Mining and Exploration

Wednesday 30th January 2013 was a particular significant date for Canada Fluorspar Inc (CFI). It was on this day that the company proudly announced the results of a newly completed Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for its St Lawrence fluorspar project in Newfoundland.

Historically used in aluminium production, protective clothing containing Kevlar, Teflon for non-stick frying pans, and refrigerants and air conditioning, fluorspar is a halide mineral of increasing importance, specifically when it comes to new manufacturing technologies.

African Minerals (AML) started life in 1996 as the Sierra Leone Diamond Company, focused on Sierra Leone’s deposits of alluvial diamonds. In 2005 it raised £20 million on London’s AIM market and three years later confirmed its Tonkolili magnetite resource in Sierra Leone’s Northern Province.

In the same way that it had a hugely symbolic meaning to ancient Egyptian culture, gold was just as central to ancient Greeks, in this case as a financial commodity. In fact it was as early as 550 BC that the Greeks had begun mining for gold across the Mediterranean and into Middle Eastern territory. By 325 BC, the Greeks had successfully mined across an area spanning from Gibraltar to Asia Minor and Egypt.

The company’s 12 percent profit rise, to the tune of £443 million, was underpinned by the strong performance of its minerals division.

Weir Minerals, which specialises in supplying slurry handling equipment, was boosted by continued demand growth in Chinese and emerging markets for key commodities such as copper.

Weir also said cost efficiencies helped it achieve a record year, which saw revenue up by 12 percent to more than £2.5 billion.

Alberto Salas, president, La Sociedad Nacional de Minería (the national mining society of Chile)

What is the historical role of SONAMI?
La Sociedad Nacional de Minería (SONAMI) is one of the oldest business organizations in Chile. This year we’ll have been running for 129 years and during that time we have played a key role in the development of the mining sector.

Chile is currently responsible for over a third of worldwide copper production. It has been the leading global producer of copper since the 1990s when the government’s liberalisation policy opened the country to the international mining community.

It was in 1972 that Dame Shirley Bassey released the iconic song Diamonds Are Forever. Immortalised as the theme tune to one of Sean Connery’s greatest James Bond adventures the song spoke of how diamonds will remain long after a person’s love has gone. The truth is that not only will diamonds outlive many generations to come, the creation of natural diamonds pre-dates life on earth itself.

Wherever life may take us, we are all born with the same basic skill set. However it is from this point onwards that we each develop and progress as human beings in hugely different ways from one another. Nevertheless, the vast majority of us will one day find ourselves in a similar position to when we were young in that we will require training to embark on our future career paths.

It is expected that this time-saving functionality will enable users to gain a rapid interpretation of mineral’s properties while actually in the field, this eliminating the need for geologists to wait for lab results to verify what they are working with.

XRF machines are portable geochemical analysers designed specifically for in-field mining and exploration use. By scanning a sample, an XRF machine provides users with an immediate analysis of elements.