Equipment simulators for training are examined in detail in an article in September International Mining. Convergence Training, a division of Capstone Technology, offers the Convergence Training Viewer, a free, downloadable training access portal specifically designed to view interactive training media. This provides virtually anyone, anywhere, at any time access to a catalogue of computer-based health and [...]

Dan Gleeson writes in IM’s September Leader on the growing importance of and interest in lithium, and, by association, Bolivia. In his latest newsletter, A Buck or Two, Tjalling (TJ) de Jong reports on the different lithium plays. TJ writes, “A small number of countries produce lithium from either brines or concentrates, Chile being the [...]

Callidan Instruments, a microwave moisture analysis specialist, has developed a new bulk sample analyser. The MoistScan® MA-100 uses microwave technology to determine the moisture content of large samples, providing accurate results in quick time. Callidan says that it is an improvement on traditional benchtop instruments as the sample is much larger (it takes a sample of litres), hence [...]

Ohio-based Murray Energy is the largest independent coal producer in the US. In Illinois, Murray Energy independent operating subsidiary The American Coal Co operates the Galatia mining complex, the New Future and New Era mines in Saline County, while other subsidiaries operate underground and surface coal mines in Ohio, Kentucky and Utah. Combined, the mines produce over [...]

Recent advances in the field of X-Ray diffraction (XRD) now make it possible to easily perform quantitative analysis of the common minerals associated with limestone, where previously it has been considered too complex and costly for use by most producers. inXitu, a leader in portable XRD/XRF based instrumentation, has recently added an instrument to this field with the [...]

Precious metals consultancy GFMS reports in its 3-Year Copper Forecast - August 2009 publication that although prices have slipped by around 5% since the recent high of $6,419/t, the underlying fundamentals are still there. On an average annual basis, it expects higher copper prices each year out to 2012. It also said that a strong [...]

Gold investment remained very strong in the second quarter of 2009, rising 46% (222 t) on year earlier levels. Overall, demand fell back from recent high levels, during the previous three quarters, as the combination of weak economic conditions and high prices made an impact, according to the Q2′09 Gold Demand Trends report published by World Gold [...]

Newlands Northern underground mine - located in the Bowen basin of Queensland, Australia - is the new record holder for weekly and monthly production from longwall operations. In May 2009, it extracted 961,891 t from the longwall, beating Beltana’s previous record of 955,049 t set in November 2005, and also broke the weekly record, with [...]

Ausdrill and Brandrill have announced a proposed merger of the two companies. The combined mining services group will have a strong and complementary range of Australian and international business operations. It is intended that Brandrill’s drilling businesses will use drilling consumables manufactured by Ausdrill’s Drilling Tools Australia business and benefit from the increased buying power of the [...]

The advance of methane recovery monitoring equipment technology is helping companies improve safety and generate new revenue. Phil McLean, Senior Engineer at gas sensing specialist Trolex explains the opportunities ahead. Underground mines are the single largest source of coal mine methane (CMM) emissions in most countries, although CMM is also produced from surface mines and [...]

New figures announced today at the Paydirt 2009 Resources Victoria Conference have highlighted the struggle in the past two years for Australian explorers to raise working capital for both ‘brownfield’ and ‘greenfield’ exploration and mining projects. Figures from financial services firm Patersons Securities showed that there were 252 Initial Public Offers (IPOs) in 2007, dropping [...]

International Mining welcomes editorial contributions for its October issue - deadline September 4. Articles being worked on include new developments in conveying, better machines and ancillaries for comminution, the problems of working deep open pits and the dynamic mining industry of Kazakhstan with participation from domestic and international mining companies. The series of articles on [...]