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The thriving mining town of Mt. Isa.  Now we're 600 miles inland on the highway across Australia.  It's a narrow paved road, not in very good shape.  But Mt. Isa hosts one of the biggest mines in the world, at the top of the photo, and is very prosperous.  Mining is the most important industry in Australia but they have trouble getting people to move to out-of-the-way places to work.  Most mines are much more remote than this.  They're paying over $50,000 a year to unskilled high school students to work in the mines, which is drawing kids away from other careers (understandably).