The Mining Report

This edition comes to you from Coober Pedy – the opal capital of the world – where it is 38 degrees C and I am sitting under the shade cloth in my wet bathing suit, sipping a gin and tonic. Life is not too bad!

Since our last update we have travelled pretty much due north in search of the sun….which we’ve found obviously. We headed first to Roxby Downs, a mining town of completely different proportions to Coober Pedy and then on to the Oodnadatta Track which runs along the old Ghan Railway line. We travelled very close to Lake Eyre and then up to William Creek, where we cut over to Coober Pedy.

Dennis will fill you in on the highlights of this part of the trip. I’m going to chime in on two more general themes. The first is to share my observations about the mining industry that drives this country – having now been to 6 different mining towns. Theme two is what I call the “caravan park dance” – my interpretation of the strange rituals that occur when you pull into a caravan park.

So, let’s start with opal mining. We’ve now been in three opal towns – Lighting Ridge, Andamooka (very close to Roxby Downs) and now Coober Pedy. The interesting thing about opal mining is that it is still very much an individual prospector’s game. Even today, one can rock up to one of these towns, stake a 50m x 50m claim and start digging. As a result the character of the opal mining town is unique and a throwback to frontier days. You can still expect to see down and out prospectors waiting to get rich – and enjoying quite a few beers while they wait. It’s gambling – but with the added benefit of lots of physical labour – so at least if you don’t get rich, you’ll probably get fit!

The reason opal mining remains such an individual sport (rather than a corporate game) is that the risk/benefit equation simply doesn’t make sense for a company like BHP. It’s one thing for a prospector to go hungry for years hoping for a big find – it’s quite another for a corporation to pay miners’ salaries for years hoping for a payback one day soon.

The opal mining towns all look and feel pretty much the same……rows and rows of small slag heaps, beat up old mining equipment everywhere, and beat up old miners behind them. Despite the heat, dust and hard work, these are hopeful and colourful places – with faces from all over the world arriving to make their fortunes.

Mining for silver, gold, uranium etc is another kettle of fish altogether – this is big business. What strikes me most about this end of town is how important the union movement has been in this industry and what a complete about face has occurred in terms of corporate citizenship in the mining game. We’ve been to 3 different “corporate” mining towns – Silverton, which is now a ghost town, Broken Hill, which is still mined but getting close to being tapped out, and Roxby Downs, which is the settlement that supports Olympic Dam mine which only started up 20 years ago, and is expected to continue to grow for the next 70-100 years.

The conditions in the mines in Silverton and Broken Hill in the “bad old days” were extraordinarily terrible. Most miners died before they turned 40, their lungs shredded by mica, or poisoned by the water supply. Yet, in the Dreamtime Mine that we toured near Silverton, only 2 people were ever officially reported to have died from mining related causes. This is because the company operating the mine at the time bribed the doctors to have them report the deaths as heart attacks so that the mining company would have no responsibility to support the miner’s family. Yet looking at the big BHP mining operation near Roxby Downs it is plain to see the investment being made in ensuring that miners and their families are comfortable, in giving back to the local and national community and in helping to manage the local environment. I realize that the mines have only changed because they’ve had to….but it’s refreshing to see them leading the way in triple bottom line thinking!

Having said that, Roxby Downs was kind of a weird place if you ask me. Felt like a plastic copy of someone’s idea of the perfect 1950’s town. Virtually no multi-culturalism, only white faces here. Clearly nothing better to do than procreate, everywhere you look young mothers with babies and toddlers “having coffee and a chat”. The people who live there love it – and don’t want growth to come for fear it will spoil their perfection. But I thought it was a bit too “Stepford Wives” – made me nervous.

Now, about caravan parks. These are strange places with their own unique culture – although I suspect that this culture is largely driven by middle Australian attitudes. In any case, when you do pull into a caravan park it will usually take only about 5 minutes before the “caravan park dance” commences. One or two men will start to wander over toward your camper. “Owyagoinmate” is the beginning of the ritual, followed immediately by “whereyacominfrom”. These are merely the openers before we move into the really serious part of the dance…..is the Toyota or the Nissan the better vehicle, how many batteries are you carrying, what mileage are you getting, how much did you pay for that camper. As the conversation progresses, men who were once mild-mannered office workers suddenly become auto mechanics – each man tries to outdo the other in terms of their expertise and experience. I swear you can almost see the peacock feathers start to fan out!

Meanwhile, the women rush to the laundry facilities to ensure that they are able to hang out the clothes before it gets too late in the day. I’ll tell you what is really scary….I am finding that I am becoming one of those women rushing off to the laundry! Dennis, of course, has polished up his feathers to a fabulous shine and becomes more expert with every caravan park entered.

And now for the REAL STORY FROM DENNIS (by the way, have put in a good close up of Dennis’ beard – I think he needs an earring to go with it, what do you think??)….

Roxby Downs as you would know is a mining town with the world’s largest Uranium deposit, we cruised in to find some warm weather and we certainly got that, with just a little wind and a good place to relax just prior to going really bush . The town is remarkable in that it is purpose built with most mod cons and Telstra has done a good job here. On Saturday I played golf at the Roxby Golf club, quite an experience with many local rules including white pegs to designate the fairway and players carry a piece of artificial turf which may be used on the fairway, this was fun and I played with 2 guys ( you guessed it, Miners) the best thing about living in Roxby is the lifestyle, no crime or drug problems and kids love it.
A chance to fuel up and then off to William Creek via the Oodnadatta track, with a bush camp at Coward Springs an old Ghan railway station with a natural spa from the Artesian basin we collected old firewood form the train line and had a great fire and a few beers.
William Creek has an airfield a pub and 12 residents, pretty ordinary really so we booked a flight over Lake Eyre for the next morning and chilled out. The flight was in a 4 seater Cesna and we flew over the lake ( see pics) by this time there is not much water and we didn’t see any wild life, we did see the camp site that we had planned to visit however with nothing there to see we headed off the Coober Pedy to find that elusive Opal. Not a bad spot really with a Caravan Park with a Pool we put up camp and waited for a part for the camper to arrive, this could have been 4 – 5 days however it arrived in 2 and we had a new fan fitted and now back on track with equipment. The temperature at the time of blogging is 38 degrees with a cool change expected tomorrow so we are sitting in an underground café. I mentioned the Opal, well we found it! Yes the shops are full of it and if you look closely at a photo you will see Stephanie’s birthday present hanging around her neck ( her birth stone is ……………. you guessed it the Opal so I was quite excited to oblige). We have done the tourist thing and seen the underground mines, houses, churches and museums and generally had a great time in the pool. We have decided to stay over one more day and to go camping underground tonight so this will be interesting, tomorrow we go back out bush travelling and staying on Cattle Stations on the way to Oodnadatta. I asked a couple of locals in Coober Pedy what the best thing about living here is and they said the freedom to do what you want and the lack of Bullshit out here, I also think that the tax man may miss out on a bit out this far.

WANTING A CLOSE UP LOOK AT “THAT BEARD”?

For more pictures click through to www.flickr.com/photos/dennisandsteph.