Suppliers Roundup (April 04, 2005)

Atlas Copco goes on tour

Atlas Copco is hitting the road in Canada with its large trucks and equipment for mining and construction.

The mining and construction equipment supplier launched the so-called Canadian Truck Tour in late March from its Canadian base of operations in Sudbury, Ont.

Portable trailers filled with Atlas Copco products give a customers a chance to see and handle the equipment.

The exhibit will travel to Toronto for the National Heavy Equipment Show, slated for April 7-8 at the International Centre. The tour will continue on Canada’s east coast, where Halifax, N.S.-based Wilson Equipment, one of Atlas Copco’s distributors, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Returning west, the tour will stop in Quebec City, Montreal and again in Toronto, then return to Sudbury for a demonstration of equipment at a local quarry.

PDAC draw helps fund bursaries

Proceeds from a draw held during the recent convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) will fund bursaries for geology students enrolled in universities in Ontario and Quebec.

The draw raised about $20,000 and was sponsored by two mining suppliers: Flexit, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and Fordia.

Mario Rouillier, president of Amos, Que.-based M. Rouillier Drilling, won a Flexit SmartTool system worth about $35,000.

The bursaries for geology students will be created under the auspices of the PDAC and the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association.

Montreal-based Fordia makes equipment for diamond drilling, and Vallentuna, Sweden-based Flexit makes borehole surveying tools.

Cabo to buy Montreal driller

Vancouver-based Cabo Mining Enterprises (cbe-v) will buy Les Forages de Montreal for $350,000 in cash and 500,000 Cabo shares, which were trading at 66 at presstime.

The deal, which has yet to be approved by regulators, is designed to enhance Cabo’s geotechnical and environmental expertise in Quebec. In 2004, Cabo bought Stratacan, which also has operations in the province.

Forages de Montreal provides geotechnical, geothermal, hydrological and environmental drilling services. The company has 15 drill rigs and a staff of 25.

In 2004, Forages generated $1.6 million in revenue and earned (before taxes) $85,000.

After the acquiristion, Cabo will operate more than 100 drills and employ 225 people through numerous subsidiaries, including Ontario-based Heath & Sherwood Drilling, Newfoundland-based Petro Drilling, Stratacan, and British Columbia-based Advanced Drilling.

Dynatec sheds drilling division

Richmond Hill, Ont.-based Dynatec (dy-t) has sold its drilling division to a subsidiary of Moncton, N.B.-based Major Drilling Group International (mdi-t) for US$17.2 million. The transaction does not include assets held by Dynatec Energy (including a coal-bed methane project in West Virginia).

The purchase price is US$12.2 million in cash and another US$5 million worth of Major Drilling shares. Under the deal, Dynatec will keep certain drilling assets, including land and buildings in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Says Dynatec President Bruce Walter: “The sale of the drilling services division is in line with our long-term strategy of focusing our capital and management resources on mining assets. We believe Major Drilling is an excellent owner for the division.”

Dynatec has received a favourable feasibility study of its proposed 60,000-tonne-per-year Ambatovy nickel project in Madagascar, and continues to produce nickel, copper, platinum, palladium and gold in the Sudbury basin through its 25% interest in the Sudbury Joint Venture with FNX Mining (fnx-t). The company has also launched pilot production of coal-bed methane in West Virginia.

Major Drilling has operations in Canada, the U.S., South and Central America, Asia, Africa and Australia.

GlobeStar gets help

Engineering firm Behre Dolbear and brokerage firm Auramet Trading will help GlobeStar Mining (gmi-v) develop its Cerro de Maimn copper-gold project in the Dominican Republic.

Behre Dolbear will co-ordinate the final feasibility studies; its final report will use data from previous studies conducted at Cerro de Maimn, including one by Pincock, Allen & Holt, and another, by Lyntek.

GlobeStar has completed preproduction drilling of the gold- and silver-bearing upper portions of the open pit. Updated grade and geotechnical results will be incorporated into Behre Dolbear’s final pit design.

The bankable feasibility will comply with National Instrument 43-101 and is expected soon.

New Jersey-based Auramet Trading will help secure debt and equity financing for Cerro de Maimn.

Gammon Lake-Ameco deal

Gammon Lake Resources (gam-t) has bought 17 new Terex (TEX-N) TR100 haulage trucks for open-pit mining of the Ocampo gold-silver deposit in Mexico.

The fleet was purchased from Ameco Services for almost US$15 million. The first five trucks are slated to be in Mexico in August and the remaining 12 will be there by November. Production at Ocampo is to begin in the first quarter of 2006.

Gammon Lake will also rent three Terex TA-30 articulated trucks and one Case 921C front-end loader from Ameco, all of which will be used for construction.

Ameco provides construction and industrial equipment and has locations throughout North and South America. Gammon Lake is a Nova Scotia-based mineral exploration company with properties in Mexico.