Hi ! My name is Les Reeves. I have had over 26 years experience in the Mining,Quarrying,Road Construction and various other types of Drilling and Blasting Operations.
I originally started using explosives on the first stage of building the Hinze Dam in the Gold Coast Hinterland where i became leading hand Shotfirer,this project lasted for 3 years,from there i worked for 12 months as Forman Driller Shotfirer on the new road constructions around Toogoolawah west of Brisbane.
On completion of these road works i then come back to the Gold Coast to be employed with M & M Quarries as Driller and Shotfirer,I was with them for nearly 10 years until i was offered the position of Forman Shotfirer at the Mt Leyshon Gold Mine just outside Charters Towers in Northern Queensland.We Drilled and Blasted 30,000,000 tonnes of ore in the 2 & 1/2 years we were there.
I come back to the Gold Coast with the Contractor ( Cenedrange P/ L) from the Mt Leyshon and stayed with him for 11 years as an Driller,Shotfirer and Overseer until illness forced me out of the field due to Photosensitivity and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus ( LUPUS ). For more information on this disease the following link can be very helpful.Lupus Australia,Qld Inc
Doctors have since re diagnosed me with Sero Negative Rheumatoid Arthritis which gets treated exactly the same as Lupus anyway ! Go figure....
I had a major setback in August 2007 , having a weak immune system i contracted Double Pnemonia and was in a induced coma for 7 days in the ICU at the Southport hospital. I nearly died twice apparently while in the coma.
I can certainly vouch for the staff at the Southport Hospital, they all did a wonderful job of looking after me, and with the support of my Wife and Daughters i have managed to have some sort of quality of life, still struggling a bit 12 months later but the damage has been done, scaring ( fibrosis) of the lungs and Silica in the lymph nodes in the lungs (Mining related). Life go's on though hey...
Having computers as a hobby for many years and an idea of writing a computer program based on my many years experience in the field Drilling,Blasting and giving price estimates on various operations,Blasting Management Systems has finally come to fruition.I have also developed a Video & Image Editor to use with Web Camera's as i have an interest in Astronomy ,this program could aid in the stacking of images when used in the viewing the stars and planet's .
I haven't been able to fully test this program for astronomy as i live on the Gold Coast and the sky is very light polluted.There is a Textual Description of both programs Blasting Management Systems : BlastData V1.6 and MineBlastData V1.7 are listed on this site with Screen Shots of the Programs can also be viewed.For any further information or comments go to the Guest Page and fill out the form so that i can reply to any queries.
