Australians idle?
June 23 - 29, 2008
AUSTRALIAN mining technology and service companies: are they followers and imitators, as suggested by veteran industry observer Peter McCarthy of AMC Consultants, or are they world leaders and innovators? That question, predictably, has got a few people stirred up.
After the smoke clears
May 19 - 25, 2008
WITH Chinese tentacles spreading world wide, should the children of Australia’s miners and explorers – and those of other countries – have any concerns about the current generation selling the family farm to another sovereign state to make a quick buck? Melodramatic, or a legitimate concern?
A peak into the future
May 5 - 11, 2008
WHILE the prospect of oil at $US200 per barrel undoubtedly causes a sharp pain to the brain of executives in the mining game, it isn’t set to send them to the asylum because many believe that metal prices will invariably have to reflect the cost of a key input. Which isn’t to say there’s not plenty of thought being given to alternative measures.
The beginning of the end
March 31 - April 6, 2008
AT A time of surging demand for artisanal mining skills in Australia, it is ironic that some of the profession’s experienced practitioners can see the end of the road for their kind. A lack of training, bureaucracy and its cousin, cost, and changing mining laws are forcing them out of existence. The industry might be losing more than it knows.
A new bargaining pattern
March 10 - 16, 2008
THE mining industry hasn’t found a silver bullet for reducing worryingly high staff turnover rates, nor has it been particularly successful at articulating bright new career paths for young people no longer drawn to “jobs for life” or dated training and personal development models. That may now be changing.
Future is here: Codelco
November 12 - 18, 2007
CHILE’S state copper company Codelco hopes to produce the first cathode from its Gaby openpit mine and heap leach SX-EW operation in Region II in March 2008 after fast-tracking the $US907 million development of what executive president Jose Pablo Arellano calls “the first project of the 21st century using the vanguard of technology”.
Deep under cover
October 8 - 14, 2007
GREENFIELD exploration is back in fashion in Australia; belatedly, according to some industry people. But back nonetheless.
Extracting value, slashing waste
September 17 - 23, 2007
MONITORING and recording production data on the cheap at mine sites is a thing of the past for many operators, who are now spending millions of dollars on mining fleet and product monitoring, and plant maintenance management tools. Data, naturally, is flowing thick and fast. Now there are signs it might be used more effectively.
Tyres: bumpy road ahead
June 25 - July 1, 2007
THE first authoritative independent report on the global earthmover tyre market since mid-2004 has highlighted growing safety concerns and production risks associated with a huge market influx of lower quality tyres which began as it became apparent the mining industry was facing a worsening supply crisis three years ago.
Generation X
March 26 - April 1, 2007
CAN the male-dominated mining industry leap to the front line of progressive vocational fields for women? The notion seems far-fetched. This is an industry tagged only five years ago as outdated and an “old (man’s)” business among “new-age” sectors such as IT, communications and bioengineering. But the mining industry is under increasing pressure to attract and retain skilled people, find solutions to issues that have restricted its appeal to women in the past, and renew its image – particularly among youngsters. It may just need women’s views more than any other industry.
The mine of the future
March 1 - 7, 2007
GLOBAL mining giant Rio Tinto is advertising for key personnel for its $A200 million “mine of the future” - the E48 underground block cave project at Northparkes in New South Wales. It says E48 personnel will be part of “the future of underground mining”. In the current boom there is no doubt the world’s big miners are preoccupied with present challenges. Yet they are not blind to fast appearing portents of the future. The signs include scarcity of resources and skilled people, more acute environmental and regulatory pressures, and the use of technology to not only sell the industry but also achieve efficiencies with high-cost plant and equipment that are on par with other capital intensive industries. In the first of our HighGrade Insight series reports, we spoke this week with 10 people who are directly or indirectly helping to shape the mines of the future.
The mine of the future (Part II)
March 1 - 7, 2007
THE NEED for resource owners to develop and operate mines in compliance with a global set of rules, and to compete for capital and other resources in an international market against emerging and other industries, will continue to level the playing field for industry participants and arguably make successful application of advanced technology more important than ever before. The rock factories envisaged in the latter part of last century are unlikely to be adequate. The industry will need to build smarter rock factories in future otherwise people won’t work in them. How to increase control of the dynamic elements of these factories - which makes them inherently different to most other factories - remains a major challenge, particularly for the deeper, large-scale operations (surface and underground) increasingly coming into view.
A new dynasty?
March 1 - 7, 2007
JONATHAN Oppenheimer, whose great-grandfather Ernest Oppenheimer founded global mining giant Anglo American, described as an “unbelievable experience” his first ride in an automated mining truck at 45%-owned De Beers’ Finsch mine in South Africa.