h2h, love to have a beer with you and a few mates I have found on the blogs, reminise about the good times and bite their noses off when the say "CRAP"
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 26, 2008 4:46 PM

*eeesh* OG - you've just brought back a truckload of memories from that old 'rat hole'. That joint was an accident waiting for a place to happen - we were just sH*t-lucky no-one got badly hurt. It was set in the Adelaide Hills in distinctive clay territory. In Qld or NT, you'd probably be mining Opals in it.

Main entry was down 110 feet of ladder, no stays. Half-way down, it would pull away from the wall. If it came away enough, there were no rungs under your feet for the next couple of steps. You'd have to 'monkey-bar' it down until your boots connected with something. Finally down the initial descent, there was another 30 footer to the 'crib'. Interesting little cut-out in the clay behind the ladder at eye-level - that's where the dets were kept. Don't sneeze or f*rt - it would be your last.

We had a 'devils staircase' that went down 20 odd feet in an arc. It got converted to a chute by lining it with corry. We'd muck the 'ore' out (mostly clay with traces of silver and copper - I reckon the only gold came from a 12-guage shell) and schuss it down the chute, where it was mucked back into 44's, then dragged along a mono-rail of 4-inch piped buried in the middle of the floor, then on to the bottom of the winch-shaft. The 'talc' clay made it pretty easy to drag via a t-piece stuck through a rather nasty, sharp hole punched into the top lip of the drum. The only time it was a really hard slog was if there was a lot of quartz, or the clay got wet - then it stuck like poo to a blanket :)

I was sitting at the top of the chute having Smoko one day, and kept hearing this 'scuttle, scuttle, thump... scuttle, scuttle thump!' It was Dave-o coming UP the chute. The corry was well flattened by this stage, and the 'talc' made it as slippery as a used car salesman. He'd come up 3 metres, then slide back 2. As he rounded the bend, I noticed all this crap dangling from the front of his overalls. Turned out to be 8 safety fuses, all neatly attached to dets already in the Jelly (to save time, you know). The main 'package' was safely shoved down into his crotch. I'm sitting there thinking "if he slips onto his belly, I won't even have time to kiss my @ss goodbye...'

Yep... memories...

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 25, 2008 9:41 PM

kurli @ 4.38pm
you never forget the sensation of the deck falling away from under you, I can still remember it as if it was yesterday.
I was the original Crusher operator at Rum Jungle, the noise and vibration I remember well.I could imagine the great delight they had in telling you about the explosives.
Understood about your hubby.

Hi h2h57.
your qualified if you have been down the hole in the ground gold mine, in the coal parlance they were called "rat holes". When I was young I used to go on Saturdays to help and older friend who was a contract miner. The shot holes were podgered out, the "gelly" was jelly nearly, cheaper than the good stuff, but gingerly was how you tamped the hole, then a lot of on your knees shoveling and picking the face, you did your own timbering and every thing used you paid for, then when you had filled the 6 hundredweight skip it was back to it and move it out to the junction. That was the most dangerous of all the mines I have been in.
The uranium ore was originally mined underground at Rum Jungle, then they contracted a mob called Wimpeys to do the open cut, mainly staffed by the mad irish, Hard, hard men. So many stories about them, but not for telling, you get called a liar on some of them, even my kids look sideways at me, and they know I always have a grain of truth in them, they find that grain hard to believe even. That place was budgeted at 5 million pound to start production it cost 25 million at opening and they had to import a drum of "yellow cake" from the states for old Bob to put his hands in for the press photos at the opening, we hadn't produced an ounce of it at that time.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 25, 2008 8:06 PM

Not sure if I fully qualify to be "allowed" into this blog - I used to be Geo on the Iron Ore up north on Koolan, various quarries around the place, and spent a reasonable time swinging a pick in a down-the-hole gold mine trying various innovative ways of getting killed :)

Posted by: heart2heart57 at July 25, 2008 6:51 PM

OG@1.48pm:
Not only did I get a "free fall" on the first trip,but also they gleefully told me that the lift was carrying explosives! :-)

Then my "guide" showed me his favourite place for 20 minutes.........the primary crusher........my bones still vibrate thinking of it!

p.s they couldn't sack DH as he was not employed by them!

Posted by: kurli at July 25, 2008 4:38 PM

Hi kurli @12.42 pm.

Did they "free fall" the cage for you, a particularly stomach somewhere above your head feeling and a down round your ankle feeling when the override brake came on.
You are right it is one of the least glamorous jobs going. We only have one u/g mine left in the area I think, and men are fighting to get employed there, strange creatures. Hell I can imagine the payout he would cop if they knew you were his wife, but I bet they were polite and respectful to you.

So that is why she wanted me to go on Wiki, wonder what would happen if I used her name,lol.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 25, 2008 1:48 PM

OG @7.22 on July 22

I never went below surface in a coal mine,but was privileged to drop to 23rd level in Mt Isa a couple of times (DH was in the industry) and that blew away all preconceived notions of glamour!
After that I felt that the U/G blokes deserved every dollar and then some-----particularly coal miners!

As for the gear worn! Walked past my husband three times and didnt recognise him..........maybe the fact that I was the only female "below" those days had something to do with him "recognising" me :-)

And for OG last night:
Type Wykepedia into your web search....and we'll never hear from you again.(VBG)

Posted by: kurli at July 25, 2008 12:42 PM

blueeyedblond.
Strike me lucky woman, glad you were not down the pits in my days. It would have been mayhem and we would have never made production bonus in a year LOL, you and jen would have been a real distraction.
Then their were others that would have been glad to see oohlala.

oohlala @6.15pm
Yes oohlala I will ask you a question.
"how do you use wikepedia?"
Oh Lord its hard to be humble lol.
Cheers OG

Posted by: oldergent at July 24, 2008 11:14 PM

oldergent......wikepedia is such a wonderful tool...............ask me a question ?

Posted by: oohlalalala at July 24, 2008 6:15 PM

I think it is to confuse and distract us Jen. So we will become blubbering messes hithering and tithering with our high beams on for hours at a time( false nips are a reality) cheeks colored to mimic the flush of arousal, now 'wet look' red lipsticks doing their best to mimic you know what and cleverly made up eyes to say 'come hither'. Maybe to lull us into a false sense of security only to find that joga really has taken to the cloth and Marcus is actually a Metro Man.

Posted by: blueyedblond at July 23, 2008 11:18 AM

I do believe that there is a dating site for miners looking for a partner??? Anyone know anything about that?

Posted by: blueyedblond at July 23, 2008 9:53 AM

Missrule,
Actually I did attend the subterranean mining school run by the BHP at Burwood Colliery at Redhead (Newcastle) back in the early 1950's. It was mainly for junior men and we still had to pay into the union for the honour of working there. Burwood was selected because it was a clean pit(not gassy) and had a pretty stable seam to work. We were taught to be familiar with all the machinery and safety procedures (unless of course safety got in the way of production, then it went out the window) of course the main machinery we were allowed to use was a shovel. On completion of the course we were assigned to other pits in the area. Pit ponies were still in use at that time. Forget any romantic nonsense, a production pit was a dangerous, dirty, and roughhouse place to work. The only attraction was the wages, paid, but when you took into account the amount of time we were on strike it worked out to a bit over the average wage. Still there were fascination sights down there that were not seen by the ordinary person.
Cheers OG.

Posted by: oldergent at July 22, 2008 7:23 PM

Do they have subterranean teachers then? I might apply, though not if I have to wear one of those daggy yellow titfers.

I think this category has been invented by Ellida just so she can use that pun in the headline. As a former journo I have to say that I "dig" it (groan).

Posted by: missrule at July 22, 2008 6:23 PM