Search Documents

By J Cook

In this paper we present a case study of the challenges and opportunities associated with the development of cultural heritage management strategies at the Lihir gold mine in Papua New Guinea. We discuss the contextual drivers and constraints, and outline the ways in which Lihir Gold Limited is aiming to set new industry bench marks for the region through the development of values-based best practice cultural heritage management programs. This approach is largely based upon a compliance partnership with a local stakeholder group. We argue that such partnerships are a prudent means of mitigating company risk, while constituting a far more necessary tool for local people in the reconceptualisation and negotiation of the experiences of significant social change and modernisation experienced in the context of recent resource development.

Jan 1, 2009

By J Herd, J Rowe, M Cutbush, d F. Aziz

WearApp provides expertise for assessing the degradation of removable screening media panels on vibrating screens right in a user’s pocket. Through the WearApp application, users can simply take a picture of a panel using their mobile, enter some basic information and have the application assess the wear to provide a recommendation for whether the panel needs to be replaced. Where traditional mechanisms for assessing panel wear only measure a few points across the panel face and rely on having personnel with specialised knowledge available to perform the assessment, WearApp uses deep learning models to analyse the entire panel face and support the user to make an informed decision. The application works through analysing a panel image and using a model to automatically detect the corners of the panel. Given the known dimensions of the panel, this enables the application to calibrate the pixel size against a known reference. A second set of models then detect the apertures and measure their dimensions. With the aperture dimensions defined the application assesses the wear of the panel through referencing a stored 3D model of the aperture. Finally, the data from each aperture is collated and the wear of the entire panel face defined. Since WearApp performs measurement of the entire panel face, it also allows the user to perform a more detailed analysis of the panel’s wear profile. Where typically, the panel wear is only measured in a few locations, WearApp’s analysis enables users to visualise the panel wear across the entire panel face, identifying areas of high wear that could be leading to premature panel replacement. Additionally, because the entire panel face is measured the change in screening efficiency can be calculated accurately for the worn panel, even taking into account the impact of aperture pegging by small rocks.

Sep 1, 2024

By D Pateman, F de Fredrick

The Bentley underground mine, which is located 60km north of Leonora, Western Australia, is owned and operated by Round Oak Minerals Pty Limited. A high-grade Zn-Cu Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) orebody, Bentley was discovered in 2008 with production commencing in 2012. Long-hole open stoping is employed to mine the steeply dipping ore body, and in recent years the Avoca method has been adopted. This requires all development in a particular area of the mine to be completed prior to stoping commencing in a bottom up sequence. Voids are commonly backfilled with loose Run-of-Mine (ROM) waste loose rockfill (LRF); or alternatively cemented rockfill (CRF) can be used. Stopes in the 3860 AOS and 3900 AOS panels were located below previously extracted Avoca zones, with LRF situated immediately above them. These high-grade stopes were originally designed with rib and sill pillars to maintain control of the existing backfill during extraction. Due to changing factors over time, including mining economics, alternative options to achieve full extraction of the stopes were reviewed, including: • Mining small successive full height stopes which would involve drawing a blanket of LRF down with the extracted ore (stoping under waste); • Stabilisation of the existing LRF above the stopes and implementing a primary/secondary stoping sequence, with the primary stopes backfilled using a cement fill. An assessment of these options was undertaken which determined that the second full extraction method was the most beneficial to the operation, and could be achieved using a cement grout (Minova’s FB200 grout) to stabilise the LRF in conjunction with implementing a sequence where the primary stopes would be backfilled with cemented aggregate fill (CAF). Footwall drives were developed adjacent to the rockfilled stopes, allowing for the installation of horizontal grouting conduits, as well as providing access to the top of the planned 3860 and 3900 level stopes for the placement of CAF. An interval at the base of the previously rockfilled stopes was grouted at multiple horizons to achieve the required thickness, with a comprehensive quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) process undertaken. Primary stopes were CAF backfilled via an arrangement of downhole winzes, linking the top of primary stopes to cross-cuts developed off the associated footwall drives. CAF was delivered underground through an open reticulation network that was extended to the specific levels. Overall the successful implementation of the revised mining method effectively increased ore recovery while maintaining control of overbreak and dilution, providing significant financial upside. This was achieved while maintaining effective controls in light of the changes to the risk profile. Stabilisation of the existing rockfill has allowed the extraction of stopes to full height, including the originally designed sill pillars, representing an average 23% increase in ore tonnes on the initial design, with dilution from the stope crowns averaging less than 1%. The use of CAF in association with primary/secondary stoping, eliminating the need for rib pillars, has yielded an average 47% increase in ore tonnes compared to the base case mine design.

Mar 15, 2021

By Johns D. R

The producers of mineral sands on the East Coast of Australia might be regarded as having a simple task of selling Rutile and Zircon. Such is not the case. Differing quality and grain size requirements plus the dramatic increase in the percentage of mineral sold in a processed form have meant a large increase in the number of different end products handled. The resulting sales control problems are compounded by the need to be able to deliver against a large number of separate contracts which may relate to spot or long term sales in small quantities or in bulk shipments. Methods of helping management control this situation have been devised and incorporated into a suite of computer programs. Experience with the approach has been very satisfactory. The effect of changes to shipping schedules, commitment to new or changed orders, or proposed changes to production can be evaluated as and when necessary with little bother. Confidence in decisions taken is high since the process of data collection has been designed to involve

Jan 1, 1977

By D Olwagen, C Stanton, J Gerber

From December 2013 to February 2014 the Southern Middleback Ranges magnetite concentrator went through a successful optimisation process that included the installation of extra grinding power to treat a wider range of ore types. After the initial improvements, sampling surveys were conducted to identify the mineral deportment through the concentrator. Samples collected during the survey were analysed using X-ray fluorescence, quantitative X-ray diffraction and QEMSCAN™ to cross-validate the analysis. Certain streams were also put through a laboratory-scale Davis Tube Recovery washing process to produce clean concentrates for analysis. The QEMSCAN™ analysis identified various metallurgical characteristics (mineral association, particle sizes, grain sizes, particle densities, etc) and these were evaluated for each separation and comminution stage to both understand the processes involved and identify opportunities for improvement. Key findings from the investigation indicated the importance of understanding the elemental deportment of target elements throughout the various minerals. The standard practice of tracking iron deportment through assay provided misleading results on losses to tail through the plant. The investigation provided insight into both wanted and unwanted minerals and the efficiency of each separation stage. The efficiencies of separation are critical due to their impact on downstream capacity, and the investigation provided insight into where opportunities exist to extract more benefit. The findings of the geometallurgical analysis have been implemented on the concentrator, and improvements in the rejection of non-magnetic minerals have been seen.CITATION:Gerber, J, Stanton, C and Olwagen, D, 2015. Using geometallurgy during process optimisation activities at the Southern Middleback Ranges magnetite concentrator, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 561–566 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

By S Hayton

While coal seam gas is considered to be an unconventional gas, the proliferation of areas under exploration and development mean that it is rapidly becoming main stream. The potential of New Zealand's coals to produce coal seam gas has been recognised for some time. However, key market drivers have not been suitable for the progression of this potential into reality. Kenham Holdings Ltd and CRL Energy Ltd, recognising the potential for the gas in New Zealand have initiated what is the largest ever assessment of New Zealand's coal seam gas potential. The premature demise of the giant Maui field has raised the focus of new gas developments and has increased interest in what we are doing. Over the past couple of years Kenham Holdings Ltd and CRL Energy Ltd have approached the assessment of the coal seam gas potential in a staged programme. Preliminary assessment of the data on the permit areas indicates that the potential resource may be up to 500 PJ. To date, preliminary appraisals have been completed or are underway on a significant number of fields. Exploratory drilling has been completed or initiated on several of those fields, with results from this work being fed into the preliminary modelling as it has become available. Given that in many of these areas there is no pre-existing information concerning their gas potential and world wide experience with lignite is practically nonexistent, it has been a steep learning curve with many surprises. However, initial gas content results and preliminary gas flow models have been on the whole, rather pleasing, with the commerciality of some developments already apparent.

Jan 1, 2003

By A Hughes, J Agius, T Ferguson, A Parbhakar-Fox, D Lester, L M. Jackson

Management of historic tailings is a major challenge facing the mining industry and its regulators. However, through improved mineralogical and chemical characterisation of such materials the opportunity to develop better rehabilitation strategies arises. Microanalytical techniques including microscopy, mineral liberation analysis and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) allow for improved tailings characterisation – but the challenge posed by these techniques is how to use them effectively. Additionally, data sets collected by such techniques must be properly integrated, only then can they assist in the identification of the most appropriate rehabilitation strategies. A study conducted at the Old Tailings Dam (OTD) located at the Savage River Mine, Tasmania allowed for the integrated use of several microanalytical techniques to help evaluate the benefits of a shallow water cover as a potential rehabilitation strategy. Samples (n = 144) from 14 trenches and 11 boring cores (2 m maximum depth) were collected across the OTD. These were subjected to routine acid-base accounting, with a subset subjected to detailed mineralogy using a modified sulfide alteration index (SAI), X-ray diffractometry and mineral liberation analysis (MLA). In addition, representative samples (n = 6) from across the OTD were subjected to laser-ablation ICPMS to characterise the pyrite chemistry. Our results showed that tailings in the northern area submerged under a natural water cover were relatively unoxidised from approximately 1 m depth, with SAI values of 1 to 2. Tailings from the subaerial southern portion were extensively oxidised to approximately 35 cm depth (SAI = maximum 5.8), with fresher materials observed underneath (SAI = 5 to 5.8). Pyrite from across the OTD is enriched in Co, Cu and Ni. Through the integrated application of microanalytical tools, we determined that establishing a water cover of at least 1.5 m depth across the OTD is a suitable rehabilitation option for this historic site. However, consideration for the reprocessing of these tailings to extract Co should be further investigated.CITATION:Jackson, L M, Parbhakar-Fox, A, Hughes, A, Agius, J, Ferguson, T and Lester, D, 2015. Microanalytical evaluations of the savage river old tailings dam, north-?west Tasmania, in Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century , pp 111–124 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 27, 2015

By J Heyes, T Cooper, M Stimpfl, R Staines, J P. Pearce

Acid and Metalliferous Drainage (AMD) is one of the key risks facing the mining industry worldwide. If not properly managed and/or not identified in a timely manner, AMD has the potential to decrease environmental values for generations to come. Ore extraction generates vast volumes of mineral waste (waste rock and tailings) which are stored in perpetuity at the mine site. Some of these materials are not inert and when in contact with air and water can react, generating poor quality water and compromising operational and closure environmental objectives. Understanding the geochemical behaviour of waste rock and tailings is therefore key to identifying risks and opportunities which support effective mineral waste management strategies across the mining value chain and progress toward an environmentally sustainable future that minimises closure liabilities. To ensure AMD risk is recognised and managed uniformly across its portfolio, BHP developed a Global AMD Management Standard for implementation across all operations, including closed sites. The AMD Management Standard provides a management framework to support the consistent, simple and sustainable global management of AMD risks. This ensures mines are planned and operated to be environmentally smart and modern, geochemical risk management is not an afterthought but a key driver, and environmental sustainability is actively pursued to reduce closure liabilities. The AMD Management Framework, on which the Standard is based, was adapted from industry leading practice guidance, ensuring it applies to multiple regions. The framework also comprises sequential requirements throughout the mining life-cycle. It is an iterative framework with an adaptive management approach that is designed to incorporate new data, information and management opportunities into AMD risk assessments and mine plan revisions.

Jul 1, 2021

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 K M. P Singh, K M. K Sinha, G S. Jha, T Gouricharan, K K. Sharma

The majority of the powerplants in India are fed with non-coking coals, with the coals dispatched from their respective mines via wagons loaded by a rapid loading system or pay loader. The usual top size of coal is 200 mm and sampling is carried out manually from wagons. The manual method of wagon top sampling of large size raw coal is not only difficult, but also violates some of the fundamental principles of sampling. As per sampling requirements, samples are to be drawn from the full depth of the wagons, which is impossible to be done manually. Since the ash distribution in the different size fractions is not homogeneous, the results from the samples, which do not reflect the true size distribution of the lot, are likely to be biased. More importantly, sample collection by shovel from the top is a function of human discretion and not governed by the equiprobability rule. In another case, the sample has been collected by a cross belt-type auto mechanical sampler for 200 mm size coal at one of the super thermal power stations. Test analysis shows that coal collected using a cross belt-type mechanical sampler also has significant deviations from stopped belt coal samples of 200 mm size due to size segregation. Studies carried out on wagon top sampling through specially designed experiments reveal some interesting features. The presence of bias in wagon top sampling is apparent when compared with the ‘stopped belt’ sample. In this paper, a comparative study between manual wagon top sampling/auto mechanical sampling with respect to stopped belt sampling has been conducted for coal of size 200 mm. In addition, precision studies have been performed for wagon top sampling/mechanical sampling for Indian thermal powerplants.CITATION:Sinha, K M K, Sharma, K K, Jha, G S, Singh, K M P and Gouricharan, T, 2014. A comparative study of manual wagon top sampling and auto mechanical sampling of 200 mm size coal with respect to stopped belt sampling of thermal coal at Indian super thermal powerplants, in Proceedings Sampling 2014 , pp 43–48 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 29, 2014

I was delighted to be invited to be patron of this Joint Conference, but the challenging task you have set yourselves, and your speakers' depth of expertise, deny anyone, even the patron, the opportunity to be patronizing. Australia's history has been inextricably link- ed with the fortunes of our great mining industry. That link will remain. Just as the gold rushes of the last century, and the discoveries at Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill changed the lives of generations, so the more recent development activity in iron ore, bauxite, nickel, coal, and uranium are having a significant impact on the lives of Australians today. The minerals industry has contributed to Aust- ralia's jobs and prosperity. Mining is not free of problems, but so long as safeguards are strong and appropriate the net benefits the mining in- dustry brings Australia will continue to be enor- mous. We rely on our mining industry to find, prove, develop and sell our minerals profitably, and my Government is committed to maintaining a healthy mining industry.

Jan 1, 1978

By P Holtham, R Dunne, D Stoll

Flash flotation is a process designed to remove coarse, liberated, fast floating minerals from hydrocyclone underflow. Irrespective of liberation, coarse particles would normally remain in a grinding circuit until they are reground fine enough to report to the hydrocyclone overflow. Additionally, minerals of high density also report to hydrocyclone underflow despite being fine in size and/or liberated because hydrocyclones separate on the characteristics of both particle size and density. Dense particles continually reporting to the hydrocyclone underflow can lead to over-grinding and the production of ultra fine particles. These particles exhibit slow flotation kinetics and thus are difficult to float in conventional flotation circuits. Therefore, removing coarse, liberated particles from the hydrocylcone underflow by flash flotation has the potential to improve recovery and can improve dewatering unit operations and reduce grinding costs.The impact on the overall performance of the flotation circuit by removing coarse, fast floating minerals prior to conventional flotation is not well understood. Ultimately, predicting the overall recovery improvement provides the justification for the installation of a flash flotation cell within the milling circuit. This paper will describe attempts to estimate flash flotation recovery improvements to the overall circuit using kinetic data from simplified batch cell flotation tests combined with limn-based modelling techniques.CITATION:Stoll, D, Dunne, R and Holtham, P, 2012. Modelling the impact of flash flotation from batch cell flotation tests using limn, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill OperatorsÆ Conference, pp 179-184 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 29, 2012

By S G. Li

Mine intelligent ventilation is an important guarantee to realise intelligent mining. It is the integration of the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, internet, cloud computing with ventilation technology, forming a complete ventilation system with intelligent perception, intelligent decisionmaking, intelligent emergency response and airflow control. In order to fully grasp the progress and trends of mine intelligent ventilation research in western China. The paper based on literature analysis and field application research, comprehensively expounds the main research and practical results of mine intelligent ventilation in western China, mainly analyses the development status of key technologies such as accurate and rapid determination of mine ventilation parameters, intelligent analysis and decision-making of ventilation and intelligent regulation of ventilation equipment, and introduces the field test or application of mine intelligent ventilation technology in western China. It lays the foundation reference for related research and improving the intelligent level of mine ventilation.

Oct 12, 2022

By S Saydam

Professional engineers need to be able to apply university learning to practice. In particular, they have to take responsibility for interactions between technical systems and the complex social environments in which they operate. The most effective way of building this competency is through active experiential learning. We have been developing an advanced educational integrated simulation system to provide mining engineering students with an interactive and immersive learning experience that is not otherwise possible. This will give students an authentic experience in working with industry software packages, while also contextualising the learning in terms of the broader and longer-term impact of technical decisions. We have been piloting the system, in undergraduate courses in order to establish its effectiveness in building systems thinking competencies for mining engineering. For postgraduate students and professionals, the same tools and methods can support studies of more challenging and complex scenarios where mining engineers have to place their decisions within complex global industry contexts.

Nov 22, 2011

By R Stead

So many ceramics look the same, but are they?In the past 20 years, there have been significant changes in the materials available, as well as changes to the supply chain, for ceramics used in wear applications in the hard rock mining industry. The biggest change in supply has been from the Chinese market, with many suppliers promoting their products as æstate of the artÆ. Some of them are state of the art, but are they all? There will be some concluding remarks in this respect.There are still some outstanding new developments coming from the more traditional suppliers and these should not be ignored. However, as an end user, how can one be sure that the product received meets the technical specifications of that material?This paper will address some of the questions on how to differentiate between different materials by giving a technical overview of the current (but not exclusive) range of popular ceramics, plus incorporating how these ceramics are used in process plant products by presenting case studies. The presentation will include technical data coupled with micrographs of various ceramics to illustrate just why they are different.It will also be shown that by careful selection of the wear material, it is possible to gain significant benefit when using superior materials in an ore processing plant. The impact of cost of the products, life, process efficiency, and reduced maintenance costs will be considered using cyclone components as an example.The properties (including the microstructures) of the various ceramics will be compared to the application in order to get some understanding of what is considered good or bad.Misra and Finnie (1982) summarised their paper, æA review of Abrasive Wear of MetalsÆ by saying:à it is difficult to give guidelines for selecting materials for abrasive wear resistance. Each application is a different one, and a design engineer has to take into account various other factors such as impact, fatigue and corrosion which are often coupled with abrasive wear. The same applies to ceramics.CITATION:Stead, R, 2013. Applications of ceramic wear materials in the gold industry, in Proceedings World Gold 2013, pp 325-330 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013

The interaction between ore-bearing fluids and the siliciclastic rocks typically hosting orogenic gold deposits in Phanerozoic metamorphic terrains result in the development of a distinctive alteration halo. Along with petrological changes such as the replacement of chlorite by carbonate and the growth of sericite, characteristic geochemical modifications take place within this alteration envelope. These include variations in elemental abundances and more or less pronounced shifts in the H, C, N, O, and S isotopic signature of the ore system. æFingerprintingÆ these isotopic trends can provide exploration with additional vectors towards the ore zone, and yields valuable information regarding the source of the hydrothermal fluids and the solutes contained therein. Data from radiogenic isotope systems such as Sr-Rb, Ar-Ar, Xe-Ra, Pb-Pb, Re-Os, Sm-Nd, and U-Pb can constrain the kinematic history of ore-hosting structures, provide important clues concerning the absolute timing of gold emplacement, and enable the detailed characterisation of associated intrusives with respect to their magma source(s) and crystallisation age. Although high analytical costs, long turn-around times and the potential for misinterpretation prevent isotope systems from offering a æquick & dirtyÆ analytical method that would provide a significant advantage in exploration for orogenic gold mineralisation, the development of integrated four-dimensional ore genesis models depends heavily on constraints obtained from isotope mass spectrometry.

Jan 1, 2002

The objectives of mining grade control are presented and examples of the techniques used in various open pit and underground mines are used to define the attributes of good grade control. Reasons are discussed for the success of various improved practices. The progressive development of grade control is presented and the balance between quantitative and qualitative data is analysed. The skills and resources required for grade control on mine sites that are using best practice are also presented. A number of problems in grade control have been solved recently however there are still issues that need to be addressed. Examination of the grade control process frequently stops after sample quality has been examined. There is much more beyond this that can now be optimised using conditional simulation models. Other future directions of mining grade control are also suggested. An extensive bibliography of published papers on grade control is included that will be maintained and updated on a website.

Jan 1, 2000

By P Nichols, C te Kloot, A Harrison

Ernest Henry mine (EHM) is a sub-level caving operation located in north-west Queensland, Australia. Located below a previously mined open pit, the underground operation ramped up production to 6.8Mt/a in 2017. The EHM ore body dips at 45 degrees to the South and therefore requires each level to “step out” from the level above as seen in Figure 1. Within this step out zone it is important to both maximise recovery and allow for efficient operation of the underground workings production to bring the level up to full production as quickly as possible. Throughout the step out design process, a combination of further defining the ore boundary, using lessons learnt from production performance on upper levels and the introduction of design improvements, has reduced the production ramp-up time, decreased costs and increased recovery for a single level at EHM. CITATION: Nichols, P, te Kloot, C and Harrison, A, 2018. Case study – Ernest Henry Mine: designing step out zones in an inclined sub-level cave, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 53–54 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

To ensure that its voice is heard in the development of policies and plans under the Resource Management Act, the mining industry is challenged to participate in their preparation. This paper outlines a number of practical ways in which the industry can participate in debate on sustainable management and how it can be put into practice within the industry.

Jan 1, 1992

Thermal method of diagnostic as a nondestructive monitoring is based on data logging of infrared radiation from heated surface or from the associated thermal field. Monitoring of gearcases and motors hidden faults, such as, bearing degradation (deep-seated wears and tears, fretting wear, spalling and jamming solids of revolution) is closely related to high variations in temperature. The use of portable thermal imaging devices provides considerable advantages due to: easy remote access to the unit under test even when it is operating; minimum time required to obtain information and an opportunity for a real-time diagnosis of the tested subject's condition.

Dec 6, 2010