Monday had arrived and it was time to sort out the Nissan Titan once and for all… Gordie had rung Cummins who said they could not assist, and it would take 2-5 days to get parts…

We had been booked on the morning tour of the Superpit however fortuitously the company called and said it was too foggy for the morning tour, but they could get us in the 1PM tour – which gave Gordie, Branch and MacGyver time to get stuck into the Titan!

Trev and Gordie went out to a bearing company, and they had a box of O-rings – however none suitable, but Trev saw 2 sitting across on the counter – the guy did not know where they came from but they tried one – it looked the right size and so the guy, Mark, gave it to them for free…

So back at the caravan park, remove and reinstall the fuel filter with the new O-ring…it seemed to fit snugly enough… Gordie used the purge function to get the air out… however it still seemed to have air in the fuel line and would not run properly… at this stage it looked like the O-ring was not suitable…

MacGyver and Gordie took the filter back off and decided to go to the mechanic who they had met at church – he had a workshop in Boulder…

As they were driving there, Gordie rang the mechanic’s wife, Heather, to make sure they could locate the correct workshop…but couldn’t get on so left a message… they found what they thought was the workshop – but turned out it was another one… who said realistically he could not see them for 3 weeks….

Gordie checked his phone and had a message from Heather – the workshop was in Kalgoorlie not Boulder – and she said her husband was expecting them, so they drove there pronto…

 Phil, the mechanic, gave them some grease to put on the filter to help seal the O-ring and he also suggested to ensure the tank was fairly full of diesel… so they picked up an extra jerry can of fuel which MacGyver put into the Titan while Gordie greased the O-ring…

Unfortunately, the Titan did not respond… in fact it was becoming increasingly difficult to start…. Gordie rang his mechanic back home and his advice (same as Luke and others) involved some more complex work, so the decision was made to call the NRMA (again) and this time ask for a tow to Phil’s workshop….

As it was time to go and do the Superpit tour, Gordie decided to leave calling the NRMA until we returned from the tour….

The tour bus left from the office in Hannan Street not far from the Visitor Centre…. With our hi-vis vests and safety glasses we boarded the bus and were driven out to the mine by the very entertaining tour guide, Wes….

First stop was the Superpit Lookout – the pit was alive with haul trucks and loaders bringing out the gold-carrying ore… It takes 1hr 15mins for a haul truck to drive up from the bottom of the pit to the top…

The Superpit Mine is owned by an Australian Company, KGCM (Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines). It began in 1989 after the amalgamation of multiple individual gold mines that had been started by Alan Bond, was finally completed. Currently it is 3.5km long, 1.5 km wide and 700 m deep. The whole mining lease covers an area of 36 000 ha.

There are 1100 people employed at the mine and all staff who work there must live in Kalgoorlie – there are no FIFO staff. All staff work 12 hr shifts – 50% nights/ 50% days – 7 days on/ 7 days off. Mandatory D&A testing is undergone daily. Refusal to take the test results in a lifetime ban from the site.

We drove past the new wall being constructed as there are plans to enlarge the pit – which will include mining the area that is currently the lookout… so the external wall is built first then the mining begins…

The crusher mill was hard at work as we drove by – the loads of 7 haul trucks are milled each hour… each truck carries a load of ore up to 250 tonnes. The mill extracts approx. 9000 ounces of gold per week…

A new mill is currently under construction as the old is nearing its end of life….

The haul trucks fuel up at the onsite fuel station…

The mechanics workshop looked very busy with a few trucks in for servicing – the haul trucks need to be serviced every 12 days!

The spare parts yard was very well organised and stocked – everything is so well planned so as not to lose any mining time.

Tyres for the haul trucks are $40k each, and for the front-end loaders the tyres are $90K each! The haul trucks travel at 40km per hr down into the mine, and 10km per hr when coming back up out of the pit fully laden. The front end loaders have a top speed of 2.4km per hr!!!

The decommissioned trucks and loaders are often used for spare parts and so they have them sitting in a specific yard – the decommissioned loader looked huge close up!

Spare trays for the haul trucks were also stored there…

The bus took us all the way around to the north end of the Superpit – the view again was astounding – the trucks deep in the pit looked like ants…. However, the same trucks working near us building a new road looked massive!!

It was fascinating watching the process of the road building – the haul trucks would dump the waste rock that the gold had been extracted from over the edge and the bulldozer (that looked very small) would direct the trucks where to drop their loads… it looked very precarious as the trucks were right on the edge dumping their loads…. And it was a really long way down…. The gravel road was being compacted by the sheer weight of the haul trucks driving over it….

As we continued on the tour, we drove past the regeneration areas where the company is trying different strategies to enable regeneration of the soil and native species in the areas that mining has now finished…

It was a great tour and a real insight into the massive operation that is the Superpit….

When we arrived back at the vans, Gordie rang the NRMA – and the tow was organised for tomorrow morning… at that point we all decided we would stay another night in Kalgoorlie to stay with Gordie and Kerry – we were only going to free camp that night anyway – and so we will leave on Wednesday to go straight to Wave Rock…

That night we went to the Kalgoorlie Pub for dinner – as recommended by our tour guide – and the food was delicious – the lamb cutlets and veg were the best!!

The pub was warm with a great atmosphere…..