“They might let us take a tour of the underground mine tomorrow!”
My workmate announced with excitement as he stepped into my office. Instead of responding, I considered the enthusiasm of his statement with the idea of spending any significant proportion of time in an underground coal mining operation.
“They’re shutting down production tomorrow so this will be our last chance to see it!” He carried on breaking up the silence.
“Umm, I guess that would be a good experience,” I admitted while attempting to hide my reluctance in the matter.
Production was not shutting down for the Christmas holidays. It was shutting down because the demand for coal had responded to the current global economic crisis. The multinational mining company, Xstrata, could no longer find buyers for their massive stockpile of coked coal, which has been extending its way closer and closer to the backside of my office trailer. Coked coal is a valuable grade of coal that is mainly used in blast furnaces for steel production. The demand for steel would suffer drastically as construction and manufacturing companies struggle to attain financing and survive a recession. Hundreds of jobs within Xstrata would vanish by the end of the week but fortunately for me, I have recently been contracted to Oaky Creek coalmine, which just happens to be the world’s largest reservoir of coked coal.
After hours of paperwork and induction formalities, we jumped into an odd-looking personnel transporter and began our tour of the underground operations. The descent gave me childhood flashbacks of Disneyland, as the atmosphere was somewhat a mix between Space Mountain and the Haunted Ghost House. We relied on headlamps clipped to the front of our hardhats to expose the tunnel walls as there was barely any fixed lighting in the tunnels. As the maintenance crew continued their hectic daily routine, we Geologists began inspecting the outcrops of coal with curiosity.
As the tour continued, the atmosphere shifted to something out of a sci-fi video game. We ducked under pipes and climbed over conveyor belts and used isolation rooms to move between areas of varying air pressure. A heavy belt supported my headlamp battery and emergency respirator, which I’d often mistake for a gun holster and pouch of grenades I’d need to defend myself from attacking aliens. I was busy visualizing all the places where the brain suckers could possibly hide when I felt my foot sink into a puddle of coal-saturated sludge. A water main had sprung a leak in a narrow corridor along the main conveyor and flooded about 20 meters of the tunnel to knee height. The rest of the tour was about to become much more uncomfortable.
Each step I took now carried the weight of a soaked leather steel cap boot and ended with a squish while my back complained about the unnatural weight distribution of my utility belt. I was now eagerly awaiting our return to the surface, which we wouldn’t be seeing for at least two more hours. We ended up spending a considerable amount of time in the underground lunchroom where the miners were discussing the probability of being employed in the New Year. If there is anything more miserable than a dimly lit lunchroom in an underground coal mine, it is one full of men with absolutely no job security. I have been warned that in times like these, it is best to avoid the local pub in the evenings as the miner’s resentment towards contractors and immigrants can instigate alcohol lubricated altercations. Perhaps forgetting to furnish us contractors with the standard underground rubber boots wasn’t just an honest mistake…
As we looped back to the vehicle, we turned down a dusty pathway where the air became so thick that the light from my headlamp couldn’t even reach the ground directly beneath my feet. Using my hands to cover my face was just useless as it was embarrassing as black streaks traced across my mouth and nose. When I emerged from the underground with black smudges all over my face and tattered clothing, I truly looked like the part of a 1950’s miner portrayed in movies. Touring the underground was definitely the experience I previously anticipated but nevertheless, I’ll be happy to spend the remainder of my days exploring the surface of Australia.
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