Engineering firms unite
Employee-owned firms Jacques Whitford and AXYS Environmental Consulting are joining to form what will be one of western Canada’s largest engineering and consulting companies. Each firm has clients in the mining, oil and gas, and energy sectors.
AXYS will become a subsidiary in the Jacques Whitford Group, which will then have offices in every province, as well as the Northwest Territories and the U.S.
Employees from both companies will total almost 400 in western Canada alone. More than 1,000 other employees are scattered throughout Canada, the U.S., and elsewhere.
Robert Seager, chief executive officer of AXYS (and who will become regional vice-president for Jacques Whitford), says the merger is not likely to result in layoffs. “The opportunities that arise from our enhanced capabilities will justify additional recruitment and hiring in the near and long term,” he says.
Amplats upgrades software
Increasing costs and lower grades at the Potgietersrust open-pit platinum mine in South Africa have forced
After evaluating three bids to upgrade existing monitoring systems, Amplats selected the IntelliMine system, designed by Modular Mining Systems of Tucson, Ariz.
IntelliMine uses wireless networking hardware and software to link management with equipment operators and other personnel. Amplats will outfit 31 trucks, five shovels, and three loaders with wireless equipment.
The Potgietersrust mine is 315 km north of Johannesburg.
Reichdrill finds Aussie distributor
Express Hydraulics will be the Australian distributor of rotary drilling rigs manufactured by Pennsylvania-based Reichdrill.
Express Hydraulics has already sold six Reichdrill drills worth US$3.5 million in total. Two C550DII rigs were delivered in late February and are being used at Zinifex’s Century open-pit zinc mine, 250 km northwest of Mt. Isa in Queensland. The drills feature Caterpillar engines and tracks, as well as Sullair compressors.
Reichdrill President Drew Drebitko accompanied the first drills to Australia and commissioned them on site at Century. Reichdrill also trained staff of Express Hydraulics to repair and maintain the equipment.
In addition to the drill rigs, Express Hydraulics is importing A$3 million worth of Reichdrill parts, and a deal is in place with a company in Western Australia to service the drill rigs there.
Formed originally in the 1950s, Reichdrill also exports to Indonesia.
ALS Chemex opens Nevada lab
ALS Chemex is processing samples at its new lab in Winnemucca, Nev.
The lab specializes in environmental protection and contamination control and features tracking of samples.
Prepared samples are shipped from Winnemucca to the ALS lab in Reno, Nev., which specializes in gold, and to ALS Chemex’s headquarters in Vancouver, B.C.
The new lab augments ALS Chemex’s existing infrastructure in Nevada, which, aside from the gold-focused laboratory in Reno, includes a plant preparation centre in Elko.
The analytical firm is also building preparation facilities in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Sudbury, Ont.
ALS Chemex is the minerals division of the ALS group of companies, owned by Campbell Brothers, a publicly listed company in Australia. ALS Chemex operates in 16 countries.
Truck tour headed west
Canadian Truck tour, a cross-country initiative designed to show off Atlas Copco’s mining and drilling equipment, is about to enter western Canada.
Launched in Sudbury, Ont., in April, the tour has travelled to Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Quebec City and Ottawa, and will return to Sudbury in early June for a demonstration at an open-pit mine. From there, the exhibition will head to Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
The centrepiece is a 53-ft. tractor trailer filled with Atlas Copco products, and potential customers are given a chance to see and handle the equipment.
“The whole idea is to bring ourselves to the market,” says Marketing Manager Michael Mayhew. “Then we’ll talk to the customers about what we can do.”
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