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In the Broken Hill South mine tile practice of issuing to the miner a quantity of fuse and a box of caps from which he made up the "rods" required for a particular blast, has been abandoned. Instead, capping stations have been established, and the miner can now obtain, from the magazines, fuses cut to accurate lengths with the detonators attached.Various types of fuse-cutting machines and crimping devices are available, but only those used by the Broken Hill South Mine Ltd. are described in this paper.The fuse-cutting machine, designed by the engineering staff, is an electrically driven unit fitted with a gear box for the purpose of adjusting the rate at which the fuse is fed to the cutting device, thereby enabling fuses of various lengths to be accurately severed from the main coil of fuse.The machine in question is designed to cut 4, 6, and 8-ft. fuses, but no difficulty should be experienced in designing a machine to cut fuses to any required lengths.

Jan 1, 1932

In addressing the need for non-degree tertiary training, let us examine some recent reviews of engineering and geoscience education. The Finniston Report (1) criticised the formation of engineers in the UK and stated that this was largely due to the narrow British conception of engineering as a branch of applied science which militates against an effective marriage between theory and application. It also criticised the system for not giving students sufficient grounding in the synthesis of technical, human and financial considerations within their undergraduate courses. As we all know, this report has led to the restructuring of engineering education in the UK. More recently, a Review of the Discipline of Engineering was carried out in Australia by a committee chaired by Professor Sir Bruce Williams (2). The report stated that: Australia has a fairly good system of engineering education that should be made better. more should be done to develop the communication skills of both staff and students. more attention should be paid to changes in engineering practice and the human element in technology. there is a serious shortage of state of the art equipment in most engineering schools. female enrolments in engineering courses should be increased from the current level of about 7% to 20% by 1997. employers should develop a better understanding of the need for continuing education. staff in engineering schools should develop closer relations with employers of engineers. higher education institutions with engineering schools should give financial and other inducements to staff to increase the proportion of study leave or professional development leave spent working as engineers in the business sector. there is considerable room for improvements in the teaching process and in the development of evaluation schemes for assessing the teaching contributions of staff. In its recent report to the Council of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, the Task Force on Engineering Education(3) makes the following points: managerial, entrepreneurial, professional and interpersonal skills should be introduced and integrated into the undergraduate courses but studied in depth as part of continuing education. the continuing education policy of the Institution should be promoted and strengthened with all engineers required to pursue continuing education. the Institution should develop a comprehensive guide to continuing education available from universities, colleges and other public and private sector organisations.

Jan 1, 1989

Separation of Nickel and Cobalt from Manganese, Magnesium and Calcium by Synergistic Solvent Extraction - From Batch Tests to Pilot Plant Operation The synergistic solvent extraction system consisting of Versatic 10/LIX63/TBP was used for the separation and purification of nickel and cobalt from synthetic laterite leach solution after iron removal. Very encouraging results were obtained for separating nickel and cobalt from manganese, magnesium and calcium. In batch tests, the organic composition of the synergistic system was optimised and very large synergistic shifts for nickel and cobalt were observed. The ?pH50(Mn-Co) and ?pH50(Mn-Ni) values were as large as 1.65 and 2.40, respectively. The extraction and stripping kinetics of nickel and cobalt was fast. Semi continuous extraction tests were conducted with a pH profile of 5.5/6.1/6.5 in three stages at 40¦C. The nickel and cobalt extractions reached 99.9 per cent with only 5 mg/L Ni and <1 mg/L Co left in the raffinate. With two stages of scrubbing, only 2 mg/L Mn and less than 1 mg/L Mg and Ca were left in the scrubbed organic solution. With two stripping stages, the stripping efficiencies of Ni and Co reached over 95 per cent. A fully continuous pilot plant operation was conducted successfully for 280 hours. With an O/A ratio of about 2 and a pH profile of 5.5/5.8/6.0/6.3 for the four stages EX1/EX2/Ex3/EX4, both nickel and cobalt were almost completely extracted. Using a pH profile of 5.4/5.0 for SC1/SC2, the manganese scrubbing efficiency was over 96 per cent. Using three strip stages, over 98 per cent Ni and 99 per cent Co were stripped with only 64 mg/L Ni in the stripped organic solution. The nickel concentration in the loaded strip liquor reached 83 g/L, resulting in a ?Ni of over 28 g/L. The chemical stability of the system was also assessed over 12 weeks under proposed industrial operating conditions. Operation exclusively under strip conditions at 50¦C and 40¦C resulted in LIX63 oxime half lives of 1.1 and 2.1 years, respectively. Operation exclusively under extract conditions at 50¦C and 40¦C resulted in oxime half lives of 0.26 and 0.82 years, respectively. Losses of Versatic 10 were less than four per cent.

Sep 13, 2010

By G J. Fleming

The Miwah prospect lies on the dilational 070¦ trending Miwah Lineament near its intersection with northerly oriented fractures within Pliocene volcanic rocks exposed between a NW trending segment of the dextral transcurrent Sumatra Fault, and the more northerly trending Samalanga-Sipopok Fault to the east. These faults reflect the continued interaction between stresses from the India-Australia plate located to the southwest, and spreading within theAndaman Sea to the north of Sumatra. A system of deep seated faults is believed to have facilitated emplacement of post-Miocene magmas and Quaternary volcanic centres at shallow crustal levels throughout northern Sumatra. Miwah mineralisation is associated with variably dipping structurally and lithologically controlled argillic and advanced argillic alteration. An oxidised supergene leached zone and a recent, thin, unaltered tuff blanket partly overlie the mineralisation. Mineralised zones are commonly brecciated and veined, and display quartz, quartz-alunite, quartz-alunite¦pyrophyllite¦kaolinite replacement assemblages, surrounded by more weakly mineralised, often vugghy quartzalunite¦pyrophyllite¦kaolinite advanced argillic, and argillic zones of quartz-kaolinite, quartz¦pyrophyllite¦kaolinite and smectite-illite-quartz. Propylitic assemblages are marginal to more intensely altered zones. Hypogene copper mineralisation is typified by enargite, luzonite, and covellite. The host mineral to gold is uncertain at present. Rare barite, native sulfur, and ?telluride also occur. Bornite and chalcopyrite have been observed in transported altered rocks in faults. Generally the mineralisation is anomalous in precious metals, locally enriched in Cu, erratic in Pb, and depleted in Zn, with a good correlation between Cu-As-Ag.

Jan 1, 1995

Study on Influence that Styrene-Phosphoric has on the Surface Property of Rutile Minerals

Sep 13, 2010

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

Jan 1, 1992

The ore is very 'refractory. It consists essentially of arsenical pyrites, iron pyrites, zinc blende, galena, antimony as sulphide and probably, in combination with galena, as Jamesonite, magnesium, and aluminium silicates with quartz. Some of the oxidized ore, of which there is very little, has a very interesting composition. A specimen shown to me by the ,general.manager, Mr. F. B. Stephens, consisted of hydrated arseniate of iron, orpiment, pyromorphite, lead oxide, with magnesium silicates and quartz. The ore found in the mine with a composition similar to this specimen was valued for gold contents at 60 oz. per ton. This ore is found as a small leader, which runs parallel to the main ore body, at intervals cutting through it.The ore is conveyed from the mine to the reduction works by means of a double road tram line. The mine is situated about rooo feet above the plant on a hill. The grade is so great (about I in 2) that the loaded trucks coming down are able to pullthe empty ones up, thus obviating the necessity of motive power for haulage. All that is necessary is two large grooved pulleys, fixed at the summit of the hilI, and provided with a rope-break for steadying the speed of the trucks down the hilI.

Jan 1, 1903

By G P. Taylor

Mining Lease SML 57 was registered to Mount Kasi on 5 January, 1995. The Mount Kasi gold mine is located in Vanua Levu, Fiji's second largest island and operated from 1932 to 1946 producing 261,000t of ore at an average grade of 7.5g/t Au. The deposit represents a structurally controlled style of high sulphidation copper gold mineralisation with peripheral low sulphidation mesothermal vein type gold mineralisation. The resource consists of 1,048,000 tonnes of residual soils (eluvium) containing 1.9 g/t Au at 0.5 g/t Au cut off and 1,240,000 tonnes of hard rock at 3.0 g/t Au and 1.0 g/t Au cut. 94 drill holes, 298 auger holes and 85 pits were modelled to outline the resource. 29% of the pits bottomed in mineralisation and it is likely the full thickness of eluvium has been understated. The pit is scheduled to produce 500,000 tonnes of ore per annum to yield 35,000 ounces of gold with an initial 2 years of eluvial ore followed by a further 2 years of hard rock ore. Total capital costs are estimated to be less than 10.0 million dollars with construction planned to commence in 1995. The likelihood of locating further ore is high.

Jan 1, 1995

By Y R Fu, D R. Xu, C J. Wu, G C. Hu, H Chen

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. Hainan Province (Hainan Island) in South China hosts numerous Mo-polymetallic ore deposits that are genetically related to Cretaceous granitoid intrusions. Laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) zircon U-Pb dating and molybdenite Re-Os dating reveal three metallogenic episodes: the late Early Cretaceous (ca 112 Ma), the late Early to Late Cretaceous (ca 95–106 Ma) and the Late Cretaceous (ca 72–89 Ma). The third mineralising episode might represent the youngest Mo mineralising event in East China. Results from this study demonstrate that Mo mineralisation on Hainan Island occurred under an extensional setting that was prevailing in the late Mesozoic (ca 180–67 Ma) in South China, which was likely due to the slab rollback of the subducted palaeo-Pacific plate beneath the South China continent.CITATION:Xu, D R, Hu, G C, Wu, C J, Fu, Y R and Chen, H, 2015. Geology and geochronology of the Mo-polymetallic ore deposits in Hainan Island, South China, in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 645–648 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

By Fookes R. A, Gardner K. J, Gravitis V. L, Watt J. S, Steffner E. J

Two radioisotope techniques suitable for the rapid laboratory determination of the ash content of coal have been tested ou unwashed coal samples from four Australian coal seams. In one techniqne, measurements of backscattered 238Pu L X-rays and iron K X-rays from finely ground coal samples have been combined to determine ash content in uuwashed coals to ±0.5 weight per ce111 ash (ls) for three seams and 0.9 weight per cent ash for the fourth.The second technique, which involves measurements of the transmission by the coal of narrow beams of 241Am 60 keV and 123Ba 356 keV ? rays, requires less sample preparat ion. The ash was determined to within the range of 0.8 to 2.6 weight per cent for the four seams (unwashed coal). For washed coals, errors are expected to be < ±0.5 weight per cent ash.

Jan 1, 1982

Perhaps one of the most important conferences or symposia which our Institute has conducted, was the joint Aus. LM.M./AJ.M.E. meeting held in Canberra in May 1978, with the theme International Resource Management (Woodcock, 1978).We were privileged to witness active participation in the meeting by outstanding personalities from the mining and metallurgical industries of Australia and New Zealand, the United States of America, Canada and the United Kingdom and to hear addresses on subjects of international significance to the mining and metallurgical industries.Our Institute is one concerned with professionalism.The principal objects of The Institute as described by our founders include, "promoting the arts and sciences connected with the economical production of the useful minerals and metals, and the welfare of those in the industries, by meetings for social intercourse, and the reading and discussion of professional papers, and to circulate by means of publications amongst its members and associates, the information thus obtained".Sir Maurice Mawby (1968) said in his Presidential Address to the Institite, "the most important aspect of these objects was the promotion of the arts and sciences of the mining industry".Why is it then, that a large proportion of the papers given at the meeting in Canberra dealt with world wide social aspects of the mining and metallurgical industries, rather than the technology, the arts and sciences of mining and metallurgy as principal factors in international resource management?The answer is quite simple of course, and that is that the social and political factors are the principal factors which create the demand for basic raw materials and in the long term determine the costs and prices of the commodities which our professional abilities are drawn upon to produce.

Jan 1, 1979

Tumbling mills and some theoretical and practical aspects of milling are discussed. Attention is directed towards the difficulty of relating the dynamical analyses of the motions of particles within mills to the existing treatments of breakage processes. This synthesis may be advanced by a study of milling that utilizes the matrix analysis of breakage processes. Application of the matrix analysis to results obtained on (i) grinding in open-circuit a zinc ore in a conical pebble mill and in a modified conical mill, (ii) "grinding of cement clinker in a compound mill, and (iii) to some drop-weight grindability tests is discussed. It is shown that the 'IT-breakage model adequately describes the breakage processes of each of the tests. (The proportion broken in each breakage cycle is given by 'IT and is independent of particle size.)The size distributions of the products are accurately predicted in the cases considered. Matrix analyses of the breakage of coals, various ores and a cement clinker have been made. Appendices give an elementary account of the matrix methods and give the equations fully describing reverse order closed circuit operations. The matrix analyses of breakage processes and the survey are used to examine briefly closed circuit grinding.INTRODUCTIONTumbling mills are slow-speed crushing and grinding machines which have been developed from some fairly simple types into many widely differing forms. Many of these versatile mills have proved extremely useful in ore dressing and mineral beneficiation, whereas others have been used in the cement industry and less extensively in the coal industry.The performance of even the simplest tumbling mill is very imperfectly understood, whilst the more difficult problems associated with the balancing of complex milling circuits and with the establishment of the optimum operating conditions for the whole of a complex circuit are even less well apprehended.Our knowledge of the performance of tumbling mills is rather sharply divided into two categories: the first consists...

Jan 1, 1957

By M Quinteiro, Å Sundqvist

What is special about being a female mine manager? We do not believe that the challenge is greater for women in managing a mine compared to managerial positions in other male-dominated businesses. The challenge lies in the fact that it is a male-dominated business. Being a leader belonging to a minority creates a situation where competence not only lies in having technical knowledge or general leadership characteristics, but also in acquiring an understanding of the male norm and being able to behave and communicate effectively in the organisation.In order to move towards a better gender balance at senior levels it is important to set measurable objectives on desirable proportions between women and men at management levels within the company. Focus and action are required to achieve this goal. At LKAB, the current target is to reach 25 per cent women in the total workforce by 2020. To date, LKAB has reached 19.4 per cent women in the total workforce, and the number of women in management positions is 19.9 per cent.It is of vital importance to create a non-discriminating working environment to achieve equal opportunities at the workplace, to be able to use the whole workforce as a resource for recruitment of professionals and managers, thereby improving decision-making, productivity, efficiency and profitability.Women as mine managers is not a utopia, but rather an effect of long-term investments in actions that result in equal opportunities for all employees.CITATION:Quinteiro, M and Sundqvist, Å, 2016. Women as mine managers – a utopia?, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016) , pp 43–48 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

By Lonie W. M

The rapid development of the Australian steel industry over the past twenty years has greatly increased the demand for coking coal from the collieries owned by the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd. and Australian Iron & Steel Ltd. This in turn has called for an intensive and continuous programme of colliery expansion and new colliery development, along with the reorganization and modernization of existing collieries.This paper presents a general description of the factors involved and the techniques used in planning modern colliery development for the steel industry.PRELIMINARY GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONSIn any colliery development, preliminary geological investigations require a detailed and practical knowledge of the geology and characteristics of the coal-field as a whole. In the early stages of the investigations, probably the most valuable information is obtained from outside the particular area under review, rather than within it, and unless the geology of the coal-field is understood, the projection of the known information into the unknown area cannot be carried out with certainty.Because development of the coal seams from the outcrops has been an apparently simple matter and not subject to the risks involved in deep mine development, the geology of the New South Wales. coal-fields has not received the attention that major mineral resources warrant.Only the most accessible regions of the coal measures have been generally prospected, while the potential areas remain...

Jan 1, 1957

By Holmes R. J, Miles J. G

An on-stream shale detector has been developed that is suitable for use on conveyor belts carrying iron ore of up to 200 mm particle size. The shale is distinguished from high-grade iron ore by means of the substantially greater total natural gamma-ray activity (400-3000 keV) of the shale, which is due to the presence of uranium (214Bi), thorium (208TI) and potassium (40K). Other gangue materials, sueh as highly siliceous cherts and jaspilites, escape detection because of their low activity. A dynamic trial of the shale detector at Mt Whaleback, using a large-volume (100 × 100 400 mm long) "Polyscin" Nal(TI) gamma-ray detector, demonstrated that as little as 20 tonne of ore on a conveyor belt (equivalent to partial truckloads of ore) can readily be monitored for shale content.

Jan 1, 1981

By F N. Baez

This paper supplements a keynote address prepared for the MassMin 2016 conference on mass underground mining methods, including block, panel, inclined and sublevel caving. It advocates for a new cave mining paradigm that takes advantage of a number of new and disruptive technologies or innovations that have evolved over the last 15 years, some of which were initiated by major mining companies such as Codelco. The paper will address the challenges that the industry will be facing in the future as well as possible solutions. As background, the paper summarises the challenges that the industry has faced in the past and how such challenges were addressed. The author acknowledges that given his more than 30 years of experience with Codelco Chile (operations and corporate), aspects of his intelligent mining concept have no doubt been influenced and have matured during his invaluable time with Codelco also as the Head of Technology and Innovation. In the paper, he uses some of the innovations developed within Codelco and by the Chilean Government to illustrate the concept of ‘intelligent mining’.CITATION:Baez, F N, 2016. ‘Intelligent mining’ – the way of the future, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 3–8 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

By Whitmore R. L

The action of water on a number of Queensland shales which are associated with particular coal measures and oil shales has been studied. The results suggest that the disintegration of some of the shales could cause significant problems in mining and preparation operations. The extent of shale breakdown varies widely from deposit to deposit and from seam to seam but a suitable assessment procedure utilises the test described in AS 1661-1979, and an improved method of presenting the results is described in the paper.

Jan 1, 1982

By J P. Ashby

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

Jan 1, 1993

To many Australian Mining Engineers, we take it, the singular features of banket deposits are not as familiarly known as they would wish, possibly because in the majority of instances they are not in touch with the South African milling world, and have had little opportunity of studying the development of the banket beds, either from correspondence or literature. The writer hazards this opinion feelingly, because, when in Australia and before he had visited Africa, the utmost knowledge he was able to obtnin was a mass of conflicting theoretic discussion as to the agencies which formed the banket bed, without any practical hints as to their geological horizon, the rocks with which they are associated, the usual appearance and character of the ore, in fine, without that everyday detailed description which the miner requires when seeking information regarding mineral or metal deposit foreign in character to any that he has yet studied, or as yet had any opportunity of studying in his own country.The writer recognised that many more able men than he have from time to time discussed the features and formation of the banket beds of the land, notwithstanding which and feeling that many of his Australian colleagues have found themselves in a similar position regarding accurate detailed information respecting these African banket deposits as he himself was, he hopes that the present paper on the said deposits, as found on the fields under notice, will prove useful to some and of interest to all.

TIMBER supports for large underground cavities are temporary expedients until the permanent filling can be put in. Nevertheless, timber supports are very necessary in some form. The general problem is to support the cavity in all directions withthe minimum of timber, disposed in the strongest way. The simplest way of filling an irregular space with timber sets is to form triangles.The right-angled isosceles triangle (Fig. 1) leads to the true square set, in which caps are equal to struts. The right-angled unequal-sided triangle and the scalene isosceles triangle (Fig. 2) lead to the oblong square set, where caps are longer than struts.The scalene triangle (Fig. 4) leads to the rhombic or oblique set. The equilateral triangle leads to the hexagon set (Fig. 3), in which the caps and struts are all equal. These five plane figures, the triangle, square, rectangle, rhomb and hexagon, are the only figures that will completely fill any irregular plane figure, without interstices. Hexagon sets were first suggested by the writer in 1902 to a mine manager at Broken Hill, who did not see his way to use them.

Jan 1, 1912