It’s heartbreaking to see how tough it is for people on the land at the moment. Miners on the other hand are enjoying more prosperous times.
With that in mind, it’s great to see so much support coming from thousands of individual miners and companies large and small within the industry to support those affected by the drought. The people and companies of the mining industry are very generous in times of need and these are times of great need.
Talking to people in the pub, the street and the supermarket, everyone understands just how dire things have become. Like mining, agriculture is one of the resource pillars of our society. As important as energy is though, the fruits of our land arguably sit a rung above.
The sad truth though is that even if the heavens open up with a bit of the life giving wet stuff right now, it’s still going to take at least a couple of years to get things back on track. For some it will be too late anyway. If we don’t get any consistent rain things are going to get far worse very fast.
From working miners buying raffle tickets in a plethora of local competitions to companies like Centennial Coal whose workers recently held a BBQ at its Mandalong mine to help. Just recently Glencore also donated over $200,000 in drought relief along with companies like Bloomfield who are just as focused on looking at what they can give and what they can do for farmers.
These initiatives are just the tip of the iceberg and I would bet my shirt there is something happening on each and every mine site and most likely several initiatives. Get behind as many as you can.
Well done to everyone who is doing their bit. Please remember though that the job is far from done. Keep giving and do what you can till the tide turns however long that might take. In fact, lets step up the game. See what else the company you work for and the mates you work with could do and make more happen. Let’s show our people on the land that end of the day while we don’t always agree on everything, we stand together when things get tough. Well done to everyone doing their bit…Keep up the good work!