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JUST like that. One minute blue skies, excellent visibility and a heavenly view all around, the next gloom - like a train passing into a tunnel. For many junior miners and explorers, the train metaphor is apt. It’s dark in the tunnel, yes, yet they can still feel forward momentum. But is the small light up ahead the end of the tunnel or a freight train coming the other way?
Quote of the Week"Credit crunch ... I'd be able to take it more seriously if it didn't sound like a breakfast cereal." - a British comedian who probably borrowed it from someone else.
JOURNALISTS are often accused of not living in the real world, and the call by one well known practitioner for company directors of junior exploration companies to more or less fall on their swords in the interest of preserving shareholder funds, does indeed do the accusation justice.
DESPITE potential targets having market capitalisations fractions of what they recently were, acquisitions now seem off the agenda for OZ Minerals judging by a recent speech given by company CEO Andrew Michelmore to the Australian-British Chamber of Commerce.
TALK about emerging from a time machine at the wrong time and place. Rox Resources managing director Ian Mulholland could be the next Dr Who.
A PUNT on promoting a human resources manager to operations manager of its largest mining contract at that time has certainly reaped rewards for both Thiess and Simone Wetzlar. That was eight years ago and after several further management roles Wetzlar is now chief operating officer for Thiess’ new business unit, Thiess Australian Mining.
HIGH-TECH 'listening' devices developed by Australia's CSIRO to enhance coal plant maintenance and yield could also be used as non-invasive measuring tools to fine tune the performance of other mineral processing plants.
I THINK everyone is interested in automation. It offers not only potential labour savings, but also major efficiency/productivity gains, maintenance cost savings, and flow on capital investment savings.
‘SURVIVAL of the fittest’ is a cliché that’s rapidly gaining currency in the junior resources sector. Emmerson Resources CEO Rob Bills prefers “fortune favours the brave”, and he claims to have won new friends on an eastern states roadshow this week.
ON Monday last I was sitting in front of the telly with a gin and tonic, watching live, the US house of representatives vote down the first draft of the rescue package. Although it was given a second chance and ultimately passed, at the time I confess to being somewhat stunned that this group of buffoons could not look beyond their re-election prospects and grasp the intricacies of what was unfolding on their watch.
MINING software market bellwether Gemcom is expecting to maintain strong global growth rates despite a noticeable slowdown in financing for North American juniors and exploration projects due to the US finance sector woes. The deceleration could hit sales in the Canadian-based company’s home market, but it is not expecting the worldwide mining sector to fall in a hole.
THE rapid growth in China’s steel output has surprised and shaken the world steel industry. Eight years ago the country was just another player; today it dominates global production, consumption and trade – and is likely to continue to do so for several years to come. Steel Business Briefing takes this opportunity to stand back and review the emergence, structure, priorities and direction of this industry giant.
EVEN the most persistent voices of reason are not being heard in the current blizzard of bad news from the world’s stockmarkets and financial centres. They don’t get more persistent – some mining executives would say incessant – than Keith Goode, who was madly waving his arms around this week about the (positive) impact of the Australian dollar on local miners’ revenue streams.
