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By M J. Shearer

An investigation into the reliability of the data being collected at the Mount Isa Mines site operated by Glencore in Queensland allowed on-site ventilation personnel to scrutinise pressure and volume measurements collected from the primary surface fans. The investigation effectively identified discrepancies being reported to the on-site remote monitoring system. The difference between the real-time and static measurements on the P63 RAR shaft identified that the in situ differential pressure transducer and piezo annubar system was not operating correctly. This indicated a deficiency of approximately 30 per cent reporting back to the remote monitoring software versus the live readings measured with the Pitot tube bomb and ALNOR AXD610 pressure micro-manometer.Constant monitoring of an operations ventilation network is imperative to ensuring that the underground atmosphere provides a safe and healthy workplace. Further benefits to real-time monitoring allows for the early indication of network failures and promotes increased availability. An innovative approach to out engineer and improve the existing measuring equipment from the 1970s was sought.The use of ultrasonics in the mining industry is not new with ventilation management systems (VMS) equipment available within the marketplace. The introduction and implementation of a reliable product for real-time monitoring was a challenge to overcome due to limited access and suitable measuring points within the mine. The available equipment on the market through mainstream suppliers was not suitable for the unique application required due to the in situ installation of the surface fans. A solution was identified in the oil and gas industry through collaboration and innovative thinking. This paper describes the sustainable approach to implement a reliable air flow monitoring system on-site.CITATION:Shearer, M J, 2017. Case study – an analysis of reliability and efficiency: ultrasonic versus annubar technologies, in Proceedings Australian Mine Vent Conference 2017, pp 51–56 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 28, 2017

By S Thomson, M Lovitt, T Purvis, C te Kloot, T Nguyen, Z Liu

Ernest Henry Mine (EHM), located in north-western Queensland, is an underground copper/gold sublevel caving operation currently producing over 6 Mt/a of ore. The mass mining method of sublevel caving (SLC) used at EHM involves systematically blasting a series of uphole rings in parallel ore drives and drawing the broken ore using a top-down approach. Each ore drive contains multiple precharged rings to prevent having to charge in close proximity to the brow of the previously fired ring; however, the current initiation system still involves ‘hooking up’ all detonator lead cords of the first precharged ring. The unstable nature of a rill and working close to a brow presents hazards to personnel completing the hook-up process. There is also a business risk of ore loss when damaged ground support completely prevents access to the next precharged ring. If the hook-up step could be eliminated, the risk to personnel and the business would be significantly reduced.EHM engaged Orica Mining Services in 2016 to trial their WebGenTM 100 – wireless electronic blasting system (WEBSTM) for the first time in an underground mining environment. Having successfully signal-tested the equipment, two test holes were initiated, followed by a single production ring and then multiple production rings. In total, 30 production rings were successfully fired underground at EHM in 2017. To do this, WEBSTM was successfully integrated into EHM’s current charging and firing process, resulting in no business delays or loss to production. None of the 30 rings required hooking up and all were initiated from the surface with no personnel underground. A high level of ownership from all personnel involved ensured the trial was a success, and provided scope for wireless detonators to be used successfully on a large scale – both at EHM and other sublevel caving operations. WEBSTM is now a proven example of technology that can be used to improve safety in the mining industry, through eliminating the need for personnel to work in hazardous areas.CITATION:te Kloot, C, Liu, Z, Purvis, T, Thomson, S, Lovitt, M and Nguyen, T, 2017. Improving safety through technology – Orica wireless electronic blasting system trials at Ernest Henry Mine, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 39–50 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 16, 2017

By D Craw, C E. Martin, C Smith, C Rufaut

Wangaloa Coal Mine opened in 1945, and by the time of its closure in 1989, had produced 750 000 tonnes of coal and disturbed an area of 75 ha. The original mining licence required land rehabilitation to exotic forestry, however the current owner, Solid Energy, has worked with Crown Minerals and local councils to write a new rehabilitation objective. The site is now being stabilised and replanted with native species, and may be available for public use before the coal mining licence expires in 2007. Site discharge permits expire in 2017, and by that time, it is anticipated that discharge water chemistry will be similar to background levels. MWH are currently contracted for management of the mine rehabilitation project. The Kaitangata coal unit mined at Wangaloa is sulfurous lignite with associated pyrite. Kaitangata coal contains 3.2 wt per cent sulfur, which is higher than most New Zealand coals. Initial analyses at Wangaloa indicate low pH (2.56.2) values in soil, groundwater and surface waters as a result of acid rock drainage (ARD) processes, leading to increased metal mobility and challenging conditions for vegetation. Pilot studies indicate pinus radiata needles contain up to 67 mg/kg boron, and elevated As, Cu and Zn concentrations in surface waters. The main lake at the site has a pH of approximately 4.9, despite lime dosage in 2002. There is a real need for a complete geochemical model of the Wangaloa coal mine. Such a model could be applied to similar restoration projects, and would assist by pinpointing geochemical processes and toxic metal relationships most harmful to the receiving environments. Using this model, rehabilitation in the future will be targeted and more efficient. This project is part of a larger scheme to characterise and model the Wangaloa mine site restoration, including waters, soil, vegetation, geology and invertebrates.

Jan 1, 2003

By Paterson R. G, Compston W

The Mine granite at the Ardlethan tinfield is dated by Rb-Sr on a muscovite concentrate at not less than 417 ± 2.5 Ma (2s), consistent with the intrusion of this granitic body into folded Late Ordovician sediments. A combination of Rb-Sr and K-Ar evidence suggests a slightly younger age, 41O ± 2.5 Ma, both for the neighbouring Ardlethan Granite and for the hydrothermal alteration of the Mine granite, with which the tin is associated.On this basis, the somewhat high 206Pb/204Pb of two galena samples from within the hydrothermal alteration zone is best explained by an increase in U/Pb of order 10 per cent during a geochemical event in the Late Precambrian, in the rocks which eventually yielded the Pb to the mineralising fluid. This earlier event probably increased Th/U in these rocks as well, by as much as 5 per cent. If these reconstructions are valid, the lower-than-average U/Pb implied for the original Precambrian source rock bespeaks a mantle component of marginally greater proportion than for "average orogene".

Jan 1, 1982

By the use of flotation tests it was confirmed that there are two functions of oxygen in sulphide mineral flotation. Sized samples of galena and chalcopyrite were sulphidized, washed free of excess sulphide ion, and then contacted with air-saturated water for certain lengths of time. The mineral was then transferred to a sealed laboratory flotation cell containing water with a known concentration of dissolved oxygen. Xanthate and frother were added and flotation continued for 1 min.Both the extent of mineral oxidation and the concentration of dissolved oxygen markedly affected the flotation of galena and chalcopyrite. The response to a change in either variable is dependent on the level of the other, but generally best flotation occurs with the maximum degree of air saturation of the pulp. Galena flotation is hindered by oxidation of the mineral beyond a small threshold amount but a similar effect for chalcopyrite was not observed...

Jan 1, 1967

By D Craw

The Old Man Range, south of Alexandra, in central Otago consists of a package of highly folded greenschist facies schist of the Wanaka lithologic association. The range is crosscut by several east to ENE-striking high angle gold-bearing quartz veins, (eg Whites Reef and Grays Reef), which were extensively worked in the late 1800s. The range is bounded on its east side by the Old Man Fault, which separates these rocks from generally flat lying and planar Caples Terrane schist. To the west of the Old Man Fault, about halfway up the range, a large subparallel, 100 m wide fault zone strikes NNW and appears to cut off the historic veins. The fault zone consists of highly sheared and folded rocks and numerous high angle cataclasites and centimetre-scale clay gouge zones. Hydrothermal alteration is not apparent and the individual faults and shears are clay altered, possibly due to weathering, without visible quartz veins. Gold, limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite and rutile are concentrated in some of the narrow cataclasites and gouge zones. These mineralised structures are texturally similar to the gold-bearing reefs and may be structurally related. It is postulated that the NNW-striking shear zone and ENE-striking veins may be a conjugate array formed during a period of Cretaceous normal faulting.

Jan 1, 2004

By Crook KAW

New sedimentological and biostratigraphic data indicate that the Leron Formation in the Markham Suture Zone, Papua New Guinea (PNG) represented Pleist- ocene alluvial fan-delta deposition in shallow marine to lacustrine environments. The distribution of sedimentary regimes in the Leron Formation indicates that during collision zone evolution, various tectono-sedimentary regimes do not always track the movement of the triple-junction systematically as idealized by Crook's (1989a) model. The migration of various tectono-sedimentary regimes are also controlled and influenced by the effects of second-order geometric features of the convergent margins. Leron Formation in the Markham Valley represents late to post-collisional marine to fluvial molasse. Foraminifera indicate that the collision and concomitant suturing of the Markham valley occurred after 1.32Ma.

Jan 1, 1991

Mining and metallurgical processing of gold and base metal ores often results in solid wastes and effluents containing high concentrations of arsenic. In addition, arsenic can be released to the atmosphere from gold roasters and base metal smelters. Speciation of arsenic in roaster products, in a stack sample from a copper smelter, in organic soils impacted by smelter emissions, and in an anaerobic effluent treatment system at a smelter site was determined in order to broaden our understanding of the nature and occurrence of arsenic in a wider range of metallurgical wastes. Micro-XANES spectra obtained from iron oxide particles forming in a gold roaster indicate preferential enrichment of As3+ species in maghemite-rich domains and microlayers. In comparison, haematite-rich iron oxide particles are dominated by As5+ species. It appears that maghemite is retarding oxidation of arsenic and its volatilisation during roasting. Arsenic occurs as both As3+ and As5+ species in a stack sample emitted from a Cu smelter, confined to fine-grained secondary product layers accumulated on the surfaces of spherical Cu particles. This is probably resulting from condensation of As species upon cooling following their volatilisation during the combustion process. Soil samples collected at various distances from the Cu smelter are dominated by As5+ species including monomethylarsonic acid and tetramethylarsonium iodide as the organic arsenic species. The presence of reduced As3+ species highlights the importance of organic material influencing the speciation of arsenic and mineralogical transformations taking place within the soil profile. The XANES spectra indicate that arsenic occurs predominantly as aqueous arsenite species in the anaerobic treatment system, contrary to the conventional thinking of As retention by the formation of secondary sulfides.

Jan 1, 2008

By P Rowe

New Zealand Steel's Taharoa titano-magnetite mine, south of Auckland, set two national load records when it transported around 2000 t of mining equipment three kilometres overland on time, under budget and without safety incident. It was the first time in New Zealand that four platform trailers were assembled end-to-end to transport a load. It was also the first time that a single load of 1000 t was transported on platform trailers. The need for the relocation of all equipment was realized five years ago. It took two years of planning and specialist advice to relocate the mine's 250 t dredge, 500 t surge bin, 1000 t concentrator plant and ancillary equipment from the Southern Mining Region across a specially designed haul road to the Central Mining Region. The project was carried out during a six-week shutdown in early 2001. Two dry docks were constructed, one at each end of the relocation route. The equipment was floated into a dismantling pond that was interconnected with the dry dock in the Southern Region. Through pumping, the water levels were controlled to allow transfer of the separated units from the dismantling pond into the dry dock. Once drained, sets of self-elevating platform trailers were used to transport the main units, one at a time, between the dry docks. Five prime movers were used to pull the loads. At the receiving end, the units were off-loaded in a dry dock interlinked with ,the first mining pond. The equipment was relocated because the reserves in the Southern Mining Region were mined out. A natural watercourse û the Wainui Stream û defines the northern boundary of the Southern Region and the objective became to relocate the mining plant to the other side of the stream and re-establish in the Central Region. The project team selected the trailers as the most effective means of transporting the equipment, particularly given the non-invasive means of crossing the Wainui Stream. Negotiations with prime contractor Tranzcarr Heavy Haulage Ltd commenced in mid-2000. The remainder of 2000 was spent in developing concepts with the contractor, detailed designing, preparing the dry docks, haul road and initial mine plan for the Central Region. These activities occurred with no conflict to the normal site production.

Jan 1, 2001

By Lynch A. J

A method has been developed for the prediction of the performance of multi-stage grinding-cyclone classification circuits of any degree of complexity on any ore for a wide range of operating conditions. The method involves the simulation of the circuit on a digital computer by means of. mathematical models of the individual units. At present, to establish the characteristics of the ore and the machines in mathematical terms, it is necessary to know the performance of a simple system on the ore for one known feed rate and feed sizing analysis.Further work on the separate identification of the terms defining the characteristics of the ore and the machines may permit the method to be applied directly to the data derived from small scale tests on ores.INTRODUCTIONThe cost of preparing metalliferous ores for concentration processes by, grinding and classification frequently represents a major portion of the cost of treating such ores, and it is necessary both from an economic and a metallurgical point of view that grinding and classification circuits should be operated at their optimum efficiency. It will be realized that the processes carried out in all units in such circuits behave according to physical laws and, if a mathematical representation of the laws applying to each unit could be derived, optimization of the overall process for any given conditions of feed or product may not be difficult.The physical processes in both tumbling mills and hydraulic classifiers are extremely complex and do not appear at present to be amenable to a rigorous mathematical analysis. However, empirical mathematical models of grinding units which have been presented previously (Callcottand Lynch, 1963; Lynch and Moore, 1963) may be used to discuss the operation of the grinding units in multi-stage circuits. Another type of model, which leads to a reasonable...

Jan 1, 1965

By A Kemp, I Taylor, S C. Lamoureux

Detailed landform designs were completed for six (integrated) iron ore waste rock dumps at a Western Australian iron ore mine site to meet closure objectives and to optimise material movements for closure. The designs were based on specific physical and geochemical properties of waste material and the design was undertaken to enhance long-term stability of the dumps and optimise material movements, and therefore minimise closure cost. Construction of the re-shaped waste rock dumps have been completed. Following construction, surface material characteristics were found to deviate from those used in the design assessment. Materials present at surface following re-shaping were generally finer textured than those sampled for modelling. It is anticipated that the embankment slopes may experience increased rates of surface erosion compared to the rates predicted from modelling and used in design. The finer textured material is thought to be generated from exposing finer material that has migrated into the coarser matrix over time or that was not present in the sampled top surface of the landforms. This is due to armouring processes over time and this phenomenon is likely to recur following further wet seasons. The majority of the waste materials present in the waste rock dumps were subgrade banded iron formations (BIF) and chert, which are generally competent and geochemically inert. Some waste material was known to have an elevated risk of erosion but present in relatively small quantities. The presence of a large number of dolerite dyke swarms indicates appreciable volumes of dolerite were produced as waste from the pits. This material has an elevated risk of being highly erodible/dispersive. Clays and shales are also likely to be present in the dumps and are considered to be less competent material (relative to the BIF/chert). This paper presents the process from upfront materials assessment through detailed design to construction of the rehabilitated waste rock dumps, and post-construction sampling and testing to validate model findings.CITATION:Kemp, A, Taylor, I and Lamoureux, S C, 2017. Design to closure – construction of detailed rehabilitation designed iron ore waste rock dumps based on upfront site specific assessment, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 353–358 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

By C Simpson

The Pilbara region of Western Australia is well known for its abundant exports of hematite-goethite deposits, which have been mined and exported since the 1960s. Magnetite has also been mined in Australia throughout this period, although historically of much lower production volumes (WA Iron Ore profile, 2016). Magnetite offers a source supply of material >66 per cent iron grade product, which is used as premium feed (predominantly pellets) to blast furnaces or specialised steel mills.The Iron Bridge project area contains outcropping magnetite and hematite banded iron formation (BIF), which within the region was recognised as having potential to host economic mineralisation during the 1960s. Development within the project area, however, did not commence until Fortescue Metals Group acquired the tenements based on a 2004 agreement, formed a joint venture with interested groups and then initiated an assessment for magnetite (rather than hematite) mining potential. The combined deposits now have an identified large mineral resource inventory, with test work demonstrating they are able to produce a magnetite concentrate of greater than 66 per cent Fe over an extended mine life. This concentrate would be suitable for forming pellets or feed for direct reduced iron products.The deposits form a singular orebody, approximately 12 km in length by 1 km in width and extending to depths beyond 600 m. The four main deposits are geographically separate and have subtle mineralogical differences, thought driven by the degree of deformation and alteration within each area.Definition of the stratigraphy, structure and key mineralogy of the deposits has been carried out through several stages of exploration and project development. This has also included recent mining and processing of more than 1 Mt of feed material to an on-site processing facility. This demonstrated at a production scale that dry plus wet processing techniques can efficiently separate the magnetite from the gangue minerals to form a suitable (marketable) product.Geometallurgical classification of the host stratigraphy has been carried out from analysing the high volume of quantitative data available for this deposit. This has allowed definition of mappable units within the fresh BIF to be used as a driver in mine scheduling, delivering optimal feed to the processing plant.Construction of mine and processing facilities is expected to commence once all technical risks have been addressed, market conditions are deemed appropriate and approval is given by the joint venture partners.CITATION:Simpson, C, 2017. The Iron Bridge magnetite deposits, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 287–294 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

By Colwell J. B, Constantine A. E

A unique, regional grid of deep (12 - 14 second record length), seismic reflection and refraction data has been recorded by the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) across the offshore Gippsland Basin and parts of the adjacent Bass Basin, in southeastern Australia. These data have been combined with onshore mapping to produce a new model for the development of the Gippsland and adjacent Bass Strait basins. Overall, the Gippsland Basin contains up to 12 - 14 km of sediment in an ESE-trending depocentre bounded on its north and northwestern margins by a detachment ramp, and on its southern side by a relatively linear, listric fault system. The basin, together with the adjacent Bass and Otway Basins, appears to have formed as part of a linked, largely- strike-slip to 'transtensional' system, which started to extend through Bass Strait, probably during the latest Jurassic. Each of the basins developed by movement on a common detachment or detachment complex, which produced headwall extension at their western ends, in the areas now occupied by the Strzelecki Ranges, Otway Ranges - Torquay Sub-basin, and Robe Trough. Adjustments and reactivation from the mid Cretaceous of several postulated microplates in the region, largely in response to Tasman Basin rifting, gave rise to the wrench-related and compressional structures which form the major petroleum targets in the Gippsland Basin. However, the same process formed largely extensional stuctures in the Bass Basin. Our interpretation of the tectonic history of the Gippsland Basin leads us to the conclusion that there may have been several phases of petroleum generation and migration, and that potential petroleum traps appear to exist in the deeper section, in structures sometimes not reflected at the top or near-top Latrobe Group levels.

Jan 1, 1992

The area between Merrygoen and Digilah is located on a structural high that separates the Sydney Basin from the Great Artesian Basin, and hence the stratigraphic succession of younger rocks overlying the basement is relatively thin. The stratigraphy is briefly described and it is shown that fluvial sedimentation prevailed from Upper Permian through to Middle Jurassic times. Flint clays occur in the Permian, Triassic and Jurassic but only those in the Jurassic appear to have commercial value at present. The chemical, mineralogical, and physical properties of the flint clays are discussed.

Jan 1, 1973

Radioisotope x-ray and neutron techniques of analysis can be used for the determination of a wide range of elements in minerals. The most important applications of these techniques to the mineral industry are for onstream analysis of slurries and solids, and for geological assay.The radioisotope x-ray techniques are the more developed ones and two installations for on-stream analysis are in routine use in mineral processing plants in Australia. Neutron techniques are being developed, and should prove valuable for geological assay of large numbers of mineral samples, for borehole logging, and for specific on-stream analysis when the cost of the equipment is warranted.

Jan 1, 1970

By Edwards A. B

The following note on the mineral association in the ores of the Tennant Creek Goldfield, Northern Territory, is largely based on Mineragraphic Reports Nos. 49, 89, 117 and 193 of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. These reports are the results of the examinations of auriferous specimens from a number of mines of the goldfield and are now supplemented by the examination of further specimens from Mt. Samuel forwarded by Mr. V. G. Martin.The Tennant Creek Goldfield lies in the central portion of the Northern Territory, about Lat. 190 35', Long. 1340 15', on the Overland Telegraph Line and about 369 miles north of Alice Springs. It comprise an area extending about 50 miles east and west, by 30 miles north and south.The geology of the goldfield has been described by Woolnough. (2)The rocks of the area are of pre-Cambrian age, and consist of talcose, chloritic, micaceous and siliceous schists of sedimentary origin, interbedded with flows or dykes of schistose quartz porphyry, and of granites which were intruded subsequent to the regional metarporphism of the area. The rocks are moderately folded, but the beclding tends to be obscured by a pronounced east-west cleavage. The most continuous orebodies run east and west, parallel with this cleavage.Numerous lenses of hematite occur in the schists, with their long axes, parallel to the cleavage, and the gold values of the field are frequently associated with such hematite bodies. The dimensions of these hematite bodies are variable but rarely exceed a length of 300 ft., with an average thickness between 10 and 30 ft.; the original vertical dimensions are thought to be comparable with their length. The lenses tend to occur in groups when they are arranged en echelon both horizontally and in depth; and erosion has exposed individual lenses to different degrees, ranging from incipient exposure to complete removal. The existence of unexposed hematite lenses at depth has been proved by geophysical surveys, coupled with drilling tests. (3)A few of the bodies are pipe-like. Many are surrounded by a casing of brecciated rock, composed of fragments of hematite and shattered country rock, and presumably caused by subsequent earth movements which crushed the country rock against the resistant hematite bodies. In the early days of the field most of the important gold occurences were found within these crushed zones, or, to a less extent, within the hematite bodies themselves.These occurrences appeared to be associated only with those hematite lenses which were intersected by quartz veins or other lines of weakness, of later origin than the crushing. This led Woolnough to think that the introduction of the gold and attendant bismuth was subsequent to the...

Jan 1, 1942

By D N. B Skinner

Changes in the configuration of late Cenozoic volcanic arcs related to Pacific-Australian plate convergence in northern New Zealand may have localised large-scale epithermal gold-silver mineralisation to a particular part of the volcanic arc system, the Coromandel Volcanic Zone (CVZ). The history of arc-type volcanism in northern New Zealand began with the development of the continental margin Northland Volcanic Arc from early-mid Miocene (26-15 Ma). From 18-15 Ma the Northland Volcanic Arc extended south into the northern and western part of the CVZ where it is dominantly composed of andesite with lesser dacite and very minor rhyodacite. In the south, centre and east of the CVZ, younger andesite-dacite volcanism overlapped in space and time (14-5 Ma) with voluminous rhyolitic volcanism associated with rift-hosted calderas and minor basaltic eruptions. This change to bimodal rhyolitic-basaltic volcanism and extensional tectonics was a result of southwest (SW)-directed propagation of the Colville-Lau oceanic island+ arc into the north-northwest (NNW) trending Northland Volcanic Arc and its underlying continental crust. The extensional tectonic regime created in the collision zone between the two arcs is also the site of the 14-6 Ma Coromandel epithermal gold-silver province, which contains some 50 separate deposits and has a production (1862-1996) of about 300 t Au and 1150 t Ag. Extensional tectonics facilitated the emplacement of silicic magma at shallow crustal level and led to reactivation of deep basement faults. The resulting enhanced heat flow and fault-focused fluid flow localised large hydrothermal systems and associated extensive low-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver deposits in the southern part of the province, as at Waihi, Golden Cross and Karangahake.

Jan 1, 1997

The Phoenix mine on the Mararoa Reef at Norseman, Western Australia, provides an outstanding: AUstralian instance of the recurrence of payable ore beneath the bottom of an abandoned mine, and an interesting and instructive example of the development ofideas with regard to ore recurrence in a particular district. The Mararoa Reef is the most productive of several hypothermal goldquartz vains in pre-Cambrian basic volc81olics which strike northsouth and dip on the average, 45 degrees east. The Phoenix minewas abandoned at 500 ft. vertical depth after producing 342,000 tons of 9.9 dwt. recovery grade (equivalent to nearly half of the total production of the Norseman field) from a 2,500 ft.. long, horizontally disposed oreshoot, which is reported to have had an ore outcrop only 30 ft. in length.Interest in the field was revived in 1933, and by 1941 new ore mined and developed on the Mararoa Reef by Central Norseman Gold Corporation N.L. amounted to approximately 700,000 tons of 6.7 dwt. recovery grade. In the same period another oreshoot of similar size and grade was developed by Norseman Gold Mines N.L., south of the old Mararoa company's site. As shown by the plans, the ore occurs in discontinuous shoots. The intervening area of shear is poor in quartz as well as in gold. Geological work on behalf of Western Mining Corporation Ltd., and Central Norseman Gold Corporation N.L. has been in progress in the mine and in the field more or less continuously from 1913 to 1941 and again since 1946. This paper describes the successive advances in the understanding of the exploratory problem up to late 1941, to which several investigators have contributed. It is published by permission of the Board of Directors of Central Norseman Gold Corporation N.L., owners and operators of the Phoenix and other mines.Development of the Prospect.In 1933 Western Mining Corporation acquired an option over the Phoenix property and adjacent leases. H. E. McKinstryl visited the mine and recognised that the ore occurred primarily on the flatly dipping sections of the vein, as distinct from the steeply dippingsections, in a wide shear zone with reverse movement. Many of the flatly dipping fractures were seen to exhibit tension phenomena and to link one shear plane to the next below on the footwall side. The flat links carried much more quartz than the steeper shears.Later, H. J. C. Conolly, assisted by J. D. Campbell, examined the prospect and by contouring the vein with reference to an inclined...

Jan 1, 1950

For establishing sustainable material cycle process in human system, a brand new concept should be created, which could recycle the waste materials, which are land-filled and discarded under present economical situation. The concept of 'RtoS' (Reserve (of waste) to Stock) to create 'artificial deposit' of the materials concentrate is one of the best ideas to be applied. From this viewpoint, separation technology, in especial, solid phase separation such as mineral processing technology contributes much to the concentration, making 'artificial deposit' with less energy consumption compared with melting and/or dissolving technologies. Results of rare metals concentration in the e-waste are also introduced as an example with combining novel comminution and parts/powder separation.

Sep 13, 2010

By S C. Dominy

The grade of ore at Marvel Loch mine is directly related to the presence or absence of shear zones and quartz-sulfide-rich hornblende (¦ diopside) veining within areas of plagioclase alteration. An experienced geologist can identify these features in hand specimen. Practical rules have been developed to assist this visual identification. The structural sites and styles of alteration and veining most conducive to gold mineralisation have also been determined. The work has enabled a better understanding of the geological controls on mineralisation at Marvel Loch, and has clarified geological understanding for optimisation of grade control modeling, ore block mark-ups, and minimisation of ore loss and dilution during excavation. In addition to this, it has enabled a detailed understanding of mine scale structural controls, geometry and relative grade relationships.

Jan 1, 2003