Halloween at the Boneyard

They may be too old for trick or treating but several Hexagon Mining staff decided to observe Halloween by joining the annual Desert Boneyard Run in Tucson. The 2,600-acre site at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base is home to nearly 4,000 aircraft, and is rarely seen by the public. 100% of the proceeds from the 10k/5k run/walk go to a Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) fund that directly supports the military men and women on Davis-Monthan AFB and their families. From left to right are Trevor West, Brandon Townsend, Sean Hunter, James Johnson, Erik Johnson, Meghan Hendren, Ken Amuri, and Seth Gering.

Great strides

Together with co-captain, Marta Berry (left), Deb St. Aubin (right) ensured that team organizer Lani Pannell was everywhere at this year’s Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in Tucson.

MineSight-Tucson again finished among the top 10 fundraising teams at the annual Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk in Tucson earlier this month. More than 3,000 walkers descended on Kino Sports Park Complex, Oct. 12. Together they raised almost $200,000 towards the fight against breast cancer.

MineSight’s contribution of $4,613 is the highest total raised by the Tucson team to date and ranked the company 10^th out of 334 teams. Participants included Marta Berry, Becky Egly and her husband Oscar, Deb St. Aubin, Mary James, Laura Hearron, Laura’s sister, brother-in-law and three children, David Thompson and family, and Matt Thorndal and family.

Team MineSight raised an unprecedented $4,613, good for a 10th-place finish among 334 teams.

Missing this year was team organizer, MineSight accountant, Lani Pannell.

“Marta Berry was our co-captain and was instrumental with organizing,” said Lani. “Marta was at the walk, taking care of business.”

Lani has been either a team captain and/or participant since the very first walk in 2002. She is a cancer survivor and counts several breast cancer survivors as friends.

“That’s what makes this walk special to me. I’ve always wanted to be involved in some way to help make a difference.”

Deb St. Aubin ensured that Lani was there in spirit, by creating Lani signs for participants to carry.

“Thanks to everyone who participated in the walk, and for the very generous donations,” said Lani.

Donations continue to be accepted here.

Walkers warm up with a dance.

David Thompson and family.

Participants stroll and roll.

Deb and Marta with Lani … sort of!

No rattlesnakes but this boa was spotted.

Pink tutus, masks and wigs were popular.

 

Mintec steps up

At last week’s Making Strides for Breast Cancer’ walk in Tucson, Team Mintec raised $3,688 – good enough for ninth-place among 421 walking teams. The event raised almost $250,000 in total.

A Mintec team is celebrating a top-10 finish in last week’s ‘Making Strides for Breast Cancer’ walk in Tucson. The team far exceeded its $2,000 fundraising goal, collecting $3,688 – good enough for ninth-place among 421 walking teams.

“We exceeded our original goal of $1,000 in September so we raised it again to $2,000,” said team organizer and Mintec accountant, Lani Pannell. “Beating that goal, too, was very exciting. I want to thank everyone who participated in the walk, whether they donated, bought a shirt and-or walked.”

More than 4,000 participants converged on Kino Sports Arena in Tucson, Oct. 27, to walk in three- and five-mile events. In total they raised $249,438.45 in the fight against breast cancer. Donations are still being accepted here.

The University of MineSight responds to client requests for a more flexible training experience.

In us to give

Jim Bulitta

Larry Berry

Abdullah Arik

Dozens of Mintec’s Tucson staff signed up for this year’s blood drive in memory of former colleagues, Jim Bulitta, Larry Berry and Abdullah Arik.

All three men left us far too soon: Jim in 2000, Abdullah and Larry in 2012. Mintec’s annual Memorial Blood Drive honors their friendships and contributions.

IT specialist Jorden Wright was one of 48 blood donors.

Together with neighboring Tucson business, AGM, some 68 people signed up to donate with 48 turning out to be productive donors. That’s nine more donors than last year’s record turnout. Mintec’s Julia Benham was grateful for a second Red Cross bus arriving after a cancellation elsewhere.

“It’s a tremendous success and I’m still amazed that so many people volunteered to donate,” said Julia, who helped organize the blood drive. “Thanks as always to our neighbors, AGM, who helped make this such a success.”

Three out of every 100 people in America donate blood. To learn more about blood donation opportunities, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 1 800-RED-CROSS.

Mintecers Connie Arroyos, Scott Cnockaert and Tim Paulsen with Red Cross employee, Carlos Apalategui.

William Turcado

Armando Ramirez

David Thompson

Jacob Roszko

Lani Pannell

Raul Gomez

Raul Gomez

Step right up

Tim Paulsen

2012 in review

Mintec expanded at an unprecedented rate in 2012.

Mintec hired at an unprecedented rate this year, which is probably just as well because on all fronts, 2012 proved to be one of the busiest 12 months in Mintec’s history.

On the product front, the company began 2012 focused on short-term planning, pushing hard on MineSight’s scheduling and planning applications. This meant continued integration of the tools in MineSight’s short-term planning suite – MineSight Interactive Planner, MineSight Haulage, MineSight Schedule Optimizer and Material Manager.

Clients also saw the integration of scheduling tools, such as MineSight Schedule Optimizer with visualization in MineSight 3D. The animation of schedules, and direct interaction between cuts and the scheduler make MSSO’s workflow infinitely more attractive.

The complexities of drillhole management were also made simpler with the release of MineSight Torque 2.2, which allowed composites to be imported from all supported data sources – ODBC, CSV and SQL.

Also in January, Mintec expanded its investment in education to the University of British Columbia, Canada, sponsoring an annual Award in Mining Engineering.

MineSight specialist, Andrew Garrity, takes branding to a whole new level at SME-Seattle in February.

In February, MineSight was front and center of SME-Seattle, as thousands of industry professionals attended the annual tradeshow organized by the Society for Mining Metallurgy and Exploration (SME). MineSight specialist, Ernesto Vivas, presented a case study about the steps required to create a practical monthly schedule for a hardrock open pit mine (La Caridad, Mexico) using MineSight Schedule Optimizer.

In the southern hemisphere, 4,500 meters above sea level, Mintec-Peru`s Ricardo Lanfranco and John Estano, were busy demonstrating MineSight`s capabilities to Buenaventura`s Uchucchacua mine, high in the Peruvian Andes.

After several hours’ driving the bumpy road from Lima, MineSight Peru manager, Ricardo Lanfranco (right) and colleague John Estano, senior consultant for geology and geostatistics, are within sight of the Uchucchacua mine.

Also in the field, Mintec’s resident raconteur, Mark Gabbitus, took the MineSight roadshow to Laos and Thailand. In Laos, the regional business development manager followed the Mekong River to Phonesack’s KSO gold mine where he upgraded the site to MineSight Version 7 and demonstrated its new features. Then it was on to the Ho Chi Minh trail and MMG’s Sepon copper-gold mine for another Version 7 installation.

Gabbitus was back on the road in March, this time in Kalimantan – the Indonesian part of Borneo – at the invitation of new Indonesian coal mining company, Kutai Energy. Meanwhile in Canada, Mintec’s Vancouver office expanded its trendy Yaletown offices to accommodate more technical staff. (There was a time you could have fit Vancouver’s staff in a phone booth – back when phone booths existed.)

April saw the launch of Mintec’s new website, which now offers a dynamic showcase of MineSight solutions via video and interactive graphics. The improved online presence only helped Mintec’s social media reach, which continued to expand via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, Google + WordPress in 2012. Mintec’s blog, Dig This! has been viewed almost 8,000 times; its Facebook site thousands more. Such interest must surely have been aided by vivid exposure of events like Warrior Dash and the sight of Mintecers covered head to toe in mud baked by the Arizona sun. Click here for all the gory details!

Mintecers have never been afraid to get their hands dirty and a more down to earth group you couldn’t wish to meet! This year’s Mintec Warrior Dash team, we salute you!

Mintec hosted its 29^th annual seminar in May, this year re-branded MineQuest and rolled out as a global learning series staged by other Mintec offices later in 2012. At the Westward Look Resort in Tucson, five days of presentations, workshops, and one-on-one consultation made for an exceptional learning experience, and offered a tantalizing glimpse of the future.

Clients saw a preview of MineSight Atlas, a short-term planning tool set to achieve “killer application status” according to Mintec vice-president technical, Glenn Wylde. And fellow Perth office colleague, business development manager, Mark Gabbitus, unveiled MineSight Implicit Modeler, which will build surfaces and solids directly from drillholes and/or point data. MineSight’s new Unified Reserves Engine, MineSight Performance Manager, and MineSight Stope, also attracted attention. So too did the latest enhancements to MineSight Schedule Optimizer.

MineQuest 2012 gets under way in Tucson.

As ever, MineSight clients contributed significantly to MineQuest`s collaborative learning experience. Eight client presentations are available to watch here.

In July, we said goodbye to something of a Mintec legend in Don Guglielmin, a 21-year veteran of MineSight support and service to almost 50 mines from the Calgary, Canada office. Don moved into semi-retirement, but will continue as a consultant for Moose Mountain Technical Services – using MineSight, of course.

Semi-retirement agrees with Don Guglielmin.

Work on an ambitious schedule of new MineSight videos continued apace during the summer. A Mintec film crew contended with faulty aircraft and downed trees at and between various mine locations between northern British Columbia and Tucson.

Meanwhile in August, Mintec staff took a collective bow when the company was presented with a global business award. At Mintec headquarters in Tucson, chief operating officer Susan Wick and chairman Fred Banfield received the 2012 Excellence in Global Business Award from Arizona congressman Ron Barber and Carolita Oliveros, vice chair of the Arizona District Export Council.

“One of the great things about our country is that an idea and a person who really believes in an idea, can make things happen,” said Barber at the presentation ceremony. “When you look at what Fred thought about 42 years ago and where Mintec is today – over 200 employees worldwide, doing incredible work – it’s really a great tribute to the people who have made this possible.”

Better visualization and compatibility were at the heart of Mintec’s ‘bundle’ release of products in September. MineSight Version 7.5 headlined with improved versions of five products: MineSight 3D, MineSight Schedule Optimizer, MineSight Torque, MineSight Basis and MineSight Data Analyst. Also in September, Mintec released a seven-chapter product video and a testimonial driven support video just in time for MINExpo in Las Vegas, Sept. 24-26. Twelve Mintec staff attended the quadrennial event, which attracted 52,000 visitors – up 41 per cent from the 2008 event. The show didn’t disappoint.

Mintec chief operating officer Susan Wick and chairman Fred Banfield receive the 2012 Excellence in Global Business Award from Arizona congressman Ron Barber and Carolita Oliveros, vice chair of the Arizona District Export Council.

“In 30 years of attending mining events, it was definitely the busiest show, in terms of booth traffic, I have ever seen,” said Mintec president, John Davies. “At times, we had everyone talking to clients, potential clients, and giving demos. In fact, our technical team worked non-stop giving demos.”

Mintec`s formidable grade control tool, MineSight Axis, was the star of AusIMM’s Open Pit Operators’ Conference in Perth, Western Australia. The tool has been instrumental in solving grade control issues at Xstrata’s Black Star Open Pit mine, a major zinc producer in Mount Isa, Queensland. Xstrata grade control geologist, Tim Lukins, presented that success story in a paper co-authored by MineSight regional business development manager, Mark Gabbitus.

November saw successful MineQuest events staged by MineSight offices in Santiago, Lima and Hermosillo, Mexico.

Mintec executive assistant, Virginia Blackman, and regional client relations manager, Rudy Moctezuma, open the company’s Mexico office in Hermosillo.

Also in November, Hermosillo, was added to the growing list of Mintec branch offices worldwide. The office, about 350 kilometers (217 miles) south of Tucson, will serve the company’s growing client list in the region. Mintec’s London office celebrated its first anniversary and saw out the month represented at FinnMateria, Finland’s fourth annual mining exhibition.

Now Mintec is busy planning ahead, and looking forward to MineQuest 2013, its 30^th annual seminar in Tucson, April 15-19. Far from dwelling on 30 successful years, Mintec is unveiling nine new products aimed at further improving MineSight clients’ productivity.

MineSight Atlas will set a new standard in short-term planning products.

New for MineQuest 2013 will be:

• MineSight Atlas, an activity and resource-based scheduler.
• MineSight Implicit Modeler, a mathematical tool enabling geologists to build complex shapes directly from drillholes.
• MineSight Performance Manager, the newest, fully-integrated addition to MineSight’s operational product suite, featuring consolidated reporting and true mining analytics.
• MineSight Reserves, which unifies the consolidated power of MineSight’s reserve engines and features a completely integrated reserve calculation and reporting engine.
• MineSight Stope, a complete toolkit for stope design, scheduling and reporting.
• MineSight Dump Design, which designs dumps and stockpiles, targeting on a specified volume.
• MineSight Surface Resloping Tool, an invaluable addition to MineSight 3D’s Engineering Open Pit CAD, enabling engineers to reduce a shape (i.e. waste dump) to a desired final slope while balancing cut and fill.
• MineSight Sub-Blocking, which extends MineSight model files to convey detailed information along, for example, contact boundaries of geologic zones.
• Model Center, which initializes and manages models directly from MineSight 3D.

Until then, enjoy the holidays and we’ll see you in 2013.

Riding for a cure

Getting up at 5 a.m. on a weekend wasn’t so hard on Mintec’s Kristin Trappitt, but riding 210 kms in two days took a little more effort. Kristin completed the Ride to Conquer Cancer, Oct. 20-21.

Most of us would do anything for our mothers. Kristin Trappitt is no exception. It has been almost seven years since Kristin’s mom, Dianne, succumbed to leukemia. Cycling more than 200 kilometres in a weekend fundraiser to fight cancer was a fitting way to honor the memory of “an amazingly strong woman,” said Kristin, a MineSight specialist at Mintec’s Perth, Australia branch.

“My mother died at the start of 2006 after losing the fight with leukemia,” said Kristin. “This lasted a couple of years and prior to that mum had spent another couple of years beating breast cancer. The number of people who turned up at her funeral really showed to me that she had an impact on so many people outside of her family.

Overnight accommodation at the SunSuper Ride to Conquer Cancer in Western Australia.

“I miss her and she was the inspiration for doing this ride and trying to raise some money,” added Kristin of last month’s SunSuper Ride to Conquer Cancer.

Kristin was one of 1,219 participants in the event held in the Western Australia countryside Oct. 20-21. Most were riding for similar reasons.

Probably not a good place to forget where you locked your bike.

“Many people who had either fought through cancer or who were currently undergoing cancer treatment rode, and they had some pretty inspirational stories to share,” said Kristin. “So there were lots of interesting and uplifting conversations throughout the weekend.

“One guy started the ride on a unicycle, and there were a lot of tandems, mountain bikes and fixies. Most people were on road bikes.”

Kristin said most of the ride was pretty comfortable until Sunday, when riders hit the coast and northeasterly winds. “The last 60 kilometers were all about working through the headwind. But as a challenge it’s nothing to knowing what people have to fight through when going through chemotherapy, which makes it pretty easy to dig a little deeper and push through the wind.”

On another beautiful day in Western Australia, riders relax and stretch at a local cricket ground after Day 1. (Mintec’s Perth office confirms that every day is a beautiful day in Western Australia.)

All told, the event raised more than AUS$4.6 million (US$4.8 million) for the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research. Sadly, one participant who’d fund-raised the second highest total lost his battle with cancer a week before the ride.

Thanks to donations from Mintec, family, friends and colleagues, Kristin is more than half way toward his fundraising goal of AUS$3,200.

To donate, click here.

Another early start for Day 2 and the long ride back to Perth.

Significant steps

Most of us only wished we looked this good before 8 a.m. on a Sunday! Presenting the Mintec team of walkers at the three-mile breast cancer walk in Tucson, Oct. 28.

Several Mintecers walked the talk against breast cancer in Tucson last weekend. The American Cancer Society’s 10^th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk attracted thousands of participants, among them a Mintec team organized by accountant Lani Pannell.

Nationwide, the event has raised more than $400 million for breast cancer research. Tucson organizers were hoping to eclipse last year’s total of $300,000 raised by 5,100 walkers.

Among the Mintec family team up at 7 a.m. last Sunday was Jorden Wright, Matt Thorndal, Robert Hayes, Raul Gomez, Mark Jones, Lani Pannell, Mary James and Mariana Silveira. Together, they raised $602, ranking Team Mintec 112 out of 470 teams.