Book Description

This new edition, containing 28,500 terms, incorporates the technological developments and environmental regulations that have changed the minerals industry so dramatically. It is the culmination of a 5-year effort incorporating not only standard mining-related terms but also terms in peripheral areas, such as the environment, marine mining, leaching, pollution, automation, health and safety. Many of these terms now have a legal definition based on law or regulation. ... Read more

Book Description

Advance Praise for 47 Down

"A gripping mystery story: Will the men trapped deep underground in a mine by fire be reached by rescuers in time?And why do these mining disasters occur, and reoccur, in our nation’s history?"
–Gerald M. Stern, author of The Buffalo Creek Disaster

"This is as much a story about journalism as it is about a mine disaster.Women reporters assigned to chronicle the human side were called‘sob sisters’ for their ability to evoke emotion with words.O. Henry Mace pays tribute to the tenacious and creative Ruth Finney, whose storytelling skills framed the story for decades after her passing and established her as one of the early giants among women in journalism."
–Eleanor Clift, contributing editor, Newsweek

"Most disaster books are predictable and dry, but O. Henry Mace’s 47 Down, the story of the 1922 Argonaut mining tragedy, is, quite simply, one of the best disaster books to come along in years.Mace’s taut, lyrical, intelligent prose combined with his thorough research and his film director’s eye for detail and focus make 47 Downas compelling as The Perfect Storm and as memorable as Young Men and Fire.Mace takes the reader inside the Argonaut mine shaft and doesn’t let go.This is a necessary book."
–Denise Gess, coauthor of Firestorm at Peshtigo ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This book is a repeat
The reason for the low rating is because this book is a repeat of Mr Garrett's book,"Let's Talk Treasure Hunting" which was first printed in 1992. Chapters and wording of "Treasure Hunting for Fun and Profit is practically identical. If you buy either book, there is no need to buy the other. These books have some information on the technics of metal detecting, but is more focused in the end in describing the kind of metal detector to use which is the Garrett detector...which is a great metal detector! ... Read more

Book Description

Linear Geostatistics covers basic geostatistics from the underlying statistical assumptions, the variogram calculation and modelling through to kriging. The underlying philosophy is to give the students an indepth understanding of the relevant theory and how to put it into practice. This means going into the theory in more detail than most books do, and also linking it with applications. It is assumed that readers, students and professionals alike, are familiar with basic probability and statistics, and matrix algebra needed for solving linear systems. Some reminders on these are given in an appendix at the end of the book. A set of exercises is integrated into the text. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Introductory but excellent lecture of geostatistics
This book treats some stuffs in geostatistics including basic stochastic theory, variogram, and various kriging techniques. Though this is an introductory textbook of geostatistics, it's theoretical approach and explanation are clear, creative, and easy to understanding for students who are new to this area. I would like to recommend this book for all of students who have an interest in geostatistics and for experts too. ... Read more

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Reviews (18)

Diamonds, David and Goliath, and the Dark Side of Geology
Barren Lands by Kevin Krajick is epic nonfiction without artifice. The author does not create straw heroes or villains, but presents the story and its participants warts and all. The search for diamonds in North America is the story, and myriad searchers enter and exit during the tale's almost 500 years. The ultimate discovery of the source of North America's diamonds in the Canadian Arctic is the goal of the story. Charles E. Fipke, a person who presents a lot of reasons for the reader to dislike him, is the unlikely David in the story and De Beers, the company with a stranglehold on the World's diamond markets, is the Goliath.

Part of my interest in Barren Lands stems from my training as a geologist with an emphasis in mineral exploration. Part of the reason I became a high school earth science teacher has to do with my weakness at keeping scientific secrets. I knew that working for a mining or mineral exploration company would necessarily involve the nondisclosure of proprietary information and I knew that I couldn't do it. The tension between proprietary information and open scientific discourse is strongly portrayed in the book. Another reason for my interest comes from the fact that geology students of my generation were very aware of what these diamond deposits in North America should look like. I have been telling my 9th graders for years that somewhere in Canada there are some diamondiferous kimberlite pipes that have been glacially scoured and probably contain circular lakes, making them difficult to find. I have been telling them that someday someone would follow the diamonds in the glacial till covering northern North America back to the source of the diamonds. Barren Lands allowed me to enjoy the fact that at least one of the things I learned in college, and then passed on to my own students, was correct.

I cannot recommend this book enough. If you have an interest in geology, exploration, history, nature, and economics, this book should keep you up late at night as you eagerly read the book to its conclusion. A special recommend to anyone interested in being an exploration or mining geologist. Some mining is necessary and mining is necessarily a destructive process. Mining resources like diamonds and gold present a large challenge to any environmentally oriented person since most of the money to be made on diamonds and gold is for luxury items, things humans could do without.

Diamonds, Danger, Desire
Did you know that in about half of the states of the US people have found diamonds? Diamonds of more than two carats have been found, for example, in Ohio and Alabama, and finding them is often just child's play. Kids are the ones who pick these gems up, because kids are close to the ground and always looking for treasures. Finding a reliable supply of diamonds is much more difficult; the ones found on the ground are often chance deposits that were dropped when a glacier melted, but the glacier must have carried them from somewhere rich in diamonds. There aren't many such places, and it was a surprise that over the past decade, the Northwest Territories of Canada were deemed to be diamond mining country. The eerie, exciting, and disturbing story of how this came to be is told in _Barren Lands: An Epic Search for Diamonds in the North American Arctic_ (Times Books) by Kevin Krajick. The lure of diamonds has proved inescapable for a certain class of men for centuries, and Krajick's book tells about some of them he met while he did his research.

The Barren Lands (yes, that is the designation you will see on maps) is a half million square mile region as far north as Americans can go. There are no roads and no people, and it is called barren because it is above the northern limits which trees can reach, Since diamond exploration has started, however, it could well be populated with workers producing gold, uranium, and other minerals. At the heart of the story of exploration here is Chuck Fipke, a weird little guy who does nothing to improve the image of geologists. When Fipke was in charge of a prospecting expedition, he drove his men ruthlessly, especially his own son with distressing ferocity ("When you're not eating or sleeping, you're working for me."). Fipke was just one of a long line of explorers to the region, and their history is well covered here. The unbelievable hardships of traversing the area, or working in it, are well described in many sections of the book; bears, mosquitoes, and deerflies all supply annoyance or danger. Then there were the people. Fipke could not keep his operation secret for long, and DeBeers and other mining firms shouldered in. Fipke's team painted the plywood cubicles that held the drills with camouflage paint that would prevent detection from the air, and even ordered army-surplus camouflage nets to cover supplies. This was not paranoia; there were commercial spy planes making regular flights to see what was up.

The prospectors faced challenges from the environmentalists, who worried that the caribou, wolves, falcons, wolverines, and bears would get shoved aside by the industrialization of a previously pristine area, and the local tribes worried about water pollution, looting of artifacts left by their ancestors, and "perhaps most of all they worried that they might be left out of the profits." Barren Lands now has a hugely expensive mining factory, and will simply churn out millions of dollars worth of diamonds every year. There is a pressure to build roads and power lines to the site, which will mean more alteration of a basically natural area, but profits like these cannot be resisted. While Fipke and his partners are all now unimaginably rich, they are not unimaginably happy. Fipke alienated many of his crew, and shattered his family during the most intense of the mining preparations. He admits that putting all his energy into his mine had its price. "But that was _cool_! To do all that we did? It was _fun_!" It is not surprising that with this attitude, all the riches and all the family problems haven't made a difference: he is still out there looking for the next strike.

What's required to find a multi-billion dollar mine
-----------------------------------------------------------

Rating: "A" -- the obsession, hard work, heartbreak and good luck
required to make a multi-billion dollar discovery. Highly
recommended.

This is the story of the discovery of the Ekati diamond mine, in the
Barren Lands of the Northwest Territories, by Chuck Fipke, Hugo
Dummett, and others.

Hugo Dummett signed on with Superior Oil in 1978 to prospect for
diamonds in North America, just as the science of using indicator
minerals -- pyrope garnets, chrome diopside and chromite -- for
diamond exploration was being worked out. Superior started
prospecting around Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds -- now
inconveniently a State Park. Hugo and Mike Wolfhard hired Chuck
Fipke and his crew to sample the area. Lots of fun with jungly brush
and shotgun-toting landowners... Hugo even tried to sweet-talk Gov.
Bill Clinton into leasing him the park!

Fipke is a poster child for the space-case prospector-geologist, but he's
smart, has a sharp eye and was an *amazingly* hard worker. But a
*terrible* boss -- he drove his workers to exhaustion, and wouldn't
take elementary safety precautions, even on helicopter-supported
work. It's remarkable he didn't kill anyone [note 1].

The road to Ekati was not direct. Superior's exploration program (and
their competitors') went down the usual side tracks and dead ends --
including rediscovery of the salted site of a 19th century diamond
fraud. Then -- just as Fipke & company were developing some truly
good-looking Barren Lands prospects -- Mobil Oil bought Superior,
and summarily axed all Canadian exploration. Thud.

Fipke and Dia Met scrambled for money from family, friends and
penny-stock speculators, raising enough to stake a sizeable claim-
block near Lac de Gras, in the trackless barrens a couple hundred
miles northeast of Yellowknife. Then the money was gone, and none
of the pros were interested in Dia Met's "moose pasture." Bankruptcy
loomed -- but Dummett landed a new job with BHP, with a healthy
budget, and he quickly leased the Fipke-Dia Met ground.

Word of the BHP deal brought De Beers, Corona and others into the
area, but the *real* excitement started when BHP's first drillhole
found diamonds -- lots of diamonds! Despite strenuous secrecy
efforts, the word got out -- as it always does -- and the Great Diamond
Rush of 1991 was on! Tundra was staked by the township, and Dia
Met stock, which sold for 50c. a share in mid-91, hit $67 by the end of
1992. Fipke and his partners were paper billionaires.

The Ekati mine was commissioned in late 1998. Capital cost was
US$700 million. Sales of US$448 million (FY 2001) yielded gross
earnings of $285 million (!, EBITDA = earnings before interest, tax,
depreciation & amortization = gross profit). Mine life is expected to exceed
25 years.

District exploration costs (1989-98, Ekati-Diavik district, all companies)
exceeded US$500 million(!). A second mine, Diavik (Rio Tinto-Aber),
inconveniently located directly under Lac de Gras, is scheduled to go
into production in 2003 at an estimated capital cost of US$885 million.
Serious money is involved here. [Financial data from BHP 2001
annual report, and various web reports. Don't expect much financial
information in the book. Google is your friend.

Fipke & his longtime partner, geologist Stewart Blusson, each retain a
10%(!!) interest in the Ekati mine. (Blusson later gave $50 million to
UBC, his alma mater). When the big bucks rolled in, Fipke's marriage
fell apart, his brother sued him (as did many others), and his son
stopped speaking to him. The Big Strike had its costs.

The book's meandering start might put you off, but don't be
discouraged -- Krajick has a fine story to tell, and once he get's rolling,
this is strong stuff. No geologist who's worked in exploration -- or
anyone with a taste for an old-fashioned strike-it-rich story -- should
miss this one .
____________
Note 1) There was fatal helicopter crash at the BHP camp in 1992,
while Fipke was project manager. The apparent cause was pilot error
-- flying without reeling in the sling-line -- but Fipke wasn't directly
involved.

Happy reading!
Peter D. Tillman
Consulting Geologist, Tucson & Santa Fe (USA)

Revised review
On October 17,2001, I submitted a harsh and critical review of Barren Lands, by Kevin Krajick, which is still being presented by Amazon.com. After discussions with the author and others, I regret the too negative tone of my review and now wish to modify my comments to reflect my much more favorable opinion of the work and its intregrity. I hope that visitors to this web site will discount my earlier comments.

Sincerely,

John S. White

Diamonds and Minerals, look and you will find.
Great story of the quest for diamonds. Just goes to show you, that if you are allowed to look you can find anything society wants.

A great story about a driven geologist that does not take no for an answer. Prospecting is alive and well, if the greenies do not lock it all up! ... Read more

Book Description

Drilling: The Manual of Methods, Applications, and Management is all about drilling and its related geology, machinery, methods, applications, management, safety issues, and more.Of all the technologies employed by hydrologists, environmental engineers, and scientists interested in subsurface conditions, drilling is one of the most frequently used but most poorly understood. Now, for the first time, this industry-tested manual, developed by one of the world's leading authorities on drilling technology, is available to a world-wide audience. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Best Drilling Book to Date
If you are looking for a good book on environmental, geotechnical or hydrogeology drilling this is the BOOK it is set up so even a driller can understand basic concepts and gives engineers a good idea about drilling practices and concepts.

A very comprehensive and complete book about drilling
Im a driller in Mexico, I have found this book very useful, it covers a lot of topics, It is very well explained and very detailed in any subject, from measures to drilling techniques as well as machinery and tools and geology for drillers.

The only poor topic I found on the book, is about pneumatic/hammer drilling altough the topic is covered it is very poor in information about the technique.

How ever in general its a very good and complete book as I said, and its a must in every driller bookshelf ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Interest to the Mining Industry
The mining industry is showing increasing interest in the use of simulation for mine design optimization, risk analysis, and estimation of recoverable reserves as a function of mining selectivity. Many symposia have been organized to discuss deposit simulation and its applications. However, as stated in the book's introduction, there was an obvious need for a book describing the mathematical and practical aspects of simulation. Journel and Kyriakidis filled this gap. As expected from Journel the book is thorough, detailed, requiring a strong statistical background to be fully appreciated, but a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. It will become a text book for all serious students of geostatistics and a fundamental reference for all geostatisticians. ... Read more

Book Description

Acoustic logging is a multidisciplinary technology involving basic theory, instrumentation, and data processing/interpretation methodologies. The advancement of the technology now allows for a broad range of measurements to obtain formation properties such as elastic wave velocity and attenuation, formation permeability, and seismic anisotropy that are important for petroleum reservoir exploration. With these advances, it is easier to detect and characterize formation fractures, estimate formation stress field, and locate/estimate petroleum reserves. The technology has evolved from the monopole acoustic logging into the multipole, including dipole, cross-dipole, and even quadrupole, acoustic logging measurements. The measurement process has developed from the conventional wireline logging into the logging-while-drilling stage.

For such a fast developing technology with applications that are interesting to readers of different backgrounds, it is necessary to have systematic documentation of the discipline, including thetheory, methods, and applications, as well as the technology's past, present, and near future development trends. Quantitative Borehole Acoustic Methods provides such documentation, with emphasis on the development over the past decade. Although considerable effort has been made to provide a thorough basis for the theory and methodology development, emphasis is placed on the applications of the developed methods. The applications are illustrated with field data examples. Many of the acoustic waveform analysis/processing methods described in the book are now widely used in the well logging industry. ... Read more

Book Description

This book gives a comprehensive and authoritative survey ofmodern geophysical methods used in prospecting for natural resources,and incivil engineering, geohydrological, and environmentalinvestigation.It is written with an emphasis on physical explanationand practicalapplications. Principles of Applied Geophysics isessential readingfor all earth science undergraduates andpostgraduates studyingapplied geophysics, as well as practisinggeophysicists and civil andenvironmental engineers who require an upto date overview of thesubject. ... Read more

Book Description

This handbook summarizes the main advancesin our understanding of marine minerals and concentrates on the deposits of proven economic potential.In cases where our knowledge may be too limited to allow defining of their economic potential, those minerals are covered regionally or by deposit type. Handbook of Marine Mineral Deposits is divided into three sections; Marine placers, manganese nodules and crusts, and deep-sea hydrothermal mineralization. All of these mineral deposits have great potential importance to economic geologists and marine mines.Edited by an acknowledged expert in the field, this handbook includes work by internationally renowned contributors.The new United Nations Law of the Sea, ratified by over 100 countries within the past two years, provides a framework and guidelines for deep-sea mineral exploration that increases international interest in this book.The Handbook serves as a platform from which to launch the more detailed evaluation studies that will need to take place in the 21st century before recovery can continue or commence. Handbook of Marine Mineral Deposits is useful to mineralogists, economic geologists, marine geologists, marine miners, and conservationists.Features ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Gold Nugget-Teering In NEVADA
A book for gold nugget searching in Nevada is long over-due....Precise information along with maps to the gold sites and gold areas.....Placer gold areas listed with geological info. and generous maps accompaning each text.....A waybill for Nevada's rich's.....No other book like it nor can any other book compare with it's information....Money well spent for this interesting Nevada book is a gold searcher's dream come true....The maps presented will get the seacher right into the precise area of interest....Metal detecting for gold nuggets made easier with Delos Toole's generous use of maps....Nevada's out-back is comparable to Australia's out-back for gold nugget searching. A must see book. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is the best E&P Dictionary you will ever get !
This book is full of clear and complete definitions of most of the terminology used in the Oil business. It also have lots of illustrations. It is very hard not to find what you are looking for. Excellent for people that intiates in the Oil business. ... Read more

Book Description

This book introduces geophysicists and geologists to the technique of interpreting 3-D seismic data.The topics it covers include basic structural interpretation and map-making; the use of 3-D visualization methods; interpretation of seismic amplitudes; the generation and use of AVO and acoustic impedance datasets; and time-lapse seismic mapping.Written by professional geophysicists with many years of working experience in the oil industry, the book will be indispensable for graduate students, researchers, and new entrants into the petroleum industry. ... Read more

Book Description

This outstanding classic is the standard on industrial minerals and rocks. Organized in two parts, this hardbound book contains an introduction describing the broad field of industrial minerals, and chapters on commodities and uses, arranged in alphabetical order for quick consultation.

The comprehensive reference consists of 94 chapters produced by more than 130 authors, all experts in their respective fields. The work is fully indexed.

Don't miss this opportunity to order your copy. ... Read more

Book Description

Standard well logging technology was developed primarily to use measurements in liquid-filled boreholes to quantify the petroleum content in liquid-saturated sedimentary formations. By taking a fundamental approach to tool physics, this book enables readers to move beyond the standard situations and assumptions to use the technology under other conditions, such as air-filled boreholes and partially-saturated formations, and for other applications, such as the estimation of lithology type, shale fraction, mineral content, coal quality, total organic carbon, bedding dip and strike, and the movement of fluids in a borehole. This new edition explores the physical principles behind logging methods, including modern methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance, full-wave acoustic methods, and logging-while-drilling. No other book explains all of these new techniques. However, because log analysts must deal with logs run long ago, descriptions of the older technology are also retained. This comprehensive resource will help the log user review the results from the logging service companies, which run the logs and present the results. It will enable the user to understand the technology, to ask the right questions, and then to use the answers. Throughout the book, numerical values for the physical properties of fluids and minerals help the readers convert log values to actual formation properties. The explanations of technology, practical examples, and numerical data not only make this book an invaluable reference but also permit readers to improve and correct measurements made in the field. ... Read more

Book Description

This classic reference remains an industry standard. Anyone working in, or interested in, the coal industry, needs a copy of this hardbound text for their bookshelf. ... Read more