I was on the road by 8.30 am so I had enough time to grab a coffee before the tour departed. It was yet another hot, sunny day, well it was until mid afternoon, lol!
We departed at 9.20 am and it did not take us long to get to the mine. The first gold was found in 1893 and it led to a gold rush as the area is one of the richest gold deposits in the world. There were over 40 separate mines with 100 headframes (the part that sits above ground). In the 1980's, Alan Bond, a wealthy Australian, started buying up the separate leases but the company failed and, in 2001, an American firm along with a Canadian firm bought the leases and formed a company with KCGM as the managing company (end of history lesson, lol!)
No-one can get in the area without passing through security and they have drug/alcohol testing, sometimes it is random sometimes all in the vehicle get tested. We were allowed to pass through, lol! On the way in there is a flattened ute that went under a dump truck, it was set up to show why you should give these trucks plenty of space, lol! Here is the link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5WZCweaakOg
There is a strong environmental plan in place at the mine. All the areas where the leftover ore has been dumped are being planted with grass and trees. With the regeneration of the ground, animals and birds are returning to the area and Hesse are being protected. There is also awareness of the effect on the town and precautions are taken to ensure that dust does not blow over the town.
It was not long before we saw some of the dump trucks that carry the ore from the pit to the the different locations it needs to go to depending on where it has come from. These trucks cost about $5 M and weigh about 160 tons, they usually carry 200 + tons of ore. If gold is found in the ore it will be between 400 and 500 grams! The tires are huge and very costly. We passed the repair shop and there were a couple of trucks waiting.
There are two machines the ore goes through, one takes the ore from the pit while the other takes ore from the underground mining. Some ore goes straight to processing while other ore gets dumped in special areas and is processed later. The ore from underground often contains wood and/or metal that was part of the original mines and they have squads of people who sort through to get this out of the ore.
The colours of the pit are incredible, the different ores being reflected in the different colours. The work they have done in digging the pit down safely is also incredible. We saw a pool of water built up from the mine which leaks water. This water is salt water and is used to water the roads when they get dusty.
The ore goes through a complex process to extract the gold and we were able to drive through thrill area to follow the machinery that performs this. The ore needs to be crushed and they use steel balls that look a bit like cannon balls, lol! They use various chemicals along with water to aid the process. We passed under a conveyor belt and the ground beneath was sparkling with tiny particles of gold.
We then left the pit and passed the tree that has been planted on the spot where the first told was found. There were actually three Irish men involved, Tom Shea and Tom Flanagan along with Paddy Hannan.
As we drove back into the town, the clock tower was pointed out as it is covered in gold leaf from the mine. The tour was well worth the money and the driver was so full of useful information, all I have done is try to summarise some of it, lol.
I wandered down to the Coffee Club again and after a coffee returned to the hotel. I was feeling rather hot as we had to wear long sleeves, long trousers and closed shoes. I had to contact the KCGM to see if I could use the photos I took, I uploaded them to FB and hope they are approved, lol! The weather had continued to be fine until a while after I got back to the hotel when a thunderstorm with heavy rain rolled in. It continued for some hours. We were lucky to have taken the tour this morning as the mine shuts down when lightning is around, just as a safety precaution.
Then all I had to do was pack ready to return to Perth tomorrow.
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