Day 7

Day 7 Newman

I can see what attracts the men North

I hope you are all sitting down comfortably and are ready for a story ( with lots of Maureen’s pictures) , the story of Mt Whale Back. Well it was Mt Whale Back, it is now Whale Back Pit. They have taken off the top 800m and are now about the same below ground level. Needless to say, Maureen and I went on the mine tour today. Got up at the crack of dawn – 7:00. Had breakfast and Maureen showered and washed hair – before going to a dusty mine, but these things just have to be done! Got to the Info Centre and decked ourselves out in the most fetching of outfits, Hi-Vis vest, Little blue hard hat and safety glasses. We waited for our bus to arrive and the lady let us on first and said to sit behind the driver. I think she did this so I did not hit anyone with my walking stick or had heard about my behaviour on the Rebel’s bus trips to games! Whatever, we got prime seats behind the driver and saw the best views.

Eastern Rock pit

North wall, won't be there soon, money here

Now for the story; it appears some weird guy (Stan Hilditch) was wandering around out here (1957) looking or magnesium, as one does, and he sent a rock sample back down for testing and there was no magnesium but it had 68.8% iron, pretty good apparently(highest grade in the world). Anyhow, BHP got to hear about it and in 1967 after some Commonwealth embargo (what for I have no idea and forgot to ask the tour guide) the mine was started and they extract Brockman Hematite and then because it is too good, they blend with some not so good rocks down to 65.1%. They have some satellite mines they extract the lower grade ore from for blending. 

South Wall, don't care no money there

Rail heading.

They have heaps of trains and train tracks to play with, largest privately owned rail system in the Southern Hemisphere! Big boys toys that they make trains with up to 324 carriages long with 6 engines driven by 1 driver and they go to Pt Hedland about 6 to 8 a day. Each trip takes about 8 hours each way. First shipment left Newman in 1969 and left Pt Hedland in April 1969, they did not say how long it sat around in Hedland before it was shipped, but I assume not too long. 

The hardware they use, trucks and excavators, well they are simply huge. They did not say how much the new trucks cost (one in 1973 cost $2.5 mill), I looked at buying one that was about 15cm long and it cost $125 so the new ones must be very expensive by the time you scale it up! Suffice to say, they have big tyres that last about 9 months before replacing, cost $40k each and they have a stack of them lying around. 

Look they missed a bit!

Rehab stuff middle right of picture

They have a heap of dollars invested and reckon they have capacity to go until about 2070. Then they are planning to close the mine and “rehabilitate” the place, well some of it. A small part of the mine will have all the overburden (waste material not worth processing) pushed into a whole and trees and native plants put on it. The big part of the mine will be left as is and because it is so deep, it is below the water table and it will fill up and create a huge lake, no cost there, although it would be nice if they could stock it with fish or something, even leave some machinery there as a dive site maybe.

So much room, I could do step class

Spare tyre next to spare tyre

I have a fact sheet that is full of stats about production and stuff like each truck comes with air conditioning(soft, it only gets up to 50C, just wind a window down), 2 way radio(who would want to talk to them anyway), power steering (don’t know why they need that), Dust suppression system ( did not say if it was for the user or so the truck did not kick up the dust, will check with my resident truck expert, Rob Crook, and get back to you) and a CD player, sheer luxury! It is full of that stuff so let me know if you want to know more.

Tonka toys at work in the money pit

The tour was fantastic, you go up to an observation area that looks right down into the pit and the processing/transport area. All is laid out and the lovely guide explains it all. There was no rush and plenty of time for pictures and questions. Got back to the Info Centre and they had morning tea organised with tea and scones (jam and cream of course). Absolutely worth every cent of the $30.

After the tour, went to the shops and restocked ready for Karajin National Park. We expect to stay there about 3 nights and do not know if we will have network access so the blog might slow up a little, but I will keep it in day by day episodes and upload it when we hit “civilisation” again. Maureen is doing a fantastic job with the camera and has produced some great pictures. 

Back at base roughing it

I am doing the blog a little early as we are going to go to Wireless Hill lookout tonight, not sure yet what we have to look out for, but I believe there are some fantastic views of Newman and the mine and night, lights up like a Christmas tree! They have BBQs there and the plan is to cook tea up there, salmon and salad, roughing it again! Actually, I am having another roughie lunch, Prawn Salad, life is so tough on the bottom rung. I think this trip is turning Maureen into an alcoholic. She has gone from 1 glass to a Cabury girl, "a glass and a half". had to drink mine real quick and she still managed to finish half of mine off!