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Published: August 26th 2015
Hard Times miners
Kitted out and ready to go below to work!Mount Isa is one of those places that exist because of mining. It is really hard to see the city of 20,000 people being here without the mine.
The rich deposits were discovered by John Campbell Miles in 1923 and since then Mt Isa has been one of the richest mines in the world (extracting lead, silver, zinc and copper). Miles was a prospector / adventurer / explorer and the name of his horse was "Hard Times". The tourist mine that operates from the "Outback at Isa" facility is named "Hard Times", partly in recognition of Miles but also the fact that a miners life is regularly linked with hard times. Since the Mt Isa mine began, an average of almost two miners each year has been killed.
We decided to spend most of our day at the "Outback at Isa" facility because it had a lot of interesting things to see; the mine tour (which runs for approx two and a half hours), an exhibit on the important fossils found nearby at Riversleigh, a museum and art gallery and a cafe! The mine tour is particularly interesting as the tour is conducted by an ex-miner and a complete
Mount Isa
This facility houses a visitor information centre, museum, art gallery, cafe and tourist mine tour! review of mining methods since the inception of Mt Isa are provided (including operation of some of the heavy equipment underground). It is a fascinating and comprehensive tour which we would recommend. You go down the shaft in a cage, get morning (or afternoon) tea in the crib room and get driven to the surface by ascending the incline in a Toyota mine vehicle! Just like the real miners.
After some shopping in the afternoon, we headed out to the man made Lake Moondarra to have a BBQ. The sun set while we were driving out there and a few hoppers had to get off the road to and from the lake.
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