Kalgoorlie
The city has a population of about 30,000, making it the fifth-largest in Western Australia. The area is hot and dry in summer and cool and dry in winter. The average annual rainfall is only 260 mm with rain falling on an average of 65 days each year.
Gold mining, along with the mining of other metals such as nickel, has been a major industry in Kalgoorlie ever since the discovery of gold in 1893. Today the mining industry employs about one-quarter of the city's workforce and generates a substantial percentage of its income.
The area in which the large gold mines operate is often referred to as the Golden Mile, and is considered to be the richest square mile of land on earth.
The Super Pit is an open-cut gold mine which is approximately 3.6 kilometres long, 1.6 kilometres wide and 512 metres deep.
The mining operations continue 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and blasting is conducted at 1:00 pm every day, unless the prevailing winds would carry dust into the town. Each of the massive trucks which operate at the mine carries 225 tonnes of rock, and the round trip takes about 35 minutes, most of that time being a slow uphill haul to the top of the mine.
The mine is expected to be productive until about 2017. Following which, it will be abandoned and the groundwater will be allowed to seep in and fill it. It is anticipated that the superpit will take about 50 years to fill completely.
The Kalgoorlie Boulder Fair is a community event held within the city during late March each year. Visit the Kalgoorlie Boulder Fair website for further information.
Nearby schools
Boulder Primary School
East Kalgoorlie Primary School
Eastern Goldfield Senior High School Education Support Centre
Eastern Goldfieds College >
John Paul College >
Kalgoorlie Primary School >
Karlkurla Language & Culture Aboriginal Corporation
O'Connor Education Support Centre
O'Connor Primary School >
South Kalgoorlie Primary School >
St Mary's Primary School >
To view school locations, click the local real estate link on this page, then click the schools tab on the next page.
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Super Pit, Kalgoorlie. Photograph © nipper30. Courtesy of Panoramio.
Kalgoorlie
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Visiting Kalgoorlie