Tuesday, February 09, 2010
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Career Guidance CD Mining Companies need well educated and trained engineers and scientists.  The SAIMM Career Guidance and Education Committee has assumed much of the work previously carried out by the Chamber of Mines in the area of Career Guidance and Education promotion, in the disciplines of Mining Engineering, Mine Surveying, Geology and Metallurgy.

SEE MORE HERE...
Thorium & Rare Earths Date: 8 Feb - 10 Feb 2010 Venue: Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa Rare Earths have unique properties that make them indispensable for many technological applications. A range of unique chemical, catalytic, electrical, magnetic, metallurgical and optical properties enable them to play a major role in the advancement of materials technology.  SEE MORE HERE...
Diamonds—Source to Use 2010 Date: 1 - 3 March 2010 Venue: Gabarone, Botswana The fourth semi-annual colloquium will address the full spectrum of activities within the diamond industry. Building on the success of the 2007 event. The Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy aims to provide a meeting place for all diamond industry participants to contextualize their roles and identify subsequent opportunities.... SEE MORE HERE...
SAIMM Events The SAIMM conferences and symposia on offer to members of the SAIMM deliver information and networking opportunities that meet the needs of the SAIMM member audience. Specifically in terms of knowledge-gain/transfer needs; promotion of the industry in a positive light and creating room for inter-action with one’s peer group.

SEE MORE HERE...
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CAREER GUIDANCE
 SANCOT SAMREC and SAMVAL
A special welcome to those seeking a career in the Minerals and Metals industry which holds challenges and rewards and will prove to be an exciting adventure.
SANCOT (The South African National Committee on Tunnelling) was formed in 1973 and is a founding member of the International Tunnelling Association which was itself formed in 1974.

Visit SANCOT
 The Samcode Group of Codes currently comprise the SAMREC Code and the SAMVAL Code, which are set up and administered by the SSC Committee. This Committee is a joint Committee of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA).

Available jobs

THE CONSULTING PARTNERSHIP PTE LTD – METALLURGIST TO WORK IN ASIA, BASED IN SINGAPORE.
Our Client, a MNC into Surface Chemistry, provides outstanding technologies on process aids for mineral ores enrichment processes. Asia is still a small market, but with quality demand increasing and exhaustion of high purity ores, they see more and more companies looking to install purification facilities that will require their chemicals.

Usually, tailored formulations for customers are developed by sending samples of their ores to labs in Europe.
Currently, they have a very experienced technical sales person based in Europe who visits Asia regularly. Their sales manager, based in Australia, is also very knowledgeable of the mining industry. However, they have nobody in Asia that can give technical support, speak the language of the metallurgists who work in the mines, and be the liaison with the formulation development labs.

Thus, they have been looking for a metallurgist (not a mining engineer) to be that technical expert in Asia. Based in Singapore, his duties will be to:
  • Provide technical guidance to customers
  • Interpret questions and requests from customers and brief Europe accordingly
  • Prospect new opportunities for existing technologies
  • Be the focal point for the introduction of new mining products in Asia
  • Understand the field of ore purification
  • Report to the Performance Applications Manger, based in Shanghai
  • Undertake a heavy travel schedule (may suit someone under 40yr?)
Interested applicants please kindly contact Don Tran at
+65 64351268 or +65 92222317
don.tran@tcpgroup.com

Mining Weekly Headlines

  • Gold steady but weak risk appetite weighs
    Gold prices steadied above $1 060 on Tuesday, but sentiment continued to be hurt by worries over fiscal stability in Europe, curbing appetite for riskier assets such as commodities. The market's recovery from three-month lows hit last week has been limited due to technical selling and fund liquidation amid an uncertain economic outlook.
  • Teck earned C$411m in Q4, helped by base metals
    Vancouver-based Teck Resources posted a C$411-million net profit for the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with a C$607-million loss a year earlier, after higher base-metal prices offset weaker coal prices and the effects of a stronger Canadian dollar. Excluding some items, adjusted net earnings were C$312-million in the quarter compared with C$130-million in 2008.
  • Canadian union wants govt investigation of Xstrata closure
    The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union wants the government to investigate whether international miner Xstrata has good enough reasons for closing its Kidd metallurgical site, in Timmins, Ontario. The provincial and federal governments should probe Xstrata's decision and should force it to sell its Timmins assets if the answers are not convincing enough, the CAW urged on Monday.
  • Century says Peru workers back at work
    Striking mine workers at Century Mining's San Juan gold miner in Peru have returned to work and operations have resumed, the company reported on Monday. Century said on February 2 that union members employed by the mine had downed tools, but that the Ministry of Work in Peru had deemed the strike by union members at the San Juan operation to be illegal.
  • Capital Gold reports increased production at Mexico mine
    Amex- and TSX-listed Capital Gold produced 12 496 oz of gold in the three months ended January 31 - its fiscal second quarter – from the El Chanate mine, in Mexico. Importantly, monthly output rose from 3 429 oz in November to 5 236 oz in January, noted president and COO John Brownlie.
  • Katanga reports Q4 profit as output ramps up
    TSX-listed Katanga Mining earned $15,3-million in the fourth quarter of 2009, compared with a net loss of $12,6-million in the third quarter, the copper- and cobalt-miner announced on Monday. Shares in the company jumped more than ten percent on the news, and investors applauded the improvement in the firm's position compared with this time last year.

Handbook on Mine Fill now available

MINEFILL2011

HandbookOnMineFill_copyThe use of mine fill is almost as old as mining itself. Future land use considerations and evolving community attitudes demand that industry comprehensively explores the use of fill, particularly fill generated from mining waste in a diverse range of underground and surface operations.

This book is a concise summary of the considerable body of mine fill knowledge and experience and provides mining engineers and those responsible for the application of fill with a one stop reference, covering the most significant aspects of fill.

Editors: Y. Potvin, E. Thomas and A. Fourie
Publisher: Australian Centre for Geomechanics
ISBN: 0-9756756-2-1
Number of pages: 179

See more details here...

   

Physical Metallurgy

Journal Comment

‘The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet’ William Gibson.

This issue contains six Transaction papers and one Journal paper. This is a pleasing change from the pattern of the previous issues during this year, in which there have been some extremely important events and conferences from which a wealth of Journal papers have emerged and which have contributed greatly to the technology transfer functions of the Institute’s publication. It is thus good to see some detailed experimental work with evaluation and conclusions in traditional format.

Read more: Physical Metallurgy

   

Many ways to kill a cat

Journal Comment

‘The difference between foolishness and wisdom is time and the prevailing norms. In real terms, human beings are unable to distinguish between wisdom and foolishness.This helps to show us that there are many ways to kill a cat’ Ancient African Wisdom for the Current and Future global Solutions. Jabulani—August 2008

This seems to be a strange title for a comment on a Journal issue dealing with base metals.

I should explain that the English phrase quoted was frequently used by me more than two decades ago when I was heading a project contracting company and involved in critical path planning, PERT diagrams and risk analysis. It referred to the successful completion of a challenging activity, such as a research and development (R&D) project or a plant construction contract, (CAT).

Read more: Many ways to kill a cat

   

2009 END OF YEAR MESSAGE FROMTHE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

News

J._Nkoma1

Colleagues,

 We are again coming to the end of another year. Many of you will agree with me that 2009 was an eventful year. The global financial crisis, which started towards the end of 2007, has had a more devastating effect in our industry this year than in the previous two years, with business slowing down and more jobs being lost. Many mining houses have had to cut back on spending to remain afloat. This meant that fewer people could afford to attend many of our technical events. I am told that the Chinese ideogram for ‘crisis’ is composed of two separate characters: one means danger and the other means opportunity. The proper translation is that a crisis is a dangerous opportunity. Often the danger is more readily seen and the opportunity can be well hidden. So, while many of the businesses fell on the wayside, and others disappeared completely altogether, others found this as an opportunity to fine tune procedures and processes and transform into more efficient operations, ready for the coming boom times. We, at SAIMM saw the crisis as an opportunity too. 

We managed to re-organise ourselves and do things differently and more effectively.   

This has resulted in a number of successes.

Let me start by reviewing some of this year’s highlights in the various institute’s various departments: 

Read more: 2009 END OF YEAR MESSAGE FROMTHE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT

   

Dear Visitors

News

Welcome to the new SAIMM website. All members can now update their details (with a new username and password that have been e-mailed to you). The membership fee payment system will be available in the next few days  – remember to clearly reference your payment. Conference attendees can also book online. We would like to invite you to submit any feedback, comments or queries regarding our site to our manager, Ms Julie Dixon at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 011 834 1273.

Enjoy the site!
   

SAMREC and SAMVAL Code reprint

News

samcodebookHardcopies of the SAMREC and SAMVAL Code reprint is now available from the SAIMM secretariat.
   

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