Today we visited the largest coal mine in the southern hemisphere (BMA stands for BHP Mitsubishi Alliance). I remember going to a mine as a young kid, and being in awe at the size of the machinery. Sounds exciting, but unfortunately this tour was a bit pathetic and the boys were totally bored. We didn’t even see any coal!!!

The tour was run by the Blackwater International Coal Centre. The guide, Vicky, was fine, but unfortunately we didn’t get to see much – some open pits where they had removed some overburden, and were preparing to remove more, some glimpses of a drag line removing overburden, and mostly distant views of dump trucks.

I suspect it is in part due to overly onerous safety requirements. The level they go to is extreme, to the point of being ridiculous – every car (including general/personal cars in the general carpark) has to be parked with the wheels up against a little speed bump in case someone forgets to put the handbrake on! I’m not sure how the rest of Australia manages without this essential safety insight….

Anyway, here are a few pics I took. Yes, we are in long shirts and pants due to safety requirements – wouldn’t want to get sunburn or bird droppings on your head. Many are at high zoom, so these pics provide a far better view than what we actually saw!

Dressed for the tour

Dump trucks

We at least got reasonably close to this one being moved

Pit with overburden being removed.

Zoomed in. Drilling holes for explosives

dump truck unloading in distance, some buckets a little closer

another pit

zoomed x20 at far end of pit

zoomed right in on dump truck on hill long away

Glimpse of dragline through van window

Replacement turntable for dragline being manufactured. Big thrust bearing basically!

Coal from this mine goes to Gladstone for export. The mine uses 8 B-double loads of fuel every day!

Not every day can be exciting I guess. We did drop into the Ag Grow show at Emerald late in the day and I had a quick look around, but they were in the process of finishing up for the evening so didn’t get a good look. Not surprisingly a bit more relaxed and ‘country’ in style than the Brisbane Ekka!