Editor's letter

Welcome to this month’s edition of Mine Magazine.

This issue contains solutions. From evaporating mineral solutions that leave lithium behind, to complex mining machinery chasing narrow seams, sometimes problems do get solved. We look at the pros and cons of a comprehensive third-party auditing system, and how cyanide leaching could soon cut the cyanide. Underground, keyhole mining machines are extracting ore with greater efficiency than ever, and worker safety is feeling the benefits.  

This issue also contains problems. As global warming worsens weather conditions, how might droughts disrupt global shipping via the Panama Canal? We fill you in on the current situation, where thousands of containers wait at the world’s shipping bottleneck.  

Also this month, take a look at a round up of how robotics is changing the mining industry, prepared by parent company GlobalData.

All this in your edition of MINE.

Matt Farmer, editor