Category: The Mining Biz

Into Africa

It’s funny how certain blog posts seem to bring back fond memories for some readers. And it’s not always the stories you expect that end up resonating with the audience. To my surprise, this story turned out to be one of them. Many thanks for all the kind comments.

A Biographical Interlude

Tell me Ralph, how did you end up in Africa working down a mine? How did a middle class boy from southeast Kent, of distinctly average intelligence, end up in exotic places smashing rocks, and getting paid to do it?

Glad you asked. See.. I was lucky. Somewhere, sometime back in the 1980s there was a golden horseshoe flying about with my name written on it.

There I am. Yup. That’s Me 1984.

I graduated from a second-rate college which had a first-rate geology program in June 198…8…oh alright, if you must know, 1984. To my surprise, I landed a decent degree which gave me a few more career options than I might otherwise have had.

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Things Geologists Do #7

Ore Pass Mapping

Mines are amazing places. I’ve made no secret on the blog for my love of underground. The smells, the sounds. It’s visceral shit that gets deeply ingrained. It grabs hold of your innards and won’t let go. To this day, if someone invites me on an underground trip, the excitement builds the moment I hit the change house. Overalls, hat lamp, boots, gloves, hard hat…

Me. Luvvin’ it. Iran.

Luckily, I’ve never suffered from claustrophobia -if I did, I’d never have taken my first job in South Africa and would probably still be stacking shelves in Waitrose supermarket. More Heinz beans on aisle 6 please.

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Things Geologists Do #6

Rock Licking

What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever licked- something that you’re happy to talk about in polite company which isn’t a body part?

When I was very small, I licked a slug and some squashed caterpillars I’d collected in a bucket and then pulped with a potato masher (I think I relived that episode as a student on a particularly depraved University field trip but my memory is hazy.)

Then, in my twenties, when I really should’ve known better, I managed to get my tongue stuck on a deep-frozen door key in the middle of an Albertan winter. Sad to say, I was sober, so I can’t claim student inebriation as mitigation for that brainless chapter in The Life Of Ralph.

Hello. My name is Ralph. Can I lick your rocks?
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Normal Service Will Be Resumed..

..once the Atacama coughs me up.

The endless Chilean desert has claimed me this week. Five days tooling around the Atacama with 2 fellow geologists is a great way to avoid the zombie-market-COVID-19-toilet-paper apocalypse.

Indeed there is after last week’s meltdown.

The three of us have been self isolating in a Toyota 4×4, well stocked with pringles, sun screen, rancid boots and single-use water bottles. We’ve been looking at 2 silver mining projects between the Chilean towns of Taltal in the south, and Iquique in the north. The projects are roughly 400km apart as a hugely overworked crow flies, with nothing but desert and dust between them.

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Things Geologists Do. # 4.

Useless Undergraduate Studies.

If you’re reading the urbancrows blog, there’s an above average chance that you might be a trained geologist, you poor soul. Which means you spent 3 or 4 years slaving away as an undergraduate at University learning shit about rocks; sometimes a bit too much for your own good.

Have I ever told you about the useless shit I learned at college?

And wasn’t University fun? Field school. Beer. Labs. Beer. Lectures. Exams. Less beer. Failed courses. Coffee. Retakes. Below average degree. Career re-evaluation. Ah..the best days of our lives.

Out you popped, newly baked and pink cheeked from whatever cradle of higher learning you attended; a keen, young earth scientist, stuffed full of sciency knowledge. Head held high, you felt like you really understood the inner workings of our fragile blue rock. Those were the days.

Continue reading “Things Geologists Do. # 4.”

Stock Picking Update.

A real haiku. Honest.

The Final Results For 2019.

First: The Rules

It’s time for the year-end results of the Hys and Lows resource stock picking club, where world’s greatest mining minds come together to show how little we actually know about our business. This is an edited version of my end-of-year note to the club members. Sadly, I have to redact names to protect the innocent and throw the paparazzi off our scent. The unedited version is WAY more abusive and fun.

As you may know, we meet in late January to drink wine, eat steak, talk about the industry, and when we’re good and drunk we each pick a mining stock. That’s about it really, other than taking a guess on the 12 month performance of the overall portfolio.

And off we go…
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Underground Drilling

Things Geologists Do. Part Something.

Mine geologists –whatever their species, open pit or underground- will eventually end up supervising drill machines.

Open pit mine geologists rely heavily on sampling the cuttings produced by production blast hole rigs. The assay results help to map the average grade of the ore before it’s mined and sent to the metallurgical plant. They may also have core drills working in and around the pit testing for deeper, unexplored parts of the ore body.

An underground core drill. Definitely not ca. 1986.
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November Stock Picking Update

Warning. This blog post/rant contains black humour about various things including my dad who’s not very well. If that’s not your thing, look away now.

The Rules

It’s time for another look at how Hys and Lows, the world’s greatest mining stock picking club, is doing now that winter’s arrived. The following is an edited version of my monthly note to the club members, individual’s names redacted.

Regular readers of my blog (why, oh why?) know how our uber-elite mining equity club works. We meet in late January to drink wine, pretend we understand the industry, and when we’re good and drunk we each pick a mining stock.

So, how you doing in the stock picking?
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Geologists Gone Bad

Sex, lies and phone calls.

Geologists aren’t born deviant. We usually start out as normal people. But prolonged isolation – weeks and weeks in the field without a break- can do strange things to otherwise normal people.

I was normal before I became a field geologist

I used to work 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off. I did it for a couple of years. My longest shift stretched to 7 weeks which is a long time when you live somewhere nice, with a fiancée you miss. Three weeks in, with 3 more long weeks to go, it’s hard not to let the mind wander off to contemplate the finer things in life. A fine cup of coffee and a newspaper perhaps. A good British comedy on TV. Sex. A juicy steak paired with a robust glass of red. Sex. Did I mention sex? (Yes. get on with it. Ed.)

Most of us bury these things away in the back of our heads. It gives us something to look forward to when we get back to civilization; that special feeling when you can finally sit down in your favourite bar, with the paper and a glass of the local brew, or maybe with friends at a dinner party.

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September Stock Picking Update

More from the world’s greatest stock picking club!

Greeting Stockpickers,

It’s time for another look at how Hys and Lows, the world’s greatest mining stock picking club, is faring as we drift soggily into Fall. The following is an edited version of my monthly note to the club members, individual’s names redacted.

The Rules

First, the usual reminder of how our much envied club works. We meet in late January to quaff flagons of fine wine, mourn the state of the industry, and pick stocks. It’s not a club, just a casual once-a-year gathering of 25 or so knuckle-dragging hairy-palmed mining people at an overpriced steak restaurant in downtown Vancouver.

So waddya think about the gold price? Mmm. Fruity.

Everyone chooses 1 mining stock. It can’t be a company you work for, and it can’t be halted or pre-IPO. At the dinner, whoever chose the stock that went up the most over the year is declared the winner and they eat and drink for free. Everyone else has to bring a $100 bottle of wine and the loser gets to wear the toilet-seat-of-shame.

Continue reading “September Stock Picking Update”