Wittenoom in Western Australia has been wiped off the Australian map but that isn’t stopping curious travellers from visiting the area. Mining of blue asbestos began in 1939 and in 1947 a company town was built for the miners and their families. The blue asbestos mining operations were managed by Australian Blue Asbestos Ltd and CSR Ltd. Blue asbestos has needle-shaped fibres which can penetrate the lung. It is harder for the body to naturally discharge these fibres, which is why it is considered the most dangerous type of asbestos. In 2006 the government commissioned a report on the management of asbestos in the Wittenoom area. The report states that the waste ore which has been left after extraction of the asbestos is over 3 million tonnes and contains about 5% asbestos. At that time, up to 40 tourists were visiting the Wittenoom area a day. The tourists and others are disturbing the waste ore by driving over it and they are also visiting the gorge. The risk to…
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