Welcome to Cindy and David's 2013 Adventures
Note 23 - Newman
We drove down towards Newman and stayed a night at the Auski Roadhouse which even treated us to a duststorm just before we drove off the next day!
Above you can imagine meeting that size load on the road which in itself is only two lanes and doesn't have much of a shoulder! However, a team drives ahead and warns on coming traffic (us!) to get off the road or suffer the consequences! (it's mine truck parts!) Immediately above you have the two brothers working on some project or other in the workshop and on the right there we all are standing in front of their house with the dogs.
Lake Ophthalmia supplying water to the town of Newman
On the right is a memorial to Mr & Mrs Hilditch who discovered iron ore in 1957 in the area. There apparently was a much larger statue erected on a nearby hill but the local Aborigines had it removed because they claimed their serpent had stopped singing to them whilst it was there. H'm!
Each truck carries a total weight of 200 tonnes. When fully loaded it weighs 75 tonnes more than the take off weight of a 747 jumbo jet.
Mine tour. Mike above looking very much the miner! He and Laura have lived in Newman for four years and have settled in well with the local community. They have a lovely comfortable house and it's five minutes to work for Mike. (He isn't really a miner but works in the local office).
The iron ore mine is so far 40 yrs old but forecasts are for another 60 years. The mine is currently 5.5km long and 1.5km wide. Each step is 15metres deep. I am pleased to report that they are filling in the used mine and plan to rehabilitate the area as they go. The rail line is owned by BHP (who built it) and the trains average 3.75 km long.
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As told by the mine tour guide, the technology in this dam is very interesting.
It is fed by occasional unreliable flooding and uses Israeli technology to re-supply the sub-terranian aquifers, thus eliminating the extreme problems of evaporation in the Pilbara area.
It is fed by occasional unreliable flooding and uses Israeli technology to re-supply the sub-terranian aquifers, thus eliminating the extreme problems of evaporation in the Pilbara area.
Note the patterns of the blast hole drilling to the left of the 250ton haulers. They are about 500mm diameter and 17metres deep. They get charged with the simple but safe Ammonium Nitrate and Diesel explosive mixture.