July 21st, 2010
We have recently received some very sad news. We have learned that one of our employees working in our Haiti lab has been killed in a building collapse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His name was Louis Abellard. Louis survived the initial Haiti quake but was sometime later (we don’t know exactly) caught in a building that collapsed in one of the quake aftershocks. It is difficult to determine the events of this tragedy as many of the dead were buried in mass graves in the days following the earthquake.
Louis Abellard held the position of Preparation Laboratory Supervisor and was one of our senior staff in Haiti. He was Haitian born, and was somewhat of a local celebrity working for an international company helping to build Haiti’s economy. Our Haiti laboratory is a dedicated preparation lab for Newmont operations in the area. In the photo below, Louis is standing on the left beside Rory Forde ( AcmeLabs Caribbean Regional Manager) and Brian Brewer (Client Geologist)
Newmont and AcmeLabs are contributing to a Trust fund in Louis’ name to provide support for his wife and son. If you wish to contribute, please contact AcmeLabs Vancouver or Santiago for details.
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world where employment is viewed as a great privilege. Mining and Exploration brings economic dollars to struggling regions of the world and events like this remind us, that what we do matters.
While in Buenos Aires for AcmeLabs regional managers meeting, I had the chance to meet Rory Forde for the first time. It’s not often that I meet a young man (28 years old) that is highly competent and motivated, with great interpersonal skills. I was very impressed. Looking at our South American contingent, they are a powerhouse of experience. This is a great environment for a young manager to grow in.
Economically, the roller coaster ride continues with additional calamities keeping us wondering what is next and how long this string of disasters can continue. From earthquakes and eruptions we have now shifted into manmade disasters. According to the latest estimates, the Gulf oil spill is now gushing an Exxon Valdez volume of oil into the Gulf every four days! This is so unprecedented that it is hard to imagine the level of damage and hardship that this will ultimately cause. This will certainly have a serious economic impact on the United States. This makes the Canadian oil sands look pretty sensible and safe by comparison.
World economies continue to recover with much gnashing of teeth over sovereign debt issues in Europe. While we seem to be moving past this issue for now, it is not going away any time soon. It is clear that many countries will be battling government debt for many years. The good news is that the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries continue to move forward with reasonably high growth although with some slowing in China. Commodity prices remain fairly strong and gold continues to hit record highs driving exploration dollars globally.
This is impacting AcmeLabs everywhere. Our clients have been steadily adding to their exploration programs making it difficult to keep up to the changing conditions. This is always the way it goes. When recessions hit, we are surprised by how fast the sample volumes fall, and as we are seeing now, the reverse is also true. When budgeting for the future, it is difficult to budget for >50% increases or decreases because if you are wrong, the consequences are huge. For 2010, we have been feverishly adding more equipment and personnel throughout our production areas. This includes expansion in Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic and Brazil in South America alone.
In North America, AcmeLabs had an open house in Whitehorse, YT in early June that went very well. More than 60 people dropped in to see our new prep lab. This is a world class facility and is the only ISO9001 registered prep lab in the Yukon. This is a large preparation laboratory capable of processing 2000-4000 samples per day making it the largest preparation facility in the Yukon. The manager of this new lab is Aarno Hamalainen who has more than 20 years experience building and operating minerals laboratories in North and Central America. Aarno and his family recently moved up to Whitehorse in May. Years ago he lived and worked in Faro, YT so he is no stranger to the region. You can contact him by email at Aarno.hamalainen@acmelab.com. If you drop in on a Friday afternoon, Aarno will have the Barbi fired up on the back deck.
From left to right are; Arno Hamalainen (Manager, Whitehorse), Leo Arciaga (Regional Sales Rep.), Clarence Leung (General Manager, Vancouver), and Susie Woo (Client Services Manager, Vancouver).
I wish you all the best in your exploration efforts.
As an old boss of mine used to write;
“Enuf said and stay safe.”
George Cartwright
President, AcmeLabsTM
Posted in President's Messages | Comments Off
June 17th, 2010
Acme is pleased to announce the ISO 9001:2008 registration of our sample preparation facility in Whitehorse, YK. The successful accreditation was achieved following an independent audit conducted by BSi Canada.
Implementation of our ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System, provides a standard framework of methods and procedures that is applied to all of our offices, ensuring consistency throughout our operations. Continued application of these ISO standards demonstrates our commitment to enhance client satisfaction as well as the inclusions of procedures for the continual improvement of our systems.
The management system registered at the Whitehorse facility is an extension of our Vancouver operation and will provide the same high quality sample preparation capabilities as those throughout our global network. Addition of the Whitehorse facility to the registration now means that all of Acme’s Canadian operations are ISO registered.
AcmeLabs operates a global group of preparation and analytical laboratories dedicated to a single focus of mining and geochemical exploration. Our analytical capabilities are amongst the most highly rated in the world and our dedication to a quality management system raises the standards of quality in the exploration industry.
Posted in News | Comments Off
May 3rd, 2010
Acmelabs is pleased to announce and welcome Derrick Hill to his recently appointed position as Branch Manager for our new sample preparation facility in Yellowknife, N.W.T. Coming from Global Discovery Labs of Teck Ltd, Derrick brings with him three years of management in sample preparation and sample registration protocol. Following additional training at Acmelabs in Vancouver, Derrick has relocated to Yellowknife where he will ensure the same high standards for sample preparation and client service as those provided throughout our global network.
The recent ISO 9001:2008 certification of our Yellowknife sample preparation facility will certainly enhance our presence in the North West Territories. Implementation of our Quality Management System, provides a standard framework of methods and procedures that is applied to all of our offices, ensuring consistency throughout our operations. Continued application of these ISO standards demonstrates our commitment to enhance client satisfaction as well as the inclusions of procedures for the continual improvement of our systems.
AcmeLabs operates a global group of preparation and analytical laboratories dedicated to a single focus of mining and geochemical exploration. Our analytical capabilities are amongst the most highly rated in the world and our dedication to a quality management system raises the standards of quality in the exploration industry.
Posted in News | Comments Off
April 21st, 2010
We are off to a rocky start for 2010. We have had earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, China and now an eruption in Iceland that has shut down air travel over all of Europe. Hmmm, when did that last happen? Well, certainly not in my lifetime. In my last “Presidents Message” I wrote;
“Our air travel has become much more onerous and climate change a huge issue for humankind. The last decade has indeed been a wild ride, but for many, not a fun ride at all.”
I had no idea how applicable this would be to this year!
Lest we begin to think that we humans can exert control over future events, think again. Mother nature is flexing her muscles in 2010!
Our offices in Porto Prince and Santiago were lucky. Our personnel are OK and our operations sustained only minor damage. The news and the public eye has moved on to other events but Haiti and Chile have a long road ahead still, to rebuild and move forward. The cost estimates are only now rolling in. Our hearts go out to all of those affected and hope that they can rebuild their lives as well as their homes.
As I write this, I am on a flight from Santiago, Chile to Sao Paulo, Brazil with our Chairman, John Gravel and Jefe de Sud America, Geoff Woodfield. We have spent the week reviewing operations in Santiago and Mendoza, Argentina. Santiago and Mendoza operations are expanding in response to higher sample flows and to ensure our commitment to provide excellent service.
Following this, we made a quick trip up to Copiapo, Chile to open our new office in Central Chile. Twenty one years ago, Bondar Clegg, whom I worked for then, opened an office in Copiapo so this was a special day for me. Further, our manager for Copiapo today is Rene Marin who also worked for Bondar Clegg at the time. It gives me great confidence that our clients will be well served with Rene in charge. Copiapo will provide much needed additional sample preparation capacity for Chile and provide an increased level of service to our clients.
I was very impressed by the new lab. It is very well designed with all new equipment including Boyd combo’s (crusher with attached rotary splitter) to provide high quality sample preparation. As with all Acme offices, sample preparation is built around our unique AcmeDCU. This Dust Containment Unit is central to the design of the entire operation. The AcmeDCU provides superior passive dust control and noise reduction. This provides three primary benefits. The AcmeDCU provides a safe work environment for our employees with minimal losses of sample material while having the smallest possible environmental footprint. Thank you to all of our clients that attended the open house and to those that could not but send samples to support Acme. If you are in Copiapo, please drop in to see our lab and ask for Rene Marin.
I look forward to seeing our staff and operations in Goiania, Brazil and as many of our clients as we can manage.
Acme have now opened a new sample preparation office in Whitehorse, YT, Canada. The open house for this office is Friday May 14. I hope to see you there!
In Vancouver, the Olympics were a huge success. The new skytrain services worked fabulously and I have never seen so much positive nationalism of all colors.
Our Vancouver lab has completed the addition of new X-Ray Fluorescence instrumentation as well as additional fire assay furnaces for gold analysis and ICP/ICPMS instruments for multielement analysis so we are also ready for the North American Summer season to begin in earnest.
I wish you all the best in your exploration efforts.
As an old boss of mine used to write;
“Enuf said and stay safe.”
George Cartwright
President, Acme Laboratories
Posted in President's Messages | Comments Off
April 15th, 2010
Acme is pleased to announce the ISO 9001:2008 registration of our sample preparation facility in Yellowknife, NWT. The successful accreditation was achieved following an independent audit conducted by BSI Canada.
Implementation of our ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System, provides a standard framework of methods and procedures that is applied to all of our offices, ensuring consistency throughout our operations. Continued application of these ISO standards demonstrates our commitment to enhance client satisfaction as well as the inclusions of procedures for the continual improvement of our systems.
The management system registered at the Yellowknife NWT facility is an extension of our Vancouver operation and will provide the same high quality sample preparation capabilities as those throughout our global network.
AcmeLabs operates a global group of preparation and analytical laboratories dedicated to a single focus of mining and geochemical exploration. Our analytical capabilities are amongst the most highly rated in the world and our dedication to a quality management system raises the standards of quality in the exploration industry.
Posted in News | Comments Off
April 12th, 2010
 |
We are pleased to announce that our Santiago laboratory was recently recognised at the annual prize giving awards for the Chilean National Safety Council (ACHS). The award received was for outstanding achievement in the field of occupational health and safety. Mr. Nelson Bravo of ACHS presented the prize to Mr. Marco Romero of Acmelabs Chile.
|
|
Acmelabs Chile has worked closely with ACHS over the past three years and is very proud of the association. Mr. Geoff Woodfield, Vice President for AcmeLabs South America, was quoted as saying “This award is recognition of the constant efforts of our Safety Committee, Management, and Staff to be ever vigilant in maintaining a safe workplace for all out employees.”
Please congratulate our Santiago office for their excellent achievements in Occupational Health and Safety. Congratulations Team!
|
Posted in News | Comments Off
