That's a Lot of Dirt

Here is the gigantic hole in the outback at Hope Downs that Ian is helping to dig up for iron ore:

As many schoolchildren are aware, iron ore is used to manufacture many products such as iron, and ore. The site is about 80 km north of Newman, whose primary industry is hot weather. Part of Ian's job is providing Aboriginal input into the heritage mapping of the area; this is a process whereby the multinational mining company carefully identifies the rare or endangered indigenous plants & habitats in the area so that they can be photographed for Wikipedia archiving before being blown up with dynamite, so that we may enjoy the benefits of nature in the form of steel girders, prison bars and cheap Russian tractors.

I suggested to Ian that he mark off dozens of tiny 25cm radius "sacred sites" in awkward places around the mining camp, such as in the middle of the canteen queueing area, and make up lots of Rainbow Serpent stories to go with them, which he thinks is a hilarious idea.