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A mineral exploration manager's prime function is to provide a frame- work within which new mine production can be achieved. As part of this framework, the manager should know his employerb future requirements, and should direct exploration towards those particular mineral commodities which indicate satisfactory growth in consumption and price. Selection of these commodities can be assisted by studies of world reserves, and long term trends in price and consumption. Exploration planning is most efficient with an assured and reasonably uniform supply of funds.

Jan 1, 1980

Mining is a necessary part of our modern lifestyle. However, mining can cause damage and pollution of the environment and therefore we must manage our resources wisely accounting for the physical, biological and social environments. Contrary to the view of some people not conversant with the facts mining has in many cases improved the environment. This paper described how two sand dune systems that were unstable prior to mining have been stabilised by revegetation after mining.

Jan 1, 1987

The Fraser Range is composed dominantly of basic pyroxene granulites derived from basalts, many of which appear to have been vesicular and*pillowed. Acidic and basic garnet-bearing granulites are important in the west, and acidic granulites and narrow anortho- site layers are dominant in some regions east of the Fraser Range. An extensive flat-lying olivine gabbro sheet cuts the granulites, and in places has been converted to spinel-bearing meta-gabbros and pyroxene granulites. The granulites of the Fraser Range (Proterozoic) are separated from the gneisses and schists of the Goldfields regions (Archaean) by the Fraser Fault, over which there is a large gravity anomaly (gradient 20 milligals per mile). Some of the problems associated with the concentration of Cu, Ni, etc. liberated from mineral lattices during metamorphism, and other principles of metal concentration in granulite terranes, are discussed. The recognition of vesicular and pillowed zones, even though highly metamorphosed, is of fundamental importance.

Jan 1, 1969

By J Abols, T Hughes

The selective recovery of gold and silver from solutions containing other metals, such as copper, is possible using AuRIX«100 resin in conjunction with the Gekko Resin Column. Selectivity is driven by controlling the solution pH, which enables activities such as loading copper, gold and silver and then selectively stripping copper before gold and silver. Alternatively gold and silver can be loaded and the copper left in solution. The selective loading of gold while reducing the silver loading has also been demonstrated, opening the possibility of producing high grade gold dorT from high grade silver pregnant leach solutions. This paper reviews the AuRIX«100 resin and Gekko Resin Column Technologies, discusses the uses of AuRIX«100 in the recovery of gold and silver and the chemistry relating to several projects for which AuRIX«100 is being tested.

Jan 1, 2005

The Mt Newman Beneficiation Plant uses a combination of heavy media deans, heavy medium cyclones and Reichert cones to produce saleable iron ore concentrates from low grade iron ores. The aim of this paper is to discuss score of the changes that have been made to improve the operation of the heavy medium circuits.

Jan 1, 1987

Australia is the Western world's largest producer of alumina, supplying one third of total needs. Western Australia's South-West has the greatest concentration of alumina production in the world, with a current annual production rate in the region of 6.8 million tonnes per annum, over 20 per cent of the total supplied to market economies. The value of this production in 1989-90 was 2.34 billion dollars, a very significant contribution to the economy of the State (1). This is despite the fact that the bauxite from the Darling Range is the lowest grade that has ever been commercially exploited, and despite the geographical isolation of the region. It is therefore of great importance to the National and State economies that this industry retain its competitive edge, particularly in the current times of economic downturn. One essential ingredient of this competetiveness is technology and innovation, which can be assured by the committment of the industry to an active program of Research and Development, with support from the public sector as Appropriate.

Jan 1, 1991

Jan 1, 2004

By Tumilty JA, Douglas WD

With a view to characterising activated carbons with respect to their ability to adsorb gold from cyanide solutions, an attempt was made to establish correlations between the equilibrium capacity constant of the activated carbon for gold (k value) and five other parameters. These parameters were percentage ash content, iodine number, methylene blue value, surface area, and pH respectively. Twenty four different proprietary brand activated carbon products were examined, the correlations being established by means of linear regression analysis. It was shown that a significant correlation only existed between k and pH value. This was interpreted in terms of the presence of oxide complexes on the activated carbon surface. Further test specifications as developed at the Anglo American Research Laboratories are also outlined with a view to the selection of activated carbons suitable for use in' a carbon-in-pulp operation. Methods for assessing both the capacity and the kinetic response of carbons for gold adsorption are presented, while the measurement of attrition resistance, particle size distribution and moisture and solubles content is also outlined. The measurement of the capacity constant for gold adsorption together with attrition resistance are considered to be necessary in the initial selection of a suitable carbon.

Jan 1, 1982

By Tomlinson R. C

There are two main aspects of coal preparation to which the operational Research Executive of the National Coal Board has applied computer models. The first is in the planning of preparation plants and the first part of this paper discusses Simprep, a computer package that was designed to help on these calculations. The other is the development of control schemes to improve quality control, and the second part of the paper deals with the development of simulation techniques for this purpose.

Jan 1, 1977

By Ramsay WRH

The Mount Stavely Volcanic Complex compri- ses one of a number of northerly trending fault bounded greenstone occurrences in Western Vict- oria, of probable Cambrian or older age. The greenstone belt is coincident with several linear positive aeromagnetic anomalies, which outline the surface and subsurface extensions of these greenstones. Mapping at Mount Stavely has identified serpentinite, variolitic basalt, two-pyroxene and pyroxene-hornblende andesite, dacite, rhyodacite and their pyroclastic equiv- alents. Chemically and mineralogically the volcanics constitute a calc-alkaline assemblage. The mineral potential of the region has been enhanced following a discovery by Pennzoil of Australia Limited near Ararat, of sulphide min- eralisation containing approximately 1 million tonnes at 2.7 percent copper. The volcanic environment of the Mount Stavely Volcanic Complex is discussed in terms of similar environments found in Canada.

Jan 1, 1982

By E du Plessis, M Rowley, M Fallon, F Golenya, R Swanson, I Robertson

"Check sampling programs were undertaken at Barrick Australia Pacific LimitedÆs Lawlers and Plutonic mine sites in Western Australia. The programs identified that the sampling, sample preparation and assaying protocols required modification to ensure acceptable precision (reproducibility) for each gold mineralisation type. These case studies describe the processes used to identify the: inconsistent precision different types of test work programs that were conducted to quantify the appropriateness for each mineralisation type steps used to modify the protocols.The type of test work conducted included: a duplicate series heterogeneity test for particulate gold mineralisation in the Lawlers gold deposit screen fire assay test work on duplicate subsamples for arsenopyrite associated mineralisation at the Plutonic gold deposit.Each test work program required a detailed scope specifying the sample selection criteria, sample preparation and assaying steps. The aim of the test work flow chart design was to ensure the assay precision between the different particle sizes or duplicate sample pairs could be measured and calculated. In the screen fire test work the true grade of the primary sample was calculated and compared against each subsample.A high quality assay laboratory was utilised for the test work. All samples were fire assayed and the gold grade determined using a gravimetric finish. The assay results were validated and the data was analysed using tables and graphs in spreadsheets. Following data analysis a modified sample preparation and assaying protocol for each mineralisation type was designed for use by the principal assay laboratories. Following implementation of the new protocols, routine check samples were collected during the sample preparation and assaying stages to monitor the performance of the new protocol.CITATION:Fallon, M, Rowley, M, Du Plessis, E, Golenya, F, Robertson, I and Swanson, R, 2012. Confirming the sampling, sample preparation and assaying protocols used at two Yilgarn gold deposits, in Proceedings Sampling 2012, pp 47-62 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Aug 21, 2012

During its 60 years of existence the growth and development of Western Mining Corporation (WMC) has been greatly influenced by the men who led it. For the most part they, rather than any chance circumstances or good luck, determined the fortunes of the Company. This paper is essentially a series of biographical sketches of some of these men, together with a note of some of the major events which caused WMC to become the entity it is today.

Jan 1, 1993

A nine-month investigation was conducted into the effect on coke quality and blast furnace operation of the addition of bentonite and southern coal to the northern coal fed to the coke ovens at the Newcastle steelworks.Additions of 0·3 per cent bentonite or 25 per cent southern coal to the northern coal increased the coke strength from 15-20 A.S.T.M. stability to 25-30 A.S.T.M. stability. It is likely that improved mixing and blending facilities would, in both cases, give a coke of over 30 A.S.T.M. stability.For the same coke strength, the use of 0 3 per cent imported Wyoming bentonite was considerably cheaper than the use of 25 per cent southern coal, but the use of Australian bentonite promises the same coke strength for still lower costs. Other additives such as coke breeze, charcoal, iron ore fines, and certain other finely divided materials, gave relatively minor improvements in coke quality.There appeared to be sufficient improvement in blast furnace operation and production to justify full scale addition of bentonite to improve coke quality, although other variables, particularly iron ore physical quality, overshadowed on many occasions the effect of coke quality. Further coke trials with southern or bentonite will be carried out when ore quality has been improved by the introduction of ore sintering at Newcastle.INTRODUCTIONDuring the period of operation of the Newcastle coke ovens and blast furnaces from April 1960 (when No. 3 blast furnace was blown in after rebuilding) to December 1960, a bentonite coke trial was carried out based on earlier research findings (Gregory, 1959a, 1959b; Felton and Gregory, 1960; Gregory, 1960) that as little as 0 3 per cent to 05 per cent bentonite clay added to northern N.S.W. high volatile coking coals gave a significant increase in coke strength. The bentonite coke trial was followed by trials...

Jan 1, 1962

By Sivell W

We discuss the origin of the Patuki ophiolite complex and the Dun Mountain ultramafics of Middle Permian age in Nelson, New Zealand. It is shown that the Patuki volcanics have strong affinities with tholeiites of mid ocean spreading ridges transitional to alkaline basalts similar to those from fracture zones and ocean islands. At D'Urville Island, typically pillowed alkaline basalts enriched in rare light rare earth elements (LREE) - ophitic spilites - are associated with LREE-depleted (N-MORB-like) tholeiitic spilites with intergranular textures. The metabasalts are associated with a wide variety of sediments, and with sediments are intruded by conformable sheets of serpentinite. Coarsely crystalline mafic and plagiogranitic rocks signify vents and magma chambers, and we propose that the group developed as ocean crust from a slowly spreading mid-ocean ridge, transform association, overwhelmed at intervals by volcaniclastic sediment. Detailed mapping at a scale of 1:5000, and stratigraphic and geochemical development and structural coherence, show that the group is not melange in the Franciscan sense. The Dun Mountain Group, of serpentinites, peridotites, dunites, gabbros and other rocks, intruded the upper Patuki Group as a linear series of aligned pods and sheets. They carried up with them tectonic inclusions of older rock, which were metasomatised, and altered wall-rock, and one low angle dike passed several hundred metres into overl~ing sediment, at moderate temperatures (500 C). The rocks did not act as a floor (and alleged source) for the Patuki, but partly post-dated and were emplaced into Patuki.

Jan 1, 1987

By Kerr M. H, Slaughter P. J

Design of the new cemented hydraulic fill plant was based mainly on experience with a succession of previous fill plants. Two stage cycloning of combined concentrator tailings was introduced. Design of the two stage cyclone configuration was assisted by computer simulation of cyclone performance. Cementing additives, namely Portland cement and ground copper reverberatory furnace slag, drawn from bulk storage, are pre-slurried prior to mixing with hydraulic fill. Quality control of fill being sent under- ground is achieved by a series of automatic control loops. Plant instrumentation was given prime consideration during the design phase. Inventory checks of all mass flow metering equipment are made at regular intervals. Fill is pumped to boreholes at several locations. Details of the equipment and operating procedures for the plant are Discussed.

Jan 1, 1973

The Southern Mines Rescue Station (S.M.R.S.) has been established for 55 years and in the past 15 years has had only 4 major call-outs. Whilst the mines rescue training program has continued to expand, the Station has become involved in other work which includes mine worker training and limited research. Notwithstanding, the prime role of the Mines Rescue Station has not been overlooked and the Station has only advanced with the many changes that have occurred in the coal industry. The Rescue Station activities are financed by contributions from Colliery proprietors and the aim of the S.M.R.S. Committee is to provide a service in which colliery management and mine workers will have a high degree of confidence.

Jan 1, 1981

Robe River Mining manages a large open pit iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of the North-West of Australia. The mine is managed for various joint venture participants.In July 1986, Robe River Mining made various changes to its management philosophy, which were heavily publicised in the media at the time.As a result of those changes to its management philosophy, Robe River Mining has been able to dramatically increase its production output, productivity, and safety performance without having to resort to major capital outlays and without the benefit of restructuring of applicable industrial awards.

Jan 1, 1992

By Sale M, Clarke R, Parker M

The Mount Gibson goidmine is located at the southern end of the Retaliation greenstone belt within the Murchison Province, approximately 300 km northeast of Perth, Western Australia. Economic gold mineralization occurs in the upper part of a Tertiary lateritic surface; its ultimate source presumably being Archaean greenstones. Gold is present in the laterite profile over a distance of 4 km in four separate prospects, from north to south, Mount Gibson Well, Midway, Orion and Tobias Find, the two last constituting the Mount Gibson mine. The area has'low relief. A low ridge to the west of the mineralized zone is formed mainly of rubble with minor outcrops of mafic volcanic and intrusive rocks. The terrain slopes gently to the northeast, and the maximum relief, in the vicinity of the mineralization, is about 20 m. The weathering profile comprises, from the surface: (i) soil, windblown sand or colluvium (thin), (ii) laterite; hardcap (including ferricrete and lesser silcrete and calcrete) is overlain by loose nodules and pisolites, and passes downwards into a mottled zone of variably ferruginized clay, (iii) clay; mainly pale brown, cream or yellow in colour, but in places contains relic quartz veins or dark ferruginous zones, (iv) clay with fragments of altered rock; normally grey to pale green in colour but sometimes includes an oxidized iron-rich horizon just above the weathered/fresh rock interface, (v) bedrock. The complete profile varies from 10-100 m thick, averaging 20 m. Zone (ii) is commonly 3-5 m thick. Loose pisolites of this zone fill cavities in the massive ironstone left by former tree roots, and cover irregular depressions which may represent former stream courses. Samples, representing 3 m intervals down the holes, have been collected from cuttings taken from rotary drill-holes along each of four traverses; one traverse at each-of the northern prospects and two traverses in the Orion part of the mine area. These samples have been submitted for X-ray diffraction analysis and for chemical analysis for a wide range of elements. Bedrock lithologies have been determined from microscope studies of bottom-of-hole chips.

Jan 1, 1988

This paper will review the experiences of both big and small exploration/mining companies (local and foreign investors), including the impediments to exploration and project development in Indonesia since the Contract of Work was first introduced there (1967 Minerals, 1981 Coal). This is seen through the eyes of a person who has been employed in a managerial capacity in large and small concerns, and more recently as an independent consultant. Comment will be made on the political, legislative and social constraints imposed by the presence of a large group of disparate artisans (illegal miners) who now form a significant component of the Indonesian mining industry; the Bre-X debacle; the impact of the recent Regional Autonomy legislation; and changes to the Mining, Forestry and Environmental Acts. An overall view (including statistics) will be presented as to how recent Indonesian developments have affected international confidence in investing in its mineral sector over the past decade and it will be placed in an international competitive context.

Jan 1, 2004

The first geological maps of parts of Australia were produced in the 1830s and 1840s, many being for purely practical purposes, such as indicating the occurrence of coal, iron and other essential materials. Mineral location maps were also first made about the same time.More systematic geological mapping commenced in the 1850s when large parts of New South Wales and Victoria were studied in government-sponsored surveys by geologists such as Samuel Stutchbury, Alfred Selwyn and Reverend William B. Clarke. Their work coincided with the opening up of most of the major goldfields of eastern Australia, which led to the establishment of Departments of Mines in the separate Colonies (later States within the Commonwealth of Australia).A few companies employed consultant geologists at this time, and the mapping by Frederick Odernheimer is particularly notable. Geological study of Australian ore-deposits and mineralisedareas was influenced by the continental European geological ideas of men such as Odernheimer as well as by those from England. Both geological and mineral maps were a feature of Colonialdisplays presented at major international exhibitions during the second half of the nineteenth century. The maps accompanied rock and mineral collections which showed the known and potential mineral wealth of the Colonies. Such displays raised interest in the potential for development amongst government officials, entrepreneurs and investors in Australia and abroad.By the 1880s most of the Colonies had produced basic geological maps, and several maps of the whole continent had been published. Although systematic mapping of the continent become a reality only in the 1950s, the nineteenth century geological and mineral mapping formed the basis for the development of the major coal, artesian water, and metalliferous mining regions of Australia.

Jan 1, 1990