Otago School of Mines & Metallurgy

1950s Graduates Newsletter

October 2004

Editorial

Another eventful year for us all no doubt. I suppose it has something to do with the aging process, but it seems,
increasingly, that I have less energy and more demands on what I have. Still, I can’t blame anyone else. As the
redoubtable Louise Haye used to say “You create your own future”. And I must say that I enjoy most of what I
do.
I guess the main event of the year for this group of old codgers was the Reunion in Dunedin during the
last weekend in May. There are some notes below and some pictures sent separately. It was a great weekend,
and ”rooly good” to catch up with lots of the graduates of our era. Many of the expatriates also used the trip to
visit relatives and old friends throughout Godzone.
One spin-off from the Reunion has been the emergence from the woodwork of a few members with
whom we have not previously had contact. Michael Broad and Dave Buist being two such. Welcome aboard
chaps! Michael has proved to be a source of much interesting material, especially in relation to the Capping
Concert items of 1949 and 1950.
Another outcome was further development of the proposal to perpetuate the name of the O.S.M. in a
new chair of Earth Processes and the consequent interest of the Alumni & Development Office of the UO in
sharing their newsletter about that with our members.
After a bit of nagging, I am pleased to note that several fellows have sent in contributions to this
newsletter. It’ll be nice for us all to see something from others than myself, Jack Mackie and Rex Guinivere. As
I keep saying, it’s your newsletter, not mine. In order to keep the overall size of the file within reasonable limits
I have had to edit these contributions a bit. Hopefully none of the contributors will think that I have omitted
anything essential.
So, this edition will come to you as attachments to two emails – one comprising the main body of text
and graphics, and the other the UO Alumni newsletter two photograph files, one of Michael Broad’s photos and
the other of photos of the reunion. The attachments to each will contain about 1MB of data, so will take a little
while to download if you are on dialup.
For those without email access I can post a CD with all the newsletters to date, including #5. I’ll phone
those I know of to check their interest. If you know of anyone in a similar position, please copy this edition to a
CD for them. If you don’t have a CD burner, let me know & I’ll do it. If the recipients don’t have a computer,
they can take the CD to their local library and read it on their computer.

Enjoy!!

John Neilson 18 October 2004

 The Dunedin Reunion

This momentous event was held from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th May 2004 at the “Executive Residence” of the
UO, on the corner of Union and Forth Streets. It’s a three-storied hotel style of building on a small block, which
was built about ten years ago to accommodate short-term post-graduate students of the Business School. It is
still in excellent condition with very comfortable rooms and every convenience you could wish for, without
being ostentatious. There are no regular dining facilities, but ordering-in or eating-out are simple matters.
Bill Hunt was responsible for organizing the event, with more than a little help from Karen Warnaar of
the Alumni & Development Office and Nicola Weir from the Residence. They did a marvellous job,
everything running very smoothly and without a lot of protocol or fuss.
The company comprised about 45 graduates and their partners &/or family members, including a few
who lived or stayed with relatives away from the Residence. They came from America, Malaysia, Australia and
South Africa, as well as all over Godzone of course.
Friday evening was impromptu and casual, with grog available from the bar and light food bought in.
Oysters! I had forgotten what Bluff oysters tasted like. Some latter-day O.S.M. graduates turned up to mix with
us which was nice.
On Saturday morning we rode in a bus to Karitane, about 40km north of Dunedin. Lunch was organized
by Bill Parata and his family in their very pleasant, sunny home and garden. Bill is the widow of the so recently
and suddenly deceased Gill Parata, the Alumni Officer who took the miners under her wing. Those who were at
the Birthday Bash in 2000 will remember Gill. Apart from putting on a do for “Gill’s Miners”, the occasion was
arranged to plant and dedicate a tree in the garden in memory of Gill. If you ask Rex Guinivere nicely he might
send you a CD with a video of the whole show on it. He had also donated a miner’s lamp in her memory, which
is on display in Alumni House at the university.
Before the formal dinner at the Residence on Saturday night, John Hannah, the Professor of Surveying,
gave a fascinating talk on the work of his department and the pracwork carried out by the students these days.
Most of us were astounded by the things they get up to . . . . like trips to Antarctica drilling holes through the
ice cap, and continental drift measurement. A long way from triangulating in the wilds of the North Taieri
Ridge above the Tirahonga camp! He also spoke of NZ's isolated location on a major plate boundary and its
geological complexity making it an ideal environment for carrying out investigations into earth processes.
Such research could have global significance.
The dinner was a great nostalgia kick because it was modelled closely on the faculty dinners at which
we used to carouse in our student days, right down to the menu card and the toasts. The presence of the ladies
and our “maturity” were probably the main factors in ameliorating our behaviour compared to carry-on of the
good old days. Still it was a lot of fun, and the tucker was also better than I remember. The yarns were pretty
good too. Our nonagenarian Emeritus Professor (J.B.M.) officiated in grand style, and also contributed to
maintaining an appropriate level of decorum. Heavens, I even went to bed more-or-less sober!!
On Sunday a lot of folk started heading off home or visiting relatives. Some hung about the residence
before departing on Monday. Since I was born & raised in Dunedin, I spent the day visiting old haunts. I’d
forgotten how bleak the weather can be in Dunedin’s winter. Brrrrrr!!!!

My How You’ve Changed !

By Time-traveller John Neilson

If you haven’t been to Dunedin for a while you would be amazed at the changes to the central area. Students,
many from overseas, now represent nearly 20% of the population which hasn’t changed much from 100,000.
Forget about the pie-cart and Harry’s(?) café in the Octagon. Just about any cuisine in the world is catered for
in the many cafes and restaurants. And the smallest and meanest looking of them has a liquor licence these
days.
Also there is a much greater variety of shops, albeit smaller and more specialized. No More “Arthur
Darnit’s on the Shady Side of George Street”, or Brown-Ewings or the D.I.C. They’ve all been converted into
something-elses . . . like small specialized boutiques ☺. And they’re open on Sundays! Remember when the
town used to die at 9 o’clock on Saturday night ? No trams or trolley-buses every 10 minutes. Just diesel buses
every hour. Everything is privatised, downsized and economised. However, I’m sure it’s not just Dunedin
which has suffered this fate. The remaining picture theatres are much the same, the lovely old Regent being
devoted to live performances. There’s a nice Art Gallery in the D.I.C. building, the churches are still there in
profusion. So is Robbie Burns, “with his back to the church and his face to the pub”.
The railway station is beautiful on the outside . . . . and dead on the inside! The huge platform is like
half a covered football field on Wednesday morning . . . . . . gloomy and silent. The only passenger trains are
the tourist ones which run up the Tairie Gorge. The Early Settlers Museum has been modernised and greatly
improved, and includes a comprehensive Family Historical section. It has absorbed the old Railway Bus
Terminal.
When you get away from the centre of town, nothing much has changed at all. The shops are mostly
modernised, but all the old houses and schools and churches and buildings are just like they were 50 years ago.
Except my old school (King’s High) which has been completely rebuilt in a modern style, and my old home
which has been knocked over and replaced.

The Otago School of Mines Vintage 2003 Wine

One of the creative little ploys Bill Hunt produced for the reunion was a specially labelled cabernet sauvignon
from the most southerly vineyard in the world, “Black Ridge” near Alexandra. Here are the labels from the
front and the back of the bottles. Pretty neat, eh! Nice drop too.
 The Alumni & Development Office Newsletter

Karin Warnaar and Peter Scott from this office have produced a newsletter which is mainly about the proposal,
first mooted by Ahmad Azizuddin some years ago, to somehow perpetuate at least the name of the Otago
School of Mines in the modern world of mining education. It has not been regarded as realistic to rebirth the
O.S.M. because of the dramatic changes in technology of mining and associated disciplines since the 1950s. No
jacks-of-all-trades as we were educated to be; everyone is a specialist of some sort today. But serious
consideration has been given to creating an endowed chair in Earth Processes, as a means of enabling the
Otago School Of Mines to live again in a sense. The newsletter is attached to this one.
It is estimated that NZ2,000,000 will be needed to create the chair and its support facilities, and the
government will match the funds raised $-for-$. So the university will need to find $1,000,000. Ahmad has
kicked the procedure off with a very handsome $100,000 donation.
From their newsletter, you will see that there are several good omens for the project.

The Next Reunion

Ipoh 2006

In a wave of enthusiasm possibly generated by good food, good wine and good company, it was suggested at
the dinner that another reunion should be held. The use of the sumptuous facilities of the “Clearwater” golfing
resort at Ipoh, Malaysia were offered by Ahmad Azizuddin. Everyone thought that was a great idea. [Betcha
didn’t know that the film “Anna & The King” was largely filmed there a few years ago, and many of the sets
were still standing when we visited the resort in 2000 ._Ed] Having done such a wonderful job of organization
for this reunion, Bill Hunt was unanimously elected to do it all again for 2006.

The “Shambles” As Murdoch Mackenzie Knew It

Located at 546A on Great King Street and on the corner with King David Street, a mere three blocks from the
University Campus in the 1950’s and now virtually in the middle of it, this was a unique flat. Who, I wonder
named it? The name was an important part of its status at the University. It was a descriptive name and I
suspect most new inmates tried hard to ensure that the reputation which gave it the name endured. Years after I
graduated in 1960 I was in Manchester in the UK and noted an inner city suburb called “The Shambles” Did
some one who had been to Manchester, perhaps in WW2, name this flat?
In any event in the 1950’s it always seemed to have some Mining Students living in it. I moved into the
four bedroom flat in 1959. Before me Bill Hogg and Jock Braithwaite had been lords of the manor. No doubt
there were many other Miners living there before my memory ground zero date, and there were undoubtedly
more including John Taylor after me. They will, I am sure, be enlightening you. A room at the Shambles, was
in those days handed down from one “Miner” to another as a sort of “Rights of Passage”.
It was an exceptionally sturdy building and stands still, looking capable of another 100 years. These
days Squires Books inhabits the bottom storey. In my time downstairs was a storeroom which I never saw
opened. Across the road on the opposite side of King David Street there is a pharmacy. In the 1950’s this site
was a car yard run by “Brown Shirt “ who also affected a pork pie hat. He sold cars of very dubious character,
recently resprayed and held together by substances which never originated in an automobile factory. No “Nice
Motor” as described by Arthur Daly in the TV show “The Minders” ever plumbed the depths of Brown Shirt’s
offerings. If the car yard across the road was shonky then the adjacent property on Great King Street was
downright weird. It was a coal yard, owned by an absolute nut. Jock Braithwaite remembers him baying at the
moon.
I well recall in the year before I moved in, the coal merchant arriving at the front door during a noisy
party to complain of the noise. He was told to stuff off and did so. Only to return with a sharp and evil axe
demanding an axe fight to settle the issue. Bill Hogg was the spokesman for the Shambles and in a way that was
Bill Hogg’s trademark he settled the issue and sent the coalman back home.
My fellow inmates were Ahmad Mansuri ( Zig Zag by nickname, earned by drunken antics on the Zig
Zag leading up to Arana Hall); Alan Taylor, a geochemist nicknamed “Beanpole” because of his stature and
Jim Lowery. Jim was a geology student who was later to go to Antarctica with Bernie Gunn. I recall Bernie
coming to the flat with his coiled up dog whips for the dog sledge expedition that he and Jim undertook in
Antarctica. Unfortunately they also used a Snow Cat one morning and went down a crevasse. Jim suffered
fractures and frostbite and sadly lost feet.
My nickname was “ Miss Molly” due to my addiction to playing at top volume Little Richard’s song “
Good Golly Miss Molly” I found this an excellent tune to which to heave around the lounge a piece of
columnar basalt which I had brought back from the hills to the North of Dunedin . The lounge and the fireplace
survived all of this.
Parties were common at the Shambles. One night members of the visiting British Lions team turned up.
A Lions winger named Jackson I recall well. Never a resident, but a frequent visitor, was a local Jackson, Ivan
“Snatch” Jackson. Ivan was a colourful student in the Mining School in the late '50's. The Shambles was more
than a home for a few Mining Students who happened to be living there at the time. It was also a “Party House”
for all of the Mining Students.
Meals at the Shambles were, in my time, a community affair. The four of us took turns to cook lunch
and dinner, each taking a day from Monday to Thursday. Friday was beer at the pub and fish and chips. The
pub was the Captain cook, two blocks South on Great King street. The fish and chips, battered saveloys etc
came from the Speedy café. This was a little further south on George Street and run by a surly Chinese
gentleman.
These were the days of 6.00 pm closing but fortunately the proprietor of the Captain Cook had a flexible
time scale. He was Phil Rushton, a former Light Weight Boxing champion. His ring skills ensured that the
“Cook” was always violence free. Come 6.00 o’clock, those who wanted to stay on were herded into the back
Ladies Bar. Often Phil’s brassy blonde wife served us there. When we wanted to leave Phil would take us to the
door, look up and down the street, and if it was clear, and send us out. The Captain Cook was a favourite of the
Miners and on some lunch times we would take down to it our one pint handles to practice for the annual
drinking horn against the Dentals. Phil Rushton would fill the 12 ounce handles, we would line up kneeling at
the bar, and with a stop watch in the hands of the coach we would drink the six handles down. I recall we did
11.8 seconds one day.
Back to the meals at the Shambles. Saturday we always went to parties or else hosted one. Such was the
alcohol consumption at these parties that I cannot recall the Saturday evening meal arrangements but I suspect
they were minimal.
Sunday we surfaced about 2.00 pm. Some one then cooked the weekend roast, a forequarter of mutton,
value 2 shillings and sixpence. The cheapest roast known in the time. Sunday evenings we, together with those
girlfriends who were still speaking to us, listened to the Goon Show or to Hancock’s Half hour.
Ahmad Mansuri was a Malaysian and he cooked curries. These were very different from the insipid
curries that were served in most of New Zealand at the time. I for one had never tasted chilli powder plus
paprika until Ahmad served it up. His most economical curry was curried sardines with onions served on rice, it
was great. My girlfriend loved it and some 30 years later, as my wife, she surprised me by asking “Can you
cook us curried sardines like we used to have at the Shambles?”
For some time we made home brew in a huge 25 gallon wooden keg. To keep the contents warm we
half immersed a light bulb in the brew. After Alan Taylor had used chemistry school hydrometers to pronounce
the brew ready for bottling we put in into empty Speight’s Special bottles with a raisin to add extra sugar. No
batch ever survived long enough to reach its prime but many gave us a lot of fun at lunch time on Wednesday.
The afternoon was sports afternoon and we felt it a good time to have a drink. But then, at “The Shambles” it
was always a good time to have a drink
Postscript.
In May 2004 at a Mining Students reunion for those of us from the 1950’s and 1960’s I went back to the
Shambles for the first time since I left it in Dec 1959. I peered through the door and saw the so familiar narrow
staircase leading up from the street to a small landing a few feet above the street. I knew, but could not see, that
the stairs up to the second floor lead to the bedrooms and the lounge. Those leading down from the landing
lead to the kitchen, eating area and bathroom. I recalled how often I had rushed up those stairs from the street.
Sadly I could not recall the time that I walked down them for the last time, to a taxi that would take me away
from the Shambles, the University and Otago for 44 years. I wonder who lives there now and do they too have
the parties, the excitement and the girlfriends that we used to have?

NOTE: Richard Parata is working on a book about student flatting in Dunedin.

If you can make a contribution, please email it to him : paratas@xtra.co.nz
 From the Friends of the ABC Newsletter
Bill Harrison, 30 September 2003

“I have just returned from New Zealand and had to ask friends over there what had happened to the national
broadcaster. I was dismayed to see how indistinguishable it is from the commercials. The standard of NZ
television is truly appalling and should be a lesson to us all of the importance of maintaining the independence
of our ABC.” – So much for corporatization! The ABC and the BBC are probably the two greatest broadcasting
organizations in the world.__Ed.

Fossickers Intrude On Newcrest’s Golden Isle

Sydney Morning Herald By Barry Fitzgerald 28 October 2003

“Garimpeiros” packing canvas sacks and shovels have swarmed on to Newcrest Mining’s freshly uncovered
high-grade Toguraci gold deposit on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, forcing the Melbourne-based group to
suspend development work at the jungle site. Up to 200 of the “unauthorised” miners moved on to the site once
Newcrest had exposed the high-grade deposit by removing the 20 to 30 metres of waste or overburden that
covers the 260,000 ounce-plus deposit. They have been filling their sacks and heading back to local villages to
process the ore using rudimentary methods. Because much of the material removed is not ore but jungle dirt,
Newcrest reckons they would be lucky to return 5oz of gold a day. The local market did not doubt the company
and pushed the stock 14c higher to $11.98 in response to higher US dollar gold prices. Newcrest said it decided
to suspend the operation for safety reasons as heavy earthmoving equipment operating amid hundreds of
garimpeiros scuttling about without hardhats and safety boots was not an ideal mix.

Popups
I know we don’t approve of popups on our computer screens, but I think you’ll like these ones:
Bill Croxford
I’ve forgotten who put me in touch with Bill, but it resulted in an exchange of emails last December. He sent
me a very interesting and comprehensive potted history which is included below.
Michael Broad
An email arrived out of the blue in mid September asking about the newsletter. There followed numerous
exchanges about photos of the Miners’ Ballet skits, of which more later. Meantime he mentioned this item of
interest. In the Otago Daily Times of Wed. last (15 September), there was a great photo of the magnificent
Knox College taken at night but floodlit. I copy from the caption.
“The late David Tennent, a former student at the University of Otago School of Mines,
had recently left $20,000 to the college in a bequest. Bruce Aitken, the college master,
had suggested the bequest be used for lighting.”
He said that Dave was a contemporary of his, and a good bloke. (Amen to that – Ed.). Also, he wanted to know
if any members at the reunion were sporting their commemorative OSM ties of 1986.
Dave Buist
On the 8th of October this “pop(ped)up” in my inbox:
“Today is my last day as Mayor of Papakura, a position I have held for the last four
years. I may have time to devote to other activities from now on………...! I look
forward to more of these scintillating communications. My home e-mail address is:
Anne.david@paradise.net.nz ”
Welcome aboard David!
Ray Gordon
Through the wonders of modern electronics, I found Ray and sent him the previous editions of the newsletter.
He is interested to know of any O.S.M. graduates in WA.

Time to Brush Up Your Geology

Sydney Morning Herald 15 May 2004

Flinders Ranges reveal new geological period (Ediacaran)

Layered rocks from South Australia's Flinders Ranges have become the reference site for the first new
geological time period to be adopted by scientists in 120 years. The new period, known as the Ediacaran,
recognises the unique fossils that differentiate it from younger time periods. The fossils include the most distant
animal ancestors of humans, which existed more than 540 million years ago. Palaeontologist Jim Gehling says
the period marks a revolution in the history of life. "Up until the Ediacaran the only kinds of fossils actually
found were microbial fossils," he said. "From the Ediacaran we get the first large marine animals on earth
preserved as fossils in these rocks”.

We’ve Come a Long Way – But We Still Have a Long Way To Go

Fatal Error Left Miners At Mercy Of Landslide
Sydney Morning Herald November 1 2003
By Matthew Moore, Herald Correspondent and
Karuni Rompies in Jakarta
The operators of the world’s richest goldmine had more than two days’ warning that a landslide was imminent
before it arrived in a torrent of 2.5 million tonnes of rock and mud that killed eight workers. The managers at
the Freeport-McMoRan company had wrongly calculated that the slide would be slow enough and small
enough to stop on a 90-metre wide step cut into the wall above the workers they left at the bottom of the pit.
Although heavy rain had fallen for five days, the managers did not realise how much water was trapped in the
slope and that the debris would pour over the step onto the workers, according to information provided to the
/Herald/ by investigators. Three weeks later, four bodies remain buried at the bottom of the pit, more than 4000
metres up in the mountains of Papua, just a few kilometres from the only glaciers in South-East Asia. Four
bodies have been pulled out and five people are recovering from injuries, including Muhammad Samsuri, who
is in a Townsville hospital bed after losing both legs.
Among many of the workers at the Grasberg mine, 16 per cent owned
by the Australian mining company Rio Tinto, there is deep concern
about whether more should have been done to avoid the disaster. A
week after the October 9 tragedy, the company’s chairman and chief
executive, Jim Bob Moffett, sought to play down the size of the
slide and its impact on production when he addressed financial
analysts. “. . . We move 750,000 to a million tonnes a day and just to
be straightforward with you if we had to focus all of our earth-
moving equipment on this we could clean it up in three days. “

Although he promised Freeport would do what it could to find out what happened, he did not mention
the data it already had that showed a slide was imminent. Because the south wall where the slide took place was
always most at risk, the company had rigged it with more than a dozen extensometers - devices that measure the
rate of movement. Every 20 minutes, any shift was recorded on a computer graph, and the results discussed at
meetings twice daily. Dr Anthony Meyers, Australian liaison with the International Society of Rock Mechanics,
said small movements were not something to worry about. The danger came if the rate of movement began to
accelerate. In August and September the rate of movement began to increase from about 4 millimetres a day up
to 8mm, and then 10mm before moving back down. The Grasberg mine’s operating procedures say that
movement of more than 10mm a day means “possible pit slope failure”. In early October, the slope continued to
pick up speed and by October 5 parts of it were moving at 20mm and 30mm a day. On October 7, two days
before the slide, Freeport moved its stationary mining equipment on the 90-metre step out of the zone where it
expected the slide to hit. But below the step, it was work as normal for the drivers of the 240-tonne trucks and
the bulldozers, and mechanics.
Peter Lilly, chairman of mining engineering at Curtin University, said such large loss of life was very
rare in open-cut mines because slides can usually be predicted. Engineers monitored the weak spots and, if they
started to move, managers moved workers out of the way. Freeport did not move its workers out of the path of
the slope failure because it did not expect the slide to be so liquid. The seven piezometers it had in the slope to
warn of a build-up of water were not in the right place to alert them of a “pocket” of water high up. Freeport
had already mapped the water pockets in the area but was not worried about them filling up because they
normally drained themselves. Given that history, the company could not have predicted what happened without
monitoring those pockets. But now major changes, including the use of drainage systems, might be needed to
keep water out before mining could resume.
 When Latin Was The Key To Success
Lingua Franca, ABC ClassicFM Saturday 27/09/2003 & 04/10/2003

For four hundred years, from the revival of classical learning during the Renaissance, up to the 1960s, far from
being dead, Latin was spoken in every Catholic church and in nearly every school and university throughout the
Western world. The reason? The belief - shared with the Renaissance humanists - in the power of Latin to
inculcate classical or civilised values. Nick Hudson, starting school in England during the war years, soon
found that Latin - not English - was the key to success. He took his first steps in Latin when he was nine. This
very interesting two-part interview is too long to include here. But no doubt we all recall that in our youth, one
could not study law or medicine without a working knowledge of Latin. The article puts me in mind of the old
schoolboy lament that some readers may be familiar with :
“Latin is a language as dead as dead can be.
First it killed the Romans, and now it’s killing me!”
A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald suggested that Latin is experiencing a resurgence in high
schools.
Lincoln & Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln was elected to congress in 1846.
John Kennedy W8S elected to congress in 1946.

AL was elected president in 1860.

JFK was elected president in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both were shot on a Friday.

Both were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird -

Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy.

Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded by southerners name Johnson,

Andrew Johnson who succeeded Lincoln was born in 1808.

Lyndon Johnson who succeeded JFK was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth who assassinated Lincoln was born in 1839.

Lee Harvey Oswald who assassinated JFK was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.

Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang onto your seat -

Lincoln was shot at the theatre named "Ford",

Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford".

Lincoln was shot in a theatre and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theatre.

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the Kicker -

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was In Monroe, Maryland.

A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.
 Osti The Ice Man
Ice Mummy Otzi's Steps Traced
The Scotsman Friday 31 October 2003 Rhiannon Edward

SCIENTISTS believe they may have tracked down the home of "Otzi", the 5,200-year-old frozen mummy
found in the Alps 12 years ago. Analysis of Otzi’s teeth and bones indicates that he probably lived his whole
life within 40 miles of the glacier which formed his icy tomb. The evidence suggests he may have been born in
what is now the Italian Tyrol village of Feldthurns, about 30 miles from the spot where he perished. Otzi’s
mummified body was discovered sticking out of melting snow near the mountainous border between Austria
and Italy in 1991.
Scientific studies have revealed his age - 46 - the state of his health, details of his DNA, what he ate, and
that he died after being hit by an arrow. However, his birthplace and where he lived have remained a mystery
until now. A team of experts led by Wolfgang Muller, from the Australian National University in Canberra,
attempted to fill in the gaps about Otzi’s life with some forensic detective work. Chemical signatures from the
iceman’s teeth, bones and intestines were compared to those in the soil and water of the surrounding region.
Similarities between the isotopes - varying atomic versions of elements, such as oxygen - yielded valuable
clues.
The isotopic hallmarks of a particular area are transferred to the body through consumption of food and
drink. They indicated that Otzi grew up in the Eisack valley, in the southern Tyrol, then spent time as an adult
in the mountains of lower Vinschgau. Finally, he set off on his last journey to the Otz valley where his body
was found. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said they had identified Feldthurns as a strong
candidate for Otzi’s birthplace.
An archaeological site there had revealed a standing stone dating from the same era. The site also
yielded the best match for radioactive strontium and lead isotopes between Otzi’s teeth enamel and local soils.

The Otago School Of Mines & Metallurgy Brass Plaque

On the Saturday morning of the May reunion, before heading off to Karitane, we repaired to the steps of the
O.S.M. building for an “official” group photo opportunity, just like the faculty photos of old ☺

We couldn’t help but notice that the plaque no longer adorned the building. Some time later Murdoch
McKenzie started an email debate about it’s fate, which developed into a discussion about its future.
Murdoch McKenzie: I was sad to see, at our recent get together, that the brass OSM plaque was no longer at
the top of the stairs to the old OSM building. I was also concerned that when we are all gone there will be little
left to show that this building once was a vital part of the University and that its staff and students brought
credit to both the University and to the City of Dunedin. My own grandchildren visited the University from
Perth this month and ,without my directions, would not have known that the School existed. It was an important
institution, it contributed to the character of the University and it deserves something which will endure when
all of its graduates are gone. I had in mind a plaque which in a way mirrors the one Jack Mackie placed on the
School of Surveying. It would detail the dates of the school, maybe indicate how many graduates passed
through and briefly indicate its status.
I first addressed my interest in all of this to Mick Buckenham and he has responded with more that I
could have hoped. He has located the original OSM plaque we all remember so well. It is up in Auckland and
he will personally collect it from there. He suggests that we have a second plaque compatible with the original
made which details the dates of the School and that both be re-mounted at the front door of the building. I think
this is excellent.
Mick has also found out that other memorabile, photos etc have been returned from Auckland to Otago
but that they are not in the Hocken Library. He will pursue this. I will also write to the Universities
A new plaque etc will cost some money. I will happily contribute to this. No doubt others will also. I
suggest that Mick tell us how much he needs and where to send the money. Finally we should have an
unveiling. Can I suggest a halftime break between the May 2004 and the 2006 Malaysia get together. Say Feb
- May 2005 .I would like that and try to make it. Lets try for Feb. in the better weather!!
Michael Buckenham: The plate which is heavy steel (I have not conducted a metallurgical test) and chrome
plated 23x37cms in size is in my hands again. As you may remember it has the Mining logo and in big capitals
THE OTAGO SCHOOL OF MINES engraved. In my opinion there is room for suitably engraving the OSM
years at OU viz 1879 to 1986 when we moved to Auckland. Other dates to reflect on are:
1869 U of O established
1871 Courses in Mining commenced
1879 Mining School formally established
1909 Mining School Building opened
As an option an additional plate could be cut with some of these dates and milestones but in my opinion if
relocated on our building the age and occupation of the building is the most appropriate period to record.
Should this suggestion of adding dates only is agreeable I will undertake the addition being entered in an
appropriate and cosmetic way

[The issue of what to add to it and how, is still unresolved – let Murdoch &/or Michael know what you think.
_Ed.]
Workers Shafted In Deadly South African Goldmines
By Gavin du Venage, Johannesburg 14 August 2004

“I SOMETIMES think if we go much further we will see the devil. You can’t go much deeper than this,” says
Johann Meintjies as he takes his daily elevator ride to work, 3km straight down into the earth. The trip, down
the main shaft of Kloof goldmine, west of Johannesburg, takes an age but for Meintjies, and the 50 or so men
crammed into the tiny, rattling cage, it is time for contemplation. “It is not a safe place to be, this far
underground, but it is better than going hungry,” says Meintjies, to murmurs of agreement from the men around
him. Standing close together in the tiny steel cabin, the walls of the shaft rushing past, the men know that the
days of goldmining are numbered.
This month, some of the world’s largest gold producers—who provide a third of the world’s mined gold
each year—released financial results that analysts say show the 120-year-old industry is on its knees.
“Retrenchment scares me more than a rockfall,” says Meintjies. “At least you might survive and go home to
your kids. If we lose our jobs, we go home to our kids and tell them they must eat less.” Ten years ago the
goldmining industry employed almost half a million men but a steady campaign to reduce costs has seen jobs
cut to less than 190,000. “This is the worst I have ever seen it,” says Nick Goodwin, gold analyst at T-Sec
Securities in Johannesburg. Of the 31 goldmining companies in existence, 23 are now making a loss.
The reason for the reversal of fortune is simple, he says. Today the country’s currency, the rand, is one
of the world’s best performing against the dollar; it gained 49 per cent against the greenback in the past year.
As the mines pay their costs in rands, but earn profits in dollars from exports, their earnings have collapsed. As
their profits erode their investments in new shafts halt. “All the groups are running at a loss and borrowing to
fund capital expenditure. This is a sure way to go bust,” says Goodwin. The latest to report, Harmony, one of
the world’s largest gold producers, revealed a $US86 million ($120 million) loss in its last reporting quarter
alone. Others are in a similar predicament. The only way to reduce costs is to cut jobs.
Two weeks ago Harmony non-executive director Ted Grobicki outraged unions when he told a
conference in Australia that workers would be axed to protect profits. Since deep-level mining was invented in
South Africa in 1890, more than 70,000 men have died in the pursuit of the precious metal. At least 1 million
more have suffered permanent injury, according to statistics provided by the nation’s Chamber of Mines.
Today, hi-tech safety gear and a military structure to ensure almost fanatical obedience to procedure
underground has reduced casualties to a trickle. For men such as Meintjies, the fear of being crushed by a
rockfall or being caught in an underground explosion has receded. Instead, they worry that some day they will
return home and have to tell their families they no longer have a job.

Notes From Graduates

Denys Harraway
I have had some time for reflection lately (mid September ) having recently undergone bypass surgery on a
piece of my cardiac plumbing known as the widow maker. That is the little bit feeding the two arteries which
supply blood to the left ventricle. .Recovery is slow. I'm told I now have the pump of a 45 year old but some
mornings it feels as if it is in a 90 year old body!
Murdoch McKenzie
For much of this year I have been practicing metallurgy on and off. Much of my work has been on the CVRD
Vermelho project. CVRD are Brazil’s largest company and the largest iron ore producers in the world. They
have a nickel laterite project called Vermelho (Red earth).
I am the external consultant for the nickel and cobalt refinery. I actually hold a US patent on the entire
circuit but I don’t get rich out of that. I had to sell my rights to my employer at the time the patent was filed.
This was Henkel (now Cognis) and they paid me one dollar. This is the minimum that you can transfer the
rights to a US patent for. They paid me with a silver dollar in a presentation case. I would have rather have had
a suitcase of dirty $US bills. The patent has certainly ensured a lot of LIX® Reagent sales for Cognis.
The Vermelho project is at feasibility status. The study is being done by Minproc Engineers in Perth, the
testwork by Lakefield Ore test in Perth. The project is 45,000 tpa Nickel and about US$ 750 million. I guess a
decision to go ahead or not will be made by Feb 05. CVRD may elect to stop at the mixed hydroxide product
stage. In which case I will be out of a job. To date the pilot plant has made good, LME grade 7 day cathode.
From muddy rock through to metal.
It keeps me off the streets, out of the pub and interested. I doubt it will make me rich and famous but if
they go ahead and if they make nickel metal it may be fun starting up the plant.
Michael Broad
Dave Tennent said in an earlier edition that Peter Presland was the only one with a car; from my memory it was
a later Morris 8. It has brought back memories. I remember being in it with a number of others, possibly
delivering Dave to Knox College. There followed a wild ride down the Opoho hill at something like 60mph,
with me wondering if he could stop at the bottom. I wasn't scared quite to death, but not far off it!
And who could forget Sid Jarvis! He had a very nice wife (Priscilla) and a big dog. All of them fitted
in their little 1930s Austin 7 tourer. They lived in Queen St at the top of quite steep Pitt St and I don't think it
ever failed them.
[In relation to the following items, check the Broadpix.pdf file of photos, emailed separately._Ed]
The bloke with the bandanna, left front, in the Stewart Island photo is George Hutchinson. George was
renowned for his strength. It is reputed that he lifted off the deck a bucket ladder pin on the Austral dredge at
Lowburn. Having worked on that dredge Nov/Dec 1948 I know what an impressive feat that was. George was a
lone adventurer. I heard that around 1949/50 he canoed or rafted down the Clutha, from Wanaka to Balclutha.
No one really heard about it, absolutely no publicity, the venture was just his own personal challenge.
The 1949 Capping Procession Float Photo - I just don't remember what years there were floats; I don't
recall being involved with them at all. I was in the Capping Band myself, I'm fairly sure I didn't miss a year,
first on clarinet and later trombone. We were quite a reasonable band in those years, but it went downhill in
later times. About this year we went along to the 4ZB studios for a recording session, and the result came out
on a 78rpm record. I still have mine carefully guarded. About six years ago Jim Sullivan, an old identity and
historian on National Radio, interviewed me regarding Capping Bands and borrowed my record to transfer to
modern media. The whole lot went to air on his Sunday national programme "Sounds Historical", and I was
sent a tape of the result which was good.
One year we even got on the stage at Joe Brown's Town Hall Dance, and played for about two dances.
We had a few really good players such as Lex Knight (clarinet), Mac McDougall (drums) and the older brother
of Peter Presland — Dr Presland was a House Surgeon at the time, and a great jazz trombonist. [Lex Knight's
band played for a lot of the student hops in Allen Hall. Mac in later life was farming journalist for the Otago
Daily Times but sadly died before his time].
John Neilson
More “car” stories. They used to reckon DRK Smith had an old bull-nosed Morris, and that you could tell what
its principal use was by the footprints upside down on the dashboard!
Bruce Pickering used to tell some hair-raising stories about Valentine, Billinghurst and others getting
into madcap adventures in cars.
After a Dental Faculty Dinner at which Peter McIndoe & I were O.S.M. representatives, about 11pm,
they dumped us both in his little Austin 7 and set it off down the hill. Fortunately Pete could drive asleep &/or
drunk. I woke up cold and hung-over in the car, in his garage about 7am. He’d been running on “auto-pilot” and
just gone off to bed, forgetting about me in the passenger seat!
Frank Graveson
I resolved some time ago to write an article on a low tech task which contrasts markedly with the work that so
many of our graduates have undertaken.This will now happen. I have been encouraging John Taylor to write a
memoir about his banking experiences flying around the world arranging finance for mega projects involving
$$ numbers that I can scarcely comprehend. An extra nudge from you could help, especially as he has just been
in hospital having both his knees replaced, and he will have the time during his recuperation.On another
subject, Bill Sparrow turned 80 in August.

A Dissertation on Comminution
By Rex Guinivere

Don’t you love that word? Comminution. It rolls off the tonque so much more sweetly than “crushing and
grinding”. It means so much more too. It doesn’t just speak to the mundane matters of making big rocks into
very small ones. Oh no, it speaks to the very science of creating area. It doesn’t just speak the test of screen
analysis for the product. It goes deeper than that. It speaks to how many square centimeters of area one has
created per gram. It speaks of tests like Blane. But more than that, it speaks to how much energy one has used
to create that area-a whole tennis court of area for how many kilowatt-hours and in such a small quantity, a
mere handful!
I’m sure that Hugh Muir and Bryce Russell and Mr. Rogers must have used the term but all I
remembered from their lectures was “crushing and grinding” and “speiss”, which sounds edible, and “matte
flotation”- why would anyone want to float mats, you just beat them to clean them! Perhaps they never did.
Perhaps they were concerned about using such an implicitly sexual word as “comminution” is. We were still
post-adolescent, after all. Perhaps they had already heard the joke about the teenager being interviewed by the
psychiatrist. You know, the one where the doctor scribbles on a pad and asks the kid what it makes him think
of-it was a rorsarch scribble, of course-and the kid replies “sex”. No matter what the doctor draws the kid says
“sex”. Finally the doctor looks very concerned and tells the kid “Son, you’re sick” “Me!” yelps the kid “it’s
YOU who’s drawing the dirty pictures!”.......Comminution. Hmmmmmmm.
Well, I digress! My first real introduction into the black art of crushing and grinding was in
Broken Hill, probably in 1957 or so. I’m sure OUSM must have tried but I was a Mining student, after all. So
here I am working at the South Mine and I attend an AIME meeting at which a chap named Graeme (?) Calcott
presents a paper on the “efficiency” of the grinding process.( I don’t think he used the word comminution but
he may have. He was in the right comapany for using that sort of word, of course).
He worked in a BHP lab and they had determined that the amount of power used compared to the amount of
surface produced in the average grinding mill (he had a formula for how much energy it took to produce area by
breaking up rocks) was about 3.5%! Maybe 4%! This caused an immediate uproar and calls for “Lynch, lynch!”
from the assembled mill superintendents. The chap from the North Mine was the loudest. “You can’t tell me my
operation is only 3.5% efficient!” he roared. Others yelled in the same vein. Calcott stood there looking totally
bewildered. I sat there muttering, “you silly bastards. He isn’t talking about you, he’s talking about the design
of the equipment.
I carried on in Mining for some years and didn’t have anything to do with crushing and grinding.
Bukit Besi had only a Superior 36x60 gyratory primary crusher and a couple of AC cone crushers that fed the
wash plant drums-no grinding so not, really, comminution except in the most minor sense. We were trying to
produce -1” material for the Japanese blast furnaces.
My first venture into process engineering was on the Glover Lead Smelter for Asarco and, again, no
“comminution” really. I don’t classify spike roll crushers breaking up sinter machine product as comminution,
though perhaps it is, strictly speaking.
I first really encountered comminution on the Churchrock Uranium project for United Nuclear.
In those days the Atomic Energy Commision was the sole buyer for yellowcake. The need for nuclear material
for the Manhattan project had resulted in the development of the solvent extraction process to leach uranium
salts out of the ore. This was performed by the use of either sulfuric acid or sodium carbonate. Leaching does
not require the separation of the minerals from gangue as is required for flotation. Depending upon the leaching
power of the solvent, residence time can make up for high particle size since the solvent will penetrate the
gangue particle as long as there is some exposure of the mineral.
Once the uranium is leached the solution is clarified then mixed with the organic in mixer
settlers to transfer the uranium ions to an organic which is then stripped by altering the pH by adding HCl, if
sulfuric acid has been used in the dissolution of the uranium, so that the uranium goes back into solution but in
far greater strength so it can be precipitated by ammonia and recovered in a centrifuge.
Now, what does all this have to do with comminution? Well, to start with, the AEC paid for the
yellowcake with a price that covered the capital cost of the plant. As a control on their expenditures and the
plant’s efficiency the operator had to install a very elaborate sampling system. This started with an expensive
crushing and sampling system before the ore was fed to the grinding mill. These primary-secondary-grinding
steps were known as an ABC system.
At the time I became involved in metallurgical projects involving hydrometallurgy Pima had
perfected its semi-autogenous grinding system at their copper concentrator in Arizona.
The iron ore industry had been using autogenous grinding for years. Iron ore comminution was fully
autogenous after it passed the primary crusher. The high specific gravity of iron ore made this possible.
Autogenous grinding required that large pebbles of ore be fed into the grinding mill which had no grinding
media. The large rocks continuously fed to the mill serve as grinding media-hence the name “autogenous”.
Most other ores have a specific gravity only some 50-60% of that of iron ore.In addition,when
they are placed in a slurry the bouyancy factor is greater because of their greater specific volume. So they don’t
work very well as pebble mills, although there are some special applications.What Pima did was test grinding
using a very small ball load so that the grinding was semi-autogenous. It was very successful and opened the
path to AC grinding systems which required no secondary-tertiary crushing circuit.
I recall being at Pima one time after they had perfected their method of SAG milling. We were
in the control room and the Chief Metallurgist took me over to one part of the board without actually looking at
the board, he knew it so well. “Rex” he said, pointing towards a hole in the board, “this is the absolutely
essential instrument to make the method work”. “Ahhhh” I said “There’s nothing there Paul, what is it?” He
looked aghast at the hole in the board and demanded of the operator, “Where’s the meter?” “I don’t know.
Electrical took it away a couple of months ago for repair”. I never did find out what the hell this “essential”
meter was or did-but it didn’t appear to be that essential. It was a somewhat embarassing moment.
So in my early days in hydro-metallurgical projects I came up against the black “art” of
comminution when SAG milling was replacing the ABC circuit of antiquity. The first Churchrock project
consisted in choosing equipment from the exisiting plant for carbonate leach at Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico to
use in the new acid plant at Churchrock, way to the west near Gallup, New Mexico. The AEC was still in
charge of uranium sales so the plant had to have an elaborate crushing system to produce the particle size
required by the statistical parameters of obtaining a meaningful sample of a 2,000tpd operation. United Nuclear
used a Canadian consultant named A.H.Ross& Associates. The only system they would talk about was the
ABC system. They would have nothing to do with SAG milling.
As Kaiser became one of the major EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction
Managment) contractors we kept running into A.H. Ross and having great arguments about using a SAG mill.
There were numerous reasons for choosing a SAG mill in the circumstances of the uranium industry by this
time. Firstly, the AEC, from the time of my first project as PM at Conquista in South Texas for Conoco was no
longer in the yellowcake buying business so there was no need for an elaborate sampling system. Secondary-
tertiary crushing was no longer required. Secondly, the environmental conditions for operation of hazardous
ores made dust collection a major capital and operating cost area. SAG milling eliminated dry crushing after the
primary crusher. Thirdly, the application of SAG milling made the equipment and construction costs much
lower than for the ABC system.
None of these reasons had any effect on Al Ross and his Associates! Well, not for several years
when, during some discussion with a client, he had the chutzpa to lecture me that the baseline against which to
measure a grinding circuit was the SAG mill-ball mill circuit. He was lucky that I was so amused by his
outrageous, deceitful attitude that I didn’t deck him! SAG milling with a 6%+- ball charge became “state of the
art” in the US uranium business largely because the ores were of sedimentary origin-which is why the oil
companies held most of the uranium ore reserves that they had discovered when drilling through them looking
for oil and gas. The texture of the ores usually required little more than fine crushing to 28# and a SAG mill is,
really, a special type of crusher as it produces very little in the way of fine material, as the copper concentrating
metallurgist would be looking for. Concentrators operate in the 80% passing 65# and finer, mostly these days to
-200# or even finer. That’s 74 micron size versus 590 for 28#.
The Pima work blossomed in the copper industry as well where huge mills are employed. Some
of these mills are so large that it became un-economic to make pinion gears to transfer the equally large kW’s
required to drive them. These large mills have the motors wrapped around them! The mill carries the rotor
poles. It’s only when one is dealing with primary uranium ores as in Australia and Canada and South Africa
that ball milling is required. In South Africa much of the uranium comes as a co-product of the Rand gold
mining industry. It is in South Africa where SAG milling implies a completely different type of mill as
compared to North American useage. In South Africa a semi-autogenous mill is a tube mill. It is longer than it
is in diameter. In the US a SAG mill may be 28ft. in diameter but only 8ft long. The ends are two cones joined
by a short barrel section. In South Africa it may be 30ft long but only 14ft in diameter. In South Africa the ore
is kept in the mill until it is small enough to pass through the end plate which is a perforated plate with small
tapered holes less than 1.5cm in diameter in some cases. The fine material passes out from the pool but the
coarse material is assisted by means of a rotating spider that lifts the larger pieces and increases the chances of
their being discharged by carrying them across the perforated plat So we have a very different meaning to the
term SAG mill but it goes much further than the difference in the shape of the mill. It also goes to differences in
the kWHrs/ton that is needed to produce the “percent passing” criterion.
This is, perhaps, the crux of the “black art of comminution”.
Bryce and Hugh may have introduced me to the question of grinding power. If so, I wasn’t paying attention.
We may even have performed a grinding test-did we? Any professor of metallurgy will tell you that he can put
your sample in one of his little mills-about 18”x10” diameter-and do a power-draw test to your prescribed
%passing and that’s all there is about it. As a matter of fact, on the McLaughlin project, one of our directors
was Doug Fuerstenau, Professor of Metallurgy at Berkeley. He told me that when I was discussing the problem
of choosing mill horsepower. But, as I responded, I couldn’t provide samples for his testing of ALL the ore.
The McLaughlin ore power draw , according to tests by Hardinge, varied from 12kWHrs/ton to
28kWHrs/ton. Furthermore, it was impossible, from the extensive ore reserve data -they drilled 450 core holes
into an orebody about 1.5 miles long by 0.5 miles wide and only some 1,000ft. deep-to mine so as to maintain
an “average” work index, an average payable grade and an autogenous sulfur grade for the autoclaves to work
all at once. There aren’t many things one can “optimise” at the same time. One is forced to make choices that
are less than “optimum. The laws of economics govern not metallurgy.
Actually, I considered his statement rather fatuous. He had obviously never specified a mill nor
evaluated the wildly different bids that grinding mill vendors will offer from the one request for bid. With
respect to the term kWHrs/ton one has to be very careful what one is talking about.
Some interlocutors mean 80% passing, some mean 85% passing. Some refer only to the mill itself and its
kilowatts of power. Some include the crushing system. The South Africans include all the lighting for the
grinding area-and why not? You just have to be sure you are all speaking of the same thing. Then you have to
decide what “efficiency” you are going to obtain in the system, and I don’t mean Calcott’s definition. Is it going
to be a 0.6 divider or a 0.65 or what? When you decide what number to use you have to examine the
downstream equipment for sizing. If you design for 28kWHrs/ton at 3,000tpd and the feed is running
14kWHrs/t ore the mill will overwhelm the downstream equipment capacity with twice the product it can
handle!-mill superintendents loathe cutting back on capacity. So how do you decide what to use when the
variation is very wide? You use a scientific wild arsed guess!- and hope for the best when the mill starts up and
the miners send the ore to the mill. In the case of McLaughlin we had mostly “in the ballpark” bids but one
vendor had an “authority” who insisted we required only half the 6,750HP we eventually installed in the SAG
and ball mills-1,750hp and 5,000hp respectively. What we did was specify mills that would permit the 3,000tpd
through-put with a 10% allowance when the ore was around the average in hardness. In operation the mill
through-put dropped to around 2,700tpd when very hard ore was being processed and went to 3,600tpd with the
softest ore. Overall the mill averaged the desing 3,000tpd.
The mine carried out an extremely detailed blasting procedure based upon drill- hole assays. The
grade- control geologists used colored flags and ribbons to actually outline the different types of ore in a bench
blast. The blaster calculated the powder factor so as to cause minimal movement in the blast. The shovel
operator loaded out the “cells” and informed the truck driver which place to dump the rock. This method
controlled the sulfur and gold grade and allowed for some sorting by rock type. Despite such an elaborate
system the rock was moved for 40¢ per ton.
The most interesting case I was ever involved with was the choice of mills for Troy, a copper
concentrator for Asarco in Idaho. The Troy ore was incredibly hard. I don’t recall what the work index was but
it must have been in the high twenties. The ore was a quartzite that was so hard it rang like a bell if it was hit
with a hammer.The late Bill Swett, the VP of Engineering for Asarco out of their Salt Lake City office had been
around for years and knew his stuff as a metallurgist in concentrators and smelters. Asarco had mills all over
the world. At the time it was a major shareholder in Mt.Isa. They had performed their usual work index tests-
and didn’t know what to use for the mills. There was nothing but arguments between all the mill “experts”
available to the project from their own people and ours (Kaiser Engineers) plus outside consultants.
Autogenous, no semi-autogenous, no standard ABC and on and on for weeks including visits all over the place
to discuss the choice with other operating company “experts”.
After all this Bill came into my office and said “ Rex, I am so damned embarrassed! We’ve spent about
$250,000 and all this time and we’re right back where we started!”
Several years later, when I was with Homestake and at an AIME meeting somewhere I ran into
Jack Bingham, the Manager at Troy. Well, actually he came right across the room to have a piece of me. He
was somewhat in his cups. “You people really screwed up the choice of that mill at Troy. I can hardly keep up
with the maintenance. The liner plates loosen up and the bolts fall out. I’ve never seen anything like it!” He
then left for another drink, leaving me wondering why he thought we had had much to do with it. Black art,
indeed! Very hard ore and all choices bad. But Doug could have told me exactly how much power I needed!
Today there is little change in the actual “efficiency” of regular comminution equipment .
Attention to mill liner technology and gear profiles have added some fractional improvements. The major
change has been in the introduction of high pressure roll crushers which have product profiles similar to those
of grinding mills with a large portion of the product in the -200# area. Professor Fuerstenau was associated with
this development. I believe one of the major applications of this very expensive equipment is in the diamond
industry where it successfully crushes the kymberlite gangue without also crushing the diamonds. I’m not sure
how, perhaps one of us can enlighten me? Bryce? Mick?
` There are also two new crushing units that claim to produce fine product. One of these is
according to a patent held by Terra Systems of Utah. They use a low pressure blower to fire the rock at a
ceramic plate. I have been unable to obtain any data from them.
Another is a modification of the New Zealand designed vertical impact crusher by the man who
invented Tang (honestly) which uses rock-on-rock breakage and claims to obtain a high proportion of fines.
Again, there are no operating data available. I have a drawing of the unit and am at a loss to see the difference
betrween it and the New Zealand equipment which has more or less totally replaced the old tried and true
Superior units for product in the gravel business because it produces a very cubical product that is ideal for
asphaltic concrete.
In closing this little dissertation I hope some of our colleagues out there may rise in protest at
some of my comments-I’m not a metallurgist, after all. Then perhaps we may have some correspondence to
enliven the e-mails! But I shall always consider comminution a black art, not a science. Still, I’m not as obtuse
as that Mine Manager (a mining engineer) in Queensland years ago who told his shareholders they were high-
grading the top of the orebody and in a year or two would have to add a crusher so as to double the ore through-
put. I guess he hadn’t paid much attention to his metallurgical lectures either!
Rex Guinivere
Farmers Have Gutsful Of Flatulence Tax
Sydney Morning Herald 5 September 2003

Farmers drove a vintage tractor and led a cow up the marble steps of New Zealand’s Parliament yesterday to
protest against government plans to tax their animals’ gas emissions. Waving banners, about 1000 farmers -
some leading cows and dogs, others driving tractors and other farm equipment - chanted “we won’t pay” what
has been dubbed the “flatulence tax.” They presented a petition signed by 65,000 to Parliament opposing a
planned greenhouse gas research levy on farm animals. Two cows wearing blankets emblazoned with the words
“Not Guilty” led the procession through the centre of the capital.
The levy would raise about $NZ8 million ($7.2 million) a year for research aimed at cutting the methane output
of farm animals. Methane belched by the country’s farm herds makes up more than half the total greenhouse
gas produced by New Zealand each year. Farmers cheered and whistled as one of the cows was led up the steps,
and a farmer lawmaker drove a 50-year-old Fordson tractor up about 20 steps towards the Parliament’s stately
doorway. Tom Lambie dairy chief of the farmer lobby group Federated Farmers said the rally and the petition
were “tangible evidence” of opposition to the proposed levy. “There will be no tax on emissions” he vowed, to
loud cheers. Climate Change Minister Pete Hodgson told farmers the Government reserved the right to impose
the levy if farmers “failed to step forward with a package” of funds to support research into cutting greenhouse
emissions. He said the two sides had resumed talks in recent days to find the funding needed from other sources
to avoid the tax. North Island dairy farmer Grant Simpson said there would be “no compromise” on the levy
plan, rejecting moves by farmer leaders and the Government to find an alternative funding source. “We will not
tolerate it, we’ve had a gutsful,” he added.

Which reminds me, have you heard of . . . .. . .

Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader

This indispensable adjunct to bathrooms modern and old has been around for quite some time, and is now into
its (at least) 16th edition. After picking up the 2nd edition in a remainder sale, I got a friend in U.S.A. to buy me
the 16th edition. And just recently I discovered a two-volume Australian edition at half the price! The blurb
declares “Uncle John goes down under to get to the bottom of things”. While there is a great deal of “lavatory
humour” it’s not the sort we usually think of. Numerous punny references, all in good taste, to all aspects of the
throne and its surroundings. Offerings range from pithy one-liners at the foot of each page (e.g. jockeys in
America are the only US athletes allowed to bet on themselves), through short articles or lists (e.g. Flubbed
Headlines; How We Got the Dollar) to articles several pages long for those extended sojourns. The general tone
is one of good natured humour. You can “read all about it at” their website:
http://www.bathroomreader.com/home.html . The Australian edition still has much american material in it but
includes enough Australian stuff to justify the title.

China Puts Boom Into Iron And Steel

Sydney Morning Herald - By Liza Kappelle - Date: October 21 2003

China’s insatiable appetite for iron ore and steel is powering a global iron ore boom that will send prices
surging in 2004 and keep them rising for five years. A report by AME Mineral Economics says iron ore
demand, now running at about 1.1 billon tonnes a year, will rise by more than 250 million tonnes a year by
2008 because of demand for the metal from China where stainless steel has become a status product.
The researchers said China’s infrastructure and manufacturing expansion would catapult Asian steel output to
almost match the rest of the world’s entire production by 2008. “Both directly and indirectly, ‘dragon power’
will be responsible for most of the growth in iron ore seaborne trade, iron ore demand, and global iron ore
production, as the burgeoning Chinese economy draws heavily on domestic and international steel supply,”
AME says in its latest report. “Producers are scrambling to expand capacity, consumers are racing to secure
supply, and the industry is attracting new players like moths to a candle flame.” The 9 per cent price increases
won by iron ore producers this year would be matched by similar increases in 2004. These prices were the
highest in a decade but global iron ore consumption would increase by more than 6 per cent in 2003 and would
continue strongly over the next five years, the report said. The surging price had sparked new interest in mine
and infrastructure projects while the top three producers, Brazil’s CVRD, and Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, had
brought forward projects to exploit the market. Steel producers in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were
benefiting from the upsurge in Chinese demand, as was India in both steel and iron ore exports. AME said
market tightness could not be relieved before 2006 and only then if the big Australian and Brazilian producers
implemented most of their development plans and new mines started producing. Without the additional
production, and increased iron ore industry expansion in India and Russia and its “independent states”, the
market could fall into serious undersupply, AME warns. “Much of this rosy outlook is contingent on China
sustaining a frenetic pace of industrial and infrastructure development. “If China falters or plateaus - always a
risk with such high growth rates - the pressure on iron ore supply will quickly evaporate and producers will
have to slow or defer their ambitious expansion plans.”
 Remember the Drinking Horn?

Ah yes, the Drinking Horn. Every year (about now ??) the O.S.M. and the Dental School held a competition. A
rugby game in the afternoon,and the Drinking Horn in the evening - also know in some circles as a "boatrace".
Just in case you’ve forgotten:
The general idea was for two teams of six (the “Flying Squads”), kneeling at either side of a table, to
drink down, in turn (#1 to #6) a 12-ounce handle of that awful beer Speights used to make, and we used to
pretend to like. Probably because we didn't know any better. I had entered the Mining School determined not to
drink any alcohol, knowing the reputation of the miners, and having an alcoholic father. I was persuaded to try
out in the student common room, using water, and was found to be a very proficient performer. Which started
me on the slippery slope to perdition!
I think my best performance was a tad under 2 seconds for the 12oz. But the Champion-of-Champions
was Charlie McFee, who could down one in about 1.2 seconds. Instead of swallowing the stuff like everyone
else, he just opened his throat and sucked it in like a suction pump! I believe he died quite young, but probably
from unrelated causes.
The event was usually held in the old Oddfellows(?) Hall in Fredrick Street, just down from George
Street, as was many another grand booze-up, like the First term Welcome to the Charlady, The End of Term
Farewell to the Laboratory Technician . . . well, you get the idea; any excuse was better than none!
The small hall was packed to the rafters with students from both faculties and their girl friends, plus of
course the Home Science girls and a few brave staff members. One story I remember well was Jack Mackie's
wife Sue, in the excitement of the great event, falling off the bench they were standing on for the view. She
appeared to have been knocked unconscious. Jack was leaning over her on the floor saying "Speak to me Sue!".
After some anxious moments Sue opened one eye and said "Gimme a beer".
Rex Guinivere recalls that the rugby match was accompanied by a 5-gal keg on the sideline, so all in all
it was a pretty rough and tumble game.
Captain Jack’s recollection: Regarding the Drinking Horn, Flying Squad, etc. I may be able to find an
old pic that would round off John's and Mick's photos. I recall once persuading the Miners and Dentals to try
a different modus operandi. The idea was for each team to be privided with a 5-gallon keg, and on the word
"GO", they had to knock out the bung, fit the spigot and drink their keg dry, the first to finish being the winner.
It all went off well, but the trouble was everyone got as pissed as newts and the scheme was abandoned. A
good try though! This must have happened after your time, I think With the traditional system, the complaints
from the team managers and consequent re-runs, everyone got pretty pissed anyway. I think the keg scheme
was a bit too serious, as there wss little hoop-la to break up the boozing.

The 1952 Miners’ Flying Squad

Neilson-Hitchon-McIntosh-Buist-Hunt-McFee
Gordon
 Goodbye Piccadilly, hello Bali Hai
Sydney Morning Herald 6 September 2003

Swaying palms, warm waters and exotic marine species conjure images of a tropical island, not a London
streetscape. But a leading scientist has found evidence that the streets of London were once a subtropical
paradise. A palaeontologist at Britain’s Natural History Museum, Jackie Skipper, says fossils found during
digging work on London’s Channel Tunnel rail link point to the city’s more exotic past. The British media
reported on Thursday that Dr Skipper had found oyster, shark teeth and exotic palm tree fossils showing that
the East End had a climate similar to today’s South China seas 55.5 million years ago. The BBC website said
work on the rail link to the Chunnel has carved out a trench 1.1 kilometres long, 40 metres wide and more than
four storeys deep. “This exciting find gives us valuable evidence of what London’s landscape used to look
like,” Dr Skipper told the BBC. “We are talking Malaysia, Thailand, that kind of temperature, in east London.
“We’ve got palm trees, we’ve got sharks, we’ve got shells and a sandy beach. “We’ve got these huge banks of
oysters, we’ve got evidence of enormous earthquakes, of a sub-tropical paradise in east London with sharks
swimming through the streets. “It’s just an extraordinary picture and it’s really contributing to our
understanding of the time.”

Medieval Weapons Of Mass Destruction

ABC Science Online Abbie Thomas in Manchester Thursday, 11 September 2003

Ingredients
The ingredients required for making a medieval form of gunpowder that is almost as good as today's equivalent
Medieval recipes for gunpowder produce nearly the same firepower as today's manufactured equivalent,
according to recent weapons tests, providing clues as to how the British fleet became one of the largest fighting
forces in the world. Robert Smith who is Head of Conservation at the Royal Armouries in Leeds, told the
British Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Manchester this week that the medieval
gunpowder was made from ancient recipes or formulas still surviving from the 14th Century. "Gunpowder is an
amazing, strange and bizarre material," Smith told ABC Science Online. He and colleagues recreated the
gunpowder - essentially a mixture of sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre - from scratch. They harvested raw sulphur
from the hills of Iceland and burned alder wood in the ground to create charcoal. The third ingredient, saltpetre,
was obtained from the nitrates left over from manure collected from stables.
Mixing
The team mixing up medieval gunpowder in the lab using traditional wooden bowls The medieval gunpowder
was packed into a replica Loshult gun, a small canon-like gun from Sweden which dates from the 14th Century.
The newly made medieval gunpowder was able to fire a lead ball as far as 945 metres (and reaching speeds up
to 200 m per second), compared to a distance of 1100 metres for the commercial gun powder. The old recipes
called for mixed powder to be 'stamped' - put under pressure - for at least 20 hours, but preferably 30. But even
with very little preparation time the team achieved surprising results. "These simplified powders were
unbelievably effective," Smith said. "What stunned us is if you take these simple ingredients and mix them
together for five minutes, it goes off like an absolute rocket."
Gun
The Loshult gun they used to test the gunpowder The team also loaded larger guns with the same simple
mixture and fired them at thick wooden walls to simulate firing on ships at sea. They found that guns loaded
with stones made a fist-sized hole in the side of the wooden wall, while cast iron balls blasted a hole larger than
themselves. Next, the group will try out different ratios of the ingredients in the gunpowder to recreate how
people might have tried to improve it during the first few centuries of its existence. "In the evolution of combat,
it's always a race between attack and defence," Smith said. "Knowing how effective these guns were will give
us information on how people decided to go about building castles, fighting wars and even building their ships.
After all, the reason the U.K. got where it did was largely because of its navy."
 Brush With Art Thieves
Sydney Morning Herald Date: September 9 2003

A New Zealand couple holidaying in Scotland are key witnesses in one of the biggest art heists in Britain - the
theft of an $A80 million Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece. Olive Reed and her husband Graeme photographed
two of the three thieves as they leapt into their getaway car outside Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and
Galloway on August 27, even chatting to one as he rushed past. One had the /Madonna with the Yarnwinder/
tucked under his arm - one of only a handful of known da Vinci paintings in private ownership, and compared
to the /Mona Lisa/ in style by art critics. The Reeds' digital photographs gave police an instant lead because it
showed the getaway car and registration number, plus two of the thieves.
The couple had been visiting relatives who lived near the castle and decided to walk its expansive grounds that
day. "We heard the burglar alarm going - we weren't sure if it was a real one or not," Mrs Reed said. "Then we
saw a man scaling the wall over towards us from the castle. He jumped down - only a few metres from us - and
said 'It's all right love, we're the police. We're having a practice.' "I said: 'All right then, I'll take your photo.' "
NZPA

Audio-on-Demand
I recently spent a pleasant hour listening to a replay of Margaret Throsby (ABCFM Australia) interviewing Sir
Richard Attenborough. If you don't know of him, he's the guy who makes those fabulous wildlife films. He is a
very interesting fellow. What makes this noteworthy is that the program went to air two days previously, and I
was listening to it via "audio-on-demand" through the speakers on my computer. As tecnological advances leap
upon us one after the other, we tend to become blase about them. But now and again I am pulled up short in my
tracks just gob-smacked at the wonder of it all.
A friend sent me a recent promo from the Minnesota Public Broadcasting Service. Back in the 1980s I
used to listen avidly every Saturday afternoon from 5 to 7pm to this radio variety show, hosted by the very
funny Garrison Keilor. Once I got past the stuff for sale I found that I could call up programs as far back as
1985 and listen to them online by "audio on demand". WONDERFUL!!! Really made my day. Now instead of
playing the old tape of the very last program, I can pick and choose among hundreds of them!! If you are
interested check out http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/1985/11/ . You can hear others via the "Old
Shows" link.
If you look at the Australian Broadcasting Commission web site (with its 500 or so pages) you will find
a great deal of fascinating material, much of it available as transcripts, audio-on-demand and even video-on-
demand. And we’re only just scratching the surface of digital technology.
 More From Michael Broad
Micheal is a real mine of interesting information (pun intended ☺)

VoIP Telephony
(Voice over Internet Protocol)

Have you heard of telephony over the internet? It’s the way of the future. I can speak to folk in just about any
country in the civilized world for about 7¢ a minute and no flagfall.What’s different about current technology is
that you can make the calls without the called party having the software installed. If they do have, the call is
FREE!! The only catch I found was that my sound-card mounted microphone wouldn’t work, so I had to buy a
USB phone for about $100 which bypasses the sound card altogether.You can even buy a little box and do the
same with your existing phones and without even having a computer! But you have to pay about $20 a month
access fee for that service. If you are interested do a Google search for “voip” or check out my service at
www.freshtel.net .
 Potted Histories

Bill Croxford
My secondary school education was done at King's High School and Timaru Boys High school then I moved on
to The University of Otago with the intention of doing a chemistry degree because that was the subject that
really turned me on.But in that first year I needed a third subject so I chose Geology simply because my father
(a policeman) spent most of his holidays panning for gold in the Shag River near Dunback.I tagged along too
because it was good fun tickling trout and I can tell you the technique works. Well Geology proved to be a
revelation especially when we were introduced to Petrology because I already had an old (~1890) brass
microscope at home which had calcite polarisers and I had been using it to examine biological material when at
school.In those days the Geology Department also had old brass Leitz microscopes again with calcite polarisers
and the optics were good as I recall. And so I finally graduated in Chemistry and Geology after a rather
indifferent student record.And having obtained a qualification I still had no idea what I wanted to do in terms of
a job. Worse than that I was broke. My future wife Joy (a nurse) was paying my way
Unexpectedly I was offered a job at at OSM as laboratory assistant to Dr.John Rogers and that is when I
began to learn a lot of things about mining and mineral beneficiation.Further to this I sat in on some mineral
dressing lectures and amongst other things I had to teach some students about reflected light microscopy as
applied to mineral dressing. The samples we studied were polished briquettes of Mount Isa Pb/Zn/Ag ore
kindly supplied by Dick O'Meara who was an OSM graduate working as the mineralogist/petrogist for
M.I.M.There were occasional evening lectures at OSM and I recall Bob Floyd giving one on the Mount Isa
ores. I found the whole business of mining quite fascinating and I used to wonder why the High School
vocational guidance officer never mentioned it as a possible career path.
After almost 1 year (1955) with OSM, Denys Harraway mentioned to me that MIM were looking for a
petrologist because Dick O'Meara had gone to Kitwe in the Copper Belt.Evidently the Mt.Isa job had been
vacant for some time.I did nothing about it and some time later Denys asked me if I had applied. So I got
cracking and I received a quick response from MIM to say I had the job and to come ASAP. What a revelation!
A whole new learning curve began both work-wise and on the domestic/social front.It was envigorating
although the climate required some adjustment.
I really enjoyed the work because it covered all aspects of metallurgy as well as the geology of the mine
and mineral exploration. Problem solving was the name of the game and Otago University had equipped me
well to handle the job. I also took an interest in ore genesis because in those days most geologists thought the
layered Pb/Zn/Ag ores were hydrothermal but there were a few dissenters who were brave enough to suggest
they might simply be chemical sediments. In 1960 MIM gave me leave to study for a Ph.D at Armidale under
the tutelage of Dr.Dick Stanton who,at that time, was regarded as a leader in the field of sedimentary ore
genesis.It was an exciting 3 years following which I returned to Mt.Isa as Chief Research Geologist.From then
on a lot of work involved the MacArthur deposit and these ores were even more texturally primitive than Mt Isa
because they were virtually unmetamorphosed.
Finally in1974 I was transferred to Brisbane to work in exploration and in 1984 I took voluntary
retirement and set up a consultancy to the mining industry.This was an exciting work period too but the 5 day
week seemed to disappear. At the end of 2000 I decided to call it a day and retire back to Timaru where my
wife Joy and I had spent our younger days. We are now well settled and we have survived two winters with the
aid of a heat pump ---- a very efficient form of heating.We will be retuning to Oz from time to time to see the
family and old friends.

Fossickers Intrude On Newcrest's Golden Isle

Sydney Morning Herald - By Barry FitzGerald - Date: October 28 2003

“Garimpeiros” packing canvas sacks and shovels have swarmed on to Newcrest Mining's freshly uncovered
high-grade Toguraci gold deposit on the Indonesian island of Halmahera, forcing the Melbourne-based group to
suspend development work at the jungle site. Up to 200 of the “unauthorised” miners moved on to the site once
Newcrest had exposed the high-grade deposit by removing the 20 to 30
metres of waste or overburden that covers the 260,000 ounce-plus deposit. They have been filling their sacks
and heading back to local villages to process the ore using rudimentary methods. Because much of the material
removed is not ore but jungle dirt, Newcrest reckons they would be lucky to return 5oz of gold a day.
 The local market did not doubt the company and pushed the stock 14c higher to $11.98 in response to
higher US dollar gold prices. Newcrest said it decided to suspend the operation for safety reasons as heavy
earthmoving equipment operating amid hundreds of garimpeiros scuttling about without hardhats and safety
boots was not an ideal mix. Toguraci, which cost $10 to $15 million to develop, was due to produce its first
gold in December. Newcrest believes production is now likely to be delayed by a month. Toguraci’s high-grade
ore (43 grams of gold per tonne) will go to a nearby treatment plant, which earlier this year processed the last
ore from Gosowong, Newcrest’s initial mine development in the area. Gosowong produced more than
730,000oz in three years at a cash cost of $US118 an ounce. The fat margins from the project helped Newcrest
pursue an aggressive program of expansion and development in Australia. The Gosowong facilities have been
fully depreciated so Toguraci will be a particularly sweet operation for Newcrest which can do with the cash
flow to help feed its ambitious $1 billion Telfer development in Western Australia.
Newcrest does not expect Toguraci to be the end of its golden cash flows from Indonesia. It has a new
discovery called Kencana that is covered by its Gosowong approvals. Toguraci required a special clearance
because it is within a protected forest.In early 2000, Newcrest was forced to suspend operations at Gosowong
as a precautionary measure following civil unrest between Christians and Muslims in north
Halmahera.Newcrest reduced workforce numbers at Gosowong from more than 300 to less than 40 people as a
result of the measure.Newcrest owns 82.5 per cent of Gosowong/Toguraci, with the remaining 17.5 per cent
held by Indonesia’s PT Aneka Tambang.

Bugs Grow Gold That Looks Like Coral

Heather Catchpole ABC Science Online Wednesday, 28 January 2004

Microbes that grow gold grains looking like a coral reef could open up new possibilities for mineral
prospecting, according to an Australian researcher. Frank Reith from the Australian National University in
Canberra and Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration grew these
'bubbly' formations in the lab. As part of his doctoral thesis Reith looked at the metal-munching microbes
involved and how they grow gold grains and nuggets in mines. He also published his research in the latest issue
of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's publication the AusIMM Bulletin.
Gold is usually found in ore bodies, or in waterborne or alluvial deposits that have collected and
concentrated gold by physical processes. These processes include gold grains rolling down a stream bed.
Scientists know that microorganisms are involved in dissolving trace amounts of gold out of rock, which Reith's
research confirmed. Gold in the quartz vein at the Tomakin mine on the south coast of New South Wales is
invisible, even to high-powered electron microscopes, said Reith. The gold is hidden in sulfur-rich metal
minerals, until the microbes remove it from the rock atom by atom. But Reith suggested the microbes played
another important role: transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial
deposits. He found traces of the microbes' genetic material on the deposits, which confirmed they were present.

Coloured scanning electron

Microbes grow gold in the lab micrograph of a gold flake
that buds and bubbles. produced by microbes.

Reith then took some of the microbes from the mine and used them to 'grow' gold in the lab. "The gold grains
grow like a coral reef," Reith told ABC Science Online. "There is a mother cell, which produces buds, forming
a bubbly formation." Reith said the microbes at the surface of these formations could still be hard at work,
forming new gold layers on top of the past generation's fossilised gold deposit.
Marker for gold - Reith suggested that the presence of the gold-digging microbes could be used as an
environmentally friendly marker for geological exploration. Looking at past geophysical data for signs of the
microbes could prompt further exploration of an area where there is no visible gold deposit, he said. "It would
never substitute for other methods but it could be an add-on," said Reith. "If you found a lot of these organisms
in the field you [would be able to] tell that there is some sort of mineralisation there."
Reith said the next step in his research would be to extract genetic material from the microbes to
identify the species. He suspects they belong to the genus Pedomicrobium, which contains microbes known to
dissolve other metals. "It's very hard to pinpoint certain organisms; there are millions growing in the soil," he
said.
Dr Dennis Gee, chief executive of the research centre involved in the research, said the process Reith
unearthed could apply to the main alluvial gold fields in Victoria, at Bathurst in New South Wales, in the
Northern Territory and possibly at Coolgardie in Western Australia. The research could also be important in
processing gold from ores that are hard to dissolve, said Gee. These make up one-third of all Australia's gold
reserves.

*****If any of the following seems familiar, maybe you need to ask yourself if you really are “retired”*****

The Workaholic’s Way

by Mary Ann Maxwell MIS, managing director, Asia Pacific ope
(edited version _Ed.)

Is it time you signed up for Workaholics Anonymous? You’re not alone. It’s not always easy to find a middle
ground between work and life… that elusive work/life balance. However, many of us work in a compulsive and
addictive way. We simply cannot change our poor working habits and find our personal and social relationships
are deeply affected by the lack of time and attention. So are you a workaholic? I certainly see myself in some of
these characteristics. Compulsive overworkers:
• Are usually in a hurry
• Have a strong need to control
• Expect perfection of themselves and others
• Have difficulty in relationships
• Cannot relax and have fun
• Are impatient and irritable
• Suffer physical problems due to stress, poor eating habits and lack of exercise.
• Often do several things at once, (ie. eat breakfast while listening to voice mail)
Breaking the behaviour
Here are some of the simple principles that a workaholic can apply to that journey in a new direction?
• Reorganise your life so work becomes proportionate to family, friends and yourself; switch your focus
to relaxation, exercise, and proper and balanced nutrition
• Slow your work pace
• Learn to eat, drink, walk and drive slower
• Work in moderation; keep regular hours.
• Set boundaries between work and personal life
• Strengthen family ties through sharing activities and developing traditions
• Renew old acquaintances
• Learn to live in the present… stop and smell the roses.
[I regard myself as lucky to have been involved in the “personal growth movement” of the 1970s & 80s. That’s
when I stopped living-to-work- and started working-to-live. It didn’t make me rich, but it sure made me happier
and healthier. _Ed.]
 Changi To Remain A Monument To POWs
Sydney Morning Herald - By Mark Baker Herald Correspondent in Singapore - March 8 2004

Fittings and artefacts from the infamous Changi Prison will be sent to Australia as part of plans to preserve
sections of the Singapore jail where thousands of Allied troops were held by the Japanese in World War II. The
Singaporean Government has bowed to international pressure and agreed to save a 180-metre section of the old
prison wall, including two turrets used as Japanese guard posts, and to relocate the jail's emblematic main gates.
The Australian War Memorial, Goulburn City Council and a number of ex-service groups are negotiating with
Singaporean authorities to take other parts of the jail for use in museum displays - including cell doors, shower
stalls and other period fixtures.
Singapore's Corrections Department was going to demolish the entire wartime prison, built by the
British in 1936 and still housing civilian prisoners, to make way for a vast new jail. The plans, first reported last
June, drew an outcry from Allied veterans and Singaporean historians who feared the loss of one of the best-
known landmarks of the war in the Pacific. Almost 15,000 Australians were taken prisoner after Singapore fell
to the Japanese in 1942 - many of them passing though Changi on their way to the death camps on the Burma
railway, coalmines in Japan and the labour camps of Borneo.
The national secretary of the Ex-Prisoner of War Association, Cyril Gilbert, welcomed the news
yesterday. "We're very happy that at least some of the jail is being kept in memory of all those who suffered
and died," he said. But Mr Gilbert, who spent a year in Changi after returning from the Burma railway, said
veterans groups had hoped the main gates would be kept in their original position, rather than being relocated.
"We would have loved them to be retained where they were and where we walked in and out. So many of the
men who passed through those gates never came back," he said.
The decision to save parts of the prison followed intense lobbying by several Australian ministers, including the
Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, whose father was in Changi. The Australian high commissioner, Gary
Quinlan, said: "We're very pleased. This is what we've been asking for and, in fact, this is more than the
Singaporeans had initially been thinking of saving." He said calls to preserve the entire prison were never likely
to succeed. "It's a working prison. It has to be rebuilt, and we always recognised that."
Under the revised redevelopment plans, the preserved sections of the prison at present within the jail
boundaries will be opened to the public. Authorities are also considering building a historical display centre to
complement the Changi museum and chapel that was opened on a site near the jail several years ago. In a
statement released at the weekend, the Singaporean Home Affairs Ministry said the surviving section of the old
jail would be gazetted as a national monument. The ministry said that selected artefacts from parts of the prison
to be demolished later this year are being offered to tourism authorities and the governments of Australia,
Britain and New Zealand.

Hill End Resurrected!

The Living End - Pulse Found In An Old Gold Vein
Sydney Morning Herald - By Brian Robins - Date: April 12 2004
(edited version _Ed.)

It's become home to a host of painters such as Russell Drysdale, John Olsen, John Firth-Smith and Gary Shead
who have sought inspiration at Hill End. One of the more recent imports is jazz singer Lee Gunness, who
moved to the village a few years ago after living and working mostly in Sydney.
Artists and miners are often a volatile mix, but for Hill End, tapping that country spirit has helped now
that the town has returned to its gold-mining roots. The Hill End mine has been re-opened and has produced its
first gold in more than 80 years. And the extra money kicking around town has been quickly noticed.Higher
gold prices, along with new approaches to exploration and production, have given Hill End a new lease on life.
The resumption of mining caps off more than 20 years of work - first to amalgamate the mining leases into a
single holding, and then, in the past decade, exploring the old workings, says Graham Reveleigh, who heads the
mine.
There was a bonanza find south of the town, where gold is of a phenomenal 546 grams to the tonne
grade, during drilling in the mid-1990s. That rekindled hopes that Hill End could relive its glory days when it
boasted 27 pubs and its own brewery. Gold grades of two to three grams to the tonne get gold miners' pulses
racing, especially with prices at $US420.80 ($551) an ounce, at 16-year highs.
 In the 70 years after 1851, when gold was found at Hill End, more than 1.5 million ounces were
produced there. That would be worth more than $750 million at today's prices. Most of that was produced in the
first few decades of mining at the town, with fabulous discoveries such as the nugget found on the Holtermann
claim in 1872. Weighing 286 kilograms, it contained 3000 ounces of gold.
The gold at Hill End forms part of the Lachlan Fold, an extensive zone of mineralisation extending from
the south-east to the north-west of the state. It includes large mines such as Cadia, south of Orange, and some
near Cobar. Several years of extensive drilling during the 1990s were needed before Cadia yielded its riches,
with the mine's life now extended for many years to come.
"The Lachlan Fold belt is the equivalent of the Greenstone belt (in WA)," said Mr Reveleigh. The
Greenstone belt hosts all of Western Australia's gold deposits, including those at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.
Outside Broken Hill, all of the base metal mines in NSW are located in the Lachlan Fold, such as two mines
near Parkes and the Wyoming gold mine which is being developed west of Dubbo. Work is underway to turn
some gold prospects near Wellington into a small gold mine.

The last word on the

Australian Elelctions
This one’s for the “older” Old Boys. How many of them do you know? I’m stuck at four [Jones, Makie,
Paterson & Sanderson].

Graduates Of The Former School Of Mines

University Of Otago In Pre-War Malaya

ABEL, William (Bill) Wilkie, BE,BSc,AOSM(1933).

Worked for a year or so in a mine in Otago, but went to Malaya c.1934 to join the staff of Pahang
Consolidated Co. Ltd.(PCCL). This was the largest underground tin mine in the world at that time. Joined the
Federated Malay States Volunteer Forces (FMSVF) in 1941 (Captain). Became a Prisoner of War (POW)
when Singapore fell to the Japanese in Feb.1942, first in Changi, then in Thailand on the infamous Thai-
Burma railway construction. After recuperation in NZ, he returned to PCCL of which he became General
Manager c.1959. Technical Advisor to PCCL head office, London, UK, in 1971, and probably a Director. He
returned to NZ shortly after this and died a few years later, in Ranfurly I think.
Bill Abel was an outstanding sportsman whilst at OU; he played Rugby for the University A team and
was Captain for a spell. He also played for the NZ University and probably for Otago Province. OU and NZU
Blue. He was also in the OU Inter-university Shooting team.
ANDREW, R.B. (Bruce). BE, AOSM (1941).
The son of the late Dr.Arthur Andrew who was Dean of the Mining Faculty at OU from 1933 - 41.
Bruce Andrew went to Malaya in 1941 to join the staff of the Raub Australian Gold Mining Co. in Pahang.
He joined the FMSVF (Sergeant?) in 1941 and became a POW when Singapore fell in Feb.1942, first in
Changi and then in Thailand. He returned to NZ late in 1945 when released, and worked for a spell with the
Dominion Fertiliser Co. but joined the Colonial Service as an Inspector of Mines in Malaya in 1947. After
Malaysia's Independence in 1957 he returned to NZ and was employed by the Ministry of Works and later by
the Lyttelton Tunnel Authority. By 1980 he was reported as living in retirement in Christchurch. I think he
played Rugby for OU.
He had a younger brother, Major Michael Andrew, MC, NZ Engineers, who also attended the OU
School of Mines until he joined the Army, then after the war the Palestine Police, and later the Colonial
Service. He was never in Malaya, though.
BURNS, A.(Alex). BE (probably), AOSM (1939).
Born Scotland and came to NZ with his parents at age 12 and was educated at Hamilton High School,
Auckland Univ.College and OU, finishing his course in 1939. In 1939 he joined the staff of Raub Australian
Gold Mine, in Pahang, Malaya and later became battery manager. He served with the FMSVF (Sergeant), and
became a POW when Singapore fell. His death was not confirmed until Malaya was reoccupied late in 1945.
He died of sickness while working on the Thai-Burma railway construction some time in 1943
Alex Burns was and outstanding Rugby player, obtaining a Blue at OU and also representing Waikato.
DAVIS, William (Bill) Robert, BE (probably),AOSM (1936).
He was the son of a well-known colliery manager on the West Coast and came to the Otago School of
Mines in 1933, completing his course in 1936. He was then appointed assistant engineer in charge of
Government prospecting in Marlborough, but a year later joined the staff of PCCL in Malaya. At the outbreak
of war in the Far East he was a Sergeant in the Pahang Battalion, FMSVF, and when resistance in Malaya
collapsed he became a POW. Until 1943 he was in Singapore, but was then transferred to the Batu Lintang
camp near Kuching, Sarawak as a member of a party engaged in building a road at Dahan. He was last heard
of with a working party of about 300 which was sent from Kuching to Labuan in 1944 to build an aerodrome.
It is known that there were no survivors from this party; it is believed that many died of sickness and
malnutrition and that when the Australians attacked the island the Japanese massacred those who were still
alive, probably in April 1945.
Bill Davis was very popular among his fellow prisoners, and was a steadying influence for many.
DUNNE, William (Bill) T., BSc, BE, AOSM (1934).
His first job after graduation was on prospecting operations in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for a year or
so, but he obtained a position with PCCL and went to Malaya. Around 1938 he joined the consulting firm of
Vallentine and Vaughan in Kuala Lumpur when Vaughan retired. I think the firm became Vallentine and
Dunne. He joined the FMSVF and became a Sergeant in the Armoured Car unit.. During the Malayan
Campaign against the Japanese his A.Car was captured by the enemy after a brisk action at a road-block, and
the crew incarcerated in the Pudu Road Gaol in Kuala Lumpur for some time (this was before the fall of
Singapore in Feb. 1942). He was later transferred to Changi POW camp in Singapore and eventually sent to
work on the Thai-Burma railway.
On release at the end of 1945 he returned to NZ for recuperation leave before going back to Malaya
where he resuscitated his firm as Principal. It became very successful and I believe Bill became a Director of
several British dredging companies which operated in Malaya. His Malayan associations led to a close
involvement with the London Tin Corporation and he finally took up residence in UK at Guildford. He
became a Technical Director of the Corporation, which took him back to Malaysia on visits, as well as to other
parts of the world, including NZ, on mining operations.
He came back to NZ with the intention of retiring in Wanaka, but after a comparatively short time sold
up and went back to UK where he built a house called "Dunedin" at Curry Rivel in Somerset. He still lives
there, aged about 85. He married Lorna Hutton, a graduate of the OU Home Science School, but she was
afflicted by a brain disease relatively recently and is now in a Home near Curry Rivel. There are four
children, all living in UK.
Bill Dunne was an outstanding sportsman in his student days. He was a winger in the University A
Rugby team for several years, and had NZU Blues in Rugby and Boxing. He was also on the OU Athletics
team. He played in the trial match for the All Black selection and I understand that he may well have been
included if he had not gone off to PNG. Post-war, when he ws living in Malaysia, he played Rugby there and,
I believe, became President of the Malaysian Rugby Football Union.
Again, while he was working in Malaysia after the war, he was involved in an incident during the
Emergency, in Pahang I believe, when he and others were in a prahu goimg up a large river. The craft was
fired on by Communist bandits and a young OU geology graduate, "Pop"Amies was killed. Bill Dunne
jumped out of the prahu and towed it to safety using it as a screen.
He is now nearly blind, probably as a result of malnutrition whilst a POW. We talk on the 'phone
occasionally. Bill was very well known in Malaysia and was a great ambassador for OU. [He died in England
on April 23, 2003 --JBM.]
FAIRMAID, Gordon, AOSM (1927).
Went to Malaya not long after graduation to work for PCCL in Pahang. He was interned in Singapore
during the Japanese occupation. After recuperating in NZ, he went back to Malaya as General Manager of the
company where he remained as such until 1953 when he went to London HQ, UK, as Managing Director. I
believe he became Chairman of Directors before retiring to Dunedin, NZ in 1957, still as a Director of the
company.
He had a long connection with Malaya and was well known in mining circles. I think he moved to
Auckland and may have died there in the 1970s.
HUNT, Leslie (Les) George Richard, BE(probably), AOSM (1938).
I cannot find out much, for certain, about this man, although I knew him in Malaya. He may have been
born in Alexandra, Otago. He was a student in the OU School of Mines from about 1932 to 1935 and went to
Malaya to work for a company called Straits Trading Ltd. or Straits Tin Fields Ltd. which was conducting
various mining operations in the Far East and was, I believe, working in South Thailand around the time of the
Japanese attack on Malaya, probably on a military intelligence mission (he was recruited into the Special
Operations Executive (SOE), as a Lieutenant, British Army).
He was captured by the Japanese in circumstances I know little about, and taken to Japan to work,
possibly in a mine, but he died of disease in January 1943. His body was cremated and eventually his ashes
were returned to Dunedin where they may now rest in his father's grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery. I
understand he may be commemorated on his father's tombstone.
HUNTER, Leslie (Les), AOSM (1930).
He graduated from the OU School of Mines in 1928 and some time later, possibly after a spell working
in Rhodesia, went to Malaya to work for Straits Tin Fields Ltd. He was on leave in NZ when the war in the
Far East started, and was recruited to the staff of the OU School of Mines until 1946 when he returned to
Malaya. He became Chief Mining Engineer of the General Mining and Agency Co.Ltd, Kuala Lumpur, and
later General Superintendent of Straits Consolidated Tin Mines Ltd. at Yala, S.Thailand. After appointment to
the Board of the Straits Trading Co. in Singapore, he retired to NZ around 1959.. He was living in Dunedin in
1977 and he may have died there between then and 1980.
HUTTON, G.(Gerry), AOSM (1939).
After graduation he went to Malaya to work for the Raub Australian Gold Mining Co., joined the
FMSVF, and becama a POW of the Japanese when Singapore fell in Feb. 1942. After the war he joined the
Martha Gold Co.(Waihi) Ltd. Later he spent a short period working for the Misima Gold Mine Ltd. in Papua
before joining Bill Dunne's consulting firm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya where he remained until around 1964
when he went to Western Australia to live in Ardross, presumably in retirement. He died between 1980 and
1986, I believe. I think he was related by marriage to Bill Dunne
JONES, Lloyd S., AOSM (1940), 1990 Commem. Medal.
Went to Malaya to work for the General Mining and Agency Co., Singapore, and was working in
S.Thailand when the Japanese invaded Malaya. He was captured and eventually interned in Singapore. After
his release and recuperation in NZ he worked for the Blackwater Mines Ltd. at Waiuta, south of Reefton,
where he gained the First Class Mine Manager's Certificate in 1949. He was then appointed an Inspector of
Mines in Queensland, Australia (where he was made Justice of the Peace) until he returned to NZ in 1954 to
join the Mines Department as Inspector of Mines & Quarries in Greymouth. In 1963 he was appointed Chief
Inspector of Mines, Quarries and Petroleum, in Wellington. In addition, he was Chief Mining Engineer,
Minerals, from 1971. He retired in 1982, but held various consulting and Board positions. He is still living in
Wellington. After retirement he published privately the story of his life as: The Life and Times of a Mining
Engineer.
( Vide: Who's Who in New Zealand, (12ed.,1991), p.329).
JUPP, Gordon A., BSc, BE, AOSM (1936).
Went to Malaya to work, I believe, for the General Mining & Agency Co. of Singapore. He was out of
the country before Singapore fell to the Japanese, joined the NZ forces and died of wounds in Libya in August
1941.
McCLUGGAGE, J. (Joe) L., AOSM (1926).
Went to Malaya to work for the Anglo-Oriental Mining Co. in that country, Thailand and Burma.
During WW2 he joined the Indian Army and commanded the 13th Indian Railway Maintenance Company,
rising to the rank of Lt.-Col. After discharge and leave in NZ and USA, he returned to Malaya to the Head
Office of Anglo-Oriental in Kuala Lumpur. In 1951 he was Acting British Vice-Consul , Phuket, Thailand
while Acting District Superintendent for Anglo-Oriental (Malaya) Ltd. In 1953 he was Mine Superintendent,
Larut Tin Fields Ltd., Taiping, Malaya and later Mine Superintendent, Kamunting Tin Dredging Ltd., in the
same area, where he remained for a good many years. In 1971 he was reported to have been living in
retirement in Nassau, Bahamas.
MACKIE, John Bullamore, OBE (1995), ED (1954), DSc(Hon.,2000) )MSc, BE, AOSM (1934).
Born Dunedin 1910. Early in 1935 he left for Malaya to take a position as Field Engineer for
J.B.David's interests (Anglo-Asiatic Mining Corporation Ltd.) and worked with Paddy Shiel on prospecting
operations in Pahang, Kedah and Selangor States. In July 1936 he joined the Colonial Service and was posted
as District Inspector of Mines, Kuala Lumpur. Whilst there (in 1936) he joined the Selangor Battalion,
FMSVF as a private. Postings to other Districts north, including Kuala Kubu Bharu, Tapah and Batu Gajah
followed, with promotion to State Inspector, Perak, in mid-1941. He had been commissioned in the FMSVF
in the meantime and was Lieut. Shortly after the outbreak of war in Malaya he was posted temporarily (with a
Volunteer platoon) to make up the strength of the battered, amalgamated remnants, from battles further north,
of the 1st Leicesters and 2nd East Surreys, which became known as the British Battalion. Was involved in the
Battle of Kampar and other actions in the Peninsula. On arrival in Singapore was returned to the FMSVF, but
was later posted as an Intelligence Officer to a polyglot brigade in the 18th British Division for the Battle of
Singapore. He was taken prisoner (as Capt.) on the fall of that City, and spent 1 year in Changi POW canp,
and 2½ years in the Batu Lintang POW camp near Kuching, Sarawak.
After recuperation leave in NZ, he returned to Malaya as Assistant to the Chief Inspector of Mines in
the position of Technical Advisor on the rehabilitation of the (mainly Chinese) gravel-pumping mining
industry which normally produced about half of Malaya's tin. He resigned for personal reasons in 1947 and
took up the position of Lecturer in Surveying on the staff of the Otago School of Mines in August 1947. In
1949, with the consent of the University and the NZ Survey Board, he began studies and practical work in the
summer vacations towards Registration as a Land Surveyor, a status he achieved in 1956. Promotion to Senior
Lecturer and appointment as Associate Professor followed, and in 1959 he began setting up the Department of
Surveying which started its life in the Faculty of Technology but was soon transferred to the Faculty of
Science where it remains today, after taking in its first undergraduates in 1963. All those seeking professional
surveying qualifications in NZ must attend this special OU school. He was appointed Personal Professor in
1969 and granted the status of Professor Emeritus when he retired early in 1976.
He had close connections over a long period with the NZ Institute of Surveyors and the Royal NZ
Astronomical Society, being President of each for 2-year periods, and being elected a Fellow of each. He
wrote a text book on astronomy for surveyors which was published in London, was widely used and ran into 5
editions.
 He was heavily involved with the NZ Army (Major, RNZE) in the Compulsory Military Training
period from 1949 to1955, and with the Scout Association of NZ (Provincial Commissioner Otago) from 1955
to 1963, and is presently a Life Member.
Whilst a student at OU he represented the University in Shooting (Blue), Athletics and Cross-country
running. He published privately in 2003 the story of his life as One for the Tiger.
(Vide: Who's Who in New Zea;amd (12ed., 1991), p.397).
MOSS, Albert Lewis (Lew), BE (possibly), AOSM (c.1940).
He went to Malaya after graduation to work, I understand, for the General Mining & Agency Co. of
Singapore. He left the country before the fall of Singapore to the Japanese, and joined the Royal New Zealand
Air Force, but went missing on a mission over the South Pacific on 27 June 1943.
PALMER, Allen George ("Snowy"), AOSM (1941).
He worked in the mining industry in Fiji and Australia after finishing his course at the Otago School of
Mines c.1935, before going to Malaya in mid-1936 to take up a position with the Anglo-Asiatic Mining
Corporation as a Field Engineer on prospecting operations. He was on leave in NZ when war broke out in
Malaya late in 1941, and went to UK where he was trained as a parachutist (Lieut.) in a special unit in the
British Army. He took part in the landings in Borneo and Malaya towards the end of WW2 in 1945. After
leave in NZ and discharge from the UK forces, he was appointed to the Colonial Service as an Inspector of
Mines in Tanganyiks (c.1946) where he remained until c.1962 when he returned to NZ and joined the Ministry
of Works. He transferred to the Mines Department as Inspector of Mines & Quarries in Dunedin, then Huntly,
eventually retiring to Nelson where he died on 10 May 1988.
PATERSON, Oliver (Ollie) Douglass, MBE, MSc,BE,AOSM (1940).
Went to Malaya for the Colonial Service and joined the Mines Department as Inspector of Mines.
Escaped from the country when Singapore fell to the Japanese. He went to UK for training in a special unit of
the British Army, but was invalided out of this because of severe illness contracted during exercises. I think
he was then sent to Nigeria to work in the Nigerian Mines Department for a spell. He was posted back to
Malaya after the Japanese occupation ended in 1945 and remained in the Mines Inspectorate there until 1951
when he resigned to take up an appointment to the staff of the Department of Mining Engineering, University
of Queensland, Australia. Before leaving Malaya he was appointed MBE for good work during the
Emergency.
He remained with the University of Queensland until c.1956 when he joined Mineral Deposits Pty. Ltd.
in Southport, Queensland, of which he became Manager of Exploration and Director of Mineral Deposits
c.1971 and later, Managing Director. He was also a Director of several other companies. He died between
1980 and 1986 in Australia.
PENSELER, Wolfram (Wolf), Hermann, Albert, DSc, BE, AOSM (1924).
Penseler came to the School of Mines in 1920 and completed his classes in 1924. On the death of
Professor Waters in 1926, he took over the Metallurgical Department and at the same time studied for MSc,
and being interested in coal utilisation research,submitted a thesis on the microstructure of NZ coals. Between
1927 and 1930 he was with the Vacuum Oil Company and later with Imperial Chemical Industries in NZ, and
was also engaged in boring operations at Charleston, on the West Coast.
In 1931 he was appointed Director of the Huntly School of Mines where he continued his researches in
coal utilisation and briquetting problems, and obtained the DSc (NZ) in 1932 after further studies on coal
microstructures. He had by this time also obtained a First Class Coal Manager's Certificate and a Battery
Manager's Certificate, which, together with the Degree of BE, and AOSM in both Metallurgical and Mining
Divisions, made him perhaps the most highly qualified and versatile mining and metallurgical engineer NZ
has ever produced. It had been his intention to devote his life to the NZ coal industry, and well did the
industry need a man of his calibre. However, he was unable to overcome the traditional difficulties which face
academically qualified men in the coal mining industry, and with great reluctance he turned his attention to
metal mining. He was engaged for nearly two years reporting on gold properties in NZ, and in 1935 joined the
staff of Austral Malay Tin Ltd., and managed their subsidiary, Puchong Tin Dredging Ltd. in Selangor,
Malaya, and later Asam Kumbang Tin Dredging Ltd. at Taiping, in Perak.
In 1939 Penseler ws appointed General Manager of the Raub Australian Gold Mining Co. in Pahang.
When the Japanese overran Malaya he was interned in Singapore, and his death in November 1944 was
brought about by the treatment he received at the hands of the Japanese Military Police.
SANDERSON, Frank L., AOSM (1925).
From 1926 to 1928 he worked in the mill of the Blackwater Mines Ltd., Waiuta, N.Z.,and was later
appointed Assistant Battery Superintendent. >From 1928 to 1935 he managed the battery for Alexander
 Mines. In 1936 he managed Murray Creek Gold Mine and c.1940 went to Malaya as Assistant General
Manager (to Dr.Penseler) of the Raub Australian Gold Mining Co. in Pahang.
During the Japanese occupation of Malaya he was interned in Singapore, and after a short leave in NZ
and a tour of various mining districts in Australia, returned to Malaya in 1946 as General Manager of Raub
Australian. He relinquished that position in1949 after having rehabilitated a property which had been stripped
during the Japanese occupation, and returned to NZ where he was appointed to the staff of the OU School of
Mines as Technical Liaison Officer with intustry. He retired from this post in the mid-1960s and joined
Palmer's Quarries in Dunedin as a blasting expert; he was last reported in Dunedin in 1971. I think he died a
few years later. [Frank’s daughter Rema was a teenage sweetheart of mine _Ed.]
SERVICE, Harold, CBE, MSc, BE, DIC, AOSM (1933).
After graduation he went to the Royal School of Mines, London, on an 1851 Science Research
Scholarship and obtained the Diploma of the Imperial College after doing research and fieldwork in Spain. He
joined the Colonial Service and spent some time in Ghana before going to the Geological Survey of Malaya.
He later enlisted in the FMSVF (1941) and was commissioned as a Captain. He became a POW when
Singapore fell to the Japanese and was in Changi before being sent to work on the Thai-Burma railway.
Following recuperation leave in NZ after release late in 1945, he rejoined the Malayan Geological Survey,
eventually rising to become Deputy Director, and then Director c.1954. When Malaya became Independent in
1957 he retired and was appointed CBE in 1958. He returned to Dunedin NZ where he accepted the position
of first Bursar of John McGlashan College, which he held until 1972. He died in Dunedin on 21 April 1993 in
his 84th year.
Harold Service was another great sportsman. As a student, he played for the Otago University A
Rugby team (Blue), NZ Universities (Blue) and Otago Province. He was a Life Member of the OU Rugby
Football Club and was instrumental in setting up the Light Blues Association, a club for former players and
supporters of the University club. In 1979 he was elected President of the Otago Rugby Football Union. He
was also involved with the Red Cross Society and served a term on the Silverpeaks County Council. One of
Harold's sisters, Eileen, was the wife of a former Vice-Chancellor of OU, Dr.Frederick Soper, CBE. Harold
married Tephany Ross of Dunedin.
SHIEL, Patrick (Paddy) Ormond, AOSM (1926).
On leaving the School of Mines, he went to Malaya to work for J.B.David's mining companies,
Singapore, as Assistant Mining Engineer. and was engaged from 1927 until 1931 in testing alluvial areas in
the Kinta Valley, Perak, but this work was interrupted by ill-health until June 1933, when he made
examinations and reported on areas in NZ for Industries Ltd. and Rotomana Prospecting Syndicate for a few
months. He also did some testing and reporting in 1934 for Krasom Tin Dredging Co.Ltd. in alluvial tin-
bearing areas in Thailand and in September of that year rejoined J.B.David as Mining Engineer. He was
engaged in prospecting operations for tin, gold and tungsten in Malaya, Borneo and Thailand until war broke
out in the Far East..
Little is known of his activities after the Japanese attacked Malaya. There are conflicting reports of his
having joined the RAF or the RNVR in Singapore. He is said to have been aboard a small ship which was
sunk during an air-raid on Singapore Harbour and was reported missing, presumed dead.
He was respondible for recruiting a number of OU graduates to the Malayan mining industry, including
myself. His wife, "Brownie" McTamney, was the sister of Molly, the wife of Charles Upham, VC & Bar.
THOMSON, Thomas ("Tommy") James, BSc(1939), Dip. Land & Mine Surveying
Although he did not present a thesis to complete the requirements for AOSM, he was awarded the
Ulrich Prize and Medal, and the Waters Memorial Prize for excellence during completion of the examinations
for that Diploma.
On the recommendation of J.L.McLuggage (q.v.) he joined Anglo-Oriental (Malaya) Corporation early
in 1939 and reported on alluvial tin deposits throughout the Malay Peninsula including Thailand. Other studies
were made of tantalite deposits in the territory of Malacca (Straits Settlements).
He had joined the Selangor Battalion of the FMSVF in 1939, and when the Japanese attacked Malaya in
December 1941 he was called up. After defensive operations at KL aerodrome and various other points on the
retreat south, his unit was installed in "pill boxes" on Blakang Mati Island in defence of the large naval guns
mounted there, until the surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942.
With six others, Tommy left in a canoe abandoned by retreating Australians, and paddled to a nearby
island where the canoe was swapped for a ship's lifeboat complete with sail. They sailed south in what Tommy
has understated as "a rather eventful journey" with the help of Malay and Chinese sea folk, until they reached
the mouth of the Indragiri River in Sumatra. From there they were helped by the Dutch across Sumatra to the
port of Padang on the west coast whence they were evacuated a few days later to Colombo on the cruiser
HMAS Hobart. The day after their arrival they were accepted on board one of the ships carrying Australian
troops back home from the Middle East to counter the Japanese threat to Australia.
After his arrival in NZ Tommy spent the rest of the war years working for the Government, making
surveys for tungsten ore near the head of Lake Wakatipu, and for open-cast coal on the West Coast, South
Island. When the war ended he was called back to Malaya by Anglo-Oriental to help with the rehabilitation of
their mining activities, but after 4 months returned to NZ in October 1946.
He and his wife Reta then took over the large Earnslaw sheep and cattle run in the Glenorchy area at the
head of Lake Wakatipu and spent years making war on the rabbits and deer which had overrun the place. After
this they improved the quality of their stock to cope better with the mountainous terrain and rigorous climate of
the region, and have farmed successfully there ever since.
Tommy, supported by Reta, has been very active in local government affairs. For 33 years from 1953
he served on the Lake County Council, 16 of them as Chairman, and during that time his driving spirit resulted
in extensive roading and bridging programmes which have provided access to hitherto isolated areas and
greatly increased the tourist potential of the whole region. He was appointed a foundation member of the
Mount Aspiring National Park Board in 1964 and of the Clutha-Central United Council in 1980 (Chairman for
6 years); he also served as NZ Counties representative on the NZ Environmental Council for 7 years.
Tommy, with his broad education and experience in mining engineering and geology, and his intimate
knowledge of farming and the land, was clearly an ideal man to have in local government. He tells me that he
can say, without hesitation, the foundation of training he received as a student of the Otago School of Mines
was the basis of any successes he enjoyed in later years. He now lives in semi-retirement on Earnslaw Station
in the mountain environment he and Reta love so much.
TYSON, Brian ("Bun"), Frank, BSc, BE, AOSM (1928).
Tyson received his secondary school education at Otago Boys' High School and enrolled in the OU
School of Mines in 1924. During 1929 he reported on gold-bearing properties in NZ for the Siamese Tin
Syndicate Ltd. and then joined the staff of PCCL at Sungei Lembing, in Malaya. He was appointed
Underground Manager in 1935, a position he held until the Japanese attacked Malaya. He was commissioned
into the British Army and volunteered, with another member of the PCCL staff, to stay behind the enemy lines
and report their movements via radio. For 13 months they evaded capture but eventually Tyson contracted
severe malaria and died in the jungle in northern Johore on January 26 1943. The news of his death was
confirmed only after the re-occupation of Malaya late in 1945.
WATT, Leslie Ian.
He completed the course for the AOSM at the OU School of Mines in1932 but never wrote the thesis
required for the Diploma. I cannot recall much of his career after he left the University, but I do know that he
went to Malaya to work, I think, for Straits Tin Fields Ltd., probably around 1940. He was taken POW when
Singapore fell to the Japanese, and died in captivity.
Note: The year given in brackets after AOSM is the date when the person was awarded that Diploma.
Sometimes a few years might elapse after classes were completed and the Diploma was awarded; this would
be due to the person taking that time to write and submit the necessary thesis. The term "graduate" is
sometimes applied to holders of the AOSM, even though they did not hold a degree. AOSM was awarded
after a fairly demanding 4-year course of lectures, and practical work underground in mines and on the
Geological Survey, and would undoubtedly have been a degree if OU had not abrogated its earlier right to
grant its own degrees.
Statistics:
Taken prisoner by the Japanese (POW) 10
Interned by the Japanese (civilians) 4
Total prisoners or interned 14 61%
Died or killed as prisoners 4
Died from ill-treatment as internee 1
Killed or died in action, Malaya 2
Killed or died in action in other theatres 2
Total killed or died through war 9 39%
Sources
1. A somewhat incomplete set of reports by Directors of the OU School of Mines: These were published as
booklets [“The Bulletin” _Ed] financed from contributions by former graduates in memory of their earlier
colleagues who had died. The OU Library or the Hocken may have copies.
2. Who's Who in New Zealand, 12ed. 1991.
3. OU booklets, Ceremony of Conferring Degrees, for the years 1932, 33, 34 and 36.
4. My own somewhat fallible memory. I knew all the men listed, some better than others. Many were
personal friends. There is more information about me than most of the others, since it was easier to recall!
E. & OE!
J.B.Mackie,Emeritus Professor, Nelson, N.Z January 1998 & March 1999 [Two documents blended _Ed].

How Low Can You Go?

August 13, 2003 Tech republic e-magazine

The Kola Superdeep Borehole, located in Russia's Kola Peninsula, reached a final depth of more than 12
kilometers. The project began in the early 1970s as a strictly scientific measure. Over the next three decades,
Russian teams employed exotic drilling techniques in an effort to breach the 12-kilometer barrier. The
Borehole's depth is as much a testament to perseverance as it is to technical prowess.
A similar U.S. endeavor, dubbed Project Mohole, reached less than a kilometer in depth before political
and technical obstacles prompted Congress to cut funding in 1966, only five years after the project began.
Project Mohole sought to penetrate the Earth's crust at its thinnest--below the ocean's surface.
The only western excavation that came close to the Borehole's depth--and was briefly the record holder for the
world's deepest manmade hole--is the Bertha Rogers oil well in Oklahoma. The well reached a final depth of
more than 9.5 kilometers before it impacted a molten sulfur deposit in 1974. Naturally, the Bertha Rogers oil
well was part of a commercial venture and provided relatively few scientific discoveries.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole eventually overtook the Rogers well and has outpaced all competing
efforts to remain one of the "deepest" scientific achievements in history.

Epilogue

Well folks, that’s about it for now. Hope you enjoy this little epistle . . . . feedback is welcomed, as are
contributions for the next one, about mid 2005. My apologies to anyone whose contribution has been omitted or
modified beyond recognition. Put it down to senility. Hasta la vista!

John Neilson 18 October 2004

Phone : 61 2 6586 1529 15 River Ridge

Mobile: 61 402 463 492 Wauchope,NSW,2446
Australia
 Addresses

Note that a gap in the username indicates an underscore ‘_’ which disappears beneath the underline.

Azizuddin: klong_15@tm.net.my Parata: paratas@xtra.co.nz

Billinghurst: bilbyz@hotmail.com Price: price.edward@sympatico.ca
Braithwaite: jcbraith@clear.net.nz Reid: ian.reid@mozal.com
Broad: mpbroad@xtra.co.nz Riley: priley@tpm.co.nz
Brown: ibrown@milburn.co.nz Sparrow: bill.sparrow@xtra.co.nz
Buchan: drb@corcoran.co.nz Stewart: minserv@xtra.co.nz
Buckenham: buckhouse@xtra.co.nz Taylor: taylorj95@xtra.co.nz
Buist: Anne.david@paradise.net.nz Thomson: thomcrom@xtra.co.nz
Debeurger: jdeb@transfieldworley.co.nz Warnaar: karin.warnaar@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Donkin: roger.donkin@clear.net.nz Webster: webster@zygo.com.au
Gibbs: quantro@xtra.co.nz Wildye: petewil@xtra.co.nz
Gordon: r_gorgeous@bigpond.com
Graveson: FrankG@mitre10.co.nz
Guinivere: rguinivere@buckeye-express.com
No Internet Access
Hannah: johnh@albers.otago.co.nz
Blaikie, Alistair
Harraway: densus@melbpc.org.au
291 Belmore Road
Hogg: windsorhogg@xtra.co.nz North Blawyn, Vic, 3104
Hunt: bhunt@eaglecondev.com
Doig, Kevin
Jackson: ivan.jackson@clear.net.nz 13 Taipara Avenue
Raglan,2051,New Zealand
Jones L: lsj.jones@xtra.co.nz
Kay: ronaldkay@mail.com Floyd, Doreen (Bob Deceased)
384 Busby Road
Kelly: e.kelly@auckland.ac.nz
Katikati, New Zealand
Kininmonth: bobkininmonth@hotmail.com
Lyon, George
Laing: acmlaing@poerup.com.au
588 Waitoa Road
Lee: tuckchewlee@eudoramail.com Welcome Bay,Tauranga, New Zealand
Levinsohn : henrylev@ihug.co.nz
McGregor ,Wally
Lindqvist: william_lindqvist@yahoo.com 129 Curtis Road,
North Tamberine, Qld, 4272.
Mackie : jbmackie@xtra.co.nz
McKenzie James.Mackenzie1@bigpond.com Peirson, Bob
13 Park Avenue,
McQuillan: zagros@ts.co.nz
Chatswood NSW, 2067
Metcalf : fmetcalf@amaze.net.au
Neilson: xkarzid@bigpond.com
Nyi: oo_nyi@mptmail.net.mm If you know of any others, please advise me (JN)