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Mining Supply and Services Sector

Komatsu Joins Peers to Signal Mining Rebound Remains Elusive – by Masumi Suga (Bloomberg News – January 31, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Komatsu Ltd., the world’s No. 2 supplier of construction equipment, said industry-wide demand from miners fell 13 percent in the last quarter, signaling that the rebound in commodities prices is yet to feed through into better sales of the giant trucks and excavators used in extracting minerals.

The Tokyo-based company, which also supplies builders and produces industrial machinery, reported lower earnings Tuesday for the third quarter through December, with net income down a fifth on the year to 30.8 billion yen ($271 million) and revenue slipping 10 percent to 430.6 billion yen, according to a statement.

“We stick to our earlier view that the timing of a recovery will come” in the next fiscal year or after, Yasuhiro Inagaki, senior executive officer, said on a conference call, referring to the mining equipment market.

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Caterpillar Forecasts Fall Short as Demand Slump Persists – by Joe Deaux (Bloomberg News – January 26, 2017)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Caterpillar Inc. forecast 2017 revenue and earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates as signs of a recovery in mining and energy have yet to translate into a rebound in demand for the company’s signature yellow machines.

Revenue will be in a range of $36 billion to $39 billion, with a midpoint of $37.5 billion, the Peoria, Illinois-based company said in a statement Thursday.

That is less than the $38.1 billion average of 16 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg, and indicates annual revenue may fall for a fifth consecutive year. Earnings excluding restructuring costs will be $2.90 a share at the midpoint, compared with the analysts’ estimate of $3.08.

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Atlas Copco to split group, company veteran Rahmstrom named new CEO – by Johannes Hellstrom (Reuters U.S. – January 16, 2017)

http://www.reuters.com/

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s Atlas Copco (ATCOa.ST) said it would split into two listed companies in 2018, forming an industrial business and a separate mining and civil engineering firm whose equity would be distributed to the same shareholders.

Atlas Copco also appointed Mats Rahmstrom, currently head of its Industrial Technique business, as chief executive from April. Rahmstrom replaces Ronnie Leten, who turned 60 last year, and is stepping down after eight years.

Atlas Copco will concentrate on industrial customers, while the new company, with the working name NewCo, will focus on mining and civil engineering. Rahmstrom, who has been with the company for almost 30 years, will stay with the larger and more profitable industrial business when the split takes place.

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Drones reaching new heights, and depths – by Ben Leeson (Sudbury Star – January 10, 2017)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Mention drones, and imaginations float skyward to everything from aerial photography to package deliveries to weapons of war. But it was after a job underground two years ago that Pierre Filiatreault and his colleagues at Hatch in Sudbury began to see the true potential of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

“There was a local client that had an ore pass that was clogged underground,” said Filiatreault, who specializes in control automation and electrical, and serves as Hatch’s resident UAV expert.

“It’s very dangerous and there has been a few incidents locally where it has caused deaths, so the idea was to grab a drone and fly it up an ore pass so we could determine the height and capture some images of what the blockage looks like, so we could feed that to operations and they could make better decisions, all while doing it relatively safely and not putting anyone at harm.

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Mining supply sector will continue to grow – by David Robinson (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – December 2016)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

In a world where everything is changing, it can be hard to keep track of the currents that matter most. It is especially hard in the mining supply industry, which depends on a mining sector that flaps around like a kite on a string. Falling metal prices can seem like the end of the world for mining companies and their suppliers.

Prices have certainly slumped as ballooning supply met slowing demand, but despite the short-term pain, talk of the end of the supercycle for metals is just misguided. Metal production will continue to grow because demand will grow.

Forecasts still show three billion more people will be looking for new homes in cities by 2050. Furthermore, the British Geological Society reports that the world’s output of smelter copper increased by 22 per cent between 2013 and 2014 alone. Bismuth output jumped by 21 per cent and mercury by just under 21 per cent.

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SNC-Lavalin job cuts not indicative of wider trends in mining: expert (CBC News Sudbury – December 9, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

The news coming out of SNC-Lavalin to shed jobs across Canada, including some in Sudbury is disappointing, according to an expert in mining and supply services in the northeastern Ontario city.

The large engineering company announced another round of job cuts Thursday, totaling 405 across Canada, due to the weakness in the mining sector and ongoing efforts to boost its profit margin. Five of those layoffs are in Sudbury, according to a company spokesperson, as SNC-Lavalin will shut down its office in the northeast.

The moves don’t come as good news, given how much work the engineering firm does for mining companies in northern Ontario, said Dick Destefano, the executive director of the Sudbury Area Mining Supply and Services Association, but he added that it’s not indicative of a wider problem in the sector.

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Sudbury company keeps miners safe using IoT sensors – by Staff (Sudbury Star – December 5, 2016)

http://www.thesudburystar.com/

Maestro Mine Ventilation, a Sudbury company, was recognized last week for its commercial success during the second Ultra Deep Mining Network symposium in the Nickel City. UDMN presented Maestro with its Outstanding Achievement in Commercialization award for a technical innovation which ensures the safety of underground miners.

“The rapid commercial sale of this product to some of the deepest mines in the world is a testament that Maestro’s efforts combined with UDMN funding and guidance can in fact bring technology faster to market which in turn benefits the mining industry and Canadians,” the network said in a press release.

The focus of the $35 million Ultra-Deep Mining Network (UDMN), which has 76 member companies across Canada, is to help to solve the challenge of mining in ultra-deep environments.

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Mining industry electrifying for MacLean – by Ella Myers (Northern Ontario Business – December 2, 2016)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Don MacLean has always felt there is a “continual sense of change and renewal” in mining. After 60-plus years in the industry, the founder of MacLean Engineering should know. The mining technology engineer saw the beginnings of the diesel age, putting the first diesel scoops in Sudbury’s Creighton mine in 1964.

Now, over 50 years later and involved as ever, MacLean is experiencing the “electrification of the mining industry,” as he works on introducing electric mining equipment at Goldcorp’s Borden mine site near Chapleau.

The shifts have “just been a rush,” he said. “I’ve never worked a day in my life,” is MacLean’s oft-shared trademark sentiment on the industry.

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Boart Longyear establishes R&D test centre in Sudbury – by Norm Tollinsky (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – November 14, 2016)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

Innovative technologies to be tested at the NORCAT Underground Centre include next generation wireline tooling, smart drill rig technology, XRF technology for examining core samples and high-speed drilling technology

Boart Longyear’s next generation drilling technology will be tested and refined in Northern Ontario for the global market following a decision by the Utah-based mining supplier to establish a research and development presence at the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology’s (NORCAT) Underground Centre in Sudbury.

The partnership was announced by Boart Longyear president and CEO Jeff Olsen and NORCAT CEO Don Duval at MINExpo. Also in attendance was Ontario Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle, who announced a $1.3 million grant from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to sweeten the deal.

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Japan’s Top Mine Builders Pursue Deals for Commodities Recovery – by Masumi Suga (Bloomberg News – October 4, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

A second Japanese mining equipment maker is positioning itself for a recovery in commodities, after Hitachi Construction Machinery Co. followed its larger competitor Komatsu Ltd. in announcing what would be its biggest-ever acquisition.

Hitachi Construction, the world’s top maker of giant excavators, has offered A$689 million ($529 million) to buy Australian component maker Bradken Ltd. In July, Komatsu agreed to purchase U.S.-based rival Joy Global Inc. for a record $2.89 billion, signaling its optimism that demand for diggers and loaders will rebound after years of declining commodity prices.

“Miners have put the brakes on too hard,” Shinji Kuroda, an analyst at Credit Suisse Securities (Japan) Ltd., said by phone from Tokyo. “So the rebound will come at some point even if commodity prices continue to slump. The current size of demand for machines and parts has fallen below sustainable levels. The time for a recovery is coming.”

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Underground mining equipment market to reach US$30.5 billion by 2023 – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – September 13, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Global underground mining equipment will reach US$30.5 billion by 2023 according to a market research study published last month by Credence Research.

Based on what the firm calls a “comprehensive analysis of market influencing and inhibiting factors related to underground mining equipment industry,” the report concludes that growing urbanization in the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America is driving up the demand for coal and coal energy.

Coal mining, in turn, is the main user of underground equipment. Only in 2015, this particular sector accounted for 40% of revenue share in the global underground mining equipment market. The sector has also been affected by China’s decision to increase its coal import volumes by 52% over the past year, which has impacted both supply and demand, as well as prices.

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Mission impossible: mining suppliers to save the world – by David Robinson (Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal – August 22, 2016)

http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/

The mining supply sector is invisible, disrespected and dumb, but it could be responsible for saving the world

Invisible for two reasons. The first is just statistical. According to the Standard Industrial Classification, there is no mining supply industry. Firms from hundreds of industries supply the mining sector.

That is why the distinguished Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity in Toronto failed to notice a mining supply cluster in Sudbury for the second time when it published its second inventory of Canadian clusters. They couldn’t see what Statistics Canada didn’t measure.

The mining supply sector is also invisible because it is dumb — dumb in the dictionary sense of “unable to speak.” Mining suppliers are diverse, geographically scattered, generally small and largely unorganized. Few are fully specialized in mining. They are defined in terms of the industry they supply.

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Komatsu to buy U.S. mining equipment rival Joy Global for $2.9 billion – by Chris Gallagher and Taiga Uranaka (Reuters U.S. – July 21, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

TOKYO – Japanese mining equipment maker Komatsu Ltd has agreed to buy U.S. rival Joy Global Inc for $2.9 billion, its biggest-ever acquisition, to boost its clout in the mining industry.

The deal, worth $3.7 when Joy’s debt is included, will roughly double the size of Komatsu’s manufacturing equipment business and give it access to Joy’s underground mining business. Joy has suffered from its significant exposure to North America’s coal market, which faces regulatory pressure and competition from cheap natural gas.

Komatsu said on Thursday that it would acquire 100 percent of the Milwaukee-based company for $28.30 per share, about a 20 premium to Wednesday’s closing price and an almost 50 percent premium to where the stock has traded in the last three months.

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Why A Mining Company Is Getting Into Face Recognition Software – by Krithika Varagur (Huffington Post – July 9, 2016)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Caterpillar Safety Services monitors its truck drivers for signs of sleep fatigue. Drowsy driving is notoriously tough to detect. There’s no test to prove it, the way a breathalyzer can prove someone was driving drunk. But technology to detect drowsy driving is in the works.

In commercial transport, one industry is leading the way: mining. The stakes are particularly high in this field since the enormous haul trucks used in mining are several times the height of a person. Imagine dozing off at the wheel of one of these.

Caterpillar Safety Services, a consultancy branch of the global mining company, has partnered with the tech company Seeing Machines to put fatigue detection software in thousands of mining trucks around the world. The software uses a camera, speaker and light system to measure signs of fatigue like eye closure and head position.

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MEDIA RELEASE: Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity Report Overlooks Sudbury’s World-Class Mining Clusters

Sudbury is the Silicon Valley of underground mining research

Nickel Belt – (July 6, 2016): The Toronto-based Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity recently issued a report titled “Clusters in Ontario: Creating an ecosystem for prosperity” that, in the opinion of industry experts, overlooks Sudbury’s vibrant mining clusters.

Industrial clusters are interrelated businesses in compact geographical regions that are supported by educational, research and government institutions which enhance economic growth, prosperity and innovation through value-added manufacturing and internal/external exports.

Marc Serré, Nickel Belt MP and a member of The National Standing Committee on Natural Resources says, “Sudbury’s dynamic mining clusters are a globally unique concentration of Canadian hard-rock expertise and innovation, unique in North America and found in very few other cities around the world. My fear is that federal and provincial policy experts and politicians will read this report and assume any requests for multi-million dollar strategic investments for Sudbury to further enhance educational or research aspects would not be warranted.”

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