Oresome foursome provide jumbo effort
Four Ernest Henry Mining personnel recently answered the call to help their Glencore sister operation CSA Mine and reinforce their colleagues near Cobar in central western New South Wales.
Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) Jumbo Operators Giuseppe Piccolo, Ross Schulz and Zane Simpson and Jumbo Offsider Ted (Tuputta) Poppi volunteered to spend some time at CSA Mine to supplement the crews there.
Located around 1,700 kilometres from EHM, Glencore’s CSA Mine has a rich history with the deposit discovered in 1871 and named after the nationalities of its initial owners – a Cornishman, a Scotsman and an Australian.
With about 670 employees, including contractors, CSA Mine is one of Australia’s oldest copper mines and one of the country’s deepest extending 1.75 kilometres underground.
-
Glencore’s CSA Mine is named after the nationalities of its initial owners – a Cornishman, a Scotsman and an Australian.
-
Located just outside Cobar, CSA Mine is one of Australia’s oldest and deepest copper mines.
It is the second highest grade copper mine in Australia and the fourth highest grade copper mine in the world with the ore grade averaging between 5% and 12%.
EHM Mining Manager, Jordan Calverd, says EHM was pleased to be able to provide two crews to assist the CSA Mine.
“We were in a position where we had the resourcing capacity to help them out in the short-term,” says Jordan.
“Our four team members did a total of 90 shifts which is about 1,080 hours between them over the two to three swings.”
“We had hoped to help out CSA for a bit longer but the COVID-19 situation in New South Wales deteriorated so we had to pull our crews out before the state went into lockdown.”
-
Left to right: EHM Superintendent - Development Brad Tucker, Jumbo Operator Ross Schulz and Manager - Mining Jordan Calverd.
-
Left to right: Jumbo Offsider, Ted Poppi and Jumbo Operator, Zane Simpson with Manager - Mining Jordan Calverd.
Jordan says the opportunity to send EHM personnel to another Glencore mine proved mutually beneficial.
“It’s great they were able to see how another Glencore mine operates and gain experience working in different ground and exposure to another unique set of underground conditions,” says Jordan.
“Our miners worked with capable crews and I’m sure they picked up a lot of skills and experience while passing on a few tips with their CSA Mine colleagues during their time.”
“They gained experience doing some fill mining which we just don’t do at EHM as we use a sub-level caving mining method.”
“This really shows the high degree of cooperation, teamwork and comradery across Glencore’s Australian operations,” Jordan says.
-
Jumbo Operator Zane Simpson presented with a can cooler from Manager - Mining Jordan Calverd for his hard work and effort.
-
Jumbo Operator Giuseppe Piccolo wearing his trusty CSA Mine overalls and Manager - Mining Jordan Calverd.
Jumbo Operator Giuseppe Piccolo, who has worked at EHM for almost 10 years, says he enjoyed his time at CSA Mine.
“It was my first visit to Cobar and it was a great experience to work at one of the deepest mines in Australia,” says Giuseppe.
“The culture was fairly similar to EHM and it was interesting to work in a different environment and see other ways of mining than what we use.”
The miners were presented with an engraved Yeti can cooler as a small token of appreciation for their hard work and effort.