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Access to secure and reliable water resources is fundamental to the minerals industry. In recognition of that requirement, and cognisant of extensive contemporary public water debate and reform initiatives in Australia, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) approached the Ministerial Council on Mineral and Petroleum Resources (MCMPR) proposing the establishment of a Joint Working Group to prepare a framework of strategic principles to ensure responsible water management at a site and corporate level, manage risks and identify opportunities. The Framework provides high-level guidance on issues that should be addressed in water decision making across Australia in relation to mining and associated processing operations. It identifies principles and objectives for adoption in four areas, viz: valuing water, strategic water planning, implementation, and engaging stakeholders. Given the high level nature of the Framework, and its national application, it does not seek to replicate detailed guidelines already widely available in each state and territory on operational water management practices and associated regulatory issues at mine sites. The Framework includes a series of case studies from across Australia that demonstrate where strategic thinking, wise water management and close consultation with stakeholders has delivered better water use, more profitable operations and excellent community/stakeholder relationships. The Framework was formally launched on behalf of MCMPR by the Western Australian Minister for Resources at the MCAÆs Sustainable Development Conference in Perth in October 2006. No full paper available for this extended abstract

Jan 1, 2006

By Smith I. T

Mine operators have long recognised that the results achieved in primary blasting are critical to subsequent mining activities. With the introduction of "in the hole" drills under- ground and the advantages offered by the use of water gels in conjunction with ammonium nitrate-fuel oil (ANFO) explosives, new mining methods have been developed and enabled improvements in older methods. Pumpable water gels have been used with varying success underground. These gels allow a high loading density even in ragged bore- holes. The problems encountered with slumping in upholes is recognised so the current trend is to use these gels in downholes where wet holes are prevalent. Cartridged water gel technology has advanced to the point where it has allowed the replacement of nitroglycerin (NG) based explosives and pumpable water gels. Today, gels can be made as a tampable product for use in development headings or as a slump- ing product for downholes to give an effective coupling. With the introduction of the Tovex« pneumatic loaders, the problems associated with a pumpable gel were eliminated and gave the user the ability to alter his loading density.

Jan 1, 1977

By B Bradák, D Asahina, S Saydam, S Akdag

Human exploration of Mars has been on the horizon of scientific goals for decades now, and as part of the objectives of human missions to various planets, one of the possible goals is opening new economic frontiers by the potential extraction and utilisation of resources, eg mining minerals and using surface regolith (Neukart, 2024). A comprehensive understanding of surface morphology, lithostratigraphy, basic structural geology, and civil engineering technology is essential to conduct mining operations for resource extraction on extraterrestrial planets. For instance, proper assessment of the risks associated with excavation and infrastructure construction under unique environments such as low gravity, surface irregularities, and the presence of regolith is fundamental. Such knowledge has been accumulated through satellite imagery and numerical topographic data using remote sensing technology, as well as seismic surveys by the on-site lander (Knapmeyer- Edrun et al, 2021; Banerdt et al, 2020; Giardini et al, 2020). Recent studies show that Marsquakes could be caused by the release of strain energy generated by the contraction of Mars. In particular, Marsquakes occur around the graben where many faults exist and form regularly spaced patterns. This implies that Marsquakes occur when the stress field of the Martian crust is an extension condition, and normal faults appear on the surface. In this study, we focus on so-called graben structures, one of Mars’s common tectonic structures (Plescia, 1991; Banerdt et al, 1992; Hoogenboom Hagen, 2014). The study aims to provide additional information about the tectonic environment during the formation of such features and, in addition, the internal mechanical-rheological structure of Mars, revealed by the geometrical pattern of faults modelled and simulated in a laboratory environment.

Sep 1, 2024

By Johns AS

Comissioning of a new residue disposal tcluding upgraded classification for none backfill preparation, new variable speed pumps and a new residue dam took place in 1¦76. The system is described.

Jan 1, 1978

By Keele R. A

The Cambrian structure in the Mt Read Volcanics was produced by four deformational events: obduction of forearc-derived mafic/ultramalic complexes in the early Middle Cambrian, a middle Middle Cambrian extensional phase related to the post-collisional Mt Read volcanism and VHMS mineralisation, Middle Cambrian E-W folding, and Late Cambrian N-S folding and basin inversion. The major phase of VHMS mineralisation in western Tasmania is restricted to the very brief period of extensional tectonics within the middle Middle Cambrian. Within this period a N-S graben was produced with a complex series of transfer zones, largely striking E-W. Most VHMS mineralisation is restricted to the top of massive volcanic successions, with several mines close to Cambrian transfer structures. Many of the transfer structures continued to be active until the Devonian. The later compressional Cambrian events are not significant in localising orc formation. Within the Rosebery mine a complex pattern of minor Cambrian normal faults has a second order control on the distribution of the mineralisation.

Jan 1, 1997

By S Vearncombe

SpaDiSÖ is a revolutionary approach to the spatial analysis of point data using geometry to analyse geometry! SpaDiSÖ uses each and every spatial relationship and is not dependent on mathematical models. For n points there are n2 û n spatial relationships and, because of the square function, the method yields interpretable results for both small and large data sets. SpaDiSÖ is an alternative to variography for directional studies. At the regional scale, the analysis can assess distribution patterns of mineralisation and potential controlling structures. At the deposit scale, the characteristics of zones of mineralisation such as direction, spacing, high-grade ore direction and grade distribution can all be deduced.

Jan 1, 2000

By Davies H, Pigram C, Sunata W, Falvey D, Loxton C, Giddings J, Rogerson R

PALAEOMAGNETIC CONSTRAINTS ON TERRANE TECTONICS IN NEW GUINEA Chris Klootwijkl), John Giddingsl), Wahyu Sunata2), Chris Pigraml), Charles Loxton3), Hugh Daviesl), Rick Rogerson3) and David Falveyl) 1) Bureau of Mineral Resources, Canberra, Australia 2) Geological Research and Development Centre, Bandung, Indonesia 3) Geological Survey of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Jan 1, 1987

At Hilton Mine, 18 kilometres north of Mount Isa, the silver-lead-zinc sulphide bodies have undergone strong deformation in the form of folding and later faulting and brecciation in the hangingwall region of the mine. Variation in grades and widths over compara- tively short distances causes problems regarding accurate sampling of orebody exposures in underground development, and in defining confidence limits for the extrapolation of ore intersections in ore reserve calculations. The paper gives a preliminary insight into the problem of obtaining representative samples for exposed orebodies and discusses the sampling techniques employed. Results gained from these sampling methods could not be verified due to lack of individual bulk samples for comparison but strong evidence for precision was provided. INTRODUCTION In a developing mine like Hilton, accurate grade information is of extreme importance. Original grade information for a potentially viable ore deposit is gained from surface drilling, and initial ore estimates are calculated from the resultant ore widths and grades. After underground development has proceeded, the opportunity arises for detailed examination of orebody exposures, and the resultant assay grades and widths from sampling of these exposures may, in the long term,

Jan 1, 1976

By Ham G. I, Just G. D

The model considers a range of design parameters and operating condit- ions and evaluates the significance of these in the ultimate design of a mine. It also considers organizational features associated with the mining method and examines the inter-dependence between operations. An important characteristic of the model is the use of both stochastic and deterministic methods to study the behaviour of the complete mining system. The simulator selects the appropriate unit operation, computes and records its time, performs it and then calculates the production and cost data. Output is in the form of shift, day, week or period repor-ts. These reports will indicate problem areas such as restrictions in the production network for a given set of conditions. The likely effects of alternative means of solving these problems can be evaluated by changing the original input. Such information could be used by the mine management to select an

Jan 1, 1974

By A Havenga, F, J Hough, R Grobbelaar

After the closure of mines they naturally start to fill up with water. As a result, hydraulic gradients develop between adjacent mines and different hydraulic water pressures are exerted onto peripheral areas or compartments within mines. This results in water flow between mines, or onto the surface. This flow is referred to as intermine flow. The geometry of the collieries in the central Witbank Coalfield make intermine flow possible in several areas. Since the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry declared intermine flow as one of its greatest concerns for granting closure to South African mines, much research into this phenomenon has been undertaken. The importance of the quantification lies in the DepartmentÆs goal of sustainable water management, and the possible long-term financial implications these flows could have for individual mines. The challenges of determining intermine flow are numerous, and attention is focused on the identification of areas where these flows can take place. Detailed mining plans on a regional scale are required, and detailed coal-seam floor data are combined to provide targets for possible interaction between these mines. The quantification of these flows is problematic due to the uncertainties regarding geometrical configurations and the variation in site-specific hydraulic characteristics of the coal and overlying lithilogical layers. To this end, use has been made of several analytic solutions and numerical flow modelling. Stage curves (volume versus elevation curves) for the opencast and underground workings have been calculated and first-order estimates for intermine flow or decant from these areas have been determined. The numerical modelling methodology entailed a down-scaling approach, starting with a broad regional model covering the entire area, followed by modelling the interactions between interconnected mines and finally looking in detail at the major areas of interaction. By considering different scenarios within the context of these flows, possible management options for intermine flow can be evaluated in terms of volumes and qualities that might emanate in the post-closure phases. Challenges for the future include obtaining site-specific information on the groundwater hydraulics and acceptable ranges for model parameters, and verifying model results over time.

Jan 1, 2003

The Elgas Underground Storage Facility at Port Botany, Sydney, is the first purpose-built cavern of its kind in Australia and provides large capacity, safe and environmentally benign storage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The facility will provide Elgas with the flexibility to source product at competitive prices and ensure long-term security of supply. Construction has provided Orica Australia, formerly ICI Explosives, with a unique opportunity to provide a bulk explosive delivery system specifically designed to meet the exacting demands of the site and of the project.

Jan 1, 1999

Alcoa of Australia Limited owns and operates a 150 MW power station adjacent to the coastal township of Anglesea in south western Victoria.The power station was constructed in the mid 1960s to supply electricity to the Company's smelter at Point Henry, near Geelong, and is fuelled by high quality brown coal mined at the site in Alcoa's lease area.The open cut mine, producing approximately one million tonnes of coal per year, utilises a backfilling method and has carried out progressive regeneration of those completed areas since the mid 1970s.

Jan 1, 1992

Cordeaux Colliery is more logically sited than the historic escarpment Corrimal Colliery, on the same reserve. At Cordeaux the modernisation of mine plans and equipment and the introduction of high production longwalls have created a record achieving producer of both steelmaking and export coals.Further changes achieved have been in employee related attitudes and performance, enhanced by business strategies and total quality control and particularly benefiting from innovative employee input With this present example of co-operative effort Cordeaux Colliery will continue to improve through management of total quality. resources, development rates and customer satisfaction.

Jan 1, 1991

By Tominaga Y

Mine ventilation control is one of the most important techniques to suppress the disastrous region within a limited area, to have enough time of emergencies (ignitions, fires and so on) for underground workers. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the simultaneous controlling of mine ventilation by using, micro computer connected to various kinds of sensors. In this study, basic of mine ventilation and graph theory are used for making computer programs when the characteristic curves of fans and temperature distribution in an underground roadway network are given.

Jan 1, 1981

The Melanesian Outer Arc, extending from. Papua New Guinea to Fiji, developed as a result of interaction between the Australian and Pacific plates throughout the Tertiary, and the following stages are recognized. ,a, Formation of island arc tholeites above a west facing subduction zone in the Lower Tertiary. fit Emplacement of mainly calcalkaline volcanics above an east facing subduction zone in the Upper Miocene and Pliocene. ontinued east facing subduction coupled with fragmentation of the arc from the Pliocene onward. Alkaline and Mg-rich volcanism occurred in addition to continued calcalkaline activity. Tre Upper Miocene and younger volcanism is into five arc segments on the basis of geographic position and nature of the magmatism. The calcalkaline Bismarck arc extending along northern New Britain and including small islands to the west. The alkaline Tabar to Feni arc, north of New Ireland. The Solomons arc, including Bougainville and the western part of the Solomon slands. Volcanism is largely _.alcalkaline, but Mg-rich varieties occur the Solomon Islands. roe New Hebrides arc, extending from the -astern Outer Islands of the Solomons through Vanuatu. Both calcalkaline and :alkaline volcanics are representeo. alkaline and calcalkaline Fiji arc.

Jan 1, 1987

By Brook W. H

The history of the reduction of iron from its ores is lost in antiquity. Archreologists state that man has practised it for over four thousand years. Until comparatively recent times charcoal was the principal reducing agent for making metallic iron from its various oxidised ores. Coke was first used by iron founders in England in 1619, and its use spread gradually throughout the civilised world from then onwards. Indeed, the destruction of forests to obtain the requisite charcoal made the iron founders, both in England and America, extremely unpopular, and this hampered the iron industry to a considerable extent, until coal provided the metallurgist with a new and better fuel--coke which is used by most pyro-metallurgists today. The transition from wood to coal products for iron smelting had a profound effect on the location of iron works. Particularly was this the case in America where, in the infancy of the industry, practically each of the early States had its own iron producers, but as coal and coke replaced charcoal, there came about a concentration of the iron and steel industry around the coking coal deposits, and so today there are huge steel plants clustered around the soft coal basins in Pennsylvania and Illinois.The development of the iron and steel industry in Australia, which is comparatively recent by world standards, has been cradled in the coal basins of New South Wales. The first steel works of any consequence in this country were built near Lithgow, close by the mines which produced the coal for coking.Incidentally, these works were rather unique in that the three essential materials for iron and steel manufacture-ore, coal, and limestone-were found virtually at the works' back door.When, in 1912, the location of the proposed steel works for The Broken Hill Pty. Co. Ltd. for smelting ore from Iron Knob in South Australia was considered, the site ultimately chosen was at Newcastle, almost on top of seams of satisfactory coking coal. One of the major factors which had determined the site of the steel works was the fact that, about 1912, three tons of coal were required to produce one ton of finished steel product, and the relative economics of ore and coal haulage were much in favour of bringing ore to the coal.

Jan 1, 1947

By N Madani, Y Abildin, E Topal

Mine planning is a crucial part of all mining industry projects, and nowadays, geometallurgical mapping through advanced computer technologies provides an opportunity to involve metallurgical responses of a deposit into 3D block model in order to optimise mine planning activities, especially for production forecasting. Including these metallurgical parameters apart from traditional geology and grade-based attributes into resource modelling leads to an extensive approximation for the economic maximisation of mine production due to better forecasting, planning and increasing certainty and the reliability of the resource model (Macfarlane and Williams, 2014). Commonly, geostatistical techniques and algorithms are used to produce models with the high resolution (Brissette et al. 2014; Deutsch et al. 2014; Tolosana-Delgado et al. 2015). The accuracy of the modelling procedure deeply depends on a reliable block model, produced by spatial analysis of corresponding variables that define the geological, metallurgical, mineralogical and chemical behaviour of the deposit. However, there are special cases, where the application of enhanced geostatistical methods is required, to solve the occurred difficulties between variables with multivariate complexities. For example, in oxide copper deposits, the soluble copper grade is a percentage of total copper grade and recoverable by heap leaching processes (Emery, 2012; Hosseini and Asghari, 2015). Hence, the joint spatial modelling of these variables has two difficulties.CITATION:Abildin, Y, Madani, N and Topal, E, 2018. Forecast the mineral processing destinations based on spatial interpolation of geometallurgical variables, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 2–5 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By L M. Zhang, T H. Xu, J Zhao

Blasting is one of the most commonly used strategies for excavation in civil and mining engineering. Yet blasting can also bring along such undesirable effects as ground vibrations and soil disturbance. Numerical analysis is a powerful tool for estimating the effects of blasting and improving blasting design. In this research, a constitutive model for sand is proposed for the numerical analysis of blast-induced ground motions and wave propagation in soil mass. In the model, three model surfaces, ie the critical surface, the dilatancy surface and the bounding surface, are defined following the bounding surface hypoplasticity framework. The strain rate is included explicitly into the model formulations so that the proposed model is valid under high strain rate loadings caused by blast-induced vibrations. The performance of the proposed model is validated by the simulation of drained triaxial compression tests conducted on a crushed coral sand under different strain rates.CITATION:Xu, T H, Zhang, L M and Zhao, J, 2014. A bounding surface model for sand subjected to blast-induced vibrations, in Proceedings AusRock 2014: Third Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference , pp 201–206 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 5, 2014

By S L. Simpson, J Waworuntu, B M. Angel

"The Batu Hijau copper/gold mine, operated by PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, is located in the south-western part of Sumbawa Island, Indonesia, and is situated ~10 km from the south coast at an altitude of ~450 m above sea level. The mine became fully operational by year 2000 and processes approximately 120 000 t of ore per day that contain an average of 0.53 per cent copper and 0.4 per tonne (g/t) gold. Tailings management at the mine includes a deep-sea tailings placement (DSTP) system that discharges tailings through a pipeline via an outfall located at a depth of 125 m at the head of the submarine Senunu Canyon (Figure 1).The environmental impact assessment undertaken prior to approval of the DSTP evaluated both on-land tailings storage facility (TSF) and DSTP options for tailings management. Negative attributes of the on-land TSF included removal of approximately 2300 ha of forest/agricultural land, the potential relocation of >2000 people from their communities, the high average annual rainfall (>2500 mm) and potential for earthquakes presenting challenges for water management and creating a long-term risk of failure. The final choice and Indonesian Government’s approval of DSTP was also influenced by the close proximity of the deep submarine canyon to the mine. The Batu Hijau mine is one of the larger examples of DSTP in the world and deposits tailings at the greatest depth. The depth of the main canyon increases to >2000 m within 20 km of the coast, and to >3000 m approximately 50 km from the coast.The DTSP at Batu Hijau must comply with an environment management plan (EMP) and environment monitoring plan of permit stipulation that approved its commencement in 2000; updated in 2010 and 2015. The environmental management objectives were to avoid impacts to highly productive components of the ecosystem such as coral reefs, mangroves, surface waters and fisheries, and confinement of impacts to areas of low biological productivity. In the vicinity of the DSTP outfall and within the Senunu Canyon, the management plan predicted significant adverse impacts from the DSTP on the marine ecosystem in the form of: reduction in sea water quality due to elevated turbidity and dissolved copper concentrations burial of benthic organisms a reduced habitat for demersal fish.Recovery of the pelagic and benthic ecosystem to preoperating conditions was predicted to occur within the first two years after operations cease. The CSIRO has performed due diligence studies to independently verify compliance with permits and evaluate new monitoring objectives (Apte et al, 2004; Simpson et al, 2010; Angel et al, 2015), and has performed assessments of environmental monitoring data on the tailings footprint and ore stockpile processing against the above environmental objectives (Simpson and Angel, 2015).CITATION:Angel, B M, Simpson, S L and Waworuntu, J, 2016. Long-term monitoring and targeted assessments to improve management of mine wastes – the Batu Hijau project, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference, pp 81–84 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jun 28, 2016

The performance of the Australian Mining Industry over the past 10 years using key indicators of production, revenue, aftertax return investment, together with key cost elements, market changes and ore reserves is briefly reviewed. The elements of competitiveness are discussed forthe industry and the effects of Government charges and policies relating to existing operations are outlined. There is a demonstrated need for improvements in competitiveness in direct and indirect costs and for improved access to resources for the mining industry to continue to grow and add to Australia's economic growth.

Jan 1, 1987