tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72443849445513155072011-10-02T21:39:01.935-07:00The intersections between science, technology, business, and innovation define the future of our world. This is just as important for the mining industry as any other.Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-10540357751898538212011-03-07T18:41:00.000-08:002011-03-07T18:45:18.568-08:00

Most mining companies are about to embark on the journey towards ‘automation’. Companies like Rio Tinto have made a good start, but they all have a long way to go. Automation is much better progressed in many other industries, especially where automation of fixed plant is where they have had to focus: manufacturing and other process industries, Oil and Gas and other chemical type industries, and

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-29932187359239545252011-02-21T18:13:00.000-08:002011-02-21T18:27:26.787-08:00

I just saw this great article by Dr Graeme Lumly in the latest issue of 'Highgrade". He talks about the need for more and better analytics in the mining industry and provides an example.The example is a clear illustration of what can happen when you don't really know what your process looks like. In an effort to change their bulk transport processes to prevent (or at least lessen) the amount

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-76244224458320344472010-11-30T15:58:00.000-08:002010-11-30T15:59:44.934-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, my colleague Colin Farrelly and I travelled to Johannesburg in South Africa to participate in a "Techologogy Innovation Consortium" with AngloGold Ashanti - http://www.aga-tic.com/agatic/.The idea of this group of invited participants is to redesign the mining process, from the ground down (if you like). We have a marvellous time brainstorming solutions to really hairy

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-61634934597631869312010-03-17T20:11:00.000-07:002010-03-17T20:12:40.868-07:00

Good afternoon. I am Dennis Franklin and I’m from CSC. CSC is a $16 Billion global IT Services company that delivers IT Outsourcing, System Integration, and consulting. We have nearly 100000 staff and offices all over the world.article in MTA Magazine challenges facing the Mining Industry as it emerges from the global financial crisis, infrastructure constraints, safety, sustainability,

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-25057609596264096822009-11-16T15:23:00.000-08:002009-11-16T15:35:09.683-08:00

For millions and millions of years, microscopic organisms, including algae, have been harvesting energy from the sun and, after their death, being buried in the sediments of lakes and at the sea floor. Over time, the oils in these plants are converted to what we now collect from the petroleum deposits of the world, and that we turn into gasoline, diesel, and other fuels and lubricants. So it

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-91929309535105646082009-11-16T15:22:00.001-08:002009-11-16T15:22:52.317-08:00

Emerging from the global financial crisis, the mining industry needs to boost production to meet the increased demand for raw materials. With demand for raw materials likely to grow as demand drivers reassert themselves, the mining industry will need to lift production as soon as possible to satisfy the demand from resurgent BRIC economies. The industry can do this in two ways – find new

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-88618654384029627862009-04-06T19:44:00.000-07:002009-04-06T23:50:12.353-07:00

I recently met with a friend who reported a discussion that he’d had with a third party about how the scientific method was dead. I am a scientist and I am often challenged about matters scientific by friends who are not scientists. I don't mind being challenged but I find I spend a lot of time educating people about science. Some people have some very odd ideas. Essentially what frustrates

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-62919681739573644222009-03-22T19:51:00.000-07:002009-03-22T19:55:01.588-07:00

I don’t really know what groupthink means – it sounds Orwellian. If it is then it means what it sounds like (or the opposite). Anyway, I define ‘Groupthink’ as a pervasive and gradual development of a highly constrained and conforming view of the world, that is grounded in the hope that crowds do have wisdom. Of course, recent events pretty much demonstrate that crowds are dumb.I recently

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-27451825166044791062009-03-16T22:51:00.000-07:002009-03-16T22:55:04.495-07:00

This was how it was in the movie “The Graduate”. Now the word is “Cloud”.There I was listening to a presentation by CSC researcher Doug Neal on the cloud when it struck me. This, and all the other new, disruptive technology advances that are happening and being reported in blogs like this are overtaking even those of us who are looking out for it. The pace just keeps accelerating.When I was in

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-89463615600916405822009-03-02T21:05:00.000-08:002009-03-02T21:07:16.885-08:00

The populations of the world are beginning to demand that all business operates more sustainably. Everybody, but particularly policy makers can see that we need to do things differently if we expect to have a long term future on the planet. Here we present two views of the mine of the future, seen in terms of their ability to operate with as low a carbon footprint as possible. We picked

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-10263542838627898992009-03-02T20:59:00.000-08:002009-03-02T21:02:03.205-08:00

They say a week is a long time in politics. In the mining industry, some weeks are like that. This time last year, the commodities super cycle was promising good times and fat profits for the next 10 to 15 years. Hardly anybody was predicting that the normal cyclicity of the mining game might come into play again so soon. Even as late as October 2008, the CEOs of the big mining companies were

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-22231840687892064392008-11-04T21:56:00.000-08:002008-11-04T22:06:03.098-08:00

Robotics and automation are closer than you think. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how robotic dragonflies might be a way for mining companies to move large amounts of ore using small, slightly smart robots, in this case dragonflies. The idea is that using insect levels of intelligence and very small robots you could replace the enormous, highly complex, trucks, conveyors, and other methods

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-3035120693700411092008-10-26T16:21:00.000-07:002008-10-26T16:33:16.382-07:00

This story from New Scientist14:24 26 October 2008NewScientist.com news serviceJustin MullinsDust can be a significant cause of throat and lung irritation for tunnel and mine workers and can even cause long-term serious health problems. But monitoring dust levels in a darkened tunnel has never been straightforward, until now.Masato Shinji at Yamaguchi University in Japan says a camera can do the

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-25521328051506211802008-10-26T16:07:00.000-07:002008-10-26T16:33:31.763-07:00

An AT&T article from Bitpipe surveyed IT and Business execs who cite varying interpretations of innovation.No matter how it's defined, innovation occurs over a broad spectrum, says Thomas Koulopoulos,founder of the Delphi Group, a strategic thought leadership and advisory firm, and executive director for the Center for Business Innovation at Babson College.He states that there are radical

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-59347003282424885992008-10-22T23:49:00.000-07:002008-10-26T16:34:16.330-07:00

I highly recommend Jack Uldrich's 'Jump the Curve' Blog. I wait for every new entry. This one "The Future of Education is Converging All Around Us" is about the convergence of VR, Artificial Intelligence and personalised delivery of content. I think that his take on how those things might work together is spot on.Most of the people I talk to are Miners - they will love this stuff. Already the

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-26279055064622994482008-10-22T16:53:00.000-07:002008-10-26T16:35:09.855-07:00

I don't make a point of hawking my employers wares on this blog, I'm really not trying to sell anything here, but I read something pretty interesting on CSC's Leading Edge Forum blog. The entry is talking about the new report "Digital Disruptions". The specific post "The train has left the station" talks about how tech savvy employees are driving new technologies into enterprises.It got me

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-10739385238874001942008-10-20T15:52:00.001-07:002008-10-26T16:34:33.028-07:00

Robotics, artitificial intelliegence, automation, and remote management are all technologies in which the rates of innovation now are enormous. New Scientist reports on a robotic dragonfly that could guide Mars rovers - giving the fly's eye view in a task analagous to helicopters being used as force projection assets of naval warships.In the near future, further miniturisation of the electronics,

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-2557556160864402352008-10-20T15:24:00.000-07:002008-10-26T16:34:53.972-07:00

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:15:00 PDTThe McKinsey Quarterly article of talks about - How IT can cut carbon emissions Greenhouse gas emissions associated with making and powering the world’s computers and telecom networks are growing fast. Despite efforts by technology manufacturers and users to make these tools more energy efficient, rapid growth in demand for computing and communications—particularly in

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-24354653961409935952008-10-09T22:13:00.000-07:002008-10-09T22:26:00.626-07:00

Green Design Introduction There is no doubt that dealing with issues of sustainability is difficult. While there is a level of awareness among organisations of the coming need to achieve ‘sustainability’ goals, they are not yet sure of what governments may require of them, so it is difficult to plan responses. There is reasonable clarity on what the issues are: enhanced greenhouse effect,

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-21546335794428468652008-10-09T21:36:00.001-07:002008-10-09T22:25:17.936-07:00

Comment by Dennis Franklin IntroductionFor the last 100 years, the mining industry has been responding to changing community attitudes about the environment and sustainability. The considerable interest and debate around the globe on climate change means proactive action is very important, In this article I hope to highlight some of those impacts, and in later follow up articles, I will discuss

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-34682012893524963972008-10-08T14:40:00.001-07:002008-10-26T16:32:49.141-07:00

D. C. FranklinIntroductionThe global and local influences on climate and environmental change are well understood and not at issue. Also not at issue is the human contribution to those influences, and for the most part those human influences are managed by businesses. Therefore, in the coming few years, the business community will need to redefine the way it operates. Even though it is true that

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-75291206860723611732008-09-29T16:46:00.000-07:002008-09-29T19:50:07.485-07:00

And here is another robotics post on the Jump the Curve blog. I hope you can watch the video.The take away - robotics research is progressing really fast.Jump the Curve

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-72501426377489209962008-09-29T16:31:00.001-07:002008-10-05T18:33:03.889-07:00

Robotics and automation are getting a lot of coverage at the moment - more than I've seen before. I think it's another example of the accelerating pace of technology innovation. Automation and robotics has been researched for many years, but now a number of technologies are converging and the possibilities are multiplying. There is also a lot of research money available as automated and robotic

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-67024383401501201262008-09-29T01:05:00.000-07:002008-09-29T01:13:36.617-07:00

Yet another reason for the Mining Industry and the Space Industry to be collaborating. There are lots of reasons to be thinking about extra-terrestrial Mining and here is another one - Mars iron is ideal for building future bases. One of these days, unless we kill ourselves in a nuclear holocaust or get picked off in a major extinction event, the human race will be moving away from this

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-88649487811943354362008-09-29T00:51:00.000-07:002008-09-29T01:04:05.967-07:00

Jack Uldrich talks about how virtual reality technology is being used in the construction industry (The Future of Construction is Three-Dimensional). V-R has been being used for a long time in games, but business uses it too - and fro the same reasons. Designing cars, aircraft, and developing 3-D geological models. The Mining Industry has been slow on the uptake, but the prise here is

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-14122815331952265742008-09-23T21:29:00.000-07:002008-09-23T22:25:42.337-07:00

Mining and the Future of Space ExplorationHarrison Schmitt (Interlune-Intermars Initiative Inc.), Colin Farrelly (CSC), Dennis Franklin (CSC)ABSTRACTThe future of human exploration in space is intimately bound to the future of mining and energy production on Earth. By 2025, one or more manned bases will probably exist on the Moon, exploring the lunar landscape and geology, and acting as a

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-59330230164222131412008-09-23T21:24:00.000-07:002008-09-23T21:25:13.743-07:00

Report on test of RFID technology in Copper Electro-winning plant.D.C. Franklin[1]AbstractThis study was undertaken to determine whether radio frequency identification (RFID) technology could be used to track stainless steel cathode blanks within the electro-winning operation (tankhouse) of a copper mine in Chile and determine their utility as a way to keep cathode blanks in good repair. The

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-28143194998280081492008-09-23T21:22:00.001-07:002008-10-23T22:59:32.280-07:00

This is a pretty interesting article. By clipping manufactured sections of DNA into a host bacteria, Craig Venter and his team plan to manufacture biological organisms to help with things like climate change.There are lots of issues that surround this kind of innovation. Bioethics groups will certainly have a view and Pat Mooney certainly fingers the bigger issue, that we all need to be thinking

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7244384944551315507.post-75972372803456603972008-09-23T21:10:00.000-07:002009-06-15T15:21:34.816-07:00

I was looking at a press release by a large mining company that, rightly, expressed frustration and disappointment that they had not been able to meet their target of 0 deaths in the operation. All mining companies I know of are certainly aiming for this target, but very few can do it. This is true even though there are very strict processes to follow to continually improve safety outcomes.So

Dennis Franklinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02418804019792141644noreply@blogger.com0