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By Wilson D, Kirkland J

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) uses low cost off-peak energy to compress air and pump it into pressurised underground storage. Expanding the air through a modified form of gas turbine generates electrical energy when required. While generating power, a CAES station consumes approximately one-third of the gas required for the equivalent installed capacity of a conventional gas turbine. Air can be stored in underground rock caverns, caverns in salt domes, or in aquifers. Existing CAES power stations use caverns mined out of salt domes. Aquifer storage for CAES has been proposed, but not yet implemented. The groundwater in the aquifer would be displaced during air injection and when required the air would be extracted using the natural hydro-static pressure. Victoria has no salt domes, but has aquifers onshore in the Gippsland Basin with geological dome structures of suitable depth, discovery pressure, porosity, permeability and caprock for CAES development. Field tests costing several million dollars would be required to prove the suitability. The most suitable aquifer is near Seaspray, where several dome structures exist. The aquifer, comprising of coarse sands capped by coal and mudstone, is some 600 metres deep with a hydrostatic pressure of 6.3 MPa. Computer simulation of injection and extraction of air from the aquifer under various combinations of horizontal and vertical wells, permeability and tubing head pressures indicated the largest aquifer structure had the capacity to sustain a 300 MW station. A well field comprising of 24 directionally driven wells with a horizontal exposure to the aquifer would achieve the air flow rates required. Using plant similar to that recently installed at McIntosh Alabama USA, would mean high capital costs compared to standard gas turbine plant. However, a review of modem gas turbines indicated that they could be easily and economically adaptated to CAES duty. Adapting a 120 MW gas turbine would give 344 MW output. A separate air compression plant would be used. Economic evaluations indicate that, for gas prices above $1.95 per GJ, a 344 MW CAES plant is more economic for intermediate/reserve load duty than simple cycle gas turbines.

Jan 1, 1992

By P W. Wypych

The iron ore industry faces significant challenges in the control of dust to meet emissions regulations and goals, as well as ensuring sustainable operations. This paper describes some of the different techniques and innovative technologies that are being developed and implemented to improve the suppression of airborne dust, specifically through the use of high energy micromist sprays. The utilisation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling and simulation is identified and described as a key enabling technology for an improvement in dust suppression solutions both from a level of understanding the source and flow of dust emissions, and for the development of new systems that can be used in the iron ore industry. CFD modelling is shown to be effective for modelling both spray dispersion and cross-wind effects, allowing designers to develop high-efficiency dust suppression systems with a greatly improved level of confidence when compared to traditional techniques. New high energy micromist technology is also outlined as a key element in developing high-efficiency dust suppression systems. Experimental results and industry applications are presented to demonstrate the significant improvements that can be achieved in suppressing or reducing airborne dust emissions.CITATION:Roberts, J M and Wypych, P W, 2017. Research into improving the efficiency of water spraying airborne dust control techniques in the iron ore industry, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 359–364 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

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

Small scale' table concentration tests have many critics. Many metallurgists consider that such tests are of problematical value because of the difficulties involved in conducting and interpreting them.Many kinds of small-scale ore dressing tests are difficult to conduct, and there is, perhaps, good reason for thinking that table concentration tests are amongst the most difficuIt.Interpretation of results from small-scale tests is the responsibility of the metallurgists and engineers in charge, and it is often held that small-scale table concentration tests are particularly difficmlt to interpret.TESTING FOR TABLE CONCENTRATIONOn analysis it appears that the difficulties encountered in conducting small-scale table concentration tests are of three fairly distinct kinds. Firstly, there are difficulties due inherently to the smallscale nature of the operations; for example the smaller width of all mineral bands on the table and the less complete separation due to the shorter length of travel between the feed and discharge points.Secondly, there are the effects of batch operation owing to the fact that the mineral particles behave differently during the initial period when the sample is just beginning to spread over the table, the middle period when feed and discharge are even and continuous, and the final stage, when the last of the sample has been added and the table is beginning to empty itself.

Jan 1, 1954

By A Maldonado, A Robert, K G. Mercer

The Hamersley Group in the Pilbara, Western Australia, consist of interlayered banded iron formation (BIF) and shale host rock formations within which a large number of open pit iron ore mines have been established. The slope stability of most of the mining excavations developed within these formations is controlled by the relatively low shear strength of the shale groups and shale bands, which are the weakest rock types. Shale formations range from fresh to highly weathered and are generally highly fissile when fresh, and clayey when weathered. An accurate understanding of the shear strength of these materials across the entire weathering continuum is therefore a key importance for assessing the slope stability of these mines.Historically defect laboratory testing results for the Pilbara mines have been analysed mechanically using direct shear testing (DST) to measure a number of geotechnical characteristics of the rock bedding and defects. This paper sets out the current practice in the industry in terms of the laboratory testing and presents a possible application of hyperspectral data to empirically correlate the shear strength of shale bedding with the relative mineralogy abundance on the bedding surface. This was achieved by creating both hyperspectral and geotechnical data sets for the same samples.In the study the shale samples were separated into three distinct assemblages: iron oxide + kaolinite, iron oxide + white mica + kaolinite, white mica + kaolinite, which had 40, nine and two samples respectively. Analysing these assemblages alongside DST data showed that samples with white mica had reduced non-variable shear strength, whereas samples with iron oxide + kaolinite had an overall higher shear strength but with a greater variance. It is inferred that the reduced shear strength in the white mica samples is due to the sheet (or plate) like structure of the mineral, giving it a weak stress plane. Confidence in the trends observed can be reinforced by expanding the data set in future works. The investigation also includes a discussion on weathering grade and addresses the question as to whether mineralogy abundances influence these characteristics in Hamersley shales.CITATION:Maldonado, A, Mercer, K G and Robert, A, 2017. The relationship between mineralogy and shear strength of Pilbara Hamersley Group shales across the weathering spectrum, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 423–430 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

By Robinson KJ

Education in Australia now has to respond to a very wide political and policy agenda. The political emphasis is upon increasing participation and retention rates with a view to greater graduation rates in `high-tech' disciplines. There is an implied linkage between `education' and `economic well-being'. Our argument is that equalitarianism in education tends towards mediocrity. In this context many Geoscience educators view the future with pessimism. The argument is that science has been `sold short' and needs revitalising. We contend that Geoscience coursework should be a feature of both secondary and tertiary education in Australia. To this end we propose six policy initiatives to increase the content of Geoscience in education programmes.

Jan 1, 1989

Fragmentation Characteristics of Iron Ores from Anshan, China

Sep 13, 2010

By Carlos G. C

Geological mapping in various parts of Australia is revealing a number of regional associations of mineralizations with particular persistent stratigraphic horizons. Such associations have been found in the Broken Hill district of New South Wales, in the Nairne district of South Australia, in the Mount Isa district of Queensland, and in the Cloncurry district of Queensland. The question has arisen as to whether such mineralizations are of sedimentary origin, syngenetic with the enclosing formation, or whether they are of epigenetic origin, and reflect the selective hydrothermal mineralization of favourable beds on a regional scale.The purpose of this investigation is to test the use of sulphur-selenium ratios as an objective method of distinguishing between suphide deposits or sedimentary or supergene origin, and sulphide deposits of hydrothermal origin, with particular application to the districts mentioned. At the same time much data has been accumulated as to the selenium content of Australian sulphide ores. The possible use of sulphur-selenium ratios for this purpose was first demonstrated by Goldschmidt and his coworkers (1933; 1935), and later by Carstens (1941). Goldschmidt and Strock (1935) found that pyrite of sedimentary origin had a sulphur : selenium ratio of the order of 200,000 or more, whereas pyrite of hydrothermal origin had a sulphur: selenium ratio of 10,000 to 20,000. Carstensfound that sedimentary pyrite deposits in Norway contained less than 1 g. Se per ton, whereas hydrothermal pyrite deposits contained 20 to 30 g. per ton.

Jan 1, 1954

By Hennessy F. L

It is generally recognised that slags are active participants in pyrometallurgical processes, and not merely inert liquids which must be produced. to effect separation of gangue material in smelting, or of impurities in refining. The importance attached to slag-metal reactions in steelmaking is shown by the numerous investigations in this field. However, there are still many important reactions of slags which require explanation. In this paper some new aspects of the reactions of slags will be discussed, as far as possible quantitatively.FREE AND COMBINED OXIDESMetallurgical experience indicates that variations in the composition of slags produce changes in the chemical behaviour of the various components. These variations have been generally ascribed to changes in the proportions of free and combined oxides, i.e., compounds have been assumed to be present in the liquid slag.Considerable support for this view has been adduced from the existence of compounds such as metallic silicates, phosphates, etc., in the solIdified slag. However, this does not imply that such compounds necessarily exist in the molten slag.The most direct evidence as to the nature of molten slag is to be obtained from a study of the liquid state. In...

Jan 1, 1950

Two events during the past decade have combined to effectively alter the role of the geologist working in Papua New Guinea. The gold boom of the 1980s resulted in a substantial increase in the general awareness at village level of mining companies, gold and landowner issues, and as a consequence of the Bougainville tragedy, landowners are also very much aware of the potential problems of a mining operation in their area. Landowners know they have the power to remove a company from a project area, and government has shown itself to be virtually powerless and unable to help the company effectively. During a considerable proportion of a project's development time, the project geologist is viewed in the eyes of the local community as the 'company'. Good landowner relationships are nurtured over a reasonable time period and the input of the geologist is significant in determining the eventual fate of company-landowner relationships. The initial impressions of the company, gathered by the local community, will have a far reaching impact on the nature and direction of their future exchanges with the company.

Jan 1, 1991

By Grynberg H, Lindon P, Wardrop J

The Gippsland Basin is unique in Australia in that it is a major resource based industry centre within a sensitive and special environmental context supplying Melbourne, a major urban/industrial environment with most of its energy 'on-line'. The environmental effects of the supply systems are generally local and mostly affect only those who are directly or indirectly dependent on the upstream systems. The major urban metropolis which is served remains largely unaware of the environmental impacts of the system upon which it is dependent, except when specific attention is drawn to them as in the case of the Latrobe Valley Outfall, algal blooms in the Gippsland Lakes, etc. This paper discusses the environmental context within which the energy industries operate, the environmental legislative framework which applies, the likely environmental impacts and some solutions. The energy resources of the Gippsland Basin occur in an area where the physical environment exhibits a wide variety of inherent energy states in its physical and biological regimes. The off-shore regions of the oil and gas platforms has to be able to withstand the wind and wave energy generated in a shallow sea in a confined waterway lying athwart the main current and climatic stream. The coastline includes the delicately balanced quiescent environments of Corner Inlet with its 'wilderness' tourism industry and the powerful surf and long shore drift and dunes of Ninety Mile Beach.

Jan 1, 1992

By Ray H. S, Galgali R. K

It is well accepted that the blast furnace will continue as the main route for iron-making for many more years. However, its limitations have motivated researchers to look for alternative routes, particularly, those where non-coking coal is used for liquid iron production. Smelting reduction (SR), where coal and oxygen are used to produce liquid iron and power is now receiving serious attention. Several smelting reduction reactors are now operating in pilot plant scale and one or two have reached commercial status.

Jan 1, 1999

By Matters, R T, Coldham, Slee, J C, R J, Wallman

The Committee desires to thank the managers of the various mines along the line of lode for their hearty co-operation in its labours. It would also extend thanks to Messrs J C Moulden, Howchin, Twelvetrees, and the West Australian Geological Surveyfor various information; to Messrs J G Dreyer, S Pope, T Read, P Moncrieff, R Williams, and W J Rose for analyses; and to a number of local gentlemen for advice and help. Professor Skeats, of Melbourne University, gave much valued assistance in petrology, and Mr Herbert Lavers kindly undertook the study of the garnets.INTRODUCTIONThe famous Broken Hill lode is situated in a low range of hills, the Barrier Ranges, near the western border of New South Wales. It has been worked since 1884-fust for silver, then for silver and lead, and at present for lead, silver, and zinc...

Jan 1, 1910

THE following notes were accumulated during the years 1905 to 1911, when the writer was employed at Stannary Hills. The writer's duty took him over the underground workings daily. In odd moments the geology of the surrounding country was worked out. As the time for this purpose was limited, many interesting points had to be left, untouched. The faulting system in the mines was of such a puzzling character that it seemed as if the geology of the surrounding district might throw some light on it. Dr Jack, in 1907, reported on these mines for the shareholders, but came to no definite conclusions. Unfortunately, the writer has not had access to this report for many years. At the time of his visit the larger develbpments in the Ivanhoe and, Kitchenen orebodies (see Fig 1, B2) were only being opened up. Mr. H. Herman mentions Stannary Hills on p 320, Proceedings Aust Inst ME, new series, No 14, and on p 326 expresses the opinion that the pipe or joint-veins (as at Irvine bank and Stannary Hills) were more valuable to follow than lodes in the granite in that district.GEOLOGY OF DISTRICTThe main feature of the area mapped is a band of altered sedimentary rocks which carry no fossils. It is a mile wide, and consists of a hard band of greywackes 200 ·t ·300 yds. wide, flanked on both sides by contorted shales which become more micaceous as the granite-area to the east is approached. The strata have a general strike of N. 30° W., with a steep westerly dip. A large area of acid intrusive rocks occurs to the west of this band. The outstanding feature of the district is a fault which cuts the sedimentary series in two, to the...

Jan 1, 1918

IN this paper an attempt is made to describe the sluicing operations on the tin fields of north-eastern Tasmania. No claim is made to completeness, for much of the ground has already been covered, and nothing is to be gained by needless repetition. On this account some portions of the subject have obviously received but attention in order that others may be rather more fully dealt with; for instance, referring to the accuracy of various methods of valuing alluvial deposits, particulars of efficiencies, and water duties on both overburden and drift; also, the system of recording water distribution, &c. The plans of the tin-streaming shed, sluice and feed race, and overburden tail-race represent types of the most modern design.GEOLOGY. The principal alluvial dcposits being worked at the present time are situated either in the ancient or modern bed of the Ringarooma River or its tributaries. This river flowed in a north-easterly direction, receiving numerous tributaries on either bank...

Jan 1, 1910

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

Characteristics Analysis of a Bastnaesite Rare Earth Mineral for Recovery of Cerium

Sep 13, 2010

By P Goblet, S A. Séguret, E Cordier, A Galli

In salar-type deposits, lithium grades can be measured by bailers introduced at different elevations in the drill holes at locations where, later, the brine will be pumped out to recover the metal. When they are duplicated, these a priori rudimentary measurements may show large differences without indicating whether this is due to the procedure itself or to some physical causes linked to the dynamic behaviour of the salar (seasonality, rainfall, underground flow etc). In the reservoir presented in the paper, the problem is complicated by the double lack of stationarity of the lithium grades: the grades not only increase importantly with the depth but at the same time their fluctuations decrease, making it necessary to use non-stationary geostatistical techniques to simulate them. Reservoir simulation is developed in two steps: first, geostatistical simulations of the lithium grade create possible realisations of the reservoir; then, each geostatistical simulation is followed by a pumping simulation that calculates, at each drill hole of a given extraction scenario, the lithium produced each year over 40 years. For the set of 100 simulations produced in this way, a scenario reduction is made to choose the five most representative simulations where more complex calculations will be carried out (for example, changing hydrogeological parameters such as porosity and permeability, or the elevation of the filters, the number and the location of the pumping and the reinjection drill holes etc). The paper first presents an analysis of the geostatistical model sensitivity to the grade uncertainty when measured by bailer. Among the 100 measurements at our disposal covering the future production domain, 50 per cent are duplicates measured at the same place but at different times. They are randomly sampled to produce five subsets of 75 values, which will constitute the future 3D conditioning points for the geostatistical analysis and the simulations. For each subset, trend, standard deviation and variogram models are fitted, leading to five sets of 20 geostatistical simulations of grades. In this way, the reliability of the different parameters involved in the procedure is evaluated, as well as its impact on the pumping results. Then, a reconciliation study is conducted between the non-stationary nugget effects encountered in the 3D variograms of the lithium grade and a pure statistical analysis of 25 duplicates measured at different locations and/or different times. The result is that if the nugget effect reaches 20 per cent, which is the case of three conditioning subsets out of five, the reconciliation is good and the nugget effect of the variogram model represents the bailer uncertainty, ie the measurement error. Since the geostatistical simulation incorporates a nugget effect, it handles the bailer uncertainty and the impact on the produced metal is included in the evaluation. The final conclusion is that, after the hydrogeological pumping simulations, the initial differences between the five geostatistical models do not influence the final results: lithium grades measured by bailers can lead to a robust evaluation of the extractable resources, a conclusion that conflicts with conventional wisdom.CITATION:Séguret, S A, Goblet, P, Cordier, E and Galli, A, 2017. Bailer uncertainty evaluation in a lithium salar deposit, in Proceedings Eighth World Conference on Sampling and Blending , pp 395–402 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2017

The prevention of silicosis by metallic aluminium has been reported by Denny, Robson, and Irwin in two papers. The first was published in 1937; the second in 1939. The results definitely established that silicosis was prevented in animals by the inhalation of small quantities of aluminium. The present communication records subsequent progress in this field of research.HARMLESSNESS OF ALUMINIUMAnimal experiments having served their purpose, it became necessary to consider means to test the discovery on humans. A question for immediate consideration was: Is aluminium harmful to man when inhaled as a fine powder? While the animal experiments were reassuring, since they conclusively showed the powder to be innocuous when breathed by animals, it was, nevertheless, desirable to have additional reassurance with regard to its effect upon human beings.Through the courtesy of the Aluminium Company of America and especially the valued interest in this problem displayed by that Company's Director of Research, Dr. Francis C. Frary, a study was made of the records pertaining to the health of a group of 125 employees who had for many years been engaged in the manufacture of finely powdered, metallic aluminium for the paint and ink industries. The conditions were such that these employees had inhaled varying and oft-times very dense concentrations of this powder daily over periods ranging from 6 to 23 years, the average 101 the group being 12 years. X-ray pictures of their chests showed no abnormalities attributable to aluminium. Their general health seemed better than that of the 3,000 workers in other sections of the plant. In fact, the early films of three employees in this group of 125 showed shadows suggestive of minimal tuberculosis, which shadows were not discernible in films taken after considerable periods of exposure to aluminium powder.The harmlessness of aluminium was; by this study, reasonably well established at the outset, a finding subsequently verified by Ontario research on humans.PROPOSAL TO TREAT HUMAN SILICOSISBased upon these findings, a proposal to treat silicotics with aluminium was discussed by officials of the Mclntyre Mine and the Banting Institute.

Jan 1, 1945

Three stages are involved in the complete design and evaluation of an open cut mine. These are:1. design of the optimu,m ultimate pit, and selectionof the optimum mill capacity,2. development of production schedules, with intermediate pit designs, and3. evaluation of the project, based on factors from stages 1 and 2, by means of discounted cash flow analysis.Stage 1 requires relatively complete information on metal distribution, metallurgical performance, and cost factors, which is used to design a series of pits, corresponding to a range of milling rates.For each milling rate considered there is a unique pit design which maximizes operating profitability. The computer outlines this design (in terms of size, shape, and location; tons and grade of ore; and tons of waste), by considering the effect on profitability of mining each block in the mineralized inventory in relation to every other block which would be affected by its removal.The computer selects only those blocks for mining which result in an overall increase in profitability, maintaining pre-determined wall slope conditions throughout.Both operating profitabilities and capital costs increase with throughput, and the two curves will combine to produce a flat peak in net profitabilities at a certain rate, with its associated pit design.Stage 2 can maximize head grades early in the life of the operation. This increases the projected present value, but there are good arguments for maintaining steady head grades throughout the life of the mine.A modification of the programme used in Stage 1 is used here.Stage 3 is a conventional discounted cash flow analysis, using factors obtained in stages 1 and 2. It can be computerised, but a manual treatment is probably just as fast overall.

Jan 1, 1970