Kalgoorlie day 2

Today we went on a tour of the super pit. It was quite an eye opener. They produce 60 kg of refined gold per day or 22 tons a year, its a massive operation. The square mile in the middle of the pit has been mined underground & open cut for over a hundred years & has produced more than 56 million ounces of gold, its the richest square mile on earth & one of the largest pits on earth, 3.9 kilometres long, 1.6 km wide & 540metres deep. Thats it, no more quoting the guide book, who gives a shit anyway, its big. We had the car serviced today & we leave for the Nullarbor tomorrow, so we probably won't have any internet for several days. After crossing we intend on having a couple of nights at Ceduna for a break, but as of tomorrow we are on the way home.

 The rock collection in a beautiful old building at the university it was really good & we were the only ones there.

 If you want to see this ute actually being squashed, then click on this link,   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WZCweaakOg  & you will see it happen.

 Part of the gold processing plant.

 There was a whole row of these monster machines, all dead. They cost 8 million each & only last about 6 or 7 years. I'm not too sure what they do.

 There were rows & rows & rows of these spare tyres for the big haul trucks @ $40,000.00 each

 This steel & timber is from the old underground mines of more than 100 years ago. Dug up when the open cut hits the old mine shafts.

 A really big watering truck. We drove all around the mine site & through the processing plant & even part way down into the pit, behind one of the big haul trucks.

 Yvonne looking into the pit.

A video of Yvonne & a big hole in the ground.

 The camera on zoom, looking into the pit.

 As above without zoom. The monster trucks seem very small.

 Part of the pit.

 At the very bottom of the pit. The neat holes are for tomorrows big blast.

 Pano of the pit.

 A zoom of the green pond at the bottom of the pit. Note the whole from previous underground workings. These exposed shafts are everywhere.

 A 200 ton load of ore going past on the level below us.

 A rock breaker, breaking up the larger rocks of this high grade ore ready for the crusher.

 A $40,000.00 blowout. They have this replaced & the truck back at work in under 45 minutes.

 Part of the processing plant.

 High grade ore stored under a dust cover to protect the town from some of the dust, as the pit is right on the edge of town. There used to be a town right where the pit is, but it got dug up.
There is a giant entrance to an underground mine in the side of the pit, it is currently being worked & extends all the way along under the main street of town.

 125mm steel balls for the rotary crushing mill.

 The rotating mill where the balls go.

 Stuff that does stuf that makes gold.

 There are large amounts of many poisonous chemicals here.

 This is processed ore, a carbon & gold mix. It then goes into some other big metal thing that gets rid of the carbon & leaves just the gold.

There are lots of really nice old buildings in town. This old clock tower was recovered in pure gold leaf about 2 years ago.