Slope Stability In Australia’s Golden Mile

I simulated 8,214 landslides to stop one happening for real! When slopes at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit, Australia's largest open-cut gold mine, collapse, there is a lot more than people's jobs on the line.
Perth Science, Episode Fifteen | Slope Stability
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Subtitles by:
CZECH: Ondřej Špika
FRENCH: Sreesti Sheikh
GERMAN: Aaron Kerker
INDONESIAN: Anugrah No'inötö Göri
POLISH: Piotr Matuszak
RUSSIAN: Алексея Тарасенко
SPANISH: Alex DeRodri
SWEDISH: Noel Jönsson
Email [e-mail] if you'd like to join the team!
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[@Orosh]

"On a lonely friday evening I spend 14 hours setting up different simulations" Yeah, thats an engineering student right here

[@johnie102]

This is the way

[@crazyt1483]

More of a general stem student factor then just engineering student but as a computer science student I totally agree and normally do so on a Saturday or Sunday evening as they are the days I don’t need to be up before mid day the next.

[@HotelPapa100]

Reminds me of a joke with a talking frog...

[@play005517]

"On a lonely friday evening my supervisor assigned me 14 hours-worth work and expect me to give a report in the meeting on monday morning." Yeah, this's a normal working person.

[@TISJA-qh4bh]

hes so adorable i cant

[@gonzalopineiro9147]

You have a Tom Scott level of quality in your videos, but with much more sciency topics, love it.

[@naverilllang]

Now I can hear Tom Scott "I'm at a big hole in Australia!"

[@tashkiira7838]

Appropriately, he filled in for Tom on Tom's 2021 vacation for a video.

[@gonzalopineiro9147]

@@tashkiira7838 Yes! I discovered this channel because of Tom.

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

i wouldn't necessarily say that was a compliment though, although the topics are interesting, this style of production is quite dated, the rhythm of his speech makes it feel like a BBC documentary from 1992.

[@hazeltree7738]

@@gramursowanfaborden5820 I really like that speech rhythm to be honest, it makes me more interested for some reason

[@AtomicFrontier]

About time I took a look at what 'real' Aussie engineers get up to!

[@viewvestr4066]

I would suggest you look at the Kennecott pit failure if you want to see something really spectacular

[@AtomicFrontier]

@@viewvestr4066 I think you're going to like this weekend's episode....

[@lmMuel]

@@AtomicFrontier Take a look at IDS georadar, used to work for them. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar, interesting stuff, they're on all major mine sites.

[@Clockworkbio]

While I enjoy the engineering discussed here--I particularly love this video because my WA wife has done nothing but make fun of me for trying to pronounce "Kalgoorlie" in my incomprehensibly American accent. So it's real nice to finally have a low-key proper pronunciation guide.

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

It's just Kal... But my grandma would say "We are from Boulder!"

[@chrisbraid2907]

@@emceeboogieboots1608 only problem there for an American is the confusion with Boulder Colorado and not being in Washington State (W.A.) but Western Australia (also W.A.) ... P.S. I’m from Boulder Too !

[@jimcambron1328]

Ah, the magic that is Australian landmark nomenclature... The first thing a tourist visiting Australia should do is to learn the Australian pronunciation of major city names. This will impress your Aussie hosts to no end!

[@glenbuyer8738]

It’s pronounced Kal-gool-ee.

[@abigailcolderley2549]

I'm gonna recommend these videos to my science teacher, they're so good

[@danielhale1]

Video: "some simple matrix math" Me: *F#&@!*

[@SeagullAustralis]

*maths

[@DaimyoD0]

I specifically remember when we skipped matrices in one of my high school precalculus classes, I guess on some strange assumption we wouldn't need it. Now nearly a decade later I continuously run into matrix calculations with computer programming and I feel like I need to just set out a couple days to intensively teach myself how to do them properly.

[@danielhale1]

@@DaimyoD0 Both my programming classes and my math classes covered matrix math in detail, but I only vaguely remember it. I apparently blocked it out as a coping mechanism. :P However, unless I'm programming my own graphics or object transformation math, it usually isn't something I need to deal with directly; there's usually a library or something already handling it. So my passing familiarity is enough for me to skirt by and feed my systemic laziness, just as nature intended.

[@justins8802]

@@danielhale1 That’s the way of the software world. Every problem just needs to be solved once globally, and everyone else can copy pasta their way though from then on, while their superiors think they are geniuses.

[@danielhale1]

@@justins8802 Odd way to put it, as that's not really how it works. Mostly when a problem is already solved, that frees the programmer up to work on a different problem. So instead of reinventing the wheel over and over again, we solve a problem once and focus our efforts on what's left. I'm not, for example, always interested in building a new rendering engine from scratch before I make a new product. That's been done really well in a variety of different engines, and it's not worth spending years reinventing the wheel. If someone has already solved a difficulty geometry problem, spending hours or days or weeks learning the nuances of the field so I can solve it myself is an irresponsible use of time and money. You call it "copy pasta" kinda derisively, like the person learning from others is offering no real value to the company and does no other work. I'm sure there are some hack "programmers" out there who are as you describe but... certainly not in my career. I'm sorry you've never met real programmers, or perhaps have never given them a fair shake.

[@JackAllpikeMusic]

It's so cool to see an entire series based around Perth! I've lived here my entire life and didn't know like any of this.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! Its been great finding out about my hometown too! - James

[@JackAllpikeMusic]

@@AtomicFrontier Oh you're from Perth too?! I didn't know that, that's awesome!

[@TimiPigeon]

All your videos are so great and engaging James, I love learning all the interesting things you have to share with the world - you’re killing it! It’s so great to see how far you’ve come in your sub count and your video quality, it’s superb! Hope you’re keeping well mang and best of luck to you in future

[@RoelfvanderMerwe]

This is an incredible channel. You're so young! KZbin has a good future ahead (as long as long as you keep making videos)

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! Good thing about engineering is that theres an ever increasing supply of cool things to talk about. Next one should be... out of this world!

[@thebritishguy7741]

@@AtomicFrontier yo, is this a teaser of some sort??

[@WantEpicMusic]

@@thebritishguy7741 I'll take this Opportunity to say that it certainly piqued my Curiosity. I reckon we'll figure it out if we have enough Perseverance

[@brandonchan4537]

​@@WantEpicMusic I never had the Opportunity to make a pun, your pun peak my Curiosity on whether i could do the same, but with much Perseverance i have done the same!

[@junglefett]

@@brandonchan4537 Come on... that's the same pun. What a missed Opportunity, your Perseverance is just disappointing, even though it did peak my Curiosity as well.

[@4plainlimbs]

have to say this is as always, some of the best accessible science content on youtube. Love it! keep it up.

[@marcosl2871]

Thanks, Tom Scott. This channel is a Great addition to my subcriptions!

[@Dioxol]

As normal, this seems incredibly interesting!

[@MrLucascanuto]

I find it fascinating how your videos educate us not only about the science in these massive endeavours, but also on the history behind them. Cheers from Brazil, mate.

[@RolandoGarza]

4:28 "Every triangle is a love triangle ... when you love triangles". 😂

[@69FTWB]

I’m in geotechnical engineering and we run similar models but we use a probability density function to vary the slope/soil parameters to find a safety probability. Super cool simulation!

[@Jamos2100]

The complexities that come into play on these massive scales astound even if they are just digging a hole.

[@boterham7144]

You’re the Tom Scott prodigy we dindt knew we need until now

[@IllIlllI]

Amazing video quality, breathtaking shots, incredible topics, insightful and easy to understand explanation! 10/10 one of the best channels on KZbin! Makes me happy watching these fun videos! Keep it up

[@ea-nasir8423]

An episode of fine quality!

[@deralex4350]

The youtube translation is on top once again. The title "translated" into german says: "Kalgoorlies 150.582.809€ landslide (and how we can avoid the next one)"

[@somedude6833]

For me it’s in polish

[@RandomGuy-nm6bm]

Wenn youtube ai jetzt eigene clickbait title erfindet.

[@bottlekruiser]

Оползень в Калгурли, обошедшийся в 13,8 млрд руб. (и о том, как предотвратить следующий)

[@niklasl4180]

What's the original title then?

[@nathanielpayne2681]

Your "keep looking up!" send off always reminds me of a short astronomy television show I used to watch growing up on public television. Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler hosted by Jack Horkheimer, executive director, of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium. His send off was "and remember, keep looking up!." Coincidence or not, I love it!

[@CausticLemons7]

The audio and video quality here is fantastic! This is your smoothest video yet, and it was a pleasure to watch. I think mining is a really interesting industry with a lot of potential for technological innovation.

[@vastianocara1792]

I was born in Kalgoorlie and my dad worked in the pit as an excavator operator in the 80s and 90s. In the video it doesnt look like much but if you are standing on the edge looking down, it's a jaw dropper. Even got to go down to the bottom once with my dad on his 12 hour shift (I was 10 years old) Don't think you could do that now...

[@RedCocoon]

This is one of the best channel for science topics. Keep up the awesome works!

[@jimmymifsud1]

This is awesome, glad to see an Australian scientific channel producing great content

[@madman587587]

Opening and whole video through, a real David Attenborough. Simple, direct, informative and entertaining

[@bugglest0n]

I cannot wait for you to say "this video was brought to you by Curiosity Stream and Nebula" your content will fit right in!

[@SpeakerMunkey]

I'm really looking forward to the content that this guy will have to offer. Keep up the good work James.

[@Mohammed8778]

"Trucks with $4 million dollars roll past..." - wait what? let me rewind and hear that again "Trucks with $4 million dollars roll past..." - wait, he actually said it, didnt he?! "Trucks with $4 million dollars roll past..." - that doesn't even make sense, why'd there be millions of dollars on a truck in that pit? Does he mean the gold?! "Trucks with $4 million dollars roll past..." - ok, gimme subtitles, something is wrong here. "Trucks worth $4 million dollars roll past..." - ah... aussie. :P

[@zapfanzapfan]

Yeah, my first thought was "Damn, that is some rich ore" :-)

[@RandomGuy-nm6bm]

I understood it the first time. I'm not a native speaker so maybe that's why

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

He may have said "worth". Cat 793s would be in that ballpark new probably. The thing is something like 8 or 9 out of 10 of those trucks are carrying waste rock worth nothing. One in 10 has gold ore at maybe 3 or 4 grams per tonne. Probably less. So much rock moved to get to the gold

[@FroggysGoldProspecting]

Yep they are expensive, I worked at the super pit for 6 years, I had just left site when the 1,000,000t rockfall happened, I wasn’t working in the pit but on the processing side of the site, it’s a massive mine site.

[@hamishritchie6415]

I work as a metallurgist here, this, as well as your copper video, was extremely well made and informative for the layman

[@excalibre...]

Love seeing videos on things in WA, we don't get mentioned much

[@cytonicstarspren4384]

I always manage to find your videos early. Btw keep up the good work!

[@hardrockuniversity7283]

Very well presented young feller-me-lad.

[@tristanwegner]

Very interesting video and pleasant presentation style, especially liked how you use your voice.

[@DanStClairCole]

Amazing quality, interesting in-depth research, cute presenter, who can ask for more?

[@katherinekinnaird4408]

Each video is even more interesting than the previous thanks so much.

[@the_ALchannel]

6:35 holy heck that is a fine walk

[@chrisbraid2907]

I live a couple of blocks across from the Superpit in Boulder and have been in the city since 2008, your presentation is excellent. Enjoy your engineering, we need good engineers more now than ever .... at 64 I’m impressed....

[@HamletNOR]

58k subscribers now! Damn! You are just hurtling towards your first 💯 k at this point. Keep up the great work!

[@chrisflannery5546]

Honestly seeing the work you put into this alone got my subscription but on top of that this is a really good knowledgeable video!

[@jakemayer2113]

love the james acaster reference! well, i love the other bits too. almost as much as i love triangles

[@JacquesTunnicliffe]

Such incredible content. I can’t wait to see what you do next! I cannot watch your content quick enough.

[@Blackdiamond2]

You can see the bags under his eyes when he's explaining the model results lul. Impressive commitment to continuity.

[@chaomatic5328]

So you're an engineering univ student _and_ a quality content creator? How do you do all of this? It's insane!

[@chestnut4860]

Why do you think he drinks so much coffee? Man probably hasn't slept since kindergarden.

[@twothreebravo]

Just discovered this channel and you've definitely earned yourself another subscriber. Looking forward to much more, great topic, great quality. Just stay away from the unhealthy amounts of coffee.

[@KodiakDunne]

I love the amount of effort you put into your videos they seem like something you would watch on the history channel

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! In my very first video (back in year 7) I pretended to BE the history channel, so that means a lot.

[@PropanePete]

This is interesting stuff, and really well presented. I've been to Kalgoorlie a couple of times and you don't realise just how big that superpit is until you stand in awe at the viewing site. It's actually quite scary.

[@alexs5814]

it took me two videos to sub... this channel looks like a hidden gem in the making!

[@jackjac]

I love your dedication and professionalism in every video, gj!

[@the48thronin97]

Finding out you studied either as a mining engineer or alongside them is cool, and explains why I've been interested in basically all of the videos you've put out. I studied mining eng. at a school in Missouri, US, but I don't work in the industry at the moment.

[@moopoint2094]

I just discovered your channel ! And I'm glad I did .

[@oggy02666]

This is genuinely really really good content, good luck for the future, you can definitely do really well

[@switzerland]

I was in a even deeper copper mine in chile. Truly recommended to visit these impressive places.

[@johnie102]

This is so pleasing and relaxing to watch. Great job!

[@North345]

Great video, It was so cool to see the mine shafts that had been dug out!!!

[@RONNYNASH]

Gosh I remember spending hours having to doing these on paper in uni so we understood the basics before they let us loose on the computers

[@JacobCurulli]

Great work James. I found your channel through the special you did for Tom Scott.

[@gm16v149]

Fascinating! I used to work underground at the Lake View mine which has now been consumed by the Super Pit. In fact so many of the well-known U/G mines disappeared. You can’t really appreciate the size of it until you stand at the top and look down. The only other comparable size open cut in Australia that I can think of is BHP’s Mt Whaleback in the Pilbara.

[@Broockle]

A thorough Engineering analysis of a hole. Very nice

[@BradGryphonn]

Golden 'Two-Miles' nowadays. The Super Pit is an amazing feat of human engineering, and the more amazing thing is that the owners have been test drilling up to 2-kilometres deep if I'm correct, and suggest they can extract another 9 million ounces and be viable until at least 2035. I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for the insight.

[@YaMumsSpecialFriend]

Fascinating, and a very nice production mate🖖🏼

[@aussiedrone1511]

Argyle Dimond mine is in the process of shutting down, it would be amazing if you did a history piece on the mine!

[@FulloutPostal]

there is no such thing as an "unhealthy amount of coffee"! coffee is life, coffee is love!

[@emceeboogieboots1608]

I went to the School of Mines in Kalgoorlie... I drank an unhealthy amount of alcohol 😵

[@chrisbraid2907]

Unless a truckload of coffee is being spilled over you ....

[@MrEazyE357]

Jeez dude. Calm down. It's just coffee.

[@A.Martin]

Our Martha Open pit mine is currently not operating from the pit as the wall collapsed into the pit. They are currently buying up some land nearby the pit so they can dig down from the top again to remove pressure from the wall as well as expanding the mine.

[@michaeldavis9357]

Love what you've done with the place. Pretty much wrecked AF.

[@Danger_mouse]

Thanks James. I'm someone who went to Kal in the late 90s with my family in tow and kicked off a career in mining. Indeed my youngest son was born over there. Back in Qld again these days, but still in mining 👍

[@danielwhite3898]

Fantastic production and informative video! Subscribed!

[@heartheart7187]

The quality of your video is sooooo good

[@briangarrow448]

Another great job! I appreciate your depth of reporting and wish you could host an hour long science and engineering show for the general public like me. You are a natural at teaching complex issues to punters like me.

[@RequiosWoW]

I live next to a very similar open pit mine! Exciting to learn about something so close to home from so far away!

[@1.4142]

And then there are the opal miners who just drill a deep hole straight down and hollow everything out.

[@streddaz]

At Jayben Group down here in Tassie we have been developing a scaler machine that essentially lowers itself over the side of the mine wall and removes any loose rock. All operated remotely. We had our first successful test earlier this year. It won’t prevent large slips from happening but it removes the dangerous method of manual scaling.

[@TheLastRezort27]

Great video. Awesome to see my home town of Kalgoorlie on KZbin. I grew up around the super pit and am now studying mining engineering at the WA school of mines. Love it

[@BigL.10]

why would you go into a career thats gonna pollute the earth

[@TheLastRezort27]

@@BigL.10 everything you use in life is either mined or it is farmed. By being in the mining industry, I can actively help mining become more sustainable and less polluting.

[@BigL.10]

@@TheLastRezort27 yeah true, my bad

[@snakefarm7174]

Great job, keep at it. You will only get better.

[@Charlie-js8rj]

Watching you touch the screens directly hurt me. You better have cleaned off those fingerprints afterwards! Joking aside, love the video. Hope you keep up the great work!

[@timstump7293]

Great video!

[@anonnymousperson]

This is really cool. Nice video mate.

[@markc7899]

One point of critisism; there is not enough audio sound. It sounds like your voice is recorded in a studio, there is absolutely nothing from the environment, making it feel very artificial. I am not sure if this is the microphone or processing, but having your voice be clearly understandable but with any location audio would be much nicer to listen to. Contentwise great!

[@Coastal0]

There are birds and wind noise though.

[@klaxxor]

I think he overdubbed the whole thing to sound more clear and consistent but it does sound a bit artificial.

[@Skulduggery_P]

Well im glad i found this channel, good stuff mate 👍

[@RyanAmparo-tl]

Found your channel today. This is educational content gold. Subscribed.

[@jimcambron1328]

If you ever get a chance to visit Western Australia, Kalgoorie is a very interesting location. There are tours of the Super Pit that give you operational details and a close-up view of the immense operation - which is actually visible from space!

[@FoxYawn]

I like the map at the end so we know where in the world your topics are

[@Alsafetyblog1]

What a great video. Keep up the good work!

[@michaelconnor5922]

Excellent. Bright future for you mate. Good on ya 👏

[@BatMan-xr8gg]

Well presented video, and excellent Engineering Science. I enjoyed the Video very much, especially as I was born in Kalgoorlie before the Super Pit and my Dad worked in the mines.

[@dickiedollop]

This was very educational thank you Jane’s 👍🏻

[@jonesjohnson6301]

I immediately got flashbacks to my own lonely nights with Abaqus.

[@thefrub]

2:06 I love that headline. Oh no! Not the jobs!! (Also they might be crushed by rocks) But the jobs!!!

[@Lendece]

been working in the super pit as an engineer for 10+ yrs. Interesting to go thru your video, but in reality there are shit tons of factors that a software can never simulate.

[@peelypeelmeister6432]

I drive 793F haul trucks down to the bottom and back. It's so deep my ears pop like being in a plane. It is mind blowing that at 640 metres straight down we still find old workings at the bottom.

[@TISJA-qh4bh]

lol, I'm getting an ad for a USGS gold mapping program because just pay this company for totally real info on gold locations they haven't exploited

[@jamesporter628]

More like this please! Great video

[@The8224sm]

Very well presented. Thank you.

[@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13]

Used to work there as a shotfirer... Ah I was so young. Learned a lot, but spent every dollar I earned on the bars. I was there when the major one in Chaffers happened in 2009... That was a busy time for us when we did the cutback. Great opportunity to learn from those guys, Budgie taught me more in my years there than thirteen years of schooling did.

[@criodanomurchu1075]

Fantastic video. Something I've never thought about even though I should have.

[@HipyoTech]

Why has KZbin not blasted you off yet, your content is amazing!!!

[@Brisbane_Astro]

Thought you might like to know that the dish in the pit towards the end of the vid is an australian invention by a company named GroundProbe. Radar scanning of the wall down to sub-millimetre accuracy. Very cool system

[@petergarrone8242]

That's an impressive hole in the ground right next to the town. I was told that when digging it, occasionally century-old human remains in collapsed tunnels were encountered.

[@SamSam-ir7ux]

Small channel with very good content.

[@nvrndingsmmr]

Brilliant stuff man!

[@rfn8821]

Wait a few years and you'll have 10M subs