October Roundup
Bolivian President Evo Morales announced plans to take over his country's mining industry. "We started with hydrocarbons, and the next step are the minerals," said Morales, according to a story by the Canadian Press. Morales made the statement mid-month at Challapata following a deadly clash between independent and state-employed miners over the right to work the Huanuni tin mine. The Economist notes a recent trend away from populist leaders like Morales and Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez. It looks like a seat on the UN Security Council is slipping away from Chavez and recent elections in Latin America, such as Ecuador where the pro-business candidate Alvaro Noboa came out on top during the first round voting for president, reveals that people are having second thoughts about the continent’s leftward tilt.
Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer, suffered a costly flooding delay at its Cigar Lake mine project. In a statement, the company said no one was hurt and there was no environmental damage at the northern Saskatchewan site. Canadian Press says construction has been set back by about a year. Cigar Lake is the world's second largest known high-grade uranium deposit.
The biggest deal of the month belongs to Ivanhoe Mines. Canadian Press said that Rio Tinto invested Can$1.7 billion in the company to help Ivanhoe develop its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining complex in Mongolia's South Gobi region. According to Mineweb, Rio Tinto snubbed Ivanhoe in September 2004 stating that the market value was too high. Around that time, a few other mining giants, such as BHP Billiton and Phelps Dodge Corp., decided to pass on a deal as well. Lately, the Mongolian government has been sending disquieting signals to investors, such as the introduction of a windfall profits tax. But with few big deposits left to develop, Rio took the plunge.
Check the News section of InfoMine each day for the latest mining stories. You can also subscribe to our free Headline News Digest. News subscribers can sign up for our specialty publications, Diamond Digest and Gold Digest.
Rössing is a large open pit uranium mine situated in Namibia, south-western Africa. Its product is uranium oxide and its customers include nuclear power utilities throughout the world. Rössing is one of the largest open pit uranium mines in the world, contributing about 7.5% of world uranium production. Rössing's more than 800 employees have unrestricted access to the full range of EduMine resources for technical reference and self-learning. more »
SNIM comprises a number of iron ore mines, crusher and concentration plants, a rail link and a port loading facility, in the Sahara desert of northern Mauritania. In 2004 SNIM exported more than 11M tons of iron ore concentrate, mainly to Europe. SNIM operates two townsites to meet the needs of employees and their families and provides comprehensive social amenities, including clinics, schools, places of worship, hotels, recreational centres and sports teams. Site enrollment provides a platform for professional development programs tailored to corporate requirements and objectives. more »
New on TechnoMine this month:
Data Management for Mines
If you can measure it, you can manage it. Data on the mine comes in many forms, and data management takes many forms. In this review, TechnoMine manager Jack Caldwell with the help of Jennifer Thibert tries to sort through some of the many concepts of data management on the web and the many claims made on the web for codes to manage data. more »
All you need to know about Cyanide
We’re pleased to present a suite of publications covering just about all you’ll ever need to know about cyanide and it’s application in mining.
The Cyanide Monograph is a collection of 33 full-length technical papers arranged in six sections covering many environmental aspects and issues associated with cyanide.
The Chemistry and Treatment of Cyanidation Wastes is a classic publication which has been completely updated and revised in the second edition, and is the standard reference for all those dealing with cyanide-containing materials.
The Cyanide Guide is a reprint of the May 2001 issue of Mining Environmental Management from Mining Journal Ltd. It provides a guide to the practical aspects of cyanide management in mining with emphasis on disseminating knowledge and providing a discussion of its life cycle from production through disposal.
The Cyanide Compendium, a compilation of nearly 1,500 pages, is an essential source of information regarding cyanide and its chemistry, analysis, environmental fate, toxicity, management, recovery and treatment.
All these publications are made available by Dr. Terry Mudder of Times Limited, and environmental science and engineering consulting firm based in WY, USA.
Making the Buyer's Guide Product Search work for you
The Buyer's Guide product search was launched in January 2005, and has significantly added to the ease with which buyers find global mining suppliers. In the last three months alone, close to 70,000 products searches have been conducted. The Buyer's Guide now lists over 45,000 products. Below is a simple example of how the product search can quickly list suppliers with the products or services you require.
For example, how would you find crusher suppliers in Canada? This would be done by simply typing "crushers" in the product field, combined with "Canada" selected from the country drop down menu.
Try this search or to learn more about using the catalog search, please visit our catalog tour. Don't hesitate to contact Greg Fenrick, Lori Levesque or Carlos Obregon for a live demo.
China: the place to be this month
November 14 through 16 is the time for all miners and mineral explorationists to be in Beijing for China Mining 2006. This event is considered Asia's premier mining congress & exhibition and is essential information and networking platform for foreign and domestic players in Chinese mining industry. It is hosted by the Ministry of Land and Resources, China, and organized by TBG-CEICO.
While you’re there, don’t forget to visit the InfoMine booth and meet our Beijing-based representative Pouris Huang Shusheng.
For more information on China Mining, see http://www.china-mining.com/.
 The Gibraltar mine is located near Williams Lake in central British Columbia, Canada. It is an open pit copper-molybdenum mine. The mine site covers approximately 109 square kilometers and consists of 251 mineral claims and 30 mining leases. There are seven separate mineralized zones. Mining began at Gibraltar in 1917. The current mine opened in 1972 and closed in 1998. In 1999 Taseko acquired the mine and resumed operations in 2004, when prices for copper and molybdenum rose. The mine is operated by Taseko and currently employs 274 people. Gibraltar mines 36,700 tons per day and produces 70 million pounds of copper and 1.1 million pounds of molybdenum annually. Upgrade and expansion projects will increase production to 100 million pounds of copper per year by 2008. more »
 MineSite provides in depth information on over 50 mines, including reserves/resources, production, mining and processing methods,links and supplier information. You can also view the mine site pages of other mines by visiting the Minesite homepage. Feel free to contact us with any comments or suggestions you may have for mine sites.
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