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Ore-Sniffing Dogs Rediscovered By Mining Industry
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.'"
Ummmm... why is this important? and what would stop someone else from offering a Foxconn like working environment along with a much cheaper service?
they've created a new breed of rock hound?
Dogs will be allowed to spend 20% of their time sniffing whatever they like!
...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.
Whats that Lassie , you have discovered a large deposit of unobtainium?
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?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Thought the ones that weren't dogs made better gold diggers? More then one way to mine it you know...
Showing up as a new feature in Minecraft in 3... 2... 1...
How does he smell?
Awful
"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,
Would that be the 1860s, 1870s..?
I'd like to know where this "century" between "the 60s and 70s" and today is.
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 want instead of sniffing of ores?
- Free T-shirts
Oreo-sniffing dogs still useless, and annoying
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
When they can find my keys, then i'll be interested.
Mean what you say...say what you mean.
Thems not ores, thems me sisters.
Angry man screams into cell phone standing near a small dock "Dammit I said ORE Dog not OAR Dog!!!"
I already have an Oreo-sniffing dog... oh.... nevermind.
Or, as the girls say, "that's some ROCK hard ore you got there" !!
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.
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").
weinersmith
what would stop someone else from offering a Foxconn like working environment along with a much cheaper service?
The RSPCA?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
And what would dogs want with foosball tables and beanba... okay, okay, I'll grant you the beanbag chairs.
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
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.
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 good, it would have gotten exported.
Oreo's by the way are exported to Holland, I guess it is pay back for Big Brother. Fair enough.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
You wouldn't believe the deposits that can be found in a dogs backside!
My Labrador retriever sniffs ore when I play minecraft on Xbox. Always finds coal, diamonds, iron, gold... No problem. I just say: Gaia, find me some carbon. And she wags her tail when I approach the spot. Sheesh...
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 Exploration 5
(3), 296-298.
Hamilton, S.M., Cameron, E.M., McClenaghan, M.B. & Hall, G.E.M. 2004. Redox, pH and SP
variation over mineralization in thick glacial overburden. Part I: methodologies and field investi-
gation at he Marsh Zone gold property. Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis 4 (1),
45-58.
Hyvarinen, L. 1965. Selostus lohkare-etsintÃjà koskevasta tutkimuksesta jossa vertaillaan lohkare-etsintÃihin koulutetun koiran sekà kokeneen lohkare-etsijÃn keskinÃisià tyÃsuorituksia. Geo-
logian tutkimuskeskus, Arkistoraportti M17/Vrs-65/2.
Hyvarinen, L. 1997. Saatanan moluuppi. Espoo 1997.
Kahma, A. 1965. Trained dog as tracer of sulphide bearing glacial boulders. Sedimentology 5;
Atlas Vol. 1. No. 4.
Kahma, A., Nurmi, A. & Mattsson, P. 1975. On the composition of the gases generated by sulphide-bearing boulders during wethering and on the ability of prospecting dogs to detect samples
treated with these gases in the terrain. Geologian tutkimuskeskus. Tutkimusraportti 6.
Laitakari, A. J. 1969. Koira malminetsijan apuna. Pielaveden ja Keiteleen Sanomat 25.4.1969.
N:o 16, s. 6.
Lindmark, B. 1987. Volframitutkimukset Kangasalan Ahvenlammin alueella vuosina 1983 -
1985. 45 s. Geologian tutkimuskeskus, arkistoraportti, M 19/2142/-87/1/10
Mattsson, P. 1979. Outokummun Sanomat. 43 (3), s. 18-19.
Nilsson, G. 1971. The use of dogs in prospecting for sulphide ores. Geol. For. Stockholm Forh.,
93, 725-728.
Nilsson, G. 1973. Nickel prospecting and the discovery of the Mjovattnet mineralization, northern Sweden: a case history of the use of combined techniques in drift-covered glaciated terrain.
Teoksessa: âoeProspecting in areas of glacial terrainâ. Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, 97-109.
Orlov, A.P., Robonen, V.I. & Kirilenko, G.M. 1969. Geologicheskie poiski s rudorozysknumi
sobakami. âNedreâ, Moskva. 47 s.
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.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
you get the ability you want, and a dog
you want an inert stupid gadget instead?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
How do they fit the pool tables and bouncy castles into five feet high passages, half a mile underground?
How do you offer a dog a Google-like working environment?
20% of your work time is free for burying bones?
Really, why is this site even still here but for me, Anonymous Coward? Without me you'd have fuck all for comments. Slashtards should suck it.
Captcha is "reselect" as in reselect the abovecomment for +Comedy Gold.
"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"?
I meant to write +5 Comedy Gold but Slashcode sucks ass.
Confucius say: dog who exploits ore, may get exploited by 'ore...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Orcs are pretty stinky already.
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.
They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
I'm sure I saw on one of these Customs reality shows on TV that they have money-sniffing dogs to detect currency smugglers.
Why waste time having Rover sniff for rocks when you can train him to just find the money!
Proving that dogs have more rights than workers.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
I've been in mines with 20 foot roofs.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
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".
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
It does seem weird that dogs could smell ore hundreds of feet deep.
OTOH, I've read where sharks only need two molecules to detect blood.
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, follow or expand natural cave passages. Much to the mild disgust and frank astonishment of cave divers who, surfacing after a thousand-metre dive in muddy water ... would find T'Owd Man had left hobnail boot prints and candle stubs in what should be *his* virgin cave passage.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"