Mining is about mining–the technical and human issues that make mining controversial and profitable.  At the end of the day, however, mining is about eating out.  Tomorrow being Sunday, here is my tip on what to do tomorrow in Fort McMurray, a true mining town. 

This advice is premised on the fact that seldom do I find a 20 percent tip restaurant in a mining town.  I mean one where you consistently end up tipping the nice waitress twenty percent because she has been attentive without being intrusive; because the food is simple yet superb; and because the atmosphere is mining, yet just right.

I recommend The Keg attached to the Nomad Inn.  Driving by, you would ignore it because of the non-descript facade, ugly sign, and cracked and cigarette-strewn sidewalk.  But go inside.  Unassuming green and red-brown walls; standard-issue chairs and tables; and thankfully very little glass or brass (my favorite gripe about pretentious places.)  

Meat is what they do.  Ribs and steaks.  Chicken if you must.  Or worse fish, but who really wants to eat fish in northern Alberta?  They are not cheap; but then nothing is cheap in the oil sands. 

I quizzed the bus-boy who concurred the place is “pretty tightly managed.”  He said”  “We have had some bad times.  Staffing is always an issue.  But we are a team.”  Then I realized that his black shirt denoted floor management, not bus-boy.  That he was clearing my table, I take as a good sign of a well-run, responsive place.  I have eaten here a lot this week, and every time they have been friendly, precise, attentive, and clearly well-managed.  And the food has been uniformly good.  I hope they earn lots. 

Try it out yourself if you are lucky enough to land here.  Let me know if you disagree with me that this is a find, a one-of-a-kind, at least in a mining town. 

Disclaimer:  I have paid for all my meals at The Keg.  None of them knows me or knows I am writing this.  I know it is a chain, but I have not been to any of their other places.  Goes to show what good management can do. 

People in Tucson are asking questions about Vedanta and Sterlite, an Indian/British company seeking to take over Asarco, as venerable an old American/non-America mining company as you would find anywhere.

Now it appears the folk in Tucson are simply doing what an 8,000-strong tribe in India is doing:  expressing concern about Vedanta and Sterlite and their commitment to mining, resource development, and land restoration. 

The battle in India is ugly.  Consider the salvos by Vedanta:

Vedanta argues that the area involved is a tiny fraction of the Kondh’s traditional lands, and will be returned to its natural condition once the mining is over.   It has also pledged to bring health care, sanitation and education to an area where many die of preventable diseases, and where tribe members have in the past sold their babies to buy food.

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