With a reputation for producing a decent slice of Australia's gold bullion, it's not surprising that it's one of the biggest open cut mines in the world.
This massive operation, known as the Super Pit forms part of the 'Golden Mile', It's the richest square mile of gold bearing earth in the world.
The Super Pit, is a dwarfing experience. At 320 metres deep, about 3km long and 1.4km wide this massive man made hole in the ground makes an awesome sight.
While it's not possible to enter the pit, which operates 24 hours a day, we still get a feel for it's enormity from the lookout platform.
The view is amazing - giant mining trucks with tyres taller than the average person look more like Tonka toys as they make their way to the deep base of the mine.
The Super Pit produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold every year and its operation far outweighs any other mining centre in Australia. It is the biggest gold open pit mine in the country.
It can be seen from space !!
This gives you an idea how big they are !!
This is a Komatsu PC8000 hydraulic face shovels. They are a primary loading machine. The shovel weighs about 650 tonnes and can pick up around 55 tonnes in it's bucket. It can fill a truck with 4 or 5 buckets and can do this in about 2.5 minutes. They have four of these shovels at the mine
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One of the important jobs in the Super Pit is ensuring that the walls of the pit are safe. One way we do this is by 'pulling the batters'. They use an excavator like this one to go along the walls behind the shovel and pull off any loose material that may have been left on the walls. In oxide near the surface this involves shaping the wall until it is at a certain angle (eg 55 degrees). In sulphide where the walls are much harder, it is generally a case of just removing any loose material that might come down later on.
This dozer, is responsible for keeping the floors of the pit and dumps level. They do this by using high precision GPS data. Using the GPS satellites, the dozers can keep the floors to within 30 centimetres of design. The dozers are also responsible for making sure there are no sharp rocks sticking out of the ground, or that any rocks that fall off the back of the trucks are removed as quickly as possible. This protects the tyres of the trucks from damage.
This was an amazing experience.... I'm sure my son will love reading about this as he drives machine like these every day only a much smaller version... I bet he would like to get his bum in one of these seats and have a go !!
After lunch we headed to the golf course....which was another total delight !!
What a pleasure to play on a green lawn ... they even gave us a golf cart free to get to the holes... that was MY job to drive it... what fun I had....
We had great fun today...and I'm looking forward to going with John when he plays golf again...so I can drive him around the golf course...John wants me to try and learn how to play... perhaps I will hire some golf clubs and have a go...Cannot use John's as he is left handed :(
Final hole
Ok the final results.... John scored 111 on a Par 75 course so I think he did very well considering the terrain he had to play on... and if he takes his handicap off which is 25, he would have a score of 86.. so well done Darling !!!! And he gets a certificate to prove it..
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