Today we joined some friends for a free tour of Alcoa bauxite mine and refinery. The tours are free and anyone can book in. We saw some huge machinery including the massive mine trucks (above) and the rock crusher (below). The rock crusher is capable of "walking" to new locations whenever the miners need to establish a new pit.
We learnt about the conveyor (bottom left in the photo above) that carries the crushed rock 35km to the refinery. As we drove through the mine site we found out how the landscape is returned to its natural state once the bauxite has been extracted. We saw areas that had recently been replanted and other areas where the vegetation had fully grown back and you would never know a mine existed.
The refinery was spectacular with pipes twisting in every direction. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos in this area so here's one from Yahoo that doesn't do it justice.
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