View Article in E-Magazine | View Brochure

.

Fostering Community Relations…

Committed to the success of its shareholders, Metals X recently undertook the process of re-capitalising its balance sheet. Already Australia’s largest producer of tin and owner of one of the world’s largest undeveloped nickel deposits, Metals X is now also a truly diversified resource company managing assets at all stages of development. From exploration through to production, Metals X has holdings in tin, nickel, gold, copper, zinc, phosphate, uranium, lead and tungsten.

Aside from its holdings in nickel and tin, Metals X’s selection of strategic investments include: Jabaru, Westgold Resources, Aragon and Agaton. Metals X’s diverse asset holdings allow it the flexibility required to fund and finance exploration activities in order to continue to achieve additional growth.

Tasmanian Tin

Currently, tin is Metals X’s most lucrative investment, aimed at creating shareholder value from the company’s assets and infrastructure in Tasmania.

Tin is suffering from a global supply deficit, therefore demand is constantly increasing. This makes for a strong market, particularly for Metals X, with its recent developments at its Tasmanian Tin operations. Prices for tin have shown at a record high, which has accounted for a remarkable jump – approximately 30% – in Metals X’s shares since September.

These assets are held under a 50/50 joint venture formed last March with Yunnan Tin Parksong Australia Holdings Pty Ltd (the world’s largest tin producer, producing approximately 60,000 tpa of refined metal tin, or approximately 20% of the global market) within a wholly owned subsidiary company, Bluestone Mines Tasmania Pty Ltd (BMT). Included in these assets are the world-class Renison Bell Mine, the Renison Tin Concentrator, the Mt Bischoff Tin Project and the Renison Expansion Project – Rentails – whereby Metals X hopes to add 19 thousand tonnes of tin production.

This joint venture was entered by Metals X in an effort to provide security of concentrate sales as well as an exposure to new advancements in technology.

Wingellina Nickel

Metals X’s second area of strength is its nickel assets. Nickel operates in a strong market for the same reasons as does tin. In particular, nickel production is fuelled by the recent demand for stainless steel products.

In a landmark agreement with the Traditional Owners and granted Native Title holders of the Wingellina Project area through their representative bodies: the Yarnangu Ngaanyatjarraku Parna Aboriginal Corporation, the Ngaanyatjarra Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation), and the Ngaanyatjarra Council (Aboriginal Corporation), Metals X was recently provided consent for the grant of a mining lease and subsequent mining operations over the project. This agreement, while subject to other regulatory approvals, allows the massive Wingellina Nickel-Cobalt Limonite Project to be advanced toward production. While the details of the agreement remain confidential, Metals X has advised that the agreement includes cash payments as project milestones are met, a gross royalty interest, and employment and training initiatives for the local people, which is in line with similar agreements made in recent times.

Boasts Metals X’s Managing Director, Warren Hallam, “This is a major milestone in the development of Wingellina and a momentous occasion for the Ngaanyatjarra People and the State of Western Australia. It reflects a willingness by the People to work together with mining companies in the development of resource projects providing commercial and financial benefits to all stakeholders, whilst maintaining respect for the culture, beliefs and traditions of the Traditional Owners.”

The first mining agreement to be successfully negotiated in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands and Aboriginal Reserves, it represents the diligent and respectful nature of continued relations fostered by Metals X in the area over the last five years.

“We work really closely with the Aboriginal community. We offer employment where possible to the local community and we sponsor various activities associated with the Aborigines. We also provide accommodation for the people coming to that area . . . I think that the outcome of all of that is that we have progressed to a mining agreement with the Aborigines and this is the first mining agreement within those lands.” “That speaks for itself in regards to what our relationship is like within that area.”

Metals X works together with the Traditional Elders as well as the Land Council who oversee the area to ensure that they have the same understandings throughout the full construction process. “Consultation is a daily process. We have a permanent presence within the Wingellina area and its day to day relationships with the Traditional Owners within the area. We continually keep them informed about what our activities are and where we’re going. We respect their culture and their requirements.”

Corporate Responsibility

Additionally, Metals X works hard to ensure environmental responsibility, in particular, the recycling of oils. “Tasmania is quite a pristine environment,” explains Mr Hallam, “so we ensure that we monitor all of our discharge and we maintain a diligence on our rehabilitation.” Metals X believes that the best way to promote environmental responsibility is through developing workforce awareness of sound environmental practice; it “is not only a management obligation but the responsibility of every employee and contractor.”

Health and Safety is also of high priority to Metals X. “It’s about ensuring each work area is safe,” explains Mr Hallam, “that workers can go to work in an environment that is safe for them and that they have the suitable training and knowledge on operating policies and procedures in all areas.” A key focus for Metals X in this area is to “create and maintain a culture in the workplace whereby employees, contractors and visitors have accountability for maintaining a safe work environment.”

Capitalising on global resource shortages and the abundance of Australian natural resources, Metals X has become one of the strongest resource companies in all of Australia, currently holding cash and receivables of over $53 million, and investments in other public listed entities of approximately $60 million (which includes 32% of Westgold Resources Limited, 19.9% of Jabiru Metals Limited, and direct and indirect interests in 28% of Aragon Resources Limited). What makes Metals X such a remarkable company, however, is not any one of these things, but rather, the efforts which have enabled them these accomplishments. Metals X has thrived in this industry not only due to its business acumen, but also because of its diligence and extraordinary approach to fostering community relations.

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

Powering The Future…

Since it was first discovered by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth in 1789, Uranium has become the stuff of legend. Named after the planet Uranus, uranium has many unique properties that allow it to be used for a number of applications, but remains best known today for its role in nuclear energy, fueling nuclear power plants worldwide. Unlike other sources of energy such as fossil fuels like oil and coal, uranium is an infinitely cleaner source of power. While some green energy initiatives like solar and wind power are on the horizon, they are still years away from being reliable sources of energy.

“Uranium is really going to be used for power generation,” says Andrew Bell, Board and Management Chairman and CEO of Resource Star Ltd. “It’s the only solution to power generation in the future.”

Under Mr Bell’s time-tested and experienced leadership, Resource Star Ltd is actively seeking uranium and uranium-related metals in Australia and Africa, lands that are open to new mining projects. As a publicly listed Australian company (ASX: RSL), Resource Star Ltd has interests in uranium-associated exploration assets in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Malawi. The challenge, says Mr Bell, is in the science; good geology is critical. As such, Resource Star’s employees and directors are top-notch, and bring a wide range of expertise to the company. Staff members have worked for companies such as Jupiter Mines Ltd, Anglo American, and DeBeers, with highly diverse backgrounds relevant to the field: everything from geology, mining and mineral exploration to management, broking and accounting.

Resource Star Ltd was born from the ashes of Gowings, a department store chain in Sydney, which eventually closed the doors of its last store in 2006. In time, the shell of the company – which had been listed on retail boards – had some uranium assets put in, and was re-listed as a mining company. Formerly known as Retail Star Limited, the company name soon changed, and the firm was reborn as Resource Star Limited.

In the months since Resource Star relisted in March 2010, the company has been extremely proactive. In addition to consolidating a number of promising projects, it has delivered a maiden mineral resource at Livingstonia, confirmed heavy rare earth potential at Machinga, and significantly increased the prospective area held and under application. It has commenced drilling (or is imminent) on five projects, and the company has continued to review international and local opportunities to complement its portfolio.

Projects in Australia and Malawi

With its head office in Melbourne, Victoria, Resource Star Ltd is focusing its attention to key projects, including its Edith River Uranium Project in the Northern Territory. The company has also allied with Globe Metals & Mining for a joint venture on the Machinga Niobium-Rare Earths Project in Malawi. While Globe is managing the Machinga project with input from Resource Star, it is earning 20 per cent equity through exploration expenditure. In a staged process, Globe can earn up to 80 per cent in the project by funding all activity up to and including a feasibility study.

A republic in southeastern Africa, Malawi was the British protectorate of Nyasaland. Bounded by Tanzania, Lake Malawi (Lake Nyasa), Mozambique, and Zambia, it is a developing country, but in recent years has expressed strong support for mining. In 2010, Resource Star budgeted $680,000 for exploration in Australia, and $400,000 for exploration in Malawi, for a total of $1,080,000.

Decades of Business Expertise

For Mr Bell, the search for Uranium in Australia and Africa is a natural extension of his many years in the business world. Once he completed university, Mr Bell worked for a London bank, soon becoming an oil and mining analyst, a field in which he has been actively engaged since the 1970s. With a focus mainly on investing and financing, he has amassed extensive experience of international mining projects in both Europe and South-East Asia. He is nostalgic when speaking about his early business experiences.

“I went to Japan years ago, at a time when few foreigners were investing in companies like Nintendo,” he says. “It was still called Nintendo Playing Cards, and they were just starting to make electronic devices, a little hand-held thing called “˜Game and Watch,’ and I bought three per cent of the company for my clients.” In addition to becoming a video game pioneer, the company now known as Nintendo is Japan’s third most valuable listed company, with a market value of over $85 billion U.S.

As a Far East expert, Mr Bell soon realized the impact of the growth of China and India on commodities demand, owing to the world’s growing population and demand for goods. Once back in London, he re-entered the mining sector, and renewed his connections with others he knew from the mining community. “By pure luck, I got my timing exactly right, and the markets have taken off, and I haven’t looked back since,” says Mr Bell, who has been with Resource Star Ltd since August of 2007. Under Mr Bell, the company has built a solid team comprising of key staff with experience in geology, exploration management, chartered accounting, mineral exploration, and a wide range of business positions.

The key to success for Resource Star Ltd and its projects in Australia and Malawi, says Mr Bell, is twofold: accomplishing solid geophysics at the beginning, and having a first-class staff in place. Unlike the heads of some companies, Mr Bell doesn’t believe in the business of hype. “We’re not in the promotion business,” he states. “We’re not in the business of trying to get our stock price up with third-rate projects. We want to do really important things, and build up a proper company.”

With exploration underway, Resource Star has seen positive results. Recently, the company defined radiometric targets at Ilomba Hill in Malawi, which is 90 per cent owned by the company. An airborne geophysical survey provided, for the first time, modern multi-method data, which has allowed Resource Star to identify new targets for ongoing exploration. Newly-defined features are radiometric anomalies within the alkali syenite intrusive, which will form the focus of ground exploration. The news is exciting, as the Ilomba Hill Project is a key part of Resource Star’s existing uranium and uranium-related specialty metals portfolio in East Africa and Australia.

In recent weeks, the company announced that it has secured an option to acquire a highly prospective second near-surface uranium exploration program in Western Australia’s Yilgarn Uranium Province. After due diligence, including data reviews, the company may acquire 100 per cent of the project for $120,000 in cash and shares, with the potential to strengthen the company’s uranium portfolio. Whether in Australia or Africa, exciting exploration times are definitely ahead for the team at Resource Star.

]]> http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/resource-star/feed/ 0 http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/aecom/ http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/aecom/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:38:25 +0000 ARF http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/?p=111

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

Whole-Life Sustainability…

In the mining and resource sectors, it is critical that companies combine world-class expertise with local knowledge. A global provider of professional technical and management support services, AECOM operates on the world stage, yet focuses on partnering with clients to meet their specific needs. With approximately 51,000 employees around the world, AECOM is a leader in all of the key markets it serves, combining global reach, local knowledge, innovation and technical excellence to service the transport, facilities, environmental, energy, water and government sectors. A Fortune 500 company, AECOM serves clients in more than 100 countries and had revenue of US$6.3 billion during the year to June 30, 2010.

In Australia, AECOM’s business is split fairly evenly across each of several distinct business lines, explains Laurie Barlow, Managing Director of Mining for Australia and New Zealand. “Our focus is on delivering infrastructure to the market place, which includes government infrastructure, infrastructure for mining projects, and we also provide a range of environmental services. Sectors we serve include transport, power, buildings, mining, environment and architecture. So we reflect the global AECOM services within the ANZ region.”

Mining is “certainly a significant part of the AECOM business in Australia. We try to bring all the services AECOM offers to the mining sector, and that’s where we see the AECOM advantage – there’s not much in our portfolio of services that we can’t provide to our mining clients.”

In Australia and New Zealand, AECOM has more than 3,800 staff at over 20 offices. The company’s recent work includes some of the region’s most iconic projects, such as the multi award-winning Inner Northern Busway Alliance (Queensland), the Rosedale Water Treatment Plant Outfall Project (Auckland), and Telfer Deeps Gold Mine (Western Australia).

Over the last 12-18 months AECOM has gone through a significant global rebranding, says Mr Barlow, “where a lot of the operating companies have now changed from their legacy names to adopt the AECOM logo and culture. So we are now seen as one company across the globe, one brand, a consistent message and a consistent offering to the marketplace. Fully integrated services and we are really focused on our clients, asking ‘how can we bring the best of our global offerings to our clients?’.”

Mining is an emerging business within AECOM, which is starting to roll out the full power of the organisation in the sector around the world. “Major mining companies are recognising the capability we have in delivering mega-projects in remote parts of the world. That’s a differentiator that AECOM can bring to the marketplace. My role is to manage and grow the business within Australia. [But] the mining sector does not operate on a regional basis, it’s a truly global industry.” The job in hand is to penetrate the global mining sector because the clients are all massive multinational companies.

“Currently we are working on a number of port and marine projects in Western Australia; on the east coast on a number of coal projects, in both Queensland and New South Wales; and we are working on some large copper projects in Queensland, all with major resource companies.”

AECOM works within the client’s framework for environmental approvals, but Mr Barlow explains that “we have a very strong focus on sustainability – especially in the mining sector, sustainability in terms of energy efficiency, for example, or community consultation. When we start a project we are looking at how we close it, we are looking at the total project life cycle and how we bring environmental, sustainability and heritage solutions to these projects. We are finding that our clients are really looking for that smart input at the start of projects that can be carried through.”

Clients are increasingly keen to apply sustainability concepts and AECOM can look across its worldwide portfolio to bring global best practice experience to a local project. “It’s going beyond what they need to include from a legislative perspective. They are looking for their own social ‘licence to operate’ and to be good corporate citizens in the region. In many cases they are going beyond what might be expected of large mining companies and we are helping them to achieve that – e.g. a construction or accommodation village where they are looking to really attract high-class workers, looking at bringing sustainable solutions and looking for villages that blend in with the environment.” Mr Barlow points out that this has proven to be a significant change of emphasis for many companies.

Mr Barlow acknowledged that water is a major issue in Australia – “moving the water to the mining projects, water treatment, reuse, efficient dams and use of recycled water from dams, optimising the water balance on a mining project, etc. We look at natural water flows and how we baseline the existing environment. If we need to make changes to water flows – in terms of creek diversions or bridges or access roads, say – how do we minimise the impact on the environment?”

Health and safety is another major part of AECOM’s business. “In everything we do, from desktop studies through construction management, safety is a major aspect. AECOM has a ‘safety for life’ strategy that cuts across the whole business. We adopt the clients’ systems and merge the AECOM systems to come up with continuous improvement in terms of safety cultures for large projects.”

Clients demand cost-efficiency, of course. “How do our clients save money in the delivery of their projects? AECOM has a very large business in China and we are able to leverage our Chinese presence to provide cost-efficient supply of equipment and bulk materials and also cost-efficient detail design services out of our Chinese design institute – we have a very large design institute in Shenzhen, a multi-discipline engineering and design office. Traditionally it has been used to service the Chinese or Hong Kong market but certainly we are using it to service the mining sector in Australia and the Middle East and we are finding that the Chinese are providing a lot of young smart engineers that are very qualified to work in our sector.” Mr Barlow says it is important to strike a balance between what is to be done in China and what’s done elsewhere: “It’s about what’s best for project outcomes.”

AECOM is “a growing and emerging global player in the engineering and project management sector. We have come in the last 20 years from a number of smaller businesses and now that we have consolidated we aim to be leaders in every industry that we are involved in.” If anyone has a project or is looking for solutions, Mr Barlow says, “certainly it’s worth giving AECOM a call.”

]]> http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/aecom/feed/ 0 http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/alphablast/ http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/alphablast/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:24:09 +0000 ARF http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/?p=101

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

An Integrated Approach…

AlphaBlast is a privately owned and operated West Australian company specialising in the provision of ultra high pressure water jetting, abrasive blasting and surface protection.

As of December 2010, AlphaBlast’s position within its parent organisation has changed. The Orontide Group has four other subsidiaries – Madco, Madco Marine, Robil Engineering and Wovodich Engineering – all of which operate in a similar sector of engineering and fabrication, while Orontide Industrial Services (formerly called AlphaBlast) comes under the heading of “˜industrial services’. And as general manager Kim Twiggs explains, that’s the division he now heads.

“Five separate companies within Orontide have been realigned to form two business streams of which Industrial Services is one. Everyone knows us as AlphaBlast, so we have an education job ahead of us – the company has built up a very healthy brand in the last three years. It’s business as usual for us – the change doesn’t affect our quality or the service provision, but it does allow us to bring in a greater skill set” because it’s now easier to call on other skills within the group.

Mr Twiggs now has an extra responsibility for “˜integrated services’ – spotting where there is an overlap for related services within the group. “That’s about being able to understand when you need to talk to someone from a package respect, in terms of being able to provide a more varied scope of services integrated as a seamless package rather than a single discipline. I am able to take clients through the full spectrum of a project – from design through to fabrication to hookup and installation work and then eventually into life-cycle maintenance (which is central to the AlphaBlast business), preservation and integrity-based activities.” However, Mr Twiggs stresses the need to be aware of when a client wants a full package and when it wants just a single service. “What you’re selling at the end of the day is convenience.”

The Orontide Group had its beginnings in 1979 as a family business run by Serge and Sophie Madrigali. The first operation was Madco, based at Henderson, south of Perth. Madco was originally focused on Serge’s machinist skills but soon evolved to provide maintenance and repair services to a wide range of industries. In 2002, Madco opened a Kalgoorlie branch to better serve mining industry clients in the area. In the same year, Madco Marine was formed to deliver specialist services to the marine and defence industries. Soon after, Orontide purchased Blast Works which was later developed into AlphaBlast.

In 2004 the company established divisions of AlphaBlast and Madco Marine in Sydney to work primarily on naval vessel refits at Garden Island (Woolloomooloo, Sydney), and purchased its first ultra high pressure water equipment, complemented by a full vacuum recovery system that provides an environmentally acceptable method of coatings removal.

UHP water jetting “is one of those things that is considered environmentally very friendly – for example, we do a lot of coatings remediation that contains lead.” This is carried out using vacuum recovery to ensure there is no release of coatings into the environment. “We do this in situ offshore, and for the navy on the hulls of ships in Sydney harbour.”

Does Orontide Industrial Services consider itself a leader in the field? “Yes we do,” says Mr Twiggs. “We have a number of systems and approaches as well as equipment – there’s a huge environmental consideration. The equipment that we have, we spent a long time especially on the UHP side, evaluating where we could find the best equipment and we ended up going to the UK after our research. We buy our hardware – pumps et cetera – from the UK but we get it built to Australian (as well as international) standards and it’s well known to be the safest machinery currently available here.” He believes no competitor has yet gone that far. “I think our customers consider us to be leading in what we do, based on the many unsolicited testimonials they send us.” Machinery is not off-the-shelf. The base components are more or less standard but Orontide Industrial Services “puts a lot of IP back into the machinery – we found the nearest to what we wanted and tweaked it to our own specification. Over the years we have found better ways to package things – that’s one of the advantages of having an engineering support resource” as part of the group.

The company has an operational unit that focuses on the naval and defence industry sector on the east coast and in 2009 incorporated a subsidiary company in Singapore; it has further and growing interests in Vietnam and in Malaysia. “Oil and gas is the catalyst. The strategy is simple – piggybacking on clients in this market who have facilities they can uproot and take off to other parts – that’s what led us to Vietnam, for example.” Oil and gas accounts for approximately 70 percent of business volume while the naval side is about 20 percent and the remainder is made up of commercial and mining projects. “We are relatively new to the mining sector,” says Mr Twiggs, “but growing”, not least via contacts obtained from within other parts of the Orontide Group.

There is a lot of repeat business. “Let’s face it, for every good job you do, there’s usually another one waiting. The balance is probably on the order of 60-40 repeat-new [business].” The company also gets many referrals; “when you’re on site doing a job it’s a fantastic opportunity to market yourself through your productivity.” Orontide Group now totals some 300 personnel, adds Mr Twiggs. “It’s a home-grown Western Australian company, we’re still privately owned – and the future is bright!”

]]> http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/alphablast/feed/ 0 http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/alliance-contracting/ http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/index.php/2010/12/13/alliance-contracting/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:20:01 +0000 ARF http://www.resourceinfocus.com.au/?p=98

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

Getting Down-To-Earth with Alliance Contracting…

With the onset of the GFC, many contractors in Australia scrambled to create a strategy which would help them weather the storm. For Alliance Contracting, that meant not just to secure the basics, but to expand its capabilities and diversify its offerings in order to face the GFC head on and continue to provide for its clients the appropriate solutions for every project.

“Overnight we went from a million dollars into zero. We diversified throughout the GFC, so that’s how we’ve ended up now, covering all these different commodities. The GFC, in some ways, made us look at other alternatives in the industry and now we’re about to go through a growth stage.”

From its modest start in 1999 through to its thriving current developments as a diversified contracting company, Alliance Contracting has garnered great respect throughout the industry for its down-to-earth, hard-working approach and its strong ethical and honest reputation. Alliance Contracting is a privately owned Perth company with depots located in South West, Port Hedland and Karratha, and is actively managed by its Founding Directors, allowing for swift project development and completion and a high degree of personalisation for each project’s requirements.

Specialising in Civil Construction and Contract Mining, Alliance delivers a broad range of construction, earthmoving, and equipment hire services throughout Western Australia. It also offers a variety of contract mining and project management services. While Alliance’s standard approach is to offer hard work and reliable labour, perhaps its strongest skill is in providing intelligent solutions to its clients’ evolving needs.

Alliance Contracting has amassed an extensive fleet of machines, each developed with the client’s requirements in mind and maintained by fully trained and certified trade personnel. Alliance Contracting is able to offer a dedicated fleet of equipment for each job, enabling maximum productivity, and boasts an ongoing renewal program in order to offer the most up-to-date equipment in the industry.

“We’ve been third party accredited, plus we’re taking that one step further where every time we purchase a piece of equipment or have a piece of equipment manufactured for a particular task, we’re really thinking about what should be taken into consideration for the environment.”

An example of Alliance’s cutting-edge innovation can be seen in the development of some of its latest equipment, including its Service and Water trucks, respectively.

“We’ve designed a service truck in a manner that takes the environment into consideration; it’s about reducing the amount of contaminants. We designed it so that one when you deliver oil you’re not introducing dust into the equipment, but it also reduces the opportunity for dust and oil to actually fall on the ground, so it reduces contaminants in two ways,” Mark Breingan, CEO, explains. The truck has also been designed to contain and evacuate any potential spill into a waste oil tank. “And it’s also about complying to our clients requests,” adds Breingan. “What we’re trying to do is reduce the likelihood of actually having an oil spill. What we have done is design our Management System, which is about policy and procedure, but . . . we’ve taken that a step further, we’ve actually taken that and designed our equipment so that we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”

The innovation doesn’t stop there. Alliance prides itself on reliable, hard-working staff to support each project, and that has been greatly enabled by the creation of the Alliance Integrated Management System (AIMS), a purpose-built system of management which is fully integrated across the board for each of Alliance’s job sites to ensure a consistent approach to each. AIMS works to prescribe how employees undertake, monitor and record their work, and is deemed by the Alliance Construction management team to be essential to the success of project implementation, review and improvements, and client and third party audits. AIMS is certified in accordance with ISO 9001 for Quality, AS 4801 for Safety and ISO 14001 for Environment.

“What it’s been able to do for us is it’s given us one system to work under. It’s available to all our employees, and we’ve been third party accredited in that system, so we’ve achieved our quality certification, safety certification and environmental [certification]. And what it’s done for our company is it’s opened up our client base . . . because we have a system we can sell to our clients. A lot of our clients are blue chip, and we work directly for them . . . We’ve achieved a standard of operation that’s acceptable to these blue chip type companies.”

Supporting this program, Alliance Contracting has developed systems to manage and monitor project outcomes, equipment performance, documents and work flows. Through the consistent monitoring, analysing, and improving of all work environments which this allows, Alliance is able to provide each of its two hundred plus workers in the field with the training, knowledge and support that will ensure both career and personal growth. Says Business Development Director, Ian Phippard: “Not only is it about an investment in our equipment, but it’s also about investing in our people across our company, from the people who work here in head office through to the people who work onsite. Most of our expertise is in the field and

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

Promoting Australian Mining Technology…

“Australia is best known globally for its mining technology, although it might not be well-known publicly,” reports Mark Warren, CEO of Austmine, in a recent interview. Accounting for over $10 billion in exports annually, Australia’s MTS sector is an extraordinarily important market, even stronger than that of its wine exports. Providing approximately six hundred thousand jobs in Australia, this sector even outruns the mining labour sector, which employs one hundred and fifty thousand workers. With numbers like these, it is clear that this sector is one which requires strong support, guidance, and inspiration to maintain and increase its vigour. To that end, Austmine is proud to provide its members with those services.

Created in 1989 by the Australian Trade commission with the directive of assisting mining companies to begin exporting their technology and services, Austmine was soon privatised as a not-for-profit organization. This move greatly helped the organization to properly service its members and garner international recognition. At the time, exports on mining technology and services were close to $500 million. Now, thanks to the innovative talents of Australian mining companies and the support and resources of organisations such as Austmine, exports are exceeding $10 billion.

“We are currently in a period right now, after the GFC, which we decided to call the Age of Mining Technology, because before the GFC, the mining boom was uncontrolled . . . But if you want to succeed, you need to innovate, so it’s all about smart mining technology now in Australia.”

Representing one hundred and ten member companies from across Australia, each specialising in an area of mining technology and service, Austmine demonstrates to the world that Australia is home to some of the strongest innovators in mining technology. By providing networking and advancement opportunities for its members while sharing research findings and industry information into thriving international markets, Austmine is also an extraordinary platform for professional achievement within the Australian mining industry.

Austmine offers its members a variety of services aimed at promoting Australian mining capabilities to the export market. Additionally, the organisation provides its members with opportunities to network and connect with others in the field. Although some of Austmine’s members are large multi-nationals, most are small to medium enterprises. By providing a website with a plethora of industry resources and information sources as well as a Members Directory and advertisement opportunities, Austmine helps even the smallest of mining technology companies to get into the game with the important players.

“Given that the mining boom continues,” says Mr Warren, “our members will have the opportunity to grow themselves, helping them to become self-sufficient organisations.”

With technology advancing at such a rapid pace in Australia, Austmine strives to stay on the cutting edge. At present, it has been working with Quadren, a company in Brisbane, which offers an e-business procurement platform for use between buyers and sellers. While Austmine doesn’t directly sell for its members, it does assist them in marketing and promoting themselves within the industry and also in navigating the challenges and opportunities associated with e-business.

With an average of eight to ten events offered each year, Austmine also helps to bring its members the necessary information and opportunities for them to succeed. Each event offers a keynote address presented by an outside company as well as a member presentation. The keynotes are invaluable in helping to educate Australian companies in the nuances and tricks of the trade of outside marketplaces – information which could help these companies to enter into the new and thriving markets. These events afford Austmine’s members the unique opportunity to network with peers, sponsors, presenters and Board members to increase their connections and enhance their visibility within the marketplace.

Austmine was influential in developing the National Infrastructure and Engineering Forum (NIEF), and will soon be hosting the Austmine 2011 Conference and Exhibition, its premier event within the sector. This event draws a broad audience of high level executives from the international mining arena and will showcase innovations in Australia’s mining technology and services industry. Austmine expects to host approximately three hundred and fifty delegates for this conference, with between twenty and thirty countries represented in the exhibition.

The Austmine Board of Directors is committed to fostering relations with outside markets and optimising Australia’s abilities to respond to those markets’ needs. The Board regularly liaises with alliance partners such as the Australian Traffic Commission, Government departments, mining councils and foreign agencies in order to provide the latest information and recommendations to its members. Furthermore, Austmine frequently provides its members with opportunities to attend outside events, including an upcoming mining expo in Moscow in April and a mining exploration event in June in Brazil. These efforts not only benefit individual Australian delegates, but also help to promote Australia as a whole in the global marketplace.

As part of its latest strategy initiative, Austmine is focusing on new markets offering opportunities for its members, and is currently promoting lucrative mining markets including South America, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. South America has been an exciting market for Australians to enter over the past three to four years, and has been quite lucrative for many local companies. In particular, there is a significant presence of Australian companies operating in Chile. Based on strong relationships nurtured by the recent Free Trade Agreement signed last year, this market has an array of large mines and offers an excellent platform for Australians entering South American markets.

“Certainly, we lead the world in terms of innovation and diversity of mining technology services,” explains Mr Warren. “What Austmine is about is making Australia the number one supplier of mining equipment in the world, because we are simply the best.”

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

The RaiseBore Family Values

Recently announcing its new branding, logo and identity, RaiseBore hopes the change will represent, in graphic form, its entrance into a new era and the “realisation of its true global focus”. The new logo, which ingeniously utilises an inverted letter “i” to represent the drill string, reamer and cutter crater, also highlights the company’s safety emphasis with its “RaiseBore Safety Blue” colour palette. RaiseBore’s new website is smooth and strong, with a wealth of useful information regarding services and company information to assist clients in getting to know “The RaiseBore Family”.

As Australia’s largest, privately-owned raiseboring company, RaiseBore focuses on four core areas of business: pilot drilling, conventional raiseboring, box-holing or up-reaming, and down-reaming. It is the only company to have a dedicated “˜slot hole’ division, with five low-profile, easily manoeuvrable rigs capable of down-reaming as well as conventional reaming. Each process offers a specific solution to a client’s needs, making RaiseBore a dynamic one-stop answer for all raiseboring jobs.

RaiseBore’s fleet of machines is one of Australia’s largest. RaiseBore currently offers a minimum of four machines for all sizes of raiseboring up to and including 3.0 metres in diameter, and two units capable of 5.0 metre shafts. With a total of eleven machines, the fleet is large enough to ensure that in emergency measures, back up equipment is available. This is an important offering to clients, meaning that every project is completed on time and to budget.

Overall, considering all of its work in New Zealand, Vietnam, Portugal, Hong Kong, West Africa, India, and all states of Australia, RaiseBore has reamed in excess of 98,000 metres of shafts having a total in situ rock volume of in excess of 576,000 cubic metres.

Locally, RaiseBore has supplied services and has been an integral part of some of Australia’s largest expansion projects such as the “Olympic Dam Expansion Project,” the “Cannington Mine Growth Project,” and the “CSA Number 1 Shaft and Ventilation Upgrade”. Through extreme attention to critical details and the use of its cutting-edge equipment, RaiseBore also managed and raisebored the now world-famous, “Beaconsfield Mine Rescue.”

In addition to its metalliferous and hard rock raiseboring, RaiseBore also provides services in the coal industry, with extensive experience in the New South Wales and Queensland coalfields. As the only specialist raiseboring contractor in Australia which operates and maintains flame proof equipment for uses in underground seam to seam drilling, RaiseBore’s extensive fleet of equipment is able to ream holes from 0.6 metres to 5.5 metres in diameter. With two machines capable of completing both up reamed and down reamed shafts, RaiseBore successfully eliminates the need to access both levels.

RaiseBore has shown a consistent history of continuously innovating and rising to meet and surpass the highest requirements and standards in the coal mining industry. RaiseBore has had extensive experience in coal with work completed at Wyee Colliery, Cordeaux Colliery, Tower Colliery, Austar Colliery, Newpac Colliery, Nardell Colliery and Abel Colliery in New South Wales. It has also completed shafts in the Bowen Basin at Southern Colliery, Central Colliery/German Creek, and Grasstree Colliery in Queensland, Australia.

Within the civil construction industry, RaiseBore has been involved in several projects across Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Portugal, Vietnam and India. Backed by its considerable specialist experience, RaiseBore is able to adapt its services for a variety of civil applications such as shafts for hydroelectric plants, underground gas storage facilities, egress and underground elevator shafts, and exhausts for subway or motorway tunnels. Its qualified team of specialists work together with construction companies to identify potential problems and provide risk mitigation procedures by adapting its strict safety, environmental and procedure protocols to the civil construction industry.

RaiseBore has had extensive experience in environmentally sensitive areas and has completed major projects in the township of Beaconsfield, Metropolitan Sydney, the Tower Colliery at Appin, and has installed both major surface raises at Ridgeway, calling for a high level of environmental sensitivity.

“The Proprietors of RaiseBore originate from the famous regional centre of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. As such they know all too well the impact that a large corporation can have on a local community, and this personal experience is certainly not lost.”

The procedures for noise control and the containment of hydrocarbons developed by RaiseBore are considered to be the most advanced in the industry. When called upon to raisebore a two hundred metre deep shaft from a jetty located in the centre of Avon Dam Reservoir, Woolongong’s major water supply, RaiseBore was able to do this in compliance with all EPA requirements, demonstrating its excellence in this area.

Like most companies, RaiseBore has its own unique culture within the workplace and the communities in which it operates. RaiseBore likes to call its collection of core beliefs and values, “The RaiseBore Family Values.” At its centre, the RaiseBore culture is focused on creating and maintaining a zero-harm workplace, placing safety above all else; RaiseBore feels it has a duty to each other and to its key stakeholders to ensure this on each and every project. Some of the more unique components of RaiseBore’s “Family Values” include a commitment to identifying talent and aligning it to particular tasks, celebrating the completion of difficult tasks, and maintaining an open dialogue with all stakeholders by encouraging team members to “own their jobs” and leverage their experience to surpass their objectives. RaiseBore also has a strong presence in each of its operations communities, often getting involved through donations and volunteerism.

Throughout its expansion, RaiseBore has been wise to maintain key client relationships, valuing loyalty and nurturing some relationships for over two decades. With its recent shift into a truly international stage and its continued emphasis on innovation and its “Family Values”, RaiseBore is set to enter the next era of progress.

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

The Leader in Mining Communications…

In today’s fast-paced world, communication has become virtually instantaneous. Through the use of cell phones, pagers and other handheld devices, two-way wireless technologies and instant messaging, we have become a society reliant on getting in touch whenever and wherever we choose. When communication systems stop working it can be frustrating, but in sectors like mining, keeping in constant contact to ensure the safety of workers and smooth operations of mining activities is crucial.

A world leader in mining communications and tracking, Mine Site Technologies is helping to improve mining productivity and safety through state of the art equipment and service above and below ground. With its head office in Sydney, the company also has offices in Mount Isa, Kalgoorlie, the United States, Canada, and China, along with distributors around the globe. A rapidly-growing business, Mine Site Technologies employs 130 staff members, and its advanced systems have been installed in over 450 mines worldwide.

“Ultimately, communications is communications, and it comes down to whether the components of which you build the system are fit for purpose,” says Christian Fischer, General Manager for Mine Site. “We have built equipment that is purpose-designed in the first instance to go in underground mines.” One of the advanced technologies pioneered by Mine Site is the “through the earth paging system,” which penetrates rock strata, and can be used to send emergency messages to underground personnel, or to centrally control underground blasting detonation as the mine is developed. Better known as the PED System – an acronym for Personal Emergency Device – it was the original product developed by Mine Site Technologies when the company was founded 20 years ago. First developed as a fast and dependable method of informing underground miners of emergency situations, the PED System is an ultra low frequency, through-the-earth (TTE) communication system that is used for paging, control, and centralized blast initiation. Staff above ground can readily contact personnel underground, no matter where they are located. To date, PED remains the only proven, commercially available TTE mine communication system available, and has been installed in over 150 mines in the past 20 years. Through the use of low frequency (ULF) electromagnetic signals, PED is able to send and receive signals through hundreds of metres of rock strata. Signals can be received at any location throughout the mine with an antenna on the surface only, or a small underground antenna, making PED a highly effective emergency communication system. Instead of warning workers underground of a dangerous situation – such as a fire – they can be alerted to specific locations to avoid, and evacuation routes.

Life-Saving Technology

One of the best examples of the use of PED remains the Willow Creek Mine explosions and fire. On July 31, 2000, there were a series of four explosions in the coal mine, located in Carbon County, Utah. Methane and other gases ignited, and fire rapidly spread. At one point, a miner received a PED signal that the mine should be evacuated. Although there were two fatalities as a result of the second and third explosions, the loss of life could have been far worse, were it not for the use of Mine Site’s PED to alert miners. The systems of today used in mines are far more complex than old-fashioned two-way communication.

“Typically, when an underground mine puts in a telecommunications network or an IP network, it is there to support a multitude of different applications, and it needs to be fit for deployment in an underground mine,” says Mr Fischer. “You don’t want to have lots and lots of bits of equipment to do multiple, different tasks; you want to have as much built in to a network element as you possibly can, and that’s what we do.”

Along with PED, Mine Site Technologies not only builds the hardware used for mine communication, but designs entire systems for the mines using Wi-Fi and other technologies. Using components from countries like Australia, Canada, and China, final product assembly and testing is performed in Australia. “Once we actually have the device itself, the key thing that is critical with these networks is actually to system engineer the network. We design it, put it together, and test the system, rather than the individual components,” remarks Mr Fischer. An underground mine can contain dozens of interconnected wireless network switches, and Mine Site performs rigorous testing to ensure the devices are all properly “talking” to one another. Systems are designed specifically for the mine in which they are located, and as much information – from IP addresses to range and the names of employees using mine phones – is pre-programmed in advance, long before the equipment is installed on-site. “You want to have as much pre-configured as you possibly can,” says Mr Fischer.

Members of Mine Site’s staff perform hardware maintenance on site, yet much of the software support is performed remotely through the company’s systems. Technologies vary for use in different kinds of mines; when it comes to coal mines, network elements used through Internet switching are in specifically designed enclosures. “The requirements are different in coal mines compared to hard rock mines,” comments Mr Fischer. “Coal mines are a particularly hazardous underground environment. A gold mine or a copper mine, they’re hazardous enough, but a coal mine has gases, so it’s a potentially explosive atmosphere. There is also a risk of roof falls and everything else that can happen in an underground mine.”

Advanced Mining Solutions

Providing solutions to the world’s mining industry, Mine Site Technologies offers expertise in a number of areas, including underground communications, remote blasting systems, mine tagging, Wi-Fi tracking systems, cap lamps, and high data wireless mesh systems for open pit and surface communications. In the three and a half years since Mr Fischer joined the privately-owned company, he has witnessed many dramatic technological changes, especially in the change from analogue communication networks to IP networks. “We’re one of very few companies that have an approved voice-over IP handset specifically for mining,” he says. “You can buy a voice over IP handset from anyone, but ours are purpose-built for mining, and intrinsically safe for use in coal mines.”

Through ongoing product research, product development, and innovation, Mine Site Technologies is leading the way in mining industry communications in Australia and around the world. Key technologies like ImPact, BlastPED, and TRACKER enable not only seamless communication, but enable high data applications such as tracking, video, VoIP, remote vehicle diagnostics, blast initiation systems, and the continuous, real-time monitoring of miners and equipment underground. State of the art devices like the Integrated Communications Cap Lamp (ICCL) are a mere one-third of the weight of existing units, yet can include a range of communication and safety devices such as PED and/or Tagging and/or Radio. One exciting new product is the Impact Communications Appliance (ICA), a server delivered to the mine “which has built into it all of the common applications that an underground digital network would be typically used for,” comments Mr Fischer. Features like a voice server, tracking, and an application that pulls vehicle info can be sent to a spreadsheet or database. Common applications are unified into a single web-based platform, “where you can do everything from call an individual underground person on their mine phone, to bring up a map of the underground mine, and look at the movements around the mine of people and assets,” says Mr Fischer.

With these and other technologies, Mine Site Technologies continues to serve the needs of clients like Xstrata, Centennial Coal, Datong Coal, Newmont Gold, Barrick, Inco, and many others in hundreds of mines in Australia, the United States, China, Canada, Peru, Sweden, Finland, Chile, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali and the DRC.

View Article in E-Magazine |  View Brochure

.

One-Stop Shopping…

Was it a problem or an opportunity? Here was a company with an established line of industry-leading lighting towers, which over a number of years had taken on distribution of top-quality related products including dewatering pumps and generators, yet had not noticed how the products were related. AllightSykes was not leveraging the advantages – for itself or for its customers – of the broad palette of brands that it had accumulated.