Engineering & Mining Journal

JUN 2012

Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr

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NEWS-LEADING DEVELOPMENTS BHP Billiton Combines Nickel and Aluminum Groups BHP Billiton is consolidating its Stain- less Steel Materials and Aluminium cus- tomer sector groups (CSGs) into a single CSG to be named Aluminium and Nickel. The new CSG will be headquartered in Perth, Australia, under the leadership of Glenn Kellow as president. Kellow is cur- rently president Stainless Steel Materials. The Aluminium and Nickel CSG will include all current nickel and aluminum assets in BHP Billiton's portfolio: Nickel West and Worsley in Australia, Cerro Matoso in Colombia, Mozal in Mozambique, Hillside and Bayside in South Africa, and two non-operated joint ventures, Alumar and Mineração Rio do Norte, in Brazil. BHP Billiton Chief Executive Alumi- nium, Nickel and Corporate Development, Alberto Calderon said, "Despite the current challenges, BHP Billiton is committed to aluminum and nickel as commodities that may benefit from later phases of economic development in the emerging economies. "However, individually, aluminum and nickel are small divisions relative to the other businesses in BHP Billiton. The com- bination of these into a single business unit will provide appropriate scale within the BHP Billiton portfolio, as well as simplify- ing the functional structure of the business to assist in our efforts to make it a more efficient and competitive organization." Rio Tinto and iGATE Patni Open Innovation Center Rio Tinto and iGATE Patni have opened a state-of-the-art Rio Tinto Innovation Center (RTIC) in Pune, India, to support global growth and development of Rio Tinto's "Mine of the Future" program. The RTIC will provide Rio Tinto with engineering research and development services, including industrial automation and con- trol, software and embedded design and development, and general engineering services. The center will build on work done by Rio Tinto's established "Centers of Excellence" in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and will have an initial operating time frame of five years. RTIC will provide engineering skills to help drive innovation through to imple- mentation at an operational level. It will take ideas that have been developed at the other Rio Tinto research centers and trialed in a specific mine or business unit, and modify the technology for use with other products or in different regions. It will have 6 E&MJ; • JUNE 2012 about 300 employees, mainly engineers, and will focus on disciplines such as image processing, advanced data mining and analytics, automation and control systems, design, and logistics. iGATE Patni CEO Phaneesh Murthy said, "We are truly delighted that Rio Tinto has chosen iGATE Patni as its exclusive partner for this landmark innovation engagement. I am particularly pleased that our capabilities in product engineering services have gained increased acceptance among global companies to bring about innovation in their business, and this part- nership is an important step in our journey to deliver high-impact business outcomes. Rio Tinto Head of Innovation John McGagh said, "This partnership will enable us to move our innovations from concept stage to reality more efficiently through the work of a dedicated team of specialized engineers. iGATE Patni's credentials and business capability fit our need for a strong, outcomes-driven innovation partner. "RTIC will allow us to take a specific technology developed at one of our Centers of Excellence, such as the mine automa- tion system currently in use at our Pilbara iron ore operations in Western Australia, and adapt it for broader application across our network of mines." KaMin Acquires Brazilian Kaolin Interest from Vale KaMin LLC, a U.S. kaolin producer based in Macon, Georgia, has acquired a 61.5% stake in CADAM S.A., a Brazilian kaolin producer, from Vale for $30.1 million to be paid over a five-year period. CADAM oper- ates an open-pit kaolin mine in the state of Amapá and a beneficiation plant and pri- vate port in the state of Pará, Brazil. The mine and the plant are linked via a 5.8-km pipeline. CADAM also has offices and warehouses in Antwerp, Belgium, and Shanghai, China. KaMin has kaolin plants in Macon, Sandersville and Wrens, Georgia. KaMin and CADAM both supply premi- um kaolin clays to the paper industry. KaMin's products are also used in many non-paper applications, including ink, rub- ber, plastics, adhesives and paints. "We look forward to working with CADAM to enhance their offerings to other markets beyond paper and believe that in doing so we will be able to deliver value to CADAM's shareholders and customers," KaMin Vice President Technology and Business De- velopment Doug Carter said. A Vale announcement said, "The sale of CADAM is part of our continuous efforts to optimize the asset portfolio. Together with the sale of Pará Pigmentos S.A. (PPSA) in 2010, it consolidates Vale's divestiture of the kaolin business." Rio Tinto Forms Education Partnership with UWA Rio Tinto and the University of Western Australia (UWA) have signed a multi-mil- lion dollar partnership that will focus on creating a sustainable supply of graduates and expertise for the mining industry. In a ceremony held recently in Perth, Rio Tinto announced UWA as the first partner in its Global Education Partnerships Program. Rio Tinto will invest $3 million with UWA as part of a long-term objective to foster skills for the future and build education capability. The program will establish a worldwide network of leading universities to generate and foster an appropriate expertise base for the resources industries. The UWA partnership will be built around a series of education-related initia- tives including a strong scholarship frame- work that will provide support and access to mining related education for more than 40 students. Supporting Rio Tinto and UWA's focus on building a supply of diverse talent, the scholarship framework also aims to encourage more female, inter- national and Indigenous students into these study areas. Vice Chancellor of The University of Western Australia, Professor Paul John- son, said the new Education Partnerships Agreement would extend a long and pro- ductive relationship with Rio Tinto. "Working with Rio Tinto has provided enormous benefits to the University and the Western Australian community," Johnson said. "This partnership will pro- vide a diverse group of scholars with access to real-life work environments and work experience, and increase the uni- versity's attractiveness to potential stu- dents. Increasing the number of scholar- ships will take UWA closer to being count- ed among the top 50 universities in the world by 2050." Executive Director Rio Tinto Sam Walsh said he looked forward to strengthening the relationship with UWA to further enable young people to reach their true potential. "Aside from further developing our rela- tionship with UWA, this program will increase Rio Tinto's access to quality grad- www.e-mj.com

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