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I have finally finished my book with the title Hidden Rivers of Gold which covers the origins of Deep Lead Mining, the technology and challenges, and the final years of mining in the Carisbrook-Moolort area of Victoria which led to huge financial losses and very little gold. Characters involved included the State Premier and a future president of the USA. This was all around the turn of the 20th Century. The book can be purchased through online booksellers including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Fishpond, Booktopia and Angus and Robertson. Prices vary a lot, and some are in US$ so check carefully. The book is published by Echo Books.

I assume you mean Dhu fish , not Jew fish which is actually Mulloway. Molloway just means big fish. Mulloway are also a east coast fish and very fast growing. I catch them all the time and they are generally 3-5 years old as a big fish and reach legal fishing size of 70cm and capable of breeding, by 5-6 years they are 90cm or more. They can get to over 1.4 metres and live to 30 years. depending on the area they can grow very fast- here in Port Stephens we are renowned for them and its a major breeding area. The Port is a extremely healthy system , with limited commercial fishing and many areas that are sanctuary breeding zones, we are a giant national park and Ramsar bird sanctuary. We have a hatchery here as well to increase numbers back to sustainable volume following years of over fishing. The size minimum went from 50 to 70 cm, the flesh is sweetest in the 70-90 cm range and below 50 cm are called soapies and have a slight soapy smell and taste. Most of us will return any bigger to the water for breeding, we tend to "encourage" catch and release unless you absolutely want to eat it and treat the fish with respect at all times. I think the WA govt handled this really poorly but the closure of the fishery or at least restrictions are vital or the system will quickly collapse.

1.6b would be worth it. Staying in will result in orders of magnitude more loss and still nothing to show for it. The USA is simply not a trustworthy military ally.

I've got it, it was a bit hard to work it out and it took me a while but I finally figured it out. The line in the middle of the road is continious saying you can't overtake but it is obvious and clear enough that you can...Phew, that was a hard one

There is no doubt that Australains who have not been directly impacted by the recent fire and flood situations are sympathetic to those who have. Merely say that the impacted are in our thoughts and prayers doesn't seem enough. What can we do? Many victims only have the clothes they stand up in. Should we send clothing? Nice thought, but impractical. I volunteer at a charity shop where we receive bags and bags of donated clothing. It is a daily battle to sort through these donations to classify them and prepare them for display for sale. Even when that is done, we have difficulty in storing them. If we wanted to dontate them, where would we send them, and how? Clothing is not the only thing that these victims need. Where's the bog rolls; the baby nappies, the female hygeine products, the incontinence pads? Did you ever think that these might be more important to some victims than a selection of clothing? The National Emergency Management Agency https://www.nema.gov.au/ is a Commonwealth agency whose goal is to lead and coordinate national action and assistance across the emergency management continuum. To do this the agency works with State and Federl entities, Charitable organisations and leaders of the Public Sector to get aid to victims of disasters in the immediate aftermath and later in the recovery period. The best way for individuals to give help is by donating money to funds properly set up through charitable organisations and the like where monetary donations can be lodge into accounts managed by the major banks. The warning that must be given about donating is to never donate following a request made via a communication medium. If you want to donate, it is best to walk into a bank yourself.

I was part owner of the Fairplay Gold Mine at Higginsville, W.A. from 1972 to 1990, when the mine was sold to a large gold mining company. The brother, his wife and I mined and produced around 600 ozs of gold in that period, utilising the Norseman State Battery (a 10 head stamp mill, owned by the W.A. Govt). Gold was ignored and only worth around $35 oz when we purchased the mine from two old Slav prospectors. But U.S. President Richard Nixon had taken America off the Gold Standard in August 1971, in a staggering display of non-consultative, "executive" Presidential power. It was called the "Nixon shock", and it rattled the worlds financial markets - and led to a rapid rise in the price of gold, now the gold price was no longer controlled by the U.S. We knew this would happen, and purchased the gold mine accordingly. By 1975 the gold price was $160 oz and by 1980, it was over $800 oz, and there was another gold rush on. At that point, our strategy of utilising an under-utilised and cheap source of ore crushing went to hell in a handbasket, as scores of prospectors turned up at the State Battery to crush parcels of ore. A queueing system for crushing was initiated - but even worse - the Govt imposed a very sharp increase in crushing costs to reduce the State Batteries ever-increasing losses (the State Batteries were always subsidised to encourage local employment, bring in gold revenue, and to assist in prospecting work that might deliver new and profitable mines). At that point, we turned to the large (200,000 tonne) tailings dump on our mine, which still held an average of around 2 grams/tonne of tailings. We took on 3 business partners who had experience in heap leaching and cyanidation of tailings, and between all of us, we developed an improved design of tailings leach vats, which proved very effective and very profitable. The benefit of treating tailings was the ore was already crushed very fine, it just had to be set up with the correct pH levels, be able to contain a cyanide leach solution, and to have a simple circulatory pumping system. The addition of activated carbon in stainless steel tanks finished off the treatment process, and it was a very simple job to set up a small, single-cylinder Lister diesel pump to circulate the solution until the activated carbon was full of gold! Then the tanks would be taken into Kalgoorlie to be stripped of the gold, using a caustic solution, by professional carbon tank strippers. The final product, gold "dore" bars were taken into the Perth Mint, which refined the gold to the Internationally-accepted gold bar standard of 99.999 (%) fine gold. After we had re-treated all our gold tailings on the Fairplay lease, we re-treated many more tens of thousands of tonnes of tailings, from numerous other tailings dumps we had pegged. It was a very profitable period for us in the 1980's. Then, after we ran out of tailings dumps of our own to re-treat, we went on to build tailings vats on contract for other operators that needed to re-treat their tailings. We re-treated tailings and built leach vats for well over 2M tonnes of tailings in the 1980's, from as far East as Ejudina, 150kms E of Kalgoorlie, to Burtville, SE of Laverton, W.A. - right through the W.A. Goldfields, to even Marble Bar! It was a very interesting period, and one that was highly profitable, and not a period I'm likely to see again! The sheer pleasure of holding a large gold bar that you've produced and poured, is something that few people experience.

Might be a good idea to postpone any flying until your bad vehicle patch has passed.

The world needs more Mark Carneys. Luckily he's taken over from Trudeau, who wouldn't have the intestinal fortitude to tell Trump to shove his trade and allies policies where the sun doesn't shine.

It's been a while since anything positive was posted in this thread - so to counter the negativity, here's some party photos! SWMBO and I went to a friends party (Christie, and she was 50) on Sat 17th. It was held at a local bowling club and we all had a good time - despite the fact I rarely go to parties now. Christie is a senior ER nurse, she's got a lovely nature. She laid on some great finger food, she had a DJ with some great 80's music, and there was dancing and good general fun. One of the most amusing parts of the evening was, Christie hired a portable photo booth for the evening and it came with a pile of props, and everyone had a ball with it! Christie is the girl in the blue, off-the-shoulder dress, and her daughter Molly (20) is in the white dress with the black images on it. Her younger brother Sam is in all black, and hubby Gary is wearing the check shirt. The images start at the bottom, where setup and testing the day before, produced some interesting "test" imagery, mostly involving Gary and Molly. See if you can spot OT and SWMBO, we're halfway down the images, posing with Christie, and I've got my best Elton John shades on. https://gallery.glowbooth.com.au/view/e85ec5e4-2f3e-4634-a126-076cff8346cd?

If lightning hits a dead tree, it will still travel down the tree to the ground (on the outside of the trunk), but it likely won't make the tree explode because of an inadequate level of sap in it. The reason trees explode when struck by lightning, is because the sap is superheated to steam instantaneously. The normal level of volatile eucalyptus oil naturally in the air, is at too low a level to be ignited by lightning. However, in a fire, heated trees close to the fire front can release large amounts of volatile oils that further exacerbates the fire strength. There is a known feature of bushfires, termed "a crown fire". A crown fire occurs in front of the main fire front, and is driven by strong winds, which send the fire front through the treetops, aided by the high level of volatile oils at the treetop level.

Nev, Spread the word far and wide, boats are a terrible waste of money, endless days can be wasted on the water seeing birds, dolphins, whales, lots of fish and watching sharks feed on dumb tourists. It's a horrible life and no one should suffer such deprivations. The number of times I have been almost blinded by bikini babes is astounding. Tell the world to stop been silly and never come to Port Stephens, it's horrible- like a frozen gulag. So bad in fact , I am restoring a half cabin 15 ft Cruise Craft, a mere 50 years old. My tortured life continues...

I thought I would have a look at what rare earth minerals are used for. Lanthanum (La) Camera and telescope lenses (high refractive index glass) Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries (hybrid vehicles) Oil refining catalysts Hydrogen storage alloys Cerium (Ce) Glass polishing (phones, screens, optics) Catalytic converters Self-cleaning ovens UV-blocking glass Praseodymium (Pr) Permanent magnets (with neodymium) Aircraft engines (high-strength alloys) Yellow pigments for glass and ceramics Neodymium (Nd) High-strength permanent magnets (NdFeB) Electric vehicle motors Wind turbine generators Headphones, speakers, hard drives Promethium (Pm) (very rare & radioactive) Nuclear batteries (limited use) Thickness gauges Research applications only Samarium (Sm) Samarium-cobalt magnets (high-temperature, defence) Nuclear reactor control rods Microwave devices ⚙️ Medium / Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) Europium (Eu) Red phosphors in TV and LED screens Anti-counterfeiting inks (banknotes) Fluorescent lighting Gadolinium (Gd) MRI contrast agents Neutron shielding Magnetic refrigeration research Terbium (Tb) Green phosphors (displays) Strengthens neodymium magnets for high heat Sonar and sensors Dysprosium (Dy) High-temperature permanent magnets Electric vehicles and wind turbines Nuclear reactor components Holmium (Ho) Medical lasers Nuclear control rods Precision magnetic devices Erbium (Er) Fibre-optic signal amplifiers Laser technology Pink colouring for glass Thulium (Tm) Portable X-ray machines Medical lasers Radiation sources (very niche) Ytterbium (Yb) Stainless steel strengthening Fibre lasers Atomic clocks Lutetium (Lu) PET scan detectors Cancer treatment catalysts Oil refinery catalysts ➕ Related Rare Earths (Not Lanthanides) Scandium (Sc) Aluminium-scandium alloys (aerospace, sports gear) Solid oxide fuel cells High-intensity lamps Yttrium (Y) LEDs and display phosphors Thermal barrier coatings (jet engines) Superconductors Cancer treatments (Y-90)

Land of the free ! Land of free speech ! Land of not-so-original dictatorship.

Some silly sarcastic political pictures...

This sad event is proof of the new faschist usa. Those ICE 'agents' are heavily armed, are masked (unidentifiable), uncontrolled, and know that they are above the law. Sounds like the infamous brownshirts. Each step that usa takes destabilises the world destroys trust in their country.

Meanwhile, an ICE agent shot and killed an unarmed woman in a car who was just trying to get away from the situation (she wasn't an immigrant as far as I know). The FBI, whose head Kash Patel is another unqualified Trump appointee, have taken over the investigation and not allowed local law enforcement anywhere near it. Meanwhile the administration are saying shit like "she was a domestic terrorist trying to kill the ICE agent with her car" despite plenty of mobile phone coverage clearly showing differently. ICE are the new Brown shirts. And the shit in the oval Office is Hitler.

Oh that we should do the same.

Great news! Norway has a solution to the present international jitters. But it might not be welcomed by the major media industry. (Due to stealing a lot of media hysteria.)

We may have burned that bridge. I'd like us to learn the lessons from Ukraine and give up on manned subs altogether. Remotely operated seems far better in every respect.

Not only do you admit, but you show it with what you think is fake news from the ABC. If renewables are the reason for price rises, why is NSW, SA, and SE QLD getting free electricity because of solar? The reason for electricity price rises globally is the massive increase in gas price increases due to peak in demand of electricity post pandemic, severe supply chain issues, and the Russian invasion. I still don't know why, but that drove up coal prices, and guess what? John Howrards criminally short sighted policies of selling gas to the Chinese at even then knock-down prices and hold them for god knows how long at that price without indexation (must have been a very big brown paper bag involved somewhere) and successive governments allowing coal being liberalised to be traded on the open global market wthout reserving necessary supply domestically at cost of extraction plus decent profit margin (admittedly, when the price of coal is down, that would work against the consumer - but at least there would be certainty of what you have to pay), and - voilla! There you have your increasing electricity prices.. As with any new technology, there is a short term capital investment recovery built into the price, but in a fully competitive or well regulated market where structural impediments of entry and exit exist (take your pick), once that is recovered, the prices tend to stabilise near the cost of production + a margin for ongoing returns. We are starting to see it in solar. Renewables are cheaper longer term than any other form of generation. Remeber the price of colour TVs when they came out. More expesnive in absolute terms than you can buy them now. Imagine the real cost difference? Yeah, ABC don't get it right all the time and they do sometimes show bias, especially on one issue - in my opinion. But I have found when you dig into the facts, more often than not, they are far closer to objectivity than the others, willing to admit they make mistakes better than the others, and even on the area I think they are biased, they are no more so than most of the others (whether it fits my agenda or doesn't).

I've just got back to Australia after visiting Vietnam, sitting in Sydney airport waiting for the Hobart flight. They call it the American war over there. I don't know why we went, or what the Yanks thought they'd achieve. Every Vietnamese person I talked to (apart from the hucksters trying to sell you stuff) was polite, friendly and with a great sense of humour. An interesting fact is that they burn cardboard shaped into shoes, clothes etc for their dead ancestors. They even burn fake money so the spirits can buy stuff in the afterlife. Now this next bit shows how lovely these people are. The fake money they burn is obviously Vietnamese dong. They then started worrying about the American and European dead in their country, not recognising the currency and going without. So now they also burn fake US dollars and Euros as well, so the foreign spirits are looked after. (Probably the more entrepreneurial Vietnamese spirits also grab the foreign currency because of the exchange rate!) But just think - regardless of how nonsensical the whole thing may be, they are concerned about the welfare of the dead soldiers who invaded their country.

My sister found this negative in a packet of old family photos and had it reversed on one of those online sites. I can only do 35mm with the attachment on my scanner whereas these old photos are are much bigger size negative. Among all the old photos there's a few like this one that have no corresponding prints. It would have been taken by my great uncle, but have no idea who the bloke on the horse is. It looks like the beach at Gaza in the background, which is one place they were in 1917.

Sorry.. couldn't resist. A later model flying Merkel: (Ignore the message)

Still riding after more than 40 years and still never had a bike accident on road and only a few falls offroad- worst bent a clutch lever. That includes racetrack fun and even been a Monkey on a ballistic racing LCR sidecar. Current beasty is a 167hp BMW k1200R, only 121,000 km so well run in. For it's 21st birthday it's getting a diff rebuild as a O ring was leaking, plus new rubber and rear disc. I got through the early silly years by always having a mature attitude to my skills development and knowing every car is probably trying to kill you. I always use the Piano principle- "unless a piano falls from the sky and hits you in the back of the head - I should have seen it coming". No amount of skill overcomes a poor attitude.

We will need fossil fuels for quite some time but the planet desperately needs to reduce its reliance on these if we are going to survive long term. Trump will be gone in 3 years and hopefully the pragmatists in the US will see that renewables and nuclear energy (though the waste is an issue) are the ONLY way forward. The problem is that it is dis-United with so many MAGA nutters and an education system that does not consider facts that are not American or anything that happens outside of America. Hollywood has distorted facts and American war movies always show how Americans won everything. Most believe WW2 started with Pearl Harbour. The fact that if the battle of Britain had not been won there would have been no place to create an invasion force. The Battle of the Bulge was only successful due to Montgomery sending 30 Corps South to stop the German Armour from crossing the Muse & taking Antwerp. US generals were scathing of British meticulous planning, engineering expertise and total concern at reducing casualties through innovation etc and Bletchley park with cracking the Enigma code has never really been acknowledged as most Americans believe they did it. The Poms just sucked it all up as by 1945 they were bankrupt & needed the US so did not complain. Now Trump has changed everything with his team of ignorant rampant neo colonialists and world dominance through absolute power. Things are changing though with the UK & Europe finally beginning the re-arm & get rid of the US dependence. Putin plays Trump like a chap violin & Xi just watches it all while seeing his dominance continue to expand. China out produces everyone especially in new technology with EVs, robots, machinery, solar and wind power and everything else. It is the worlds new high tech factory and no-one can get close now. Those of us in our 70s & more have seen the best of times. We will all be gone in a few years so hopefully human resourcefulness and decency will eventually prevail.

Who remembers George, the talking clock on the phone? "On the third stroke, it will be five pm and twenty seconds. Ping Ping Ping." You can still hear it online at 1194online.com

Trumps middle of the night rant attacking and threatening Bruce Springsteen for speaking up against him is a good reason for another song remake by the Boss. "Not born in the USA", it could be about Trumps wives.

Talking of tractors, we went on a bicycle tour a couple of days ago, the local guide was very informative. Apparently here the water buffalo were traditionally used to work the rice paddles. Now however there's a communal tractor in each area. The locals refer to them as "Chinese buffalo".

I think they missed a few letters in the title. The full word is "Megalomania"

And that is what is driving the US administration. Our problem is more about keeping a safe distance from the unravelling disaster. Please, Albo, keep your head down, below the crazy americans view. Please ditch AUKUS. They are more a liability than a trustworthy ally.

Good luck with your recovery.

I believe it was Passed . People demanded something be done. IF you aren't vocal about sensitive things, why would YOU attract attention. Similarly a breath test is a Minor Inconvenience. Fair enough if it Keeps pot heads and drunks OFF the road, so they don't kill innocents. Nev

A Chinese man moved to Australia after years of living in Shanghai. He bought a small piece of land near Mt Isa. Soon after, his friendly Aussie neighbour decided to go across and welcome the new guy. But on his way up the drive-way, the Aussie saw the Chinese man running around his front yard chasing about 10 hens. Not wanting to interrupt these 'Chinese customs', he decided to visit the Chinese the next day. The next day, just as he was about to knock on the front door, he saw through the window the Chinese man urinated into a glass and then drank his own urine. Again not wanting to interrupt another 'Chinese custom', he decided to put the welcome on hold for yet another day. A day later the Aussie decided to give it one last go, but on his way next door, he saw the Chinese man leading a bull down the drive-way, paused, and then put his head next to the bull's bum. The Aussie bloke couldn't take it anymore, so he went up to the Chinese and said 'Jeez Mate, what the hell is it with your Chinese customs? I come over to welcome you to the neighbourhood and see you running around the yard after hens. The next day you are pissing in a glass and drinking it, and then today you have your head so close to that bull's bum.' The Chinese was taken back 'Sorry sir, you no understand. These no Chinese customs. I doing these Australian customs.' 'What do you mean mate' said the Aussie, 'those aren't Australian customs.' 'Yes they are. Man at travel agent tell me' replied the Chinese man. 'He say to become true Australian, you learn to chase chicks, drink piss, and listen to bull-shit!!..

The POWER of LAW is replaced by the LAW of POWER. Nev

In the lexicon of parents with young children, "LEGO" means "lounge room landmine"

Donald Trump has graciously accepted the Ashes from Pat Cummins.

Hasn't the poor woman suffered enough, then she has to find out she's the offspring of the world's biggest shit?

If a child managed to stay reading this bullshit they are truly exceptional.

When I was a child, our family were the poorest in the area. We couldn't afford new clothing, all our clothing came from military surplus stores. I was the only Japanese General in my class!

Oops. Ahh.. OK.. this is not the militarisation of the police like the US.. The police here do not use brutal tactics as they do in the USA. They are trained to first de-escalate and they don't usually send in fire-armed police as a first option unless the threat assessment is very serious. Whether you think it is right, PA is a proscribed terroirist organisations and there are laws against showing support to proscribed terrorist organisations. And the police have to uphold the law irrespective of their own political beliefs. Frankly, anything coming out og the UN Human Rights agency, council or whatever they call themselves has to be treated initially with some degree of scepticism. Apparently up to 10% UNRWA, a body within the UNHROC were affiliated with islamist militant groups including HAMAS. Yes, they are supposed to have all gone now, but does that remove the bias that allowed them there in the first place? Secondly, look at the members of the UN Human Rights Council: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/membership I would suggest that those who have an honest repect the basic freedoms and rights of people ar probably in the minority. It is strange that they have sent delegations to Australia report on violence against women, yet have not sent delegations to Saudi, Pakistan and the like - other member nations. You can guess, I don't hold them in high esteem. The article purposts that PA has been a proscribed terrorist organisation becausde they damaged a few planes. Unfortunately, their website notifies they are proscribed, requests a donation in some obscure crytocurrency, so I cannot go to the source for their actual policies, agenda, etc. On the internet, it mainly talsk about them targetting Israeli firms in protest and limits it to property. However, the UK government has documented the following in https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/803/pdfs/uksiem_20250803_en_001.pdf "Palestine Action 5.2 Palestine Action is a pro-Palestinian group with the stated aim to support Palestinian sovereignty by using direct criminal action tactics to halt the sale and export of military equipment to Israel. Since its inception in 2020, Palestine Action has orchestrated a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions, including key national infrastructure and defence firms that provide services and supplies to support Ukraine, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), “Five Eyes” allies and the UK defence enterprise. Palestine Action has also broadened its targets from the defence industry to include financial firms, charities, universities and government buildings. Its activity has increased in frequency and severity since the start of 2024 and its methods have become more aggressive, with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence. Its activities meet the threshold of being concerned in terrorism as set out in the Terrorism Act 2000. There are varying defnitions of terrorism, but this is what Google spat out: Terrorism is the calculated use or threat of serious violence against people or property, intended to intimidate the public or coerce a government for political, religious, or ideological goals, often by creating widespread fear . Key elements include violent acts (murder, damage, endangering life) and specific intent (influencing government/public, advancing a cause). Definitions vary, but generally focus on these core components. So, it would seem the general definition is not limited to violence, despite being played down by the artiucle you present. Now, the UK may be unfairly acting against Palestinians and Muslims/Islam in general, but I don't think so on the evidence and definitions. After all, the UK, to its moneatry costs in exports of education, are not sanctioning the Muslim Bortherhood, where others do: https://www.ft.com/content/f256cc27-b80f-4fce-88cf-e80cb2451ef5 Also, as a display of how police tactics try (possibly too much) to de-escalate, here is a video documenting a policewoman receiving potentially life changing injuries at the hands of a PA protestor: Unf, I couldn't find the video my son dug up, which was far more graphic. And this was before they were proscribed? Peaceful prtest, eh? Just like Sydney jews were actively encouraged not to walk near the Palestinaian protests in Sydney and Melbourne because they were in danger.. because of the possibility ov violence purely because they were Jewish. But I gues it is OK for some Palestinian supporter to taunt the Jews at Bondi after the attack? Actually, it is a free world so yes, but I recall the Jews getting heated but no violence emanating from it. Wake up and put your prejudices aside for a change. I am happy to say there are times where the UK police go too far, but seriously, peaceful protest! FFS! Israel also have stuff to answer for. But to paint the Palestinian protests in the UK as peaceful is generally a joke.. Yes there have been few - very few of them. Shall we mention intimidation and threats of violence on the campuses etc.. where Jes had to be protected or refused entry to the campus. The lsit goes on. UK police are generally very good.

Back in my (working) day, I had great data security....