Skull - detail of statue of Saint Ambrose

Originally uploaded by grimhund

Alas poor Yorik! Like Saint Ambrose, whose skull we see in the picture, that mighty voice is now dead. But the thoughts remain.  ( A frivolous cartoon shows Hamlet kicking a skull, and proclaming “I said I knew him — I never said I liked him.”)

These weird thoughts are prompted by what I found in pursuit of a statement made during the SME Keynote address that the Catholic Church is anti-mining:  a blog called Save Rapu-Rapu.  There is a long and rambling posting that cannot make up its mind to support mining or attack mining. But it contains some fascinating perspectives on the attitude of the Church to mining. I quote and edit:

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San Rafael Mine Headframe

Originally uploaded by RickC

I love heagears or headframes as some call them. Here is a photo I found on Flickr (correct spelling). This is a new (to me) site where you can download from thousands of photos on any subject you can dream up. On the next paper and e-version of Mining.com you will find more of my musings on headgears and/or headframes. Enjoy.

This is a cry of despair for old men, miners and others.  Prompted by Saturday’s viewing of the movie of similar title, namely No Country for Old Men. 

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Not much is happening at the PDAC to judge from their “Blog.”  Yesterday’s profound entry is two sentences long.  The first reads: “Chilean Minister for Mining, Santiago Gonzalaz, hosted a Mines and Wines event to launch their country’s first ever attendance to the Convention.”   Why would you bother with the second sentence?  In fact why bother with a blog at all if this is the profundity of postings?

Meanwhile a much more interesting report comes from Germany.  Who could resist a posting with a headline “Earthquake shakes up German coal mining.”   Seems mining-induced seismicity caused pensioner Erika Ihiebert’s chimney to fall down. 

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