InfoMine's mission is to develop, maintain and service the global mining community of companies, suppliers, educators, financiers - indeed, all organizations and individuals with an interest in mining or mineral exploration. Our objective is for the InfoMine website to be the worldwide "mining hub" - a place where all members of the worldwide mining community can meet, obtain factual information and commentary, and share ideas.

1. What's InfoMine? Brief description (history) and what we are

With a readership of over 110,000 unique visitors each month, InfoMine is the largest, most popular site on the Internet focused exclusively on the international mining industry.

The initial concept of what is now InfoMine was developed back in 1989. InfoMine was first incorporated in 1990 as Robertson Info-Data with the objective of providing worldwide mining information services electronically. The initial focus of the company was on providing information on mining companies and their properties via a custom user-resident computer database.

When the commercial development of the Internet started in the early 1990’s the company recognized the power of this new medium and that it represented a major paradigm shift in how information would be delivered in the future. In 1994 the InfoMine website was launched and the company become one of the pioneers in the commercial development of the Internet.

InfoMine has since considerably expanded the types of information it provides related to the mining industry and is now the leading provider of worldwide mining information on the Internet.

2. What are the main services we offer?

InfoMine’s mission is to service the needs of mining companies, suppliers, educators, financiers, consultants – indeed all organizations and individuals with an interest in topics related to the various aspects of the global mining industry.

With this aim InfoMine has developed services specific to many areas of the mining industry and now covers such a wide array of services it is hard to summarize them all without missing some offerings on our site. That being said some of the primary services InfoMine offers include:

o Career opportunities available in the mining industry as well as other human resources services.

o A comprehensive database on mining companies and properties containing detailed information on thousands of publicly listed mining companies and the properties they hold worldwide.

o News of the latest mining developments and in-depth editorial comment & analysis of recent mining events

o A Buyer’s Guide of mining suppliers and service companies as well as a directory of mining consultants and specialists

o Online courses related to various aspect of the mining industry and also technical references for mining & geoscience professionals

o Listings of new, used & surplus mining equipment available for sale.

o Investment newsletters and commentary on mining companies and developments.

o An events calendar listing worldwide mining related conferences, workshops and short courses

o Information on mining technology, publications, maps and more…


While there are a large number of free services available on InfoMine we also offer two main types of paid services. We offer various levels of subscription, which provide access to the most valuable and detailed information on our site. The primary areas that have subscriber only information include: careers, companies & properties, news and education. The other main paid service we offer is advertising. Numerous types of advertising products are available on InfoMine. In addition to site wide banner advertising the primary sections that have specific advertising products include: suppliers, careers, equipment, companies & properties, events, and news.

3. Who are our main clients? Why?

Having such a large and diverse range of information and services available on InfoMine results in an equally large and diverse list of clients. One common theme that keeps users and clients coming back to our site is our commitment to continually improve and also expand the services we offer.

While we count a large number of the world’s biggest mining companies and suppliers in our client base we do not limit the services we offer to just big companies. Our client base covers the entire range from individuals and small companies to the major global mining companies. Our goal is not to service just the major mining companies but to service the needs of all companies and individuals involved in or needing information on the mining industry as a whole.

A large number of our clients are based in North America but we also have a significant number of clients in South America, Australia, Europe, Africa and other parts of the world.

We are continually surprised at the wide range of users from around the globe that access our site and use our services. This ties in with InfoMine’s objective of servicing any organization or individual who is looking for information related to the mining industry.

4. What are the challenges (opportunities) that we visualize for the Mining Industry and the Internet?

The mining industry is a major part of the world economy and as such the globalization that we are seeing in all parts of the world economy will have significant effects on the mining industry.

The international merges and acquisitions of major mining companies, as well as suppliers, over that last few years demonstrate that companies are looking globally, not just locally, for opportunities in their segments of the industry.

We see the Internet as a major force in the distribution of information related to the global mining industry. The ability for mining companies to act globally has been greatly assisted by the Internet, which has made it much easier to get information on a mining company or property no matter where they are located in the world. We see the effect of the easier flow of information internationally expanding to all parts of the mining industry. It will become easier for companies to find suppliers anywhere in the world that offer the product or service they need. Even individuals will find it easier to identify opportunities internationally or promote their skills to a wider audience.

The expansion in the distribution of information will also result in a much larger pool of information being available. If this information is not organized in a useful way, or if tools to filter the information for what you need are not available, then this can lead to ‘information overload’ and result in this information not being put to good use. A major challenge in the future will be developing ways to help sort and filter large amounts of information, in effect develop tools to turn data and information into knowledge, which can then be put to effective use.

5. What's our position about the Latin American market?

Latin America is one of the major areas of mining activity in the world. The large number of world-class mines and deposits that have been discovered and developed in Latin America make it a significant area of interest for mining companies, suppliers and others involved in the mining industry.

We believe the Latin American market will continue to remain a very active area for mineral exploration and mine developments in the years to come. Based on this view we plan to continue to expand the information and services we offer related to Latin America. This includes offering information on our site in Spanish so it is more easily accessible to users in Latin America as well as expanding our content to include more information specific to the region. Sections on InfoMine with content in Spanish include Careers and Professional Development as well as the recently released Spanish version of our home page http://www.infomine.com/welcome_es.asp

InfoMine’s expansion into the Latin American market has been a key reason for our decision to develop a cooperation agreement with Areaminera. InfoMine will also be attending the upcoming XXV International Mining Convention and Exhibit in Acapulco, Mexico, from Oct 21st to 25th to promote InfoMine’s services to the Latin American market.

6. About areaminera, what do you think about the cooperation agreement we have?

We are looking forward to working closely with Areaminera. While InfoMine is an international mining information site we believe there is tremendous value in working with companies that have specific knowledge in a region. We also recognize that having your ‘feet on the ground’ in a region enables closer ties with the local mining industry.

In addition to exchanging promotion on our respective sites our agreement also covers other areas of cooperation. We will be exchanging news articles to provide InfoMine users with better access to Latin American news, and Areaminera users with easier access to international mining news. In education Areaminera will be promoting mining courses available on EduMine, the education division of InfoMine. Areaminera and Edumine will also be working together to expand course offerings to the Latin American market.

By working with Areaminera we hope to help InfoMine users find more information on Latin America, and for Areaminera users to find more information on the international mining industry - a relationship that we feel is not just beneficial for Areaminera and InfoMine, but ultimately beneficial for the users of our two sites.