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| Showcasing the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. |
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 No good deed unpunished
Good news can be bad news. For the mining supply sector, labour shortages in the mining industry promise good times. They signal that the market is growing, and they almost guarantee there will be growing demand for labour saving equipment and services. They also promise labour shortages for supply firms.
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From camels to flying carpets
Mining and the trade in metals shaped the ancient world. And in almost every case, the transportation system for the metal industries was the most advanced you could find at the time.
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Hooray, we lose!
The mining industry in Australia is going to war. It will be marching with the Australian Chamber of Commerce, the Australian Coal Association and the Plastics and Chemical Industries Association. The coalition plans to spend more than $10 million on a campaign to fight carbon pricing.
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The Rube Goldberg economy
Development economics is infested with acronyms. There was the BRIC – Brazil, Russia India and China, and now the BRICS - the BRIC with South Africa added. The BRICS are driving the supercycle that is driving the price of metals up and making miners rich. And, of course, mining drives the mining supply and service (MS&S) industries.
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The not-new, not-a-cycle supercycle
Mr. Keynes had it right: the financial community is very, very emotional. We are barely climbing out of what many were calling the great recession, and suddenly a flock of bankers and business reporters are babbling about a new economic supercycle.
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The Age of Design
Mining machines are getting prettier. Today, there is a lineup of machines in the square outside my window at the university. The Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's Maintenance Engineering and Mine Operators Conference (MEMO) has taken over the Great Hall. Laurentian University looks like a cross between a mine site and a convention centre.
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Getting Bigger
The world of mining is a world of monsters. Monster trucks with wheels the size of houses make highway dump trucks look like tinker toys. The tires alone are the price of a house. Production depends on conveyances that lift ten tons at a time and drop 40 people thousands of feet in minutes. They are supported by cables thicker than a horse's tail and driven by electric motors the size of trucks. They run over sheave wheels the size of small Ferris wheels.
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Ring of Fire, Ring of Fire
One way to get attention in the mining world is to mention the Ring of Fire. Apparently, it doesn't matter whether your column is really about the Ring of Fire. Just mention this new wonder of the world and you get noticed.
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Canada’s ugly duckling industry
Google "mining supply company" and you get a few companies with exactly that name. Next, you get the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association. Fourth on the page is a Google map of Sudbury with 16 pages of Sudbury-area firms.
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The creative heart of mining
In September 1998, the National Mining Association in the U.S. presented its vision for the mining industry for the year 2020. 2009 is the halfway point in the grand plan. How well did the visionaries do? And what does it mean for the industries that supply the mining sector?
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The wisdom of the market
Suppliers who believe in the wisdom of the market have already started pumping money into marketing and promotion. Purchasing agents may not have flung their doors wide open yet, but market signals are saying it’s time to start jockeying for position.
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