Delegates at the recent Investing in African Mining Indaba 2012 had a unique opportunity to participate in the Deloitte Insomnia Index, which aims to identify the pressing issues that keep mining business leaders awake at night.

Rulmeca, a leading manufacturer of rollers for belt conveyors, is celebrating 50 years of activity. Since if was founded in 1962 in Alme, Bergamo the company has been adapting and evolving in tune with the market and its products offering. There are now 22 Rulmeca companies globally, specializing in the production and sales of rollers, motorized pulleys and components for belt conveyors in bulk handling applications such as mining.

Boom Logistics, Australia's leading provider of crane logistics and related industrial services, has confirmed that following a competitive tender process, it has secured a five year contract to supply crane services to the BHP Billiton Olympic Dam maintenance operation.

Industrial Scientific, a global leader in gas detection, has introduced the Ventis LS multi-gas detector as part of its Accenture Life Safety Solution. Using Wi-Fi and location-based technologies to remotely monitor those working in potentially hazardous environments, this wireless solution is another way to keep workers safer.

At Intermat 2012, Doosan Infracore Construction Equipment is launching new crawler excavators, wheel loaders and ADTs that is says are specially designed for Middle East and African markets. As an example, the flexible and agile undercarriages on the DA40 and DA30, which are designed to ensure that all six wheels are in permanent contact with the ground, mean that Doosan trucks can operate on very rough and soft terrain in mass excavation hauling as well as in mining and quarrying applications. ADTs are widely used in small to mid-sized African mines due to their versatility.

The Australian mining industry's determination to reach its goal of zero harm is reflected in the latest safety performance statistics released by the Queensland Government and reported by the Queensland Resources Council. Lost time injury frequency rates for the State of Queensland fell again from 3.8 to 2.9 injuries per million hours worked in 2010-2011. Days lost to injuries were down from 14,325 days to 11,027 days while the lost time injury plus disabling injury duration rate fell from 34.4 days to 27.4 days per injury.

Thompson Creek Metals recently announced the commissioning of its new Endako mill and that commercial production was achieved on February 1, 2012. For the first five days of February, the new mill was running at or above its design capacity of 55,000 t/d, a 77% increase over the old mill's capacity of 31,000 t/d. The construction of the regrind circuit for the new mill is still in process and is expected to be completed by the end of March 2012. In the interim, the company is utilising the cleaner and regrind circuit in the old mill.

Global provider of mining conveyor solutions, Martin Engineering, has completed a Conveyor Safety and Productivity Symposium in Antalya, Turkey, introducing strategies and innovations for improving safety practices while enhancing profitability. More than 40 management and supervisory personnel attended the event, representing a wide range of industries, including aggregates/cement, mining, coal/power, steel production and dry bulk handling.

Environ is expanding its global network by opening its first office in Africa on March 1, 2012 in Johannesburg. The group said that it is establishing operations in Johannesburg in response to increasing demand for the firm's environmental and health sciences consulting work in South Africa and throughout the wider African region. Recent projects have included large due diligence asset portfolios, contaminated land projects and compliance management projects in the oil and gas, mining, steel, commodity and technology sectors.

Sandvik Mining, whose parent company spent ZAR3.5 billion in research and development in the 2011 financial year, has been undertaking intensive research in partnership with RAG-Deutsche Steinkohle, Germany's largest coal mining company, aimed at improving automation processes of face mining machines using the Sandvik MR620 roadheader as the coal face model. Sandvik has compiled a report on the progress of the research with the focus on profile definition and the automatic cutting cycle.

Discussed in depth in our forthcoming March 2012 issue, the use of rail in underground mining is still widespread. It is also not standing still in terms of new technology. Vehicle Projects of Golden, Colorado and Anglo American Platinum in South Africa are collaborating on a project to build five fuel cell mine locomotives to be demonstrated in mid-2012 at Amplats's Dishaba underground mine in Limpopo province, South Africa.

At the forthcoming Expomin show in Santiago, Chile from April 9-13, Putzmeister Underground Division is to present its latest series of shotcrete equipment and a new low-profile concrete mixer as a complete system for shotcreting in mining. With the SPM 4210 WETKRET series Putzmeister believes it has reached a new stage in the development of shotcrete equipment for mining; while the new MIXKRET 4 low-profile concrete mixer truck has been designed to complement and improve the shotcreting process in mining.