I remember once years ago I was watching a TV show about something that included a video of that indonesian road builder who pioneered a road for a mining company down what looked like a cliff face. Shot from some distance away and looked like a fly on a wall. Is my memory faulty or has anyone else seen this or know where to find it?
I know the one you are talking about. I believe it was part of the video about Grasberg, called "Goldmine in the clouds". I would search for that and see what you can find.
I watched that a few times years ago as well and thouroughly enjoyed it. I haven't been able to find it since either, even on the discovery channel website.
Super Structures of the World: Gold Mine in the Clouds. I found plenty of links but it won't let me watch them from the US. :nono :spaz :crying A few minutes ago I had never heard of it....now I have to see it. http://www.watoday.com.au/tv/scienc...he-world/gold-mine-in-the-clouds-1778906.html
I think I found it in some sort of Russian sounding language but I don't know what I'm watching just yet. :laugh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjGCUmm0nfI
amazon instant video has "superstructures of the world: grassburg mine" - it costs $1.99 to stream
Someone may correct me on this but I was under the impression that the D6 (you see a flash of it at 0:19 on the youtube video) was helicoptered piece by piece to a pad on top of a hill that had been previously cleared by hand and was assembled on the spot. Then it was given the job of cutting a road working downwards across the ridge line.
Quote from the Grasberg wikipedia page: "By the mid-1980s, the original mine had been largely depleted. Freeport explored for other deposits in the area. In 1988, Freeport identified reserves valued at $40 billion at Grasberg (Dutch, "Grass Mountain"), just 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) from the Ertsberg mine. The winding road to Grasberg, the H.E.A.T. (Heavy Equipment Access Trail), was estimated to require $12 million to $15 million to be built. An Indonesian road-builder who had contributed to the Ertsberg road took a bulldozer and drove it downhill sketching the path. The road cost just $2 million when completed." I remember at that time seeing a short documentary style movie showing the Indonesian bulldozer operator working down the cliffs and razorbacks. It seemed like it was solo effort, and the accomplishment made him a hero there. Maybe that's what the original poster was thinking of. (The film had many long telephoto shots of the machine on the side of the mountain.)