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March 26, 2005
Introducing my Alcan Day
I’m sure you are curious to know what we can find in the mine I visited with my coach.
You may think that it was a bauxite mine, as this is the mineral used to get Aluminium. No, it wasn't : it was a Fluor-spar mine, which contains Fluorine. Yes, that compound you can find in tooth paste. Apart from bothering young children before going to bed, Fluorine is also very useful in industry.
In Montroc, we have 3 mines where we can find FLUOR-SPAR: Montroc and Moulinal, both open-cast mines, and Burg, the last underground mine in France.
And then you may ask me,
What is fluor-spar exactly?
Fluor-spar is a mineral knew since the antiquity. Its name is derived from the Latin fluo, flow, in reference to its use as a flux. In Montroc, Cédric showed me an ancient fluor-spar mine from the Romans age (see upper picture).
Fluor-spar is formed of fluorine and calcium, CaF2. It’s a beautiful rock that can be white or colorless when pure; and purple, blue-green, yellow, brownish-yellow, or red, when associated with a little bit of a metal. Just have a look!
Fluor-spar may be found as a vein deposit, especially with metallic minerals, where it often forms a part of the gangue. The gangue is the worthless 'host-rock' in which valuable minerals can be found.
Apart from Montroc in France, fluor-spar can be mainly found in Chine, in Mexico and South Africa.
Why do we need fluor-spar?
Fluor-spar is used as:
- a fluidizer (or a flux) during the manufacture of steel and aluminum electrolyze;
- an ornamental stone;
- a compound to make opalescent glasses and coats for cooking utensils;
- raw material in the fabrication of hydrofluoric acid and its derivates.
Fluor-spar is also used in some high performance telescopes and camera lens elements instead of glass.
Now that you know a little bit more about this fascinating mineral, come back soon to know more about my discoveries during my Alcan day!
Posted by Alkaline on March 26, 2005 at 07:01 PM | Permalink
Comments
Hello Aline,
Your blog is great: comments, pictures, graphs ... It's a real pleasure to read it and I learned a lot about you, Cédric and Sogerem's team and business. Your presentation of Sogerem's activities is really clear and interesting and it looks like that you have been "contaminated" by Cédric's communication skills.
Hope to read you again soon
Regards,
Maryline
Posted by: Maryline | Apr 16, 2005 6:15:20 PM
Hello Maryline,
I really spent a very great time during my Alcan day and I learned a lot with Cédric and Sogerem’s team. Thanks to Cédric, I could picture all the important skills required in a management job and I’m happy to see that I could spread my findings to you through my blog.
Thank you very much for posting!
Aline
Posted by: Aline (WAC) | Apr 18, 2005 10:36:58 PM
Hi Aline
Very good section on your Alcan days ... I hv learned a lot about fluor-spar... You hv stretched my technical knowledge !
Michel CARNEC
Director, Talent Management & Executive Staffing
Alcan Inc.
Posted by: Michel CARNEC | Apr 29, 2005 5:05:11 PM
Hello Michel !
It is a pleasure to have you visiting my blog again!
As you can see, I am very interested in technique! But our Alcan day was really a fantastic opportunity to see how human aspects are involved with the technical ones in a manager’s job! I’ve noticed that to be a good manager we should have good technical knowledge in our domain but we also need to be multidisciplinary. Furthermore, we need to have person skills which will be very useful in our relationships. I mean, to know how to listen to people, to accept new ideas, to share opinions, to communicate in a clear way, to establish aims, to reach them : all this aspects are important to make a successful manager. And I could experience it trough my coach’s job!
Thank you very much!
Aline
Posted by: Aline (WAC) | May 2, 2005 11:27:29 AM
