The Buyer's Guide - Searching that makes your business
grow
As many longtime users know, our category search has been around
for at least seven years. As with the Internet, the Buyer's Guide
has gone through many changes, and is now one of the top three
most popular sections on InfoMine.
In January, the Buyer's Guide improved its search functionality
by adding the ability for buyers to search catalogs and product
lists. Since its launch, the number of buyers conducting searches
has increased from 50,000 buyers per month to over 80,000 buyers
per month. During this time, the category search continues to
dominate, making up 84% of all searches. For example, over the
last six months, over 37,000 consulting services category searches
have been conducted, with drilling, electrical equipment, software
and pumps rounding off the top five categories at 17,905, 10,492,
8,214, and 7,968 searches respectively. Please refer to the chart
below for a breakdown of the top ten most popular category searches
over the last six months.
Clearly, suppliers and consultants in these categories are in
demand. We encourage all suppliers and consultants with products
and services in these categories and others, to visit our Buyer's
Guide to ensure their company's products and services are
accurately represented.
To add your company or make changes to an existing listing,
please visit our "Add
Your Company" or "Edit
Your Company" pages.
Also, don't forget to add your company's catalog and product
lists. These can add significantly to the number of inquiries
generated by your listing on InfoMine. This is a free service
for all companies listed in our Buyer's Guide. For buyers to be
guided to your company when searching for the products or services
you provide, it is necessary to add your catalog and product or
service list into our Buyer's Guide database. Please visit Atlas
Copco's Featured Listing for an example of how the catalog
and product list is presented for one of InfoMine's clients.
Please forward any electronic
catalogs and/or product lists (e.g. pdf, Word files, etc.)
for your company, which InfoMine could add to your complimentary
listing. Should you have any questions, don't hesitate to email
Greg Fenrick
for further information.
London, UK, Nov 21 - Nov 23
With a still burgeoning demand for metals, the need for capital
investment in the international mining industry has never been
higher. If you are looking for funds, for an investment opportunity,
or can offer financial services, then this is not an event to
miss! Mines and Money is not just another date in the calendar;
it's one of the world's leading mining investment events. It connects
miners with money and money with miners.
This year to meet demand, Mines and Money is expanding to incorporate
one of the company's popular one-day investor seminars, the 20:20
series. Australia Day, supported by the Association of Mining
Analysts (AMA), will summarize the exciting mining scene in Australia,
and will include ten corporate presentations. It's also FREE to
attend! InfoMine will be there at Booth K1. Come and meet Graham
Baldwin, InfoMine's President.
San Francisco CA, USA, Nov 27 - Nov 28
With gold at a 17-year high and energy commodities performing
spectacularly, this show is a "must" for informed private and
institutional investors. The free two-day forum offers workshops,
panels and debates on key issues including commodities cycles,
energy investing and exchange traded funds, as well as portfolio
picks by the leading US market analysts, newsletter editors and
investment advisors. Keynote Roger Gibson (Rewards of Multiple
Asset Class Investing) kicks off over 90 presentations and 200
exhibits by today's best performing gold, silver, metal and energy
companies. InfoMine will be there at a table near the Registration
Desk. Come and meet Wally
Jonsson, InfoMine's Sales Manager, at table M near the registration
desk.
Know-how onsite-by Flygt
At the isolated nickel mine Mineração Serra da Fortaleza in Brazil's
Minas Gerais state, one man stands as a human insurance policy.
The onsite pump mechanic, Gleison Geraldo Dias from Flygt do Brazil,
ensures that the underground workings remain dry enough for miners
and their equipment to work round-the-clock shifts. more...
Gold Exploration in Portugal- by Quantec
The Gralheira deposit lies some 700m (2,300 feet) north of the
Jales mine in Northern Portugal and is contained within an extensive
mineralized shear zone that extends for some 3,000m (9,800 feet).
Romans mined both the Jales and Gralheira deposits; at Gralheira,
the Romans mined along a strike length of 2,000m (6,500 feet).
The main gold mineralization at Jales is hosted within a system
of sub parallel veinlets and veins ranging from 0.5m to 1.5m in
width. The Jales was mined to a depth of around 620m (2,000 feet)
and is known to be a mesothermal system. Geological theory tells
us that mesothermal veins can have great depth extension. The
vein system at Gralheira is also mesothermal. Previous drilling
has tested the depth extent of the surface veins in the range
of 150 to 300 metres. St Elias Mines was intent on proving the
system continued to depth and required a means for drill targeting.
more...
Computer
Applications in the Minerals Industries (CAMI)
Banff AB, Canada, Oct 31 - Nov 3
Simon Houlding (Manager of EduMine) will be presenting a paper
entitled "Experiences with Online Continuing Education for Mining"
and Malcolm Scoble (Head of Mining Engineering, UBC, an EduMine
Partner) will be presenting a paper entitled "A Lifelong Learning
Approach to Training and Development in Mining". Both Simon and
Malcolm will be moderating a Mining Education Forum on the role
of continuing education on the Internet in addressing the HR crisis
in mining. This two hour forum will address: - the currently existing
models for continuing education in mining on the Internet
- the effectiveness of the online learning and registration
processes
- how the required peer-review and mentoring aspects can be
compensated
- the importance on college or university accreditation in
online learning
- the integration of online learning with corporate EIT programs.
Andy Robertson (Executive Chairman of InfoMine) will also speak
in the Plenary Session.
More...
Eskay Creek Mine acquires an EduMine Site licence
EduMine is pleased to welcome the Eskay Creek Mine as a client.
The mine has signed up for an EduMine Site licence enabling all
mine employees to view all EduMine courses at any time and to
pursue professional development opportunities.
Eskay Creek is an underground mine located in northwestern British
Columbia, Canada, approximately 80 kilometers by air north of
Stewart BC. Eskay Creek employs approximately 300 people. Barrick
Gold is the principal shareholder.
More...
Thank you for your participation in the Employers Poll
- your contribution was appreciated, and as promised here are
the results :
- Only 10% of Employers are not experiencing difficulty in
finding staff
- About half the companies polled are offering "signing-up"
bonuses
- Only one third of Employers polled go to on-line resume databases
- Almost 60% of Employers are offering salaries higher than
the industry norm
- 84% of Employers feel that the staffing situation is going
to become more critical in the short term
- Over 60% of Employers polled are now doing pro-active hiring
- Polls normally have a "margin of error" associated with them
- and upon doing the calculations (for a focused site such as
InfoMine) - the margin of error is 2.6% (extremely small). We
are repeatedly hearing Recruiters and Human Resources personnel
all say the same thing - "we have to get into the high schools
- and sell our industry to the young ones!"
No poll for a while! If you have ideas on the kind of poll you
would like to see - please send us your ideas - remember this
is YOUR InfoMine too!!
New Employers of Choice this month include Placer
Dome and Wardrop
Engineering. We work closely with our Employers of Choice
and encourage you to visit their pages frequently, as new jobs
are always being added.
Sanders Australian Gifts are introducing some stunning
crystal glass for the coming Christmas season. They have designed
this 24% lead crystal glass in a simple yet elegant style with
the corporate gift in mind. It is already selling well both in
Australia and abroad. The glasses come in a package of 4 or for
a corporate presentation a luxurious 6-glass version is available
on request. For further details please go to their website.
Bad Will Hunting
So a mathematician, an engineer, and a physicist are out hunting
together in the woods when they spy a deer*.
The physicist calculates the velocity of the deer and the effect
of gravity on the bullet, aims his rifle and fires. Alas, he misses;
the bullet passes three feet behind the deer. The deer bolts some
yards, but comes to a halt, still within sight of the trio.
"Shame you missed," comments the engineer, "but of course with
an ordinary gun, one would expect that." He then levels his special
deer-hunting gun, which he rigged together from an ordinary rifle,
a sextant, a compass, a barometer, and a bunch of flashing lights
which don't do anything but impress onlookers, and fires. Alas,
his bullet passes three feet in front of the deer, who by this
time wises up and vanishes for good. "Well," says the physicist,
"your contraption didn't get it either."
"What do you mean?" pipes up the mathematician. "Between the
two of you, that was a perfect shot!"
* How they knew it was a deer:The physicist observed that it
behaved in a deer-like manner, so it must be a deer.The mathematician
asked the physicist what it was, thereby reducing it to a previously
solved problem.The engineer was in the woods to hunt deer, therefore
it was a deer.
If you have any humorous stories about mining or just want to
inflict misery on our readers with jokes worse then mine, we would
love to get your input. Please email the
editor with the subject line marked "InfoMiner Jokes".
Every month in the InfoMiner we give you computer tips that
save you time and effort, but what about some computer tricks
that will drive your irksome co-workers insane or leave your tech
department baffled? How about pranking someone with "Clippy" possibly
the most irritating word software assistant ever devised. Or maybe
you want to give someone a start menu that does nothing at all.Or
everyone's favourite classic the fake delete, watch as your colleagues
face contorts helplessly as he sees months of hard work dissappearing
into a vortex. The best part of this is everything is safe and
harmless but looks extremely authentic.Remember to check out the
"how to remove prank software" link to save unnecessary blushes.
More...
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Here's
a sample of the information on "copper" available
on InfoMine. This is just an example of how our search provides
excellent and pertinent results for any topic you wish to
explore. Why not try your own favorite topic now? |
This month, instead of looking back, we are looking
forward - and our own Peter Budgell has written this article for
your reading pleasure!
Purchased by Falconbridge Limited in 1986, Kidd Creek is a world
class massive sulphide deposit mined primarily for copper, zinc
and silver located 27 kilometres north of Timmins, Ontario in
the eastern portion of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Its discovery
announced by Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. on April 16, 1964 after an
extensive exploration campaign on the Canadian Shield would lead
to the development of one of the largest and richest volcanogenic
massive sulphide deposits in the world. First mined in 1966 as
an open pit operation, the Kidd Creek Operation which includes
the Kidd Creek Metallurgical Division now consists of three progressively
deeper mining areas and is nearing completion of construction
on a fourth which will make it the deepest base metal mine in
the world with ongoing expansion to reach a depth of 3.1 km.
Though primarily a copper, zinc and silver producer, the mine
also produces cadmium, indium and sulphuric acid. In the early
1950's Texas Gulf Sulphur Co. began to look northward, to the
Archean age rocks of the Canadian Shield to augment their sulfur
inventories. Throughout the early and mid 1950's, Texas Gulf geologists
had performed exploration work in the Bathurst and Noranda mining
camps and their experience there prompted the development of a
volcanogenic model for massive sulphide deposits. The Kidd property
was a prime target for sulfide mineralization based on favourable
outcrop and in 1957 several thousand geophysical anomalies were
identified over the region by a helicopter-borne survey. Due to
a lack of funding the property wasn't revisited until 1963 when
the company returned to further test some of the more promising
targets.
In November of that year a drill was brought in to test what
was then called the 'Kidd 55 anomaly' and as drilling continued
through 655 feet of ore grade mineralization with no end in sight
the company quickly moved the drill to divert attention from its
discovery until deals could be reached with the current owners
of the property. On April 16, 1964 the discovery was announced
and a fury of claim staking ensued with numerous companies scrambling
to claim their piece of the region. Work on the Kidd Creek property
began in the winter of 1964/65 with the stripping of overburden
which consisted mainly of muskeg, glacial till and boulders in
some places reaching 90 feet in thickness. This continued until
November of 1969 with a total of 6.5 million cubic feet being
removed over an area of 9 million square feet. Finally, the remaining
muskeg was drained from the pit area and the ridge created around
the open pit was seeded to prevent erosion.
After an initial open pit operation which mined down to the
600 (foot) level, underground work began with the sinking of the
shaft for the No. 1 Mine. The Kidd Creek orebody is now mined
through three separate shafts, accessing mining areas known as
the No. 1, 2, 3 and D (Deep) mines, which access progressively
deeper levels. The No. 1 Mine extends from the 600 level down
to 2600 level and the No. 2 Mine, the production from which was
completed earlier this year extends deeper to the 4600 level.
In 2004 these two areas produced 670,000 tonnes of ore or 32%
of total production. No. 3 Mine continues from the 4600 level
down to the 6800 level and in 2004 produced 1.2 million tonnes
of ore amounting to 58% of total production. Approved in 2000,
Mine D extends to the 10,200 level and though still in the construction
phase was responsible for 209,000 tonnes of ore production in
2004 or 10% of total. The deepest production to date has been
from the 7500 level with production scheduled this month from
the 8200 level. All tolled, Kidd Creek Mining Division produced
41,029 tonnes of copper concentrate, 87,847 tonnes of zinc concentrate
and 3.85 million ounces of silver in 2004 and these numbers are
forecasted to increase as the construction phase of Mine D comes
to an end and production ramps up.
Ore is transported via company-owned railway 27 kilometers southeast
to Kidd Creek's processing facilities where the Metallurgical
Division processes the ore. The facilities at the metsite include
a concentrator, a copper smelter and refinery, a zinc plant, a
cadmium plant, a dust treatment plant which recovers indium, copper
and zinc and two sulphuric acid plants. The Division also operates
a liquid sulphur dioxide plant. The concentrator produces copper,
zinc and nickel concentrates which are further refined and processed
elsewhere at the metsite. The copper smelter has a capacity of
150,000 tonnes of copper blister per year which is further refined
in the 145,000 tonnes per year refinery or sold to outside refineries.
Zinc concentrate is processed at the zinc refinery which has a
capacity of 150,000 tonnes per year.
In addition to processing ore from the Kidd Creek minesite,
the Metallurgical Division also processes nickel ore from the
nearby Montcalm project, zinc concentrate from the LaRonde mine,
copper concentrate shipped to the site from Collahuasi, bornite
concentrates from Antimina and sources additional material from
Minera Escondida Limitada, Minera Alumbrera Limitada and others.
The total production for 2004 was 121,560 tonnes zinc from the
zinc refinery, 117,520 tonnes copper from the copper refinery,
118,240 tonnes blister copper from the copper smelter and 480,530
tonnes of sulphuric acid. Kidd Creek has been in operation since
the first ore was removed from an open pit in 1966. It has survived
through the highs and lows of the industry for nearly 40 years
and has seen and indeed been the working laboratory for many of
the new technologies and techniques developed for deep level mining
in recent memory. Through mergers and takeovers both hostile and
friendly it continues to be a frontrunner in Falconbridge's portfolio
and has proved to be one of the most lucrative mines ever developed.
Contact the author Peter
Budgell.
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