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By David D. Spencer

As in many other areas of the Mexican economy, the legal rules applicable to mining in Mexico have been changing fast. Mexico's mining sector is opening up to levels of international participation that were unforeseeable just a few years ago. Over the last several years, Mexico has made dramatic changes in its trade and investment policies. Many of these changes have their roots in the administrations of Miguel de la Madrid and perhaps even Jose Lopez Portillo. However, the current administration of President Carlos Salinas must be given credit for articulating, advancing, promulgating and implementing these changes. Just a few short years ago, few people believed Mexico would repeal so many of its restrictions on foreign investment and lower its average tariff level from something around 100% to less than 10%, where it is today. NAFTA and mining The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the most comprehensive international expression of Mexico's new policies. Except perhaps for the agreements establishing the European Union, NAFTA is the most detailed trade agreement ever written, consisting of about 2000 pages. The provisions of NAFTA with the greatest relevance to the mining industry include the chapters on investment and government procurement. Many mining companies may also find the temporary work provisions relevant. Finally, no discussion of NAFTA and the mining industry would be complete without some mention of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the so-called Environmental Side Agreement.

Jan 1, 1994

By Erick F. Weiland, John W. Lindemann

Introduction Minerals exploration is one step in the mining industry's task of providing raw materials to basic industries. The industry's provision of raw materials involves identifying and evaluating resources, converting them to reserves, and intelligent, economic exploitation of these reserves. The mineral process focuses on identification and evaluation. Reserves are ore bodies and ore bodies are, by definition, wasting assets. Therefore, if an adequate provision of raw materials to basic industry is to continue, these wasting assets (ore bodies) must be replaced with new or different reserves as current reserves are depleted. Minerals exploration is a geologic problem and is fundamentally deductive, flowing from the general to the specific. Past exploration methods and philosophy have amply supplied the resources to meet the demands of an industrial society. During the past decade, however, the framework where mineral resources were identified, defined, and evaluated has changed. Mineral explorationists no longer can rely solely on the successful past methods to provide the necessary resources for our complex society. Productive explorationists must effectively and efficiently use tools and procedures that will maximize exploration efforts. Past tools need not be abandoned, but should be critically reviewed and revised in light of current scientific knowledge and technical advances. Future explorationists will view their craft not as a single discipline, but as a thoughtful integration of geophysics, geochemistry, and geostatistics for solving interrelated problems. This integration of the geosciences will lead to successful mineral exploration. Not only will the productive explorationist generate new information, he will master the use of existing data for identifying and evaluating a mineral resource. The mineral exploration process consists of incentives, ideas, finance, area, staff, time, and luck. The exploration process that stems from the interaction of these elements has three stages, each bound by a major decision point. They are selection, reconnaissance, and definition. Subsequent evaluation and exploitation phases are considered more the function of mining engineers than the exploration geologist. Mineral exploration endeavors that have been productive have three attributes fundamental to success: commitment, competence, and persistence. Commitment Commitment is believing that exploring for mineral resources is worth performing. While the mining industry is the focus of this commitment, government and society must also be committed to the concept of mineral reserve identification through exploration activity. Government demonstrates its commitment by providing access to land for exploration and, if it is successful, exploitation can take place. Realistic legislation relating to taxation, land use, reclamation, and environmental constraints is indicative of government commitment to intelligent resource use. The public must come to terms with mineral resource evaluation and extraction. Without some form of commitment from the public, availability of mineral resources vital to basic industry will be largely in the control of a foreign and potentially unstable mining industry. Commitment to a mineral resource identification-evaluation-extraction system must be shared equally by government, society, and the minerals industry. The scope and direction of this commitment varies, with the industry's commitment to explore for mineral resources being the most apparent. Industry commitment is the belief at all levels of exploration (from senior corporate executives to individual field and support staff) that exploration is worth performing, that exploration goals can be met, and that their particular organization is the best and the only group that can successfully accomplish the project. Commitment can be considered at three

Jan 11, 1983

By J. B. Fletcher

Miami Copper Company has used conveyor belts underground since 1947, At that time, the draw level for a portion of the orebody was only 25 feet above the haulage level To get the main haulage drifts as far away as practical from under the stoping area, 301, belt conveyors were used for lateral transfer, If the haulage drift was kept in good ground., a satisfactory draw of these stopes could be effected in that repairs to the conveyor drifts could be accomplished while drawing ore from the stopes. Some 7,400,000 tons of ore were mined with the 301d belt conveyor at a belt cost of approximately $0,004 per ton of ore. When the mining plan for a new section of the mine was laid. out in 1953, it was decided to use belts to collect the ore from the higher draw levels, and. move the ore laterally to centrally located concrete ore passes for transfer to the main haulage level (See Cut #1), The final plans used belt conveyors too collect from 3 stopes: on the 570 level, 2 stopes on the 720 level, and one stope on the 900 level. The six stopes to be mined in this manner would produce about 8 million tons of ore, and the sequence of mining was such that not more than four 400 feet conveyors would be in use at one time, Four conveyors using 36 inch, 4 ply belting were designed by the mine engineering office and fabricated at the mine shop, so that no piece was longer than 10 feet, and. the heaviest piece was the 25 horsepower motor, The head drive section, and the tail-pulley-takeup section were of bolted construction so they could be broken down for easing moving, Due to the size of the mine openings, the belt had to be transported into the mine in 400 feet rolls, requiring two splices for an installed belt. A torque arm speed reducer was used with a V -belt drive which made it possible to change the speed of the conveyor by changing the diameter of the V-belt pulley (See Cut #2).

Jan 1, 1958

By David J. Gurtler

In early 1988, Chino Mines Co. began using a system of economic splits for all materials encountered in mining. All mined material is evaluated as mill ore, solvent extraction electrowinning plant feed, and non-ore material, to determine its disposition. Results thus far indicate a significant increase in financial returns on material mined compared with the copper cutoff grade previously in use. Chino Mines is a partnership between Phelps Dodge Corp. (two-thirds ownership) and Mitsubishi Corp. (one-third ownership). The company produces copper and byproduct metals from the historic Santa Rita del Cobre mining district in southwestern New Mexico. The history of copper production in the district began with the use of surface native copper by native Americans before 1800. Spanish soldiers from Mexico later became aware of this district and mining began in 1801. The district was worked intermittently until 1909 when the Chino Copper Co. was formed, with Daniel C. Jackling as vice president and managing director. Concentrator operations were started in 1911. Kennecott purchased the company in 1933 and built a smelter in 1939. Chino Mines Co. was formed in 1980 when Mitsubishi purchased one-third of Kennecott's holding at the property.

Jan 1, 1990

By R. Latifovic

Assessment of the possible impact of existing and future mining projects located in remote areas may be difficult and costly. This may have an adverse effect on the process of issuing mine permits and development of new mines. A remote sensing based land cover change assessment methodology presented in this paper is a promising avenue to render this process more meaningful, precise and affordable. It has been applied to a case study of the Oil Sands Mining Development in the north-east of the Canadian province of Alberta. Recently, the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) is a place of unprecedented growth of open-pit mining operations. This study was focused on the primary impact onto the landscape and vegetation resulting from exploration and, mining development. This impact was assessed using an information extraction method applied to two LANDSAT scenes. The analysis based on derived land cover maps shows a 8.64% decrease of natural vegetation in the study area (715,094 ha) in 2001 relative to 1992. It is demonstrated that the methodology presented here provides reliable results and is fully applicable for the assessment of the environmental impact of large scale mining operations.

Jan 1, 2006

By Kadri Dagdelen

Production scheduling of an open pit mine is one of the most important steps in open pit mine planning. The production schedule of a mine defines the distribution of cash flows and as a result directly influences the net present value and overall economic feasibility of a project. It is becoming more and more critical to obtain an exploitation schedule of a deposit such that highest possible returns are achieved from a project. As the mining industry mines lower and lower grade ores, production scheduling is becoming a key item which can make or break a project. Although the need to plan and operate a mine with an optimum production schedule has been obvious for some time, the methods used to obtain such a schedule have not been. There is not a single, mathematically proven, optimum mine production scheduling algorithm which is widely accepted and used today. In an attempt to determine a production schedule which is optimum, a new algorithm was developed. This algorithm, in theory, is based on the lagrangian concepts of mathematics and in practice is based on the parameterization concept of mining. This paper describes the fundamentals of this newly developed algorithm.

Jan 1, 1986

John C. Greenway was responsible for much of my success in the seven years from what I called the end of my apprenticeship in exploration until I entered the Army in World War I. I first met Green- way on my return from Promontorio and, as he was replacing Powell, he was to be my boss. Even at first glance you couldn't help liking and trusting him. He was tall, well built, and erect-an old Yale athlete. After college he became a captain in the Rough Riders and a friend of Theodore Roosevelt, distinguishing himself in the Cuban campaign. He made good friends in all ranks of the Rough Riders, some later becoming leaders of industry and others following Greenway where-ever he went. After the Spanish War Greenway worked for iron mining companies around the Great Lakes and when the directors decided that Calumet and Arizona needed a new manager the ones who were also prominent in Oliver Iron Mining Co. selected Greenway It was a lucky choice for Greenway and for me. He became the best manager among those who ran the big copper mines He was open-minded in encouraging discussion and even opposition-until he made up his mind. Then, in military fashion, everyone must follow his decision without question. I think this is an essential of good management. Unfortunately a few did not feel this way and they had to leave. It was characteristic of those times that respect for the boss was so great that in the 16 years in which he was one of my best friends I, like all under him, always called him "Mr. Greenway." Soon after he arrived Greenway asked the leading mine operators in the southwest, Dr. Louis D. Ricketts and James S. Douglas, son of the Dr. James Douglas who had made Phelps Dodge great, to do special work for Calumet and Arizona. I found later that the object of the study was to determine the terms on which the half-dozen Warren District properties of Calumet and Arizona were to be joined in one

Jan 1, 1976

By Howard V. Sears

Prospecting in its modern context means simply the gathering of information on which, to base plans for the utilization of our mineral resources. One prospecting system familiar to T. V. viewers is the pan of the old gold prospector which, while he prospected, could produce the wealth which financed him in his search. Present day geophysical "prospecting" systems, which are based on the real or supposed responses of an ore specimen, to various stimuli finder controlled laboratory conditions, are promoted as means of reducing the cost of prospecting. The universal drawback to all geophysical systems is that they yield "soft" data which are only presumed to be analogous to ore mineralization until they can be calibrated, by conventional prospecting systems, to each actual mineral environment being tested. By this time the system usually is no longer cheap. Since the raw data are too esoteric to be used until interpreted by geophysicists, usually in the light of their own personal theories and experience, the certainty of multiple interpretation is introduced. The concept of prospecting, at St. Joe Minerals Corporation's Viburnum, Fletcher and Brushy Creek mines in the new Missouri Lead Belt, encompasses surface diamond drilling for preliminary exploration, the sub¬sequent development of ore body tonnages and grades and the establishment of mining parameters. The predominantly flat-lying mineralized formation is mined by room and pillar stoping. In an operating mine, jackhammer holer are drilled in backs and bottoms of stopes, and chip samples are taken for assay, concurrent with mining. Thus irregularities in ore bodies or nearby discontinuities are not overlooked which are above or below the general mine

Jan 1, 1971

By Majid Sadeghi, Ali Naghi Dehghan, Kaveh Ahangari, Seyed Mahdi Pourhashemi

"Instrumentation and monitoring of ground deformations in tunneling is a principal means for selecting and controlling the excavation and support methods among those foreseen in the design, for ensuring safety during tunnel construction (including personnel safety inside the tunnel and safety of structures located at ground surface) and, finally, for ensuring construction quality management. In this paper, the effect of Hakim Tunnel excavation on the behavior of the surrounding ground was investigated based on the geotechnical instrumentation. This tunnel with 1080 m length, 18 m width and 12.6 m height is being constructed using the SEM/NATM along the Hakim Highway in Tehran. The results which are obtained from recorded displacements by geodetic pins (on the tunnel wall and roof), extensometers and settlements pins (at the ground surface) demonstrate the tunnel stability during the various stages of excavation. However, it is concluded that the rate of excavation in different sequences could have a major role on stability of tunnel. In this case the surface and underground openings were monitored as well as needed for controlling the face probably collapse. INTRODUCTION Tunneling is increasingly being used world-wide to provide the infrastructure required for sustainable urban areas. The high demand for space and the disturbance of existing infrastructures by construction measures increasingly forces future infrastructure projects to be conducted underground. One of the important purposes of tunneling projects in urban area is not only to minimize displacements but also to control them during the construction (Pourhashemi et al., 2015). Normal method of tunnel stability analysis is not able to evaluate the real rock and soil mass behavior. Hence, instrumentation is a practical method to monitor displacements, to evaluate the stability of underground openings, and also to determine the rock and soil mass properties (Dehghan et al., 2012. Dehghan, 2013). Rocks and soils are materials with properties that can change instantly and significantly from one point to the next. Some complications may often happen due to uncertainties in the loads that the new facility must withstand during construction and operation. Instrumentation and monitoring provide quantitative information on actual behavior of ground and adjacent structures. A lot of deformation monitoring studies for determining and analyzing different kinds of engineering structures such as tunnels, bridges, high-rise buildings and dams are implemented. Considering the type of the structure, its environmental"

Jan 1, 2016

By Serguei A. Diatchkov

The principles of classification of reserves and resources in the Soviet Union were developed in 1960. Mineral reserve calculations were reviewed by the State Committee on Reserves for approval, then registered in the State List of Mineral Deposits and included in the State Balance of the Reserves. In 1981, however, a new "System of Classification of Reserves and Resources of Mineral Deposits" was adopted. This classification system (Table 1) is still used today in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It subdivides mineral concentrations into seven categories in three major groups, based on the level of exploration performed: explored reserves (A, B, C,), evaluated reserves (C) and prognostic resources (P1, P2, P3). Explored reserves Explored reserves are calculated within exploration contours. Category A The A category is the highest level of classification for any given mineral deposit and requires comprehensive exploration. First, the ore body's position, shape and structure must be accurately delineated (Fig. 1). Next, the mineralogy of the ore body must be studied to determine its composition and properties as well as the distribution of both ore and detrimental components. It is also necessary to outline the blocks of barren rocks and limits of subeconomic ores and to distinguish between the different types, grades and physical-chemical properties (mineral texture and structure) of the ore, the

Jan 1, 1994

By Gary W. Hausler

Bergbau AG Niederrhein, a subsidiary of Ruhrkohle AG; Essen, Germany, is working coal mines on both sides of the Rhine River. The Prosper Mine in the City of Bottrop has a production of about 13,000 tons per day and has been in operation since the turn of the century. Mining has moved to the north as coal deposits south of Bottrop are exhausted. To facilitate ventilation, material handling, and transportation new shafts are being constructed in the northern coal fields. The Prosper 10 shaft is being sunk to develop the Prosper - Haniel coal field which has reserves of 280 million tons. In October, 1976 Bergbau AG Niederrhein awarded the shaft sinking contract for the 1047 m deep, 8 m inside diameter Prosper 10 shaft to Gewerkschaft Walter; Essen, Germany. Construction costs will amount to about 40 million DM with construction completion scheduled for 1981. GEOLOGY The shaft, located near the town of Kirchhellen north Bottrop, is being sunk in the Grafenwalder Horst between two faults on the south west flank of the Kirchheller Anticline. 270 m of upper cretaceus sands and marls overlay sandstone bedrock at the shaft location. The upper 124 m of this section contain highly saturated sands interspersed with marl. In order to successfully sink the shaft through this section, ground stabilization by freezing was used.

Jan 1, 1979

By R. H. T. Garnett

Reserve estimation is a process that commences with sampling and culminates in the issuance of a reserve statement. The tin, gold and diamonds that occur as marine placers on the continental shelf are low grade with very erratic mineral distributions. Sampling, using a variety of special equipment, determines the extent and grade of the mineralization. The sample size is important, especially for diamonds. Together with the sampling density, it determines the accuracy of the grade estimate. Bulk sampling is a confirmatory process. The choice of mining equipment, either new or developed from onshore activities, dictates the unit costs, the cutoff grades and the selectivity of extraction. Thus, the size of the blocks that comprise the mining plan and the reserves are determined. A variety of estimation methods of different reliability are available, with the most sophisticated being kriging. Dilution and losses during mining must be taken into account in estimation, and a grade-volume curve should be constructed. Diamond deposit estimation also involves an extra variable, the dollar value of the stones. During and after mining, essential feedback on the accuracy of un estimation may be given by the RIE factor and by a mineral balance. Reserve estimates are required for several reasons and may be subject to public disclosure. The use of the correct definitions is, therefore, important.

Jan 1, 1999

By J. W. Leonard

Comments The venerable straight-line equation Y = Bx + A is again being rediscovered, but this time by economists, mining engineers and geologists. Two economists, William Sharpe and Harry Markowitz, from the University of Chicago and Stanford University, respectively, won the 1990 Noble Prize in economics by showing that the price of individual stocks can be related to the Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA) using the straight-line equation. According to Bill Chidester, Investment Analyst, Scientific Investment, Sharpe and Markowitz strongly emphasized the role of the beta (B) value while considering the alpha (A) value to be "pretty unimportant." Chidester claims that alpha is the "mystery" value that causes individual stocks to behave independently of popular stock-market indices, such as the DJIA. For many years, mining engineers and geologists have routinely called alpha the "nugget" or surprise element in geostatistical analyses in which a designated distance (x-axis) is related to the variance of the grade (y-axis). Because the influence of the independent variable (distance) over the dependent variable (grade variance) is ideal when alpha is equal to zero, any increase in alpha represents a loosening of influence or control within the relationship. This can be good news or bad news - good news if you are an economist sorting out off-trend stocks and bad news if you are a mining engineer trying to predict sulfur in a coal seam. With many mining trends, such as those involving the relationship of distance to the variance of grade, a mathematical relationship can be formed. In geostatistical analysis, the point where a mathematical trend ends is known as the sill. If the difference between the variance of grade at the sill and at alpha can be determined, then an estimate of the relative control for a given distance can be obtained by comparing the sill value to alpha. The extent to which alpha approaches the value of the sill provides an indication of independence or loss of trend. The alpha concept may find application with distance, time or fluid problems. The point of change can be either a change in trend or the trend limit. However, even without a clearly defined point of change or trend limit, increasing alpha values always infer loss of trend. Alpha analysis should be regarded as a valuable tool when sorting out many sets of mining data. The application of this user-friendly concept to reserves, material transport, fluid flow and other areas has been, and will continue to be, the basis of many important past and future developments in mining and geology.

Jan 1, 1996

By Vernon Miller

In 1986, a subsidiary of Echo Bay Mines Ltd. purchased the McCoy property, 55 km (35 miles) southwest of Battle Mountain, NV. Echo Bay then launched a two-year, $1 15-mil lion capital program to build a mill to extract gold and silver from high-grade ore mined in two open pits - the original McCoy pit and a more recent discovery, the Cove. Engineering on a new mill began in 1987 with the facility coming on line in 1989. It was comprised of a semiautogenous (SAG) mill and ball mill grinding, leaching, flotation, counter current decantation (CCD) and Merrill-Crowe processes. The mill started up on McCoy ore, a rocky material that settled very well in the new CCD thickener system. Production levels were maintained at about 7.2 kt/d (8000 stpd). The situation changed as the McCoy ore played out and increasing amounts of material from the Cove pit-with its oxide, sulfide and carbonaceous ore - were fed to the mill. The problem was the high clay content of the Cove ore. The new ore immediately created production problems, mainly loss of control on the CCD thickeners. With the McCoy pit slated to be shut down in early 1991, it was essential to find a way to efficiently process the Cove ore. Initially, the only way to regain control of the thickeners was to slow down the processing rate and increase flocculant usage, thereby getting the solids to settle in the thickeners. But this had its cost. Production dropped to about 5.9 kt/d (6500 stpd), additional operators were needed and flocculant costs, on occasion, would reach an unacceptable $80,000 per month. Overfloccing led to viscous

Jan 1, 1993

By G. Falalakis

The Perama Hill gold project is an environmentally friendly project designed with the principle of zero discharge to the environment. The main issues of the proposed mine that are addressed in this paper are the water management, the dam and tailings management facility parameters as well as the mine closure plan, which demonstrate the sustainable design of the project. The water plant circuit will operate using 87% of recycled water and rainfalls, while the pumped aquifer is completely unsuitable for any other use. The proposed water management plan is based on different meteorological conditions for every month and optimizes the external water needs. The tailings pond area that is sited on intensely argilized rocks, will be composite-lined resulting in a permeability value of less than 10-10 m/s, and will exceed the safety parameters for maximum earthquake intensity, flood conditions and seepage. Tailings will contain less than 1 ppm cyanides (almost potable water ranges) and will be free of heavy metals (oxide ore material). The proposed rehabilitation plan comprises of decommissioning and demolition of the plant and auxiliary facilities, open pit partial back-filling and recontouring, appropriate capping of the tailings impoundment, revegetation, maintenance of area drainage system and monitoring for 5 years after rehabilitation. The plan is fullycosted, will be prepaid and through the agreed final land uses with the local community and the proposed actions of the corporate responsibility will attribute to the sustainable development of the area. The design of the Perama Hill project according to new EU and UN legislation and practices ensures that it will be the best example of gold mining operations in Greece.

Jan 1, 2008

By Clyde N. Garman

The Homestake-New Mexico Partners consist of Homestake Mining Company of Lead, South Dakota; Rio de Ore Uranium Mines, Inc; United Western Minerals Company; White, Weld and Company; J.H. Whitney; San Jacinto Petroleum Corporation; and Clyde Osborn, Homestake Mining Company is the general partner, the others are limited partners. The Rio de Ore Uranium Mines, Inc. has. a mine in the Ambrosia Lake area; this was the first mine to go into production in this area. The United Western Minerals Company also has a mine in the Ambrosia Lake which is operated as a "farm out" from the San Jacinto Petroleum Corporation. These mines are the principal sources of ore for the mill. This group was the first to obtain a contract with AEC to make uranium concentrate from Ambrosia Lake ores and the first to have a mill in operation specifically for these ores. With Clyde Osborn as the sparkplug and co-ordinator holding the ore suppliers of, this group together, a contract with AEC was agreed on as to its essential points by mid-summer, 1956, At that time, there was no general partner and no financing, so me formal contract could be signed. By December, 1956 when the contract was signed and the present partnership officially formed, much of the basic engineering was done and purchasing of main elements of the mill waited on the formalizing of agreements, at the specifications and sizes agreed on previously. Ground for the mill was broken in April, 1957. The sampling plant went into operation in October and ore was first fed to the ball mills on February 5, 1958, ten months after construction actually started. Filling of the circuit with sodium carbonate bicarbonate solution had begun a week before that.

Jan 1, 1959

By Leonard Harris

Most of those involved in the mining industry are aware of the negative feelings that the well-informed citizens of this country, also known as the American public, have for the industry. As noted in an issue of Mining World News, “The general public perceives mining as dirty, noisy, destructive and belonging somewhere else.” The same theme was raised at a conference in Scotland in July 1991. It was noted there that mining has an unattractive public image around the world “as dirty, dangerous work that pollutes and degrades the environment.” Why is this? Why does mining have such a bad rap? I’m afraid that some of the blame rests with the mining industry itself - both in the past and in the present. Hopefully, we can do something about this in the future. And hopefully, the information here will help the reader to spread the word to offset the negative messages being issued almost daily by industry foes. I hope this will become more than just the words of another miner talking to miners and their friends. In the past, belching smokestacks and polluted streams and waterways were common sights. Today, the negative results of mining operations can also be seen in the form of waste dumps, leaked acid mine waste water and dust blowing from tailings piles. Some will argue that mining did nothing illegal in the past, and that all the regulations in force at that time were carried out to the letter. That may be so. The fact remains, however, that mining did these things, and the evidence is very clear in many parts of the country. It is visible to the well-informed citizens, in spite of the fact that many mine sites have been cleaned up and new technologies, such as flash smelting, dump leaching, pressure leaching and bioleaching, have greatly overcome many of the pollution problems. What is not so visible is the importance of the mining industry in our daily lives. Not long ago, knowledge about our non-renewable mineral resources ranked low on the list of qualifications for being a well-informed citizen. Events during the past two decades have changed this scenario. Politicians, writers, newscasters, economists and administrators, as well as the ‘public,’ are expressing opinions and forming judgments on oil company profits, desecration of landscapes, waste disposal sites and pollution by the extractive industries.

Jan 1, 1992

By T. Simpson

European industrial policy seeks to provide the right framework conditions to allow companies to develop and innovate and to make the EU an attractive place for job creation. This includes providing the basis for a competitive manufacturing industry which provides around 20% of EU economic output and employment for about 34 million people. The EU non-energy extractive industry with an annual turnover of around ?40 billion and a direct workforce of about 270,000 people is considerably smaller, but it plays a vital role in providing much of the manufacturing sector with raw materials. It also supplies very large quantities of minerals such as aggregates and natural stone to the construction industry, facilitating the development of modern infrastructure such as roads, railways, houses, schools and hospitals. However, despite an active extractive industry, Europe is increasingly dependent on imports of raw materials and particularly metallic ores and concentrates. In 2005, the trade deficit for minerals was in excess of ?11 billion, of which ?10 billion related to metallic minerals. Such import dependency is not a new phenomenon, but the rapid industrialisation of developing countries such as China and India has significantly increased global demand, resulting in large price increases for downstream industries and at times, bottlenecks in supply. The impact of this and other competitive pressures on some sectors of the European manufacturing industry, including the possibility of them being lost to lower cost countries outside Europe, has moved the issue of industrial policy and access to raw materials up the political agenda. A number of measures have already been announced by the European Commission to address these issues including: - The analysis of the competitiveness of individual industrial sectors, in order to understand their specific needs and take account of the particular opportunities and challenges they face.

Jan 1, 2006

By Chaitanya "Teny" Mittal

INTRODUCTION A team effort by the Owner, Engineer, and Contractor can help avoid serious problems on a construction project. It can save cost and time for both Owner and Contractor, as illustrated in the following case history of the West Zone and Siouf Keblia Collector System in Alexandria, Egypt (Contract 02-AID-83/84). Under the bilateral agreement made in 1980 between the United States of America and the Arab Republic of Egypt, the United States, through the Agency of International Development (USAID), gives approximately $1 billion per year as a grant to Egypt for various development projects. The Alexandria Wastewater Management System was selected in 1981 as one such project. The Egyptian Government Agency responsible for this work is the Alexandria General Organization for Sanitary Drainage (AGOSD). A joint venture of two U.S. consulting engineering firms, CH2M HILL, Inc., and Metcalf & Eddy, Inc., called Wastewater Consultants Group, along with two local subconsultants, Engineering Consulting Group and Warith Engineering Co., were selected by AGOSD to study the sewer system and develop a plan to serve the immediate and long-range sewage disposal needs of Alexandria. Wastewater Consultants Group is currently involved in Phase I of the Master Plan. This initial step in providing Alexandria with an operating sewerage system for the current and near-term population (year 2000) consists of the design and construction management of 140 kilometers of collector and force main pipelines (including 9 miles of pipe jacking and tunneling in very soft clay), five new pumping stations, extensive rehabilitation of two treatment plants (built in the 1960s but never operated successfully), and installation of a sludge handling system. Phase I is scheduled to be completed by the end of 1991 at a total cost of around $250 million (US) plus 250 million

Jan 1, 1989

The day after I reached New York, on January 30th, John Ryan of Anaconda told me where they wanted me to go. Late in 1916 the Russian Czar, desperate for money and supplies with which to carry on his unhappy share In the first World War, sent emissaries to the United States to see if our great mining companies might be interested in trying to find mines and to bring them to production in the millions of acres of the Imperial Estates in Russia and Siberia. It looked like a long chance as no one knew whether or where there might be important ore bodies. Even if they found them it might be a hopeless task to equip them under wartime conditions But the American copper companies had plenty of money and they were used to taking risks. They made a supersecret agreement with the Czar's deputies to send an exploring expedition to Russia at once I never learned the names of the other companies but Anaconda was to man- age the venture. Horace Winchell, then the leading mine geologist In the United States, was to be in charge of operations. Charles Janin, an eminent placer and dredge expert, was to study chances for producing gold and platinum. Though at 33 years of age I was much younger than the others, I was chosen to hunt for copper and other valuable metals. Charles Boynton, a business man who had lived in Russia and had married an attractive Russian woman, was to join the party and carry on any necessary financial or diplomatic affairs. He had gone on ahead to arrange for our reception Finally a graduate student from Ann Arbor named Steinberg was to go along as Interpreter. We soon found out that if his Russian was no better than his English his interpretlng couldn't be trusted too much I knew nothing about the millions of square miles In Russia and Siberia, and even less about what mineral deposits might be found, but I was delighted at the prospect. I was treading on air for the few

Jan 1, 1976