How not to drill a project, Part 2 — drill crew tensions lead to disaster
Strolling around PDAC in March, I ended up in the core shack, perusing all of the world class, upper quartile tier 1 discoveries guaranteed to become a mine one day….
Column
The View from England: PDAC is over — time for would-be investors to reflect
The middle of March is a depressing time in the calendar, and not just because it means the annual PDAC conference is over. Ever since William Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar…
The view from England: Thinning seams of tradition
Many of you will have been waiting for the score from mining’s famous Bottle Match. This is the annual rugby game played between Exeter University’s Camborne School of Mines (CSM)…
The View from England: Gold at 550-year high
At the third time of asking, gold seems set to break decisively through the psychologically important barrier of US$2,000 ($2,686) per ounce. More importantly, the precious metal has matched an…
The view from England: Space rocks and rockets, the final frontier
Space never ceases to fascinate, whether it is our reaching the extra-terrestrial or the extra-terrestrial reaching us. We experienced a taste of the former on Jan. 9, when the U.K….
The View from England: When copper production was dominated by the Welsh
The U.K. no longer springs to mind as a mining giant, but we used to have a dominant role in the global industry. The extraction of non-ferrous metals on these…
The view from England: Coal mine approval a seasonal gift from UK government
Gifts have been exchanged in England during December since before the building of Stonehenge 5,000 years ago. Back then our Neolithic ancestors were celebrating the midwinter solstice (Dec. 21) with…
The View from England: Miners still await a miracle
Two years ago, in this column, I reminded readers of The Northern Miner that the mining industry has a patron saint, Barbara, whose feast day (Dec. 4) is observed by…
The View from England: Exploration lessons from the Pharaohs
One-hundred years ago a five-year search culminated in arguably the world’s greatest ever exploration success. No, not a mineral deposit (although lots of gold was found), rather the almost intact…
A scary time for everyone as gloomy forecasts for mining and exploration show
With annual financial budgets looming, the end of October is a frightening time in the calendar. This year is especially scary because of the considerable political and financial uncertainty. Soaring…
The View from England: Sending the right signals
The world’s first, and still largest, broadcaster is 100 years old. The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was formed on Oct. 18, 1922, by a group of leading wireless manufacturers, including…
The View from England: Mining should measure its queue
We British are good at queuing, and most of us practice standing in line from an early age. This lifetime of training came to fruition during the four days leading…