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This short paper outlines the authorÆs views regarding the present ability of the resources industry to manage its mining assets. It represents a personal view û but one founded in fact-based observations of mining companies and of the mining industry in general. It contends that whilst a great deal has been learnt about the management of mines over the last 500 years since the seminal work of Agricola, observations suggest that best practice management is the exception rather than the rule across our industry. Although insights regarding the successful management of mines have become apparent, we still witness unnecessary errors in our industry that lead to the loss of shareholdersÆ funds. By highlighting some aspects of current best practice, particularly in the arena of operations improvement, it is hoped that this short paper contributes a small step along the next 500-year-long learning curve. At a time of key skill shortages in our industry as mineral producers attempt to ramp-up production to capture historically high commodity prices, achieving best practice operations management has seldom been more critical.

Jan 1, 2006

The rights of nations to explore and exploit minerals in the continental shelf were recognized by the 1958 Convention on the Continental Shelf. The Commonwealth Government has expressed the view that, as a party to the Convention, it has, by virtue of its foreign affairs power, full rights to legislate with respect to offshore minerals. States have taken the view that the rights recognized as extending into the continental shelf are land mineral rights, which belong to the States, and the Commonwealth legislative power in this field is strictly limited. Without prejudice to each other's rights, Commonwealth and States agreed to "mirror" legislation in relation to offshore petroleum. Commonwealth and State legislation, of which the operative parts are in identical terms, are both administered, in relation to areas adjacent to each State, by State Ministers of Mines. The legislation has functioned well in practice, though difficulties are encountered by the Commonwealth Government due to lack of direct accountability to Commonwealth Parliament. An alternative scheme designed to overcome this problem is outlined.

Jan 1, 1974

As world demand for various minerals increases the mining industry in its endeavour to satisfy this demand will, eventually,look to the extraction of orebodies which previously may have been uneconomical to mine. These orebodies may be of two types. Firstly, new low grade orebodies and secondly, remnant sections of previously mined orebodies. Some of the factors relative to remnant mining operations are discussed and the potent- ial of remnant mining in providing an important contribution to future world metal production is considered.

Jan 1, 1975

By Sturgul J. R

A major electricity generating authority have a proposal to construct a Power Station. An understanding of the operation of the bunker system is of importance to the designers and a computer simulation model of the operation was constructed. The computer language used was GPSS/PC which is a recent form of the language designed for the per- sonal computer. The model simulated trains arriving at the power sta- tion and unloading onto conveyors which carry coal to the power station bunker. Coal was drawn from the bunker at a specified feed rate to the power station. Numerous restrictions were placed on the model, if the bunker level got too high dozers would pull coal out of the bunker onto the stockpile, and if the level got too low the dozers would push coal back into the bunker. The conveyors and dozers were unavailable due to breakdown'at various times and trains would arrive randomly about a mean interarrival time. The system was simulated for 30 years of oper- ation and the model used a basic time unit of 30 minutes so that the system was updated 525,600 times during the simulation. The results of the simu- lation gave the designers a greater understanding of the critical factors in the operation, which may now be engineered to minimise adverse Effects.

Jan 1, 1988

By Soldenhoff K, Levins D, Collier D, Day A, Secomb R, Brown S, Tapsell G, Bellingham A, Quan C

Bench and pilot plant studies were carried out at ANSTO to develop a process for rare earth recovery from the Mt Weld deposit near Laverton, Western Australia. This paper describes the development of the flowsheet, which is similar to conventional monazite processing, but with the introduction of several innovative steps to account for the complex rare earth mineralisation and the presence of specific gangue minerals. A unique feature of the flowsheet is the recovery of cerium by solvent extraction from a sulphate leach liquor. The process was tested continuously by the operation of a pilot plant at ANSTO's Lucas Heights Research Laboratories, Sydney in the first half of 1992. The plant, designed to treat 100 kg per day of beneficiated ore, confirmed the viability of the process, with rare earth products from the operation satisfying stringent buyer specifications.

Jan 1, 1993

Modern minerals projects face serious challenges in earning and maintaining acceptance by their key stakeholders. Factors which underpin effective response to managing these challenges include consideration of public affairs issues from the earliest planning stages, building robust alliances with a range of influential partners, developing a level of transparency in all operations and decision-making and integrating activities towards resolving key strategic issues. Effective community relations is vital and there are a number of elements common to the best approaches. These include senior management support and involvement, appropriate involvement in project decisions and activities by community members and company responsiveness to community expectations. The project's operations manager and executive team must fully commit to developing the capability and processes to meet these challenges. They require a whole of project response and it is not an option to manage them peripherally.

Jan 1, 1997

`WELL HE WOULD, WOULDN'T HE?' Public Relations people have something in common with advertising people and politicians: there exists a perception that their whole Raison d'Etre is to create, mould, and maintain images which are far removed from reality

Jan 1, 1994

This paper examines the operational characteristics and requirements of crushers and screens. Several possible control loops are considered and it is shown how these can be used to satisfy particular requirements.

Jan 1, 1978

By Sun Yubo

A basic method for designing reasonable jig cycles for movable-screen jigs is presented in this paper. The reliability and effectiveness of the designed jig cycle was verified with tests performed on an artificial mixed material. An iron ore (12 - 100 mm) from Huashugo Iron Mine, Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company, was treated in the TJD-75 movable-screen jig using the designed jig cycle. A good result was achieved. The procedure presented here should provide a reliable technique for the design of a commercial movable-screen jig.

Jan 1, 1993

By Hunter M. M

The present value of the future profits of a mining operation, using a discount factor which represents the effective cost of venture capital, provides a measure of the projected success of the operation. The present value can be maximised by appropriate selection of cut-off grades successively through the life of the operation. A case study is presented in which detailed optimisation of cut-off grade results in a worthwhile increase in profitability compared with the use of a constant, break even, cut-off grade.Some implications of this approach to profit optimisation are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By Morland R, Peck R

The Joint Committee of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) and the Australian Mining Industry Council (AMIC) have published a Code for the Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves. The Code is the result of an initiative begun in 1971 to achieve industry self regulation of Resources and Ore Reserves reporting which resulted first in guidelines for reporting standards but which have now been incorporated in ASX Listing Rules as a Code with significant sanctions ensuring compliance. This paper describes the background to the Code, its key provisions, and comments on practical aspects of working with the Code and compliance issues.

Jan 1, 1990

By Westcott PC

The development of a coal project must pass through a number of phases, taking it from a preliminary evaluation through to detailed mine planning. For each phase the cost of data acquisition and associated mining studies increases exponentially for linear improvement in confidence levels. Within each mine planning phase there are four main activities. These are the economic ordering of reserves, the development of optimum mining strategies, mine design and scheduling and finally the estimation and analysis of costs. The development of the optimum mining strategy is one of the most critical aspects of a mining evaluation and the application of economic criteria at this stage of the project is vital to the successful generation of an optimised mine design. A recommended method is the concept of Economic Ratio (ER) which expresses the likely cost of mining from a given location in a deposit in terms of the value of the product likely to be recovered. The most economic mining strategy will be to mine areas from low economic ratio to high economic ratio within the constraints of reasonable equipment application. When selecting equipment a particular machine should not be selected solely on comparison with other machines in isolation, but the total application must be analysed. In the final selection the decision should be based on whether or not it has a beneficial effect on overall project economics. The economic assessment must take into account the time value of money, so the real cost can be determined with adequate provision for capital and operating costs over different time spans.

Jan 1, 1983

By K McCaffery, R P. Halomoan

Two column flotation cells have been installed as single-stage rougher cleaners at Batu Hijau. The objective was to provide additional residence time in the cleaner circuit to maintain maximum recovery during high mill throughput and high feed grade periods. Installation of the columns has allowed the relatively coarse, well-liberated rougher concentrate and the relatively fine, low-grade scavenger concentrate to be treated separately, improving metallurgical performance in the cleaner circuit. Plant results show that the columns produce a high-grade concentrate at an average stage copper recovery of approximately 80 per cent. There is also indication of increases in both overall plant copper recovery and final concentrate copper grade. In addition, the operability and stability of the cleaner circuit has greatly improved.

Jan 1, 2007

In recent decades the awareness of environmental issues by the general public has developed at an accelerat- ing rate. This is the result of a number of factors including more scientific knowledge of environments and of the impacts of modern society upon them, higher levels of education, the opportunity for people to travel more, and the success of the various communication media in bringing in- formation to the communities of the world about such environmental crises or threats as the smogs of Los Angeles and London, the Torrey Canyon and Santa Barbara oilspills, Minamata disease in Japan, the spread of the Crown of Thorns starfish, the disposal of toxic industrial wastes into the Upper Rhine, the discovery of high mercury and zinc contents in marine foods in southern Australian waters, and the proposal to mine limestone at Precipitous Bluff in Tasmania.

Jan 1, 1975

By A D. Farmer

Power ultrasound may be used in a number of ways to enhance the processing of minerals. It is both technically and commercially feasible to apply ultrasound to leaching processes in order to enhance the removal of contaminating minerals, or the rate and ultimate recovery of valuable mineral. When applied to the production of synthetic rutile from reduced ilmenite produced by the Becher process, its use proved beneficial to both the aeration and the final acid leach process. The enhanced performance is achieved through the very localised high energy release at the mineral surface from the collapse of cavitation bubbles produced by power ultrasound. This gives rise to two effects: initially, the rapid cleaning of mineral surfaces û of oxidation products and coatings of fine adhering gangue minerals û and the attenuation of the boundary layer at the mineral surface during leaching, which allows fresh leachant to contact the surface more readily.

Jan 1, 2000

The education system today is turning out potential Mine Managers and Superintendents for the coal industry who are lacking in adequate management knowledge. They are required by the Mining Act to be highly skilled operators who are operations and production oriented. This puts them in much the same category as airline pilots and ships' captains. The real need is for them to be management and profit orientated. Changes over the years in Managers' and Superintendents' roles are highlighted by identifying those professions and vocations with whom they must now work. Comparing classifications in the 1916 award and the current award, and making a comparison between management and mining degree courses, leads to the conclusion that separate degree courses are necessary for future Mine Managers and Mining Engineers. Mine management must become a profession in its own right if optimum profits are to be made from mining in the future.

Jan 1, 1980

The basic principles of mineral valuation were recognised and propounded at the beginning of this century and have remained virtually unchanged since then. Valuation is seen as a two part process commencing with a technical examination of the mineral property followed by a manipulation of the results of the technical examination in order to determine the monetary value of the project. A thorough and competent technical examination was seen then and remains now as the essential but not sufficient foundation for reliable valuation. All authors stressed the need to maintain the integrity of the data base and to ensure adequate coverage of all relevant aspects. The monetary valuation process through most of the first half of this century was mainly based on the Hoskold two rate method, derived from the formulae for valuing annuities but modified to provide explicitly for recovery of capital. Though the basic principles of valuation have not changed significantly, the means of implementing the components of the technical examination, the styles of deposits being evaluated and the mechanisms of monetary valuation have changed dramatically. Despite all the technological improvements, however, mineral valuations are still as apt to vary from realised performance as at any time in the past. As well, mineral property valuations are now being extended to cover all assets of potential value, including valuation of exploration tenements with or without identified resources. Valuation of exploration tenements will continue to be one of the most difficult and contentious of valuation tasks.

Jan 1, 1994

Almost all industrial products, such as buildings, cars, plastics, railways, radio and television sets, computers, and others are made from materials extracted from the Earth. Earth is main resource of energy and up to now; the energy has been derived mainly from natural resources. Mining industry has significant influence to the nature, sometimes evokes a devastation of nature. On the other hand we have got a lot of nice examples that good preparation, sensitive mining practice and consistent reclamation can minimise the negative effects. All the mentioned problems calls for effective tools for mine design, mine operation and mine reclamation. Third millennium brings next challenge given by advances in information and communication technology. The development of very sophisticated software tools provides to technical systems some features of autonomous æthinkingÆ and intelligent behaviour. We can find large effort and a lot of scientific papers reflecting last advancement in science and technology and providing inspiration for new mining technology of third millennium called Intelligent Mine. Some aspects related to creation and utilisation of æIntelligent ModelsÆ as a background of æIntelligent MineÆ are presented and discussed in this paper.

Jan 1, 2003

By D E. Freeman, M A. Somerville, B M

A program of re-planting native mallee trees, which can be harvested on a short rotation cycle, has been initiated in Western Australia to counteract increasing soil salinity in the wheat belt region. Large volume applications for the wood products generated by these plantings are required to improve the returns to farmers. The metallurgical industry is a large-scale user of carbon, and a project was carried out through the Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing to investigate the use of mallee-derived carbons in metallurgical processes. The use of renewable carbon sources, such as charcoal, to replace fossil carbon has the additional benefit of reducing the net CO2 generated by the metallurgical industry. Experiments were undertaken to assess the performance of mallee derived charcoals as reductants for the solid state reduction of ilmenite and for iron ore bath smelting. Rotary drum reduction tests showed that the reduction rate of ilmenite with the mallee charcoal was approximately twice that of Collie coal at the same fixed carbon/ilmenite ratio in the bed. Iron bath and slag bath injection tests demonstrated that the mallee charcoals dissolved readily in molten iron carbon baths and reacted efficiently with iron making slags.

Jan 1, 2006

It is argued, that plate convergence, i.e. subduction, at other than right angles under a continental margin may lead to compensa-tional transcurrent faulting in the sialic environment. In this pro-cess the introduction of ultrabasic slivers, derived from the down-going oceanic crusial plate, along this fault may occur. This regi-me, both compressive overall and tensional along the transcurrent fault, will contain numerous indications for ongoing igneous and tectonic processes (such as volcanism, hot springs and frequent earthquakes).Examples for this scenario are California, the hinge between the Alpine- and Appennine orogens and the island of Sumatra.Igneous manifestations of subduction will be present both as inter-mediate intrusions and/or andesitic piles. The intermediate volca-nics may be intensely altered (chloritic, propylitic, argillic). Silice-ous breccias and banded chalcedonic sinters may be commonly found. This entire scenario is indicative for epithermal gold mine-ralisation.

Jan 1, 1990