Tom Price

Thursday:  Off to an early start from Paraburdoo, driving the 80km to Tom Price.  Very different township.  It is quite an oasis, with lots of small parks and gardens.  Population 5000, with 2 primary schools and a high school and TAFE.  It is the highest town in WA at 747m.  The life of the mine has just been extended by 30 or so years, so quite a deal of residential expansion is happening, and the shopping centre is being upgraded.
I lined up for the mid-morning bus tour of the Rio Tinto mine.  Had to wear hard hats and protective glasses once there.  The main pit (which is not being worked just now) is gigantic.  They are quite simply cutting away and entire mountain group some 15km by 7km.  The machinery is massive:  I forget the statistics the guide reeled off to us, but the cost of 1 tyre would need a win in Gold Lotto to pay for it.  The trains are loaded after the raw ore has been crushed to pellet size.  Each train has 3 locos, and is over 2km in length.  Just to see the size of this operation was well worth the trip into such a desolate area.  Staff is 60-40 male to female at all levels from management down.
Pic:  “Oh what a feeling!”  this Toyota work ute got too close to an ore dump truck.
The hotel/motel here is high quality.  All mod cons except internet.  Seems to be mainly used by contractors while on the job – Telstra, IT people, specialist repair folk etc.   They must get good pay, because meals here would set them back a good $80 a day.  The guide described Tom Price as a “drinking town with a mining problem”.  However, I noted a lot of the men in the bistro just with coke.  All staff on the mine site are subject to random breath testing.  The motels are strictly non-smoking;  this one charges an extra $200 cleaning fee if they discover the rule has been broken.
I stood on the bridge over the rail line for nearly 2 hours at sunset, sure that an ore train would pass in one direction or another.  No luck.  Lots of locals smiled and waved to me as they drove past .. I suspect they knew I was wasting my time there with camera at the ready.
Pics from Paraburdoo and Tom Price here