It is no secret that the mere mention of the word coal is divisive. Yet, people on either side of the debate have a far from adequate understanding of what coal actually is. Practically no one who is talking about coal these days has the faintest idea of the conditions under which it is formed, […]
“Without data, you are just another asshole with an opinion”, said John Ferm standing at the blackboard, chalk in one hand and a cigar in the other with smoke swirling around his head (this was, after all, 1985). It’s a phrase John (my MSc and PhD advisor) would often use when we, his students, started […]
It was like jumping off the end of a pier into unknown depths with unknown dangers – but a quick calculation (in actuality lots of deep reflection) indicated that it was safe…-ish; nevertheless it was exhilarating. Thus, Cipher was born. In early September 2010 Cipher started trading and by late September we had our first […]
No, not a dinosaur. Not an asteroid. But some kind of climatic condition that was none-to-good for organic material. For a very very long time. Over the last year, my colleagues Prof Jian Shen and Prof Marvin Moroeng from China University of Mining and Technology (Xuzhou, China) and University of Johannesburg (South Africa), respectively, and […]
Cipher would like to welcome three new Associates to the team: Mr Ryan Morris, Mr Peter Roles and Mr Tan Ee. All three have extensive experience in the petroleum business, and the addition of their skills significantly widens the scope of Cipher’s expertise to include hydrogeology (Ryan Morris), conventional and unconventional petroleum engineering (Peter Roles) […]
In early August of this year (2018), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia conducted a field trip for undergraduate geologists from China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), Xuzhou, China. Over the last year in my dual roles as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Earth, Environmental and Biological Sciences, QUT and […]
Yes, I know. Normally the words ‘blue skies’ and ‘Beijing’ aren’t in such close proximity. Yet, when I was there just a couple of weeks ago, it was indeed blue skies. Warm, yes; smoggy, not really. Though I was inside much of the time … I was in the captivating capital of China for the […]
Prof. Joan Esterle (and Chair of the Vale-UQ Coal Geoscience Program as well as being ‘godmother’ to my son Micah!) was presented with the Dorothy Hill Medal on the 27th of July. The award is given out by the Queensland Division of the Geological Society of Australia each year and this year it has gone […]
It looked like machines and the weather were conspiring against us. The last flight from Denver to Gillette, Wyoming was ‘temporarily’ delayed (which in airport speak means “quite possibly cancelled”) and then there was the weather. I had flown the previous day from Brisbane, Australia to Denver to meet the field trip participants at one […]
Considering the impact that coal has on the world, there are surprisingly few technical books dedicated to the subject. Romeo Flores, recently retired from the US Geological Survey (but still a Cipher Associate [see: https://www.ciphercoal.com/the-team/dr-romeo-m-flores/ ]), has gone some way to remedy this situation. His book “Coal and Coalbed Gas: Fueling the Future” has just […]