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By Voss Smith F, Matters C. W, Slee R. T, Coldham JC, Davies HW, Wallman H. H

The Committee desires to thank the managers of the various mines along the line of lode for their hearty co-operation in its labours. It would also extend thanks to Messrs. J. O. Moulden, Howchin, Twelvetrees, and the West Australian Geological Survey for various information; to Messrs. J. G. Dreyer, S. Pope, T. Read, P. Moncrieff, R. Williams, and W. J. Rose for analyses; and to a number of local gentlemen for advice and help. Professor Skeats, of the Melbourne University, gave much valued assistance in petrology, and Mr. Herbert Lavers kindly undertook the study of the garnets.INTRODUCTIONThe famous Broken Hill lode is situated in a low range of hills, the Barrier Ranges, near the western border of New South Wales. It has been worked since 1884-first for, silver, then for silver and lead, and at present for lead, silver, and zinc. No excuse seems necessary for placing before members even an imperfect report on the geological features of this notable ore deposit, since so little work has been done on the subject as to constitute almost a national reproach. This is the more deplorablesince the evidence laid open by mining operations is destroyed almost as soon as it is exposed, and there exists the real need of a continuous and connected record of geologieal developments.

Jan 1, 1911

The perception of the mining industry in the Australian community has changed considerably over the last four decades. This has been partly brought about by changing values and expectations of the Australian community as well as by global factors. The legal environment for the Australian mining industry has undergone significant changes. Among them, the High Court's Mabo decision which confirmed native title rights as part of the common law and environmental legal developments are dealt with particularly. It is suggested that the Australian legal environment is not necessarily the prime cause for Australian mining companies taking their investment off shore. This is a summary on how native title impacts on land tenements and some of the major issues that emerged since the `Mabo decision' and the Native Title Act 1993 are discussed. Environmental legal developments have resulted in liability facing directors and senior management in compliance matters .and in operating mining and other businesses because of changes in community expectations. In the next decade it is suggested there will be many drivers for more changes in the legal environment. Some of these are touched on including the changing roles of the Commonwealth and State Governments, the High Court as -law-makers and the changing relationships with indigenous people in Australia and in overseas countries. The changing legal environment for mining demands a national approach in many areas on the proposition that resource based industries are part of a national industry. The uniform law approach among the States has been taking place but this needs to further. An appropriate task force should be forward to review the entire legal structure and regulations affecting mining on a national rather than a State basis . The mining industry will need to work with expectations of a changing community which have powerful, but sometimes contradictory, interest groups.

Jan 1, 1997

Lime is the common reagent used for pH control in cyanide gold circuits. Lime can be supplied as either quicklime (CaO) or 'hydrated lime(Ca(OH)2). Both are dry powders with variable flow properties. These properties demand special attention when designing machin- ery to handle them.

Jan 1, 1987

By R McDonough

DTL2 contract C916 was awarded in March 2009 for S$340 M. This contract includes two mass rapid transit (MRT) 1100?m long bored tunnels using two slurry tunnel boring machines (TBMs), with an internal diameter of 5.8?m, two cross passages and 135?m of cut-and-cover tunnels The contract also includes the design and construction of a new underground station including station entrances, subway links, architectural finishes and external landscaping. The station, located at Upper Bukit Timah Road near Jalan Jurong Kechil will also double as a civil defence shelter.The works included significant traffic management in a dense urban area in order to create the working areas whilst keeping the requisite number of traffic lanes. This involved numerous utility diversions and included the removal of a 33-year-old pedestrian overhead bridge (POB) over busy Bukit Timah Road. The station and tunnelling works were completed on time, including a ‘dock and dismantle’ TBM retrieval and subsequent breakthrough of the separating wall.This paper will detail the methods and solutions used to construct the tunnels and stations, with a focus on the requirements for construction of the station to be a civil defence shelter if required. This involved solutions to tying reinforcement and placing concrete to high standards in a restricted space, as well as the incorporation of heavy blast doors and other associated protective measures. The efforts of the management team resulted in the project being awarded first prize in the 2011 Land Transport Authority’s Annual Safety Award Convention and being named winner of the Safety and Health Award Recognition for Projects (SHARP) award at the 2011 Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Awards. As well, McConnell Dowell won a Green and Gracious Builder Award (Excellent Category) from the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).CITATION:McDonough, R, 2014. Design and construction contract C916 Beauty World Station and Tunnels, Singapore, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 411–418 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

To form a true picture of the early history of Queensland, we must think of white settlement advancing like an incoming tide, wave by wave; each wave lapping ahead a little further than the last. The credit for opening up the country belongs to a large number of pioneers, each of whom pushed out just a little further than his predecessors.Contrary to what one might expect, Rockhampton district was settled by overlanders from the south and not from the ocean side. When the Archers, the pioneers of the Rockhampton district, reached Gracemere in 1853, settlement had already made its way down the valley of the Dawson River; for it was from Leith Hay's station at Rannes (a few miles below Mount Morgan) that the Archers advanced northward into the unknown, to find the river that the explorer, Ludwig Leichhardt, had told them must enter the sea somewhere near the Tropic of Capricorn.The Archers travelled northward from Rannes up the valley of the Dee, coming out on the edge of the Razorback Range not very far from the point at which the Dawson Valley Highway drops over into Poison Creek. (Their diary records the bearings from a lookout point to various peaks around Rockhampton, and to-day, by plotting back from these peaks, we can determine the exact spot at which they descended on to the Fitzroy Flats.) We can be certain, then, that they must have been the first white men to set eyes on Mount Morgan; though to them it would have seemed to be nothing more than an insignificant hill...

Jan 1, 1939

The subject of heat sources in deep hard rock mines, the limitation of forced ventilation to cope with these heat loads and the sizing of refrigeration plants to boost the cooling effect of the ventilation air are discussed. The development of plant selection criteria and operating experience at North Broken Hill Limited is outlined. Future options for North Broken Hill Limited and like deep mines are summarised.

Jan 1, 1982

Opencast blasting is notoriously subject to variable blasting conditions, some of which are related to changes in ground conditions and some to human and equipment factors. As drilling and blasting constitute a high proportion of working costs, control in this area is crucial for good management. During a recent exercise, wireline logging of blastholes was shown to have the potential to provide invaluable data for optimising blasting control and design. The paper reports on the exercise undertaken, showing that serious misconceptions as to the borehole diameters, explosive densities and posi- tions of decking were quickly corrected using the method. Potential use in blast design is discussed, as are the cost implications.

Jan 1, 1988

By Y Hansen, J Petrie

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used as a decision-support tool within mining and minerals processing and metals production. However, a number of initiatives have highlighted the current limitations of LCA to accurately reflect the environmental performance of minerals and metals. These programs include:the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable development project (Stewart, 2001); the United Nations Environment Programmme/Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (UNEP/SETAC) workshop on LCA and metals (NRCan, 2002); the UNEP SETAC Life Cycle Initiative; and the review of the existing ISO 14 040 set of environmental management standards. Together, these initiatives highlighted concerns relating to the ability of LCA to engage with and support metals recycling, to adequately reflect the impacts associated with products from a multi-product orebody, the ability to adequately reflect the toxicity potential of metals in the natural environment and the fact that resource depletion focuses on mining (and not consumption) as the depleting activity in the life cycle of a metal. Additional impact categories to be included in LCA were also suggested. In this paper we demonstrate how existing initiatives are addressing LCA limitations. Finally we present the state of the art in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) for two impact categories:resource depletion; and impacted land footprint for solid wastes.

Jan 1, 2004

The different stages of the metallurgical evaluation of an ore resource and their importance to overall project evaluation are described. Particular emphasis is placed on the liaison that is necessary between the different members of the project team from the preliminary exploration phase through to the completion of the final feasibility study. Metallurgical input at the earliest stage is recommended. The incorporation of metallurgical and marketing data into ore reserve statements and the effect of the metallurgical evaluation on ore reserve classifications are discussed.

Jan 1, 1987

By Callaghan T

The Henty Gold Mine is located approximately 30 km north of Queenstown, at the head waters of the Henty River on the west coast of Tasmania at 41¦50'S, 145¦40'E on the Queenstown (SK 55-5) 1:250 000 and Sophia (8014) 1:100 000 map sheets (Figure 1). The mine is accessed from Queenstown along the A10 Highway and Anthony's Road. The town of Queenstown is located 260 km north west of Hobart on the A10 Highway, and

Jan 1, 1997

By P Benjamin, H Bohannan, C Farr

Geoffrey Blainey's historical account of the mining activity on the west coast of Tasmania, æThe Peaks of LyellÆ documents the changes over 130 years of activity in the region. Commissioned by the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company, emphasis is placed upon the development of the Mount Lyell Mine in Queenstown. Chapter 19 æWidening HorizonsÆ details the review the Mount Lyell Company undertook in 1904/05 to ensure the future of the operation, following the pessimistic outlook regarding diminishing reserves and poor grade ore. The analogies documented between the Mount Lyell Company at that time, and Gold Mines of Australia 90 years on are remarkable, with both companies demonstrating a commitment to the Mount Lyell area through active exploration, the proactive search for alternative technology and the recognition of the valuable human resource. As Blainey writes (Blainey, 1993), æwith its expanding chemical works, its huge Tasmanian mines, its railways and smelter, its coke works and its mine crusade, Mount Lyell was probably one of the nation's five great industrial companies in 1906 or 1907. This brief phase of industrial and mining expansion had its seed in the threat of extinction . . .Æ After a number of reprieves, the Mount Lyell mine did stop production in 1994, but that only provided an impetus for a review and rebirth.

Jan 1, 1998

Anglo Platinum recognised with its expanded operations the need to change its evaluation strategy due to increased sample volumes and the pressure it created at laboratories. The sender/receiver analytical scenarios had to change in order to curb costs and to prevent substantial investments in new sampling and analytical facilities. Given the high cost associated with correct sampling systems and sampling protocols and the shortage of technical resources a strategy of single point sampling and analysis was introduced. The analysis was then done at an ISO17025 accredited laboratory with ten per cent checks, subjected to careful statistical scrutiny. Logistical problems increased with respect to weighbridge congestion, maintaining sampling quality, throughput of samples in the sample preparation areas, manual quality control systems in place, audit trails and analytical capacity throughout all operations. This required the expedited improvement of existing sampling practices and the development of new sampling methods and equipment. Anglo Platinum is classifying and standardising sampling equipment, sample preparation and analytical procedures for all process streams with the view to minimise overall uncertainties. Major investments were made into a customised LIMS and automated equipment for data management, reduction of manual transcription errors and streamlining of sample processing. Anglo Platinum is committed in rolling out the enhancements to all sites as priority dictates.

Jan 1, 2008

By H Esterhuizen, W Hartman

Rockfalls or significant deterioration of mine openings can have significant safety and financial impacts for mining operations. The failure of drives in underground mines sometimes highlight deficiencies in the mine risk management systems in detecting geotechnical hazards and to prevent events that can have significant impact. Consequences from these failures includes fatalities, injuries, loss of revenue, additional cost, and potentially a loss in Ore Reserves. Where the impacts are severe, it also affects families and communities linked to the operation. The assessment of underground excavations requires consideration of the full range and spectrum of geotechnical hazards, design aspects, ground support, layouts and sequences. Where the assessment of these are insufficient or incorrect, it can result in drive failures. Care must be taken that meeting production targets and personnel pressures do not result in a situation where production take preference over a proper risk-based assessment of the drives to be mined. The risk management approach is now widely accepted in the mining industry for the control and management of risks in underground mines. Codes of Practices (COP’s), Ground Control Management Plans (GCMP), Principal Hazard Management Plans (PHMP’s) and technical guidance documents has become the norm for describing the mines main hazards, risk levels and intimating controls for safe passage of vehicles and mine personnel. However, where there is a disconnect between these documents and what is actually being done at the mine site, the COP’s and/or Management Plans become ineffective (or vice versa). This disconnect may occur due to the actual content of these documents, a lack of resources, or a lack of understanding about the implementation. There is therefore a need for sites to have a documented and implemented risk-based approach for assessing underground mine development. This approach or system needs to identify all hazards and other factors affecting mine development stability early on in the design process, and outline the risk classification and controls required. This paper presents an amalgamation and modification of previous processes for a Geotechnical Risk Management System for Underground Mine Development. CITATION:Hartman, W and Esterhuizen, H, 2018. A geotechnical risk assessment tool for underground mine drives, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 235–253 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By A Yame, P J. Pollard, E Atase, J Garu, M Tangwari, D R. Hastings, R W. Smillie

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. The Townsville prospect is situated approximately 4 km north of the Ok Tedi copper-gold mine in Western Province, Papua New Guinea. Drilling in the 1990s delineated a resource of >1 Moz of gold within shallow, skarn breccia-hosted mineralisation associated with quartz-carbonate infill, together with pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, galena, tennantite-tetrahedrite, arsenopyrite, marcasite, and a variety of Au-, Ag- and Bi-telluride minerals. The deepest of these historical holes (TVL034) also intersected copper-gold-silver mineralisation more than 100 m below the gold-rich zone that is associated with calc-silicate skarn breccia. Although copper-gold-silver mineralisation in DDHTVL034 is associated with clinopyroxene-rich skarn, it was also noted that garnet in the skarn breccia became progressively darker in colour with depth, ranging from green at shallow levels to dark red-brown at depth. This indicated that the skarn breccia is zoned, with more proximal garnet skarn at depth possibly indicating an association with porphyry-style copper-gold mineralisation.Based on this skarn zonation model, recent drilling at the Titan prospect, located approximately 500 m south of TVL034, was targeted at potential copper-gold silver mineralisation beneath shallow skarn breccia-hosted gold mineralisation. DDHTVL 081 intersected 46 m at 6.36 g/t Au from 68 m and 80.7 m and 1.67 per cent Cu, 1.27 g/t Au and 20.32 g/t Ag from 184 m. Exploration is now attempting to define the extent of copper-gold-silver mineralisation by defining structural controls on the skarn breccia together with paragenetic and mineral zoning data.CITATION:Smillie, R W, Pollard, P J, Hastings, D R, Yame, A, Tangwari, M, Garu, J and Atase, E, 2015. Exploration of the Townsville Cu-Au-Ag skarn, western province, Papua New Guinea – preliminary observations of paragenesis and zoning, in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 593–600 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

Although laterite ores already provide a significant proportion of the world's nickel and cobalt production it is anticipated that they will surpass sulphide ores as a source of nickel in the next century. The most recent period of greenfield nickel project construction was during the 1970s when it was notable that all of the eight new plants were based on treating laterite ores. This was because of the relatively large selection of available high grade laterite ore deposits amenable to cheap open cast mining and a paucity of high grade sulphide ore prospect alternatives. Of the three processing options for treating laterite ores: 1. smelting for the lower horizon saprolite ore, 2. ammonia; and 3. acid leach for the upper horizon limonite ore, smelting currently accounts for about 80 per cent of nickel production. In the future, as saprolite ore grades decline because of relatively high exploitation rates, the incentive to process the large untapped reserves of limonite ore will increase. The high cobalt content of limonite ore also makes it ideally suited to processing by a hydrometallurgical rather than smelting route. With only two exceptions, all saprolite smelting operations have a Class 2 nickel end product (largely ferronickel) and do not produce a cobalt by-product. As a result of technological advances, the modified ammonia leach process for limonite and transition ore as undertaken at Yabulu, now allows the production of pure nickel metal as a Class 1 product, along with significant tonnages of cobalt by-product. The mixed Ni-Co sulphide intermediate product of the pressure acid leach processing of limonite ore at Mon is converted to Class 1 nickel and cobalt metal at Fort Saskatchewan, Canada.

Jan 1, 1996

A pilot plant has been constructed for the low temperature carboni-zation of Wallarah (N,S,W6) coal at the rate of 300 pounds per hour. The plant was built and tested at Australian Mineral Development Laboratories for Broken Hill Pty, Ltd. Char product was required within the specifi-cation 15.5 `S' 1 per cent volatile matter. The design was based c atz an entrained state carbonizer developed by Parry and U.S. Bureau of Mines co-workers at Denver, U.S.A. The method involved the carbonizatioan of fine coal by entrainment with air in an externally heated reactor.. The heat required for carbonization of tits coal was supplied to the be, both through the reactor walls and also by internal cambustion of products .

Jan 1, 1963

Outbursts of coal and gas are coupled both in their nature and mechanism and take place under varied sets of physical and geological conditions. The main interacting factors are geology and seam structure, seam gas composition and pressure and strata stress. By pre-draining the seam gas in advance of workings one of the factors contributing to outbursts is removed. One method of pre- draining gas from the coal seam or from areas of geological disturbance is to drill long horizontal holes in the coal seam. The technology to drill horizontal holes up to 600 m in the coal seam is now available by hydraulic control of the rotation and thrust on the drill bit and accurate survey methods to determine the vertical and horizontal position of the drill bit.

Jan 1, 1980

This paper passes on some personal insights into what helps to make a well-executed feasibility study. Lessons learned are illustrated with examples from the authorÆs experience. Lessons include the place of the preliminary feasibility study, credibility, ore reserves, the use of expert consultants, responsibilities and challenges for the ownerÆs representative, technical tools for the study manager, the human side of project organisation and dealing with technical auditors.

Jan 1, 1998

Since 1958 there have been 16 major coal mine explosions in the U.S. claiming 323 lives. Whilst the exact cause of a number of these incidents has not been determined, the majority has involved gas ignitions in one way or another. In addition there have been fatal gas explosions in salt mines and vapor explosions in oil mines. Furthermore, many of the oil shale mines in the U.S. have proven to be gassy giving cause for concern. Compounding these problems is the fact that frictional ignition of methane in coal mines has dramatically increased over the past several years; over 100 such ignitions were reported in 1979. While, no fatalities have been attributed to frictional ignition in the U.S. since early 1978, a recent mine explosion in Nova Scotia which resulted in 11 fatalities was attributed to a frictional face ignition. Research being conducted at the Bureau of Mines is aimed at the prevention and suppression of gas explosions. Emphasis is placed on new coal cutter bits for reducing ignition frequency, machine-mounted water sprays for preventing frictional face ignitions and automatic devices for quenching incipient ignitions and fully developed gas explosions.

Jan 1, 1981

By Cordner G. D

Titanium is not yet being produced on a commercial scale despite the facts that it has some impressive properties, and that it occurs very abundantly in easily-mined, highgrade oxide ores. One important reason for this is that the excellent mechanical properties of the metal were not widely recognised and appreciated until about twenty years ago.Another factor which has tended to retard progress in titanium metallurgy has been the realization that the oxide minerals of titanium are very stable; in other words, considerable energy has to be expended to reduce the oxide to metal. Table 1 presents the minimum energies which would have to be expended to produce one ton of each of the metals, aluminium, magnesium, titanium and iron from their respective oxides under theoretically ideal conditions at normal temperature and pressure. At higher temperatures, the minimum energy requirements are different, but the values for the various metals still fall in the same order as indicated in Table 1.In actual fact, the energy consumption in the case of any particular metal is higher than the ideal value by an amount which can be determined only by' the results of plant practice. The only general conclusion that can be drawn from the data in Table 1 is that it might eventually prove...

Jan 1, 1950