Suppliers News (September 24, 2007)

ABB to supply mine winders

Baden, Switzerland-based ABB (ABB-N, ANN-L), a builder of automation technology, will build US$17 million worth of electrical equipment for four mine winders to be used in Impala Platinum’s (IMPUY-O, IPLA-L), South African mines.

ABB will supply, install and commission the control hoist monitoring systems, transformers, motors and drives for the mine winders for two new shafts in the Rustenburg area, in South Africa’s North West province. The winders will be installed and commissioned in 2010.

“Our vast experience in mining, coupled with our advanced technology products, will provide Implats with the best-suited solutions to realize their targets for the new shafts,” says Carlos Pone, CEO of ABB South Africa.

The headgear for shaft 16 has been built and shaft sinking is under way, as it is on shaft 20. Shaft 17 is still being designed.

Impala employs about 28,000 people across its operations and is one of the world’s few primary platinum producers.

ABB has supplied power and automation equipment to the South African mining market since the early 1960s. The company has designed and installed mine hoists in more than 35 countries around the world including Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland and Australia.

The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 111,000 people.

Geosoft acquires NGA’s GM-SYS software

Geosoft, makers of software designed for mineral exploration, has just upgraded its software suite.

Geosoft recently acquired the GM-SYS software and all of the associated intellectual property belonging to Northwest Geophysical Associates.

GM-SYS is a geophysical gravity and magnetic modelling program that lets a user rapidly create a geologic model and test its accuracy by comparing the model’s gravity and magnetic response to observed gravity and magnetic measurements.

But perhaps the biggest plum in the pudding is the designers who come with the software. Northwest Geophysical Associates developers Tom Popowski, Jim Roy, and Vivek Narendra will join Geosoft.

Former principal of NGA, Gerald Connard, will continue to work with Geosoft in a consulting role.

Among other benefits, Geosoft says the new assets will help it expand its visualization and modelling abilities for a range of clients, but specifically for petroleum explorers seeking new targets.

Major buys Chilean driller

Moncton, N.B.-based Major Drilling Group International’s (mdi-t, mjdlf-o) Chilean subsidiary has bought driller Harris y Cia, a privately held Antofagasta, Chile-based company operating since 1981.

Major spent US$22.7 million to get Harris and says it will finance the purchase via cash and debt.

The key to the deal for Major is 11 drill rigs and a handful of experienced drillers, most of whom are working double shifts on rigs at properties in northern Chile. Including the new rigs, Major has a fleet of 35 drills based in Chile.

The acquisition includes all of Harris’s support equipment and inventory, as well as its Antofagasta office and repair facilities.

Major Drilling also acquired existing contracts and plans to keep some managers.

Francis McGuire, Major’s president and CEO, says that Harris’s operations will add revenue of roughly US$11 million to the company’s fiscal year, which ends April 30, 2008.

Major Drilling Group is one of the world’s largest drilling companies.