Members of the Council of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy
are usually also members of the Council Dinner Club, having a
convivial meal after a council meeting. There was usually plenty of
wine, and participants were expected to take turns in getting up and
saying something. On one such occasion, graced by the presence
of a number of lady members ( geologists, geotechincal engineers
or metallurgists for the most part ) I was emboldened by a possible
excess of wine to get up and explain why, in my experience, the
working situations underground were not always suitable for women.
I cited the example of my visit to the Rio Tinto copper mine in Spain
in 1954. I was being shown round part of the underground workings
in the Alfredo section by my host, Sandy Hill. Parts of the mine were
exceedingly hot and humid. At one point we rounded a bend in a
tunnel and came upon two men hard at work, dressed in hard hats
and boots. Not a stitch else -- just hard hats and boots.
Tony Brewis
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