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Archive for June, 2009

Working the Oil Sands

Posted in Africa, Oil sands on June 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Here are two word sketches of people working on the oil sands. I interacted with them on a recent visit to Fort McMurray. On the plane from Vancouver I sat next to an elderly, florid-faced man, who pulled out his dollars and ordered two vodkas as soon as the air hostess offered. He turned to [...]

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Oil Sands Tailings Reclamation a Reality We All Need

Posted in Oil sands, Reclamation, Tailings on June 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Fort McMurray, the local newspaper, and oil sand tailings reclamation. The June 30, 2009 issue of the newspaper notes that tree planting at the Suncor Tailings Pond 1 has begun. I have seen the reclamation work that pond and can vouchsafe for the incredible progress. What is happening on Pond 1 belies the claims of [...]

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Glamis looses gold in California

Posted in California, mining on June 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

For a long time I have watched the case brought by Glamis Gold to be compensated for what they say is loss of their ability to develop a gold mine in California because the local Indian say the land is sacred. Glamis brought the case in terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). [...]

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Peruvian Mining Racilism and 60 Dead

Posted in mining, Peru on June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Peruvian President Alan Garcia amended Decree 1090 “to open up to 60 % of Peru’s jungles to mining, oil , and gas exploration and development.” Protest ensued and maybe sixty people died. The President is then reported to have said: “There is a conspiracy aimed at stopping us from using our natural resources for the [...]

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MiningBlogs, Wikis, and Facebooks

Posted in blogs, mining on June 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Lunch and a walk through the sun of Vancouver was enlightened by a deep conversation on the topic of whether mining companies could (or should) use blogs, wikis, and facebook (and similar) to influence public opinion. My opinion: it is neither desirable nor practical for mining companies to use the resources of the open internet [...]

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Gold, Investment, and Eternal Youth

Posted in Gold, mining on June 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Weekend Reading: Mysteries of the Middle Ages by Thomas Cahill. In this book he writes of gold and the alchemists: Why did the alchemists connect gold with eternal youth? Gold, they perceived correctly, is different from any other earthly substance. Unlike all other metals, which rust or gradually corrode, gold cannot be damaged by heat [...]

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Oil Sands Taxes to $7,000 a month

Posted in mining, Oil sands on June 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I was in Fort McMurray on the oil sands mines. We fell to discussing the impact of the mines on the Canadian economy. I started the discussion by refering to an article in a recent issue of the New Yorker magazine in which the vast scope of financial activities as a percentage of the [...]

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Harmony Gold and Illegal Gold Mining

Posted in Africa, Gold, mining on June 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

News that 36 dead miners were brought to the surface by “fellow criminal miners following an underground fire in an abondoned area” of the Harmony Gold Mine in South Africa leaves me in confusion about human nature. Or maybe I should be impressed by human nature as highlighted in this story? That 300 “criminal miners” [...]

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Mountaintop Mining

Posted in Coal, mountaintop mining, Uranium on June 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Somehow it is almost un-American to imagine that one man, at the top, can solve all the nation’s problems. I refer to recent reports that environmentalists are disappointed that Obama has not already banned mountaintop mining. So too gays who believe he should have permitted universal marriage. And that uranium prospecting near the Grand Canyon [...]

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