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By D Zielinski-Nicolson

The emergence of affordable, portable and versatile wireless devices has enabled a new frontier in mine safety equipment. Existing solutions provide methods for tracking personnel and assets in underground mines but are not designed to optimally integrate into existing and emerging systems. Mine management are often required to coordinate primarily independent emergency, personal protective equipment (PPE), tracking and collision avoidance systems from multiple vendors. These systems involve a variety of wireless technologies that require separate integration projects that discourage adopting new services and policies.

May 5, 2022

Currently an Australian Standard for tunnel fire safety is being developed for road and rail tunnels. Other local guidance relating to tunnel fire safety that has recently become available includes publications by both the Roads and Traffic Authority and RailCorp of New South Wales. Internationally, the World Road Congress has completed its 2004 - 2007 cycle, which has resulted in a number of publications. International developments in rail guidance include a new European Standard regarding fire safety in railway tunnels that will come into effect in July 2008. In addition, the National Fire Protection Association committee NFPA 130 are in the process of revising their standard for fixed guideway transit and passenger rail systems, which is due for publication in late 2009. This paper outlines the status of these and other recently published relevant local and international fire safety guidelines and their implications for tunnel projects in Australia.

Jan 1, 2008

Blasting effectiveness must be gauged by total production costs. ANFO charges made up in polythene "sausages" are not as profitable as is indicated by the price of ANFO. All-slurry charges are warranted only where blastholes cannot be dewatered effectively, or where drilling costs are very high. An increase in blasthole diameter leads to coarser fragmentation. This effect is most pronounced in tough and massive or blocky strata, or in ground which consists of unfissured boulders in a softer matrix. When ANFO and some slurry-type charges of small diameter are used in plastic-acting ground, charges may fail to detonate through precompression by charges fired on an earlier delay. The optimum blasthole length is rarely less than four times the burden distance. For best results, blastholes should be inclined to the vertical and parallel to the face. Nominal burdens and spacings are often altered radically by the initiation sequence. For best fragmentation, all blastholes must have good effective faces, and should be effectively stagg- ered with an actual spacing:burden ratio in the approximate range 2.0-5.0.

Jan 1, 1975

By M R. Dehghan, H Mansouri, A Hakami, M A. Ebrahimi Farsangi, F Faramarzi

Today, it is accepted that rock fragmentation by blasting affects loading and hauling operations, and also directly influences on downstream processes such as crushing and grinding. In this research, the influence of rock fragmentation by blasting on the performance of three mills at Gol-e-Gohar iron ore mine No 1 was studied. Firstly, the fragmentation of conventional blast patterns in iron ore (5 × 6 m) was studied using image analysis and the performances of three mills were monitored. Then, a new blast pattern (4 × 5 m) was designed and nine blasts were carried out using this pattern. Increasing the powder factor form 1650 gr/m3 to 2480 gr/m3 by changing the blast pattern design showed that mill throughputs increase five per cent to 30 per cent for the new pattern.CITATION:Hakami, A, Mansouri, H, Ebrahimi Farsangi, M A, Dehghan, M R and Faramarzi, F, 2015. Study of the effect of blast pattern design on autogenous and semi-autogenous mill throughput at Gol-e-Gohar iron ore mine, in Proceedings 11th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, pp 315–320 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 24, 2015

By D Smith, A Ramdhani, J Francke

Ground penetrating radar (GPR), a well-established geophysical technique generally used for shallow civil engineering applications, has, in the last decade, found increasing acceptance as a complementary tool in mineral resource evaluations. As new sites are trialled with the method, a greater understanding is being garnered regarding the most suitable environments for long-range radar. Although successful projects have been conducted worldwide for mineral sands, iron ore and alluvial projects – tropical weathering environments have produced some of the most impressive results. Specifically, tropical nickel laterites have shown to be, with some notable exceptions, ideal GPR environments.Such high-resolution remote sensing has particular relevance to bulk commodities or those which possess significant rheological variation within geological units, and has led to some innovative downstream uses within exploration, project development and the larger mining industry. In this paper, we examine the application of long-range GPR in Indonesian nickel laterite deposits in general, to highlight some of these novel applications with particular reference to resource modelling, mine geology and operational economic implications.CITATION:Francke, J, Smith, D and Ramdhani, A, 2014. Ground penetrating radar to enhance the exploration-to-mining value chain, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 175–182 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 18, 2014

By A Deakin

It has been almost a decade since the release of the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM) Health and Safety Critical Control Management: Good Practice Guide (2015a). During this time the ICMM member companies, along with many others across industry, have been busy designing, deploying and enhancing their own critical control management (CCM) programs. So, what have we learnt? This paper discusses the scope, application and learnings from the implementation of CCM within the mining industry. What’s going well? What are the common challenges? What are the opportunities to strengthen the approach? What are the threats to successful implementation? The paper draws on the author’s experience as one of the key contributors to the development of the CCM Good Practice Guide and an adviser to many mining companies, including six of the ICMM members. The paper focuses on the practical (operational) application of CCM and the cycle of identifying, defining, implementing, verifying and improving critical controls at the frontline. The paper also includes a discussion on the safety performance of the ICMM member companies over the past decade and provides a recommendation for how CCM can be incorporated into a more proactive model to measure safety performance. The paper concludes with practical recommendations that mining companies, regardless of their CCM maturity, can consider as they look ahead. They are supplemented by three additional recommendations for consideration at the industry level.

Apr 16, 2024

By D J. Woodward, A B. Christie, S A. Henrys

Low-level aeromagnetic data available in digital form have been combined to produce a new 1:100 000 scale map of total force anomalies of the Coromandel region, New Zealand. The map incorporates data from 13 surveys flown between 1977 and 1990 and shows the regional magnetic pattern as well as more detailed localised anomalies. In addition to magnetic anomalies, the map also depicts data to aid interpretation, including small-scale maps of topography, geology, magnetic intensity gradient and apparent magnetisation. The primary magnetic anomalies of the Coromandel region are associated with Late Miocene and Pliocene volcanic rocks, but have been locally modified by intense hydrothermal alteration caused by geothermal activity. Epithermal gold-silver and porphyry copper deposits are associated with zones of hydrothermal alteration. The map of magnetic anomalies can be used as an aid to mineral exploration and the interpretation of the processes that control the distribution of mineral deposits in the region.

Jan 1, 2001

By A Manzoori, M T. Shadloo

This paper describes a CFD modelling study which was carried out to investigate possible improvements in the design of an alumina precipitator tank at the Jajarm plant of Iran Alumina Company. In particular, the tank has an impeller located very close to the tank bottom, such that it quickly becomes covered with settled solids after a shut-down of the agitator, making it difficult to restart. A CFD model was firstly set up in which the existing design was evaluated in terms of flow pattern, off-bottom suspension and distribution of solids, and power consumption. Further simulations were then carried out to test alternative designs, leading to a recommended design, which maintains good mixing, with the same power consumption and without the use of a low-clearance impeller.

Jan 1, 2006

By D R. Seaman, B Adamson, F Burns, B A. Seaman, P Manton

The Telfer concentrator, located in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia, consists of a dual train gold/copper operation processing ore from one underground and, currently, two open pit mines with differing mineralogy. The flotation circuit of each train was designed to operate in several modes depending on the feed mineralogy. The majority of ore mined at Telfer is processed in a sequential mode where copper minerals are first floated into a saleable copper concentrate followed by the flotation of an auriferous pyrite concentrate which is treated in an on-site hydrometallurgical plant (carbon-in-leach (CIL)). Gold is recovered as a gravity product within the primary grinding circuit, to the copper concentrate, and to a lesser extent, the CIL circuit.Since Telfer was re-opened, with a new concentrator, in 2004, the processing plant has struggled with poor copper concentrate grades, partially due to the excessive entrainment of non-sulfide gangue minerals in the copper flotation circuit and, more recently, due to composite copper particles produced when processing ore from a supplementary satellite pit that has not previously been processed through the new Telfer concentrator. Gold recoveries in the CIL circuit have also been below industry standard. This paper presents the implementation of recent changes made to the circuit to address these performance issues. The reconfiguration of the circuit has involved the installation of the following major equipment items: two ISAMillsÖ in ultra-fine grinding applications (one in the copper circuit and one in the pyrite circuit), two Jameson Cells to improve fine gangue rejection and a bank of 5 + Outotec TC30s to recovery copper and gold from the reground pyrite stream. The equipment was purchased direct from vendors and an engineering firm contracted to design and install the multi-vendor reconfiguration upgrade.CITATION:Seaman, D R, Burns, F, Adamson, B, Seaman, B A and Manton, P, 2012. Telfer processing plant upgrade - The implementation of additional cleaning capacity and the regrinding of copper and pyrite concentrates, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill OperatorsÆ Conference, pp 373-382 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 29, 2012

By J N. Farrell

Metallurgists frequently use a small number of large samples to characterise expected mill performance, with the a priori assumption that these few samples are representative of the entire deposit. Geometallurgical sampling is becoming more prevalent as a way to use many smaller samples to indicate the expected recovery as part of the Mineral Resource or Ore Reserve estimation.Recent increases in prices for iron ore, together with the potential to produce high iron and low contaminant concentrates, have resulted in a renewed interest in recovering magnetite from banded iron formation and other deposits.Geometallurgical evaluation of magnetite involves approaches to sample preparation, sample analysis and resource estimation that are different from the methods commonly used for haematite iron ore. The magnetite sampling protocol is specific to each deposit, and is typically designed around a specific metallurgical flow sheet.The sampling protocol will typically include the use of Davis Tube analysis. The Davis Tube is a bench-scale test that is used for determining the mass magnetic recovery from a small amount of sample ground to a specific size. The magnetic concentrate may then be analysed and together with the mass magnetic recovery, may be used to simulate the expected mill recovery.During resource modelling, the mass magnetic recoveries and concentrate grades may be assigned to a block model using regressions with other chemical constituents, or may be estimated directly. For estimation of the concentrate grades, a weighting can be applied to account for the different mass magnetic recoveries from each sample and the impact of these differences on the concentrate estimates.This paper presents an overview of the use of metallurgical test data in resource evaluation for magnetite deposits.

Jul 11, 2011

By J Seccatore, G Sadao, M Cardu, G De Tomi, L Finoti, F Galvão, J Romero Huerta, A Rezende, J Bettencourt

In the mining industry, rock blasting can be considered as the first phase of comminution. The downstream phases of comminution are mechanical, and consist in consecutive stages of crushing and milling for grain size reduction. The total energy of mechanical comminution depends on grain size and on the resistance of the material to grindability. Usually, the first is quantified by the grain size distribution or one of its KPIs (such as the diameters X50 or X80), while the latter by the working index (WI), representing the amount of energy necessary to reduce the size of grains of a determined amount of material to the desired equivalent diameter (usually expressed in kilowatt hours per tonne – kWh/t). It is widely recognised that it is possible to manage the output of a blast in terms of grain size distribution varying specific charge (powder factor – PF) and charge distribution; specific algorithms such as the KUZ-RAM or the SWEBREC have been created to predict such output. It has also been demonstrated how higher PFs weaken the blasted material by creating micro-fractures that reduce its WI. This paper focuses on a related aspect: the influence of charge distribution on the specific comminution energy in crushing and milling. Small-scale blasts have been performed on 14 marble blocks with different PFs and charge distribution. For every PF, charges have been designed to simulate concentrated and distributed geometries. Concentrated charges simulate opencast blasts with large-diameter holes, with large burdens and spacings. Distributed charges simulate bench blasts with small-diameter holes and reduced burden and spacing. Three control blocks have been fragmented by mechanical means for comparison. For every sample the grain size distribution and the WI in ball mill has been determined. Results show the correlations between charge distributions and the specific energy of mechanical comminution in milling. Finally, the opportunity of adjusting charge diameters and distributions in opencast blasts to improve the output of the comminution circuits is discussed.CITATION:Seccatore, J, Romero Huerta, J, Sadao, G, Cardu, M, Galvão, F, Finoti, L, Rezende, A, Bettencourt, J and De Tomi, G, 2015. The influence of charge distribution on the grindability of the blasted material, in Proceedings 11th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, pp 749–754 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 24, 2015

By J Loeb, R Ramanathan, H Ingham, P Cameron

Most mining operations, including iron ore, maintain a focus on continuous improvement and asset optimisation in their operations. As all the unit operations in the Mine-to-Mill value chain are interdependent, available technologies that address efficiencies across the value chain are once again in the spotlight as companies are driven to improve productivity and maximise mine site profits to increase return on capital invested. Core to continuous improvement is the need to understand the baseline and impact of changes to the process. In this paper, we discuss some of the critical attributes in the Mine-to-Mill process, including their influence on productivity and cost, the need for direct measurement and areas where they should be applied. Many initiatives can be considered to improve Mine-to-Mill processes. Mining operations are planned and executed based on designs and models to achieve the operation's objectives. However, there are many variables in the different parts of the value chain, such as blasting, material handling, crushing and screening. Therefore, measurement of the key attributes establishes the baseline for Mine-to-Mill (or Pit to Plant) performance, which is necessary to understand the impact of any proposed improvements to the process design and execution and monitor the outcomes on an ongoing basis sustain the improvements that have been implemented. This paper focuses on two types of measurement – blast movement and particle size of materials through the Mine-to-Mill process. Several innovative technologies and control loops are readily available to measure these attributes and assist operations to improve productivity and mine site profits. The size of the tangible benefits, which can flow from measuring and optimising fragmentation and blast movement, provide a remarkable return on the investment. Realising these benefits needs a focus outside conventional operation silos as a successful Mine-to-Mill project requires a multidiscipline approach across all the silos in the value chain. Required technologies are available; adding the necessary ingredients of communication and co-operation by all concerned across the silos will ensure the benefits are realised.

Nov 8, 2021

The use of walk-through inspections, approvals and ad hoc investigations to ensure risk is kept within acceptable levels is reaching its limits of effectiveness. Further improvement in occupational health and safety requires a systems approach, and the use of Quality Management principles is an obvious basis for this. SafeGuard, a æbest practiceÆ model health and safety management system and audit criteria based on AS/NZS ISO 9001:1994, has been produced by the Department of Mines and Energy. Quality style audits of mine and quarry health and safety systems are now being carried out by the Inspectorate.

Jan 1, 1998

It's long been suspected that there has been an increase in the incidence of premature failure of rock bolts in underground coal mines over the past ten years. As far back as 2002 a study found a possible contributor to such premature failure in some Australian coal mines might be linked to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) (Crosky et al, 2002). That study suggested the low impact toughness could be a major influence on the susceptibility to SCC of different steel compositions. A subsequent study involving laboratory corrosion tests however failed to confirm any link with metallurgical factors (Villalba and Atrens, 2007), a finding that is at odds with field experience. Some mine sites today are still reporting prematurely failed rock bolts to the rock bolt manufacturers; the failures are being identified at SCC induced. To this end a research project has recently been commissioned at University of New South Wales (UNSW), which aims to identify the environmental factors causing SCC, through field test sites and simulating the conditions within an accelerated corrosion laboratory. This paper outlines the methodology that will be used in this study.

Nov 25, 2010

By Y Pan

The recycling of steel is a crucial aspect of the shift toward a sustainable metals industry. The emphasis on steel recycling through the introduction of the scrap based mini-mill concept is also matched with a desire for greater product quality and reduced environmental impact, which, in turn, has generated important innovations. There have been significant advances in the technology for recycling steel over the last 20 years and this paper will provide an overview of these developments and discuss future directions in steel recycling including scrap management, control of tramp elements, electric arc furnace technology and ladle metallurgy.

Jan 1, 2004

By M Bourke

Modern computers and software provide powerful tools for the geologist to construct reliable models of geological resources, and the mining engineer to produce accurate and workable mine plans. Over the years many people have developed a phobia of computers, especially for geological analysis, modelling and mine planning. This phobia is often caused by a lack of knowledge, poor training or a bad experience. The adoption however of computers for geological modelling and mine planning is now becoming mainstream. With the correct training, a good understanding of input data, and detailed knowledge of the required results, the phobia can safely be overcome to provide mining operations with increased productivity.

Jan 1, 1999

Sphalerites from Devonian cassiterite-sulphide deposits and Pb-Zn-Ag fissure veins have similar ranges of Cd contents, but the average Cd and Fe contents could indicate a small initial difference in availability of Cd between the Zeehan-Renison Bell district and the Mt. Bischoff-Waratah district. Sphalerites from banded Pb-Zn deposits (Rosebery and Hercules) are characterized by low Cd content which is a world-wide feature of such deposits in exIrusive rocks, and may indicaIe a genetic relationship between ore deposition and vulcanism.

Jan 1, 1968

By Thompson D. R, Milton R, Perry K. M A

From the Department for Research in Industrial Medicine (Medical Research Council), The London Hospital; and the De Havilland Aircraft Company:M.R.C. INVESTIGATIONS IN 1936In 1936 the Industrial Pulmonary Disease Committee of the Medical Research Council investigated both clinically and radiologically a group of fifty workers who had been exposed for a number of years to the inhalation of alumina in the reduction factory of the British Aluminium Company. The results are shown in Table 1.They also considered the sickness records of all the workers (Hill, 1936), as compared with those in other parts of the factory (Table 2).

Jan 1, 1945

The intention of this paper is to examine the practical and technical aspects associated with the measurement of blasting related phenomena. The emphasis is directed towards the acquisition of quantitative data rather than its theoretical interpretation. The application of advanced technologies will require that many more people involved with blasting become familiar with this topic. Against the many other disciplines where measurement may be beneficial, blasting is peculiar on several counts. 1) It must almost always be carried out in the field, and very often in a production environment. 2) Much consideration must be given for the safety of personnel and equipment. 3) The process is dynamic and seldom repeatable. Because the blast process is so dynamic there is little opportunity for direct examination. For this reason measurements are almost universally made using electronic techniques. In this way the event can be captured faithfully as it occurs and later examined in detail, after the fact. It is obvious that some familiarity with these electronic techniques is a necessary ingredient for successful blast monitoring.

Jan 1, 1990

By K M. Cook, D Clark

Fatality prevention and zero harm are key focus areas for resource companies. However, they remain an ongoing challenge for high hazard industries, including the mining sector. As one example the latest International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) Safety Performance Report shows that, while there is generally a declining fatality trend since the organisation commenced publishing data in 2012, there were still 33 fatalities across member companies in 2022 (ICMM, 2023b). Every fatal incident brings significant pain and suffering to the colleagues, friends and family of those involved, however the failures and causal factors leading to each incident are frequently very familiar to people working in the industry, particularly those tasked with managing risk and safety. In the words of Dame Judith Hackitt, Grenfell Tower Fire Investigator, ‘there are no new accidents – just different people making the same mistakes because they haven’t learned’ (Hackitt, 2022). The recurring themes in terms of the nature of fatal hazards and their associated causes across the mining sector show that, despite improvements evidenced by the favourable declining fatality trends over the long-term (in general and outside of catastrophic multiple fatality events), changes are required to achieve fatality elimination and the aspiration of zero harm. This extended abstract and the accompanying presentation apply a mining frame of reference to the idea that there are no new accidents, examining how this applies within the industry and why the lessons from past failures are not always well understood or applied to prevent the reoccurrence of material unwanted events. Many contemporary mining and resources organisations have extensive internal incident history data and a wide variety of information on fatality incidents is publicly available, including the annual ICMM Safety Performance Report. This extended abstract and the accompanying presentation explore how this existing data can be used effectively to learn from the past and proposes practical ideas regarding strategies for successful knowledge transfer to the workforce as a key component of preventing history repeating and improving safety performance across the industry. As noted by ICMM, ‘sharing lessons from failure is vital to improving health and safety, but it’s not enough’ (ICMM, 2023a).

Apr 16, 2024