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By O Kirtel, A A. Faizan

With the rapid increase and development of high-speed trains (HSTs), the problems such as train-induced ground vibration and its dynamic effects on nearby structures have become a major environmental concern in urban areas. Ground-born vibrations produced by high-speed trains pose a great challenge for engineers to build structures in such areas that is applicable for residents. In order to study the effect of train-induced ground vibration on nearby buildings, an advanced three-dimensional finite element model for train-induced ground vibrations has been developed using PLAXIS 3D Ultimate. The results of the in situ measurements which was previously carried out by the authors were used to validate the numerical model. The field test for ground vibration due to the passage of a high-speed train was carried out on the Istanbul-Ankara high-speed railway in Turkey with a train speed of 250 km/h. An in-depth analysis was achieved to investigate the effect of different soil properties on the train-induced ground vibrations by using the verified model. According to the result of the vibration analysis, the relative vibration response curves in all directions (x, y, z) for different soil conditions were obtained comparatively. The obtained results of the vibration analysis are discussed in order to figure out some useful conclusions.

Nov 29, 2022

The mining of Australia's rich and diverse mineral resources has been central to the development of the continent by "Europeans" over the past two hundred years. Mining has historically been encouraged (to varying degrees) by development-orientated state governments (the. managers of largely Crown-owned resources) and since Federation, by successive Com- monwealth governments (which have seen mineral development as a means of generating export revenue to fund predominantly social-welfare orien- tated budgets). This marriage of convenience between governments and the mining industry has to date served all parties well. However, Australia's entry to a new world economic environment at a time that community percep- tions are changing (owing to an education-inspired challenge to "old" values) is challenging the hitherto held assumption that mining develop- ment is always aligned with the well-being of the State and community. Issues such as the type and extent of State/Commonwealth government taxation, resource ownership and control, the environment, land use con- flict, the extent and desirability of secondary processing and infrastruc- ture funding are being debated in the public arena. Opponents of mining in the community are well-organised and are well funded, articulate and more importantly, they have effective communication channels with most governments, irrespective of political complexion. Apart from some television-orientated corporate image building and recent efforts by AMIC, the industry's response to this challenge has been unco-ordinated, poorly directed and arguably ineffective. Professionals working in the industry are concerned about the community's perception of themselves and their industry. Recognizing that the Australian democratic system ensures that, in the large, government at its various levels, is reflective of and responsive to the views and aspirations of people, the industry's response must be wide- ranging, equally articulate and couched in a form which is politically acceptable. New objectives in providing information to the public and its educators must be formulated. Moreover, professionals are looking for new directions from industry leaders. The Institute is well placed to facilitate this process.

Jan 1, 1988

By C D. Strickland

Western Australia (WA) has been a significant world producer of titanium minerals (rutile, ilmenite and leucoxene) and zircon for over 55 years. In 2010, despite global difficulties, WA accounted for 12 per cent of world production for zircon, ten per cent for ilmenite, and eight per cent for rutile. With downstream processing, titanium minerals (ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene) and zircon exports for 2010 were valued at $511 M (Department of Mines and Petroleum, 2010).Production is dominated by two areas of the Perth Basin, namely the Eneabba and the Bunbury-Capel regions, which are located 240 km north and 200 km south of Perth respectively. Mineralisation is within Cenozoic beach or near shore dune deposits at three broad altitudes related to the present coastline, and two older higher sea-level still-stands. The titanium-zircon minerals presumably were derived from the underlying Mesozoic sediments of the Perth Basin. Contrary to expectations, age dating suggests that the ultimate source of most of this mineralisation was not the adjacent Yilgarn Craton. With the cooperation of industry, the Geological Survey of Western Australia has mapped all known significant titanium-zircon mineralisation within the Perth Basin. This mapping has identified ‘strategic mineral resource protection areas’ that should be set aside for future mining, ‘sterilised’ and ‘mined’ areas that generally do not restrict land use options, and ‘possible strategic resource areas’ which have exploration potential for hosting titanium-zircon mineral deposits.The Perth Basin is currently undergoing rapid residential and industrial development. By informing all stakeholders of the locations of potential mining areas, the titanium-zircon mapping has the ability to reduce future land use conflicts, and facilitate sequential land use planning. Appropriate planning measures are being implemented to ensure that the Western Australia’s titanium-zircon minerals industry remains strong and viable in the future.

Oct 5, 2011

Landscape interpretation, geology and mining history are being successfully used to explore options for sustainable community tourism product development. Recent work by the author in Europe and Australia has indicated the value of adding and producing interpretive information about mine and quarry locations û both active and inactive. This work has allowed for the branding and development of new sustainable community tourism products based on the landscape, folklore, mine and geological heritage. Communities in rural areas are seeking new opportunities to sustain their local economies. Using a relatively new phenomenon called geotourism as a starting point, they have developed themed products connected to walking/cycling guides, interpretive panels and visitor centres. These themes can be linked to geology, archaeology, botany, local history and to industrial heritage sites such as old mines, to generate local employment. This new geotourism approach has successfully brought a new and greater audience to discover the value of geology and mining history. Communities have established a unique place for themselves within the tourism marketplace using the geotourism brand. Other communities with an established tourism product are also now using geological and mine heritage via geotourism to rebrand and meet changing global trends. The geotourism approach has allowed for positive collaboration among communities, service providers, local and government authorities to channel tourist revenues into rural communities. The pooling of resources under the banner of geotourism has led to cost-effective marketing, targeting and promotion of products using multimedia and web sites. Geotourism has emerged strongly in Europe, North America and China in the last decade. The Australian minerals industry now has an opportunity to implement this new branding concept to assist and benefit the communities in which they run their activities. Communities can also take advantage of the potential to develop a sustainable geotourism business around a past or present mineral industry in their vicinity.

Jan 1, 2009

By B BussiFre, J Molson, M Aubertin, G W. Wils

Waste rock piles containing reactive sulfide minerals can serve as long-term sources of acid mine drainage (AMD). Within these piles, many physical, geochemical and biological processes can contribute to the production of AMD. The flow of water, for example, depends on internal pile structure, which depends on the dumping methods used to construct the pile. In this paper, the internal structure and grain size distribution of typical waste rock piles are first reviewed with respect to their effect on internal water flow. A numerical model is then applied to simulate unsaturated flow within a waste pile assuming two primary waste materials, different atmospheric conditions and several geometric configurations. The simulations suggest that water movement can be controlled by introducing fine-grained material layers within the coarser host material. However, these layers should not be horizontal because they can lead to localised high-saturation regions as well as preferential flow favouring the production of AMD. A shallow slope towards the pile boundary may be introduced to force drainage to the outside while maintaining low saturation within the interior, thus reducing the production of AMD.

Jan 1, 2003

By G Maude, R Ayres, R N McLean, N A. Reynolds

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. The Mabilo copper-gold-magnetite skarn deposit is located in southern Luzon in the Paracale mineral district, where iron has been produced historically from several skarn deposits. Mabilo occurs in the south-west of the district and is distinct and significant because of its high grades of copper and gold compared to historical mines.The Mabilo licence surrounds the Venida prospect, where past small-scale mining has exploited iron, copper and gold mineralisation in oxidised skarn. A ground magnetic survey in 2007 defined a number of strong anomalies under Quaternary volcanic cover south of Venida. The property was acquired by Sierra Mining Ltd in 2011, the magnetic data were remodelled and drilling commenced in September 2012. Diamond drill hole MDH001 targeted the strongest anomaly, which was 500 m south of Venida and under 20 m of volcanic cover. It intersected 94 m with an average grade of 2.2 per cent copper, 1.6 g/t gold and 36.6 per cent iron. Subsequent drilling was targeted by magnetic modelling, incorporating magnetic susceptibility data from drill core, which resulted in a high percentage of successful drill holes.The mineralised skarn preferentially replaces a dipping limestone unit within an Eocene sequence dominated by volcanic siltstone and sandstone, metamorphosed to marble and hornfels in the aureole of a Miocene quartz-diorite intrusion. Skarn occurs discontinuously along the eastern and southern diorite contact, controlled by primary sedimentary facies variation, structural geometry, fault offsets and intrusive contacts.Coarse magnetite skarn with garnet and minor wollastonite and clinopyroxene contains variably abundant chalcopyrite and minor molybdenite. Magnetite skarn occurs in sharp contact with unaltered marble or grades into garnet skarn with minor chalcopyrite. Structurally controlled retrograde skarn alteration is strong to intense and is characterised by bornite, clinozoisite, iron carbonate and chlorite. The retrograde skarn is weakly overprinted by late-stage pyrite veining and brecciation associated with clay-silica alteration with arsenopyrite and tetrahedrite-tennantite.The quartz-diorite stock is interpreted as the source of the prograde skarn-forming and mineralising fluids. Late-stage porphyritic intrusions in the contact zone indicate continuing magmatism during uplift, when telescoping led to a high-level, high-sulfidation overprint. This suggests the potential for deeper porphyry-style mineralisation.CITATION:Reynolds, N A, Ayres, R, McLean, R N and Maude, G, 2015. The Mabilo copper-gold-iron deposit – a new skarn discovery in the Philippines , in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 431–438 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

By Lindbeck K

The mining industry in Western Australia is a large sector of the WA economy providing $12 billion (1993) of the export income for the State. Historically, mining in WA developed from traditional prospecting in the late-1880s leading to major underground operations by the turn of the century. Large open pits were developed in WA following World War II and became increasingly common since the gold boom of the 1980s. With the development of the open pits has been concomitant evolution of mining legislation, principally the Mining Acts of 1904 and 1978, which has been also accompanied by a practical evolution of the administrative system within the Department of Minerals and Energy. The mining industry has recognised the need for sound environmental management at mine sites, taking up the challenge and becoming a world leader in rehabilitation techniques. Any environmental management program in the industry has three stages: approval by government; management by the industry; and return to the State in an environmentally acceptable condition. The WA environmental requirements, procedures and industry performance in these three stages are discussed.

Jan 1, 1994

By S W. Kingman, D Whit, I S. Lowndes

The use of compressive crushing equipment such as gyratory crushers within minerals processing plants can potentially generate large quantities of dust. Remedies to this problem include the retrofitting of shrouds, enclosures, local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems and water suppression systems. The single or combined application of these systems must be optimised to ensure they operate efficiently. It is desirable that the future design planning of such facilities include integrated dust suppression and/or removal systems to ensure material delivery rates are maintained and the welfare of the workforce is protected. The characteristic release of dust and the disturbance to the surrounding ventilation airflow is investigated by the construction and solution of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models validated by data obtained from scale experiments. A 3D computational model was constructed using the FluentTM CFD software to represent the background ventilation regime within an underground crushing installation. The falling ore is represented as a continuum granular fluid falling under gravity from the raised bed of the dump truck. Transient path lines are computed to simulate the updraft airflow generated by the tipping process and indicate the dispersion path of any entrained dust. The relationships between the falling ore material, the displaced air and the shear induced flow are determined by an analysis of the computed volume/mass flow rates predicted across the crusher opening. An analysis of the airflow patterns predicted by the CFD simulation models indicates strong shear flows induced between the tipped material and the surrounding airflow in the vicinity of the crusher during tipping, and a strong influence of the background ventilation regime on the path taken by this shear flow. Scale experimental studies were conducted to characterise the induced shear flow and visualise the potential entrainment and transport of dust. An analysis of these experiments is presented.

Jan 1, 2005

By J-P Franzidis, E V. Manl, K Runge

Over recent years a number of techniques have been developed as part of the Australian Minerals Industries Research Association (AMIRA) P9 project to represent mathematically or measure directly subprocesses occurring in flotation cells. These include the determination of a:machine parameter (bubble surface area flux, Sb); froth parameter (froth recovery, Rf); entrainment and drainage parameters; and ore floatability parameter (Pi). A cost-effective methodology was developed for using these techniques to derive models of flotation circuits. This methodology was applied to derive a model of the flotation circuit at the Western Mining Corporation (WMC) Ltd Mt Keith Nickel Concentrator. The model was used to simulate a number of minor circuit flowsheet changes, the results of which are discussed in this paper. One year later, a second study of this plant was conducted. In this second study, data were collected while operating the plant in the flowsheet configurations that were simulated from the model developed from the first study. The results obtained from the second study showed reasonable agreement with the trends predicted from the first study model; discrepancies can be explained in terms of the model assumptions. This suggests that this simple circuit modelling methodology can be useful in assisting plant engineers to optimise flotation circuits.

Jan 1, 2000

The main factors controlling the electro- winning of zinc from impure aqueous sulphate electrolytes are reviewed. Zinc, hydrogen and impurities are deposited at the cathode. The current effic- iency for zinc is increased by increasing zinc/ acid ratio and current density and by decreas- ing temperature; and may be unchanged, increased or decreased by the presence of impurity ions. A qualitative comparison of observed and predicted impurity effects is in reasonable agreement. Quantitative treatment of the effects of impurities and cell additives is not available. A tentative explanation of the time dependence of current efficiency in the presence of some impurities is provided. The forms in which impurities are deposited is substantially unknown. Impurities may be classified according to the extent of cathodic deposition. Procedures for control of cathodic deposition of impurities are outlined. The main anodic reactions are the forma- tion of oxygen, manganese dioxide and sulphuric acid. Minor reactions include the oxidation of lead, silver, cobalt and chloride. The site of the anodic reactions and the reactions generat- ing manganese dioxide are uncertain and may change with time of operation. The anode behaves crudely as an oxygen electrode with

Jan 1, 1977

By R Steinhaus, D M. Frantois-Bongarton, P W. Cleary, G K. Robinson, M D. Sinnott

Multotec Process Equipment and Dominique Frantois-Bongarton have a patent for a mineral sampling device, which they call a æTrue-Belt SamplerÆ. This uses a plough, which is rotated about an axis parallel to a conveyor belt to throw material off the belt. A fixed sample cutter takes a sample from the material thrown off the belt.Discrete element modelling has been used to consider a range of plough designs, plough speeds, positions for the cutter relative to the plough, cutter apertures, cutter designs and frictional properties, prior to the building of a physical prototype. This modelling work will be discussed, both as an illustration of the role of modelling in the development of new materials-handling devices and in order to explain the likely strengths and weaknesses of this new type of sampling device.CITATION:Robinson, G K, Sinnott, M D, Cleary, P W, Steinhaus, R and Frantois-Bongarton, D M, 2012. Modelling of a ætrue-belt samplerÆ - A new device for sampling from a conveyor belt, in Proceedings Sampling 2012 , pp 33-40 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 21, 2012

By F D Durao, Muge F. H, Rogado J. Q

In the scope of the project named CAPUME II (EEC BRITE/EURAM contract - project MA2M-CT90,-0042(SMA)) for the development of an integrated mine planning system for underground mines, two of the main tasks were the development of a short-term mining planning procedure (module) and a numerical simulator of the mineral processing plant of Pirites Alentejanas - PA. The short-term mining planning module defines the mining sequences by solving a constrained minimisation problem. The ore grade variability is the objective function subject to the geometrical constraints of the mining method and to the maximum of `internal blending'. The optimisation problem is solved by applying a dynamic programming algorithm. The plant simulator is an essential tool of the planning system allowing the preview of metal grades/recoveries of copper, lead and zinc of concentrates streams, given the corresponding metal assays of the run-of-mine ore, defined by the short-term mine planning module. This way, the management can plan the short-term mining operations (the weekly sequence of exploration blocks and the internal planning) in order to fulfill given required conditions, based on a shipment schedule and on a purchaser's formula. In this paper, after a short description of the short-term mining planning module and of the simulation package named SIMUL, a synthesis of the main model development steps and the results of some simulation runs are presented and discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

Increasingly, mineral operations need to manage water as a key business asset. Managing water solely as an environmental issue leaves a business exposed to social, cultural and economic risks associated with water. Adopting a company-wide strategic approach, which takes account of the true value of water will provide businesses with opportunities and risk protection. Rio Tinto has recognised the business imperative for water stewardship and has responded by producing the Rio Tinto Water Strategy. This strategy commits the company to managing water assets in a responsible manner, taking account of environmental, social and economic values. To incorporate the true value of water in site decision making, a new set of tools is required at the operational level. A key part of the strategy focuses on developing a framework to value water based on case study examples from around the Group. This paper presents progress on the companyÆs experiences in developing and implementing the water strategy.

Jan 1, 2006

By I Basson, J A. Miller, M Becker, F C. de Beer, L C. Bam

"Geometallurgy brings together geologists, mine planners and process engineers to extract meaningful mineralogical and textural information from an orebody, with a view to predicting its metallurgical response. Preferably, automated analytical techniques, which provide mineralogical and textural information, should process a large number of samples quickly, relatively inexpensively and reliably. Microfocus X-ray computed tomography (µXCT) is capable of producing 3D volumetric information on texture and mineralogy that satisfies some of these criteria. µXCT has been used extensively to study the porosity and internal pore structure of iron ore pellets as part of downstream processing. It has not been widely applied to earlier mineralogical and textural analysis of unprocessed ore, due to the limited ability of X-rays to penetrate high-density samples. In this contribution, we propose scanning methods to overcome this limitation, thereby facilitating a broader application of µXCT to iron ore resource management.CITATION:Bam, L C, Miller, J A, Becker, M, De Beer, F C and Basson, I, 2016. X-ray Computed Tomography – Determination of Rapid Scanning Parameters for Geometallurgical Analysis of Iron Ore, in Proceedings The Third AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (GeoMet) 2016, pp 209–220 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jun 15, 2016

The Henty Gold Mine is a good example of a situation where conditional simulation and optimisation techniques may have useful impact on modelling of mineralisation distribution and ore definition. Much of the gold mineralisation at Henty is concentrated within an alteration zone which is both physically discontinuous and forms only a small fraction of the overall mineralised volume. The alteration units are mappable from diamond drill core and underground workings. Conditional simulation and optimisation techniques for ore definition have found considerable success in the open pit gold mining environment. For many reasons including computational efficiency, lack of consistent geological information, and lack of familiarity with ideas and methods among mine geologists, implementations of these methods in open pit mining have been comparatively simplistic. Modelling is commonly reduced to treating the sample data as a single geologic population. This paper discusses the application of the MP method (a particular implementation of conditional simulation and optimisation) to modelling the distribution of potential ore blocks in the Henty gold mineralisation. The approach allows the mine geologist to model both the spatial geometry of the alteration types and the gold grades associated with each alteration type in a single process. Options allow the geologist to include or exclude underground geological mapping and face sampling depending mainly on the abundance of drill hole sampling and the quality of the face sampling. An optimisation algorithm based on maximisation of profit from mining is used to assist in ore definition.

Jan 1, 2000

The BHP Billiton Cannington mine uses sequential flotation to treat a silver, lead and zinc ore supplied from an underground mine. The final products from the process plant are a silver rich lead concentrate and a zinc concentrate. Operational history of plant performance highlighted that the majority of valuable metal losses to final tailing occurred in the -5 ¦m fraction. Research completed on the flotation characteristics of this size fraction in plant feed resulted in the development of a split flotation process to improve the silver and lead mineral recoveries. Construction of a $A 9.5 million brownfield project to install the new split flotation circuit at Cannington was completed in July 2002. The circuit consists of three stages of cyclone classification to recover the ultra fine material to a final cyclone overflow stream, conditioning of this pulp to achieve optimal process conditions, and conventional rougher and three stage cleaner flotation to produce a silver rich lead concentrate. The rougher tail from the new circuit is recombined with the cyclone underflow streams and processed through the original lead-zinc flotation circuit. This paper discusses the circuit design, material properties, material selection for components of the circuit, operational practices and requirements to ensure the circuit succeeded in meeting production targets. The technology is subject of a number of patent applications including international application No PCT/AU02/00400.

Jan 1, 2003

By H Masoumi, I Canbulat, Y Zhao, J Oh, H Lin

Borehole breakout is a drilling induced phenomenon caused by overstress of rock around the borehole. Its depth usually aligns with the minimum horizontal principal stress direction. For this reason, it has been used to determine stress orientations and a series of researchers also argued its dimensions can be indicative of stress magnitudes. If the stress dependencies of breakout geometries are well understood, it is possible to estimate stress magnitudes based on these data. This paper investigates the influences of critical parameters on breakout dimensions, including absolute stress magnitudes, stress ratios and borehole diameter. Several experiments have been conducted on cubic (120 x 120 x 120 mm3) sandstone samples with pre-drilled holes (22 mm and 30 mm) under true tri-axial loading conditions using UNSW self-designed equipment. Experimental results confirm the increasing maximum horizontal principal stress magnitudes result in larger angular span and longer breakout depth at constant minimum horizontal and vertical principal stresses. There is also a considerable discrepancy observed between experimental results and the analytical model. Findings of this study imply a potential on the estimation of stress magnitudes using borehole breakout. CITATION:Lin, H, Oh, J, Canbulat, I, Masoumi, H and Zhao, Y, 2018. Experimental investigation on borehole beakout and its implication on stress magnitudes, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 266–273 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By E Forbes, G V. Franks

"This study investigates the dual function of a temperature responsive anionic co-polymer of poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) as a selective flocculant/flotation collector. PNIPAM is used for separating hematite from 50:50 mixtures of hematite and quartz, at a variety of particle sizes. The performance of PNIPAM in this system is compared to that of conventional flotation collectors: sodium oleate and sodium dodecyl sulfate. The results of the study demonstrate that anionic PNIPAM used at 50¦C (above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST)) is the most effective flotation collector for hematite particles in the size range between 10 and 20 ¦m. This is attributed to the increased probability of both particle/bubble collision and particle/bubble attachment through the formation of hydrophobic hematite aggregates. Anionic PNIPAM used at 50¦C also produced the highest hematite recoveries for very fine hematite particles (circa 1 ¦m). However this recovery was completely unselective. This lack of selectivity is partially attributed to the activation of quartz particles by PNIPAM, but is thought to mainly occur as a result of entrapment of quartz particles within the matrix of hematite aggregates.CITATION:Forbes, E and Franks, G V, 2013. Selective separation of hematite from quartz by flotation using a temperature responsive polymer, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013, pp 381-390 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Aug 12, 2013

By D Brown, K Markovic

The world is becoming an increasingly complex environment to operate within. Adoption and evolution of technology is occurring at a rapid pace and operating spaces are growing in interconnectedness and interdependency. In mining this is evidenced by the large-scale adoption of autonomous machinery, intelligent systems, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and robotics to realise benefits in optimisation, productivity, and safety. To enable continual delivery and growth in operational performance, and to realise the aforementioned benefits, a new approach for managing mining and metals is required (Mining Review Africa, 2023). This means that an already talent constrained workforce must learn to manage the complexity inherent, evolving, and growing in the environment (Abenov et al, 2023). A key skill that needs to be further developed and deployed to combat these challenges and to enable robust problem solving is that of systems thinking, which is already practiced in pockets within the mining industry. Experience and learning can be leveraged from other industries and their application of systems thinking to ensure that focus is maintained on areas where the benefits from which will be optimised. With targeted application, a workforce capable of effective systems thinking can be the catalyst to optimisation across mining organisations.

Sep 1, 2024

By Abdulhadi H. M, Soliman S. A

The Western Desert of Egypt is a part of the arid Great Sahara of Africa which extends from the Nile Valley in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. It is covered by a sedimentary sequence of Mezozoic and Teriary rocks. Recently this part of the country (about 65% of its surface area) has attracted an increasing attention in the plan of finding new agricultural and industrial communities outside the crowded Nile Valley. The plan aims to reduce the high population density in the narrow Nile Valley and to cover a considerable part of the increasing food demands in the country of Egypt. Accordingly, the groundwater exploration work in the Western Desert has been remarkably increased in the last decade, however it is still limited compared with the vast area of the Desert. The present work is a part of the groundwater exploration in the 6th October City, a new community located at 40kms west of Cairo. The rock exposures belong to a sedimentary stratigraphic section starting from the Cretaceous in the east to the Pliocene in the west. The Cretaceous outcrops due east are attributed to an almost N-S uplift and forms a thick massive limestone plateau which separates the present area from the Nile Valley. The Teriary section in the west have alternations of different porous formations such as the sands and sandstones which may acquire a good potentiality of groundwater resources. The previous groundwater exploration work included combined geological and geophysical investigations followed by exploration drilling. Although the area lies directly to the west of the Nile Valley, the discovered groundwater is saline and located at deeper reserviores compared with the groundwater in the Nile Valley. This groundwater was described as marine fossile water by the oil companies working in the Western Desert. From the geological point of view, it is believed that the Cretacious massive limestone plateau, in the east, roots to a depth which far exceeds the groundwater levels in the Nile Valley and acts as an impervious barrier between the aquifers in the Nile Valley and the area under investigations.

Jan 1, 1988