Opinions

The mining industry, like life itself, has often been described as a roller coaster, climbing to nose bleed altitudes and then suddenly plummeting back to earth.

In the past weeks and months, it has become evident that the mining sector is on a continuous upswing. There is a general consensus that we are only at the midpoint of a super cycle in commodities and much needed mining products and services.

Mr. Keynes had it right: the financial community is very, very emotional. We are barely climbing out of what many were calling the great recession, and suddenly a flock of bankers and business reporters are babbling about a new economic supercycle.

It’s no accident that 22,000 members of the global mining community take over Front Street in Toronto every year about this time. Ontario, the epicenter of the global mineral exploration business, is where the deals get done.

One of the most consistent questions from the SAMSSA membership is how do we build a truly viable and vital company that can meet all the needs and demands of a global market.

Mining machines are getting prettier. Today, there is a lineup of machines in the square outside my window at the university.

What's new in mining? A lot, if this issue of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal is any indication. Our cover story provides a progress report on Rail-veyor Technologies Global Inc.

The Sudbury Area Mining Supply & Service Association (SAMSSA) has become a major player in mining centres domestically and globally in the past seven years.

The world of mining is a world of monsters. Monster trucks with wheels the size of houses make highway dump trucks look like tinker toys. The tires alone are the price of a house.

It's hard to believe that a collection of 500 businesses concentrated in a defined geographic region and all targeting the same market could exist without some kind of organization or association to promote their interests.