Читать книгу The History of Mining - Michael Coulson - Страница 5

Writing a history of mining is tantamount to trying to judge the length of a piece of string. What does one include; what does one leave out; has one said enough about this or too much about that? And what sources does one use? Does one concentrate on familiar, conventional sources or try to root out more original material? In the end the internet as a source has provided a number of gems, which I hope both enliven and enrich the narrative, and it is only right, at the outset, that I should acknowledge the help I received from this powerful tool.

It is at this stage that the author thanks all those who have given direct assistance in the writing of the book, and my thanks to those who provided invaluable help are below. From the mining industry I am particularly grateful to Mary Magafakis at BHP Billiton and to BHP Billiton itself for their help and for permission to use images from BHP’s extensive photo archive, and to Claire Carr on behalf of Randgold Resources for her assistance, and particularly to Randgold’s CEO, Mark Bristow, for agreeing to write a most generous foreword.

I must also thank my wife, Hilary, for her sterling work in preparing the photos used in the book and also for the use of a couple of her own photos; my daughter, Lisa, made a valuable contribution here as well. I also want to thank Stephen Eckett at Harriman House for his encouragement in getting the project off the ground and to his colleague Craig Pearce who laboured on the text and suggested many improvements which have contributed to making the narrative both tighter and more readable. Also thanks are due to Nick Read at Harriman for his work on the photos. Unfortunately I was unable to call on the assistance of my old friend and colleague Charles Kernot due to his illness; he provided invaluable help with my last book, An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector. Sadly he passed away before this book was published.

Although every effort has been made to trace and get hold of all copyright holders prior to publication, contact was not possible in every case. If notified the publisher will be pleased to rectify any omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Michael Coulson, London, 2012