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By B F. J Kelly

Multiple-point simulation is a family of methods used to generate conditional facies simulations that present the same spatial dependence as a user-defined training image. The main advantage of using a training image is the easy integration of geological concepts in numerical subsurface models. The strength of multiple-point methods is that it allows making the best use of geological expertise when data are too sparse for inferring a model of spatial continuity. However, despite being appealing to geologists, the multiple-point methods are often not used in practice due to the difficulty of building complex 3D training images that contain realistic features.A new framework for multiple-point simulation is presented that involves small and simple training images. The main idea is to use random transformations to expand the range of structures available in the simple training image. The training image is not regarded any more as a global conceptual geological model, but rather a basic structural element of the subsurface. Complex geological structures are obtained, whose spatial structure can be parameterised by adjusting the statistics of the random transformations, based on field data or geological context. In most cases, such parameterisation is possible by adjusting two numbers only. One advantage is that the training images are so simple that they can be easily built even in 3D. The method allows building 3D models that reproduce shapes corresponding to a desired prior geological concept and are in phase with different types of field observations, such as orientation, facies or geophysical measurements. The flexibility of the approach allows for naturally integrating different types of data. This is demonstrated on an example involving seismic data assimilation. Examples where complex 3D folded structures are built from a simple training image and a few orientation data are shown.

Sep 26, 2011

By A Geldenhuis, M Hagger, J Maree

Disposal of mine water is a worldwide problem occurring in the coal and gold as well in the metal ore mining areas. Since southern Africa is a (semi) arid region, mining effluents should be treated to qualities such that they can be used for agricultural purposes or that they can be discharged in river system. Studies have shown that partly treated acid mine water can be used for irrigation. A copper mine in Botswana plans to use 5 M/d of treated mine effluent for the irrigation of agricultural product. The results of this study showed that when applying the biological sulfate removal technology the produced sulfide precipitated the metals in the mine effluent, such as nickel, Zn and Mn, to metal sulfide (MeS).

Jan 1, 2003

By M Balamurali

In mining, grade control generally focuses on blasthole sampling and the estimation of ore control block models with little or no attention given to how the materials are being excavated from the ground. In the process of loading trucks, the underlying variability of the individual bucket load will determine the variability of truck payload. Hence, accurate material movement demands a good knowledge of the excavation process and the buckets’ interaction with the environment. However, equipment frequently goes into off-nominal states due to unexpected delays, disturbances or faults. The large amount of such disturbances causes information loss that reduces the statistical power and biases estimates, leading to increased uncertainty in the production. A reliable method that inferences the missing knowledge about the interaction between the machine and the environment from the available data sources, is vital to accurately model the material movement. In this study, a twostep method was implemented that performed unsupervised clustering and then predicted the missing information. The first method is Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) based spatial clustering which divides the diggers’ and buckets’ positional data into connected loading segments. Clear patterns of segmented bucket dig positions were observed. The second model utilised Gaussian process regression which was trained with the clustered data and the model was then used to infer the mean locations of the test clusters. Bucket dig locations were then simulated at the inferred mean locations for different durations and compared against the known bucket dig locations. This method was tested at an open pit mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The experimental results demonstrate the advantage of the proposed method in inferencing the missing information of bucket-environment interactions and therefore enables miners to continuously track the material movement.

Jun 22, 2022

By N Bianco, D Drinkwater

The professional skills shortage is intensifying, and commentators are predicting a shortfall in supply of qualified professionals for the mining industry, ranging from thousands to tens-of-thousands by 2020 (Tuckwell, 2011; Scoble, 2011; Laurence and Hebblewhite, 2011). Human resources are already stretched, and university graduates arriving in the workplace are often moved rapidly into management positions where there is limited scope to develop their engineering proficiency. This process may well be developing excellent young managers, but our industry is producing fewer excellent young engineers (Munro and Tilyard, 2009). Many believe that it is engineering excellence that is likely to be the key to our industryÆs success in the decade to come. An innovative in-house graduate development program has been created by specialists at the JK Centre in partnership with two mining companies. This program, known as MetSkill«, has been running throughout 2012. Groups of graduates have had to identify a process plant optimisation opportunity and embark on a structured program of data collection and analysis, facilitated by a æteaching teamÆ of researchers and consultants from the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) and JKTech. This group project culminates in a report-back session to senior company officials. Along the way, a series of short workshops and other activities provide opportunities to work on specialist skills, and support is also offered by senior technical specialists from the companies involved.This paper outlines key features of the MetSkill« program, along with a report-card on progress in 2012 and plans for further program development in 2013.CITATION:Drinkwater, D and Bianco, N, 2012. Developing minerals industry leaders by encouraging metallurgical excellence, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill OperatorsÆ Conference, pp 287-290 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 29, 2012

By DJ McKEE

Process control emerged in the mid-1960s as a new and exciting method of improving the performance of mineral processing operations. The early Australian developments, principally in Broken Hill and Mount Isa, were based on pioneering work in instrumentation, the availability of small digital computers and a particularly effective partnership between companies with technological foresight and University and CSIRO research groups. Initial progress was rapid and within ten years many plants were committed to process control. Process monitoring is now routine and most circuits have some level of control. However, few plants have comprehensive optimising control systems as the difficulty of developing control strategies which can cope with the wide variety of conditions encountered in most mineral plants has been fully appreciated. This paper summarises past experience and assesses the degree of application of different forms of process control in metallurgical plants. Barriers to the effective utilisation of opt rising control are identified and some suggestions for advancing the application of control are made.

Jan 1, 1992

By C Slaughter, J C. Tien

Commonly held ideas about effective training have long emphasised the importance of realism. Realistic training builds better experience among the trainees and a better perspective on the training material, making training more effective. While great strides have been made in this realm for mine safety and mine rescue training there are still areas that can be improved. One possible area is the expanded use of a mine fire simulation program where the migration of gases and smoke can be realistically displayed in an emergency, and outcomes varied as different conditions are being simulated. The use of mine fire simulation software potentially allows for the creation of more realistic scenarios in that smoke advance rates can be measured and recreated in evacuation scenarios, or that gas readings in mine rescue training can be dynamically and realistically changed to show the effect that time has on the fire scenario.CITATION:Slaughter, C and Tien, J C, 2015. The potential use of mine fire simulation software as an enhancement for mine safety and mine rescue training, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 285–290 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

The emerging coal seam gas (CSG) industry has the potential to provide a large-scale energy province for Queensland. Aquifer impacts and management of associated by-product water, both in terms of quantity and quality, are pivotal considerations for the development of a sustainable CSG industry.Legislative changes have been introduced to ensure that the CSG industry manages potential groundwater impacts and beneficial reuse of the by-product water to a level acceptable to both government and the community.The relevant new pieces of legislation covering petroleum and coal seam gas activities include the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (P&G Act), Petroleum and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2004 (POLA Act), the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Regulation 2004 and the Petroleum Regulation 2004. Other relevant legislation includes the Petroleum Act 1923 (Petroleum Act) and Part 7AA of the Mineral Resources Act 1989 (Coal Seam Gas Regime). The P&G Act introduces a full regime for managing water rights. This includes provisions for monitoring and reporting on the effects that the taking of underground water under petroleum tenure has on other bores in the area. The P&G Act also imposes a æmake good obligationÆ on petroleum tenure holders, which requires the restoration of bores affected by the taking of water or the payment of compensation. These provisions represent a significant departure from the Petroleum Act, which says very little about water rights and does not specify restrictions on the taking of water under petroleum tenure. This paper attempts to outline the requirements and obligations of the P&G Act for the CSG industry in terms of underground water rights, development impact assessments, aquifer trigger thresholds, monitoring and reporting requirements, as well as the make good obligations.

Jan 1, 2006

By D Giurco

This paper presents the results from research undertaken in the CSIRO-funded Mineral Futures Collaboration Cluster on developing a future vision for the mining and minerals industry – Vision 2040 – in which the industry proactively contributes to long-term benefit for communities and the nation. Our research finds that Australia is currently experiencing mining-led prosperity due to high commodity prices, yet underlying this are challenges for maintaining market share due to lower productivity from extracting lower grade, more remote and complex ores. Whilst much focus has been on developing new technologies for finding and processing such ores, this paper assesses these activities, together with policy and market innovations in the context of needing to strengthen social, environmental and financial capital for long-term benefit. Vision 2010 sees mining activities linked to systems that are net providers of clean water, energy and ecosystem services, rather than minimising negative impacts alone; sovereign wealth funds are used to harness current prosperity for future innovation. Using a case study in lithium and comparisons to iron/steel, coal and copper – we illustrate the opportunities for new technology, policy and market innovations to link the mining and minerals sector in Australia to more sustainable patterns of production, consumption and prosperity.

Nov 22, 2011

By Glasson K. R

The history of Ore Reserve classification and reporting in Australia is largely a history of the Australian mining industry itself. In the late 1800s, when the industry was dominated by small scale, high grade underground mines, Reserves (if estimated) were based on hand sampling and geological inference, and reporting of Reserves was either non-existent or of extremely variable quality. By the mid-20th century, the industry was dominated by large underground base metal and gold mines. Reserve estimation was coming under the control of skilled geologists and mining engineers, however Reserve classification and reporting standards continued to vary in type and quality from mine to mine. Today, large scale, low grade mining operations predominate, and Reserve estimates are generally based on extensive drilling results processed (with geological control) by computer. Through the efforts of a Joint Committee established by The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Australian Mining Industry Council, Reserve and Resource classification and public reporting has been standardised and controlled by adoption of the ""Australasian Code for the Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves"" released in 1989. The Code, which will continue to be modified and improved by the Joint Committee, has also been used as a basis for guides to reporting in other countries, and there is now some hope that this difficult and vexing topic may finally become subject to international standards and controls.

Jan 1, 1992

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, fatalities from road transport accidents represented an average of over 97 per cent of all transport related accidents between 1997 and 2002. With increasing traffic density, tunnels are becoming a more viable means of providing alternative travel routes to ease areas of congestion in the road transport network. However, unlike open road conditions, a fire incident in the confined space of a tunnel environment may impact upon many users that are remote from the incident location. In this context, designing for an appropriate level of safety in tunnels is therefore an important consideration for achieving consistency in the life safety measures for users of the road transport network. Unfortunately, like fire safety engineering design for buildings, there are presently no clear measures in the design processes to assess the adequacy of the design in terms of attaining the level of safety implicated in the design objectives. This is partly due to the indeterminate nature in which the design objective or the level of performance measure is stated û the intent of the objective is relatively clear but the measure of it is not. Another reason is the lack of a standardised procedure for determining the critical design variables affecting life safety. This is important to ascertain consistency in the use or adoption of the important parameters for design. This paper looks at the processes involved in the fire engineering design of road tunnels that are currently practised. A review of the design processes for fire safety in road tunnels is provided, which includes the range of fire scenarios in a tunnel environment, the traffic flow and composition, the relevant fire protection systems, the ventilation and smoke control system, the egress provisions and the benefits of incorporating fire brigade intervention. A simplified risk assessment approach is developed for a typical road tunnel to assess and evaluate the impact of a range of design parameters on life safety. Using a sensitivity technique, the important variables are then identified and means of reducing design variations associated with them are recommended. The technique may be further refined for use in the development of codes or guidelines in order to develop a suitable means of deriving more consistent design values, and hence achieve better consistency in the overall level of safety in the design.

Jan 1, 2008

This paper is for mine managers. It is about maintenance of mining equipment. This is an extremely broad subject so this paper is given with the caveat that it necessarily contains generalisations, not true in all cases, but broadly correct. The job of mine managers is to be good at making money from the excavation and preliminary treatment of mineral. To do this well, they need to understand the cost and value drivers in the business. This includes understanding the drivers associated with maintenance. Maintenance is often identified as a problem at mine sites. It is frequently listed as the cause of production shortfalls when reporting. The state of maintenance within mining as an industry is generally among the lower end of the range, when compared to manufacturing, petrochemicals, etc. Why is this? Experience and review of many audits and evaluations of maintenance has shown that some patterns are consistent with good performance and some consistent with poor performance. These often centre around the time horizon of the management team and are associated with knowing the sensitivity of the business to certain maintenance drivers and the mechanisms of maintenance and their results. To summarise, some common misunderstandings can be listed as statements that are obvious and extrapolations from those, which are not necessarily correct. For example: High availability of equipment is necessary for production. Incorrect extrapolation:focus on availability will produce high production. Design is often the greatest factor in determining the reliability of a mining machine. Incorrect extrapolation: the newest and biggest machines generally have the lowest cost operations. Operation has an enormous impact on machine productivity and reliability. Incorrect extrapolation: the fastest operators are generally the best from a productive point of view. Some maintenance improves the performance and reliability of machines. Incorrect extrapolation: more maintenance will give you more reliability. Some maintenance depends on disassembly and reassembly of components. Incorrect extrapolation: assembly is basically the reverse process of disassembly. Maintenance improvement in the mining industry in the last 15 years has focused largely on planning and systems improvement. Incorrect extrapolation: most of the problems in maintenance can be traced to a lack of planning. Actions based on flawed extrapolations will steer a business suboptimally. It is therefore important that the mine manager understands these issues so that the improvement effort can be directed to the greatest benefit.

Jan 1, 2006

By A R. Gerson

Pyrite, chalcopyrite and mixed sulfide samples, with and without quartz (5 wt per cent S), were subjected to column leaching to mimic natural weathering (cyclic wetting and drying). The pH and SO4 2- concentration of the column effluent was measured over a period of 78 weeks. The pH of the pyrite-only containing column rapidly decreased and remained under pH 4 after 12 weeks of leaching. The pH calculated assuming a 2:1 ratio of H + generation and SO4 2- release was slightly lower than that measured. However, a reduced H + to SO4 2- ratio of 1:1 is predicted if the release of aqueous Fe 2+ is assumed rather than the formation of Fe(OH)3. The pH of all columns containing only chalcopyrite or a 1:1 mole ratio of chalcopyrite and pyrite remained at or above pH 5 for the duration of the leach even though significant SO4 2- was released. One column containing the same initial surface area of pyrite and chalcopyrite but only approximately 0.10 the mole fraction of S as chalcopyrite maintained a pH of greater than five for the first 56 weeks of leaching and showed sporadic acid production thereafter. It is well established that oxidation of chalcopyrite results in a surface layer of polysulfide material. It is the formation of polysulfide that neutralises the acid produced on S oxidation through to SO4 2-. Hence where polysulfide formation occurs extensively on chalcopyrite the resulting solution pH decrease will be less than that based on SO4 2- production. The oxidation rate of sulfide minerals increases with decreasing pH and hence acid formation via sulfide oxidation to SO4 2- causes the subsequent oxidation rate to increase. The addition of calcite (CaCO3)to a pyrite column not only neutralises the acid formed but also decreases the rate of release of sulfate to solution by a factor of approximately 30. This is also the case where chalcopyrite is present mixed with pyrite. The rate of release of sulfate from the mixed sulfide mineral columns (after the initial release of the sulfate already present) was between one-fifth and one-tenth that in the absence of chalcopyrite.

Jan 1, 2003

Industry has a very special request to make. Environmental issues must not be allowed to become a factor of competition so that nations or individual industries can gain economic advantages for themselves by encroaching unduly upon the environment. An international harmonisation of the demands imposed on specific industries and industrial plants where discharges are concerned is therefore essential. The same applies to any to any action contemplated against noxious products. An important step towards that goal is no doubt represented by the United Nations Conference on the Environment scheduled for 1972. Conclusions: Australia must recognise its responsibilities in an inter- national movement to control pollution. It must react on a national scale to a problem which is threatening our whole national environment. To gather, collate and coordinate the information needed to ensure policies which strike a balance between conservation and development, we must look towards the Commonwealth to coordinate the activities of its own instrumentalities and those State and independent bodies working in the area. Financial aid must be provided to stimulate research and later to ensure that environmental protection policies are observed. These policies will be founded on social economic theories which will be both practical and sound, The United Nations conference on the Environment is scheduled for 1972 and in this is the opportunity for international cooperation. Cooperation in the field of controlling legislation and the collection of much needed data. There is an imperative need to assemble facts for world use - an international know-how bank which acquires the most sophisticated technology of process design and waste purification. Arising out of this Conference, is it too much to expect that there could be established an international authority for environmental control, whose activities are governed on a multi-national basis? Such an organisation would have as its primary concern the collection and classification of official regulations, as well as the sheer collation of data to permit economic evaluation of the costs of conservation of the environment. There is an international scope with different factors involved, including industrial technology: in other words, the concrete measures taken against industrial pollutants ought to be more or less identical for similar industries irrespectives of the countries in which they operate. The assembling of an international common foundation of knowledge is imperative so as to acquire the most sophisticated technology of process design and waste purification available for all who are interested.

Jan 1, 1971

It is a great pleasure to accept the invitation to open this Joint Conference of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. It is the second invita- tion to participate in the Conference that I have accepted. When it was being planned, the President wrote to me to invite me to be one of the speakers in one of the technical sessions. I wrote accepting the invitation, and when my present appointment was announced, there was a nice question about the earlier commitment. The upshot of it all is revealed by the present arrange-., ment: you get me as opener and the more sub- k stantial speech is to be given by Professor Rupert Myers, my friend and former colleague who will not only be able to contribute from the standpoint of an experienced University admini- strator, but will also speak from a professional training and experience much more closely relat- ed to the concerns of this Conference than I possess. Though it is a joint meeting and the speakers will include distinguished figures from North America, I hope that since the venue is Australia, I may be permitted to speak with an Australian emphasis. I have recently had a brief glimpse of part of the Australian mining industry. In the course of a journey through the Northern Terri- tory we-my wife and I-visited Gove, Groote Eylandt, and Tennant Creek. At Gove we saw the remarkable Nabalco development in bauxite and alumina and the very impressive town plan- ning development at Nhulunby, the major man- ganese enterprise at Groote Eylandt, and the gold mining activity at Tennant Creek. For lay people like us, a gold pour was arranged at Tennant Creek and that was a spectacular sight. On earlier occasions, and before my present appoint- ment, I had visited Mount Isa and the Utah fields, and Queensland Alumina at Gladstone. I have not seen the cradle of the modern mining industry, using cradle perhaps loosely, at Broken Hill, nor have I seen the great Pilbara develop- ment, nor Weipa. This is not for want of generous invitations and it is my hope that within the not too far distant future this will be rectified. Then there is the Australian petroleum industry and the great industries which make their products from the minerals mined which I have yet to See.

Jan 1, 1978

By W Ilahi

Underground metalliferous mining methods often result in the formation of vertical openings to facilitate the extraction of orebodies. These development and production techniques can result in the creation of vertical open voids, which include stopes, orepasses, ventilation raises and other excavations. There are risks associated with the use of mobile plant in the vicinity of these voids, especially during backfilling and when bunds are constructed at the edge of a stope or void. These voids can present unacceptable risks if not adequately managed.

May 5, 2022

The Honourable Neil Pickard has been in Parliament for something like sixteen years. He was Minister for Education in 1976, served as Shadow Minister in a number of portfolio areas while his party was in opposition, and since their return to power in 1988, he has been the Minister for Minerals and Energy. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to welcome the Minister, the Honourable Neil Pickard.

Jan 1, 1989

By R Valenta, J Owen, D Kemp, E Lebre, G Corder, J Thomas

Numerous recent analyses have shown that future demand for a broad range of critical commodities is unlikely to be met by new discoveries and recycling alone. The only practical alternative source to address this shortfall comes from orebodies which are currently either uneconomic or inaccessible. A common assumption is that a simple rise in commodity price will render these deposits economic. The mining industry has a long history of innovation allowing economic production from increasingly low grade and technically challenging orebodies. Industry “roadmaps” have been produced on a regular basis, with the aim of identifying future innovations which will allow this progression to continue. At the same time, there have been relatively few systematic analyses of the actual range of challenges facing undeveloped orebodies. The aim of this study is to analyse the mix of challenges faced by a group of undeveloped orebodies in order to better understand the relative importance and necessity of innovations applicable to the deposits, with the ultimate aim of determining the relative value and impact of possible innovations to the economic viability of those deposits. CITATION: Valenta, R, Lebre, E, Kemp, D, Owen, J, Corder, G and Thomas, J, 2018. Can a simple price-rise unlock complex copper orebodies?, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 71–72 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By S Johnston, L Howe, S Stevens

Regulators have an important role to play in fostering and enabling reliable, effective, environmental management. Given this, it is perhaps surprising that there has been relatively little debate on exactly how regulators can enhance their own approaches, in order to promote improved outcomes overall. The authors argue that applying research on High Reliability Organisations, as well as the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Program Framework for Regulatory Excellence, to regulators has the potential to facilitate positive environmental results across the mine life cycle.

Aug 2, 2023

By N Udugampola, d A. Seneviratne, X Ai, B Li

With the evolution of mining technology, wireless mesh networks using low-power, long-range technologies such as LoRa are increasingly utilised in underground mining operations. Efficient deployment of wireless nodes in such mesh networks necessitates understanding radio wave propagation behaviour in underground mines. While existing propagation models either remain theoretical or apply only to basic geometric shapes, we propose a practical approach to analyse radio wave propagation behaviour in underground mines using ray tracing simulations with reconstructed 3D models of targeted environments. Our method validated using a set of corridors as a substitute for underground mine environments, involves constructing a 3D model using SolidWorks from LiDAR scans of the environment and performing wireless transmission simulations using the MATLAB ray tracing toolkit. Our simulation model is also fine-tuned by calibrating the raytracing parameters based on real-world LoRa transmission experiments in the actual environment corresponding to the 3D model. This method offers a practical solution for optimising wireless node placement in underground mines, facilitating efficient network deployment while reducing the need for extensive physical testing of radio wave transmissions.

Sep 1, 2024

By P Andersson, P Marklund

Evaluation of different techniques for bottom fill stabilisation showed that frozen fill was the most economical method. In order to test the method a full-scale field test was performed in the Rehnstr÷m mine. The test was instrumented with temperature gauges and extensometers. Before the field test, frozen fill was tested at the laboratory. The mechanical properties of the frozen fill were determined by uniaxial compression and creep tests. A deformation model for the frozen fill was set up. Calculation procedure for design of spacing between the freezing tubes, time for freezing and calculation of the necessary capacity of the refrigeration plant was developed. These procedures were calibrated against the field test. The results of these investigations allow the following conclusions: From a mechanical point of view, frozen fill has excellent properties as a structural member and it also has excellent properties to support itself and the fill above. Methods for the thermal and mechanical design of freeze stabilisation have been developed and found adequate. The need to place the freezing tubes several years in advance of the future sill pillar mining, requires careful long-term planning and accurate documentation.

Jan 1, 1998