The Largest Gold And Copper Deposit In The World

 

The gigantic FREEPORT Erzberg job in Irian Jaya.

I was still with BECHTEL on Bougainville when they began recruiting.

What a job! What an experience!

 

Not Bougainville but this soundless 1957 footage is worth a look

 

Gerardus Mercator has a lot to answer for

 

New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, and with an area of 785,753 km², the largest island in the Southern Hemisphere. The U.K. is a mere 242,495 km². And yet, on most maps of the world, thanks to the socalled Mercator Projection, the two seem almost the same size.

If you want to know why this is so, read Simon Garfield's rivetting book "On the Map - Why the World Looks the Way it Does".

You can read it online at www.archive.org. Simply SIGN UP (its' free!), LOG IN and BORROW, and go straight to page 125 to read all about Mercator Projection. Here's a simple illustration what a map of the world would look line without the inflated Mercator Projection:

 

Tales of Papua New Guinea

Christopher J. Eastoe

 

Chris Eastoe has written this engaging story of his short six-week stint on Bougainville Island in 1974:

 

To enlarge for better readability, click on each page.
Alternatively, hold down CTRL and repeatedly click on + - sign

To continue reading Chris's interesting tale, click here.

 

 

P.S. I did write to Chris seeking his permission to publish his story. He promptly replied, "Dear Peter, I've just spent a wonderful time looking at your blog. I am so glad that you located my stories, and included them in your blog for others to enjoy -- in the same spirit as I included Harold Elliott's story about his bombing raid on Rabaul. The stories are not in a very accessible place at present -- although you seemed to have managed to find them. My stay on Bougainville was very short compared to yours, but it was a time that has influenced the rest of my life, and not just because of the scientific research. I sometimes wonder what happened to all the Bougainville and New Guinea people I met. For the Bougainville men, the civil war must have been very difficult. The ones I knew seemed to relish the independent existence the mine had offered them -- even if the operation was wrecking their island. It would have been hard for some of them to go back and wokim gaden. I wonder if we ever crossed paths in Panguna? It sounds as though you were there when I made my visit in 1974. As you will have realized, life has taken me on a long road since those days. As part of my studies, I was able to spend a year in Nancy, France, to work on my Panguna quartz vein specimens. Eventually, a job in Tucson, Arizona came along, and I spent my professional career there. In retirement (since 2015), I have been able to spend a couple of months each year in Chinese universities, at least until the pandemic happened. I gather from your story that you originated from Germany. Where in Germany did you live? I have had a few connections with Germany over the years, mainly in the area around Frankfurt."