SA Rocks

I blogged photos and a more detailed blog post about the Debeers mining ship previously on SA Rocks.

I know have a video from the day up on Zoopy! Here it is, watch and let me know what you think of Peace in Africa, the offshore mining ship. It really was a wonder of technology in Africa and the World.

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It’s a very unusual feeling. Rocking back and forth, back and forth and back again. No land in sight and a boat that has been cut in two and rebuilt with an actual mine in the middle beneath your feet.

The rocking back and forth can be dealt with via a strong stomach and some anti-nausia tablets. There is nothing to be done about the mine below your feet however.

The once-in-a-lifetime experience of visiting the DeBeers offshore diamond mining ship is something that I will most definitely never forget. Firstly because only a handful of people in the world will every visit this masterpiece of modern technology and engeneering. I could probably say that about many of the things I’ve experienced travelling the country over the past few days but more on that subject in posts to follow. For now let’s stay above the ocean but only barely.

To reach the offshore diamond behemoth involves a 20 minute helicopter flight (my second in so many days) there and another 20 minute flight to return to land. So 40 minutes there and back which in itself is an experience.

Once on the ship it quickly becomes apparent that sea sickness is inevitable, so I popped a pill and bit my tongue trying not to upchuck breakfast.

The tour around the ship was expansive and the staff were exceptionally helpful, clued up and ready to answer any questions that we might’ve had.

Here are some photos to illustrate the tour better than I could probably describe it in words.

One thing that everyone neglected to mention was the body search which bordered on a cavity search if you ask me. See the thing is, in spite of all the precautions and months (literally) of safety planning for a 4 hour tour of the ship, one can never be too careful when it comes to diamonds according to DeBeers. So the body search is essential. The smiling gentlemen gleefully took apart anything he could. My shoes, socks, denims, shirt, mouth, arms, legs, toes, ears and any other crevice which isn’t too intrusive, that can be searched is searched.

I escaped relatively unscathed from the grand searching finale and boarded the chartered flight to Johannesburg.

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3.8km is a long way whether you look at it vertically, horizontally or any other way you can think of. Now think of going down. Deep down in the pit of the Earth.

TauTona is AngloGold Ashanti’s Mine near Carletonville in Johannesburg. Let me be straight with you here, it’s deep and you don’t really grasp the magnitude of how deep I mean until you travel down and further down and yet still further down.

As you descend down the shafts your ears pop, the heat becomes progressively more intense and the humidity is stifling, in fact I am becoming short of breath now just thinking about it. I cannot stress enough how deep this is. Jokes were flying around about descending toward hell because no one would ever get closer.

As you finish your trip down the third mine shaft you realise that the it’s over 30degrees Celsius and you are soaking wet from sweat.

That is not, unfortunately, where the trip ends. After exiting the third mine shaft you are a whopping 3600 meters below the surface of the Earth. Then you start a slow 200 meter walk towards that final active mining area in the west of the massive mine. This is still an active area and the tight, enclosed space where some of the mine workers are still active is scary as hell. The men are chipping away, embedding explosives, drilling, grinding and more. I couldn’t do it, I was so proud that I’d made it that far but got to the final 50 or so meters and freaked out. I turned back to what now seemed to be a very open space and waited for others to return.

Here is a video of the experience. The quality is somewhat lower than I’d have hoped for but the people in the now suggested that we leave all high-quality tech stuff at the surface as the humidity could damage the equipment. So this was shot on my little digicam.

What for the end, it’s a hoot to hear me wig out.

I am exceptionally proud of myself for keeping it together for the massive 4 hours that we were down there. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything like that again and I don’t think that there are many people in the world who can say they have traveled that far underground.

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