Column: West plugs defences as China cranks up aluminum output
China's primary aluminum smelters are producing record amounts of metal and the domestic market surplus is spilling out of the country.
North American Nickel (NAN), a resource exploration and development company based in North Vancouver, Canada, recently initiated a three-day lecture series in Greenland and Denmark to inspire the next generation of potential miners.
The lectures were designed to generate interest for the current and future generations of students about the mining industry by raising their awareness of the many possible careers available, including technical, administrative and financial roles. The lectures also provided technical descriptions of the geological setting and exploration approaches to nickel sulphide mineralization in Greenland and to classic nickel sulphide deposits worldwide.
About 65 engineering and science students attended the lecture series in Greenland and Denmark. In Greenland, lectures were presented to students at the Arctic Institute in Sisimiut. The day long Copenhagen lectures held at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (University of Copenhagen) brought together eight world class geologists to make presentations to the attendees.
The most popular lecture was given by the featured speaker for both the Greenland and Copenhagen sessions, Dr. Tony Naldrett, the world’s foremost authority on nickel-copper-platinum group metal sulphide deposits. In Greenland, Dr. Naldrett presented a lecture on the basics of the geology of nickel sulphide ore deposits, the use of nickel in our modern society and the procedures for bringing a nickel discovery into production. The students responded enthusiastically with numerous questions requiring a return to the lecture theatre for a second day of questions and answers.
In Copenhagen, Dr. Naldrett’s lecture was aimed at university students as well as geologists from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. This lecture detailed the formation of nickel sulphide mineralization and the chemistry of the hydrothermal systems that form these deposits. Furthermore, a wide range of comparative geologic details were presented for the world’s major nickel sulphide deposits.
Six additional speakers made presentations to the attendees and these included John Pattison and John Ferguson (NAN); Henrik Stendal (Bureau of Mining and Petroleum); Adam Garde and Thomas Kokfelt (Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland), Joshua Hughes (NUNA Minerals) and Henrik Sabra (Avannaa Resources). Their presentations included the nickel potential in Greenland, the possible role of meteorite impact on the formation of nickel sulphide deposits, geophysical tools for nickel sulphide exploration and critical metal exploration in Greenland.
The key takeaway from the lecture series was the knowledge imparted to the students in Sisimiut and Greenland by Dr. Naldrett and his fellow speakers. This knowledge will stimulate and energize the students during their academic careers by giving them a wider perspective of the mining and exploration
industry and by providing some of the technical tools necessary to succeed in the mining and exploration industry.
“The enthusiasm of the Sisimiut Arctic Institute students coupled with the exceptional calibre of the presenters and their lectures at the Copenhagen meeting made for a productive learning environment for the students who will become Greenland’s future mining professionals. North American Nickel is gratified to have been given the opportunity to contribute to their technical development”, says Dr. Mark Fedikow, President of NAN.
As part of their local engagement initiatives, NAN will likely hold another lecture series next year; but until then, a full day of lectures from September 20th can be viewed from the following links:
