I THINK MINING

Roundup is on the weekly calender horizon.  So I decided to see what bloggers world-wide are saying about mining exploration.  Here are the top picks.

Mining Exploration News is one of those news site using blog software, as indeed are most “blogs” that come out of a Google blog search.   Mining Exploration News’ top article tells of a seminar on drilling in the Marcus Shales of Pennsylvania for gas.  Seems the pasts bad effects of mining in the area has people up in arms.  I liked this bit of mining history embedded in the story:

The seminar was hosted by the Moshannon Creek Watershed Coalition, the Wood Duck Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Clearfield County Conservation District and the Centre County Conservation District. Each of the four speakers stressed their organizations were not against the gas well drilling, as long as the proper environmental safe-guards were put in place. Many watersheds are still battling to bounce back from the effects of acid mine drainage from the coal mining boom prior to the Surface Mine Reclamation Act of 1977.

Then there is the Victoria, British Columbia Portal, one of those pretend-to-be-a-blog sites that just picks up stories from others.  They choose as their leader the Canadian Press story that mining exploration activity fell 12 percent in BC in 2008. 

Geology.co  and their Geology News is another pretend-blog picking up other peoples stories and stuffing the page with ad.  Their lead is a copy of a story from Mining Weekly on challenges faced by the diamond mining industry.  So what else is new?

At about fifty on the Google blog-search list is Republic of Mining.  They started out as a blog in the true sense but have long since become a kind of in-house e-newspaper for the Sudbury and Ontario mining industry.  They post good, relevant, and interesting stuff.  Their lead article is on Donald H. Gorman who has just been inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame. 

This is followed by a site offering jobs in exploration, and then this if followed by the Rio Tinto blog.  Considering the state of mining, their lead story on mineral exploration at Ranger 3 Deeps is intriguing.  Not that it is even that profound:

Current understanding of the mineralisation in the Ranger 3 Deeps area, supported by drilling during 2008, has defined a significant extension to the mineralisation north of earlier intersections and at a shallower depth.

And then out of the blue comes one of those finds: a new genuine blog by a real person.  The blog is The Lost Geologist. The writer is a Geology Masters (Diplom) degree candidate.  He writes on the posting I came across:

A great site about mineral deposits that I so far neglected to mention here is the collection of freely accessible Mineral Deposit Profiles of the British Columbia Geological Survey. More than 90 profiles of different mineral deposits are described in short and easy to understand summaries sorted by commodity, lithology or deposit group. It is a very valuable resource for anyone interested or working in the the wide field of mineral exploration. 

This fellow has been posting for a year.  I have just found him, and will return.  Here is a fresh, honest voice. 

This proves only that those who say they never read blogs, maybe do not read e-news and e-opinions.  Or maybe like the guy I chatted to last night at a farewell party for a friend said:  “You guys in the e-media never make money. Now paper, like the Northern Miner, makes lots of money.  Advertisers like their ads on paper, and old time miners like their news and views on paper.”

I can see why:  the paper news selects, arranges, and organizes the news.  Saves you having to scan through acres of waste-land irrelevant stuff.  But then it also deprives you of the thrill of finding a genuine voice, a personal opinion not tied to corporate caution and legal constraints.

Thus with Roundup acoming, spend a bit of time looking at the blogs on mining exploration.  And if you find something new and informative, let me know.