I FIRST headed off to the mines when I was about 10 years old. Yes, really.
It wasn't child labour, but a family trip to Sovereign Hill, a fantastic re-creation of an historic gold mining town in Victoria's Ballarat, where the highlight was panning for gold in the running stream, and the result: a treasured glass-lidded canister that held a few precious flakes.
So I understand the lure of mining, the thrill of discovery, the idea of finding valuable currency beneath the earth that we walk on.
Our home is a vast, lightly populated country with just about every kind of mineral in its deep layers that can make squillionaires of the few lucky sods who own the rights to it.
And in turn, if you can handle the conditions, and the time spent away from home, it's only a recent phenomenon that the people who work at the mines now hold some of the most coveted and well-paid jobs in the land.
But for all the bounty below the surface, it is naive to think that there won't be an ultimate price to pay.
Townsville Bulletin
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