Tom at Work

The whole reason we are living in Chingola is Tom's work.  He is filling a new position as "General Manager, Technical Services."  The actual title is much longer, but basically part of his responsibility is to determine an economical way to mine the "Upper Orebody." There are some other projects under his authority, but his primary concern right now is the UOB.

Just to prove that he really does work at the mine, here is a photo of him getting ready to do a tour underground.  As an aside, he said that when he does go underground, he returns to the dry and his shoes are polished!  Things are definitely different here.

Visits underground are in high heat and humidity.  Nobody emerges without being thoroughly soaked, head to toe.  The mean temperature is 30 to 35 degrees Centigrade, or the uppers 90's in Fahrenheit.  

The shaft station underground is more than 2000 feet below the surface elevation.  

Tom jokes that he can't go underground without his paparazzi entourage.  Each visit generates a report containing photos, as above.  He tries to visit underground once a week, but probably only manages to make it every 1 1/2 weeks.  Most of his time right now involves meetings, reading reports, guiding his staff, and plenty of other tasks.