For the love of terra firma--A Canadian company delivers hi-tech, integrated solutions to keep mine management on firm ground

摘要

There is a deep, instinctive value accorded to the simple act of standing on firm ground. Perhaps because we derive such comfort from terra firma, human beings have been fascinated and terrified by the prospect of the ground beneath their feet being shaken. As far back as AD 132, the Chinese scientist, Chang Heng, invented an ingenious device to record and locate earthquakes. Comprised of a pendulum and metallic dragons and frogs, Heng's contraption was beautiful and somewhat effective, but largely imprecise. In the ensuing centuries, seismometry has come a long way. What has remained unchanged is our need to know when and where the ground will not be firm. Nowhere is this need more acute than in the mining industry, tied to the ground as its fortunes are.