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By J M. Galvin

History attests to the catastrophic consequences that fire, explosion and contaminated, noxious andirrespirable atmospheres can have for workplace health and safety in underground coal mining. It also confirms that fires and explosions present the greatest risk of partial or total loss of underground mines and equipment and that this risk continues to materialise. The design, implementation, operation and maintenance of the mine ventilation system are core controls for managing the hazards associated with these risks, both for preventing them from materialising and for mitigating their consequences if they do materialise. These are most effective when embedded in a risk management approach.

Oct 12, 2022

By D A. Kepert, I J. Tehnas, M A. Pudovsk

BHP Billiton (BHPB) was the first company to start iron ore mining in the Pilbara at Mt Goldsworthy in 1966 through Goldsworthy Mining Limited (GML - then Consolidated Goldfields Australia, Cyprus Mines and Utah). Operations later started at Newman on Mt Whaleback in 1969 with the Mt Newman Mining Joint Venture (MNM û then comprising American Metals Climax û AMAX, Colonial Sugar Refineries û CSR and BHP). In 1986 it acquired majority ownership of MNM, and at the same time the previously 100 per cent BHPB owned but undeveloped Yandi property came on board. Purchase of Jimblebar (formerly McCameyÆs Monster) occurred in 1990 and full ownership of Goldsworthy followed in 1991. With the exception of Jimblebar (100 per cent owned), all mines are now 85 per cent BHPB and the balance with Itochu and Mitsui. This evolution of the company resulted in an eclectic mix of mines/ores, each with their varied exploration and evaluation histories. Discussion of some aspects of these histories, and reflections on changes in exploration-related activities with particular reference to discussion of advances in geological understanding since the 1960s forms the basis of this paper. BHPB presently has open cut mines at four main centres û Newman, Jimblebar, Marillana Creek (Yandi) and Yarrie û and is currently developing the former GML Area C near Yandi. With the exception of NewmanÆs Mt Whaleback mine and immediate satellites, all are contract operated. Ore is carried on BHPB railroads (696 km total) for export through the companyÆs Nelson Point or Finucane Island shipping facilities at Port Hedland. Some is directed to the BHPB Boodarie Iron hot briquetted iron plant near Finucane Island. Over 73 Mt of ore was produced by BHPB in calendar 2001, and the company has now mined over 1500 Mt in Western Australia since their operations at Yampi Sound first started in 1956.

Jan 1, 2002

By F Schoenbrunn, T Laros

Deep paste thickeners have been proven capable of consistently producing medium to low slump material for disposal without the need for filters. However, proper design of the entire system is critical for a paste project to be successful. Some of the factors that must be carefully considered in design of a paste system include thickener sizing, tailings impoundment design, underflow pumping, and control system.

Jan 1, 1998

Between, 1980 and 1984, the demand for non- ferrous metals in the free world grew annually by 1.5 per cent for copper, 0.4 per cent for lead, 1.4 per cent for zinc, and 2.5 per cent for nickel. The growth rate decreased substantially compared to the rate experienced before 1980, and was far lower than the GNP growth during the corresponding period. The main reasons for this are considered to be 1. resource-saving efforts by industrialized countries resulting from the first and the second oil crises, 2. saturated demand for durable consumer goods, and 3. substitution of non-ferrous metals by new materials such as optical fibers.

Jan 1, 1986

I've talked a number of times in the past year or so to audiences like today's about culture -about thinking of it, understanding it, respecting it. So, rather than talk just yet about your laws for mining on Aboriginal land and the successes some of us and some of you have been able to achieve, I'd like to first of all talk about cul- ture as I understand it. Anyone who proposes any kind of development on Aborigi- nal land needs to have some basic understanding of what we, the traditional owners of that land, are about. Without that under- standing, you will find difficulty in coming to terms with us. Many people have experienced this difficulty and, unless we can do something about it together, many more will continue to find it.

Jan 1, 1988

The refractory industry in New Zealand is small, consisting of two main manufacturers - one at Huntly and the other at Kamo. Together these would have an annual refractory production of about 30 000 tonnes. The industries which use refractories include two steelworks, NewZealand Steel Limited and Pacific Steel Limited, the former is involved in continuous casting from sponge, iron and scrap steel and the latter is involved in ingot teaming from scrap steel and steel billets; One aluminium smelter, cement works, dairy companies, small foundries producing engineering requirements and many other small users. The New Zealand manufacturers produce refractories in thefire brick range, that is up to 50 per cent alumina content (ignited basis), based on indigenous raw materials and in the high alumina range up to 85 per cent alumina content (ignited basis) based on imported bauxites. All of the basic refractories high purity silica and high alumina low alkali refractories and many of the higher grade acid resisting refractories are imported.

Jan 1, 1976

Applications of chlorine metallurgy to the extraction of metals often result in the production of volatile metallic chlorides, most of which condense directly to a solid phase at 1 atm pressure. A stirred-bed condenser suitable for the recovery of these materials is described.The unit, developed from the concept of a fluid bed condenser, has the advantages of versatility of operation and ability to control fog and dust formation. Test work using aluminium chloride vapour (as an example of a volatile chloride) gave recoveries approaching 100 per cent. The yield was dependent upon halide content of the vapour, flowrate, and, to a lesser extent, upon coolant temperature. Analysis of the heat transfer dataindicated condensation side coefficients in the range 10 to 30 B.T.U./hr sq. ft. 0p.

Jan 1, 1971

By Artieda JJ, Catalina JC

- The aim of this paper is to analyse the possibilities of applying signal processing and artificial vision techniques to the ore sorting problem. In order to overcome the limitations imposed by the classical approach to the problem, which essentialy cons

Jan 1, 1985

The Australian Mineral Industry's growth in the last two decades is directly related to the skill and experience of its consultants in mining, metallurgy, geology, finance, management, marketing, and engineering. The role of mining consultants needs to be re-examined, so that the quality of the service they deliver will continue to be adequate for the 1990's. One means of this evaluation is by examining Case Studies in the strategies and difficulties of developing contract and entrepreneurial research.

Jan 1, 1986

In late 1984, Council of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy accepted a proposal to establish a Mineral Heritage Committee. This was to be involved in matters relating to mineral heritage-its recording, its preservation, and the acknowledgement that it can be of use to the mineral industry in the future. The Committee was established to ensure that all of the disciplines of our profession were included and that, so far as possible, all of our country as well as those countries of the Southwest Pacific Basin were represented. Some work has been commenced to bring real- isation of the importance of the heritage of our mineral industry to the forefront of the commu- nity's interest. There is not a state in this country and the Southwest Pacific where the mineral industry has not at various times proved to be the basis of community development.

Jan 1, 1987

Because of the coincidental location of orebodies and population in Australia, the mineral sands industry has been subjected to numerous land use conflicts, resulting in the sterilisation of strategic ore reserves and a severe downturn of activity in the eastern states. All tiers of government of various political persuasions were responsible for the decisions leading to this sterilisation. As such, it became a community response to intense land use pressure along an attractive and popular coastline. The resultant high public exposure of the industry has placed it in the forefront of developments in rehabilitation technology. In eastern Australia, the industry has operated in a wide range of ecosystems, many with conservation values. Rehabilitation ech- niques have been developed to suit these varied conditions, and much of this technology is now widely adopted throughout the mining industry. Land use considerations in Western Australia are somewhat different to those of the eastern states. Nevertheless, the same basic principles of rehabilitation apply with modification to suit local conditions and land use objectives. The development of rehabilitation in both Eastern and Western Australia is reviewed, and the direction of future trends is indicated.

Jan 1, 1986

The only functional underground Coal Mine in Nigeria is located in Enugu in Anambra State. For some years now the mine has been beset with a perenial problem of flooding. This has hampered produc- tion and some time ago the mine was abandoned. Recently money and equipment were made available to reactivate the mine. Attempts are now made to increase production as it is very much below demand. However, there are problems as the mine is below the water table under some major rivers and any advance exposes men and equipment to water surge. The paper traces the different attempts made to dewater the mine and the problems encountered in producing coal in this mine.

Jan 1, 1988

By Newell RB

Grinding circuits are used in most mineral processing plants. Their widespread application makes the efficient running of the circuits essential to almost all resource projects. This paper will show that, with the application of modern multivariable control techniques, improved plant performance can be obtained when compared with conventional single loop control strategies. Results are presented for a simulated closed-circuit ball mill.The grinding circuit was controlled using the rod-mill water and primary and secondary sump dilution flowrates as the manipulated variables. Variables controlled were the primary cyclone feed flowrate, the primary cyclone feed density and the particle-size measurement (percentage smaller than 75 um).

Jan 1, 1985

As the oxide reserves in an oxide/sulphide deposit are exhausted transition to the treatment of sulphides should be investigated in detail and well before processing the sulphide ore commences. The investigation should be broad based to consider all treatment options and not restricted entirely by the existing process plant treatment method. These options may include cyanidation, flotation, roasting, bacterial leaching or gravity treatment and are chosen on the basis of various testwork responses. Experiences in laboratory testing of sulphides and treatment of sulphides at various operations are discussed. This includes the treatment of copper/gold sulphides, CIP treatment of sulphides and treatment of marcasite ore in a conventional CIP circuit.

Jan 1, 1989

By Ralph AM, Deakin JJ

A quantitative knowledge of underground mine ventilation requirements and conditions has become increasingly important, both to meet statutory requirements and to ensure high levels of safety and productivity within mines. The ACIRL Mine Ventilation System MINVENT was designed to provide a flexible means of analysing the behaviour of an underground mine ventilation system under a variety of conditions. It is not sufficient to rely solely on the analytical tools such as ventilation network analysis computer programs - these must be supported by the expertise necessary to conduct an accurate underground ventilation survey as well as experience of typical conditions to be expected in the evaluation of proposed extensions to a new or existing mine. When planning a new mine, the ventilation engineer can use the program to draw on a set of typical ventilation parameters, seam and proposed mining methods. These have been assembled as a result of numerous ventilation surveys conducted by ACIRL in New South Wales and Queensland.

Jan 1, 1983

Obtaining correct assays for gold determinations relies on the correct methods being chosen and the assayer being made aware of the mineralogy of the sample and its general origin. Usually when a geologist or metallurgist obtains "incorrect" gold assays the problem can be traced to poor communication between the geologist or metallurgist and the assayer.

Jan 1, 1986

The efficient design of carbon-in-pulp (C.I.P.) plants involves the integration of both process engineering and design engineering.Many recently constructed plants have not recognised the above interrelationship, and as such have incurred higher capital and operating costs than were in reality necessary. This has been compounded in some cases by slavishly following the design of plants where process conditions are different for the ore characteristics in question, thus perpetuating design errors that finally become industry "accepted practice".In the paper that is to be presented the unit operations of crushing, grinding, classification, leaching, adsorption, desorption and electrowinning in C.I.P. plants will be discussed with reference to the integration of process and design engineering.

Jan 1, 1986

In recent years, the. art of electric steelmaking has received a great deal of attention, and naturally, much controversy has existed from time to time regarding the relative merits of different practices and tywes of furnaces. Nevertheless, at the present time, the basic principles of the process are reasonably well established, and by far the greatest percentage of electric steel is a product of the basic lined, direct arc type furnace. Ferro alloy manufacture has demanded the development of furnaces having very different characteristics to those used for steel. Some special alloys, however, require conditions of manufacture which are more closely approached in the steel type furnace, and thus the latter has been adapted where necessary for the production of these alloys.One such alloy, low carbon ferro-manganese, is manufactured at Whyalla, South Australia, in a basic-lined, direct arc furnace, which is used alternatively for the production of alloy steels.BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ELECTRIC FURNACEThe principle of melting by electricity was first applied to the melting of iron in 1879 by William von Siemens, whose equipment consisted of a small crucible into which were introduced two carbon electrodes. Very little practical development took place in the next 20 years, although in 1890 a Frenchman named Heroult designed a direct arc furnace for the production of ferro alloys. At the beginning of the 20th century, several types of furnaces were patented for steel melting, the most important of these being the Heroult, using a direct arc, the...

Jan 1, 1951

By E Ruhanen, S Kauvosaari, M Kosonen, C Meintjes

The Yara Siilinjärvi plant is located in the central part of Finland. Siilinjärvi is Western Europe's only apatite mine and annually it produces 1 Mt of apatite concentrate, which creates approximately 10 Mt of tailings.At the beginning of 2017, tailings handling in Yara Siilinjärvi was brought to a new era, by replacing the conventional tailings storage facility with a new tailings treatment plant. The new high-density tailings disposal system with two paste thickeners increased the percentage of solids in the slurry from 45–48 per cent to 66-68 per cent, making it possible to deposit as a paste. This extended the life-span of the current tailings storage facility by 15 years; from 2020 to 2035.This paper presents the storyline of the Yara Paste Plant Project. The project began with laboratory testing and then progressed to pilot-scale thickening and beaching trials. After some successful pilot trials, the final process design was implemented. Process instrumentation and automation played a key role in the project, as the aim of the Yara Project was to make the plant operable remotely from the main plant. An advanced control system is needed to maintain process stability and the desired operation point in various operational circumstances.This paper discusses the results from the Yara site since the new tailings treatment plant commenced. Some of the main points are that the operation has been running consistently with an underflow solids content of 66-68 per cent, with average beach slope angles of 3.5 degrees in the tailings disposal area. This control system additionally facilitates minimum use of flocculant, which delivers significant savings to operating costs. Robust thickener operation also leads to the trouble-free high-density pumping and high availability of the Paste Plant. During the first year of operation, the plant’s availability has been very good, over 97 per cent.Currently, the plant still has its own staff working there during the daytime, but the Paste Plant is now already operated remotely during the night shifts. The long-term goal is to gradually transition into operating the plant completely remotely.CITATION:Ruhanen, E, Kosonen, M, Kauvosaari, S and Meintjes, C, 2018. Optimising the operation of paste thickening at the Yara Siilinjärvi Plant, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 297–310 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018

MANPOWER RESOURCES The optimisation of human effort has been an ongoing and significant process in the coal industry since industrialisation as we know it began. The extent to which the changes sought have been achieved has, over the years, been in the main determined by the economic and political forces existing at that time and the determination and character of the individuals involved. The question of optimisation is therefore not new in our industry. Hopefully this presentation will demonstrate to the reader the effect of previous measures adopted by industry to optimise all facets of its operation and in particular that of the human Resource.

Jan 1, 1991