MINING

Here is an announcement from International Minings (John Chadwick et al). It seems so worthy an undertaking, that I repeat in full as the announcment came to me. Maybe you can make your nominations for induction of great mining folk into the Hall of fame.
International Mining is organising a very significant event that is certain to become a key meeting in the mining world’s annual calendar. The International Mining Technology Hall of Fame will recognise the technical innovators of our industry – past and present. Rio Tinto’s Mine of the FutureTM program is the industry associate for the event.


The mining equipment and technology sector usually makes advances thanks to the dedication and expertise of individuals or small groups that have pushed the boundaries of innovation and R&D to bring new solutions to the industry. Sometimes initially facing internal and external scepticism or funding shortages, these leaps of progress have gone on to help make major increases in productivity and efficiency in mining, as well as in some cases making operations safer through helping to remove operators and miners from high risk roles.
The International Mining Technology Hall of Fame will recognise these pioneers across a range of categories, and perhaps going back many years. Nominees could be as varied as the developer of a fundamental improvement in crusher or drill rig design, to the introduction of a new process or mining method. Nominations should be individuals or small teams rather than companies.
Please let us have your nominations for people who should be considered. We will be looking to induct 14 people (and it can be a posthumous award) into this hall of fame at a gala dinner at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, February 22, 2014; just before the SME Annual Meeting starts. International Mining has people who have been in the mining industry for some 40 years each and we can think of many worthy recipients, you can think of many more around the world.
This is the only Hall of Fame recognising the global innovators in our industry – some have been forgotten already, let’s honour those who so deserve the accolades before too much more time passes. Nominations that fail this year will automatically pass into the 2015 voting.
There are 14 categories for inductee awards:
1. Exploration
2. Underground Development
3. Underground Production
4. Underground Load and haul
5. Underground Support
6. Surface Mine Production
7. Surface Mine Load and haul
8. Mining software
9. Safety
10. Comminution
11. Concentration
12. Bulk handling
13. Tailings management
14. Outstanding innovator
Once the nominations are in, the voting will be undertaken by a college of some 200 experts and leaders in the fields of exploration, mining and processing. To ensure impartiality, none of them will be employees of supplier companies (but their nominations are very welcome).
The inventors of seismic imaging technology, the diamond drill, RC drilling, is it Tony Barringer or Danie Krige, or someone else for you in exploration?
Who invented the boom that is so important to drill jumbos? Who do we credit with the first use of the LHD? Is it autonomous trucks, despatch systems, emulsion explosives, or some other mining innovation?
Maybe you think it should be the brothers Frank and Stanley Elmore – credited with the first successful application of mineral flotation, or is it mineral sizing, or SAG milling, SX-EW, ore sorting, or……?
As there has been nothing like these awards in the international arena since the World Mining Blue Ribbon award of the 1980s, it is recognised that awards may be nominated (by the readers of International Mining) and chosen (by the voting college) for developments going back many years – for new machines or techniques that were truly ‘game changing’ – like Eddie Wagner’s first LHD delivery in 1958, Jeff Whittle and his origins of optimisation software, the first use of hydraulic breakers and service vehicles in mines, major changes in crushing and grinding, bioleaching. etc. Among International Mining’s many thousands of readers there will be many other ideas.
We look forward to seeing the suggestions and the subsequent voting results – this promises to be an exciting process. It will also be a very important contribution to the collection of mining history. It will be a memorial to the men and women who have made a significant contribution to the technology, science and safety of the mining industry.
Over the next months we will be accepting nominations from readers, sponsors and suppliers across the industry worldwide, followed by voting by our college of experts – mine, process plant, engineering company and consultancy management, as well as leading mining professors around the world.
Please send your nomination to Robert@im-mining.com with reasoning (maximum 500 words) why this person should be in the hall of fame – what did the technology/idea achieve? And please convince us that this person is the one that should be honoured for this specific technology or technique. Nominations will close September 20; the selection college will then vote before the end of October 2013.
For more from Jack Caldwell, see his blog, I Think Mining