News & Events
We invite you to grow your knowledge and contacts with us through the following mediums:
- Training
- Technical Lunchtime Seminar Series
- Recent Conference Papers
- Xstract in Print
- Meet us at
- Philanthropy
- Newsletters
Training
Xstract offers mentoring and courses in a range of areas, including:
- Data Quality Assurance / Quality Control
- Geostatistics and resource estimation
- Whittle optimisation
- XPAC scheduling
- Mineral economics
- Cut-off grade theory and practice
- Mine optimisation
- Grade control and reconciliation
- Real Options Analysis
To view our courses we are currently running please Click here to download our latest Newsletter with all the course information as well as the booking form.
Or Click here to contact us for more information.
Technical Seminar Series
Watch this space for upcoming technical seminars including a light lunch or drinks. Email us to register your interest in receiving invites or to make suggestions on topics you would like to hear about.
Upcoming Lunch seminars:
What do we mean by a "Due Diligence?"
Date: 3 September 2010
Location: Perth, Australia
Mark will discuss the importance of understanding the level of confidence that can be expected from different levels of “due diligence”. Just as there are various levels of detail and confidence at different stages of feasibility study, “due diligence” studies also have different levels of confidence in their outcomes. Due diligence investigations are often referred to by a variety of names, including: desktop reviews, fatal flaw reviews, high-level reviews, audits and full due diligence. Mark will explore what clients and reviewers mean and can realistically expect from the various levels of “due diligence”.
Contact us for more information on this topic or to RSVP.
Data Quality - What's it worth?
Date: 10 September 2010
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Wealth is generated from knowledge that is derived from the analysis of data. When our data is incorrect, our knowledge and subsequent business decisions are compromised. Hence poor data quality affects our ability to generate wealth. Mining related databases are usually considered by businesses as intangible assets because the databases can not be physically seen, touched, or often measured. As a result, businesses may be underspending or overspending on the development and maintenance of its most influential assets. Quantifying the business value of a database is difficult as unlike many other assets the database, or the information contained in a database, is not easily described by business parameters such as a monetary value. This makes the business justification for improving data quality a challenge.
Contact us for more information on this topic or to RSVP.
What is Missing in Environmental Management?
Date: 15 September 2010
Location: Brisbane, Australia
As with all fields, environmental management evolves over time with new facilities and changes of emphasis. As a baseline, this talk will initially consider select global environmental performance indicators, noting progress in a ‘Report Card’. The broad adoption of impact assessment and the increasing scope of its reach imply that one of our key management tools is not only mature, but is an unquestioningly reliable predictor. But is it? Early data suggested that the predictive ability of impact assessment was less than 50%. We will consider current resource projects from south east Queensland and ask why are they in the media? Are our expectations too high? Are we missing something?
Contact us for more information on this topic or to RSVP.
Old King Coal - will the reign continue?
Date: 15 October 2010
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Kevin will provide and overview of coal deposits and tenement within Australia and discuss the future of coal resource exploitation in Australia. There are still many investment opportunities and a requirement to understand how the different resource exploitation methods can co-exist or even compliment each other. Kevin with briefly discuss some of the varied technology options of coal to liquids, underground coal gasification and traditional coal mining. He will explain how coal exploitation technologies can co exist, even on the same tenement, and briefly summarise the major projects found throughout Australia, from the coal seam gas in Western Australia to liquification of brown coal to diesel fuel, and finally to the newer coal seam gas fields in the Surat Basin.
Contact us for more information on this topic or to RSVP.
Previous Lunch seminars:
Some of our previous lunch seminars have included:
- Mining your share price or mining your deposit – What does “feasibility study” mean to you?
- Exploring Peru and Chile for Mining Opportunities
- Date quality: What's it worth?
- Geophysics - Application of I.P. and E.M. in Copper Exploration
- Global mining sentiment - What's hot and what's not
- All about Myrtle
- Great Copper Provinces of Australia
- Zipf's Law and Gold
- Mine Based Preconcentration
- Bring your Tenements to Life!
- Mine Planning; Realism or Optimism
- Cut-off Grades Explained
- Coal Seam Gas
- Real Options Analysis
Contact us for more information, a white paper or training in any of these topic areas.
Conference Papers
Upcoming Papers
Craig Williams and Luis Martinez will be presenting a paper at the BBGG in Mackay on the 6 - 8 October.
Jason Hosken will be presenting a paper at the Datamine Geology Conference in Perth on 09 November.
Previous Papers
Jason Hosken presented a paper at the Cobar Mining Seminar in Cobar on the 6 August.
Luis Martinez presented a paper in June at the MiNiN 2010 in Santiago on Understanding Real Options in Mine Project Valuation.
Kevin Irving presented a paper at CoalTech in Brisbane on 1 - 2 June.
Mark Murphy presented a paper at the AusIMM Sampling Conference in Perth on 11-12 May.
Kevin Irving facilitated a Mining Risk Analysis Course: creating sustainable value in your mining business in Bali, Indonesia on 4 - 5 February.
Jeames McKibben and Luis Martinez presented in October at the Mineral asset and Reporting Valuations (MARV) Conference, Perth, Australia about "A review of the geoscientific method and its evolution" and "What is dynamic discounted cash flow: Can it be applied to project evaluation?" respectively. The link takes you to the programme from this conference, please contact us for any further information on their topics.
"Why Accounting for Uncertainty and Risk can Improve Final decision making in Strategic open pit Mine Evaluation" This paper was presented by Luiz Martinez in April at the AusIMM Project Evaluation Conference 2009.
Xstract in Print
"Examining the gold premium – Part two": An article by Jeames McKibben, Luis Martinez and Antonio Egana, published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 3 June 2010.
"Examining the gold premium – Part one": An article by Jeames McKibben, Luis Martinez and Antonio Egana, published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 27 May 2010.
"Xstract expands consulting capability": An article by a staff reporter from High Grade , published in High Grade on 12 May 2010.
"Miners must improve their star rating": An article by Jeames McKibben and Jacki Waters , published in High Grade on 5 May 2010.
"The importance of maintaining ‘social licence to operate": An article by Jeames McKibben and Jacki Waters , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 21 April 2010.
"Pulling back the covers on copper" : An article by Kate Haycock from High Grade , published in High Grade on 24 March 2010.
"The size and scope of copper in Australia": An article by Jeames McKibben, Matthew Stephens and Stefan Mujdrica , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 19 March 2010.
"Insights from Indaba - Mining in Africa": An article by Jeames McKibben and Mark Noppe , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 18 February 2010.
"There's movement at (beneath) the stations": An article by Richard Roberts from High Grade , published in High Grade on 9 February 2010.
"Mining consulting leaders 2010": An article by a staff reporter from High Grade , published in High Grade on 9 February 2010.
"Consultants plot a new course": An article by Richard Roberts from High Grade , published in High Grade on 9 February 2010.
"India: a new star for mining entrepreneurs? Part one": An article by Jeames McKibben, Manish Garg and Michelle Clarke , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 20 January 2010.
"India: a new star for mining entrepreneurs? Part two": An article by Jeames McKibben, Manish Garg and Michelle Clarke , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 28 January 2010.
"ETS should consider rightful ownership of emissions": An article by Jeames McKibben and Michelle Clarke , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 17 December 2009.
"Xstract confirms expansion": An article by a staff reporter from High Grade , published in High Grade on 7 December 2009.
"Snowden progeny find their feet": An article by Richard Roberts from High Grade , published in High Grade on 7 December 2009.
"Coal Seam Gas: To be or not to be? Part One": An article by Jeames McKibben and Michelle Clarke , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 19 November 2009.
"Coal Seam Gas: To be or not to be? Part Two": An article by Jeames McKibben and Michelle Clarke , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 26 November 2009.
"Miners Should Have Clear Business Strategy": An article by Jeames McKibben and Manish Garg , published in the Australian Journal of Mining - Newswire on 22 October 2009.
"Seeing is believing": An article by Richard Roberts from High Grade , published in High Grade on 21 September 2009.
"Ten years of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Bowen Basin": An article by Jeames McKibben , published on Mining News Premium on 14 September 2009.
Meet us at
We will be attending the following functions over the next few months, please come and say hello.
- 23-24 August - EIS for Resources Projects 2010 Conference, Brisbane, Australia
- 01-03 September - Africa Downunder Conference, Perth, Australia
- 04 Septemeber - WA Mining Club Annual Gala Ball, Perth, Australia
- 07 - 09 September - Discover Mongolia 2010 Conference, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- 09-10 September - PPDM Perth Data Managment Conference, Perth, Australia
- 17 September - AusIMM Technical Talk, Brisbane, Australia
- 20-22 September - Excellence in Mining and Exploration, Sydney, Australia
- 29 September - 1 October - Geo-Computing 2010, Brisbane, Australia
- 06-08 October - Bowen Basin Symposioum, Mackay, Australia
- 09 November - Datamine Geology Conference 2010, Perth, Australia
- 01-03 December - Mine Planning and Equipment Selection Conference, Perth, Australia
Philanthropy
Xstract supports the following charities throughout the year. Click on the event to view our fundraising progress or even make a contribution to these worthy causes.
- 21 March - Twilight Running Festival supporting Kids Under Cover
- 16 April – Footy Jumper Friday supporting the Fight Cancer Foundation
- 27 June – Brissy to the Bay bike ride supporting MS Queensland
- 6 August – Jeans for Genes day supporting the Children’s Medical Research Institute
- 29 August – Bridge to Brisbane fun run supporting the Heart Foundation
- 2 November - Starlight Day supporting the Starlight Children's Foundation Australia
- November - PwC Cool Night Classic
Newsletter
Next Edition - October 2010
Download previous editions:
