Supplier News (April 03, 2006)

Atlas Copco helps build Sudbury attraction

The construction and mining division of Atlas Copco recently donated $50,000 to help build the mining and earth sciences attraction in Sudbury, Ont., known as Dynamic Earth.

The payment is the first of three annual instalments to be made by the drilling company to make the attraction housing earth sciences exhibits more attractive.

The donation was made to Elyse Clements, chair of the Science North Foundation, the charitable organization behind Dynamic Earth and Science North, the original attraction designed to educate the public about science. In December 2005, Atlas Copco Construction & Mining Canada announced a long-term partnership with Dynamic Earth whereby the company will provide $20,000 per year over 13 years, starting in 2009.

Dynamic Earth opened in 2003 and a $1-million expansion will give visitors a better experience. The expanded Dynamic Earth will include the Atlas Copco Theatre, new programming and workshop space, different exhibits and a bigger lobby.

The exhibits at Dynamic Earth include an exact replica of Sudbury’s giant nickel; Inco Chasm, a sizable backdrop for a multimedia story about world cultures and their relationship to Earth; and an underground mining tour, as well as others.

Since opening in 2003, Dynamic Earth has welcomed more than 170,000 visitors into the world of earth sciences, mining and mining technology.

The expanded Dynamic Earth will open in spring 2007. Those looking to donate to the Dynamic Earth Phase 2 Capital Campaign should call Guy Labine at (705) 522-3701 ext. 219 or e-mail labine@sciencenorth.ca.

Atlas Copco Construction and Mining Canada is a unit of the Atlas Copco Group. It serves the construction and mining industries throughout Canada from its principal location in Sudbury.

Timberline signs deal for driller

Timberline Resources (TBLC-O) has signed a deal to acquire Kettle Drilling, based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Kettle provides drilling services to the mineral exploration industry and posted revenue of US$5 million in 2005. Kettle says it has shown a profit each year since its launch in 1996.

“Future cash flow generated by Kettle will enable significant exploration of our projects without dilutive financings,” says Timberline chairman John Swallow. Furthermore, he adds, an in-house drilling company gives Timberline low-cost drilling at a time when drilling is becoming more expensive.

Timberline issued Kettle 100,000 non-refundable shares in exchange for an exclusive 75-day due-diligence period. The agreement calls for Timberline to pay US$2.8 million to acquire an initial 60% stake in Kettle. When the deal closes, Timberline would receive an additional 2-year option to acquire the remaining 40% of Kettle for US$2 million. Management personnel of Kettle will stay with the company for at least three years.

Timberline is an exploration company with mineral properties in the western U.S. The company’s flagship property is the Snowstorm project in north Idaho’s Silver Valley, where it can earn a 49% interest from Hecla Mining (hl-n).

To Russia with love from BC’s CPT

Canadian Process Technologies (CPT), a Delta, B.C.-based company that designs and manufactures mineral processing equipment, was awarded a $3.5-million contract to supply column flotation cells, gas spargers, and associated process control instruments to Mikhailovsky Iron Ore in Russia.

Mikhailovsky is looking to streamline its existing flotation circuit in order to produce a direct reduced iron (DRI)-grade magnetite concentrate with less than 3% silica. The existing processing plant, operating at 2 million tonnes annually, produces a concentrate with a silica content ranging from 6-8%.

CPT will supply two complete cleaning modules to the existing processing circuit including; basic engineering, design, equipment, automation control systems and, possibly, more modular expansion to the circuit down the road.

In the first of four phases, CPT will supply eight flotation columns, the largest of which is 4.3 metres wide and 12 metres high, plus 160 SlamJet spargers complete with their associated plant control instruments and water conditioning equipment.

CPT’s mini pilot plant (MPP) system lets processors and researchers efficiently evaluate new separation technologies on a range of ores at a much lower cost than a full-scale pilot plant.

CPT has sold the MPP system to Falconbridge (FAL.LV-T) and Companhia Vale Rio Doce (CVRD) (RIO-N) in Brazil, which use it to generate data on metallurgical recoveries and concentrate quality.

Liebherr to ship more trucks

Newport News, Va.-based Liebherr Mining Equipment has orders for 28 more of its Ultra Class T282B trucks.

Sixteen of the AC-drive, diesel-electric trucks have been ordered by the Cortez Joint Venture for its gold mine in northeastern Nevada. The trucks will be delivered throughout 2006 and 2007 and will join the fleet of eight others already in service. Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) and Rio Tinto (RTP-N) are the owners of the Cortez project.

Meanwhile, Syncrude-Canada, located in Fort McMurray, Alta., recently placed an order for 12 more T282Bs, bringing its fleet to 27. The trucks are used to transport overburden and oil-rich sand in the oil sands of northern Alberta.

Gartner Lee welcomes CWA

Gartner Lee has acquired Guelph, Ont.-based consulting firm C. Wren and Associates (CWA) mostly for its ecological risk assessment expertise.

CWA provides services in ecological risk assessment and environmental monitoring to the mining and aggregates industries in Ontario.

Christopher Wren leads the firm and is supported by a staff with expertise in ecology, toxicology, and fisheries science.

The CWA team recently started to merge with the existing Gartner Lee staff in its Guelph office, which now has 23 employees.

AMEC wins Alberta awards

The Calgary office of engineering firm AMEC has won two Consulting Engineers of Alberta (CEA) Showcase Awards, one for a project to warn the public of a rockslide at notorious Turtle Mountain, and another to illustrate the impact of planned developments in northern Alberta’s oil sands.

Conducted by a team of consultants, the Turtle Mountain project involved the creation of a high-tech rockslide monitoring and warning system for the south peak of Turtle Mountain, site of one of Canada’s worst natural disasters, the 1903 Frank Slide, which killed 70 people. AMEC installed monitoring equipment to measure the subtlest micron-sized shift on the surface of Turtle Mountain. Extensometers, time-domain refractory cables, vibrating wire piezometers, thermistors and an optical televiewer were run down a hole drilled on top of the 7,250-ft. mountain. Surface equipment included tiltmeters, wire extensometers, crack meters and a microseismic monitoring system.

AMEC’s other project consisted of three-dimensional digital images illustrating the impact of planned project developments at the Suncor Oil Sands in northern Alberta. The images have proven to be valuable visual aids for planning, assessment, regulatory approvals and construction. The project received a CEA Award of Merit.