Salobo Visit   After a long drive through the rain forest the group's two buses, escorted for safety reasons by two fully equiped four wheel drive vehicles (with radios), crossed the Itacaiunas river by ferry and then on to the main Salobo camp for a comprehensive overview briefing by Eduardo Vieira of Docegeo. This was followed by the opportunity to study a series of selected drill holes illustrating the different ore types and hosts and their relationships, before being taken to the ore type stockpiles from the earlier phases of underground testing.   The visit was cut short when the sky darkened and a tropical electrical storm deluged torrential rain on the group, forcing them back to the office for a coffee as it was not safe to remain in the field. After the rain largely subsided, the group said their thanks and returned to the Carajás Nucleo. The rain had loosened the soil alongside the road between the camp and the Itacaiunas river resulting in some large trees having fallen across the road which had to be cleared by our escort with a chainsaw.

  Upper left: Crossing the Itacaiunas river en route to Salobo.   Lower left: Studying ore types on the stockpiles.   Upper right: Coffee on the verandah, sheltering from the rain.   Lower right: After some heavy rains in the early afternoon, one of the tour minibuses had to be towed out of a muddy patch.

Photographs by Mike Porter