There are two new sites of mine you might find interesting . . .
. . . Just a few days ago I started an online store: www.koroitstore.com. Right now the store has parcels of rough Koroit opal for sale. Soon I hope to be adding opal cabs as well as cabs of other stones. Please feel free to let me know what you'd like to see for sale in the store.
. . . I have also just added quite a few photos to my flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/koroit/. Here you will find photos of opals, opal mining and the area around Koroit as well as higher resolution photos of the material for sale in my online store.
In about a month I hope to be back in Koroit digging. Some of my friends are currently at my mine working in an area I've never mined before. I'm eager to get back there and see what treasures this new area has been hiding for the last few million years.
As some of you know I've been granted an EPM (Exploration Permit - Minerals, also frequently called an "EP") which gives me the sole rights to conduct exploration for minerals (but neither oil nor gas) in a 4 square mile area about 6 km north of Koroit. Of course I'm eager to get to the EP and see what beauties are just below the surface. I am looking forward to providing you with very exciting and colorful updates on the exploration process.
Recently Johnny Kovac, a miner in Yowah, was killed in a mining accident. As a result of this accident and a variety of developments in the government of the state of Queensland, there are going to be changes in the rules, regulations and enforcement relating to opal mining in Queensland. Some of this makes rational sense and has to do with common sense safety precautions and, unfortunately, some of it appears to be the result of a state government looking to milk more money out of wherever they can and bureaucrats who have no experience with mining or with life in the outback or rural areas creating new and unnecessary regulations and paperwork because more regulations and paperwork today seems to insure that they will have a job tomorrow.
A result of the above mentioned changes is that during this mining season I am being required to attend a "workshop" which will teach me how to "develop and implement a health and safety management system".
The letter I received from the Queensland Government Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation states:
"The workshop is free of charge to one person from each operation and an information pack and certificate of attendance will be provided to each participant. Morning tea and light lunch will be provided."
As I said, I understand mining is very dangerous and certain standards and rules need to exist to ensure safety. I can understand being required to take a safety course. However, if the Queensland government really is so concerned about miner safety, then why are they limiting attendance to only one person from each operation? Shouldn't they want as many people to attend as possible? . . . or is that complimentary "light lunch" too pricey to provide to too many people just to save a few lives? As an aside, for me to get to one of these workshops and free light lunches I'll have to travel about 2,000 km round trip, spend one day traveling there, a day at the workshop, a night in a hotel at my expense and a day traveling back to Koroit, covering all the travel expenses myself and chewing up at least 3 days of my time - there is no free lunch.
In addition to the sad news of the death of Johnny Kovac, another long-time Yowah miner, Victor Hirtl also recently passed away. Victor was a character. I'm not saying that in a good way or in a bad way. He was one of those personalities who left an impression. He owned the mining lease next to me in Koroit and would occasionally come to visit his mine and stop by my place and sit down for a yarn or a whinge (as they say in Australian). He had been in the opal business since dinosaurs roamed the outback and was a source of amazing stories from his incredible life. He was a man of strong opinions and possessed a vocabulary that clearly and colorfully left no doubt regarding how he felt about politics, the future of the opal business, other opal miners or anything else. I liked Victor and enjoyed chatting with him. Victor was a character and he will be missed. I wish him the best of luck on the next part of his journey.
