Mine Plan Design: Desember 2011

Interim Arizona State Parks director

There doesn't seem to have been much attention in the news media about Renee Bahl leaving as Executive Director of Arizona State Parks for a position as Assistant County Executive in Santa Barbara, California.The State Parks system has been struggling...

Baja quake felt in Yuma

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake in Baja California on Friday morning was felt across southern-most California with at least one report from Yuma. The event occurred at 7:34 AM local time about 37 miles south of Mexicali, Mexico.[Right, shake map from US...

ASU researchers propose searching for alien artifacts on the moon

ASU professor Paul Davies and student Robert Wagner have a new paper in the journal Acta Astronautica, calling on volunteers to search high resolution photos of the Moon for evidence of alien visitation. [Right, the "Blair Cuspids" photographed by...

Earth science contributions to Tucson's "Science City" moniker

Catching up on events of recent weeks, I missed pointing out the 40-page insert in the Arizona (Tucson) Daily Star, showcasing science at the University of Arizona:"World Class Research in Tucson: A Science City"Geosciences are profiled in 5 reports:Geotourism:...

Seismic-hazard maps for conterminous U.S.

The USGS just published the 2008 probabilistic seismic hazard maps for the conterminous U.S. "portraying peak horizontal acceleration and horizontal spectral response acceleration for 0.2- and 1.0-second periods with probabilities of exceedance...

Rapid incision of Grand Canyon 4.8 Mya

AZGS Senior Geologist Jon Spencer's written a concise summary on the origin of the modern Colorado River and incision of the Grand Canyon starting about 4.8 million years ago (Mya), for our online Arizona Geology magazine.Jon concludes that the integration...

Small quake near Utah border

A magnitude 1.6 earthquake occurred at about 1:30 AM local time on Monday morning, 15 miles west of Colorado City, AZ.The quake is at the southern end of the Intermountain Seismic Belt. [Right, star marks location amidst other 2011 seismic events....

ASU geo prof's Antarctic exploration book gets rave reviews

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M=4.7 quake in Gulf shakes Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco)

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake in the Gulf of California shook the beach resort town of "Rocky Point" (Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico) 40 miles to the north. The quake occurred at 5:32 AM local time.The Gulf is tectonically active with spreading centers...

Preliminary economic assessment for Holbrook basin potash mine

Prospect Global Resources has released the Preliminary Economic Assessment for the American West Potash LLC potash resources in the Holbrook basin of eastern Arizona. The 79-page report expects 2 million tonnes per year of finished product, a mine...

Gravity data from San Pedro River basin

The USGS has published a gravity data set for the San Pedro River basin in southeastern Arizona.The report includes "relative and absolute gravity data at 321 stations in the San Pedro River Basin of southeastern Arizona since 2000. Data are of three...

Congress agrees on USGS FY2012 appropriation

Here is the text of the Joint Statement of Managers from the House/Senate conference for the Interior Appropriations bill for the 2012 fiscal year:http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/legislativetext/HR1540crSOM/psConference%20Div%20E%20-%20SOM%20OCR.pdfOf...

Interpretative award to Grand Canyon Trail of Time

The Trail of Time at Grand Canyon National Park won the Wayside Media Award from the National Association for Interpretation, according to a story on KCSG tv in St. George, Utah.From the National Park Service: "The Trail of Time is an interpretive...

Join an eclectic science outreach group for ideas, inspiration and networking

"The Public Understanding of Science" – It's a phrase bandied around often enough, but it can mean different things to different people. What does it mean to you? We want to learn from you, whether you are a science communicator, educator, researcher...

Putting the Colorado City quakes in context

Last week's cluster of small earthquakes near Colorado City just south of the Utah border, generated interest in this remote area. Lisa Linville, who recently joined AZGS as an earthquake seismologist, based in Flagstaff, has written a nice overview...

New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences

The National Research Council has released the preliminary copy of their report on New Research Opportunities in the Earth Sciences at the National Science Foundation, which can be read online.NSF Earth Science Division Director Bob Detrich notes that...

Potash companies active

There's a bit of news on the Holbrook basin potash deposit. [Right, potash salt. Credit, USGS]Passport Potash today cancelled a deal to acquire the mineral rights of NZ Legacy Resources, which comprise 50% of the HNZ Legacy potash lands. HNZ is a...

Arizona's copper production since 1912

Arizona's eponymous 5 C's (copper, cattle, citrus, cotton, and climate) are not the same driving factors in the state's economy as they were a century ago when Arizona became a state. A set of feature stories by Cronkite News Service looks at each...

"Dirty Jobs" digs Utah dinosaurs

Discovery Channel's Mike Rowe went to the field with Utah Geological Survey paleontologists to film an episode of "Dirty Jobs" for later broadcast. There are four 'sneak peek' video clips from the day digging for dinosaurs, posted online.That's Utah's...

Aftershock to M3.1 quake

It looks like there was an aftershock to Tuesday's M=3.1 quake south of Colorado City in northern Arizona. At 5:42 PM local time there was a magnitude 2.8 quake at about the same location. Technically it qualifies as an aftershock to the larger, preceding...

Gold prices take pounding

The price of gold has dropped this week to below $1600 an ounce, down from $1800 in early November, amid predictions it could go lower in the short term. The sell-off is attributed in part to year-end tax selling and profit-taking among other factors.But...

My interview on GIS and the future of mining

I am one of the speakers in the "GIS in Mining and Exploration Online Summit" that will be webcast in 11 parts over 2 weeks in January-February next year (by subscription only). My presentation will cover "How GIS Works as a User App for Digital Data...

Top mining blogs

MiningIQ.com recently compiled a list of their top 11 mining blogs, which prompted a spate of suggestions from readers for additions to the list. I'm familiar with some of these but there are a lot of ones new to us that sound interesti...

UA's HiView is like a "Google Mars"

The UA HiRISE Mars camera team has developed a new viewer that allows you to "download high-resolution images of the Martian landscape almost instantaneously and explore the surface of the Red Planet" from your own desktops. HiView is like a Mars...

Quake upgraded to M3.1

This afternoon's earthquake that occurred 16 miles south of Colorado City is now being shown as magnitude of 3.1, versus the initial report of M=2.9. There is also one report of it being felt in Kanab, Utah. [Right, quake location from USGS]Two small...

Environmental Permitting Requirements for Potash Mining in the Holbrook Basin

The Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality has released an information sheet on Environmental Permitting Requirements for Proposed Potash Mining in the Holbrook Basin. The list includes air and water quality and waste disposal permits but cautions that...

Freeport signs labor deal for giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia

There are reports that Phoenix-based Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold signed an agreement today to end a strike at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia, the second largest copper mine in the world. Mineweb.com says the deal provides union workers about...

Series of earthquakes south of Colorado City

There was a magnitude 2.9 earthquake a few minutes ago (4:36 PM local time), 16 miles south of Colorado City in northern Arizona. This follows two smaller quakes that occurred in the early morning yesterday. A magnitude 2.2 event was recorded in about...

Arizona mining news

Industry sentiment was generally upbeat at the annual SME Arizona conference which took place in Tucson last week. Among the tidbits (not all of which are new) are that at the planned Ray Mine expansion, Asarco is adding additional life to the Elder...

Meteor Crater LiDAR data available

A LiDAR data set for Meteor Crater, Arizona is publicly available via the OpenTopography facility at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. The data were collected in March 2010 by the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) with NSF funding.The...

Editorial calls for restoring Water Resources budget

Catching up on the news while I was out of town, I just read the Dec. 3 editorial in the Arizona (Phoenix) Republic, calling for restoring the state budget for the Arizona Dept. of Water Resources.ADWR, like the rest of state agencies, has taken drastic...

UA finds meteorites trigger Mars dust avalanches

Planetary scientists at University of Arizona report that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbit is revealing at least 20 new meteor craters, 1 to 50 meters wide, forming on the Red Planet every year. And the airborne shockwaves appear to be triggering thousands...

Small quake under Lake Mead

It's been a while since we last saw an earthquake at Lake Mead, but another magnitude 2 event took place at 10:11 AM Nevada time this morning, near Boulder City. This one was just over the state line in Nevada but the epicenters for small quakes like...

Polish company's bid for Quadra FNX includes Arizona's Carlota mine

The state-owned Polish mining company KGHM has a deal to buy out Canadian-based Quadra FNX, including the latter's Carlota copper mine in Arizona. Business Week reports the price of $2.84 billion is the "largest overseas acquisition by a Polish company."It...

Mining Foundation of the SW, 2011 Hall of Fame

The Mining Foundation of the Southwest's 2011 Hall of Fame was held in Tucson on Dec. 4, with guest of honor Laurence Golborne Riveros [right, credit MFSW], the current Minister of Public Works and former Bi-Minister of Mining and Energy for the Republic...

iPad tour of America's mountains by Arizona geologist

Flagstaff geologist/photographer/pilot Michael Collier published a new iPad app last week, "Wonders of Geology: An Aerial View of America's Mountains" which is currently featured as a "new and noteworthy" selection. Publisher Mikaya Digital calls...

Founding of International Geo Sample Number organization

The founding assembly of the International Geo Sample Number organization (IGSN) signed the non-profit incorporation papers in San Francisco on Wednesday during the AGU meeting. [Right, founding members and other attendees at the signing. IGSN President...

Four new positions in Geoinformatics at AZGS

We opened four new jobs in AZGS last week in time to announce them at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. With 21,000 attendees and likely the largest geoinformatics gathering in the world, it's an ideal location to recruit. All...

Two small quakes near Kaibab along Utah border

Two small quakes hit about 8 miles west of Kaibab, Arizona, just south of the Utah border, yesterday (Thursday). A magnitude 2.2 quake occurred just before noon, local time, followed a few hours later by a M=1.8 event. The area has historical seismic...

3,000 posts and more to come

Well, I made my 3,000th post on this blog over the weekend. My blogging regimen has been a lot more irregular the past 6 months especially due to travel. But it's still fun and rewarding, so I plan to keep on blathering away.In fact, I'm writing from...

Keberadaan Mineral Logam Emas

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