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By Scott SD

The 1986 PACLARK Expedition established that propagation of a seafloor spreading zone into continental crust has created a complex series of volcanic basins on the floor of the Western Woodlark Basin. In addition to abyssal basalts, felsic volcanic rocks were recovered - especially at the leading edge in the extreme west. A recent deposit of hydrothermal Fe-Mn oxides was discovered on an axial seamount of basaltic andesite, and seawater plume anomalies suggest current hydrothermal venting elsewhere. As a modern analogue for the settings in which ancient volcanogenic massive sulfide orebodies probably formed, the Western Woodlark Basin warrants further investigation.

Jan 1, 1987

By Bragg R, McMahon B, Lenton R

In 1992 environmental audits were carried out at seven coal mines operated by Oakbridge Limited in the Hunter Valley and Lithgow areas of NSW. The audit reports recommended a course of action designed to improve the environmental management system already in operation at the mines. This program started with training in environmental awareness for the Board of Directors, and the development and authorisation of an environmental policy. On-going programs at each mine were expanded to include environmental awareness training for all 2000 employees at the mines, and the development of a 20-module environmental training program which included air, water, soil and noise management, oil and chemical handling, sampling and monitoring, rehabilitation techniques and many more. Environmental incident reporting was introduced, and a system of reporting from the coal face through individual mine site environmental committees, to a Corporate Environmental Committee and up to the Board Environmental Committee became an effective part of a due diligence program. The Board resolved to undertake external independent environmental audits every two years, with internal reviews in the alternate years. An Environmental Management Group was formed, consisting of four internal environmental personnel and Oakbridge's appointed environmental consultant, to effectively resolve many of the environmental issues facing the Group. This program is continuing to evolve as an industry leader in environmental management Practice.

Jan 1, 1995

By Lawrence PR, Hoffman W

The dissolution of gold from various ore-bodies is discussed in terms of extraction rates and reagent consumptions during leaching. Gold dissolves slowly in cyanide but reagent consumptions are usually satisfactory. In almost all cases where excessive cyanide consumptions occur, similar high consumptions result with other lixiviants. Recovery of gold from cyanide solution is well established and comparatively simple technology.Gold dissolution in thiourea is faster than cyanide but significant consumptions of thiourea, due to both adsorption and oxidation, occur. Gold recovery from thiourea solutions is likely to be more difficult than from cyanide.Chlorination of gold is very fast in acidic conditions but excessive consumption of chlorine occurs for ores containing greater than 0.5% S. Reprecipitation of gold and handling of acidic chlorine solutions are both significant problems. The mechanism of gold reduction onto activated carbon creates difficulties in the carbon in pulp process for recovery of gold but means a simplification in the production of bullion from loaded carbon.

Jan 1, 1984

By Lama RD

The paper outlines the development in the control of dust in Australia over the last 20 years. Factors influencing dust make at the faces are discussed. The effect of high production systems is analysed. Changes in dust standards and results of dust sampling on longwalls and continuous miner panels are given. Research conducted on air curtains and water infusion on dust control on longwall faces is presented along with recommendations for future research. It is found that both dust curtains and water infusion can cut dust mak by 50" each when applied separately.

Jan 1, 1988

By Hogan C. J

The compact BWE system set up in 1984 to mine ironsand dunes and the underlying ironsand-clay has been an effective high volume produc- tion unit for New Zealand Steel Mining Ltd at the Waikato North Head ironsand mine. The system utilising two compact S400E (0 & K) Bucket Wheel Exca- vators and a single shared Beltwagon for transfer to the shiftable bench conveyors replaced a fleet of mobile elevating scrapers when the produc- tion requirement was increased by a factor of six. A key factor in favour of the BWE system was the economic advan- tages of low unit costs for both manpower and electrical energy.

Jan 1, 1989

Over the last 100 years in the Polish mining industry considerable work has been done to assess optimum slurry, develop flexible delivery systems and adjust the fill technology to a wide variety of mining and geological conditions. Sand or industrial mineral waste materials for the backfilling of underground voids are used to control ground movement and surface deformation. This paper discusses various criteria to be considered in the preparation of a fill, including slurry properties, mine infrastructure, mining geometry, placement methods and the purpose of the backfill. This paper presents laboratory and in situ test data on the influence of materials parameters on the slurry flow in a pipeline system, stiffness, permeability, binding time and strength of a backfill, on the distribution of mixture in underground voids or the penetration between roof fall materials.

Jan 1, 1998

Working thick coal seams in Poland is a very serious problem. Nearly 40 per cent of all coal is extracted from seams more than 3 m. thick. In absolute figures this represents about 70 million tons of coal per year. Working seams with thicknesses up to 3.5 m. does not present, at present, major difficul- ties. Working thicker seams calls for a steady improvement in order to increase the degree of utilization of the deposit and to enlarge the concentration of output. The problem is sometimes more difficult because, in many cases, the seams are worked under protected surface structures which compels the mines to use hydraulic stowing with all its advantages and disadvantages. Rock burst hazard, the control of which is the basic problem hindering the mining, is a further problem. The mining systems used in Poland are adapted to these natural and technical conditions.

Jan 1, 1976

By White A, Price G

The main assets of a mining company are its orebodies; the second are the people who find and use them.The graphs in Figure 1 were derived from a paper by Rob Macdonald of Rothschild Australia presented to The AusIMM Centenary Conference in Adelaide earlier this year. They show that the value of the industry on the Australian Stock Exchange halved over the past decade, despite the re-investment of capital equivalent to its full market capitalisation. Why is this so? The average dividend yields for the ASX Mining Index was never above five per cent during that period and barely averaged 2.5 per cent. Why then is $Ai million capital re-investment per employee since 1960 not enough to generate a rate of return to investors better than lousy bank interest? Do the investing public no longer regard our industry's assets to be world class?

Jan 1, 1993

By Li N, Grimsey E. J

A technique has been developed for the fast measurement of the liquidus temperature of molten salt systems. The method employs a type K thermocouple embedded within the centre of a copper cylinder. The cylinder is immersed into the molten salt bath and the resultant heating curve is recorded using a PC-based data logging system. Upon immersion of the cylinder into the bath, a layer of salt freezes from the melt onto the surface. When this layer remelts during heating, the shape of the heating curve exhibits a change. The onset of this change can be detected by numerical differentiation of the heating curve, and the temperature at the onset represents an estimate of the liquidus of the melt. This work describes the technique and its application to the measurement of liquidus temperatures of MgC12 - NaCl and BaC12 - NaCl salt mixtures, in addition to a number of solidus temperatures.

Jan 1, 1996

By Di Pasquale S, Osler GD

Mount Isa Mines Limited recently commiss ioned an 800 tph Heavy Medium Preconcentration Plant for lead/zinc/silver ores. The decision to build this plant was made in late 1979 based largely on investigations conducted in the Company's pilot plant on a variety of ore types including Hilton ores, between 1972 and 1978. The paper reviews the historical develop- ment of the pilot plant heavy medium circuit through this period and illustrates the extent to which this work impacted on the final design criteria. This review also includes a description of plant operation, manning levels, process equipment and metallurgical performance Achieved.

Jan 1, 1978

A proved routine mapping practice is described involving detailed observations on grade and structure. The equipment and methods employed are giving good service under the conditions encountered. Stopes are mapped on every floor whether timbered or open, "Kodatrace" workplans and sections being used, and in addition all development whether in country or lode is mapped.INTRODUCTIONThe accumulation of geological data for application to current mining problems and to the search for new ore involves the necessity for close mapping of all available underground faces and backs. The technique which has been developed to suit conditions at the North and British mines of North Broken Hill Limited forms the subject of...

Jan 1, 1940

Wire rope, when used for hoisting on a mine is the weak- est and most vulnerable unit in the most expensive'-group of installations or! the mine. With the introduction' of hoisting on the S1Koepe"' sheave, a new technique was-established. This innovation brought with it the certain- advantages which long had been recognised and which are being developed further. For many years, drum winders of many types had been the sole means by which ore had been hauled from mines. This type of winder, with its capacity for rope storage on the drum, permitted mine operating personnel to cut short lengths from

Jan 1, 1964

By Kwok S, Haemmerle A

Treatment methods for a low grade deposit at Mt. Fitch near Rum Jungle, N.T., were investigated. Physical beneficiation of the ore, sulphuric acid leaching, carbonate leaching and various methods of uranium extraction from the leach liquor were studied. Although the deposit occurs in a carbonate environment, acid leaching of the ore after beneficiation by radiometric sorting appears to be the most economic treatment method. Uranium would be recovered from the leach liquor by solvent extraction.

Jan 1, 1970

By Sturgul J. R

The South Middleback Ranges (SMR) operation involves the develop- ment of iron ore resources at the Iron Duke mine in the South Middle- back Ranges to replace the Iron Baron mine whose reserves are nearing depletion. The Iron Duke mine will be developed by contract to the stage where it can continue operation at full production when Iron Baron is closed. As part of the mine planning of the operation a GPSS computer simulation model was written to determine equipment requirements. The model simulated the operation of the mine with trucks transporting ore and waste to the appropriate destinations and producing a blended product in the stockpiles. A loader and two trucks would transport ore from the stockpiles to the crusher for one shift per day. The simulation shut the operation down at crib, morning tea, shift change and weekends, and also on the third shift each day. It also modelled operating delays. The results gave equipment operating hours and total output of each material type. The model was modified to produce different outputs from the mine and could be used to determine the most productive shift arrangement.

Jan 1, 1989

Thank you and good morning. I am delighted to be here and to see so many of my colleagues and competitors. The general topic of this week's conference - World's Best Practice in Mining and Processing - suggests a focus on mining and processing. I am somewhat of a `jack of all trades and a master of none'. But I'm not even a jack when it comes to mining and processing technology and practices, and so I will leave those topics to speakers better 'qualified than I. Instead, what I would like to do is give you my thoughts on the best management practices of mining. You see, the times are changing for the mining business. There is great uncertainty in our industry. Anyone who received their education in an English-speaking school probably remembers the famous poem `Invictus' by William Ernest Henley. The two most famous lines from that poem are, if you remember, `I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul'. The fact of the matter is that the metals industry, including the copper industry, is not the master of its fate. To a great extent we're at the mercy of forces over which we have little control, such as the world economy or political situations in individual countries. The copper industry is like a surfer at Manly - we can't influence where the wave is going; all we can do is stay in front of the curl and on our board. Historically, discovering, developing and processing ore reserves were the primary facets of our capital intensive business. To stay competitive today, we must invest equally in intellectual capital - our employees - in order to succeed in the face of economic, regulatory and political challenges and global competition (Schonberger, 1986). Everyone seems to have a different theory about being competitive. A lot of people use sports analogies when talking about competition. Others, like American businessman and former US presidential wanna-be Ross Perot, take a more interesting approach. In Mr Perot's hypothetical corporation, competition is a lot like having a snake in a factory. If someone sees a snake, the first thing they do is create a committee on snakes. Then, the committee on snakes meets and discusses the problem for a couple of years. The most likely course of action is nothing. Everyone figures that the snake hasn't bitten anyone yet, so they just let him crawl around the factory floor. Perhaps a vice president of serpentine affairs is appointed to continue watching the snake - making sure it doesn't grow. Ross Perot sees it a little differently. In his corporate world, business needs to build an environment where the first guy who sees the snake kills it. Of course in our industry, we better make sure the snake isn't on an Endangered Species List before we go after it! I am not going to talk about competition and competitive forces in terms of sports or snakes, but I would like to share some thoughts with you about how the mining industry can better utilise competitive thinking to get ahead and stay there. You may be wondering how an executive from a 160-year-old company could know much about competitive spirit, but the founding ancestors of Phelps Dodge were wizards at identifying

Jan 1, 1995

The concentrating plant of the Broken Hill South Limited was described in Proceedings No. 44, Australasian Institute Mining and Metallurgy, December, 1921, by Wainwright and Read. It was erected on the present site in 1907 and 1908.From that date, the plant has undergone various alterations consistent with metallurgical improvements. By 1925, the timber work of the gravity secti"on had seriously deteriorated, so much so, that, when the machinery was working, the floors and supports vibrated badly, causing heavy maintenance costs.In 1928, it was decided to erect a new gravity-treatment section, to be followed later by a new flotation section.

Jan 1, 1932

The recommissioning of the plant at Mary Kathleen involved several distinct phases. The previous plant process was modified significantly, the plant capacity was increased by the addition of new equipment and the exist- ing equipment was in most cases overhauled. This equipment was either reused in its original duty or relocated. Maintenance requirements after the plant was cmommissioned were high because of the amount of modified equipment and also because some old items of equipment were deliberately not overhauled during recommissioning. The equipment that was overhauled has operated reliably. However some new equipment has not been as satisfactory.

Jan 1, 1978

By Smith I. K

A Data Acquisition System with a capacity to monitor 2000 analog instruments has been installed at the mines operated by the Zinc Lorporation, Limited and New broken hill Consolidated Limited (ZC/LVbHC), New South Wales, Australia. Since commissioning in March, 1982, the system has proved its value in providing up-to-date information to both Rock Mechanics and Mining personnel. The paper describes the function of the major software and hardware components of the system, and identifies the advantages that an on-line monitoring system provides in the day-to-day operation of a large underground mine.

Jan 1, 1983

We live in a world in crisis. One where the tides of change run ever faster. Where the only thing we can be sure of is change itself. The challenge we face, therefore, is not how to resist the forces that move us nor even to try to predict where they will lead us, but to harness their energy and use their momentum to find new and innovative solutions to problems that can seem intractable. Indeed, crisis is often the catalyst which energises a business to change its technology and to form a partnership with a company which specialises in pioneering new technology.

Jan 1, 1993

By S Prakash, M Danish, D Kumar

The green energy transition is speculated to cause an increase in the demand for raw materials while recycling rates are improving; discoveries are required to maintain supply. Geological remote sensing offers a cost-effective way of exploring mineral resources. While satellite and airborne imaging are routinely used for exploration targeting, a gap remains at the outcrop scale. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is advantageous for large-scale regional mapping, typically performed from satellite or airborne platforms. Accurately mapping geological lithologies remains challenging in inaccessible areas, such as rough terrain or mine sites. Proximal sensing techniques can boost geological activities’ reliability, safety, and efficiency in exploration or during mining activities. It also generates objective, reproducible results and valuable raw data that can be archived, further processed, and re-interpreted. Ground-based hyperspectral imaging of outcrops has steadily increased during the last decade due to sensor development and better processing routines. There is often a big technology gap related to mineral mapping, integration of images and spectra (reduction in manual identification of minerals and types) and hyperspectral data visualisation through remote sensing. TEXMiN Foundation, in collaboration with its industry partner Dassault Systemes Foundation, carried out the project, ‘Developing Hyperspectral Image Processing and Analysis, build a rich library of Hyperspectral images of a vast range of minerals from India which will help in increasing prediction accuracy of mineral deposit for mining exploration’.

Sep 1, 2024