The tour party consisted of IQA members from five of Australia’s six states – New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia, and included managers of quarry and related operations, consultants to the industry and a mines inspector.
The tour was organised by Danny Duke, an IQA member since 1982, a former national president from 2001 to 2003, and an honorary fellow of the Institute to commemorate the formation of the Institute of Quarrying (IQUK), which originated in Caernarvon, north Wales, in 1917.
“I’ve been involved with the IQA for more than 35 years now and when I heard the IQA was considering a centenary tour to the UK, I offered to organise it for them,” Duke said. “I’ve organised a number of tours previously to France, Germany and Spain but not the UK, so this was an opportunity not to be missed.” {{image2-a:r-w:200}}
The 17-strong group started the tour in Nottingham on 30 April, where they visited the headquarters of the IQUK to meet its chief executive James Thorne and his team.
“We’re always delighted to welcome colleagues from our affiliated national institutes around the world and this year is all the more poignant, with 2017 marking our centenary,” Thorne said.
From 1 to 11 May, the tour party will travel to Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and north Wales, before concluding on 12 May. Tour highlights include a tour of the Terex Trucks factory in Motherwell, a visit to the Kilsaran International quarry, near Dublin, tours of the McCloskey, Terex Finlay and CDE Global factories in County Tyrone, and visits to the historic Welsh Slate Quarry in Penrhyn, Snowdonia National Park and Caernarvon Castle – where it all began 100 years ago.
A more in-depth report on the IQA centenary tour will appear in a future issue of Quarry.