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Trump continues to dig even deeper holes for himself. His pathological lying used to just raise eyebrows among world leaders. Now they are giving him back some of his own medicine. He is still insisting Meloni begged him for a photo but she has shot him to pieces with her latest comments. Mary Trump apparently said that his father told him to never accept defeat ever. He still insists he won the 2020 election & just last week walked out of an interview when a Journo stated the evidence was there & he insisted he had evidence to the contrary but has never ever produced anything (because he can't). The US has always exploited its position in every place it has set up a base or even just an embassy. The Yanks were widely despised during WW2 here, the UK & in NZ. Remember the catch phrase " over paid over sexed and over here". There were riots in Brisbane & in Wellington all due to the attitudes of US servicemen & their pompous boss MacArthur. They have rewritten history so many times. For example there were 75,000 British & Canadian troops that landed on D-Day & 57,000 Americans, all the navy ships & most of the landing craft were British & the Yanks stuffed up their landings, refused to use most of Hobarts inventions, took out half the bolts of the mulberry floating harbours so they got destroyed in a storm & had huge casualties & in the battle of the Bulge, Montgomery's 30 Corps stopped the Germans getting to Antwerp after they had over-run the yanks & Patton was too far away . The list goes on. The USA is an empire in decline and it has been for some time. The only thing Trump has been good at is hastening that decline. The sooner the leaders of rest of the World act in a positive way like Meloni & The US leaves or gets kicked out of countries it has bases in the better.

It will be more than just a price rise in prices of premium chips. The world cannot afford to give up Taiwan. At Davos, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said: "I would say that the single biggest threat to the world economy, the single biggest point of single failure, is that 97 percent of the high-end chips are made in Taiwan," Bessent told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He described a potential blockade or destruction of the island's manufacturing capacity as an "economic apocalypse," emphasizing Washington's efforts to relocate semiconductor production to American soil." A blockade of these chips would send the world into the tech dark ages and we would certainly lose the AI arms race against China. As I understand it, it would take decades to build the ecosystem required to produce these high end chips.

I agree, but the thing is that to some people not automatically believing he is innocent equates to "not supporting the troops" My point is that BRS is not the only soldier in this story. Those who beleive BRS is innocent surely must believe that the 20 soldiers who brought this to light must be lying. It will be tested in court.

Yes I was aware of this. My son has a computer games development company. Their flagship games is based on an idea my son had when he was 10. His company now based in NZ employs around 7 people. We are now the poor relatives https://share.google/7DKAr1mzPdrUUSidR

Yes that is true. The comment I was addressing was this: So lets see what is going on with mining vehicles and machinery. For many mines, getting renewable electricity for crushers, conveyors, processing plants, camps and offices is relatively straightforward. The really difficult challenge is replacing the huge diesel haul trucks, loaders, trains and other heavy equipment. Where the industry is today Processing plants Many Australian mines are already running a large portion of their fixed equipment on renewable electricity because the power comes from the site's solar, wind and battery systems. This includes: Crushers Conveyors Mills Pumps Processing plants Workshops and accommodation facilities These are the easiest loads to electrify. Haul trucks The giant haul trucks are the biggest diesel users. A single large haul truck can burn millions of litres of diesel per year. The major miners are now trialling battery-electric trucks: BHP and Rio Tinto are jointly trialling 240–250 tonne battery-electric Caterpillar haul trucks at Jimblebar in the Pilbara. Fortescue has developed its own high-power charging systems and expects its first operational 240-tonne battery-electric haul truck to enter service in 2026. Fortescue is probably the most aggressive 5 Fortescue's strategy is not just to build renewable power stations but to electrify the fleet as well. The company is: Building more than 1.4 GW of solar generation in the Pilbara. Installing large battery systems. Deploying battery-electric haul trucks. Operating electric excavators. Testing electric dozers, graders and loaders. Their goal is to eliminate fossil fuels from their terrestrial iron ore operations by 2030. Mining railways are also beginning to electrify. BHP has taken delivery of Australia's first purpose-built battery-electric heavy-haul locomotives for testing on its Pilbara rail network. These locomotives use large battery packs and regenerative braking. How much diesel is still being used? For most Australian mines today: Equipment Renewable/Electric Status Processing plants Often 50–100% renewable electricity Site buildings Often 50–100% renewable electricity Conveyors and crushers Often renewable-powered Light vehicles Increasingly electric Excavators Early electric deployment Haul trucks Mostly diesel, some electric trials Trains Early battery-electric trials Drill rigs Limited electric deployment So when you hear that a mine is "80% renewable", that usually means 80% of its electricity, not necessarily 80% of all its energy use. Diesel trucks can still account for a very large share of total energy consumption. This is one reason critics sometimes argue that mining companies overstate their progress, while the companies respond that the technology for replacing 250-tonne haul trucks is only now becoming commercially viable. The next five years will probably determine whether battery-electric mining fleets become mainstream in Australia.

I was watching a video of a bloke touring the Simpson Desert, and he came across a similar sign advising the earliest drill hole in the Simpson, Beachcomber #1. Someone had a sense of humour. The sign had no name on it, so one has to presume the name on the Willowie No 1 sign, is the welders name. The welded letters accuracy and eveness is something to be proud of, and to put your name to, because I've never been able to weld letters and numbers that straight!

I watched a documentary about the Webb telescope last Night . It enables us to look way back in time, All that Info was made available to the entire world. One of the Most important Scientific achievements EVER. Nev

I am not a huge gamer myself although I use flight sim. Once a week I connect with my brother in law who lives interstate and we fly our world trip together. We have flown all the way around Australia and NZ. Over the last few weeks we have island hopped to New Guinea where we will attempt some of those insane remote mountain top strips. We usually plan a one hour hop so it is a project that will last for years. We try to use current weather conditions and correct flight planning procedures. There are many games that are a workout for the brain.

Point of interest from the above newspaper item. In 1718 the remperature was recorded as 38 degrees Reaumur. The Réaumur scale is an obsolete temperature measurement system introduced in 1730 by French naturalist René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur. It sets the freezing point of water at 0° Ré and the boiling point at 80° Ré. 1 Re = 1.25C and 1 Re = 2.25 F

If you are planning to install a battery to store your solar or a complete solar panels/battery system, consider becoming a VPP (virtual power plant). I did & got an additional subsidy on my 18.4 kWh battery of $676.00. I joined Amber as the VPP Manager at a cost of $25.00 a month. Instead of getting just a few cents/kWh when the sun is shining & the rates are low, the system charges the battery till its full & sells the energy when the price is high. My average is 18.2c/kWh. All my costs are at wholesale rates so I pay the same to buy power as the Energy retailers. In Summer when there is too much solar in the grid the sale price goes negative. When that happens & my battery is full, the system curtails the solar production so none is exported. When there is a grid failure somewhere like a power station partial shutdown the spot price can go to $10.00/kWh or even more. When that happens the system will export energy at its maximum rate. In an hour I can be credited more than a couple of months electricity cost while helping to stabilise the grid.

English is not actually a static language either. If you don't believe me, try listening to a group of 13yo's talking and see how much you understand...

The trolley wire Kiruna trucks were quite popular in Europe. But they failed at Mt Isa as they produced too much heat from braking downhill. They did not have batteries, just produced the braking effect by sending the power into big resistor banks. Many mines in Europe and Canada have heaters at the surface just to stop the intake shaft from freezing up.

This is pretty impressive: an electric mining truck that does not need to be charged. Note, though, that it only works in a specific setting. The trick is that it travels uphill empty and downhill fully laden. Through regenerative braking, it generates more than is required to travel uphill again (empty)

Trailing cable electric excavators have been around for fifty years at least.all the really big shovels and draglines are electric. Also the bucket wheel excavators in the Latrobe Valley. Electric wheel haultrucks, with diesel engines driving generators, were developed in the 1960s and widely used. Underground, we had trolley wire electric haul trucks from Kiruna at Mount Isa in the 1980s. The first trolley wire electric locomotives were used in Victorian gold mines and at Broken Hill South from 1902 onward.

Don't be ridiculous, it obviously means keyboard players 😁

Australia has quite a few mines that either run partly on renewable energy or are among the world's leaders in renewable-powered mining. Very few large mines operate on 100% renewables all the time, but several are regularly achieving 50–90% renewable penetration and occasionally reaching 100% for extended periods. Major Australian mines using renewable energy Mine Commodity Location Renewable Energy System Renewable Share Agnew Gold Mine Gold WA Wind, solar, battery, gas microgrid Typically 50–60%, up to 85–95% at times (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) Bellevue Gold Mine Gold WA Solar, wind and battery hybrid system Designed for ~80–90%; achieved 155 consecutive hours on 100% renewables (Reddit) Kathleen Valley Mine Lithium WA Solar, wind, battery, gas hybrid Around 60–80% renewable energy (The Australian) Mt Weld Mine Rare earths WA Renewable hybrid power system Reportedly exceeded 95% renewable share during one quarter (Reddit) St Ives Gold Mine Gold WA Large solar and wind project under development Expected to provide over 70% of site power (Reddit) DeGrussa Mine Copper/Gold WA Solar farm with battery storage One of Australia's pioneering renewable-powered mines (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) Weipa Mine Bauxite QLD Large solar installation Partial renewable supply (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) Tropicana Gold Mine Gold WA 24 MW solar, 24 MW wind, battery system Significant renewable contribution to mine power (Solar Now) The leaders Agnew Gold Mine Often regarded as the pioneer. It was the first Australian mine to use large-scale wind generation as part of a mine microgrid. The site combines: 18 MW wind farm 4 MW solar farm Battery storage Gas backup It typically obtains 50–60% of its energy from renewables and can reach much higher levels under favourable conditions. (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) Bellevue Gold Mine Currently one of the most ambitious renewable mining projects in Australia. The mine recently reported operating for 155 consecutive hours (over six days) entirely on renewable energy with diesel and gas generators switched off. (Reddit) Kathleen Valley Lithium Mine A good example of a new-generation mine being designed around renewables from the outset rather than adding them later. It uses a large solar-wind-battery system and has reportedly achieved renewable shares above 80% in some periods. (The Australian) An interesting pattern Most of Australia's renewable-powered mines are in remote Western Australia. That's because: Diesel fuel is expensive to transport. Many mines are off-grid. WA has excellent solar resources. Wind and solar can often generate electricity more cheaply than diesel generation. As a result, renewable energy is often adopted primarily for cost savings and reliability rather than environmental reasons alone. The economics can be very attractive for remote mining operations. (Australian Renewable Energy Agency) If you're interested, I can also list the major iron ore mines (BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue) and explain how far they have progressed toward running on renewable energy, because the Pilbara iron ore sector is currently undergoing a huge transition.

A lot of industries are already exploring renewables and some are already off grid such as parts of the mining industry. As solar and batteries get cheaper, it will be irrational for households to connect to the grid merely to support the grid for the benefit of industry.

Just announced on the news - Starmer has announced he is stepping down and planning the handover.

Except for Hegseth.

Trump is supported by utterly incompetent imbeciles such as J.D. Vance, who the Iranians have played like a fiddle at the peace talks in Switzerland. The Americans arrived early, and went in first to the negotiating room, giving the Iranians the pyschological edge. As seasoned negotiation veterans have said, the losing party is the first to enter the room, the victors enter last. Then the negotiations have stalled at every turn, with the Iranians knowing full well they're playing with a handful of aces. When asked if the U.S. was demanding a full and total end to Iran's nuclear programme, Vance only said, "Oh yes, we'll be negotiating an end to their nuclear programme" - like it was now of secondary importance. If the U.S. really were the winners here, they'd demand the end to Iran's nuclear programme as a primary and non-negotiable demand. Vance is a totally incompetent f****** loser, he couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag.

The saga of the green reflecting pool is classic trumpfook. First he personally gave the repair contract to a buddy. Then he insisted it painted a darker colour in spite of the known fact that dark = warmer = faster algae growth. Then within 10 days the water turned warm & green and they tipped insufficient Hydrogen Peroxide in. Then the blue Epoxy paint started to peel off & float about in the green water. Then we hear about another contract to fix all this.... the National Park Service contracted not only the coating and painting of the pool under a no-bid contract, but also an additional $1.7 million contract for a water purification system. That no-bid contract went to a firm whose ultimate owner is the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust, led by Trump donor John J. Cafaro, whose wife chaired the 2017 International Red Cross Ball at Mar-a-Lago and who lives near Mar-a-Lago at a mansion that is listed as the water treatment company’s address in Florida corporate records. The name of the firm is Greenwater Services. What? He hired Greenwater Services?.... If only he'd thought to hire "Bluewater Services"......

One thing I love about my place is when showers sweep in from the ocean side at night. If they're slow moving and you are out on the verandah, you can hear the noise as they move in across the valley raining down on the canefields. Sometimes you can hear it coming for a full five minutes before it hits the tin roof.

On that subject of Beach Petroleum, this photo is their geothermal / hot rocks project on the eastern side of the Flinders Range. It was taken in 2011, and a bit better quality than than previous instamatic photo. This one was taken with my little Panasonic Lumix compact. Myself and a mate went down there for about five days to do a small job. Just to the left of the well head, you can see the Beverley uranium mine at the foothill of the Flinders, which is where we were accommodated. It's a pity the project fizzled out.

When I was doing my two years conscription, a corporal fired his sub-machine gun in front of us while we were lined up out in the training field getting a lecture about being aggressive towards the enemy. He swung the weapon around in an arc firing as he went trying to get us to pay attention to what war can be like. The bullets hit the ground of course, but an officer standing beside him said nothing. I'm sure this was an illegal act as a basic training method. Many of the training corporal were just back from Vietnam and they were crazed, their minds shot and heading for PTS, if they didn't already suffer from it. What we learned from the lecture was that we didn't want to end up crazy either, and that Vietnam has the potential to make you that way.

It doesn't matter what WE believe. There is also a Presumption of innocence Unless Proven Guilty in our system. He is required to appear before a Court where the Matter will be dealt with according to the Laws of this Country.. You can comment on things like the Manner of his arrest . Very Publicly and when he was with his Kids I can't see why that was necessary at all. Nev

I don't support the one nor the twenty. The evidence should be gathered, heard and tested in the appropriate court, with any appeals to the higher court, after which I would accept judgement. I am generally against the court of public opinion in these types of matters

He's been kicked out of every job he's had for Improper behaviour. No good will come out of this venture. Nev

A deeper analysis The paper, "Historical CO₂ levels in periods of global greening" by Frans J. Schrijver, was published in the journal Science of Climate Change. The author is an independent researcher, and the journal is not widely regarded as a leading journal in paleoclimate or atmospheric science. The paper contains no new measurements—it is a modelling exercise based on previously published datasets. (Science of climate change) That doesn't automatically make it wrong, but extraordinary claims require strong evidence. What is the paper actually arguing? The argument goes something like this: Earth today is greener than it used to be because higher CO₂ stimulates plant growth. There have supposedly been periods in the past with similar or greater greening. Therefore CO₂ must also have been much higher in those periods. Since Antarctic ice cores don't show these higher CO₂ levels, the ice cores must be wrong. Notice that this is not direct evidence that the ice cores are inaccurate. It is an indirect inference: "My model predicts higher CO₂, therefore the measurements must be wrong." That is a much weaker form of evidence. The biggest flaw: greenness does not uniquely determine CO₂ The paper effectively assumes more vegetation = higher atmospheric CO₂. But ecologists have known for decades that plant productivity depends on many variables: rainfall temperature sunlight soil nutrients nitrogen phosphorus disturbance (fire) land use length of growing season species composition CO₂ is only one factor. The paper acknowledges diminishing returns from CO₂ fertilisation, but still treats CO₂ as the dominant explanation for high global primary productivity. That assumption is not demonstrated. (Science of climate change) It ignores multiple independent CO₂ records This is probably the strongest criticism. Ice cores are not the only evidence for past CO₂. Scientists also use: marine sediments boron isotopes stomatal density in fossil leaves paleosols alkenones isotopic carbon chemistry These completely independent methods broadly agree with the Antarctic ice-core record over overlapping time periods. A recent Nature study extending atmospheric CO₂ measurements back to about 3 million years found broadly stable CO₂ levels consistent with existing paleoclimate understanding rather than the large fluctuations proposed by ice-core critics. (Nature) If the ice cores were fundamentally wrong, we'd expect these independent methods to disagree. They generally don't. The paper revives criticisms that have already been examined The paper relies heavily on arguments from: Zbigniew Jaworowski Ernst-Georg Beck Hermann Harde These authors have argued for years that: CO₂ diffuses through ice meltwater alters trapped air ice cores smooth or destroy past CO₂ peaks These criticisms have been investigated extensively. Scientists agree on one point: Ice cores smooth rapid year-to-year fluctuations. They do not preserve every individual year's atmospheric CO₂ exactly. That is well understood. But smoothing is very different from inventing a completely false average. The gas age distribution in Antarctic ice is modelled and measured. Researchers know approximately how much smoothing occurs. It does not produce errors of 50–100 ppm. The paper never explains modern observations Suppose the paper were correct. Then we'd have to explain why: modern atmospheric CO₂ matches fossil-fuel emissions carbon isotopes identify fossil fuels as the source atmospheric oxygen is declining exactly as expected from combustion oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb emitted CO₂ satellites observe increasing infrared absorption by CO₂ Those independent observations all point to the same conclusion. The paper does not address these lines of evidence. The logic is backwards Scientific reasoning normally works like this: Measure CO₂. Explain vegetation. This paper instead says: Estimate vegetation. Infer CO₂. Reject measurements if they disagree. That's considerably weaker. The references are selective The bibliography relies heavily on a relatively small group of authors who frequently challenge mainstream climate science, while giving much less weight to the much larger body of paleoclimate research that supports the reliability of Antarctic ice cores. (ResearchGate) That doesn't automatically invalidate the paper, but it should make readers cautious. Does this disprove ice cores? No. To overturn decades of paleoclimate research, the paper would need to show that: Antarctic ice physically cannot preserve atmospheric CO₂, independent proxy records also fail, laboratory measurements of gas trapping are incorrect, and modern understanding of firn diffusion is wrong. It does not do that. Instead, it presents a model whose assumptions lead to a conflict with ice-core measurements and concludes the measurements must therefore be wrong. This paper doesn't present new measurements showing the ice cores are wrong. It starts with a model relating plant productivity to CO₂, assumes that similar greening in the past required much higher CO₂, and then concludes the ice cores must be inaccurate because they don't match the model. That's an indirect argument, not direct evidence. It also doesn't address the fact that multiple independent CO₂ proxies and modern atmospheric observations broadly agree with the ice-core record. Scientific evidence is strongest when independent methods converge on the same answer, and in this case they largely do.

Did you know that Arnotts Tim Tam biscuits are named after a racehorse? Tim Tam was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1955 and owned by Calumet Farm. Sired by Hall of Famer Tom Fool out of Two Lea, he was trained by Horace A. Jones and ridden by Bill Hartack. In 1958, Tim Tam won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, becoming a strong favorite for the Triple Crown. However, his bid ended in the Belmont Stakes when he fractured a sesamoid bone during the race, finishing second and ending his racing career. Tim Tam died of a heart attack in 1982 and was buried at Calumet Farm. The Australian chocolate biscuit Tim Tam is named after the horse.

Drilling ice cores. The deeper they drill the further back in time they go. The gas in these ice cores is a sample of the atmosphere at the time. https://climate.mit.edu/ask-mit/how-do-we-know-how-much-co2-was-atmosphere-hundreds-years-ago

That car issue qualifies as a Legitimate GRIPE. . Nev

It's logical for them to assign another word/name for any NEW Object or Phenomenon they observe as all peoples have done. Nev.

I guess what is new are battery-powered trucks and autonomous trucks, such as in China and Canada.

I asked my local Toyota dealer if he thought he would be selling EV work vehicles to local agriculturalists. I put up the range limit point. He said that a lot of them were installing solar systems and those systems would enable recharging of EVs. Then I considered how the locals used their work vehicles and came to the conclusion that those vehicle were not driven on long trips. Most trips into the local town wouldn't be more than 50 kms and back. From my place to Dubbo and back is only 150 kms, plus about 10 for running around in Dubbo. That sort of distance is only about half the range of a full charge. We all know that cockies have sedans and SUVs for the longer trips. They are likely to be hybrids.

I hope someone points out that this will result in the public buying more solar panels? I'll make sure my surplus solar power covers the connection fee.... until I am confident I can disconnect. Then those companies will find they killed the goose.

I think this is a humorous reference to the shape of the roof.

Probably Making the best effort of any country with regard to addressing climate change. Compare to Trump who says it's FAKE. Nev

Well Trump doesn't grab ME at all and never has. I agree 100% with his Neice Mary, about his condition and suitability for the POTUS role. There was a TV show called "That's MY Bush". A satire which ran for a (short) while . I think I saw about 3 Episodes. Incredibly funny. BTW I think Bush is Fanny-hair. I've lived a very sheltered Life so feel free to correct me If I'm wrong. Nev

They have an economy Managed by the State which exists in a free trade World.. (in theory) which cannot cope with China's success and efficiency. No Place in history has been transformed so completely to lift wealth and facilities and with a large Population as well. It would still be Likely the way the West has treated them has NOT been forgotten and why would it? Nev

48 thousand were conscripted, 15 thousand went Vietnam. I knew a bloke who wasn't conscripted, just joined voluntarily and then volunteered to go and fight there. Unfortunately, he was involved in a friendly fire incident where one guy was too far out in front and was mistaken for an enemy combatant ... my mate shot him, sadly. I guess it was hushed up, but I got it from the horses mouth when he was back here at home. For brave acts he performed at other times, one in particular, he received bravery medals from every Western nation involved there ... all but Australia, he went on to tell me. He was not just a little peeved about that.

I think Meloni (who is not a particularly nice person herself) has made the political calculation that in most of the world, including Italy, it's more palatable with the voters to stand up to Trump rather than lick his arse. This is good, because if even right wing politicians realise this, then centrists and left leaning ones should definitely realise it. I think the clown is going to find out that he's not going to get a lot of respect or time from other world leaders any more.

The Iran peace talks in Switzerland aren’t going too well because Trump keeps posting threats about blowing Iran up if the negotiators don’t comply with what he wants. The Iranians are correctly pointing out that the threats violate the first item on Trump’s own agreement and are threatening to walk away, and Vance can’t do much to negotiate because his boss keeps pulling the rug out from under him.

The Trump administrtation is the greatest threat to world peace, ever. Hitler, Stalin, Mao and many others don't hold a candle to him. What is a further worry are the warhawks controlling the US military. Trump's threats to Iran are nothing more than extortion. And if Israel isn't hauled in, teh Middle East will still be a bubbling cauldron. Have you caught up with the new QANTAS route to London beginning late next year? It is a non-stop flight to London, avoiding the need for a stop in teh Middle East, of even overflying that part of the world.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The last few days have been bitterly cold, full overcast and gloomy, all day, every day. I'm looking forward to Spring and Summer returning. To hasten it, we've booked a fortnights break in Broome, from the end of July to mid-August. That will give us a nice early burst of sunshine and warmth. I always look forward to a Winter break in Broome. The place is overpriced and always full of tourists, but the scenery and Cable Beach can't be beaten. We stay at the Habitat Resort, it's set on 9 acres (3.6Ha), and has 32 individual bungalows and apartments all spread out in a lovely heavily vegetated setting. Each bungalow is self contained, we can cook for ourselves or go up town for a feed. The Broome Golf Course is right next door, and their clubhouse sits on top of a big dune overlooking Roebuck Bay, and they serve good food and drinks. The Port of Broome has had a massive rebuild, the W.A. Govt has spent $200M building a new jetty, and a huge new floating dock, so ships can dock and depart any time, and not be dependent on the tide, as before, at the original dock, which was fixed. This was still being built when we were there last year, so it should all be finished now.

Trump always raged on about "draining the swamp" in Washington DC. But the only thing he's actually done, is turned the Lincoln Reflecting Pool into a swamp.

Unfortunately, a house fire destroyed over 90% of my photos in 1982, so I have little to contribute by way of personal photos. But Willies post about the Argo's, and the 3-wheel trailer-mounted drill rig reminds me of the Nickel exploration that was going on in the '69-'73 period around the Goldfields of W.A. - when the nickel price was ballistic, and the Poseidon Nickel shares were going the same way. There was a lot of nickel exploration going on in the area South of Kambalda, around Widgiemooltha, at the time I turned up in the area, after leaving the Army at the finish of my National Service on 1st Oct 1971. The older brother, my business partner, had gone to the Goldfields from the Wheatbelt while I was in the Army, and that was because there was a massive drought in the W.A. Wheatbelt between 1969 and 1972, and he ran out of work. But the Nickel exploration teams were pegging like crazy in the nickel boom, and dozer work was plentiful, so the brother took one of our Cat D6C's up to the Goldfields, and made good money clearing gridlines for the peggers. When I rolled up, we were doing gridlines in the Widgiemooltha area, and the two main Nickel companies operating there were the original (U.S.) Anaconda Mining, and a Belgian company called Union Miniere. The area is full of salt lakes, with Lake Lefroy and Lake Cowan being the biggest, in a string of salt lakes that run from Kambalda to Norseman. There was a lot of drilling to be done on the salt lakes, but getting out on them was a real hassle. They often contained areas of deep mud under the salt, although some areas of the salt lakes were quite firm, and could be driven on. The only way to get to the spots requiring drilling was building elevated roads, like jetties, out across the salt. As you could imagine, this was bloody expensive. But Union Miniere had a neat little beast that could run around on the salt anywhere. I had a photo of it, but its gone. It was called the Cuthbertson Tracked Landrover. This Landrover was used substantially to get around on the lakes, and it was neat to watch. They were built by a Scottish company, who are still in business - but they no longer build tracked conversions. I wasn't aware until I did some research, that Cuthbertson only built about 15 or 20 of these units, before they ceased production of them. I have no idea what happened to Union Miniere's Cuthbertson Landrover, maybe it wore out and was scrapped. https://silodrome.com/tracked-cuthbertson-land-rover/ https://www.lrukforums.com/threads/tracked.256227/

My eldest son is 18 today. Couldn't be prouder of the fine young man he's become. 😊

They are very brave to bring the Matter up. It's a NO win for the. Nev