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By R Shaw, M Hidding

The design of primary sample cutters for high-capacity conveyors is critical to achieving a correct sample, both in collecting the sample and ensuring smooth sample discharge flow. Modelling usually occurs at the design stage and requires extensive experience to achieve the correct result. However, it is difficult to confirm the effectiveness of the cutter design until after installation. Even with high-speed video, confirmation of complete sample capture is difficult, especially if the material characteristics change over time. Recent investigation using discrete element method (DEM) simulation to model the flow of the ore into the cutter and observe how it interacts with the cutter has revealed some interesting design requirements not observed in the past. By including DEM modelling, the correct design and optimisation of the cutter can be more accurately determined prior to commissioning.CITATION:Hidding, M and Shaw, R, 2017. Modelling ore flow in the design of high-capacity sample cutters, in Proceedings Eighth World Conference on Sampling and Blending , pp 145–150 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2017

By H F. Yu, S Ueda, J Diao, W F. Gu, Y Sasaki, H Qin

The main reason for the underutilisation of steelmaking slags is their instability, which is influenced by their complex phase structure. Recycling and sustainable steelmaking slag face challenges due to the presence of magnesium oxide (MgO), a crucial component in steelmaking slag. This study investigates the phase evolution of steelmaking slag during the cooling process with different MgO contents, using high-temperature experiments and FactSage™ software, ver 8.1, (by Thermfact/CRCT and GTT-Technologies) thermodynamic equilibrium calculations. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope - energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analyses identified main phases in steelmaking slag, including Ca2SiO4 (C2S), RO (MgO-FeO solid solution), Ca2Fe2O5 (C2F), and Ca3SiO5 (C3S). The study reveals that RO phase increases as the MgO content increases. C3S precipitates from steelmaking slag with a 12 mass per cent MgO content at a reduced temperature of 1400°C. It is important to note that C3S remains in the steelmaking slag even after slow cooling. This may be due to the substitution of Ca2+ in C3S by Fe2+ and Mg2+ ions. Intriguingly, the precipitation of f-CaO in steelmaking slag with 10 mass per cent of MgO content occurred after one year, while there was no manifestation of f-CaO precipitation in the steelmaking slag with 12 mass per cent of MgO content even after one year. This discrepancy suggests a potential stabilising effect of an appropriate amount of MgO in steelmaking slag. However, it is crucial to emphasise that this inference lacks supporting data, necessitating further research to validate this hypothesis. The significance of this work is in uncovering the complexities of steelmaking slag behaviour, providing essential insights for optimising recycling processes. The research sheds light on the factors that influence the phase composition and stability of steelmaking slag, contributing to the utilisation of steelmaking slags, promoting environmental sustainability, and enhancing the overall efficiency of metallurgical processes in the current industrial landscape.

Jun 19, 2024

Who Macraes Mining Company Limited is can be summed up by the following statements: +         We have been New Zealand's largest gold producer for seven years +         We have one of the lowest market capitalisation per reserve ounce of the gold producers in the  Australian Gold Index +         We have a resource finding cost of less than NZ$l0 per ounce +         We have a large land bank with proven reserves +         We have an Operating Cash Margin of approximately NZ$200 per ounce +         We have reduced our Dry Milled Tonne Cost by 34% since 1992   Our Mission is to continually grow our gold business, through maximising cashflow and focusing on our value drivers being: +         Increasing reserves +         Increasing cash operating margins +         Increasing production   The real challenge is the reduction of operating costs and the optimisation of revenue, particularly in the current gold price environment.   The Company has as at 31 December 1996 total mineral resources of 6.1 million ounces and reserves of 3.4 million ounces. This together with our current cash position of approximately NZ$15 million and strong hedging book of approximately 800,000 ounces places the Company on a sound financial footing whilst positioning itself to aggressively pursue its growth strategy when gold price and market conditions improve.

Jan 1, 1997

Validation and Application of Filtration Theory to Plate and Frame Pressure Filtration - From Laboratory to Full Scale

Sep 13, 2010

Gold mining in Australia and globally has a long and variable history. In recent years, due to ongoing public concern over long-term environmental impacts, the mining industry globally has been moving towards a more sustainable framework, presented as the æMining, Minerals and Sustainable DevelopmentÆ (MMSD) framework at the Johannesburg Earth Summit in 2002. There are a number of fundamental issues and concerns with assessing the sustainability of mining. Firstly, long-term trends show that ore grades for almost all metals and minerals will continue to decline (some rapidly so), increasing waste rock is being produced due to the trend towards large-scale open cut mining and more complex ores are now commonly being developed. The impact of these trends on the resource intensity, or unit cost, of gold production is of major concern as it could lead to an increase in energy, water and reagent consumption and greenhouse emissions per unit gold produced. A detailed compilation of these fundamental sustainability indices for gold mining has been undertaken, and is presented with respect to indices over time, ore grade and ore throughput. A clear observation is that the resource intensity of gold mining is extremely sensitive to the ore grade, with energy, water and cyanide consumption and greenhouse emissions rising significantly as ore grade decreases. Based on the gold ore resources at operating mines and other known gold deposits, it is most likely that the average gold ore grade will continue to decline, leading to increased resource intensity and consequent environmental impacts (assuming no breakthrough new technologies occur). These findings are of major importance to understanding the sustainability of gold mining. The final judgement of the sustainability of gold mining therefore must take into account the sensitivity of the ore grade in the resource intensity of gold production.

Jan 1, 2007

By R J. In, C Moore, P J. Moffitt, T Hansen

Telfer Gold Mine combines a world-class gold and copper resource and longevity of operation as a major gold and copper producer. Telfer Gold Mine has undergone a series of transformations since mining commenced as a high-grade narrow-vein oxide open pit operation in 1977. In 1986, the open pit operation converted from a narrow-vein, high-grade operation, to a low-grade high-volume oxide mining operation utilising dump leach processing technology. Mechanised underground mining of the high-grade narrow-veins commenced in 1990. Total recovered gold production between 1977 to 1999 has totalled 5.7 million ounces. The Telfer Extension Project consists of two pre-feasibility studies, the Surface Extension Project (SEP) and the I-Series Project (ISP). The combined studies represent one of the more significant resource evaluations undertaken in the gold industry in recent times. Geological activities for the SEP pre-feasibility study have included the drill definition of a large low-grade resource within an area of 25 km2 . The surface drilling program has completed 15 000 metres of HQ3 diamond drilling and over 30 000 metres of RC between last quarter of 1998 and late-1999. The ISP pre-feasibility study is currently evaluating the resource potential of both a high-grade low-volume and a lower grade bulk mining scenario, 800 m to 1200 m below the surface of Main Dome. 15 000 metres of underground diamond drilling have been completed between last quarter of 1998 and August 1999 as part of this study. Systems and cultures have been developed to maximise safety, monitor the quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) on all aspects of the operation, and minimise impact on the environment. All data are stored in database systems, specifically designed for Telfer operations. 3D geostatistical resource estimation using ordinary kriging has been carried out for over 220 geological domains within the 25 km3 of mineralised system. Non-linear geostatistical techniques are being investigated as part of the pre-feasibility study.

Jan 1, 2000

Detrital gold in the Greymouth-Hokitika area has been won from: (a) gravel of the Pliocene Old Man Group, (b) glacial outwash gravel of Middle and Late Quaternary age, (c) raised shoreline deposits of Middle and Late Quaternary age, (d) deposits resulting from the erosion of (a) to (c). The source of the gold was probably widely dispersed quartz veins in great thicknesses of greywacke and low-grade schist eroded from east of the Alpine Fault, with a contribution from veins in Greenland Group greywacke in the south. At times of high interglacial and post-glacial sea level, gold was concentrated along marine shorelines, and subsequent progressive uplift has resulted in a set of sub-parallel beach leads up to 100 m above present sea level. During glaciations, gold was concentrated in outwash streams close to moraines, especially where ice forming one moraine penetrated and destroyed an older one. Worked deposits in the Old Man Group may also be associated with glaciation. Apart from workings that are essentially extensions of past workings, significant new prospects may depend on inferences as to where prospective deposits are completely obscured by younger ones.

Jan 1, 1996

Continuous pH and Pulp Potential Measurements During Complex Sulfide Ore Flotation

Sep 13, 2010

By D Craw

Oceana Gold as part of their environmental strategy are looking at various methods for cost-effective revegetation of their tailings dams. Under the concept of revegetating the tailings this study looked at several issues. These issues were; testing different methods of revegetation, arsenic (As) uptake in vegetation with respect to capping thickness, and background As levels in farmland areas above mineralised rocks. A number of plots were set up in a temporarily disused tailings dam to trial the direct sowing of ryecorn into the tailings.   Ryecorn was sown in sandy tailings (ca 1000 mg/kg As) and then covered with oxidised schist to anchor the seeds. This proved successful and ryecorn was established. Once the plots covered with oxidised schist were growing, 1 m and 2 m strips were sown on the sheltered side of the existing plots without the covering of oxidised schist. The uncovered plots also established successfully. From this set of trials a sowing plan can be developed that uses a minimum of resources to successfully establish vegetation. The maximum As content of the ryecorn was 80 mg/kg. Clover, Yorkshire fog and ryegrass plant matter was sampled from a pot trial that used different thicknesses of topsoil covering tailings material. As the thickness of topsoil increased, the amount of As taken up decreased. Soil samples were taken from farmland areas which were known to have elevated levels of As (up to 1000 mg/kg) in the top 10 cm. Vegetation samples were also taken from the same locations, and show the As levels in plants is <50 mg/kg.

Jan 1, 2006

By X Zhang, B McFadzean, C T. O’Connor, S Pikinini

The Platreef in South Africa contains one of the world’s largest reserves of platinum group elements. One of the major platinum group minerals (PGM) components in this ore is sperrylite (PtAs₂), which has been found to be slow floating compared to the other PGMs. In a study aimed at determining the reasons for the poor floatability of sperrylite and to improve its recovery, tests were carried out to determine the interactions of the mineral with a range of standard and novel collectors. Microflotation tests were carried out to determine the hydrophobicity of the minerals before and after adsorption of collectors. In addition, experiments were carried out to determine the enthalpy and extent of collector adsorption on the minerals and to investigate electrochemical interactions between sperrylite and selected standard collectors. The results indicated that poor collector adsorption was the major cause for the poor floatability of sperrylite. Sperrylite had both poor natural (14.5 per cent) floatability and collector-induced flotation recoveries, the highest recovery of 26 per cent being observed using PNBX collector at pH 9. Moreover, the rest potential tests showed that the interaction of sperrylite with standard collectors such as xanthates was poor. The decrease in potential after the addition of the standard collectors ranged from 7.9 mV to 24.9 mV under alkaline conditions. Furthermore, sperrylite rest potentials remained unchanged with a change in pH from basic to acidic, indicating its resistance to surface alteration. Surface alteration of the minerals is key for the chemisorption of collectors to take place on the mineral surface. This was further emphasised by flotation recoveries at low pH, where only certain collectors responded positively to a decrease in pH and these were shown to have undergone a structural change. This work has highlighted the difficulties associated with sperrylite flotation and provides some direction for future research.

Aug 24, 2022

Three large deposits of good quality lignite were located and delineated in the Central Otago region between October 1978 and July 1979. The program was initiated and funded by Mines Division of the Ministry of Energy as part of the national Coal Resource Survey. The exploration work was carried out by Lime and Marble Limited on a contract basis (Bowman, 1980). The three deposits were all potentially mineable by open cast methods and possessed combined indicated and, inferred reserves in the order of 1000 x 106 tonnes. They ranked with the previously discovered Eastern Southland 1ignites and as such constituted an important national energy resource. Fifteen months later a second more detailed investigation of similar duration was undertaken by the Liquid Fuels Trust Board (LFTB). The objective was to upgrade and refine the geological data base of all of the nine South Island 1ignite deposits in order to make preliminary economic assessments of their potential. Again Lime and Marble Limited acted as the exploration operator (Bowman, 1981a, 1981b, 1981c).

Jan 1, 1983

Kinetic Dependence of Refractory Gold Sulfide Biooxidation Using Different Microorganism Association In this investigation, refractory sulfide concentrate from a deposit located in northern Russia was treated using biohydrometallurgical technology. The objective of this work was to compare the accelerated refractory sulfide concentrate biooxidation abilities of the pure and mixed mesophilic and moderately termophilic acidophiles cultures. Pure culture of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and two associations of the: Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans + Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans + Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans + Leptospirillum + Sulfobacillus were used in this investigation. Results of sulfide concentrate bioleaching were analysed using the enzyme catalysis theory. Different effective kinetics parameters were calculated for Michaelis-Menten equation, such as Michaelis' constant and maximum rate of the enzymatic reaction. It was shown that the increase of microorganisms' species decreased Michaelis' constant. Lower Michaelis' constant characterises increasing bacteria ferment affinity to substrate (treated concentrate). As a result, the rates of sulfide minerals biooxidation have increased. This investigation has demonstrated that cultures of the different microorganism species, including moderately termophilic, allow to enhance different parameters of the biohydrometallurgical technology for the refractory gold sulfide concentrate treatment. We can see that bacterial leaching stage duration decreased and sulfide minerals oxidation increased. When the bioresidues were subjected to the hydrometallurgical stage, which includes aeration and sorption cyanidation, the operation factors were also enhanced. The decrease of aeration duration and the growth of the precious metal extraction by sorption cyanidation was achieved. Cyanide consumption was also reduced. The results of this investigation were used in design of an industrial plant.

Sep 13, 2010

By G Baird, M Seto

Reliable evaluation of in situ stress is an important phase in the analysis and design of underground excavations, particularly for evaluating the stability of underground structures to prevent failure or collapse. A technique for the estimation of the full stress tensor based on acoustic emission (the Kaiser effect) is being developed and trialed at the WA School of Mines. The result obtained compare well with the standard over-coring method. The advantages of the technique are that it is relatively cheap, non-time consuming and is applicable to in situ stress measurements at depth in remote regions.

Jan 1, 2002

The GPS and information technology industries are now applying considerable development effort to what is being termed machine control and machine information systems, in particular focusing on the industries the of mining construction and agriculture. GPS based systems are demonstrably finding common acceptance and adding commercial value to many machine applications in industry. This has been the first step in the evolution of the information age that is now reforming mining practices. Adding the technologies of wireless data communication, modem computer databases, and networked PC's mining is on the verge of a new era in overall process management. This paper is a general discussion of what the information age means to miners and a general description of new mining operation technologies available to day from the Caterpillar technology alliance.

Jan 1, 1999

The mercury, gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc values of soils over altered and mineralised rock were determined to establish the potential use of mercury as an indicator element in geochemical prospecting. The results are presented to show that mercury can be used successfully in prospecting for precious metal mineralization in the Thames-Waihi area.

Jan 1, 1979

Flotation of Composite Synthetic Particles

Sep 13, 2010

New Developments in Spirals and Spiral Plant Operations Records indicate that spiral separators have been utilised in mineral separation for over 100 years. The Spiral's predecessor, the sluice, has been in use for centuries in different forms and a spiral can be thought of as a sluice wound around a column. The spiral separator is distinguished from the straight sluice, and other flowing film separators, in uniquely introducing centrifugal motion. The elegance of the spiral concept was embraced due to significantly improved separation efficiencies, ease of operation and tolerance of variation in feed conditions. Advances in spiral technology have improved the metallurgical performance, modernised the materials of construction, increased unit capacities and simplified operation. These advances have ensured that spirals continue to play a major industry role amidst other advancing and competing technologies. Recent developments in spiral and spiral plant technology include: the launch of the VHG spiral model, specifically aimed at feeds with very high levels of high-density mineral particles; the introduction of a high capacity wash water spiral model; and innovations in feed stabilisation and control. Details of these developments are presented together with the resultant operational benefits including feed stabilisation, product control and improved metallurgical performances.

Sep 13, 2010

New Bio-Adsorber with Activated Carbon and Nano Tube Carbon for Separation of Nickel and Cadmium

Sep 13, 2010

By G Hart

As the iron ore/magnetite boom gains momentum, it is particularly important to question established past trends and explore the potential of alternative design options. Traditionally, ‘rule of thumb’ methods have been used to size dewatering equipment. Greater consideration needs to be given to technological advancements and specific throughput testing of each ore body type based on innovative developments.This paper will describe how an innovative approach resulted not only in significant savings in capital cost and site work hours but also delivered a truly optimised design for the thickener duty at Karara. Test work also played a crucial role and a comprehensive test work program on the ore samples showed the scale-up benefi ts of new technology in thickener designs. Working closely with the Karara team during the laboratory testing proved the old sizing theories for iron ore/magnetite processing have been superseded with the knowledge and results of the industry’s newest feedwell technology. Increased solids flux and rise rates in the testing process proved very successful, resulting in signifi cantly reduced thickener sizes and lower capital expense.Mechanical design considerations such as removal of underflow and pump access led to a preference for an above-ground thickener confi guration, and the economics of a completefabrication and installation package favoured steel construction for the thickener units.The ultimate choice of the bolted/fl anged tank methodology provides both economic and timely solutions for the site installation including reduced man power and quick and safe site-work. A benefits comparison between this design and other fabrication and installation procedures will also be analysed in the paper.

Jul 11, 2011

The Martha deposit is an economic giant epithermal gold deposit, with mined and unmined resources of more than 218 000 kg (7 Moz) Au. The Au-Ag, base metal sulphide-bearing quartz lodes in the Martha deposit form an extensive braided pattern within hydrothermally altered andesite wall rock. There are five main quartz lodes: 1.      Martha, 2.      Welcome, 3.      Edward, 4.      Empire, and 5.      Royal.   Information from historic mine plans and reports has been used to determine the depth distribution of economic ore within the Martha deposit. Economic ore (average of 10 g/t Au) in the Martha underground mine was at a maximum width and strike length between a vertical depth of 160 and 350 m. Below this depth the quartz-sulphide lodes continue, but the grade declined to sub-economic grades (< 4g/t Au) at about 575 m depth and economic ore shoots were localised, mainly on the hangingwall side of the lodes. Samples from exploration drill holes indicate that this decrease is associated with a depth zonation from electrum-bearing Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag sulphide ore (average 10 g/t Au) to sub-economic (< 2 g/t Au) electrum-poor Zn-Pb sulphide mineralisation.

Jan 1, 2006