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By J Meikle

A projected image is not always a true representation of a situation, or indeed an industry. This is often the case of the mining and minerals industry, which has frequently been portrayed in a negative light with a male dominance stigma attached. However, these issues can be combated for both the industry and its future, current undergraduate students, through undergraduate industry experience. In particular, vacation work enables female students to dispel many myths surrounding the industry and realise that the mining and minerals field offers career development for both genders. This paper will discuss how vacation work enables students to make important career decisions even before they have graduated. Industry experience provides undergraduates with the opportunity to gain practical knowledge relevant to their field of study. Additionally it allows students to observe the nature of the industry and the sacrifices necessary to advance careers. The prior insights into an industry are relevant to all students, but particularly female students, who might otherwise be dissuaded from a career in mining. This paper is written from the perspective of two female undergraduate students studying Mining and Minerals Processing Engineering.

Jan 1, 2006

By M Alston

Many organisations struggle to yield meaningful outcomes from incident investigations. This paper will demonstrate that we can discover systemic issues by rethinking the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of investigations, fostering genuine risk reduction. Key points: 1. Shift from ‘prevent recurrence’ to ‘learn and reduce risk’: conventional investigations focus narrowly on recurrence prevention, resulting in narrowly focused investigations with limited ability to identify and reduce organisational risk. Redirecting our objective to learning and improvement opens avenues for broader risk mitigation. 2. Understanding daily work for risk insights: recognise that work is not always completed in full compliance with procedures. Workers will adapt how they complete tasks influenced by the conditions and management systems that exist every day. Understanding the conditions and systems affecting everyday work is vital for uncovering systemic risks. 3. Unearth systemic issues through in-depth exploration: many investigations address surface concerns such as lack of training, incorrect procedures, equipment not being maintained, and missing overarching organisational risks. Systemic, organisation-wide risks are not identified. To discover these systemic issues and create shared learnings, investigators must question management systems, including resourcing, planning and risk management. 4. Design actions for safe failure: common actions like discipline and training fall short and do not reduce risk. Resilience emerges from well-designed controls. Incorporate planning, better resources, interlocks, and guarding to bridge the gap between task execution and risk. 5. Investigation Reports as a Business Case: Investigation reports should not simply state historical information regarding an incident. They are to facilitate decision-making and be presented as a business case to drive change. Organisations can move beyond localised risk and ineffective administrative actions by changing investigation objectives and methods. They can facilitate learning, understand daily work intricacies, identify systemic issues, and enhance the capacity for safety, driving lasting risk reduction.

Apr 16, 2024

By I Mason, M van de Werken, B Zhou, J Hargreaves, W Stasinowsky

A critical step in open cut coal mining is clean removal of the overburden. This is usually achieved by drilling, blasting and digging. A key part of this process being successful is to stop drilling at the correct blast ‘stand-off distance’. The stand-off distance is the distance between the base of the drilled blasthole and the top of the coal horizon to be mined. Having this correct provides a protective cap of rock above the coal horizon so that the blast will fracture all the overburden without damaging the coal horizon or mixing it with the overburden. Drilling beyond the correct stand-off distance causes the blast to continue into the coal horizon, damaging it and mixing it with the overburden, leading to significant losses of coal product. Conversely, drilling short of the correct stand-off distance results in additional work to remove the intact overburden.

Sep 1, 2024

By J F. H Thompson

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. Mineral exploration and mining are challenging businesses. Remote and at times harsh conditions have always made it difficult for exploration, but modern explorers also have to deal with cover, numerous technologies, an explosion of data and critical early community engagement. Mining deals with the reality of moving and breaking thousands of tonnes of rock each day to extract what can be a very minor component of economic value, and, furthermore, society expects that this will be done in a clean and sustainable manner. The exploration and mining challenges appear disparate, but they are intimately related.Although not widely appreciated, both exploration and mining have a long tradition of innovation. Over the last 50 years, major step changes in exploration have resulted from radical advances in our understanding of ore forming processes, new geophysical, geochemical and remote sensing technologies, and new ways to integrate and interrogate data. Over a more extended period, close to 100 years, mining has developed bulk surface and underground methods, selective extraction through flotation and leaching and global positioning system–geographic information system control systems that collectively facilitate mining at a massive scale. And yet, in spite of these successes and the boom that we have enjoyed in the last ten years, the industry is under pressure and the need for innovation and change is paramount.The major drivers for innovation are the need for increased quality in discoveries and mines and the need to interact effectively with communities and jurisdictions such that the benefits of quality mines are recognised and enjoyed widely.We are still making new discoveries around the Pacific Rim and elsewhere, but many argue that the quality – grade and accessibility – of these discoveries is decreasing. The net result is that explorers are delivering resources and reserves for development at lower grades and with higher capital and operating costs than current operations. For mining, the increasing age of many existing operations contributes to increasing costs, which, when combined with decreasing cut-offs and lower grades, also results in declining quality. The combined picture does not look good.Just as the pressure to improve performance and margins in the face of declining inputs increases, we are simultaneously faced with increasing societal demands for improved environmental performance and sustainable practices. This is most apparent at the local, community level, where opposition ultimately leads to delays or even cancellation of new projects. Quality is again the issue – quality of the initial and ongoing engagement and quality of the proposed mine in terms of environmental and economic performance.CITATION:Thompson, J F H, 2015. Exploration and mining – the need for innovation , in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 45–48 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

Anglo American Metallurgical Coal (AAMC) manages five open cut coal mines in Queensland and New South Wales, producing approximately 30 million tonnes per annum. The size and complexity of these mines require efforts by a large and diverse number of personnel to minimise adverse geotechnical events from occurring. To achieve this, the AAMC coal mines in Australia are developing a concept of managing the geotechnical risks associated with open cut coal mines. The overall system utilises a combination of internal training, a management system (operational management systems) and standards, numerical modelling, monitoring, inspections and audits. The development of the standards as well as training and mentoring of exploration personnel, geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists and mining engineers with an interest in the geotechnical aspects of mining, training of the production workforce, mentoring and training of the technical staff create the basis for achieving a pro-active rather than a reactive system. Audits are used to assure that personnel are maintaining the standards and to facilitate cross-mine leanings so that best practices are developed across all sites.

Nov 25, 2010

By T Baumgartl, A Costine, B Boshrouyeh, M Edraki

In mineral processing, the management of tailings may become increasingly more challenging with a change of ore type and the quality of water used in the plant. This, in turn, may affect the overall costs of the operation and water usage and, in the long-term, pose challenges for mine closure and rehabilitation. Depending on the applied treatment technique, the short and long-term properties of tailings are largely determined by the fine particles. Most clay materials and ultrafine particles exist in tailings from oil sands, coalmines and base metals, bringing about challenges in dewatering performance. Moreover, given the growing concern for water scarcity, the minerals industry is increasingly turning towards the use of saline water, which poses yet another challenge for tailings management. The high salt content alters the behaviour of clay particles, making dewatering a more complex process than in freshwater systems (Boshrouyeh Ghandashtani et al, 2022; Costine et al, 2018). High-density techniques for tailings management have been used for several years in the mineral industry. In this regard, one of the novel and promising dewatering methods is in-pipe or inline flocculation, where the polymer is added at high dosages to thickener underflows, giving additional (likely denser) aggregation, releasing more water on deposition compared to low solids thickening. Previous research in the field of flocculation has primarily focused on the process of flocculation itself, specifically the settling rate and size of aggregates, rather than the long-term impacts of the produced tailings materials (Liu et al, 2020; Jeldres et al, 2017). This is particularly true for the novel method of this technology, where polymer is added to the thickener underflow. Furthermore, these studies have used small-scale set-ups using buckets/beakers, plungers and mechanical stirrers for the flocculation process. Unfortunately, these methods lack the necessary control over the properties of the treated tailings, which can lead to irreproducible mixing and dispersion of viscous polymer solutions (Fawell, Costine and Grabsch, 2015). Consequently, a system that can work with a wide range of operational conditions for high-solid tailings material is essential for reliable and reproducible results. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of different type of polymers in the presence of monovalent and divalent salts on the inline flocculation of artificial tailings. The next step was to evaluate the impact of high-dosage polymer addition on geotechnical properties such as settling rate, consolidated density, rate of consolidation and the hydraulic conductivity of tailings. In addition, this research aimed to fill a knowledge gap and investigate the feasibility of using polymer-treated tailing in removing the copper ions and then quantify the performance of produced aggregates under time-dependent processes.

Aug 2, 2023

The fire started in the development section from methane released into the mine through a roof-bolt hole. The date was 8 May 1998. The flames spread quickly as the coal was ignited. After eight hours the Safety Department decided to seal the vertical ventilation shafts and the slopes. The quality of coal in the Esmeralda Mine is very high quality, and Minerales Monclova (MIMOSA) decided to recover the facilities, however, the Esmeralda Mine coals have a very high gas content of 12 m3/t. Immediately after the mine was sealed, MIMOSA staff implemented a plan to monitor the gas levels underground and contacted specialists for assistance in bringing the mine back on-line. During the next 2.5 months, MIMOSA staff and the specialists observed and analysed the gas behaviour supported by a chromatograph. With the results of the observations and analyses, MIMOSA in consultation with the specialists developed a recovery plan based on flooding the area in which fire might have propagated and in which rekindling was highly probable. Those results were analysed by the command centre (Mexican engineers responsible for mine recovery). At the same time MIMOSA trained rescue teams which included miners who had no previous experience in mine recovery operations. By 20 August 1998, the mine command centre had re-opened the slopes seal. Using a æStep-by-StepÆ system, the rescue team began the recovery process by employing cross-cuts and using an auxiliary fan to establish the ventilation circuit. The MIMOSA team advanced into the mine as far as allowed by the water level and was able to recover the main fan. The official mine recovery date was 30 November 1998.

Jan 1, 2005

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

By D François-Bongarçon

The link between geostatistics and Theory of Sampling (TOS) is examined again in view of new findings made while trying to compare predicted sampling variances and estimated grades (using geostatistics) on the same material, and this provides an important consistency requirement whenever calculations are made that involve both theories in a comparative way. It also briefly explores the relationship to De Wijs fractal model of mineralisation and eventually provides new support for the use of consistency theory for calibrating TOS variance formulas.CITATION:François-Bongarçon, D, 2017. Theory of Sampling and geostatistics – the ultimate link, in Proceedings Eighth World Conference on Sampling and Blending , pp 391–394 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2017

Anglo Coal Australia (ACA) takes a proactive position with regards to attracting and retaining employees at a graduate level. Currently, ACA has graduates in its program across all disciplines: Mining Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Commercial, Occupational Health and Safety, Environmental Engineering, Human Resources, Safety Engineering and Processing Engineering. The current program is three years in duration and involves two (generally) equal periods at different ACA mine sites or Brisbane Corporate Office. ACA takes an active role in promoting its status at the university level by maintaining a scholarship program. Six undergraduate scholarships are offered each year across all disciplines. Associated Vacation Employment is offered to each scholarship holder during the period of his or her university study. This commitment to education is regarded highly by future graduates. ACAÆs active role in sponsoring student bodies is also known and appreciated amongst the university population. ACAÆs graduate program has been a successful training program for future leaders of the coal mining industry. The company is committed to making the program more suited to the needs of the graduates across all disciplines and as a result the program is not stagnant but is constantly changing and evolving. Recently the æGraduate PassportÆ has been drafted with an aim to keep each graduateÆs needs in relation to experience and training firmly in focus for the duration of the three-year program. Appropriate training for each graduateÆs position is supported by the company; for instance, support through funding and time for a commercial graduateÆs CPA qualifications is provided.

Jan 1, 2005

By H Stedman

Integrating exploration and operational blastholes into one database significantly enhances geological modelling. Benefits include: improved coal predictions, stronger interpretation of structurally complex areas, detailed mapping of heat affected coal aureoles and additional roof accuracy for blast designs that deliver better coal protection.CITATION:Stedman, H, 2014. Integrating blastholes into exploration data to improve coal recovery and modelling, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 237–242 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 18, 2014

Rio Tinto Iron Ore is currently working towards finalising comprehensive Native Title land access agreements, which cover all of the current eleven mines and infrastructure owned and operated by the company in Western Australia's Pilbara region. Critically, the agreements represent a mutual commitment to a long-term relationship and address many areas of concern by promoting indigenous enterprise, well-being and regional development opportunities. Our objectives in the process are to obtain the informed consent of the traditional owners for our Pilbara expansions while providing benefits to them in a way which provides lasting and substantial improvements to health, education, housing and real jobs in the mainstream economy.   To facilitate the agreement negotiations, Rio Tinto Iron Ore (RTIO) proceeded in 2005 to research and design a specific strategy around Aboriginal relations and local community engagement in the Pilbara. Wherever we operate, Rio Tinto follows a fairly simple formula in working with communities, which is comprehensively aligned to local context.   This presentation provides an overview of Rio Tinto Iron Ore's community engagement strategy in Western Australia's Pilbara region. It will also explore the establishment of regional standards on employment, business development and contracting that have been developed to ensure Indigenous people are engaged in the development of their region and are able to contribute to supporting the growth and development of mining in the area with the expectation that there is prosperity for all. This is an ABSTRACT ONLY no paper was prepared for this presentation.

Jun 1, 2010

By J A. M Luz, A T. Bernardes

HukkiÆs law is an empirical law, which does not take into account several events of energy loss during the fragmentation processes. Since experimental results are very difficult to obtain, for a large range of fragment sizes, the verification of the law is very difficult. The relation between fractures and fragmentation processes with fractal geometry was proposed some decades ago. Empirical laws known in this context show basic features of fractal geometry, mainly self-affinity and power law behaviour. Thus, in this work a model was developed to simulate the fragmentation process and to check the relation between energy consumption and fragment sizes. The model is represented on a regular lattice. Links can represent pathways for fracture processes. The events of fragmentation have energy given by a probability distribution function. In the model there is no mass loss. Propagation of fractures occurs as self-avoiding random walks on the regular lattice.

Sep 26, 2011

By B Harvey

Achieving community and stakeholder endorsement during life-of-mine planning and implementation requires a business-connected approach, as opposed to charitable giving, disconnected offsets and environmental adventurism.CITATION:Harvey, B, 2014. Extractive companies, development and environmental agendas, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2014 , pp 19–22 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 16, 2014

By M J. Davies, R S. Davies

Despite increased expenditure, the global discovery rate of world-class ore deposits has been in decline for over a decade (Schodde, 2017). Mineral exploration has traditionally followed an empirical approach, searching for evidence of mineralisation upon the surface of the planet, then drilling to define the extent of an ore body beneath the surface. As outcropping deposits in well-defined areas are depleted, there is a need for exploration to extend to less well-explored search spaces. One popular new frontier is exploration at greater depths beneath the Earth's surface. However, exploring for deep deposits with limited surficial evidence requires the implementation of predictive targeting methodologies (Hronsky, 2011; McCuaig & Hronsky, 2014). The Mineral Systems Concept (Hronsky & Groves, 2008; McCuaig et al., 2010) provides a framework for predictive exploration targeting. Ore deposit formation is recognised to be a focused mineralising event. These events represent self-organising critical systems and are underpinned by the interaction of complex, non-linear processes. Through the collection and analysis of datasets that map mineralising processes, it may be possible to predict the size and location of resultant ore bodies. CITATION: Davies, M J and Davies, R S, 2018. Beyond below-ground geological complexity: Developing adaptive expertise in exploration decision-making, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 95–98 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By A Sturgess, P McKenna, P D. Erskine, D Doley, V C. Glenn

For more than four decades, rehabilitated lands in the Bowen Basin have been planted with buffel grass (Cenchrus Ciliaris), which is often used to provide rapid, stabilising and erosion reducing cover to reshaped landforms (Erskine and Fletcher, 2013; Harwood, Hacker and Mott, 1999; Grigg, Shelton and Mullen, 2000; Naidu et al, 1997). Historically introduced to Central Queensland and encouraged by pastoralists in the early 1900s (Humphreys, 1967), the species has been extensively used by mine managers in seeding mixes (Coaldrake and Russell, 1970; Edye, 1975), and the invasive nature of the grass has led to the monodominance in rehabilitated areas of semi-arid Central Queensland. With 40 open cut coalmines in Central Queensland (Department of Natural Resources and Mines, 2015), a considerable amount of land is either disturbed mine footprint (156 200 ha) or rehabilitated (29 200 ha) (Dale, 2015), and the bulk of rehabilitation consists of relatively young (<30-year-old) developing ecosystems, with demonstrated biomass fuel loads up to 20 t/ha (Grigg, Shelton and Mullen, 2000).Uncontrolled fire poses a significant risk to rehabilitated landforms that are located in close proximity to mining infrastructure, neighbouring communities, open pits with exposed flammable coal seams and flammable stockpiled coal resource. Mine lease holders in Queensland have the added responsibility of managing and protecting any endangered regional ecosystem communities, and flora and fauna listed federally under the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation Act 1999 or the State Vegetation Management Act 1999; as well as, any culturally significant sites such as scar trees or middens that are found on-site. Additionally, uncontrolled fire in rehabilitated landscapes poses a significant risk to mine site closure goals, with the potential to create altered states and stalled ecological trajectories (Grant, 2006). CITATION:McKenna, P, Glenn, V, Erskine, P D, Doley, D and Sturgess, A, 2016. Fire behaviour in buffel grass dominated mine site rehabilitation in Central Queensland, Australia, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference , pp 158–162 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 28, 2016

By D W. Stevens

Mechanical sampling provides a definitive value for the product sampled but the results are not instantaneous, meaning that decisions on process control can only be made hours after the sample is taken. Chemicals are added, tailings are sent to waste, stockyards are laid and the data for the decision-making is historical. Online analysers provide instantaneous information, allowing operators to make immediate and cost-saving decisions on the process. However, pending the specific online analysis application, there is a need for reference sampling for dynamic calibration/bias updating of the analysers so that they can deliver the desired precision and accuracy. What would be the economic justification for combining mechanical sampling with online analysis to reduce laboratory costs and provide immediate process control with certainty of accuracy? Approved sampling according to the Theory of Sampling, with immediate process control information.CITATION:Stevens, D W, 2014. Justification for integrating mechanical sampling with online analysis, in Proceedings Sampling 2014 , pp 135–138 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 29, 2014

By D Stacey, J Matthews

Hunter Valley Operations in partnership with Orica Explosives designed a process to optimise coal extraction at depths greater than 65 m below the Hunter River in a safe and cost effective manner. The process involved a team approach to investigate the relationship between geology, mining sequence, vibration and blasting methods adopted. From this an optimum method for uncovering the coal was developed.

Jan 1, 2001

THE following paragraphs represent an endeavour to describe, briefly the equipment used for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and superphosphates by the Corporation.SULPHURIC ACID PLANTS.Two separate units are in operation, No. I Plant working on sulphur dioxide generated from pyritic ore, No. 2 Plant working on sulphurous gases obtained from the Huntingdon-Heberlein desulphurizing process. The latter plant is unique in being the first installation for the successful use of these gases.

Jan 1, 1918

By G B. French

Post a serious heating event underground, and at the direction of the State Mining Safety Authority, a mining company needed to demonstrate the use of cutting-edge technology to mitigate future events. Yokogawa were contracted to provide a turnkey solution to help the mine achieve this objective. The solution was to use a fibre optic-based Heat Detector that will allow entry into and around the mine considering the potential volatility of the environment, also the need to redeploy as mining activities moved underground and more boreholes are added. Industrial strength fibre optic cable and a robust connector system was chosen to achieve this goal and give the customer the ability to send cable down boreholes of up to +1 km and continuously monitor the temperature ofunderground roadways. Being able to re-deploy the cables into different boreholes and link borehole temperature measurements gave insight into all areas on the mine. The machines deployed on-site were the Yokogawa DTSX1 heat detector incorporating the Ramen Backscatter principle. Being of a robust construction and a low power consumption device, it was easily included into the portable monitoring trailers designed by the customer and built locally.

Oct 12, 2022