non-profitable activities
Explanation: Particulary if the quote marks are in the original, this is a pun in a mining context, where 'burden' is the designation for what has to be removed to extract or recover what you actually want (coal, ore, gems, etc.) but has no profitable value, and by extension the waste material resulting from such removal (also more specifically overburden, which is everything on top of what you want, such as a coal seam, ore seam, or gem seam). Used figuratively, it would mean essentially non-profitable work that unavoidably accompanies profitable work. sample refs: Residues Bunge’s diverse activities and operations generate a variety of solid waste products. Bunge Fertilizantes is the largest producer, and the waste with the largest volume in the two mining units (Araxá and Cajati) is mining burden (class II B). In 2005, 16,800,000 tons of this material were produced, compared to 17,023,937 tons in 2006. The material is placed in burden piles or deposits, for which actions from the respective rehabilitation plans for the previously mentioned degraded areas were taken. The Bunge Fertilizantes Cajati, Araxá, Cubatão, Candeias, Rio Grande, Uberaba, and Rondonópolis units produced, in 2006, in addition to mining burden, approximately 2,860 tons of class I waste; 990,500 tons of class II A waste; and 8,664,000 tons of class II B waste, according to the Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT – Brazilian Technical Standards Association NBR 10.004) classification. The Cubatão, Rio Grande and Araxá units have selective collection in place – the others are in the installation phase. www.bunge.com/US/en/media/Bunge_Sustainability_Report_Brazi... Blasting strength is a direct function of density, other things being equal. Typical explosives for dry ground (ANFO) may have a blasthole density (specific gravity) of 0.8 to 1.3, while for wet ground (slurry or emulsion) it varies from 1.1 to 1.3. Developments in explosive technology make it possible to choose any density desired, within the given ranges. For hard-rock open-pit mines, or backfill rock quarries, the burden between rows can vary from 25 to 40 blasthole diameters. Spacing between holes in a row can vary between 25 and 80 blasthole diameters. To obtain optimum fragmentation and minimum overbreak for stripping hard rock open pits or quarrying rock fill, the burden should be about 25 times the bench blasthole diameter for ANFO and about 30 times the blasthole diameter for high explosives. www.mining-journal.com/Mining_Explained.aspx
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 8 hrs (2007-11-27 21:10:38 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Without the quote marks it probably isn't intended to be a pun (what a missed chance!), and I support Tony's answer.
| Ken Cox Local time: 11:38 Meets criteria Native speaker of: English
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