President's Message April 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
Source: http://acmelab.com/about-acme/presidents-message/
- To provide general support in the pre-processing of samples and perform certain analysis
- General lab support including sort and distribute, pre-processing of samples, weighing and analysis.
- Provide professional Human Resources advice to a dedicated client group within the Food, DNA/Forensics and Corporate Services lines of business
- Provide full cycle recruitment services/guidance to management and staff as well as onboarding and off boarding of employees
Responsible for Inorganics Sample Preparation (soil and water) and relatively straightforward laboratory testing.
Reporting to the Laboratory Manager and under the general guidance of the Sample Prep Supervisor and/or Shift Lead Hand, the Sample Preparation Technician performs duties related to the preparation of client samples for analysis.
Reporting to the Geochemistry Manager and under the supervision of the Assistant Manager and/or Shift Supervisor, the Geochem Laboratory Technician will perform duties related to processing and analysis of client samples in the Geochemistry department.
Reporting to the Director of Technical Services, the Quality Assistant will perform duties related to the administration of the Upstream Minerals (UM) Quality program and work closely with the UM Quality Health and Safety team.
Reporting to the Chief Assayer, the Metallurgical Assayer will perform duties relating to the analysis of all samples and test products.
Responsible for receiving environmental samples from clients and couriers, unpacking, inspecting and labeling samples.
- Conduct analysis of petroleum samples, compiling results and being responsible for following the standard operating procedures and controls
- Preparation of samples for inspection, and perform other required lab analysis such as SQC and proficiency program samples
Reporting directly to the Operations Manager, the Oil & Petroleum Field Inspector will perform the inspection and certification of products at on-site locations; perform minor lab analytical tests, and will assist the Operations Manager with client communication of operational details, results, and observations.