Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

The Unravelling of Science

The Unravelling of Science

THE  UNRAVELLING OF SCIENCE “Facts no longer made contact with the theory, which had risen above the facts on clouds of nonsense, rather like in a theological system. The point was not to believe the theory but to repeat it ritualistically and in such a way that […]

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Aboriginal Heavy Mineral Separation Technology in the Pilbara, Western Australia

Aboriginal Heavy Mineral Separation Technology in the Pilbara, Western Australia

Aboriginal Heavy Mineral Separation Technology in the Pilbara of Western Australia More than 50 years ago I observed a heavy mineral separation technique being practiced by aboriginals in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The technique was simple, effective and probably unique. I have never seen it […]

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The Philanthropist of Nullagine

The Philanthropist of Nullagine

The philanthropist of Nullagine “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” – L P Hartley The town of Nullagine, in the Pilbara region in the northwest of Western Australia, is situated 1400 km NNE of the State capital Perth, where the old Great […]

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Climate change: naming of parts (re-post)

Climate change: naming of parts (re-post)

Climate change: naming of parts Reed, Henry. “Naming of Parts.” New Statesman and Nation 24, no. 598 (8 August 1942): 92. NAMING OF PARTS To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday, We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning, We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day, […]

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Fear Of Fat

Fear Of Fat

FEAR OF FAT Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds; while they only recover their senses one by one. Charles Mackay, 1841 In 1841, Scottish journalist Charles Mackay wrote a book called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the […]

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How to salt a gold claim – Part 2, Karpa Springs and Busang

How to salt a gold claim – Part 2, Karpa Springs and Busang

How to Salt a Gold Claim: Part 2 – Karpa Springs and Busang In my previous post I described my encounter in 1984 with claim salting (or at least, alleged salting). These were early days, the late 20th Century gold boom was still young, and  claim salting […]

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How to salt a gold claim: Part 1, Queensland interlude

How to salt a gold claim: Part 1, Queensland interlude

How to Salt a Gold Claim: Part 1 – Queensland Interlude Looking through a box of my old field notebooks the other day I came across one which contained a cartoon sketch I had made of an old Queensland prospector and remembered the story behind it. In […]

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The impossible diamond drill hole

The impossible diamond drill hole

Here’s a geological mystery. The impossible diamond drill hole - a drill hole drilled where no hole could possibly be drilled. I can offer no really satisfactory explanation, although there must of course be one. Perhaps readers can think of one for themselves. A few years ago I was […]

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An Incident in Bougainville

An Incident in Bougainville

  In the grey light of a tropical dawn on 6th July 1968, fifty men assembled at the government wharf, Sohano, on the south coast of Bougainville Island. They were members of the Royal Papua Nugini Constabulary, and they were armed with long wooden pick-axe handles. An […]

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The Movement of Faults

The Movement of Faults

  All metal deposits that have formed later than the rocks that host them (that is, epigenetic deposits) have got there by virtue of fluid transport along faults and their location, shape, size and attitude are largely determined by the strain states that existed within the fault […]

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