Ore-Sniffing Dogs Rediscovered By Mining Industry 78
An anonymous reader writes "In the 60s and 70s Sweden, Russia and Finland were the foremost players in the game of ore dogs, using dogs to sniff out ore deposits for mining. The technique was forgotten in the last century, but this article shows they're now being used again to discover ore deposits. From the article: 'The keen noses of sniffer dogs are proving so successful at locating ore that even the mining giants are sitting up and taking notice. Berenice Baker talks to Peter Bergman, geologist and CEO of the Swedish company OreDog, about his plans to turn the canine skills into a multi-million dollar global industry providing exploration services for the mining industry while offering a Google-like working environment for staff.'"
while offering a Google-like working environment (Score:1)
How they locate ore deep underground ? (Score:2)
I always wonder how they manage to locate ore buried deep underground
There are mines that are like hundreds of feet underground
How they manage to pinpoint the ore in the first place?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineral_exploration [wikipedia.org]
Re:How they locate ore deep underground ? (Score:5, Funny)
And wait.
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Bunch of techniques. There's planes with a big inductive loop around them that fly low and find.. magnetic ores, i suppose?
core samples, etc.
Only mine I've been to is 1km underground, and has been operating since the 60's or so... not sure how they discovered it back then. A thousand metres of dirt seems nuts, when I think about it.
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what would stop someone else from offering a Foxconn like working environment along with a much cheaper service?
The RSPCA?
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Proving that dogs have more rights than workers.
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And what would dogs want with foosball tables and beanba... okay, okay, I'll grant you the beanbag chairs.
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I've been in mines with 20 foot roofs.
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What sort of mines have you been in, apart from those poof-ish modern ones. T'Owd Man would cut his coffin levels 8inches wide at the bottom (for your feet) widening to 18inches wide at a height of 30 inches from the floor, then tapering back to about 10 inches at the top, 36inches above the floor.
Real Men (T'Owd Men) cut their own tunnels with the sweat of their brow and feathers and wedges. So they'd make them big enough and no more. And then you wonder why the would so-often exploit, fo
So I guess you could say... (Score:5, Funny)
they've created a new breed of rock hound?
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For under-sea mining can I get a rock lobster?
Google-like work environment (Score:5, Funny)
Dogs will be allowed to spend 20% of their time sniffing whatever they like!
Re:Google-like work environment (Score:5, Interesting)
No. According to the founder, it's going to be 2/3 work, and 1/3 sniff whatever you want (thus exceeding the Googler's former practice).
And he intends on having 200 to 300 employees, plus around 200 dogs. Right now, it's just him (1 employee) and his dog so far (1 dog). Or to be more accurate, his current company is at 1 employee and 1.2 dogs (I'm counting 0.2 dogs for the skin of the dog/wolf he's wearing on his head for the article).
Also, he's looking for investors. And not just the big guys, he's willing to accept money from the little guys as well, because he's "willing to give everybody a chance".
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Dogs will be allowed to spend 20% of their time sniffing whatever they like!
Yes, but only if they are willing to share it freely with other dogs outside the company.
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When do we get these... (Score:2, Funny)
...in Minecraft? I have a legion of about 20 tamed wolves now. If they could all sniff out the ores it would make the mining grind go a lot faster.
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...in Minecraft? I have a legion of about 20 tamed wolves now. If they could all sniff out the ores it would make the mining grind go a lot faster.
There was a bug in the beta. They kept sniffing out dog's backsides.
Lassie (Score:5, Funny)
Whats that Lassie , you have discovered a large deposit of unobtainium?
Re:Lassie (Score:5, Funny)
Whats that Lassie , you have discovered a large deposit of unobtainium?
And it's at the bottom of a well?
Confucius (Score:2)
Confucius say: dog who exploits ore, may get exploited by 'ore...
Ore-Sniffing Dogs (Score:1)
Showing up as a new feature in Minecraft in 3... 2... 1...
My dog has no nose (Score:1)
How does he smell?
Awful
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I was going to say... 60s and 70s were 50 years ago, and were in the last Century whether you mean the last 100 years, or the period 1900-2000, or 1901-2001.
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We're talking about Sweden, Finland and Russia.
40 years is a metric century.
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Google like Environment (Score:2)
I assume dogs are going to be the main staff in a ore-sniffing dog company called OreOdg, So what exactly does the above mean?
- Dogs work a 5 day week
- One day out of the 5 days, they are allowed to sniff anything else they
"Ore-Sniffing Dogs Rediscovered" (Score:5, Funny)
Oreo-sniffing dogs still useless, and annoying
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Oreo-sniffing dogs still useless, and annoying
Hard to call something useless if it's a dog that can do the work of a trained geologist and lab. I'd call him impressive not useless. "Annoying" is the judgement of a person that dislikes dogs. I'm a cat person but I love animals so I still like dogs even if they can at times be annoying. Trust me if a dog found a rich gold deposit for you I think you'd learn to love them.
Annoying isn't it (Score:2)
All those people going woosh at you
Woosh!
Look up spelling of ore and an American Cookie that Americans seem to think is pretty great but in the rest of the world is regarded as "oh that American cookie". Hint: There is a reason you can't buy twinkies outside the US. They are ABSOLUTELY FUCKING DISGUSTING. Imagine the worsed instant cake you ever tasted with more chemical after taste and less nutrition. I should have known, never EVER eat a local delicacy that has remained a local delicacy. If it tasted go
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Part of that is because the oreos sold overseas are made in a different factory and to a different recipe which is shit. The oreos sold in the US are made there. Overseas oreos are made in either Indonesia, China, Spain or India.
US made oreos are delish but they cant beat the Tim Tam.
Keys (Score:2)
ores (Score:5, Funny)
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And the jokes just write themselves... (Score:2)
Angry man screams into cell phone standing near a small dock "Dammit I said ORE Dog not OAR Dog!!!"
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Does it have to be a fat cat?
Two legs or four? (Score:2)
I've known some two-legged 'ore-dogs in my day, but this is the first time I've heard of the four-legged variety.
Artificial sensors? (Score:3)
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Can someone explain to me the challenges and state of the art in creating artificial sensors capable of replicating, e.g., dog's amazing sniffing abilities, even if only for specific compounds (I imagine replicating the amazing generality of canine sniffers is for now "very sci-fi").
Here: How electronic smell detection works [boingboing.net]
why would you want to do that? (Score:2)
you get the ability you want, and a dog
you want an inert stupid gadget instead?
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I work on electronic sniffers every day. Mostly the gas sniffer type, but the rules are largely the same.
Unfortunately the sensors are largely unreliable in a number of ways. They are prone to drift and so need constant recalibration; this is due to (depending on design) the catalysts and chemical reactions inside the sensor consuming themselves or simply degrading over time. Really good sensors are really really expensive. Even the basic ones aren't that cheap, and they suck. Some are fine and been reliabl
Meanwhile in China... (Score:4, Funny)
When asked for comment, China said they will continue just throwing 1000s of workers with pickaxes at large piles of rocks.
At least I didn't make the other joke I thought of. Well I guess, if you insist.
When asked for comment, Chinese officials stated that the mere offer of bringing a 60 lb bloodhound to mining sites increased productivity by 18%. When we asked a foreman about the increase in productivity, he said the minor miners were famished and welcomed the company of a friendly meal.
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> the minor miners
*rimshot*
Dogs were used in Finland between 1962 - 1994 (Score:2)
I did google search malmikoira and the first hit was document by Geographical survey of Finland.
One fascinating fact from the document was, that drug sniffing dogs were developed based on the methods used in training of ore dogs.
For non finnish readers perhaps documents bibliography gives some leads for real information instead of jokes:
Aaltonen, U. & Unhola, K. 1999. Suomen koirat sodassa ja rauhassa. Gummerus. 1999.
Ekdahl, E. 1976. Pielavesi: the use of dogs in prospecting. Journal of Geochemical Expl
a new gold rush (Score:2)
I didn't think minerals even had an odor. Will 2012 be the start of a new global gold rush? Sulimov dogs are about to get a lot more expensive. If I weren't allergic to them even I might get in on the action. Just start giving them a delicious piece of steak every time they find the gold and silver coins you've hidden. The question I have is how do you pay a dog a fair wage? They would probably be happy to work for food. I could pay my Sulimov in expensive cuts of steak and elaborate home cooked meals.
Confused (Score:2)
How do you offer a dog a Google-like working environment?
20% of your work time is free for burying bones?
the last century? (Score:2)
"In the 60s and 70s Sweden, Russia and Finland were the foremost players in the game of ore dogs, using dogs to sniff out ore deposits for mining. The technique was forgotten in the last century"
If it was being used 40 years ago (in the 70's), then it wasn't forgotten in the last century. Or did the OP just mean "at some point within the last century"?
Hat of Distraction (Score:2)
I find it rather amusing to carry on a serious conversation with someone who is wearing such a bold item. Monty Python in real life.
Dump your gold stocks now! (Score:2)
And paladium and platinum etc. Soon there will be thousands of packs of dogs roaming the Earth propspecting for gold. Soon the world will be plauged by gold, and other precious metals, over production and the price of gold and gold stocks will plummet. Gold will become a commodity metal and soon we will all be drinking from beer cans made of gold.
It's just supply and demand, as St. Adams Smith foretold. There is no escape from the "invisible paw".
the distance of smell (Score:1)
OTOH, I've read where sharks only need two molecules to detect blood.