KBR has appointed Mark Read as President of KBR's Minerals business unit. Read will be the business line leader for the new Minerals business unit, which will be headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. In this role, Read will be responsible for developing and executing a growth strategy that will significantly increase KBR's presence in the global minerals industry.

FLSmidth has announced a new contract worth approximately $70 million for equipment supplies to an unnamed copper mine in Latin America. The contract includes delivery of a 76,000 t/d grinding circuit consisting of two very large SAG mills and two ball mills. The mills will be the largest gear-driven mills in the world, according to the group. The statement said: "The order signifies FLSmidth's strong commitment in this important copper market and continues to strengthen its competitive position as a leading supplier to the industry."

A report released recently by the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that under current polices, primary world energy demand will grow 51% between 2009 and 2035, with global demand for coal increasing by as much as 65%.

Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) chose a German wheel loader customer to demonstrate the new L250G wheel loader - which is transforming the way the company does business. The L250G has revolutionised efficiency for LBT. It provides a perfectly sized machine for loading semitrailer trucks in rehandling applications and rigid haulers at the rock face.

Improvements to diagnostic tools used by the industry will enhance the characterisation and classification of ore types and determine the best process to extract metals from each of them. This work has the significant support of industry and focuses on chemical diagnostic leach methods to determine the complex forms and associations of gold and copper mineral deposits.

Paul Moore reports from Chile that Anglo American has delivered first copper production on schedule from its Los Bronces expansion project in central Chile. The expansion of Los Bronces is expected to more than double (on average over the first three years of full production) the mine's existing production of 221,000 t/y and is the second of Anglo American's four major strategic growth projects to begin production during 2011.

Anglo American has announced the delivery of the first copper production on schedule from its Los Bronces expansion project in central Chile, visited by IM Editor Paul Moore on November 22. The expansion is expected to more than double (on average over the first three years of full production), the mine's existing production of 220,000 t/y and is the second of Anglo's four major strategic growth projects to begin production in 2011.

Lake Victoria Mining has purchased a mobile auger drill rig to provide soil sampling services over "mbuga" covered areas of its gold projects in the Lake Victoria Greenstone Gold Belt of Tanzania.

Mine Site Technologies' MinePhone VoIP digital phone and NS40 Wireless Access Point for integrated underground mining communications have achieved ATEX certification, Group 1 Category M1. ATEX (Appareils destinés à être utilisés en Atmosphères Explosibles) certification is for equipment and protective systems which are to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres.

Aecon Group's Lockerbie and Hole Eastern Division has signed a letter of intent with the Potash Corp of Saskatchewan for a project valued at over C$250 million to install the interior of a new process mill at the mine site near Rocanville. The scope of work for the project includes the installation of all utilities and equipment for the new mill, including the process piping, electrical, mechanical, instrumentation, HVAC, and all processing equipment in the mill, where potash ore from the nearby mine will be processed.

Mining software and solutions provider Micromine has been contracted by Altain Khuder LLC to supply and install its mine control and management reporting solution, Pitram, at the Tayan Nuur iron ore mine in Mongolia. It is Micromine's first Pitram sale in Mongolia, and as such the group sees this as a significant milestone. Pitram is a mine control and management reporting solution that records, manages and processes mine site data in real-time. It provides a thorough overview of a mine site‟s activities, allowing for increased managerial control over an operation.

tailings_photo.jpg ESCO Corp has completed a strategic investment in TSI Surface Technologies (TSI), which provides wear mitigation solutions to the Canadian oil sands mining industry. ESCO maintains a minority share in the company with the formal...