On route 63 past the Suncor turnoff and north past Syncrude, buffalo come in two types: concrete statues and real. The concrete statues look like what you see at Splash Mountain and the real ones look happy and randy. Stop at the concrete buffalo statues, and there is a park, where the mined land has [...]
Archive for July, 2008
Buffalo symbolize Oil Sands mining reclamation: why we like the man-made landscape
Posted in Oil sands, Reclamation, tagged buffaloe, dragline, Oil sands, Reclamation, Suncor, Syncrude, Tailings on July 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Sawridge buffet excess panic and the virtues of Syncrude oil sands mining
Posted in Oil sands, tagged buffet, Fort McMurray, Iowa, Keystone, mining, Oil sands, Sawridge, Syncrude on July 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
On the southern outskirts of Fort McMurray is the Sawridge hotel. It is expensive and very difficult to get into. There is nothing special about the rooms. Maybe the attraction is the roofed courtyard just off the entrance. If features stone-paved walkways through tropical plants and ponds stocked with white fish. The overall impression is [...]
Moxies for mining and eating in Fort McMurray: how I learnt to love paper airplanes
Posted in Oil sands, tagged Caterpillar, Fort McMurray, mining, restaurant, tailings dam failure on July 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On site, a Moxie is a large “truck” made by Caterpillar that is used to move soil around in vast quantities. This evening without time to remove the site dust from the passage on many a Moxie, six of us went to Moxie’s Classic Grill, a restaurant in downtown Fort McMurray. A tall waitress in over-tight [...]
Fuji in Fort McMurray for Sunday mining memories
Posted in Oil sands, tagged armature winder, Bento Box, Fort McMurray, Fuji Restaurant, grandfather, mining on July 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Sunday lunch as a kid was roast chicken bursting with pork-sausage stuffing. The family gathered with grandparents: my grandmother a housewife, my grandfather an armature winder on the local mine. (The photo above is of an old advert for an armature winder.) Today’s Sunday lunch was a solitary affair in a Japanese restaurant in Fort [...]
20% tip places to eat in Fort McMurray
Posted in Oil sands on July 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Mining is about mining–the technical and human issues that make mining controversial and profitable. At the end of the day, however, mining is about eating out. Tomorrow being Sunday, here is my tip on what to do tomorrow in Fort McMurray, a true mining town. This advice is premised on the fact that seldom do [...]
Indian mining battles: baby sacrifice versus forest worship
Posted in Asia, Church, tagged Anil Agarwil, Asarco, Kondh, Sterlite, Vedanta on July 19, 2008 | 4 Comments »
People in Tucson are asking questions about Vedanta and Sterlite, an Indian/British company seeking to take over Asarco, as venerable an old American/non-America mining company as you would find anywhere. Now it appears the folk in Tucson are simply doing what an 8,000-strong tribe in India is doing: expressing concern about Vedanta and Sterlite and [...]
Ethical mining; ethical gold; and the myth of recycled gemstones
Posted in Enviromental, Gold, tagged ethical gold, ethical mining, morality, recycling, Wal-Mart on July 18, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Is ethical jewelry possible? Just because the gold or silver is recycled, does that make it ethical? Just because the gemstone has been used before, does that extirpate opprobrium that may cling to its origin? I fail to understand how using recycled mined materials makes one iota of difference to the ethical nature of a mined [...]
Mining the truly bizzare about mining
Posted in Church, Community relations, First Nations, tagged bizarre, Johannesburg, LoveEarth, mining, poem, Runescape, Walmart on July 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Here are links to some bizarre sites dealing with mining. I suspect the people who compile these sites are sincere, but, in my opinion, they do represent the far edges of the mining world. Still they are fun or infuriating depending on your take.
Consultants’ Mining Blogs: Theory & Practice: and a Recipe for Disaster & Success
Posted in communication, Community relations, tagged blogging, blogs, consultants, groundwater, mining on July 16, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Boarding a flight to Fort McMurray (a mining town if ever there was one) a fellow consultant asked my opinion about what he called “Consultants’ Mining Blogs.” He works for a local medium-sized consultant to the mining industry and is considering a blog of their own to impress their mining clients. The flight was full [...]
Pot-shotting Tucson and riding a tram up Sabino Canyon
Posted in About the news, tagged Davis Air Base, Fort McMurray, Sabino Canyon, Tucson on July 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I am honored the Arizona Geology, as fine a blog as you are likely to find, writes that I take a pot-shot at Tucson. I tried to leave a comment, but the mechanics elude me. Thus I reply here to the “accusation” that I shoot Tucson.
-
Top Posts
- Mining engineers' starting salaries in top ten
- Should I Become a Mining Engineer?
- Mining truck driver wants job: do you have the right opportunity for Australia?
- Seeking work, miners are scammed by con artists: how to avoid the worst
- Weekend career and salary deliberations: 200K in Fort McMurray and oil sands mining?
- About me and the blog
- 2012 Mining Opportunities & Jobs (In Canada?)
- Smelly Anti-Coal-Mining Protests
- Military Drones for Mines & Tailings
- 2011 U.S. Mine Wages: Are You Earning Your Worth in Mining?
MINING.com- South Korea's LG bids for Queensland coal mine May 30, 2012 MINING.com Editor
- Xstrata says Peru copper deliveries unaffected by protest May 30, 2012 Bloomberg
- China mulling undersea mineral exploration May 30, 2012 MINING.com Editor
- Oil Find in Turkana (Kenya) brings Hope for Education and Jobs in the Region May 29, 2012 Susanne Iberle
- GoldQuest Mining announces $5 million bought private placement May 29, 2012 Marketwire - Mining and Metals
- Positive PEA lifts Sabina stock price 5% May 29, 2012 MINING.com Editor
- Romney flips on coal May 29, 2012 Salon
- Gold falls over 1 pct in heavy volume, euro slides May 29, 2012 Reuters
- Crown Gold agrees to Sell Monte Cristo property for up to $5.5 million in cash May 29, 2012 Marketwire - Mining and Metals
- Cline Mining Corporation files suit against the Province of British Columbia for expropriation of coal properties May 29, 2012 CNW Telbec | Mining/Metals
Categories
- About the news
- acid mine drainage
- Africa
- Asia
- Australia and New Zealand
- blogs
- brandy
- British Columbia
- California
- Church
- Coal
- Colorado
- Commodity
- communication
- Community relations
- consulting
- Copper
- Cyanide
- decomissioning
- Diamond
- drilling
- due dilligence
- Engineering – General
- Enviromental
- Environment
- environmental
- Europe
- feasibilty studies
- First Nations
- Geology
- Geotechnical
- Global Warming
- Gold
- health
- health and safety
- Heap leach
- Human relations and mining
- Hydrology and hydraulics
- Investing & Finance
- Jobs and Salaries
- Latin America
- Law (Mining)
- Metallurgy
- mining
- Mining history
- Money & Mining
- mountaintop mining
- North America
- oil
- Oil sands
- Open Pit
- opera
- People
- Peru
- Policy and procedure
- Reclamation
- safety
- Software
- Tailings
- Uncategorized
- Underground
- Uranium
- Waste Rock
-
Recent Comments
mcarthur on EPA Report on Bristol Bay and … hardrockminer on Smelly Anti-Coal-Mining P… alistair kent on Smelly Anti-Coal-Mining P… cmc on Should I Become a Mining … FredW on Military Drones for Mines … Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
