June 7
Our time in Australia began in Brisbane, where Vitrinite’s executive office is located. After recovering from jet lag, we got back on a plane and traveled to Sydney. Vitrinite was very generous and gave us the opportunity to spend two days exploring Sydney before heading to the mine site. Ryan Welker, co-founder of Vitrinite, lives in Sydney with his family and helped make our visit even more memorable. As students from Tennessee, we had to stop by the Sydney Opera House and represent the University of Tennessee.
June 18
In between us, working outside, and in the office, we’d spend time traveling through the mine site. During this time, we would have opportunities to see the entire mine site and gain a better idea of what we were designing around in the office. One of the benefits is that we got to check in on the family of emus that lived in the area surrounding the mine site.
June 26
The mine site was located in the literal outback, and our daily commute began from the nearby town of Moranbah. The drive was about 35 minutes, so we usually left our company house around 7:15 AM to reach the mine site by 8:00 AM. The morning commute was peaceful and gave us time to mentally prepare for the day ahead. The drive back, however, was even more memorable. We often got to see some of the most beautiful sunsets, looking out toward the horizon and taking in the scenery after a long day at the mine was a great way to wind down.
June 27
One of the highlights of the week was working with the high-wall miner. The high-wall miner was the flagship piece of equipment on the mine site, and we’d have the opportunity to work on projects that would help operate the machine. The miner would plunge just under 1000 feet into the wall and extract all of the coal in a straight line. Once completed, it would move horizontally a few feet then plunge again. The project we were tasked with was to find a way to map where the plunges went, using data from the machine to create a program that translates it into a 3D model we canthat we could map and use for future designs.
July 1
About once a week, we would do a blast on the site. The blast would allow the operators to clear the area and then extract the rock from the ground to reach the coal. The blast was a huge part of our division because we had to design around the local infrastructure. For us, we would head out of the office a few hours before the blast to lay out vibration sensors next to the rail line, roadway, and fiber lines. We’d do this to ensure that our blasting wasn’t too strong because if it were bigger, it could damage the infrastructure.
July 3
One of the weekly projects I was involved in was water quality testing. The mine site that we were on was land rented from three cattle farmers. As part of our relationship with the farmers and the state, we would drive through their land to collect water samples from boreholes. The boreholes were 50 to 250 feet deep, and we would use a pump to pull the water up. The importance of the testing is to ensure that our mining practices are not leaching out into the nearby environment.
July 4
As much fun as Moranbah could be, we often chose to leave town on the weekends and explore more of Queensland. Vitrinite was very gracious and provided us with a company vehicle during our time there, which allowed us to travel to nearby beaches and coastal towns. This picture was taken at Flagstaff Hill Lookout in Bowen. Bowen is known as the Mango Capital of Australia, as well as “Blowin’ Bowen” because of its strong coastal winds. During our visit, we toured a mango farm, and our fellow intern, Charles Passmore, invited us to attend a sailboat race with his family friends. Some of my best memories from the trip came from spending the day preparing for and competing in the race.
July 24
When we weren’t on-site, we’d spend the rest of our time in the town where we lived, Moranbah. The town had a great community of all the miners who lived there. In our afternoons after work, we’d spend some time at the workers’ club, the big restaurant in town. Then every Friday we stayed in town, we’d walk over to the miners’ rugby club to watch the local games. Other times, we’d go to local places to meet friends, socialize, and meet new people.