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On account of the increased work required from the assay office, owing to the large additions which have been made to the smelting and superphosphate plants during the last few years, it was found necessary to build a more extensive and up-to-date assay office than the one that had been in use since the starting of the works some twenty years back.A site was chosen adjacent to the main office, so as to be free from smoke and dust.. The building is constructed of red brick, the over-all dimensions being 109 ft. x 37 ft. The roof is of fibrous-cement slates, 31 ft. high, with a two-to-one rise, and overlaps the walls to the extent of 4 ft. 6 in. on all sides.Special care was taken to give light to all working benches, fume cupboards, and balance rooms. The main chemical room occupies the entire western end of the building, and the fire room the entire eastem end. Between these two rooms are the superphosphate, refinery, and gold-parting rooms on one side of the central passage, and three balance rooms, general office, and cloak room on the other side. The height of the roof affords ample space above these central rooms for storage purposes, and also maintains a fairly even temperature. The ceiling of the main chemical and fire rooms is carried immediately under the slates, which gives a total height in the centre of about 25 ft.

Jan 1, 1918

By C Rule

In 2003, Anglo Platinum, in a joint development with Xstrata Technology, installed the world’s first 10 000 litre IsaMillTM in a concentrate regrind duty at the Western Limb Tailings Re-treatment Plant. The success of that installation was the enabling event for Anglo Platinum to proceed with a substantial investment in horizontal stirred milling technology. Since 2006 an additional three IsaMillsTM in concentrate regrind duties and a further 18 IsaMillsTM in the more technically challenging coarse grinding mainstream applications, have been commissioned in group Concentrator operations - bringing the total number of IsaMillsTM installed in Anglo Platinum plants to 22.A collaborative approach between Anglo Platinum and Xstrata Technology towards improving milling efficiency and reducing operating costs, through internal mill component wear optimization and operating recipe development, has resulted in further improvements in the overall success of IsaMillsTM in the flow sheets of many Anglo Platinum operations. The addition of IsaMillsTM in the Anglo Platinum flow sheets has improved plant PGM recoveries by as much as 5%.This paper explores the improvements made to the IsaMillsTM flow sheet and mill internal design and shares some of the operating experience with IsaMillsTM technology in Anglo Platinum

Aug 8, 2011

As a result of cheap Maui gas and plentiful hydro-electricity, over the past few decades New Zealand has enjoyed some of the cheapest energy of any OECD country. The situation is changing; at best we are facing some radical changes in energy use, at worst we are facing a crisis resulting from the following:   Cause 1: Maui gas will be exhausted by 2012. Distorted pricing and supply contracts; resulted in Huntly Power Station, a coal mine mouth generator running on 70 per cent Maui gas until very recently!   Cause 2: Investment in new generating capacity (and transmission) is woefully inadequate; as a result hydro lake levels are being continually pushed to the limits.   Cause 3: Distorted thinking is everywhere, for example; æWe will find more cheap gasÆ. æGas is clean û coal is dirtyÆ. Hot air  û ægreen alternatives such as wind generation will save usÆ. æNo NuclearÆ. The outcomes of the distorted thinking will be price increases, then shortages (there is nothing like "black-outs" to focus national thinking) and finally recession.   But what can NZ do? - Mine Coal. Coal jump-started the industrial revolution, it can provide the transition to post-gas and oil. NZ has the second highest reserves of coal per capita in the world, yet we use less that any other country with significant coal reserves. Our exports of our best coal have increased threefold, yet out own consumption has remained static at about 1-1.5 Mtpa for the last 30 years. Our coal is NZ owned and inexpensive relative to other energy sources, even allowing for infrastructure and environmental costs.   What can we do? We as mining professionals can promote informed responsible development and investment in the country's mining and energy business. We can galvanise public opinion on issues such as æunbundlingÆ our entire energy chain from mine-to generator-through transmission, even if the nuclear issue has to wait! With oil above US$70/bbl substitution is feasible. For individuals, there is always solar!

Jan 1, 2006

By A I. M Ritchie, G P. Timms

Monitoring of water infiltration into WhiteÆs waste rock dump at the Rum Jungle mine site in the Northern Territory, Australia, started in 1983, and has since produced a unique and long-running data set. Following closure of the uranium mining operations at the site, a soil cover was constructed on the dump in 1984 primarily to reduce water infiltration into, and the quantity of low quality effluent out of, the waste material. The performance of the cover in reducing water infiltration has been monitored using ten lysimeters installed across the dump prior to construction of the cover. Over the past eight years or so, the average infiltration rate as measured by the ten lysimeters appears to have risen compared to the early years of monitoring. The significance of this apparent increase is discussed given the variability observed in the data from individual lysimeters, and the variability in the rainfall. Estimates of the infiltration rate as measured by each of the lysimeters are examined using statistical tools. It is concluded that the infiltration rate has increased with time and with increasing rainfall. The increase with time is a stronger factor than the increase with rainfall. It is further surmised that the cover system at the locations of the lysimeters is less effective now at reducing infiltration into the dump than it was when newly installed.

Jan 1, 2003

By H R. Phillips

Fresh air intake in an underground coal mine is of critical importance to the occupational health and safety of workers due to the dynamic, confined and dangerous nature of the mining environment. In most coal mines in South Africa, belt road is not separated from the fresh air intake to the sections. Intake air to coal production faces generally contains dust generated by conveyor belts, transfer points and travelling roads. Long roadways (up to a few kilometres in some of the existing mines) to the coal sections are involved in the ventilation circuits of individual sections. This leads to a progressive increase in the dust levels in the intake fresh air and thus high dust levels in the air delivered to the working sections downstream. In the process of reducing worker exposure to dust in the face area, attention to the monitoring of fresh intake air is generally given a low priority. This paper summarises the intake dust levels measured in selected South African underground coal mining sections over the past five years and its use as a parameter in assessing worker exposure to dust through a newly developed model called the Dust Exposure Level Index (DELI). Based on the measured data of the South African coal mines, the average section intake dust level was 0.78 mg/m3. Approximately 60 per cent of the samples collected for the study have exceeded the 0.5 mg/m3. The intake dust level measured at a longwall face was much higher than in the CM headings. The measured section intake dust levels furnish the South African coal mining industry with the latest depiction of the level of face area dust contamination due to the intake air. Further, this paper demonstrates the use of intake dust level as a parameter in estimating exposure levels of workers, as it clearly plays as a corner stone in effective control of exposure to face area respirable dust. It must be borne in mind that intake dust is a base level to the mine worker exposed to dust without carrying out any additional work in the section. If the intake air is seriously contaminated by airborne respirable dust; then the exposure of the workforce in the section will constantly be elevated by that background dust level.

Jan 1, 2005

At Pasminco Mining's South concentrator. which was commissioned in 1952. an expansion. modernisation and efficiency improvement program commenced in 1986 with a coarse ore stockpile and grinding circuit expansion. the replacement of small flotation cells and the upgrading of reagent mixing and metering equipment. The program continued with the installation of a TDC 3000 based process control system (1988) and concentrate thickeners (1990). By mid-1991 a further grinding expansion and the installation of zinc flotation feed regrind ball mills and zinc recleaner column cells will be complete. leaving the use of ceramic disc fillers and development of process control strategies as probably the remaining major avenues for improved process efficiency at present.

Jan 1, 1991

By M Slight, H Lacy

In recent times, with the global mining industry’s focus on sustainable development there has been a significant focus on mine closure and rehabilitation performance and reporting through the development of the International Council on Mining Metals (ICMM), the Global Reporting Initiative and the Equator Principles. In addition, financial reporting obligations under International Financial Reporting Standards and the Sarbanes Oxley Act (2002) have also led to better understanding and improvements with industry closure performance, liability management and reporting.Under these sustainable development principles and financial reporting obligations, mining companies are required to consider mine closure planning and associated cost estimates across all life cycle phases of the mine. Internal processes have been developed within mining companies to better understand their closure liabilities and obligations and likely costs and cost estimating processes are generally developed for long-term life-of-mine (asset) planning and budgeting, financial reporting for corporate balance sheet provisioning purposes, and regulator reporting for environmental bonding and financial assurances.These days mining companies need to plan for, prepare and actually mine for closure right from the start of a project. This means that their closure and rehabilitation liabilities throughout each stage of the mine life cycle phases must be understood, planned for, managed and controlled.So how is the industry performing? Understanding of closure liabilities is improving and reflected in liability cost estimations that are recognising the likely issues to be faced at closure, but there is a way to go to ensure that the industry doesn’t add to the increasing legacy liabilities being passed onto the wider community.CITATION:Slight, M and Lacy, H, 2016. Closure liabilities – where are we at?, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference , pp 28–30 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 28, 2016

Laboratory experiments have been used tostudy a wide range of convective processes which are significant for the formation of rocks and the ores that form in them. Metal-rich solutions flowing through the sea floor produce 'black smoker' chimneys; both the size and structure of a solid chimney and the height to which the plume of effluent rises above it can be predicted using model experiments. Analogues of processes in solidifying magmas can also be studied using crystallizing aqueous solutions. The release of lighter or denser residual fluid as crystallization proceeds, and the resulting compositional convection, have a vital influence on the differentiation of initially homogeneous magma and on the evolution of stratified magma chambers. Mixing during the replenishment of magma chambers, and its dependence on the rate of filling and on the fluid properties, have also been studied on the laboratory scale. Experiments carried out in different geometries have been applied here to the formation of platinum and chromite ores and komatiite lavas. Larger-scale mantle convection, in particular the motion of subducting plates and plumes rising from the core-mantle boundary, also determine the tectonic settings in which ore bodies form. These phenomena too can be usefully investigated in laboratory experiments using very viscous fluids.

Jan 1, 1990

By D Head

IonicRE acknowledges within our mining industry, there is a common belief that workplace health and safety, often referred to as safety, is just a matter of ‘common sense’ – something obvious and easy. However, at IonicRE, we hold a different perspective. We understand that safety is far from easy. We recognise the need to emphasise the importance of understanding and conveying the inherent difficulties of working safely. We are committed to implementing processes that support individuals in achieving our safety objective of eliminating fatalities and permanently disabling injuries. To build resilience and sustainability into safety performance, we draw parallels with the principles underpinning sustainable and exceptional production performance. Achieving sustainable safety performance demands effective leadership, meticulous planning, adept management, genuine care and unwavering commitment. We’ve leveraged various tools and techniques, such as DISC theory, Maslow’s hierarchy, process control, Kaizen, Six Sigma and Kirkpatrick’s 4 levels, among others, to facilitate this improvement. There methods play a pivotal role in developing a Safety Blueprint for enhanced safety performance. This paper provides an overview of IonicRE’s Safety Blueprint, a strategic framework for developing our safety capability. Our capability is underpinned by three key pillars. Firstly, a comprehensive risk management approach is imperative, encompassing the understanding of hazards, the identification of threats to our people and the associated risks. Secondly, it entails providing and enforcing accountability to sustain our safety capability. Lastly, it involves constructing an effective defence system against threats and harm. Implementing these pillars requires a meticulously devised change process. Anticipating resistance and potential setbacks, we underscore the importance of having the right people and a wellcommunicated vision for safety at IonicRE. A Safety Blueprint serves as a detailed plan outlining the path toward a future goal. At IonicRE, we contend that safety in the mining industry has generally lacked a coherent and effective Safety Blueprint – a comprehensive plan to navigate the journey toward a destination. Drawing parallels with NASA’s detailed plan for landing a man on the moon safely, we question why, as an industry, we cannot similarly eliminate fatalities. While progress has been made in the last century, we must not wait another 50 years to eradicate fatalities from our industry. Examining Safe Work Australia data from 2008 reveals that 47 per cent of mining fatalities result from vehicle activity and 40 per cent stem from individuals being struck by an object. As of December 7, 2023, seven lives have been lost in the mining industry in Australia this year, indicating a stubborn trend mirroring 2022, with limited improvement over the past 25 years. These incidents are not isolated or unexpected. We understand the hazards and controls, yet fatalities persist. IonicRE considers that the mining industry stands at a critical juncture – do we accept a plateau in mining safety performance, or do we rethink our approach? At IonicRE, we are thoroughly reassessing the hazards that threaten our people, systematically redefining effective risk control measures and establishing a robust framework to hold individuals accountable for the effective implementation of the control measure.

Apr 16, 2024

By I KylmSkorpi, H Mansikkaviita

The traditional direct-heated drying process has been replaced by the steam drying process in non-ferrous metal smelters, where steam is available from waste heat boilers. Many recent projects have selected Kumera Steam Dryers in equipping a new production line or modifying an old production line. The industrial performance of the steam dryers has shown significant energy saving and emission reduction. The steam dryers have been operated at high availability and long maintenance interval. As the process principle of Kumera Steam Dryer is different from other equipment, the set-up for steam dryer plants is configured to fit the smelter site and operation conditions to achieve optimal performance. This article discusses the equipment involved in the steam drying process and their combination options.

Jan 1, 2008

Real-time data collection and plant historians are becoming common place in mining and processing plants. This vast quantity of data must be turned into easily accessible and actionable information for all levels of the organisation.Queensland Nickel use a combination of Microsoft and SAP business intelligence tools to collect, cleanse, aggregate and present plant information to the appropriate people for supporting decision making in the business. SAP Business Objects, for visualisation, and SAP MII, for integration, allows complex and accurate metrics to be delivered as real-time dashboards. Designing a rigid data management architecture to segregate the data collection, integration and logic and visualisation into distinct logical layers, allows for rapid report development and greatly assists with IT maintenance, while also minimising the complexity of any customised programming. This type of architecture ensures a common data source for all business reports, ensuring one version of the truth. The past few years at Queensland Nickel have seen process and maintenance engineers spending considerably less time collecting and integrating data and spending more time analysing what is happening in the plant. Real-time reports and dashboards have been developed around the business needs rather than around the data. Two years ago Queensland Nickel introduced an employee bonus scheme based upon meeting monthly performance targets; an easy to use dashboard that allows everyone, from operators through to management, to monitor these metrics day-to-day.

Sep 26, 2011

By P C. J Blackney, I M. Glacken

Spotted Quoll is a massive sulfide nickel deposit located in the Forrestania greenstone belt in the Archaean Yilgarn block in Western Australia. Discovered in October 2007, mining has progressed from open pit to underground and currently uses longhole open stoping with paste fill as the primary stoping method. Immediately prior to 2019, the Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) was defined by a single grade domain of nickel greater than or equal to 0.8 per cent, irrespective of the host lithology, a legacy of the original ore wireframe being built using explicit methods. While a number of obvious structural offsets were honoured in this nickel grade domain, only one modelled fault was used to undertake domaining of arsenic. From 2019 onwards, implicit modelling in Leapfrog Geo™ was used to construct a mine-scale geological model, which triggered the definition of a high-grade core of massive/matrix nickel sulfides surrounded by a low-grade halo of stringer/disseminated nickel sulfides in the surrounding rock. As part of the evolution of the geological model and with the aid of Seequent Central™ to allow collaboration between site-based mine geologists, Perth-based resource geologists and Melbourne-based consultants, a detailed review of the structural mapping was carried out as additional information from underground development became available. This allowed numerous faults and shears to be identified – particularly in the lower half of the mine. These were used to define further structural domains and to refine the understanding of the nickel and arsenic grade distributions in the mineralised envelope. The increased definition to the domains provided by the geological model resulted in a significant improvement in the accuracy of the Mineral Resource estimate, as measured by reconciliation using voids of the mined stopes determined from the cavity monitoring survey (CMS).

Mar 22, 2022

By D Joshi, J Rostami, M Karakus, A Eustes

The first target of mining activities on the surface of the moon is to find and extract water from the icy regolith on the moon. A test drilling unit was designed and fabricated under a NASA Early Stage Innovation (ESI) grant. A high-frequency data acquisition system was used to record drilling responses at 1000 Hz. Parameters like weight on bit (WOB), torque, rev/min, rate of penetration (ROP), mechanical specific energy (MSE), field penetration index (FPI), and the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) were recorded for 40 boreholes in the analog samples made of regolith simulant and specialised cement. Development of the AI system and machine learning (ML) algorithms for analysis of data to evaluate strength and hence water content of icy regolith required a large data set. In this case, the data set comprising of more than one billion data points recorded while drilling into various analogue samples and cryogenic lunar formations to optimise power consumption and make bit wear adjustment during drilling operations. The tests were also repeated in the samples of icy regolith at various water content at -190C to verify the ability of the algorithms to analyse the data and to estimate the strength of the frozen formation and hence water content. The paper will discuss the objectives and methodologies used in the project and reviews the testing program and the machine learning (ML) algorithms ability to identify various formations along the exploration boreholes.

Sep 1, 2024

By Trudinger J. P

Concern for the environment by the public and by mining companies, has led to many recent attempts to revegetate areas disturbed by mining activities. The problem of successfully revegetating disturbed areas and mine wastes is often difficult, even under favourable conditions. Under the severe conditions that prevail in and and semi-arid parts of Australia, such difficulties may be extreme. An approach is described in which field trials are used to investigate factors which adversely affect revegetation and to evaluate optimum methods and treatments..A wide range of methods suitable for use in and situations is described. These include grading and cultivating operations, topdressing with natural soil materials, selection of suitable plant species, mulching and the use of fertilisers and supplementary irrigation. It is concluded that such a programme provides the best approach to this complex and expensive problem.

Jan 1, 1976

By I Brandes de Roos

Water has played a key role in the Pilbara’s 60-year history of iron ore operations. In contrast to many of the current-day mining environments, iron ore mining was initially hosted by geological formations that were typically above the water table. Such mining operations required no dewatering or dewatering at rates that were less than mine and mining township requirements. The challenge for these operations was not pit dewatering but water supply for mining operations and municipal supply for nascent mining towns.The current industry sees new deposit styles being increasingly targeted, including channel iron and Marra Mamba Formation deposits. These deposits are often lower in the landscape and can require extensive dewatering. Furthermore, increased water demand for ore beneficiation has resulted in major programs of water-supply borefield development. Added to this is the emergence of magnetite projects and their significant levels of water use in ore beneficiation.The large volumes of water that are being extracted to support Pilbara iron ore mining is attracting attention. The Western Australian Department of Water has recently commissioned a study to assess the potential use of surplus mine water as a medium- to long-term supply for irrigated agriculture.This paper outlines the changing landscape of water management in Pilbara iron ore operations and explores strategies for maximising mining productivity. Water management is presented as an enabler for productivity improvements that can potentially provide long-lasting benefits post-closure.CITATION:Brandes de Roos, I, 2015. Shifting waters in the Pilbara’s iron ore industry, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 507–510 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

This paper explores options worthy of consideration in the management of S02 produced from the gold roasting operations at Kalgoorlie. Some of the options have relevance to other sources of SO2 in the region, eminating from nickel smelting operations. The paper considers the following options: 1. Capture of SO2 within the roaster where sulphur-containing reaction products are mixed with the calcine. 2. Processes in which the sulphur-containing products are bled separately from the stack for further treatment or for dumping as a waste. These include: Seawater-based scrubbing of SO2; Sulphuric acid manufacture as a feedstock for fertiliser production or for leaching of bauxite; its use as Caro's acid: and the production of value-added sulphur-containing reagents eg liquid S02 and sulphonic acid.

Jan 1, 1992

Comalco Limited has recently completed construction of a $50 million kaolin plant at the site of its bauxite mining and industrial minerals operation at Weipa. The plant will produce 100,000 tonnes per annum of coating grade kaolin for the paper industry. Comalco produced the first coating kaolin from the deposit in 1979 on a trial basis. Since then a variety of quality coating grades with specific particle size distributions and brightness values have been prepared. Extensive drilling and bulk sampling of the deposit over eight years has shown that the ore body is large and of a high grade suitable for the production of premium quality coating kaolins. The processing plant technology was developed by Comalco in association with the European kaolin and equipment producer Amberger Kaolinwerke GmbH (AKW). The Weipa kaolin plant is the first of this size to be built in the Pacific Basin region and it will offer the region's paper-coating mills a stable and reliable source of high-quality kaolin, shipped from an established bulk loading port. The paper provides an overview of the development of the kaolin investment the nature of the production process and details the

Jan 1, 1986

By J Vann

Geometallurgy is inherently multidisciplinary and it gains its power to deliver improved outcomes for the minerals industry by bridging silos between disciplines. This cross-disciplinary approach unlocks value, identifies (and avoids) value destruction and provides a pathway to better implementation of an energy efficient and sustainable minerals industry. Despite this promise, we argue that the cross disciplinary approach also represents the greatest threat to the success of geometallurgy. Some key cross disciplinary issues identified are:Geometallurgy has so far evolved in the technical sphere, mainly by collaborations of geologists and metallurgists. Consequently, in many cases the business dimensions and value have not been incorporated. Financial and risk evaluation viewpoints need to be assimilated into the geometallurgical paradigm. In fact, until such measures are integrated into practices, the value cannot be fully demonstrated.The historical and current efforts on geometallurgy have been highly focused on improved sampling and measurement of geometallurgical properties or appropriate proxies. This work has been driven by professional and academic geologists and metallurgical engineers. It is notable that mining engineers (who are critical in the value delivery of geometallurgy through changed planning approaches) have so far been at the margins, or absent. The construction of valid three dimensional (3D) geometallurgical models raises some important organisational, mathematical and geostatistical considerations. The enhancement of resource models to account for geometallurgical aspects must be managed carefully if the full value of geometallurgical thinking is to be realised.The use of 3D geometallurgical models to change business decision making and practices is the real nub of the problem. We believe sophisticated scenario based evaluation methods are required if the potential impacts of spatial rock properties on processes further down the mining value chain are to be realistically evaluated. Such changed practices require ‘whole of value chain thinking’ to embed this change into the business in an ongoing way.Because profitable geometallurgy demands changed approaches to business decision-making and also organisation of the firm (radically changed in some cases), the senior executive viewpoint must be incorporated into the language and thinking of geometallurgy. This is unavoidable if the establishment of a geometallurgical approach to project evaluation, development and operation is to be successful and sustained.A powerful analogy for the problem faced by geometallurgy is the transformation of safety culture in the mining industry in the past 20 years. We argue that, as in the safety revolution, explicit models, cultural change and management of the ‘soft’ dimensions of the problem are pivotal to success of geometallurgy. In light of this, we propose a model (‘the Geomet Curve’) that gives a framework and pathway for geometallurgy in seven steps. The implications of this model for technical and organisational steps required at different stages are discussed.

Sep 5, 2011

By S Henderson

The Otago Goldfield has produced approximately 8 million ounces of alluvial gold and over 2.5 million ounces of hard rock gold and is currently home to New ZealandÆs largest producing gold mine. In the eyes of explorers this production history makes the goldfield a good place to explore.   Modern exploration in the Otago Goldfield commenced in the late 1970s with the exploration for tungsten. However, a rapid rise of the gold price in the early 1980s saw the focus shift to the exploration for gold which lead to the discovery of the Macraes Gold Project in 1984, which since it came into production in 1990 has been New ZealandÆs largest producing gold mine. With the exception of the Macraes Gold Project, exploration continued in the Otago Goldfield for a further 20 years without further success.   In 2006, Glass Earth (NZ) Limited (Glass Earth) reviewed all the exploration technologies applied to the Otago region and available geological data, including the 1996 OceanaGold Helicopter Electro-Magnetic (HEM) data, and concluded that combined magnetics and HEM were able to delineate the Hyde Macraes Shear Zone (HMSZ) which hosts the Macraes Gold Project. Unlike previous explorers who explored the Otago region in a piecemeal manner, Glass Earth opted to collect a new, region-wide dataset which could be integrated with all previous collected geological information to come up with new exploration concepts and targets. As part of this process, Glass Earth applied in mid 2006 for New ZealandÆs largest on-shore gold Prospecting Permit, PP39-322 which was subsequently granted in November 2006. In mid January 2007, Glass Earth commenced acquisition of approximately 50 000 line kilometres of HEM data, making the Otago regional aerial geophysical survey (survey) the largest aerial geophysical survey ever undertaken in New Zealand.   This paper will report on the progress of the Otago Regional aerial geophysical survey and outline some of the preliminary findings from what is still a work in progress.

Jan 1, 2007

By O C. Aitken

Mining project developers are committed to taking on all the challenges and obligations of financial risk management. It is interesting that our current models of project finance have not changed markedly in principle for some 700 years, yet the rules which prepare the way for effective project assessment and subsequent loan management still do not seem to be well understood by project or corporate developers. Probability and gravity fill the opposing trays of the golden balance of financial risk. Understanding the relationship between these opposing, but intimately related elements is critically important for successful risk management. It is important to move beyond the qualitative approach and use quantitative methodologies to measure the financial impact of the occurrence of each major risk. We live in a world where the only constant is change and thus it is not surprising that a bankerÆs life is still governed by assessing, measuring and pricing risk. Banks are attracted to funding well managed companies with strong cash flow projects. But we are more risk averse compared with the credit appetites of late last century. This attitudinal shift has resulted in tougher term sheets for the early 21st century, encompassing more conditions, warranties, undertakings and stronger cash sweep provisions. Banks require well balanced portfolios to achieve an acceptable spread of risk, thus there is a more restricted market for small company lending than that available to large multi-project corporate entities with less concentrated risk profiles. Because of this focus, junior company debt finance remains comparatively expensive and especially so for more challenging geographical and political environments.

Jan 1, 2004