JANUARY 2005 NEWSLETTER: WEBSITE EDITION
From
the Chairman
It never seems to fail. I wake up one morning in a fog and realize that another year has totally passed by. Well, it’s 2005. Before I doze off again, only to reawaken on that foggy morning in 2006, I’d better say a few things. The Chicago Section of SME has gotten off to another good start this meeting (2004-2005) year. Our new venue seems to be a popular choice. We have had very good turnouts at our meetings, and have already been addressed by a Henry Krumb lecturer. Our finances are in good condition and our Section morale seems to be increasing. The local mining industry, to which most of us are beholden to in one form or another, has shown steady growth the past couple of years. The mining industry in general is beginning to see a significant decrease in the labor pool. As a result, quality technical jobs are becoming increasingly competitive in the industry. That’s likely to be good for most of us in one form or another. Our GEMS-related donations will increase this year, with support going to the Science teachers Workshop and Chicagoland Engineers Week, among others. (Please alert us to some other worthy causes to consider.) We are now accepting corporate sponsors on our Section website. Money contributed by sponsors will go directly to help fund our GEM activities and as a benefit, dependent upon the size of the donation, get a corporate link on our website (with or without a logo). Well, Happy New Year to all! I hope it will be a good one … z z z z. --Rip “Gordie” Van Winkle
From the Program ChairmanThis Meeting“EQUIPMENT
AUTOMATION For IMPROVED PRODUCTION Automated deep dredge systems allow the producer to safely and efficiently reach deep reserves of sand and gravel once thought unattainable. This approach maximizes existing mining permits, streamlines operations and will allow a producer to maximize his reserves for a current property, or to re-mine older deposits of sand and gravel already permitted. The speakers will describe what was done at one dredge operation, and what automation can do for the operator, including cost advantages. There are several of these operations in the northern Illinois /southern Wisconsin S&G market. Chris Nelson, VP, GM Rohr Corporation. Chris has been with the Rohr Corporation since 1990 covering all facets of the organization from Sales to service to site supervisor to operator training. Allan Martin, Electrical Engineer Rohr Corporation. Allan has been with the Rohr Corporation since 1999. Allan's back-ground includes System design & automation, PLC programming, drives and networking. Rohr Corporation manufactures floating clamshell and bucketladder dredges as well as floating conveyor belts and processing equipment. Rohr is a leader in deep underwater mining technology for sand & gravel, with US offices and manufacturing facilities located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Last MeetingOur November Speaker was Marshall S. Miller, Chairman and CEO of Marshall Miller & Associates, a geological and engineering firm that he founded in 1976. He is also the 2004 Henry Krumb lecturer for the SME. Mr. Miller delivered an updated lecture “The Expectation for Coal: Is Our Government and the Coal Industry Prepared?” From his view, our country is looking at a situation where adequate quantification and qualification of our Nation’s coal reserves is increasingly being compromised. While there has been major increases in government funding in Clean Coal Technology and in research on Carbon Sequestration, for more than a decade there have been cutbacks in funding for other domestic coal related programs and personnel. This paper presented the growing concerns and dichotomies that continue to increase and address the decreasing number of fossil fuel programs in Federal and State programs. At the end of his talk he presented a synopsis of recent trends in the coal industry as part of a general upswing in the mining industry being driven by Chinese markets. Editors’sNote: Sobering facts from the Intertech sponsored Met Coke World Summit Nov. 2004: The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has noted that of the world’s 214 billion tonnes of (reportedly) recoverable met coal, the U.S. figure is 44 billion. When the USGS conducted intensive spot evaluations in central Appalachia--home of much of the U.S.’ met coal-of that figure it came up with 15% as the likely truly recoverable fraction of the tonnage heretofore cited as recoverable. Next MeetingJason Ryan of Austin Power will be speaking on Tuesday, February 22nd on Practical Blasting: State-of-the Art in Drilling and Blasting. This will be a technical talk for those interested in the nuts and bolts and what it can do for your bottom line. Jason is an engineer who has over ten years of field experience in blasting, a lot of it in the Midwest in conditions that we are working with. What he has to say may be helpful at your operation.
GEM/PIE NewsUpcoming Event: The Mansion Rocks
Section
News
Don't forget to pay your 2003-2004 dues. Click here for details. Click here for the 2003-2004 Officers Silver Anniversary MembersThe Chicago SME Section would like to recognize several individuals who have been members of the SME for 25 years. Dr. Subhash B. Bhagwat of the Illinois State Geol Survey, Mr. Dean A. Ennes of Ennes International, Dr. Douglas F. Hambley of Practical Environmental Consultants, Mr. Dennis N. Kostic of Weir International Mining Consultants, and Dr. Gennaro G. Marino, of Marino Engin-eering Associates. The SME will be mailing your certificates by next week. Congratulations guys! And thanks for your support over the years. - Gordie Stevens Speakers for Upcoming Meetings?If
you would like to present a talk or have a subject matter that you are
interested in hearing presented at a meeting, please give
Frank Kendorski, of
Agapito Associates who is our Program Chair.
He can be reached at: e-mail:
frank@agapito.com New to the Chicago SME Website: Corporate Sponsor LinksThe
Chicago SME section has added a sponsor page of links
on our web site. The links will be
added for a small annual fee, with the money going solely to support our GEM
(Government, Education & Mining) Committee outreach efforts.
This money goes to sponsor a variety of teacher education, Mineral
Information Institute education materials, student scholarships and more.
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Member NewsFROM THE TALKING HEAD(John Head, Continental Placer)
The first one, which is
titled "How to Deal with an MSHA Inspection" is at the Pennsylvania
Aggregates and Concrete Association (PACA) operations meeting in Harrisburg on
January 13. This gives some
practical advice for preparing for the MSHA visit, dealing with the inspector
when he arrives and dealing with the results of the inspection.
He also includes some comments on what NOT to do. His second talk, at the SME
Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City on March 2, will be on the "The Future of
Aggregates". This paper will
explore the growing trend of underground stone mining, and provide some
suggestions for when going down might be the answer for your quarry.
The third talk concerns a
topic that will affect us all. John’s
talk is titled "A Review of Diesel Particulate Regulations and the Impact
on the Mining Industry" and will be given at the Industrial Minerals
Association being held in conjunction with ConAGG/ConEXPO in Las Vegas on March
14. John Head has been a
participant for the mining industry on committees working with the development
of these regulations for several years.
Industry NewsILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY TO OBSERVE CENTENNIALBeginning
in May 2005, the Illinois State Geological Survey will observe its Centennial
with special publications and events including the following: ·
Publication of a new book,
"The Geology of Illinois" a comprehensive volume of the bedrock and
surficial geology. ·
A new map – the updated
"Bedrock Geology of Illinois" will be published as a two-sided
Wall-size map at a scale of 1/500,000. ·
Chicagoland glacial geology poster
will supplement the Chicago shoreline poster. This 2-sided poster will be
released this spring. ·
Two new volumes in the “Geology
of the State Parks” series – one on Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks
and the other on Illinois Beach State Park. ·
Field Trips in several state parks
and special industrial field trips of limited size to selected mines and
industrial facilities, the schedules to be determined.
Check the web link at the end of this article under “Field Trips”. ·
Midwest Friends of the Pleistocene
Meeting May 13-15 @ Streator and Illinois River ·
Meeting of the Midwest Groundwater
Association in October, 2005 in Champaign. ·
A lecture series of preeminent
earth scientists and engineers, including experts on paleoclimates and ocean
floor geology.
Details
can be found at: http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu/centennial/centennial.htm
Christopher Stohr, Ph.D. CONCERNING
OLD ASTM C-33 STANDARDS AND FINES LOSSES…..
It
might be worth it for senior management and the engineering departments of the
aggregate and cement suppliers to take a look at a discussion going on now at
one of the Forums on AggregateReaseach.com at http://www.aggregateresearch.com/forum/qlogin.asp?area_id=113&msg_id=3891.
You need to complete a free registration with ARI (or log in if already
registered), then paste this link in the Address line.
The registration gives you the option to get news on topics you select if
you want it. This editor subscribes
and finds the infomation valuable. I
don’t get spam along with it – just 2 lines and a link to each article.
This discussion concerns a change in the ASTM standards concerning fine aggregate and C-33 done in the 1930s. If some of the opinions expressed are correct, and if research could prove that a change in gradation standards was warranted, it could significantly reduce the fines losses for some producers. These changes for concrete fine aggregate in the 30’s included a new standard of 100% passing 8 mesh versus the old standard of allowing a percentage of 4 to 8 mesh in fine aggregates. Note also Lukkarila’s comments relating to the 100-270 mesh size fraction. I would appreciate hearing opinions from our producers on this. --Rick Ackermann CHINESE CALL SETS COAL PRICES ALIGHTNov
2004 Export prices for coking and
thermal coal next year will soar to bring in billions of dollars of extra income
as strong Chinese demand has lit a fire under world markets, say industry
experts. The biggest price rises
will be for coking coal, used for steelmaking, which are forecast to more than
double to higher than US$130 ($183) a tonne - possibly much more - as
negotiations begin between Australia, the world's top exporter, and Japan, the
No. 1 importer. It was forecast that thermal
coal prices in Australia-Japan contracts would rise to between $52 and $55 a
tonne for the year from April 1 from around $45 a tonne this year.
Peter O'Connor, director diversified resources at broker Credit Suisse
First Boston Australia Equities, forecast thermal coal contract prices of
US$52.50 a tonne for 2005/06, a 17% increase. This
article reprint from: http://www.aggregateresearch.com/article.asp?id=5326
--Rick Ackermann Editors’s
Note: From the Intertech sponsored Met Coke World Summit Nov. 2004: Chinese
coke production saw a 75% production increase from ’01 to ’03. Over 180
new ovens are being built increasing yearly capacity by 60 million tonnes/year.
Overall national output is expected to be nearly 60% of the world total in
‘05. And additional plants are planned; from ’06-’10 some 52 million
tonnes will likely be built. If world capacity rises by 83 million tonnes by
2008, China will be the site of 78% of it.
– from a talk by Karl Csenich, U.S. Steel’s General Manager - Raw
Materials
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