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The production of sulphuric acid at Port Pirie by the contact process began in March 1924 with the commissioning of the Electrolytic Zinc Co.'s roasting and acid plant. This plant, operated by B.H.A.S. Pty. Ltd. on behalf of the E.Z. Co., continued to produce sulphuric acid from the gases evolved when roasting Broken Hill zinc concentrate in mechanically rabbled furnaces until September 1954, when the plant was closed down.In this peri9d of approximately 30 years some 600,000 mono tons of 98·5 per cent sulphuric acid was produced, most of which was used for fertilizer production at Wallaroo and Port Adelaide. During World War II 14,400 mono tons of the above was produced in the form of 20 per cent Oleum and railed to the Salisbury Munitions Factory for use in the production of nitro-glycerine, gun-cotton and T.N.T.In the early post-war period various ways of converting at least some of the sulphur in the gases' discharged to atmosphere from the lead sintering plant were considered until, in 1949, it was decided to erect a modern contact acid plant. Much work remained to be done on the roasting plant to produce a gas of suitable grade for the contact process and also on the design of a purification section suitable for the treatment of D.L. gases.The acid section itself, however, was largely of conventional design and it was therefore decided that this would be erected first. To it was then attached a sulphur-burning section to allow it to operate as a "hot gas" brimstone acid plant until the roasting and gas purification plants had been designed and erected. In this way the urgent need for sulphuric acid in the fertilizer industry would be relieved, to some extent at least, as soon as, possible.

Jan 1, 1956

It is easy to demonstrate the importance of aggregates in any conversation about infrastructure and other engineering artefacts. Peoples around the world have made use of stone to enrich and enhance their lives since the earliest days of civilisation. In New Zealand, Maori used hard durable rocks for weapons, tools, and basic structures. European settlement accelerated the use of quarried materials and formed the basis for development of our society as we see it today. Logic might suggest that the quarrying sector would be recognised positively for, and encouraged to continue to contribute to, this underpinning of the way we are. The reality is æNot In Most Back YardsÆ. Why? The rock is where it's always been (often overlooked) and our æsocialÆ environment is today's hard place. For a resource-based business in New Zealand, that environment is principally the Resource Management Act, with the widespread power it has distributed to anyone prepared to invest their time. This coupled with a lack of leadership and direction in the implementation of the Act has created a climate that stifles development and diverts energy and resources to æplaying the gameÆ rather than ælifting the gameÆ. Perhaps the real costs of this are not yet widely recognised. The paper will draw mainly on the experience of endeavouring to consent a ægreenfieldÆ quarry in the Waikato region. This is supported by commentary based on nearly 10 years of ælivingÆ with the RMA at sites across much of New Zealand. RMA Scorecard Summary: Effects based? Rarely. Level playing field? No. Maori Consultation? Could do better. Efficient use of resources? No. Timely? No. Is it working for other sectors? Certainly not the quarrying industry's customers and end users.

Jan 1, 2000

The early history of the mine is traced from the beginning of shaft sinking in 1886 to the purchase by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd. in 1949. A necessary preliminary to mechanisation of the Borehole Seam was development of the Young Wallsend seam, andthis development is described. Surface reorganisation and coal handling arrangements are dealt with in detail. Then follows a description of the Borehole Seam mechanisation, the provision of power supply for this purpose, arid pumping arrangements in themine.INTRODUCTIONStockton Borehole Colliery is in the Parish of Teralba, between the townships of Teralba and Boolaroo, and about 12 miles from Newcastle. The colliery holding, a freehofd area of 2,560 acres, was apparently an original land grant when acquired by Teralba Co-operative Coal Company who decided to mine for coal and named the mine "Teralba Colliery." Shaft sinking was commenced in 1886 but was delayed by financial and water troubles to such an extent that it was not until 1901 that the Borehole Seam was reached.Coal was won until 1904 using a single 16 ft. diameter shaft, ventilation being achieved by means of a wooden boxing down one side of the shaft. This collapsed, and operations ceased until the mine was taken over in 1906 by a company known as "Borehole Colliery Limited," the principal stockholder being the Stockton Coal Company. It renamed the mine "Borehole Colliery." This new company immediately commenced sinking a 13 ft. diameter air shaft. In 1908 the Stocktol1 Colliery at Stockton was abandoned, and during the following year much of its equipment was transferred to Borehole Colliery. The name was again changed becoming "Stockton Borehole Colliery." From this period on, coal was produced from the Borehole Seam by...

Jan 1, 1957

Blasts should be designed so as to maximise the percentage of charges which shoot to a free face (Le, to a pronounced rock/air interface).Free faces should be rough, parallel and reasonably near to blastholes and, very importantly, concavely·biplanar relative to the charges (see Fig. 6b). The presence of biplanar free faces requires that each charge fragments and detaches its quota of the burden rock before the detonation of:1. later-firing adjacent charges in single-row blasts, and2. dependent charges in multi-row blasts.In multi-row blasts, biplanar faces are best achieved:1. by drilling blastholes on equilateral triangular grids,2. by selecting a VI, V2 or V3 initiation sequence, and3. by using down-the-hole delays.Biplanar faces start to be created only when the conventional value of effective blasthole spacing/effective burden distance (Se/Be) increases beyond about 2.4. Values of Se/Be less than about 2.4 result in planar free faces. Where biplanar faces are created, conventional values of Se/Be are invalid and appreciably greater than real values of Se/Be.

Jan 1, 1986

By G de Jong, W Sunyoto, K Sari, P Silalahi

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. The Big Gossan mine is operated by PT Freeport Indonesia and is one of the largest stope-and-fill mining systems in the world. The Big Gossan deposit is a ~200 m wide, 1200 m long and 500 m high steeply north-east-dipping to subvertical skarn body at the Cretaceous-Tertiary Ekmai-Waripi contact. The copper-gold mineralisation, with a 1.3 per cent copper equivalent cut-off grade, occurs mainly proximal to the Ekmai-Waripi contact in the garnet-clinopyroxene prograde skarn at the base of the Tertiary Waripi formation and partly distal to the contact in the tremolite-actinolite retrograde skarn of the Tertiary Waripi formation.The Big Gossan stope mine is designed from 2540 m to 3020 m above sea level. Present active stoping operations occur at level 2540 mL to level 2640 mL and are done in a primary and secondary stoping sequence. The width and length of the stopes is 15 m and 20 m respectively, while the height of the stope varies between 20 m and 40 m, depending on the ground conditions. The stability of the stopes is visualised in the Mathew’s Stope Stability graphs. These graphs and actual Cavity Measurement Scanner measurements on the stope will predict and show the overbreak and underbreak, which affect the reconciliation of the mined stope and also the pillar stability between the primary stopes. Geological factors like major structures, joints, veins and alteration intensity are important factors that correlated with the stability of the Big Gossan stopes.CITATION:Sari, K, de Jong, G, Silalahi, P and Sunyoto, W, 2015. Stope stability at the Big Gossan skarn deposit, Papua, Indonesia, in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 139–146 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

Process Options for Difficult Arid-Region Nickel Laterites In the absence of the discovery of significant nickel sulfide deposits, the future of Australia's nickel industry will increasingly depend on cost effect processes for low-grade nickel laterites. The problems encountered with the West Australian HPAL plants, resulting in three of the four plants being shut down, have caused the industry to revisit atmospheric leaching options, particularly heap leaching. West Australian laterites are characteristically very varied in grade, chemical composition and mineralogy with the result that, thus far, one process does not fit all laterites. In this paper the leaching of an especially refractory ore is compared using column leaching of whole ore and atmospheric leaching and HPAL processing of ground ore. The key characteristic is the resistance of the goethite phase to acid attack with low-to-moderate temperature leaching conditions. The refractory characteristic is attributed to the stabilising influence of chromium and aluminium and possibly manganese substitution in the goethite crystal structure and goethite morphology. A significant three-fold increase in both nickel and cobalt extractions under atmospheric leaching conditions was achieved by the relatively simple modification of bubbling sulfur dioxide into the reaction vessel to create a reducing environment. Recoveries increased from <30 per cent to 90 per cent nickel and 86 per cent cobalt after 10 hours of leaching at 95¦C. An even greater improvement was achieved under ambient conditions by heating the ore to temperatures above 250¦C for 30 minutes. Subsequent leaching at ambient temperature gave an eight-fold increase in both nickel and cobalt recoveries after 14 days bottle rolling. Both methods could be optimised and implemented in such a way as to increase laterite reserves in conjunction with a heap leach operation but may be better suited to vat or closed tank processing.

Sep 13, 2010

Various steps, and complete sequences, for the recovery of lead and zinc from a mixed sulphide concentrate, high in silica and pyrite, have been tested.Oxidation steps of roasting in air or in a sulphating atmosphere and use of aqueous acidic, ammoniacal, and near neutral oxidation media were compared. Oxidation roasting or use of acidic media appeared most useful. Procedures for dissolution of zinc from calcines using sulphuric and sulphurous acid to avoid silica gelation problems are compared and a direct leaching procedure with sulphuric 'acid at controlled pH shown to be the most useful.Methods for the removal of germanium, nickel, and magnesium from zinc sulphate solutions prior to zinc electrodeposition were tested. The recoveries of zinc from ammoniacal solutions by electrolysis and distillation are compared.The dissolution of lead compounds from the residue of zinc extraction by amine and ammoniacal ammonium sulphate (AAS) solutions Was tested. Lead, sulphide was precipitated in filtera'ble form from AAS solutions. The reduction of lead sulphate to lead sulphide with sulphur was difficult, but possible. The various steps were used to deveiop five complete processing sequences, of which two were shown to be technically feasible and have potential economic viability.

Jan 1, 1975

Two events during the past decade have combined to effectively alter the role of the geologist working in Papua New Guinea. The gold boom of the 1980s resulted in a substantial increase in the general awareness at village level of mining companies, gold and landowner issues, and as a consequence of the Bougainville tragedy, landowners are also very much aware of the potential problems of a mining operation in their area. Landowners know they have the power to remove a company from a project area, and government has shown itself to be virtually powerless and unable to help the company effectively. During a considerable proportion of a project's development time, the project geologist is viewed in the eyes of the local community as the 'company'. Good landowner relationships are nurtured over a reasonable time period and the input of the geologist is significant in determining the eventual fate of company-landowner relationships. The initial impressions of the company, gathered by the local community, will have a far reaching impact on the nature and direction of their future exchanges with the company.

Jan 1, 1991

By A M. Hagni

Certain copper ores from the Nchanga Copper Mine in the northern Zambia Copperbelt are refractory with respect to conventional beneficiation techniques. This paper reviews recent study of those ores to determine their mineralogy, textures and nature of copper occurrence. Two suites of refractory ores were selected for study: 1.  samples of stockpiled ores from an open pit, and 2.  drill core samples from copper ores. Both sample suites are from the upper orebody at Nchanga and contain about 0.3 - 1.4 per cent copper as determined by atomic absorption, but they represent separate stratigraphic, mineralogical and beneficiation problems. Ore microscopic examination showed that fine-grained copper sulfides are totally lacking from both suites of refractory ores. Petrographic study found malachite in the refractory ores from the open pit, but that malachite probably is post-mine. The opaque mineralogy of the open pit refractory ores is dominated by goethite that occurs mostly as pseudomorphic grains after pyritohedral pyrite crystals that average 200 - 250 ¦m across. Haematite occurs as bands within or as outer shells of the goethite grains. Additional goethite occurs locally as finer-grained areas of exotic goethite. The opaque minerals in the drill core refractory ores are dominated by euhedral ilmenite crystals about 50 - 175 ¦m long. Anatase is the dominant opaque mineral in some drill core samples where it is largely pseudomorphic after ilmenite crystals. Goethite accompanies malachite in unusual drill core refractory ores that have experienced intense hydrothermal alteration. Thus, ore microscopy and petrography showed that fine-grained chalcopyrite and bornite and pre-mine malachite were not the causes of the refractory nature of the ores studied. Electron microprobe revealed that most of the copper occurred in solid solution within micas. Application of automated SEM techniques has provided a detailed understanding of the distribution of copper in these refractory ores.

Jan 1, 2008

In preparing this paper, the writer hopes to achieve two main objects. Firstly, an indication of the desirable features of coke from the viewpoint of a blast furnace operator should be of assistance and value to those connected with coal and coke research, coal mining, the manufacture of coke and the production of iron. Secondly, it is hoped that the conclusions and opinions expressed herein, which are known to be of a controversial nature, will promote some discussion and thought. In this way, other workers may see fit to contribute and enlarge our general knowledge of Australian coke and its behaviour in blast furnaces.Those properties of coke that are considered to be of importance to blast furnace operation will be examined. Although broadly speaking, the composition and characteristics of coke are inherent in the coals used, any special features of coal preparation and carbonization that affect the resultant coke will be discussed. An attempt will also be made to indicate the effect on blast furnace operation of significant irregularities in these properties.THE FUNCTION OF COKE IN A BLAST FURNACECoke has four important functions in a blast furnace:1. To reduce the oxides of iron and other elements to metal and to provide the carbon absorbed by the iron.2. To supply the necessary heat for the process.3. To provide an open supporting structure in which the descending ore and limestone lie exposed to the action of the ascending gas.4. To provide voidage in the bottom of the furnace, so that iron and slag can accumulate in the hearth.

Jan 1, 1957

A short account is given of the theory and practice of determining the true U3O8 content of ore samples by the determination of the beta and gamma activities separately, using the method of Eichholz and his associates.It is shown that, despite the variation of sample activity without change in U3O8 content, the true U3O8 value can still be found.Thorium can be determined simultaneously if this element is also present.

Jan 1, 1957

By J P. Ashby

Compared with elsewhere in the world, New Zealand quarries have tended to be mostly small. The reasons for this are a combination of the relatively high transport costs, low population density and a pioneering, self-employed attitude. The small size of the operations is reflected in low productivity, a tendency to repair and rebuild equipment rather than replace it, designed flexibility in the processing plant, minimal reserves investigation or development planning and a versatile and innovative work force who are generally not professionally trained. The Resource Management Act and the Health, Safety and Employment Act as well as a customer driven demand for higher quality and consistent products will have even greater influence upon future direction of the Industry. The trend will be towards fewer quarries operated by companies and professional managers that can adapt to the new demands.

Jan 1, 1993

By R B. Stewart

Where pasture production is the intended land use of the areas to be reclaimed, the creation of a suitable growing +medium is a major objective. To achieve this land reclaimers require a sound understanding of the proposed mining plan and a knowledge of the physical, biological and chemical properties of materials intended for resurfacing disturbed areas. Where the original soil is not being replaced in its natural state, research is usually required to determine an alternative growing medium. Results from field research conducted on waste material from the Waihi Gold mine are reported with emphasis on the significance of soil depth in relation to pasture production in this environment.  Problems in extrapolating field research to large scale operations are also considered.   Essentially the requirements for successful pasture production, on surrogate growing medium, are akin to conventional approaches used in New Zealand in the development of unimproved agricultural land. High inputs of fertiliser are initially needed, especially where volcanic soil is used, and careful management of pastures and soils is required to minimise soil erosion and create a sustainable system. In the first three to five years of pasture production, grazing use of the land requires to be dictated by pasture availability and soil conditions and not by animal feed requirements. The use of light stock (young dairy or sheep) is recommended.   Successful land restoration requires a team approach by a range of cooperative specialists including engineers, soil scientists, farm managers, agricultural contractors, landscape architects and environmental officers.

Jan 1, 1991

The mineral industry is an important element in the human environment and in varying degrees contributes to the general standard of living throughout most of the world, both by supplying the basic materials required for heavy industry, transportation, construction, scientific equipment, and many labour saving tools and also by its contribution to the international economy.When projecting population growth and per capita resource utilization against a finite amount of nonrenewable mineral resources, it is apparent that at some future time, if the established trend continues, the supply of industrial minerals will progressively become exhausted according to their relative scarcity and world demand.In one way or another all of nature's mineral resources are used in the sel'vice of man. Some of the products of their manufacture are essential to the survival and further development of our civilization, others are luxuries, desirable but not essential. Marine vessels are essential to maintain a flow of resollrces around the world, and as trade increases the size of the fleet will grow and the quantities of metals needed will be greater.The commodities they transport, may be used in an inefficient or extravagant manner causing unnecessary depletion which may adversely affect the activities of future generations. An example that comes readily to mind is fuel oil, the international transport of which uses a vast tanker fleet. When refined, large quantities of motor spirit are used in motor vehicles. The U.S.A. alone uses 70 billion gallons annually in the 90,000,000 automobiles in use.Much of this is used in private cars-of which there is one for every 2'3 people-for transport between home and city. Well organized community transport would serve the same purpose, conserve a scarce commodity, take some of the stress out of livingdriving in a major city can hardly be considered a relaxing experience-and minimize the problem of atmospheric pollution.Whilst man has demonstrated his great versatility...

Jan 1, 1973

Electricity will play a major part in providing energy services in the 21st century. Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), that is accommodating the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations, will provide a focus for optimising the use of electrical energy. Environmental externalities may redefine the cost structure of electricity. Strong corporate environmental management will ensure that current environmental objectives are met and that future ones, identified by the ESD process and environmental externalities accounting, can be developed and implemented by receptive business managers. This paper addresses the current environmental issues of electricity production. It outlines a management strategy for the SECV becoming a community leader in protecting the environment. ESD is discussed in terms of using non-renewable resources wisely, extending their availability and putting in place mechanisms which ensure their ultimate substitution by renewable resources and conservation. The paper explores options for dealing with costing environmental externalities, particularly in relation to greenhouse emissions.

Jan 1, 1992

Recycling and Recovering Fine Particles from Auto Shredding Residue (ASR/SR) to Conserve Raw Materials and Protect Environment

Sep 13, 2010

By A Jewbali, J Phillips, C Boyle

Normal practice in the mining industry is the creation of a single geological model. These models provide a single interpretation of the geological and mineralisation domains. These interpretations infer the exact behaviour of ore domain contacts at shorter scales when resource definition drilling is done on wider scales and are thus locally highly uncertain. The interpreted geological model provides a single number for the volume and tonnes of mineralised material enclosed by the mineralisation envelope. It is on this single number for volume and tonnage that capital intensive mine development decisions (mine design and scheduling, stockpile strategy, waste management, closure planning, dewatering strategy, product quality, etc) are based. Some of these decisions require knowledge of grade variability for small volumes of material such as quarterly production periods. It is generally recognised that this information cannot be derived from single kriged geological models, but can potentially be modelled by conditional simulation techniques. Uncertainty in the extent and continuity of the mineralised envelope and its effect on grade variability for shorter production periods is thus recognised as a major source of uncertainty in new mine development.CITATION:Jewbali, A, Boyle, C and Phillips, J, 2013. Quantifying domain uncertainty for an iron ore deposit, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013 , pp 157-168 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 12, 2013

Development of Process for Beneficiation of Low-Grade Iron Ore Samples from Orissa, India The paper deals with the results of characterisation and beneficiations studies undertaken on two low-grade Indian iron ore samples (IO-1 and IO-2) with a view to develop process for beneficiation of composite of the two samples to a high-grade concentrate, suitable for iron making through pelletisation. Indian iron ores contain relatively high iron but cost effective reduction of alumina within the specified limits has been a challenging task. Characterisation of the samples revealed the ore to be laminated and fine grained with hematite as the major mineral. Clay is the dominating gangue in most of the ore pieces followed by silica. Occasionally goethite and quartz/jasper were recorded. Clay occurs either as patches within the hematite mass or as cavity/fracture fillings. Liberation studies on the representative samples crushed to 2 mm indicated that around 95 per cent of the grains are liberated below 105 micron. Beneficiation of the two individual samples and their composite based on gravity and magnetic separation techniques resulted in products with varying yield and grade of the products. The effects of various process parameters were studied. Granulometry of the feed was observed to be important for improving quality of concentrate. The results of bench-scale studies were validated through pilot-scale continuous trials. Based on the studies undertaken a suitable process was developed for beneficiation of the composite sample, comprising 60 per cent IO-1 and 40 per cent IO-2, to a high-grade product assaying over 65 per cent Fe and material balance was computed. A commercial plant for beneficiation of low-grade iron ore to produce DRI pellet grade concentrate is proposed to be installed.

Sep 13, 2010

The modern Golden Cross mine entered the production phase in January 1992. The project is designed to produce over 100 000 oz/yr of gold and over 300 000 oz/yr of silver during a mine life of eight years. An open pit and an underground mine are operated producing around 850 000 t/yr of ore, to feed a conventional carbon-in-leach processing plant. Golden Cross is owned in joint venture by Coeur Gold New Zealand Limited (80%) and Viking Mining Company Limited (20 %).   Since the start of production several major aspects of the design have altered. The underground mine began as a mechanised cut and fill operation. The cut and fill stoping progresses in 3.3 m flatback lifts with maximum stoping width of 6 m. Where the ore zone is wider than 6 m a post pillar cut and fill method is used. In 1993 a new bench mining plan was introduced between the 270 and 260 levels. Flatbacking continued in the footwall drives in anticipation of variability of the ore width and orientation. The development of levels below the main service 200 level has indicated a possibility of bulk mining the ore block rather than flatbacks. This could lower mining costs but also introduce higher dilution rates. Development is in the advanced stages for trialing this method.

Jan 1, 1994

The effect of conditioning energy input on the metallurgical results of an emulsion flotation process has beenattributed by previous authors to a detergency process.This paper shows that such a process does not explain the data and that an attrition mechanism is more appropriate.

Jan 1, 1970