So it's Wednesday I believe. Another day of inductions. Which really means another day taking it easy and enjoying myself. Can't complain, I have enjoyed myself so far, still amazed every day by different things. Learnt about some of the different services in the mine (air, water, drains) and how to manufacture and repair the hoses. When I say hoses, we are talking anything from 2 inch pipe to 6 inch, holding a few thousand PSI inside. Everything uses a special fitting called a Minsup fitting. It uses a twist style interlock, and is secured by 2 minsup pins (like a bent bit of metal really). Pretty cool stuff.
So yes, quite an easy day, same with Thursday. Happy Australia Day all. I spent it reading my book and listening to the Hottest 100 on Triple J. Had a few beers with lunch, and put my feet up for the day. Also, whilst we are on the subject of books, I got recommended Clive Cussler as an author, and I just read Dragon. Fantastic book and I will be reading a lot more of his novels now. Similair style to Matthew Reilly (one of my favourites) with a fast paced action, 1 man against a nation style story so very entertaining and hard to put down
A 2 inch hose I manufactured. Minsup fitting on the end.
10L workshop. Complete with 15 tonne overhead crane.
Anyway, Thursday down, onto Friday and my final day of inductions. Another pretty easy day, sort of, we spent most of the day driving around the mine familarising ourselves with different areas. Although "easy" it does tend to get to you with all the bumping up and down etc. not a comfortable ride that's for sure. The crew I have been with this week has been alot of fun, only 4 of us but it's been a laugh a minute. From the young bloke telling us he sends his missus to check the fuse box when the power goes out (as he is too afraid) to learning about a doctor who gives out Viagra samplers at Christmas, I have hardly stopped laughing. But as with all good things, it must come to an end. We didn't get run over (always a positive) and somehow managed to find our way up and out of the mine only to find it bucketing down. 30mm today they reckon, apparently it does rain in Isa, although it's normally a large shower, not constant rain they say. All I know is it is so damn loud when it rains and I am in my donga, that it makes my aircon seem quite. And that's like sleeping with a haul truck next to you.
An underground power sub station.
So after all that, another day was almost at an end. I hung around for an hour so I could meet my "superintendent" (everyone has fancy titles around here) and get an idea when I was meant to start, and what I would be doing. He wants me to get into the automation side of things which sounds really interesting. Basically part of this tele-remote system I was talking about a few days ago. It is officially known as MineGem. First, you take a 45 tonne front end loader (or a mucker), then you remove the driver, had some sensors, a computer up on the top level, and your away. There is 3 modes of operation, full manual (Im sure you can guess how that works), Co-Pilot mode, and Automatic. Co-Pilot mode leaves the operator in control but uses the sensors etc to ensure the vehicle always maintains set distances from walls etc and therefore it is the most common mode. The operator points in a general direction and the unit will navigate its way there basically. Automatic however, you set a pre-programmed path (from a drive (where the ore comes from) to an ore pass (where it is collated for removal to the crusher) for example) and the machine will drive itself there. This allows the operator to concentrate on the important parts, and manage multiple machines at once. Apparently the scale on which the automation is being carried out at GFM, is the largest and most advanced in the world. The team I will be working with are creating world first's in some of this technology and I will have the opportunity to not only learn it but be part of some fantastic design, research and development of new and improved systems. So I am pretty excited, and terribly nervous. I think my background in Avionics and my skills in IT should give me the skills and knowledge to fit in quite well. The team is a fairly new crew, so everyone is in the same boat and I am really looking forward to learning more about it all. The scale of such an operation is immense and mind boggling, and its going to take me a few weeks to start to get my head around it all I think.
So yes, another great day up here in the Isa, with plenty more to come. Will find out on Monday when I will be going home, but time has flown so far. Looking forward to my first day of "work" tomorrow. Thought I would also leave you with a video I did of driving around the minesite. Hope you enjoy.
P.S. I was looking at the page stats. 7 views from the US, not bad at all, but the 3 from Russia are rather odd. Hopefully they come bearing Vodka.
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