MxMining

Changing screens on a screen deck is probably one of the most frustrating maintenance issues that's ever done on a processing plant. It's time consuming and will likely shut down your whole process while the maintenance is being performed which in turn digs at your bottom line.

If you think you're not getting the longevity from your screens that you should be there's a lot you can check to try and improve the life of your screen.

Wire cloth care starts from the minute the screens are fabricated.

Don't Ever:

• Store Your Screens on Uneven or Sharp Surfaces.
• Stand Screens on Their Side for Storage.
• Walk on Your Screens.
• Throw Your Screens on the Ground.
• Bend Your Screen Cloth.

All of the points listed above can potentially damage your screens and reduce their longevity. Tiny cracks form easily in the screen cloth if they are bent at too sharp of an angle and later

One of the first things you'll notice after spending some time in Mexico is the outrageous charges for local and long distance telephone communication.

The expense adds up really fast if you're keeping regular contact with your office or partners outside of Mexico, but there's a couple of ways to keep the costs reasonable.

Of course there's the internet and email which is the best choice when you need to send documents or the communication requirements are not time sensitive. You'll find that most hotels in the metropolitan areas will have internet access and even some hotels in the

The iCON is the newest addition to Falcon Concentrator's line of world class enhanced gravity concentrators for the recovery of precious metals and heavy minerals.

Although this product is marketed to artisanal and small scale miners the product also makes for a great in field gravity concentration testing machine. Instead of hauling out large amounts of low grade ore to be tested in a laboratory you now have the option of processing it out in the field at a rate of about 2 tons per hour with the iCON gravity concentrator.

The whole machine weighs about 100 kilograms, requires a 220 volt 1.5kW single phase power source and about 17 liters per minute of water. The iCON has a feed limitation of 2mm and a G-Force range of 60-150 G's. If you had a close water source you could haul this into just about anywhere even if it required packing the equipment in on a few mules!

All the technology out there and it's still hard to find the perfect GPS for exploration projects. Right now I use a Trimble Juno ST with third party software called GPSTuner for GPS functions. When I purchased the Juno ST it seemed to be the ideal device for me to carry out in the field even though it was not the most ruggedly built GPS.

I bought my Juno ST when they first hit the market which was about two years ago, at that time it was right up there on the cutting edge of technology. I know the market has changed a lot in the past two years - new standards and devices have come out since then so I've kept a close eye on what's available in the GPS marketplace.

My perfect GPS would have these qualities:

• Rugged Weatherproof Design - to endure tough Mexican terrain.
• Window Mobile Operating System - for lots of available software.
• PDA or Handheld Computer Capabilities - to do more work.
• Expandable Memory Slot - for storing more stuff.
• Bluetooth Enabled - it's just an easier way to pass files around.
• Touch Screen - rapid data entry and less fumbling around with keys.

and the last, hardest part of the order to fulfill...