Posts from — December 2007

Just to end the work year before leaving early this afternoon, here is my favorite 2007 photo: me and my youngest grandson at the Huntington Beach pier. 

This being the final day of 2007, we recall the highlights of the year in mining.  The stories that interested me most and which, I submit, will set the course of mining for many years to come, are these:

• Galore Creek, BC and the decision to put the project on hold as its costs soared, and raised the question about the viability of mining in British Columbia’s harsher environments.
• Kemess North BC and the Scoble Report that branded the project a bad social and environmental bargain, and reset the way we think about sustainable development.
• Bellavista, Costa Rica and the heap leach pad failure that shut a mine and probably killed mining forever in Costa Rica. 

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This being a blog, I indulge the ultimate right and write about personal events on Christmas.  The best present was a sixth grandchild born about three pm Hawaii time on Christmas day at the Pearl Harbor naval hospital.  She is called Sydney Josephine.  Now that is a name for the 2000+ generation!

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A Merry Christmas to all the readers of this blog.  And for those who do not celebrate Christmas for what ever reason, a quiet and pleasant time. 

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I seem to have been celebrating the festive season for weeks already.  First a flight to Southern California and repair of my bicycles to ride the beaches and the sun.  Then Thanksgiving with my daughter and two grandkids: he of the massive will-power and she of the perpetual smile. 

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Seems that everyday we read of how successful a year in mining it has been.  New price highs; record production; mega takeovers; and spectacular finds.  In this time of Christmas bonuses and salary increases, it is interesting to take a look at where the money made in mining in 2007 is going.  The most unusual destination is  the following painting.  Take a look at the reproduction below, read the report, and ask yourself if this is what you would spend your mining-derived excess cash on?

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The access statistics on this blog jump whenever I write about mining in the virtual world.  Players of games like World of Warcraft obviously keep a close watch on the real world of mining for tips on how to make a killing in the virtual world using the tricks of real mining.  Now at this site , we see some of the angst that characterizes virtual dealings.  The situation is explained thus: 

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This Christmas lights photo is titled Holiday Lights in Historic Mining Town.  The site is cocktail hour // a daily photo journal.   No other mining photos, but the photos on other subjects are superb. 

It seems as though 2008 calenders have been on sale for months already.  But with the end of the year looming, the need to buy those 2008 calenders becomes more cogent.  I have bought only one so far:  Page A Day Origami.  Generally I hang on until March or so when you can buy the 2008 calenders at bargain basement prices. 

For those in favor of mining, there is the Women in Mining Calender.  This is the rather dull blurb about it:

The Battle Mountain Chapter of WIM put together a second edition of their calendar of women working in the modern mining industry.  The photos used in this calendar were taken at the Robinson Copper Mine in Eastern Nevada by freelance photographer Lucy Raven.  All the individuals pictured in the calendar work at Robinson Nevada Mining Company near Ruth, Nevada.

The one picture they post assures me that this photo is not suitable for families or kids who should at the very least be exposed to aesthetic materials.  But then this may be just your particular thing, so take a look. 

People google themselves on Google.  That is not surprising.  What is surprising is how little you find out about yourself when you google yourself.  

In my case, there seem to be many other people around with the same name as me.  Thus I appear personally in the forth item down on such a search.  It is my resume posted on a site somewhere in Vancouver.  Ahead are similar-named persons: one appears to be a professor, another a rock star. 

This blog with my name on it comes up as number seven on the list.  Next follow a marine scientist, a trust fund president, and the singer of “A sweet as I remember you.”

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