Despite family pressure to take to the skies in the Royal Air Force, Jack didn’t just stay earthbound, he took it deeper.
How does one descend into the profession of mining, while also scaling its corporate ladder? Jack Shaft started as a face miner in the deep goldmines of the Transvaal in South Africa at the age of 18, and, over 40 years, climbed the greasy corporate pole to become the CEO of mining companies. This set of memoirs charts the course of that career in a self-deprecatingly humorous manner, as Jack digs himself into one hole after another.
Jack has gotten into scraps in South Africa, Australia, Russia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Nigeria, Ukraine, Kosovo, and Macedonia to name but a few. Today, he lives in the Pyrenees where he and his family run a pub . . . that is until he can find another mining job to wander off to. It’s a story of mining mayhem and madness.
This memoir is, in part, a toast to all those hardy souls who toil in the mines, digging value from the bowels of the May the roof above your head never fall in, And the people below it never fall out, So, raise a toast, To those we love most, For a long life, and a merry one, A quick death, and an easy one, A pretty girl, and an honest one, A cold beer, and another one. Gluckauf!* *Gluckauf! Is a German miners’ toast that means literally ‘luck above you’
This book contains some adult content and should be read by miners, but not minors.
Despite family pressure to take to the skies in the Royal Air Force, Jack didn’t just stay earthbound, he went underground. How do you descend into the profession of mining, while also scaling its corporate ladder? Jack Shaft started as a face miner in the deep goldmines of the Transvaal in South Africa at the age of 18, and, over 40 years, climbed the greasy corporate pole to become the CEO of mining companies. This set of memoirs charts the course of that career in a self-deprecatingly humorous manner, as Jack digs himself into one hole after another. The book charts his progress from one scrape to the next and is written in a way that interques the reader to find out what shinnanigans he will get up to next...