In the pits

This afternoon I went down an open pit gold mine. This is a gold mining town, and we are in a boom, due to the high value of gold these days. Then when we add to this the diamond mines and the developing nickel deposits, everything is booming except for the deteriorating roads because of the constant traffic of the heavy transports. The pit operates around the clock taking only Christmas off. The other mines are working at an equally feverish rate. Gold fever – there are few rentals, and the motels are full. It’s hard to be poor here. Being in an open pit is exactly like being in a very, very large gravel pit. It’s just grey rock with the occasional vein of quartz. Most of the gold is microscopic and associated with the quartz. There really nothing to see, except a lot of very, very big machines. Mining for gold is like finding the precious stuff in life amongst the mundane. It is hard to find, invisible to the eye, it takes a lot of work, but the payoff is fantastic.