The future of simulation training
September 28 - October 4, 2009
THE mining industry needs to follow the lead of the defence and aviation sectors if it is to capture maximum returns from increasingly widespread, hefty investments in advanced simulator training technology and programs.
Driving into the unknown
February 23 - March 1, 2010
GEOMOLE CEO Charles Golding likes to compare the company’s borehole radar technology to the first motor cars – a real breakthrough for all concerned, but what was lacking were roads, petrol stations ... driving schools.
Talvivaara bio-heap now on track for 30,000t
February 16 - 22, 2010
ANOTHER nickel producer can be inputted into the supply equation with news last week that Talvivaara Mining was recording above budget leaching of nickel from its bio-heap leach operation in Finland. Western Areas would be a particularly interested onlooker.
Immersive renews Cat alliance
December 21 - 27, 2009
DECEMBER 14: THE Australian mining equipment simulation company Immersive Technologies has signed a new exclusive technical exchange agreement with Caterpillar which excludes other “advanced” simulator vendors from accessing the proprietary Caterpillar information.
Repositioning
November 23 - 29, 2009
AUTOMATED machine guidance has become a crowded market niche in mining. Not too crowded, though, for one of the early frontrunners to change its settings and head off on a new growth course.
Two steps forward. Just step back
October 12 - 18, 2009
WHILE exploration, mining and processing technologies continue to evolve and improve, step change breakthroughs remain unsurprisingly rare. And though that situation is not likely to change, a promoter with sublimely persuasive powers would stand to make a veritable investment killing.
Mines logging on to external expertise
October 12 - 18, 2009
GATHERING data from a range of whiz-bang gadgets, and tipping the data into a knowledge base – human and technical – that quickly guides decisions, are two very different things many mines still manage to lump together. Coffey Mining maintains the confusion can be costly, and potentially dangerous.
Cat shifts gear in automation push
October 5 - 11, 2009
CATERPILLAR Global Mining’s Nathan Wescombe is expecting big things from the company’s first commercial semi-autonomous mining technology, MINEGEM, which is being relaunched after a technical makeover.
Inflatable market set to boom
August 31 - September 6, 2009
AN Australian manufacturer of down-hole tools used in mine, waterwell, oil and gas drilling has more than doubled in size in the past two years. But that could be just the start for Inflatable Packers International, which sees significant expansion opportunities in the country’s emerging coal-bed methane (CBM) industry.
Training a new game for miners
July 27 - August 2, 2009
TECHNOLOGY-aided simulation training in the mining industry has had its detractors. It’s fair to say, though, that the numbers are a lot smaller than they were 10 years ago. Deanna Hutchinson was never among the cynics.
VR battle to intensify
July 27 - August 2, 2009
AUSTRALIAN company Immersive Technologies took more than five years to sell its first 100 mining equipment training simulators and simulator modules but only the past 12 months to deploy 100 more, underlining the growth in demand for the technology. Pretenders to its throne are currently not many in number, but that is expected to change soon.
Project Canary starts to fly
July 27 - August 2, 2009
THE Mining Industry Skills Centre in Queensland describes Project Canary, launched this year, as “the biggest development in risk minimisation in the history of mine safety”.
Innovative approach can work, says centre chief
July 20 - 26, 2009
PETER van Iersel is convinced a new approach to the long-term problems experienced getting good ideas into a marketable shape, and into the global marketplace, will pay dividends for Australia’s mining technology and services (MTS) sector.
Simulator provider maintains edge
July 13 - 19, 2009
THE world’s biggest supplier of mining equipment training simulators, Australia’s Immersive Technologies, has renewed one of the technical agreements that give it an edge in the increasingly competitive market.
Joy opens Smart centre
July 6 - 12, 2009
MAJOR American mining equipment manufacturer Joy Global has described as a blueprint for other new facilities around the world its first “Smart Services Centre” in South Africa.
Business as usual
May 25 - 31, 2009
AUSTRALIAN software minnow QMASTOR has seen its share price rebound since the start of the year as it continues to reassure investors about its growth prospects at a time of uncertainty for the mining technology and service sector generally.
Logical move
May 18 - 24, 2009
CSIRO Exploration & Mining has chosen a seemingly obscure Queensland-based company to take groundbreaking mine real-time risk management technology to the global market. On closer examination though, there is some keen logic in the selection.
Big coal market beckons for technology firm
May 4 - 10, 2009
THE VALUE of attending international trade shows has been driven home by emerging Australian mining technology firm MineWare, which landed a $A500,000 deal with a South African coal miner after touting its wares at last year’s Electra Mining Conference in Johannesburg.
A to B
May 4 - 10, 2009
RIO Tinto will keep separate the “ends” of its Pilbara template for end-to-end mining process control while it focuses on development of the means to achieving its lofty “mine of the future” goals. The latter is said to be presently progressing well at a time when most other significant mine technology R&D programs have been shelved.
Machine leader updates dispatch system
May 4 - 10, 2009
THE world’s biggest earthmoving equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar, says it is “looking towards autonomous mining” with its revamped MineStar FleetCommander 3.0 product, a surface mine monitoring and control system that has been used by mines to achieve 10-15% productivity gains.
Funding boost sought for collision system
April 27 - May 3, 2009
THE Sydney-based firm connected to Rio Tinto’s $A25 million Australian mine automation research centre is seeking to raise up to $A10 million from private investors to help it meet forecast demand for its mine vehicle collision avoidance technology.
Last one standing
April 20 - 26, 2009
RIO Tinto, for all its current problems, is the only mining major left with an eye, and a foot, on future technological advances in the business it and its peers are all in – mining. So says the man who was until late last year heading a rival mine technology program that was, on many fronts, leading the industry into the future.
Comms suppliers link nodes
April 13 - 19, 2009
TSX-LISTED Active Control Technology expects to have a US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) approved version of its wireless underground mine communication system, with 3D-P “Intelligent Endpoint” technology, on the market later this year after this week signing an MOU with 3D-P to integrate their products.
Minnow offers miners simple switch to guidance
April 6 - 12, 2009
A SMALL Australian company is looking to trump the major international market leaders in the underground machine guidance/automation arena by handing operators truly scalable technology that they can readily integrate with existing remote control systems.
Harder ROES to hoe
March 23 - 29, 2009
A FEAST has turned into famine for mining researchers, who are finding last year’s future mine blueprints have become this year’s expenditure cuts. A lot like the situation in the mid-to-late 1990s in fact when former WMC boss Hugh Morgan’s talk of underground mine robots during the dot.com era came to little when metal prices slumped.
Grounds for optimism
March 16 - 22, 2009
THE only company to secure in the first round of the scheme an Australian Government Climate Ready grant to directly tackle inefficient mine energy use believes the funding could help create one of the ‘new economy’ technology and service deliverers – and employers – politicians like to talk about.
Standards bring new focus on cameras
March 16 - 22, 2009
ISO 5006 and ISO 16001: never heard of them? Well if you’ve got a big yellow truck outside your window, or plan to buy one any time soon, chances are you will know all about them before long.
More business pulled into eMarket
March 16 - 22, 2009
“RESISTANCE is useless” might be a popular sci-fi line Quadrem’s new vice president Australasia Andrew Stafford is loathe to utter (in a shrill, mechanical voice). He nevertheless sees remaining mining sector suppliers not plugged into the industry eMarketplace as being drawn somewhat inevitably into its orbit.
Tools build deeper understanding
March 8 - 14, 2009
THREE-DIMENSIONAL deposit and geological terrain views still wow non-geoscientists and enliven conference talks but Fathom Geophysics’ Amanda Buckingham says the secret to 3D modelling technology’s allure is uncomplicated. The “exploration problem ... is a 3D problem”.
Miners examine quay to the future
February 23 - March 1, 2009
AUSTRALIAN miners have seen the future of their industry and it’s not deep underground at Mount Isa, or a shimmering mirage in the red Pilbara dust. It’s on an island at the mouth of the Brisbane River.
Clearing the path to automation
February 23 - March 1, 2009
SEPARATION rather than interaction of people and mobile machinery has been the standard approach to automation in various industries and it is also the aim of mine automation proponents. However, reliable collision avoidance systems are still seen as essential enabling technology at the ‘automated mine of the future’.
Digital age has arrived
February 23 - March 1, 2009
MOST businesses take for granted the ubiquitous availability of reliable, secure, high-bandwidth internet (IP) connections. Not yet remote mine sites, though Mine Site Technologies boss Gary Zamel is convinced the age of the digital mine of the future has dawned.
Cutting costs
February 9 - 15, 2009
THE number of mines using advanced longwall automation technology developed by Australia’s CSIRO is expected to rise quickly after the third licensing agreement was signed last week with Germany’s Eickhoff. “Complete removal of people from the face in normal operating conditions is already possible,” says CSIRO Dr David Hainsworth, but he adds a caveat.
Sold out
February 2 - 8, 2009
THE short corporate life of a former rising star of Australia’s mining technology sector has provided timely reminders, if they were needed, that great technology is not a ticket to success, that miners have little affinity for their supplier cousins, and – perhaps most surprising of all – that a “partnership” with a venture capital bank at a time of crisis is no way for a SME to emerge from one.
Mesh could net research funding
January 26 - February 1, 2009
AN innovative underground mine mesh support product could provide a commercial boost for world-class geotechnical research being undertaken in Western Australia at a time when funding is expected to dry up due to mining industry economic hardship.
Russell still hammering at export markets
January 19 - 25, 2009
EQUIPMENT such as its grinding mill relining machine and ‘Thunderbolt’ hammer are being produced in increasing quantities for export markets, but Toowoomba-based Russell Mineral Equipment’s founder and chief insists the 21-year-old firm is a technology company.
Orica to fire first automation shots
January 19 - 25, 2009
ORICA is confident mining’s automation revolution is real and is somewhat belatedly stepping up work in the surface mining arena after initially pursuing underground explosive delivery automation.
BHPB switches to dozer remote control at Escondida
January 19 - 25, 2009
BHP Billiton has declared it is serious about addressing safety issues related to the operation of bulldozers at its mine sites, and in particular around stockpiles and conveyors.
China still providing boost for equipment supplier
December 15 - 21, 2008
MODERNISATION of China’s vast coal mining industry might be occurring at a snail’s pace, but that is fast enough to provide real growth opportunities for companies such as Australia’s Industrea, which claims to be on track for an 84% revenue hike in 2008-09.
Answering mining’s SOS call
December 15 - 21, 2008
GARY Zamel must feel like the guy trying to get into the footy when the ref has blown the final whistle and everybody is trying to get out of the game park. He’s moving resolutely in the other direction because he sees that a new game is only just getting started.
Rio R&D still moving forward
December 15 - 21, 2008
RIO TINTO’s head of innovation John McGagh has reaffirmed the big miner’s support for key components of its mining technology investment program amid fears in the wider mining community the work could be canned due to Rio’s major focus on reducing expenditure.
Software sales expected to reflect slowdown
December 8 - 14, 2008
GEMCOM boss Rick Moignard remains confident in the company’s near-term growth outlook after a “complete reforecast” exercise reassured him software sales in mine production areas would compensate for the sudden retraction of exploration expenditure. However, there would appear to have been a marked slowdown over the past two months.
Small suppliers feel the pinch
November 17 - 23, 2008
NOV 10, 2008: RAPID growth for many small to medium size mining technology and service (MTS) enterprises in Australia is expected to come to a halt next year. However, the recent boom has positioned a number of them to compete more strongly in the global market and the mining industry’s increased dependence on technology will also be a boon.
Boom puts Scanalyse on the map
November 3 - 9, 2008
FOR the owners of many small suppliers the recent mining investment boom afforded an opportunity to exit the industry at the top of (another) cycle. Some had seen a few. But for one Western Australian company the boom provided a chance to put down some roots for an enterprise likely to flourish in the years ahead.
Technology leaders recognised
November 3 - 9, 2008
SUCCESSFUL exporters Micromine, Immersive Technologies and Intellection have been recognised in their home states for innovative mining technology solutions and could now be in line for national honours at next month’s Australian Export Awards in Sydney.
Mining giant presses forward on ‘mine of the future’
October 20 - 26, 2008
RIO Tinto’s innovation boss says it’s still full steam ahead for development of the mining giant’s automated mine in the Pilbara, Western Australia, despite some emerging uncertainty about the rate of growth in China’s iron ore demand. He does concede, however, that the original timing of the project might be adjusted.
Innov-X says explorers need new toys
October 20 - 26, 2008
NEW KID on the Australian mineral exploration portable XRF block, Innov-X Systems, is formally launching its Omega Series offering at next week’s Mining 2008 Convention in Brisbane, Queensland, with the US-based company’s local business development head denying the timing of the promotion couldn’t be worse.
Moignard talks privately about Gemcom’s next steps
October 13 - 19, 2008
MINING software market bellwether Gemcom is expecting to maintain strong global growth rates despite a noticeable slowdown in financing for North American juniors and exploration projects due to the US finance sector woes. The deceleration could hit sales in the Canadian-based company’s home market, but it is not expecting the worldwide mining sector to fall in a hole.
Coal ‘bug’ could aid mineral plant tuning
October 6 - 12, 2008
HIGH-TECH 'listening' devices developed by Australia's CSIRO to enhance coal plant maintenance and yield could also be used as non-invasive measuring tools to fine tune the performance of other mineral processing plants.
Tuning into automation? Not yet ...
September 29 - October 5, 2008
THE world’s biggest mining machine supplier Caterpillar says the mining industry wasn’t ready for automated equipment a decade ago. It believes that “time is now” though, based on the apparent shift in focus to autonomous mining systems by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and other heavyweight miners. But what about the rest? HighGrade asked second-tier companies what was in it for them.
Drill automation a natural entry point
September 29 - October 5, 2008
MINING machinery giant Caterpillar expects its fully automated surface blast-hole drill technology to be its first commercial offering in the product space, with initial site trials planned for next year. The company remains confident the time is right for a concerted push into mine automation products.
Advantage Rio ... for now
September 15 - 21, 2008
A LEADING drilling contractor doubts whether Rio Tinto can build a “lead on the rest of the mining industry” by forming alliances with major equipment suppliers such as Atlas Copco and Komatsu to develop the automated building blocks for Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese’s “mine of the future”.
Innov-X marks its spot
September 8 - 14, 2008
COMBATANTS in a turf war over the increasingly lucrative market in exploration and mining for portable XRF analysers have counted out their paces and drawn their weapons.
Time to confront collisions head on
September 8 - 14, 2008
AN AUSTRALIAN–developed mining product might have saved the life of a BHP Billiton mine worker in Western Australia last week and it must now be a matter of when, not if, the industry faces a government-led crackdown on the use of adequate mine-vehicle collision avoidance technology.
Jumping the (laser) gun?
August 18 - 24, 2008
A LONG time ago in a galaxy far, far away ... Actually it was this week in Queensland, but let’s not quibble about the detail. No-one else is.
Selling the sizzle
July 28 - August 3, 2008
AUTOMATION is one of mining’s new buzzwords. Remote control, though, is shaping as the real industry step-change. One is the sizzle, the other the sausage.
And then there were four
July 21 - 27, 2008
APPARENTLY Caterpillar didn’t drop the surface mine automation ball a decade ago. That was the message this week from the mining equipment giant, which announced it was teaming with BHP Billiton to develop an autonomous haulage system.
Ship comes in for software firm
July 21 - 27, 2008
PRIVATELY owned mining supply companies with an aversion to the “vagaries of the share market”, as an owner once put it to me, could find some inspiration in a Newcastle microcap currently riding a market updraft. The mining software firm, and its investors, have waited seven years for take-off.
ABV aims to accelerate growth
July 7 - 13, 2008
AUSTRALIAN company Advanced Braking Technology expects to add a new commercial product line to its specialised mine-vehicle brake range within a few weeks and is still moving forward with its expansion into regional centres despite a lukewarm response to a recent capital raising initiative.
Technology not yet on the map
June 23 - 29, 2008
THE value and potential of Australia’s mining technology and services sector is highly regarded in resources-rich Chile, where the government is trying to foster a similar culture of innovation. But it is still not adequately recognised at home. In the midst of Australia’s greatest ever mining boom, there is growing concern that an opportunity to discover and develop new technologies and ideas that could make the country a mining services powerhouse is being lost.
Freeport vs Rio in robotic drill race
June 23 - 29, 2008
“IT’S absolutely a differentiator between us and the other mob”, a Rio Tinto spokesman told HighGrade this week in a discussion about the company’s mine automation plans. Presumably BHP Billiton is the other mob. But it is Freeport McMoRan, which inherited Phelps Dodge’s high calibre mining technology group in Arizona in its 2007 takeover of the copper and molybdenum miner, that has skipped clear of Rio Tinto in one leg of the much publicised (of late) mine automation race.
Oh what a feeling ...
June 23 - 29, 2008
THE step up from riding a bicycle to driving a Toyota LandCruiser on a mine site has been made simpler and safer by an Australian company that is also helping mine operators train dump truck, excavator and dozer drivers faster and more effectively.
Dynamic Runge
June 2 - 8, 2008
CONSULTING and technology firm Runge’s Mining Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) offering could be a “company maker”, according to recent float underwriter Wilson HTM, which is also a significant shareholder. The Brisbane-based stockbroker says Runge could foreseeably double in size in as little as 12 months on the back of strong market acceptance of the product.
Climbing costs hit recycling
June 2 - 8, 2008
METAL recycling might be big business – and getting bigger – but commodity prices are going to need to rise further to spark more concerted efforts to recover minerals from discarded tailings and other waste, according to Intec managing director Philip Wood.
Automation ... we're already doing it
May 26 - June 1, 2008
IS the Beltana-type longwall mining system the most advanced automated mining system in use today?
Automatic choices should be scrutinised
May 19 - 25, 2008
A LEADING supplier of remote control technology that companies such as Rio Tinto are embracing to centralise mine control operations in regional population hubs has challenged mining companies to more clearly outline the economic drivers behind efforts to automate equipment and control it remotely so that more rapid progress can be made.
Snaky path to production
May 19 - 25, 2008
SCOTGOLD Resources’ bid to renew a 10-year-old planning permit to build a gold plant at the Cononish gold-silver project in Scotland’s mid-west will receive a boost if it can demonstrate the effectiveness of new technology that will enable it to significantly reduce the surface footprint of its proposed underground mining operation.
Flying Fox opts for entry-level reporting
May 19 - 25, 2008
WESTERN Areas has put in place what looks like a low-tech platform for future development of a more sophisticated mine production accounting system at its Flying Fox nickel mine in Western Australia.
PE to pull plug on transparency
May 12 - 18, 2008
A LEADING US-based business software research group has expressed some reservations about the $C180 million private equity bid for leading mining software company Gemcom Software International, which it describes as private equity’s “second foray into mining software”. Meanwhile, an analyst with another firm has professed misgivings about the first.
Gemcom in PE spotlight
May 5 - 11, 2008
A LONGER term and perhaps more educated view of potential growth in some sections of the mining information technology market is evident in the $C180 million offer for Vancouver-headquartered Gemcom Software International Inc by private equity groups JMI Equity and The Carlyle Group.
Wheel turns for IT movers
April 21 - 27, 2008
AN EXPERIENCED Australian mining chief has supported a view that multi-million-dollar mine information management systems will become de rigueur in the industry over the next few years, due to increasing pressure to maximise production efficiency. The trend could transform the mining IT sector.
Hochschild buys more Australian equipment
March 31 - April 6, 2008
AIM-LISTED silver and gold producer Hochschild Mining plc expects to commission five new InLine Reach Reactors at its Ares mine in Peru by October this year, making it the largest intensive leach operation in the world.
Crumbs aid safer stoping
March 24 - 30, 2008
THE Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania continues to be an adopter of new technology as it seeks to re-establish its safety credentials in the wake of the April 2006 mine collapse that killed underground worker Larry Knight.
Down-under pressure to ease: Cat
March 3 - 9, 2008
CATERPILLAR has moved to ease some of the pressures on its underground equipment plant in Burnie, Tasmania, and also take advantage of growing demand for LHDs in Latin America, with the opening up of a dedicated loader assembly line at its plant near Piracicaba, São Paulo, in Brazil.
Joy grows third business leg
February 25 - March 2, 2008
THE WORLD’S biggest public listed manufacturer and supplier of mining equipment has positioned itself to make a wider assault on a changing global market with the creation of a third business arm focused on supplying crushing and conveying systems.
Canadian dollar slows Gemcom growth
February 11 - 17, 2008
THE Canadian mining software company Gemcom Software International has recorded a further surge in revenues despite the negative impact of a stronger Canadian dollar on its results, with December quarter revenue of $C13.5 million keeping it on track to post its first $C50 million sales year.
Orica tests new ground
February 4 - 10, 2008
ORICA has armed itself to compete strongly in most of the world’s main growth markets for underground mine consumables – principally rock fragmentation and stabilisation products – but still has work to do in Latin America and Africa. The company has ruled out M&A to add drilling to its mining services offering.
Software gets tick for mining
February 4 - 10, 2008
AN analyst with a leading US-based business software research group has given Canadian-based Gemcom Software International a gold-star rating in its latest review of the global “manufacturing” operations management software market, one of only two in an appraisal of 19 vendors including giants such as SAP, Oracle, Siemens, ABB and Honeywell.
New drivers for automated machines
January 28 - February 3, 2008
VIEWS in the mining industry on the value of automated production equipment have changed drastically in the past 15-20 years, according to a leading researcher at the University of Queensland, who has also described Rio Tinto’s claim to be three years ahead of rivals in the automation stakes as a “pretty bold statement”.
BHPB may regain technology edge
January 21 - 27, 2008
BHP BILLITON will regain an important competitive advantage it ceded to rival Rio Tinto last year if it makes and then succeeds with its much anticipated takeover bid. A more aggressive Rio Tinto signed an agreement with Australia’s world-leading field robotics centre in Sydney last July, shutting the slower-moving BHPB out of cutting edge mining automation research and development.
Test of strength could improve safety
January 14 - 20, 2008
A FATALITY at a South African mine 13 years ago, where “shotcrete pioneer” Wouter Hartman was working, had a profound effect on the rock engineer. Found to be caused by a combination of shear and tensile failure on a relatively thin layer of shotcrete, the incident influenced Hartman’s ambition to improve knowledge and reduce risks of mine re-entry after application of the concrete barrier.
Continental to grow on Joy structure
January 14 - 20, 2008
JOY GLOBAL expects revenue expansion gains to quickly overshadow cost synergy benefits identified in its $US270 million acquisition of mine conveyor equipment manufacturer Continental Global Inc, which had a quiet year on the revenue growth front in 2007.
Mining's new tech boom
December 17 - 23, 2007
An unprecedented mining investment boom has reinvigorated old mines, old companies and some veteran mining heads. It has also put wind in the sails of the mining technology sector.
Pilbara revisits big Rigs
December 17 - 23, 2007
A NEW generation of Pilbara iron ore miners is helping to reinforce a Terex Mining regional stronghold, three decades after major sales to Hamersley Iron put the Terex Unit Rig truck name on the map in Australia.
Software to make life easier
December 17 - 23, 2007
AUSTRALIAN exploration and mining software developer Micromine claims users can achieve operational productivity improvements of up to 15% with new versions of its flagship MICROMINE and GBIS data management tools.
Japan to dominate excavator supply
December 10 - 16, 2007
KOMATSU Australia is expected to mount a more concerted attack on the Australian 400-tonne hydraulic excavator market when the first machines from a new factory in Japan make their way Down Under, probably late in 2009.
Firm out to eclipse rivals
November 26 - December 2, 2007
AUSTRALIAN listed IT group UXC Ltd believes it can capture up to 40% of the Australian mining financial reporting software market via its fast-growing Eclipse Computing Australia business unit, which is also targeting offshore mining-sector expansion.
Simulator designer heads for $A50M sales
November 26 - December 2, 2007
IT MIGHT not be the real thing, but simulator training in the mining industry has become a serious business with Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Thiess, Freeport-Phelps Dodge and Anglo Coal among the big-name converts. An Australian simulator developer claims to be doubling sales every two years on the back of the increasing demand and its unique alliances with the world’s biggest mining equipment makers.
Highwall access
November 12 - 18, 2007
TEREX Corporation sees compelling logic in a $US140 million cash acquisition of an American highwall machinery maker with global expansion prospects despite the current narrowness of the niche market.
Cat creates technology arm, appoints VP
November 5 - 11, 2007
GWENNE Henricks, a 26-year Caterpillar veteran, has been chosen to head the company’s new Electronics & Connected Worksites Division. She will take up the role on December 1.
Cat systems go to Rio
October 22 - 28, 2007
THE WORLD’S biggest mining equipment supplier and second biggest miner have struck a new three-year deal on technology supply and support covering more than 30 openpit operations in the USA, Australia, Canada and Namibia. HighGrade was told neither party would disclose the likely value of the sales.
Big deal
October 22 - 28, 2007
JOY Mining Machinery, the underground coal equipment arm of big listed US mining manufacturing group Joy Global Inc, this week trumpeted the delivery of its largest and most powerful longwall shearer to Shenhua in China. But converting the language on a colour graphic display on the machine a “major breakthrough” by Joy? Something must have got lost in the translation.
Uranium PFN tools to straighten search
October 15 - 21, 2007
THIRD generation Prompt Fission Neutron (PFN) exploration tools have begun arriving in South Australia, with five of the heralded sedimentary uranium exploration tools expected to be available for companies to hire from mid-to-late November.
Russia move bears fruit for Mincom
October 8 - 14, 2007
RESOURCE-rich, progressive and open to new mining technology; respectful of international intellectual property protection laws, and excellent payers. Forget the typecasting, says Mincom’s Eurasia president Allen Vaughn. Welcome to Siberia.
New production route for Haulmax
September 24 - 30, 2007
ONE OF three major global centres of underground mine equipment production could also become a surface mine machinery and technology hub over the next five years, cementing the status of an otherwise sleepy town on Tasmania’s northern coast as Australia’s premier mining manufacturing location.
Caterpillar test drives engine
September 24 - 30, 2007
THE DRIVING force behind a new generation of large Caterpillar mining trucks is undergoing testing in a unique, state-of-the-art technology centre in Illinois, USA, underlining the company’s investment in the development of equipment likely to hit the global market next year.
Data mining still dated
September 17 - 23, 2007
THE mining industry in countries such as Australia, Canada and South Africa is often described as technology-intensive but it doesn’t mean operators are getting high returns on their technology investments, as suppliers of mining execution systems will attest.
Gemcom offers new InSite
September 17 - 23, 2007
THE CANADIAN-listed mining software company Gemcom has introduced a multilingual and multi-site tracking version of its InSite mine performance management product.
Industrea enters Russian coal market
September 10 - 16, 2007
AUSTRALIAN coal-mining services group Industrea Ltd has made a low-key but – according to chief executive Robin Levison – significant entry into the Russian market, which it is targeting along with China, India and South America for growth outside its domestic market.
New truck surfaces
September 3 - 9, 2007
IT WAS the secret truck that looked like the others at the Stawell gold mine in Victoria. Same appearance, same engine, same badge: MT5010. Only the truck wasn’t one of Atlas Copco’s 50-tonne payload underground mine trucks.
Miner supports more robotics R&D
August 27 - September 2, 2007
RIO TINTO has opened a parallel robotics research window to a heavily backed mining automation program at the University of New South Wales, starting a trial of a CSIRO-developed autonomous metal carrier at its Bell Bay aluminium smelter in Tasmania.
Chinese choose digital
August 20 - 26, 2007
CHINA’S large, state-run mines are becoming more serious about modernising in an effort to boost production efficiency, and improve resource utilisation, as evidenced by moves to close small operations and scale up equipment. They are also starting to spend up big on latest IT and communications technology.
Changing course
August 6 - 12, 2007
AN AUSTRALIAN mineral processing technology company has started a search for gold miners to back a new underground ore comminution course that might enable them to cut out conventional haulage equipment and up to a quarter of their operating costs.
Auto pilot
July 9 - 15, 2007
RIO TINTO has beaten rival BHP Billiton and other companies to the post to secure a long-term partnership with the Sydney-based field robotics research team seen to be at the forefront of global surface mine automation research and technology development. The mining giant’s decision to invest $A21 million over five years in a new R&D centre could significantly speed development of the industry’s first automated openpit mine.
Fractal adds to white space
July 9 - 15, 2007
EMERGING international mining software and consulting group Runge believes the acquisition of visualisation and data management technology specialist Fractal Technologies will help speed and broaden market delivery of its pivotal Mining Dynamics “white space” offering.
Quick to ACT
July 9 - 15, 2007
A CALL for regulators to expedite testing, approval and adoption of wireless two-way underground mine communications technologies in the wake of West Virginia’s Sago coal mine disaster which killed 12 miners early in 2006 appears to have been heeded.
Selling virtual shovels
June 25 - July 1, 2007
THE Microsoft Corporation – or should it be Caterpillar – of the mining software world? Gemcom Software International Ltd has recently been compared with the ubiquitous American multi-national (Microsoft, that is). But a Canadian analyst says Gemcom is “selling virtual shovels to a booming mining market”.
Two-way street
June 11 - 17, 2007
THE Australian company now pressing forward with development of a commercial two-way mine emergency communication product believes the technology could be netting $A10 million a year of international sales by 2010.
Terex aims to break into oil
May 28 - June 3, 2007
THE DOMINANT supplier of ultra-class dump trucks to Canada’s booming oil sands mining industry faces a new threat to its market stronghold in the form of Terex’s 363-tonne-payload (400 short ton) MT6300 AC-drive truck.
Out with the old
May 28 - June 3, 2007
A FOCUS on “socially responsible” mining has brought Canadian and Australian companies together to seek out suitable deposits of coal ash waste in Europe for cheaper recovery of uranium using technology developed in the US.
Mincom logs off
May 21 - 27, 2007
LEADING enterprise asset management (EAM) software developer Mincom Ltd is now a brand on the shelf of American technology-focused private equity group Francisco Partners, which wrapped up its acquisition of the former Australian-owned company last week.
Knowledge flow crucial to mine safety
May 14 - 20, 2007
THE MID-2000 failure of a mine backfill barricade which killed three underground miners and halted production for six weeks at a gold mine in Western Australia raised the intensity of research and testwork aimed at preventing similar incidents from occurring elsewhere. However, research and in particular work on reliable industry-wide guidelines for safe backfill bulkhead design and construction has not kept pace with the significant escalation in the use of backfill materials in the years since the Bronzewing mine disaster, according to a leading international mining consulting firm.
Equipment suppliers push simulation
May 14 - 20, 2007
TWO leading mining equipment manufacturers have taken a different tack with training simulators, making new technology an integral part of their service offering.
First moves favour AMT
May 7 - 13, 2007
UP TO $A7.5 million of sales to Anglo Coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland will take Industrea Ltd’s CAS-CAM collision avoidance system for mining fleets a step closer to becoming an international industry standard in a market potentially worth tens of millions of dollars in coming years, according to stockbroker Ord Minnett.
E-volution picks up speed
May 7 - 13, 2007
EPROCUREMENT in mining is starting to boom. That’s the message being sent by Quadrem International, which runs the world’s busiest online trading platform for mining goods and services.
CAS now on mine radars
April 23 - 29, 2007
A TRANSITION from trials to implementation of some vehicle collision avoidance systems by operators of large surface mines suggests a new level of industry acceptance of technology as a key to reducing one of the main risks to people and equipment on mine sites. It is a switch that could provide a windfall for leading suppliers.
Gold medal for scientist
April 23 - 29, 2007
THE INVENTOR of a mineral sampling technology estimated to be generating for gold and platinum producers alone $A200 million a year of benefits has won a prestigious Australian science award.
No more rotten eggs
April 23 - 29, 2007
THE pungent stench gas used to provide an early warning mechanism in underground mines could be on its way out.
Hidden gems
March 26 - April 1, 2007
SUSTAINING growth long term has become the focus for the new-generation rising stars of Australia’s mining technology, equipment and service sector, currently enjoying rapid expansion on the back of the global mining investment boom.
Made in China
March 19 - 25, 2007
ONCE upon a time Chinese consumer goods were derided for their questionable quality. Standards have since improved to some degree and with prices remaining low the criticism is now less shrill than it was. With ‘Made in China’ mine processing equipment starting to feature more regularly in plans for new Western-owned mine developments, the obvious poser is: what’s the gear like?
Bolt on acquisition
March 1 - 7, 2007
SWEDEN’S Sandvik group has confirmed it will remain a challenger to the Big Two in global underground coal mining equipment manufacturing and supply by acquiring the Australian roof-bolting/drilling machine maker Hydramatic Engineering in a deal understood to be worth about $A40 million ($US31.5 million).
End of the road
March 1 - 7, 2007
JOHN Wood is a tough character. But the strains of growing an Australian manufacturing and global mining equipment supply business have been mounting for the former merchant marine engineer and self-styled Newcastle entrepreneur.
Scanning new horizons
February 8 - 14, 2007
FASTER, safer and more reliable mineral and rock sample analysis is expected to be delivered by a new portable scanning system which is currently the focus of a $A10 million development effort by Australia’s Intellection Pty Ltd. The company has just added German-developed X-ray sensor technology to its laboratory testing machine.
Buy-up continues
February 1 - 7, 2007
AUSTRALIAN software developer Mincom Ltd has added another piece to its mine production accounting offering with the acquisition of Western Australian-based mining software firm Karjeni Pty Ltd.
Runge appoints division heads
February 1 - 7, 2007
THE Brisbane-based mining consulting and information technology group Runge has made three key personnel appointments ahead of what promises to be a busy year for the expanding company.
Numbers add up
January 25 - 31, 2007
LAST WEEK’S sale of 10-year-old software IP by the clever people at Queensland’s Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre to another Queensland-based outfit – a company with a decidedly more commercial view of the global mining business – may not have raised too many eyebrows. But the gravity of its timing and significance will likely grow over the next 12 months.
Initiating coverage
January 25 - 31, 2007
DYNO Nobel is expected to get a better look at the potential of the Chinese explosives market, as well as growth in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and other central Asian markets, through its purchase of a 29.9% stake in Fabchem China Ltd. Conclusion of a deal this month follows last year’s aborted move on Fabchem by Dyno Nobel when they couldn’t agree on terms.
Roaming dinosaurs
December 21 - 27, 2006
TWO companies that seemed to epitomise the “old world” look of the global mining equipment manufacturing industry in the 1990s were Bucyrus-Erie Company and P&H Harnischfeger. Century-old relics of Milwaukee’s industrial landscape, they supplied machines as big as dinosaurs – draglines and electric rope shovels – that were being outperformed by smaller, nimbler equipment. Both companies tumbled into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and their extinction appeared inevitable.
Rebooted
December 21 - 27, 2006
NO PUBLIC funds, corporate acquisitions, or private equity. Yet an Australian software-turned-IT company has switched from a steady growth path into the fast lane with some of its high-profile peers. How has it made the transition?
Teck's tech fetish
December 14 - 20, 2006
MAJOR zinc miner Teck Cominco aims to increase its production of the metal by becoming directly involved in recycling projects after taking additional equity in emerging zinc producer ZincOx Resources.
Stung into action
December 14 - 20, 2006
CONSTELLATION Copper Corporation is considering use of an “agitation leach circuit” at its Terrazas zinc-copper project in Chihuahua, Mexico, that is similar, though smaller scale, to the processing route utilised by Anglo American at its Skorpion project in Namibia.
Centre to lift exports
December 7 - 13, 2006
ONE OF Australia’s largest suppliers of underground coal mining equipment this week opens its $A20 million Engineering Centre of Excellence for diesel equipment at Beresfield, Newcastle, in New South Wales.
No more Mexican stand-off
October 26 - November 1, 2006
AN AUSTRALIAN mine communications specialist sees emerging growth opportunities in Mexico as the plethora of international companies working in the country turn exploration success into projects.
Russia, China opening up for software vendors
October 26 - November 1, 2006
SIMILAR strategies based around the development of foreign-language versions of popular western exploration and mining software products and targeting of large domestic mining groups are serving leading software suppliers well in the major emerging markets of Russia and China.
Rise of the machines
October 19 - 25, 2006
SOUTH African platinum major Lonmin Plc has had another breakthrough in its efforts to increase the level of mechanisation and automation in its underground mines on the rich Bushveld Complex.
Show time in India
October 19 - 25, 2006
BEING in the right place at the right time can be a major factor in the life cycle of a business. Many Australian suppliers of mining products and technology are becoming increasingly confident that India, like China before it, is somewhere they need to be. When an investment in the country is likely to pay off is something they’re less certain about.
Platform for growth
October 5 - 11, 2006
AUSTRALIA will dominate the research and development spending and emerge this year as the leading global market of what is now the world’s biggest mining software company, according to president Rick Moignard.
Putting exports back on the agenda
October 5 - 11, 2006
PROBLEMS getting Australia’s mining capacity up to the level required to meet current and ongoing demand from markets such as China and India should put another of the country’s “action agendas” into sharper focus. It is a little blurred at present.
Latest from Cat
September 21 - 27, 2006
IF YOU were not among the 350 or so miners, contractors and Caterpillar dealers at the recent Cat Global mining forum in Queensland, then you may have only heard second or third-hand about the raft of new product releases planned for the next 12-24 months.
Sorter handy
September 7 - 13, 2006
THE Western Australian nickel sector’s pocket dynamo Jubilee Mines NL expects to get a significant payback from a $A4.3 million investment in an ore sorting plant from South Africa’s Ultrasort Pty Ltd.
Coming of age
August 21 - 27, 2006
STRONG gold prices and a booming sharemarket have helped revive mining on Victoria’s two most famous old goldfields, at Ballarat and Bendigo.
AUSTRALIAN TECHNOLOGY SERIES: Rising stocks
July 24 - 30, 2006
AUSTRALIA’S once long list of world-class mining service and technology providers has shrunk dramatically over the past decade. Geologics, Jaques, Tritronics, Aerodata, Prok, MIM Process Technologies, Warman, Elphinstone, ANI Arnall, Cram and Wheel & Rims Engineering are some of the former Australian-owned companies absorbed into bigger international corporations.
Contractor gains from training
June 26 - July 2, 2006
AUSTRALIA’S largest mining contractor, Thiess, has credited two Australian-developed technologies for significant reductions in mobile equipment maintenance and operator training costs during a period of severe cost pressure over the past 12-18 months.
Rockfall deaths: automation the answer
May 29 - June 4, 2006
THE Beaconsfield rockfall tragedy was not a once in a lifetime event despite what the mainstream media coverage suggested. Rockfalls remain the number one cause of injuries and fatalities in underground mines even though there have been strenuous efforts in Australia and elsewhere to make mines safer, according to the author of Australia’s most comprehensive research report on the subject.
Joy plows into rival
May 25 - 31, 2006
JOY Mining Machinery has hit back at claims by major longwall equipment rival, Germany’s DBT, about the superior performance of plow mining systems in China’s thin-seam coal mines. The American company said in a press statement technological advances had made the longwall shearer a more productive and lower-cost option for mining thin seams.
Industry must keep looking ahead
May 15 - 21, 2006
ROCKFALL: “An uncontrolled fall of ground of significant size in an entry area, or an uncontrolled fall of ground of any size that causes (or potentially causes) injury or damage.”
