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Outback @ Isa was a tourist information and display centre:  Layered display of the below ground mine layers:  Aerial view of the mines:    Museum visitor - that's Bev's ticket, not his:  Mount Isa Mines tour:            These massive road trains are not allowed on public roads and have their own road from the mine to the refinery:           You might ne able to make out the green flame from the copper smelter:    All vehicles leaving the mines site must be washed to make sure there is no lead dust on them:   Mount Isa lookout:     |
Around Mount Isa
We were once again woken to the fresh loveliness of early morning sun
striking the shapely trunk of a huge gum tree outside the van and seeing its
long grey leaves rippling in the breeze. We were up and about quickly and
after the morning routine including retrieving the washing which had been on
the shared public clothes line all night – and to my relief, had not
disappeared – and after making a couple of calls to Sydney, we drove off to
Mount Isa Tourist Centre, leaving our table and chairs behind to mark our
spot.
The parking lot of the Tourist Centre was clearly arranged by
environmentally aware staff. Mount Isa is indeed a dusty town, but despite
this condition, someone was taking care of small plants and trees and doing
their best against great odds. Inside the centre, though it was still early,
people were milling about, planning their stay in the town. We were too late
to book in for an underground mine tour, but were content to book in for an
afternoon ‘surface’ tour of the mine. We also bought tickets for the mine
museum and fossil museum, both in the Tourist Centre building.
After browsing among the racks of tourist souvenirs for a while, we entered
the mine museum for an absorbing hour or more. Here were huge bits of
ancient mining machinery used in Mount Isa Mines which were begun in 1927.
Several photographic displays informed us of the union upheavals, the
overarching influence of the company on the town and the impact of WWII on
the local community when many US soldiers came to stay for a period. As I
strolled around slowly, I noticed on the board flooring a very small lizard
the same colour as the floor on which he rested, no doubt escaping from the
baking heat outside. But the lizard sat so still I decided he must be a
child’s rubber toy in the shape of a lizard and stooped to touch him to see
if he felt like rubber. Immediately, the tiny creature attempted to bite my
finger. I was astonished and delighted at the same time. Bruce took
another photograph.
We moved on to the ‘Riversleigh’ Gallery, the name of the area just north of
Mount Isa where some rich finds of fossil material are still being
excavated. The gallery is set up to resemble rainforest, i.e. what the
environment would have been like when the excavated animals and birds,
forebears of today’s Australian creatures, were when alive and active. We
were impressed with the way the scene had been put together and with the
video showing how carefully paleo-ontologists work and how it is that animal
bones, quite by chance, are so well preserved.
After stopping for a drink and a snack in the kiosk, and still with time to
spare, we decided to walk around Mount Isa’s business centre. I was looking
for a cloth souvenir badge to add to my collection. Outside it was very hot
and dry. I felt as though we were walking into an oven and even though the
city was alive with activity, people everywhere, road trains grinding
through the main roads and the ubiquitous purple bougainvilleas blooming
effulgently everywhere, we were glad to retreat into various shopping malls
and their welcome air conditioning. Ultimately my search for a badge was
unsuccessful, though we saw much of Mount Isa town and in the process
bought some necessary provisions and yet another electronic gadget for
Bruce’s laptop. We were also aware of the strong presence of Indigenous
Australians among the throng of shoppers and ordinary business people and
wondered what inter-racial issues there may be here, if any.
Time was rushing along. We had to get a move on to be on time for what was
to be for me, perhaps the climax of our tour. Bruce hurried away to store
the shopping in the van frig and soon we were on the bus in front seats just
across from the driver, setting out on one of the most impressive excursions
of our holiday experience. The driver, himself a former miner of many years
experience, was chatty, amusing and very knowledgeable. He was careful to
explain the lengths the company goes to in its efforts to control dust
pollution from causing any harm to the city or its people. There is now a
company owned and managed green belt around the mine on the city side to act
as a dust brake. Everyone, even tourists sitting on a bus, must wear covered
shoes [two thong-wearing tourists had had to don company boots for the
journey] and every vehicle leaving the mine has first to pass through a
thorough spray and wash machine.
Mount Isa has silver, lead, zinc and copper deposits, each of which is mined
and processed in different ways. First the metals are excavated. To me, the
most impressive sight of all was to look into a vast open-cut mine. Huge
dump trucks drive slowly round the inside of the mine up and down roads dug
in spiral fashion around the mine’s sides. We were informed that several
young women were drivers of these huge vehicles whose tyres cost $50,000
each as we were regularly reminded by our driver-guide. Apparently, women
drivers are sought after by management because they are quicker than men to
notice and act when something goes wrong with their enormously expensive
vehicles and therefore they do less damage to them.
We drove past gigantic processing mills and smelters, noting that much of
Isa’s product is transported in long trains of bins to Townsville for export
or local distribution. We saw old mills, no longer in use, being pulled down
and new ones being constructed. We were given a careful tour around the
copper processing mill and could see the huge ovens where the ore is smelted
before being cooled and poured into moulds to become pure copper anodes. The
machinery to move heavy materials around is itself huge and impressive. Our
guide explained carefully how MIM even disposes of its waste sulphurous
gases. These are now cooled and processed into sulphuric acid and used in
making phosphates for fertilisers.
Our drive around this amazing and productive mine, set among such a harsh,
yet richly coloured and powerful natural outback environment is
unforgettable. I felt quite overwhelmed by what we had seen and stayed
quiet for a long time afterwards, adjusting to what I had absorbed. Bruce
was still keen to drive to a local city lookout so we spent some time at
this vantage point absorbing the whole Mount Isa scene. Suburbs are now
spreading further out among the red-brown hills and are a green and
softening contrast to their vast, austere surroundings.
Back in our van, we got through the evening routine. I took a welcome
shower, refreshing after such a long day in the heat and did another small
basket of washing, using the time to reflect on the long-forgotten
experience of childhood of being out in the heat and sun all day, not
concerned with everyday hassles and able to enjoy feeling pleasantly
fatigued, yet refreshed by a shower. It was a relief to plod about in my
old clothes and thongs, quite at home among other holiday makers all
similarly attired.
Things were not quite so felicitous for Bruce, back in the van. His new
electronic gadget should have enabled him to connect his laptop computer
into Telstra’s ‘phone system and send and receive messages that way. But, as
happens all too often, there were glitches and a ‘head banging’ exercise was
in process when I returned. I was amused but prudently kept this fact to
myself til he calmed down. We went to bed shortly afterwards. Tomorrow we
had another long drive ahead of us.