Responsible mining for miners - coal to save forests

Nigerian environmental experts have called on the government to reintroduce coal mining in a move aimed at solving the country's current power crunch and salvaging its disappearing forests.

WINDHOEK -
Environmentalists in petroleum rich Nigeria, West Africa's economic giant, should be bracing themselves for a major war of words with their radical counterparts from the developed world.
In a surprising sign of defiance to the long-standing conservation tradition, environmental experts have called on the President Umaru Yar'Adua government to reintroduce coal mining to end the country's current energy crunch. The environmentalists are not only concerned about Nigeria's power generation problems, but say the move will help slow down forest losses and desertification.

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No more confusion when it comes to airtravel expenses

Kayak.com will offer its new interface to users to help them calculate the latest convoluted prices of air travel. With the latest changes in air travel expenses, frequent flyers are confused, but as of mid-July that will no longer be. Go to kayak.com to get your airfair calculated.

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New data mining tool

Teradata Corporation, A global provider in enterprise data warehousing, recently introduced Teradata Warehouse Miner 5.2, which embeds 50 new statistical data mining functions from its partners into the Teradata Database to accelerate the data mining process. Data mining is a powerful technology that discovers patterns in customer, financial and operational data that can provide valuable business insights.

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Technology: New device makes mining safer

By: MATT HARTLEY
June 18, 2008 at 3:26 PM EDT
Believe it or not, the next evolution in mine safety technology has a lot to do with remote-control garage door openers.
Steve Barrett is president and chief executive officer of Active Control Technology Inc. (ACT), a company that until recently specialized in high-tech remote control garage door openers, but is now on the verge of rewriting the rulebook on mining safety.
If Mr. Barrett has his way, ACT's ActiveMine systems will help mining companies prevent tragedies such as the Sago Mine disaster that killed 12 miners in West Virginia in January, 2006.
Today the Burlington, Ont., company — which took the lead spot in the technology sector of the 2008 TSX Venture 50 ranking — is on its way to becoming one of Canada's rising technology stars by specializing in wireless mesh communications networks that work in the deep, dark recesses of coal mines.

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Mining Association of Canada pays almost $11 billion to Canadian Government in 2006

VANCOUVER, June 18 /CNW Telbec/ - A new report released today by The Mining Association of Canada indicates that the industry paid almost $11 billion to Canadian governments in 2006, a significant increase from 2005. The Canadian mining industry operates approximately 180 producing minesin Canada, with an important focus upon metals such as gold, copper and nickeland non-metals such as coal, potash, diamonds and oil sands. The industry alsocomprises 38 non-ferrous smelters and refineries producing refined aluminum,copper, nickel, zinc and other metals. These three components of the industry,generically known as "the mining industry", together employ 180 thousandworkers and, according to the study by ENTRANS Consultants, paid the followingamounts to governments in 2006:
Royalties and Similar Payments $2.33 billion
Corporate Income Tax $3.96 billion
Personal Income Tax $1.86 billion
Total $8.15 billion

The paper also highlights a significant year-on-year increase in thesepayments. Payments in 2006 increased by approximately 50% over the$5.5 billion payment total of 2005, reflecting the global price increases innatural resources during this period.

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Gas prices affect home buying trends

With oil prices sky high, home buyers are doing whatever it takes to minimize their commute. It's no surprise that nationwide more and more people try to live near a train station to reduce their driving - thus their gas consumption.

This begs the question, what is more important now, the tag price on a home or its distance to a commuter rail? How much money you spend on gas might be the amount you could spend on a better neighborhood or a more costly (and nicer) community. These are just things to think about when you decide to either buy a new home or move to a new place.

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Casino goers celebrate!

Casino debuts new touch-screen bar table
By Oskar Garcia

Associated Press Writer / June 11, 2008
LAS VEGAS—Microsoft Corp. and Harrah's Entertainment Inc. introduced a high-tech interactive bar table Wednesday that lets patrons order drinks, watch YouTube videos, play touch-screen games and even flirt with each other.
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The tables offer Harrah's a new way to track its customers' habits and behaviors, adding to its sophisticated costumer rewards program that tracks users' gambling habits.
"Of all the goodies up our sleeves lately, this is one of the most dramatic," Tim Stanley, chief information officer of Harrah's, told The Associated Press. "The range of opportunities are fairly limitless."

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Metal prices going down!

Gold tumbles as retail sales hike demand for dollar


By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
Last update: 12:00 p.m. EDT June 12, 2008


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures on Thursday fell to their lowest level since early May, upended after stronger U.S. retail sales for May bolstered demand for the dollar and tarnished the precious metal's allure as another asset option and hedge against inflation.
"Gold is again taking its cue from oil, which is down, and the dollar, which is up this morning," said Mark O'Byrne, executive director of Gold & Silver Investments Ltd.
Down $9 an ounce at the start, gold for August delivery got carried lower still, recently retreating $18.90 to stand at $864.00 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Another loser in Nymex metals dealings, July silver fell 54 cents to $16.32 an ounce.



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Wanna go to college, check this out!

College Funding Gap? Get Creative with Your Financing

The cost of college is seeing a huge increase. Indeed, college costs more and more every year. And, at the same time, the available resources for college funding are diminishing. Federal aid -- especially aid to middle class families -- is falling off. And, with the current mortgage market mess, getting a home equity loan or line of credit to help with the college funding is difficult. This means that, in many cases, it becomes necessary for some students to borrow using private student loans in order fill the college funding gap. But those have higher interest, and can be a paid to pay back. The good news is that some are seeing a need and fulfilling it for a reasonable cost. Creative college financing is on the way:
Virgin Money allows students to borrow money for Student Payback loan, documenting the private loan process between parents and children, or college students and others. The idea is that you can set up a doable payment plan for very little. This is an interesting idea that could help fill the Funding Gap.
GreenNote is another option. This loan takes the principles behind microfinance and applies them to student loans. The student sets up a profile, and friends, family and strangers can contribute $100 or more. The student pays it back at a low interest rate (GreenNote uses the Stafford loan rate as guidance), friends and family can help -- and earn a small return. So, before you turn to private student loans, look into your other options. They are out there, and there are more of them.

Source: http://allbusiness.boston.com/economy-economic-indicators/economic-indicators/10207122-1.html

Unemployment galore!

Jobless rate leaps to 3-1/2 year high in May

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent in May, its highest in more than 3-1/2 years, as the barely growing economy lost jobs for the fifth straight month.

It was the biggest jump in the monthly jobless rate in 22 years and raised concerns the economy was at increased risk of stalling into recession.
"The unemployment rate is the shocker," said Robert MacIntosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance Management in Boston. "The actual payrolls number itself was consistent with what we have been seeing in terms of a slowdown but not quite a recession. But the employment rate gives you a much weaker economic outlook than the payrolls number," said MacIntosh.
The Labor Department on Friday said 49,000 jobs were shed by employers last month on top of 28,000 in April -- for a total of 324,000 lost since the beginning of the year. May's unemployment rate was up from 5 percent in April and was the highest since October 2004.
The soft jobs data helped drive stock prices steeply lower, but it sent U.S. Treasury debt prices soaring as investors bet it pushed back any chance that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates before November's presidential election.

WHITE HOUSE UNEASE
It added to discomfort at the White House, where spokesman Scott Stanzel said the unemployment rate was "too high for our liking," though he noted it stemmed partly from more job-seekers and "not from a broad increase in layoffs"

The number of people in the work force climbed by 577,000 in May, up sharply from an increase of 173,000 in April. There typically is a rise in the number of young people seeking temporary work when school is out, the department said.

More info at: http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/06/06/jobs_cut_for_5th_straight_month_unemployment_rate_jumps_1212759939/