Newman Mines and Rock

We started off today by waking up when it was only 5 degrees and trying to get the camp packed up so that we could get to the Visitor Centre to try and get a place in the tour of Mt Whaleback Mine. It wasn’t easy, because the metal parts of the tent were cold and our veins were cold to. Once all that was finished, we drove down to the Visitor Centre. It was about 8:30 and the Visitor Centre was open, so we went inside. We managed to each get a seat on the tour, which departed at 9:15. In the meantime we amused ourselves by having a look around the Shop then going outside to the garden, which had lots of old pastoral and mining equipment. We climbed on a few graders, one roller, one truck and looked at the Automatic Sheep Shearers, Diesel engines and other Machinery.

Before we got on the bus we had to adorn ourselves with safety goggles, hard hats and reflector vests in case we had to go down into the mine in an emergency. We drove passed a bit of Newman, then along the Mine Road. After climbing up a hill, we got  to a lookout where you could see all over the mine. This was a private lookout and you were not able to get up there unauthorised.

Once up there, we had a look around, then listened to the tour guide talk about the mine. They are currently undergoing Rapid Expansion stage 4 with stage six in mind. It is currently 5km long and 1.5km wide, but it is going to be almost twice as wide and a lot deeper. They are going to fill it with water in 30-60 years time when the mine runs out. They have temporarily stopped work for maintenance but there were still trucks taking the ore out of the mine. We got a free sample of the low grade, high grade and fine iron ore. 

Louis