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California Dreaming: Orange County Illusions
I am in Huntington Beach, California and thus California Dreaming. Or at least living the dream that is Orange County—a bastion of white, Hispanic, and Vietnamese wealth, power, and privilege. The...
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Mining Project Management–Redux ad Absurdum
“I have managed projects of 800 people. I never let the engineers talk to the client. That is what project managers are for–to talk to the client. I am here to take over this project and make it...
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Gold Fields Mining in South Africa: Asset Management
Here is an announcement that Gold Fields in South Africa is supporting my alma mater: Gold Fields’ investment in the Wits University School of Mining Engineering is expected to make a major...
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Memorable Mining Meals
On the way to the airport this morning, I passed Dockers. It is a nondescript place to eat on Powell Street right besides the Vancouver docks. I have often stopped at this place to eat after a long...
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Technical Writing for Mining Consultants’ Reports
This week I had to read a large number of reports written over many years by an assortment of consultants to mining companies. Some were well written. Many were terrible. Here are a few of the most...
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Flying out of Mining Fly-In, Fly-Out Camps
The flight from one of those distant fly-in, fly-out camps was diverted to another province; lightening at the intended airport precluded landing; so we flew to another place to top up on fuel. I...
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Lesbian Opera: Pergolesi and Il Prigionier Superbo
A late Saturday posting: about the opera just watched on DVD of Pergolesi’s Il Prigionier Superbo. A lesbian opera in fact, if not by intention! On the right side (dexter) is conventional opera. On...
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Judgement in Tailings Managment
Professor Jere Jennings who taught so many of us now-old civil engineers in mining used to say: “When you have read everything there is to read, when you have done all the calculations possible, then...
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Vancouver Graffiti II
I love graffiti. It is visceral, bold, colorful, Baroque, and wild. You cannot but empathize with the lost souls who come to lonely places to make a mark Do a Google search for Vancouver graffiti....
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Adelaide di Borgogna. Rossini Opera and Political Strife.
Saturday is opera day. Tonight it was Adelaide di Borgogna, an early Rossini opera. The story is simple, yet complex: another tale of political intrigue, of wars lost & won, of loves spurned...
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Mining History. The U.S. Navy. And Personal Freedom.
My son is a Commandant in the U.S. Navy; anything I write here is prejudiced by that fact. This weekend I read Niall Ferguson’s The Great Degeneration and I watched the movie Lincoln. What a...
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Mining Meeting Etiquette
Today I was in one of those meetings that remind you of Napoleon’s management dictum. He said people are either of low or high intelligence, and they are either of low or high energy. He said: “Those...
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Strathcona Lodge; Strathcona Park; Vancouver Island, B.C.
The absence of postings this week is the result of erratic & sporadic email connectivity. I was at one of those mining sites far from the modern world. Great to be back in the visceral world of...
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Fish Lake, Taseko, and Anti-mining Activists
A perfect summer day. Last night to the Bard on the Beach Twelfth Night, a great production all round. No mumbling; no action on the hidden balcony; lots of humor; many laughs; and great acting....
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The definitive mining comic book
I have never come across a comic book in which the hero is a miner. I have never read a comic book in which mining is praised or even shown to be a provider of the basics of life. Maybe it is time...
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Grandchildren in Mining
The joy of life is offspring: children & grandchildren and all their variety. I have not posted much on this blog in the last two weeks as I have been in California with four of the eight...
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PoCo Trail Bike Ride
Today we rode the PoCo trail. PoCo stands, I suppose for Port Coquitlam trail. It is about 25 kilometers long and winds along rivers, through woods, over highways, and along domestic roads &...
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Miners vs. Regulators. Truth vs. Lies.
A midnight sun shone on the overhang where we sat discussing telling the truth to regulators about mining matters. A packet of cigarettes was consumed in these deep deliberations: should we, as...
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Verdi’s Don Carlo: The Terrible Truth of Religion
In a liquor superstore on Beach Blvd. in Huntington Beach, I bought a bottle of Jameson Triple Distilled Gold Reserve Irish Whiskey. The cost was $65. Expensive by comparison with the other fine...
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aseko Hearings and Mining Expert Opinions!
Two emails hit the inbox today. Both told of presentations at hearing currently underway regarding the Taseko new Prosperity Mine. I am intrigued by the statements made by the experts. Here are few...
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