Gold FM Down Under - What An Experience

Posted by Gold FM on 10/10/2011

Gold FM staff were invited to take a tour down underground by Newmont Waihi Gold with other local media last Thursday.

After meeting at the Golden Legacy Centre on Morseby Ave our tour guide Kit Wilson supplied us with overalls, gumboots, safety glasses and helmets which were all required to be worn. After a bit of a struggle by some of us to squeeze into overalls not designed for curvy bodies (no names mentioned) it was off in the car to the site of the Favona mine portal which is situated by the Mill on Baxter Road.

An induction followed with Newmont mine engineer Charlie Gawith explaining the rules that absolutely need to be followed to stay safe while underground. We were told what to expect and shown how to use safety equipment if something should go wrong while we were down below.
We were reassured that it was a very slim possibility that anything could go wrong and that by going through the safety processes prescribed we were unlikely to have any problems, and if we did we knew what to do.

We fitted a belt with a battery pack, safety equipment and miners light attached and trooped into a 4 wheel drive vehicle driven by Charlie that was definitely a work horse. Then we were off through the portal and driving along a single lane sized track winding deep down beneath Union Hill.

While we entered through the Favona Portal we ended up exploring Trio.

It wasn't cold down in the mine and it wasn't hot either and huge overhead pipes pumped air around the mines. We stopped and Charlie showed us how a vein of ore looks in the mine face. It's not what you'd expect. No glittering or shining and it's not that luxurious soft golden colour you expect gold to be.

We saw a machine which was drilling holes into the rock face so that explosive charges could be packed into them. We stopped briefly to watch a worker in the back of another work horse 4 wheel drive seated in a comfortable chair watching 2 screens and using a remote control to drive a huge bogger machine which could load tons of ore per scoop in it's giant bucket. All those boys out there who sit hunched over computers with remote contols attached to their hands would be in gamers heaven to see the size of the vehicle the operator was moving around the mine with his thumbs.

Survival chambers which are located at points within the mine system were pointed out as we drove past them. They're designed to support staff with survival supplies in an emergency for up to 36 hours. We were shown the outer doors of a ladder which stretches from the bottom to the top of the mine which is for emergency use when all else fails. You'd need to be pretty fit to be able to make a hasty exit up that ladder.

Seeing a grader working down an underground mine came as no surprise after we'd seen trucks, boggers and 4 wheel drives vehicles moving around the mine network.

All in all it was quite a tour. A few laughs were had along the way and it's an unforgettable experience.

ps: A bag that was mislaid, because it slipped underneath the seat in the 4 wheel drive and was difficult to see because of the low light did not contain a single lipstick. There was no make up in the bag. It was used to cart around spare batteries, SD cards, microphones and other equipment and accessories  ... OK!!!

Newmont Waihi Gold mine engineer Charlie Galwith explains underground mine working protocols to Gold FM's Brian Gentil