A review of the presentations given at the annual MinSouth commodity day, which focused on nickel. Issues discussed include lifecycle, supply and demand, project funding and processing.
From locating water supplies in Africa to advising the Canadian Government on nuclear waste management, Dr Anthony Hodge’s career has spanned the full environmental gammit. Now, as President of the International Council on Mining and Metals in London, UK, he hopes to bring his message of sustainability and cooperation to the mining industry. Meagan Ellis reports
Robert Amsterdam, Principal Lawyer at Amsterdam & Peroff, London, UK, discusses the dangers facing companies operating overseas. Advice is offered for successful operations.
Gold is well documented in the Celtic fringe of Britain and Ireland, but most discoveries (or rediscoveries) have been small high-grade deposits that could be mined with minimal equipment. This article looks at new gold exploration in the Republic of Ireland.
Techniques to teach steelmaking and steel processing within an undergraduate curriculum can be problematic. However, there is an alternative in the form of steeluniversity.org, which aims to provide e-learning resources covering all aspects of iron and steelmaking, including applications and recycling.
A gold mining project in Romania has been delayed for over eight years. FergusAnckorn, Technical Director of global consultants AMEC Earth & Environmental, presents his view of the situation arguing that NGOs have unduly held up the process.
Michael Forrest visited the Araxá niobium mine in Brazil to learn about the metal's production. Current production capacity is around 80,000t. Of this, 70,000t is of standard grade ferro-niobium, 4,000t is of high purity oxide, 3,000t of vacuum grade ferro-niobium or nickel niobium, 300t of optical grade oxide and 210t of pure niobium.
The most recent IOM3 Commodity Day focused on copper, covering the market’s price drivers and the long and short-term prospects for consumption and supply, environmental concerns, pryometallurgical extraction, acid leaching, smelting and exploration.
The spending budget for metals and minerals exploration in 2007 reached record levels. This may be attributed to the rising costs of drilling, fuel and geologist's services, but also represents a substantial rise in exploration activity on the ground.
A new family of Diamond-Silicon Carbide composites (Skeleton Cemented Diamond) creates low-cost materials with improved thermal and mechanical properties.
