While most of the Amendment Bill is positive for the opal mining industry one section gives the director-general unprecedented powers to prohibit the lodging of applications for mineral claims over specified land in a mineral claims district.

Following our discussions with the department they have agreed to consult with the Parliamentary Council and ask them to include a reference to the Lightning Ridge Mining Board before the director-general exercises this power.

Safety workshop

The Department of Mineral Resources will be holding a safety workshop on Saturday July 10 featuring Professor Jim Galvin from the University of NSW.

Prof Galvin has presented in Lightning Ridge before and his talk on ground support is very informative. He has had extensive experience throughout the world in metalliferous and coal mines.

Departmental mechanical and electrical inspectors will also be presenting information and they will tailor their talk to suit the miners. At a workshop last year there were quite a few questions on electrical issues but no departmental officer to answer them. So if anyone has any questions or issues they would like covered in the workshop please let the LRMA office or Jim McMahon from the department know. The department will ensure their presenters cover the topics of most interest to the miners.

Geopyhsicist to talk

A couple of weeks ago we were fortunate to have Phil McLelland, a commercial, cutting-edge geophysicist visiting the area and he gave a very informative talk on the various geophysical techniques available for mining and their potential suitability for opal. Some of the techniques he discussed were magnetics, radiometrics, radar, radiowave, gravity, resistivity, seismics and some bore hole tools.

Unfortunately we had very little notice of his visit and consequently could only notify a limited amount of people. He may be visiting again in the future but once again we may not get much notice. So if anyone is interested in listening to his next or similar presentations please contact the LRMA office and we will notify you when it is on.