Article by Yoni Bashan courtesy of the Australian.
Get them young and maybe you’ll get them for life — that appears to be Gina Rinehart’s latest play to shore up an appreciation of mining.
The billionaire has unveiled a novel counter to the shrill opposition against the industry, launching a kids app to massage the notion that resources are not only necessary to sustain modern living, but they also offer a fabulous career.
Margin Call downloaded the game – Roy Hill Mine Tales – and attempted its basic challenges: dynamite was laid, ore was loaded onto a truck, the minerals were crushed, washed with a hose, and, in a final boss challenge, they had to be sucked up and directed into the hull of a barge, probably destined for China.
The result was a score well below an individual calling themselves “B.P”, presumably an adult, and presumably someone who works for Rinehart and is angling for one of her $100,000 raffle prizes (known to be given out at the Christmas party).
Let us be the first to pierce that bubble. “No prizes for the game,” a Roy Hill spokeswoman told us.
“All I would say is those kids might have a bright future working for the best mining company in Australia, the biggest prize of all.”
Oh, spare us.
Rinehart herself told the column: “Unfortunately, young Australians are too often told that mining is a bad thing, and many don’t realise that we simply wouldn’t have the lifestyles and standards of living we do without mining and its related industries.”
As she’s known to often say, iPads, computers, cars and trains all contain metals and minerals that need to be pulled out of the ground. Oh, yes, and one mustn’t forget about the mining taxes that get paid, of course.
“The tax revenues and royalties paid by mining companies underpin state and federal budgets, enabling our defence, police, hospitals, emergency services, and many other services from kindergarten to aged care,” Rinehart said.
Now we just need a kid-friendly app to explain consolidated revenue to the tykes.
