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By B Beamish

The concept of a ‘critical velocity zone’ in the longwall goaf environment for the development of a spontaneous combustion event has been supported by numerical modelling. However, there is no experimental data available for Australian coals to show ventilation effects on the self-heating incubation behaviour of broken coal in the longwall goaf. A preliminary study using incubation testing has been completed on three high volatile bituminous coals (A, B and C) with R70 self-heating rate values of 3.86°C/h, 3.15°C/h and 2.09°C/h and moisture contents of 11.3 per cent, 3.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively. Mass to flow rates used in the adiabatic oven reaction vessel have been selected to be indicative of a sluggish, natural air leakage and medium ventilation environment. Under a sluggish ventilation flow rate all three coals incubate to thermal runaway in minimum time frames of 2.8–3.1 years, 34–42 days and 79–95 days, respectively. When the ventilation flow rate is increased to natural air leakage, coal A with the highest R70 value and highest moisture content selfheats to 28°C above mine ambient temperature before heat loss takes over due to moisture evaporation. However, both Coals B and C at this flow rate incubate to thermal runaway in a shorter time frame than under sluggish flow. At the medium ventilation flow rate, only Coal B incubates to thermal runaway, albeit after a significant extended period of time. These results show how important it is to determine the heat balance between the coal intrinsic reactivity (as indicated by the R70 value) and moisture content. The results also have implications for the possible location of the ‘critical velocity zone’ and subsequent hotspot development and migration.

Oct 12, 2022

By J Wen, P Hou, W Yu, M Hu, Z Jiang, C Bai

Vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) is one of the important iron ore resources in the world. High viscosity and low fluidity are the basic characteristics of hot metal containing vanadium and titanium during the ironmaking process. Clarifying the influencing mechanism of the melt viscosity would be a significant issue for the high efficiency smelting of VTM. In this paper, a self-developed melt viscometer based on the principle of torsional vibration theory was employed to measure the viscosity of hot metal accurately. Simultaneously, the thermodynamic calculations and some modern detection methods were also used to investigate the precipitation behaviour of high-melting-point phases in hot metal containing vanadium and titanium. The measuring results show that the viscosity of molten iron gradually increases with the increase of titanium content when the mass fraction of titanium is between 0.09 wt per cent – 0.50 wt per cent. Meanwhile, the viscosity of the hot metal was affected significantly by the vanadium content. When the vanadium mass fraction was higher than 0.30 wt per cent, the viscosity of hot metal increased sharply, which will have a serious impact on the fluidity of the hot metal. Furthermore, it was revealed by thermodynamic calculations that an increase in titanium and vanadium content would result in the precipitation of high melting point phases such as TiC, TiN, VC, and VN in the molten iron, ultimately resulting in a decrease in its fluidity. Meanwhile, it was confirmed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observation that the precipitates in the hot metal were compounds consisting of V, Ti, C, and N elements, which agrees well with the thermodynamic analysis results.

Aug 21, 2024

By D Mather, H R. Asche

"In the civil tunnelling field, the use of tunnel boring machines (TBM) has now overtaken the use of conventional excavation methods (drill and blast / roadheader). This is due to a number of reasons, including the increasing availability and reliability of TBMs, the ability to deal with a wider range of face conditions, and the reduced excavation cost that TBMs can bring.Mining companies have spearheaded the advances in shaft boring by mechanised means, both in blind and raise boring. However, mining companies have been slower to adopt mechanised tunnelling.When contrasted with a conventional mining contract, there are good reasons why TBMs in mining applications are relatively rare. A conventional decline contract may have very little geotechnical information. The decline alignment can be subject to change as the tunnelling progresses. The infrastructure requirements are less for a conventional decline, and the sunk cost prior to excavation commencing is lower. Contract documents can be very simple.The history of TBM use in mining is reviewed and lessons are described. From the case histories and lessons learnt, the paper identifies ways that mining companies can maximise the potential benefit of TBM technology.We believe that despite the additional requirements for TBM declines, the cost and time advantage to mining companies is very attractive. The challenge is to recognise and to meet the requirements for success in a TBM drive to achieve the advantages of: faster advance rates reduced rock damage/overbreak reduced support requirements uniform muck characteristics greater personnel safety.From the case histories and lessons learnt, the paper identifies ways that mining companies can maximise the potential benefit of TBM technology.CITATION:Asche, H R and Mather, D, 2014. Use of ?tunnel boring machines in the mine environment, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014, pp 655–662 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Sep 17, 2014

By M Davies, G Theletsane, A H. Gray

Recovery of gold from gold ores has been driven by the available technology and its configuration in the process plant flow sheet.Conventional practice in test work programs has the ore being ground fine (to 106 or 75 microns) to ensure liberation ahead of leaching or flotation. This paper identifies that, in many cases, gold and gold sulfide carriers will liberate and be recovered to a concentrate at much coarser sizes.There is an exponential increase in energy consumption relative to particle size reduction. This impact becomes extreme when comparing crushing a product to 1 mm against grinding to 75?microns.The resultant reduction in energy consumption when liberating and separating at 1 mm or coarser compared to grinding to 75 microns can be in the order of 15 kWh/t or 60 per cent of energy in the comminution circuit.Recovery of free gold and gold sulfide carriers by preconcentration (using continuous gravity devices such as the InLine Pressure Jig), combined with flotation of the fine gold and gold carriers, can result in significant power savings.There are multiple locations within the flow sheet that can be targeted using this process, including recovery in the cyclone underflow of existing plants, preconcentration ahead of the plant or complete greenfield, low-energy process plants designed from first principles based on data from a Gekko developed test work regime.We will describe the process of defining mineralogy in the laboratory and the decision-making process through to actual applications in the field.Several examples will be provided, including a South African Witwatersrand gold ore, several Australian gold ores and others, indicating the benefits of this process and where it has been brought to commercial reality.CITATION:Gray, A H, Davies, M and Theletsane, G, 2014. Coarse liberation and recovery of free gold and gold sulfide carriers for energy reduction in process plants, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 117–128 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

Blasthole cone samples are used for grade control in most of the iron ore mines of the Pilbara of Western Australia. This method of sampling is straightforward when the target sampling interval matches the mining bench height but is problematic when the blasted bench is 'flitch' mined in two or more passes. Crucially, the sampler needs to decide which part of the blast cone represents the upper and lower flitches to be mined. This sampling selection decision is usually made by assuming a certain proportion represents the subdrill component of a sampling face in a blasthole cone and the two flitches are split equally from the remaining portion. In this study of a West Australian channel iron deposit, sampling experiments were carried out to determine the actual proportions of a sampling face in a blasthole cone by spray painting the blast cones at flitch and subdrill boundaries during the drilling process. Measurements were then taken to assess the differences between assumed sampling face proportions and actual proportions. A set of paired samples was also collected from a number of blastholes with one set using the assumed proportions of each flitch for each sample, while the other set sampled the actual proportions, which were identified from the cone painting process.

Mar 1, 2010

By R Daiyan, G Burge, M Haider Ali Khan

Australia’s mineral and metal exports have a substantial carbon footprint, twice that of its domestic emissions, mainly due to fossil-fuel-dependent downstream processes like processing into secondary metals and their transport. The country’s vast renewable energy and low-carbon hydrogen potential offer a promising alternative to mitigate this impact. These resources can be leveraged to displace fossil fuel use and become embedded into the metals value chain. Ultimately, it will yield ‘Green Metals’ that can be scaled to reduce the environmental footprint and provide an avenue for Australia’s vast green resources to be embedded (incorporated during production and supply) in green metals that can be exported. One potential green metal is copper, which is in great demand and likely to drive global decarbonisation through renewable electrification due to its role as an energy conductor. Given that Australia is a large producer and exporter of copper, this paper provides a techno-economic model of the copper value and applies it to Queensland (a hub of Australia’s copper production) as a case study. The results show that under incumbent hydrogen (A$8/kg) and renewable energy costs, the cost of green copper would be A$9704/t (~10 per cent higher than current copper costs). Further analysis revealed that the cost of hydrogen is a major cost driver; therefore, if the cost of hydrogen can be reduced to A$2/kg (a 2030 target of the Australian government), the cost of green copper would become competitive. Furthermore, if a carbon pricing regime ($54–79/kgCO2) is introduced, green copper would become competitive at a hydrogen cost of A$3/kg. Altogether, these findings provide insights for a future green copper export opportunity in Australia. Additionally, as the next step, the model can be extended to include other metals and released as an open-source resource for assessing global green metal opportunities.

Sep 1, 2024

By C Dell

Hillgrove, situated on the New England plateau of New South Wales, is an area rich in history and resources. Key resources are predominantly antimony, gold and scheelite and the area surrounding the historical field is environmentally sensitive and topographically challenging. Since acquiring the Hillgrove leases, Straits Hillgrove Gold has undertaken a significant exploration program on these historical mining areas with the goal to return the field to production. This exploration program has enabled Straits to significantly increase the resource base and has subsequently enabled the planned redevelopment of Hillgrove to be realised. In October 2006, installation of mining infrastructure and the initial stripping of existing development had commenced. To successfully redevelop Hillgrove, Straits has had to adopt a highly mechanised, trackless, diesel mining operation which will see the production rate commence at an initial rate of 250 kt/a of ore from a narrow vein environment. This ore will be processed on site to produce antimony metal, gold bullion and a scheelite concentrate.

Jan 1, 2008

By R Sterk, B Reid

The Konongo Gold Project is located on the western margin of the 125 Moz Ashanti Gold Belt in Ghana, West Africa. It is situated 60 km along strike of the world-class mineral system at Obuasi and is interpreted to lie on the same controlling regional shear system.The project is operated by Signature Metals, a subsidiary of the Liongold Corporation, and is managed and funded by the Liongold Corporation.Historic underground operations at Konongo produced 1.6 Moz Au at a head grade of 11.8 g/t Au, from eight operations spread along 16 km of the shear system. Mining focused almost exclusively on free-milling gold in quartz, ignoring the gold-bearing sulfide mineralisation associated with the quartz veins. Underground mining ceased in 1986.In 2013, Signature Metals re-focused the program at Konongo to assess the viability of mining the sulfide ore sustainably. This led to the first campaign review of the historic underground data and resource potential since mine closure. The Obenemase mine was the first of the eight operations to be assessed as part of this campaign.Large amounts of legacy data have survived for Obenemase and several historic resource estimations have been completed based on these data. The data typically consisted of hand-drawn sections and plans, and ledgers of commonly incomplete drilling and sampling data. Some drill core have been lost over time, but a large amount of quarter-core and half-core as well as pulps and rejects are still available. Previous resource estimates had a low confidence value because all the available assay and geological data were integrated effectively with the estimates, resulting in a lack of understanding of both grade and geological continuity.This project built a new geological model for Obenemase that greatly enhances the understanding of the controls on mineralisation using a thorough approach of re-surveying, re-cataloguing and re-logging. This model led to an increased degree of confidence and a subsequent upgrade of resource classification, and created several previously unrecognised strong exploration targets. The resulting resource estimates increased the value of the project by 100 per cent.This paper emphasises and highlights the importance of a well-understood geological model on the confidence of a resource estimate and how this may directly impact on the project’s ‘bottom line’.CITATION:Sterk, R and Reid, B, 2014. The Konongo Gold Project, Ghana – an example of how geology makes all the difference to a resource estimate, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 467–476 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 18, 2014

By C J. Greet

Oil can enter a flotation circuit from a number of sources (for example, from mining equipment, oil leaks from the grinding equipment and coatings on the grinding media, but to name a few). Folklore generally states that any oil that contaminates the ore entering the flotation circuit is considered to have a negative impact on flotation. That is, a loss in concentrate grade and recovery.This represents a dilemma for some grinding media suppliers, who use a variety of quenching medium (air, polymer, oil or water) to achieve the desired physical properties of the ball. In the case of high chrome grinding media it is necessary, in some instances, to quench in oil to give the ball the right degree of toughness, which invariably leads to these balls having a thin film of oil on their surface. Once the grinding media arrives on site and site personnel recognise that the balls are “covered” in oil, they generally insist that the oil will have a deleterious impact on flotation performance.Obviously, any supplier “worth their salt” would take remedial action at the point of manufacture to minimise this problem. However, does quenching oil actually present a significant “threat” to the flotation process? This paper provides both laboratory and plant data describing the effect quenching oil has on the flotation of copper sulphide ore, with surprising results!

Aug 8, 2011

A combination of the needs of business, employee desires and safety and health considerations is stimulating increasing attention to the time spent by people at work and the timing of that work. Particularly we are seeing: - innovative work schedules for 24-hour mining businesses; and - response from industry to accommodate the needs, even the desires, of employees in return for systems which are more productive and more capital efficient. There appears to be an evolutionary trend for business management to become more sophisticated and responsive to the need for achieving close to best cost work schedules to sustain continuous improvement. The underlying motivating forces driving this trend for improved techniques in organising attendance at, and time spent at work, is the seemingly inseparable combination of technological advance and ever-increasing accumulation of capital. The mining industry has not remained untouched by this thrust for ever-increasing need for best use of labour, to adopt advances in technology and to provide attractive opportunities for putting accumulated capital to work. An essential component of this on-going thrust is a substantial effort by the mining industry to improve the performance of labour by providing most-productive work schedules.

Jan 1, 1996

By S C. Dominy, R C. A Minnitt

Determination of the sampling constant and liberation diameter are of importance when applying the Fundamental Sampling Error (FSE) equation to optimise sampling protocols. The method for the direct determination of the sampling constant is based on the æGy 50-pieceÆ experiment and variants thereof, which is generally known as the heterogeneity test. In the coarse gold environment, the heterogeneity test is prone to poor repeatability and bias due to the very heterogeneity that it aims to quantify. A key issue is the large sample mass that can be required in the coarse gold environment, which may reach 1 t or more. The heterogeneity test often provides an evaluation of the background gold grade heterogeneity, but understates that of the high-grade coarse-gold component. This is because the total mass of fragments is usually too small to represent the mineralisation. Despite this relatively well-known problem, heterogeneity tests are often undertaken on deposits where the presence of coarse gold is ignored, not fully realised or vastly understated. Sampling types and protocol designs are frequently based on poor quality data that do not match the characteristics of the orebody. For this style of mineralisation, an empirical approach to define ore characteristics is recommended.CITATION:Dominy, S C and Minnitt, R C A, 2012. Application of heterogeneity testing to coarse gold ores, in Proceedings Sampling 2012 , pp 143-160 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 21, 2012

By J MacDiarmid

Atlas Copco is a leading provider of industrial productivity solutions (Atlas Copco, 2007) and one of the worldÆs largest suppliers of rock drilling equipment. The business division of Atlas Copco Construction and Mining Technique is based in +rebro, Sweden with the majority of their equipment produced in a number of facilities within the area. As part of the 2006 AusIMM/Atlas Copco Scholarship I was fortunate enough to visit these facilities to experience first hand this truly unique global company. Through numerous presentations on the various divisions and products manufactured by the company, I saw the broad range of products and services offered by the company and came to realise it is much more than just selling drills. Other highlights included a brief love affair, a tour of EuropeÆs largest underground mine (or factory depending who you ask), a drink at the ice bar at the ice hotel in JukkasjSrvi, and a number of dinners of reindeer. Overall this it was a truly amazing experience with all involved with the program going out of their way to ensure I got the most out of the trip. More importantly, through no effort at all, everyone naturally conveyed their passion for the industry and the company which is a great credit to the æAtlas Copco WayÆ thereby creating a company æcommitted to your superior productivity through interaction and innovationÆ.

Jan 1, 2007

By J Taylor, M Smith, A Tunnadine, D Nikolakopoulos

As Olympic Dam rapidly expands into the Southern Mine Area (SMA) the Mine Geology team has concurrently ramped up underground diamond drilling to sustain rates of above 175 km/a. With >10 underground rigs double-shifting, traditional paper sections used for the management of drill programs were no longer optimal due to scale of operations. An opportunity was identified to modernise monitoring of all underground diamond drill programs, through the integration of logged copper sulfide estimates with Olympic Dam’s first-fully integrated deposit-scale geological model in Leapfrog Geo. This paper describes the transition within the Mine Geology team from reliance on 2D paper sections, towards near-real time 3D geological modelling for optimising end-of-hole decisions in the field. This transition was enabled by innovative database solutions informing locally constrained implicit models, limited by a distance buffer around active underground fan drilling. Due to the high volume of historic drilling, there were significant computational challenges with the implementation of daily production style implicit models at Olympic Dam and initial testing of regular updates to implicit gradeshells and sulfide domains required in excess of 12 hrs to run. The enabling solution was to optimise the interfaces between the AcQuire database, Deswik MDM and Leapfrog Geo to create a dynamic, streamlined workflow that was easily completed by Mine Geologists in accordance with daily production duties. Geologists are now building rapid implicit models for a range of variables from an integrated data set of logged sulfide estimates and existing assays, spatially constrained by 150 m buffers around active drilling using a unique drill fan identifier flagged during the planning phase. Once the live-implicit models are updated, they are exported for visualisation on field tablets to be used during logging and core checks at the start and end of every shift. To manage the risk of ‘going digital’ interpretation remains at the forefront of the drill section close-out process, with Mine Geologists critically reviewing the finished sections on a standardised template with new learnings wireframed and communicated to stakeholders. The Live Field Model has enabled a step-change in the geological effectiveness of diamond drilling, reducing over – and under-drilling ore-waste at Olympic Dam continuing to push drilling effectiveness towards 20 per cent of intercepts >2 per cent Cu. In addition, upside or risk identified during the proactive management of drilling execution can be rapidly capitalised or mitigated.

Mar 22, 2022

Efficient project planning during the detailed feasibility to final engineering stages of a project requires not only the accurate prediction of the grade, tonnes and recovery, but their degree of variability as well. An understanding of the major parameters involved in the grade and tonnage estimates is essential, and the communication to those receiving the results is most important. The personnel involved in the project require more than just a global reserves classification. Quality parameters other than grade should be evaluated as carefully as the estimate itself. This paper does not present any novel ideas to overcome or enhance any of this. Rather, it takes a step back and tries to look at the global picture of requirements for proper project planning.

Jan 1, 1987

By Jaczkowski B

The lower orebody (LOB) at Chingola Divi- sion of Nchanga Consolidated Copper Mines Limited (NCCM) accounts for approximately 30 per cent of the total copper production for the company. The uniformity of the geology of the orebody lends itself readily to a computer based ore reserve calculation and accounting system. The mining units are physically defined such that a hierarchical type of com- puter file organisation can reflect the existing physical interdependencies. In 1972, a project team consisting of one representative from each of the mine planning, operational research, and computer services departments was formed to investigate and to define the technical mining requirements of the dynamic ore reserve system (DORS). The system was finally implemented in 1975ò

Jan 1, 1977

By C Mark, Z Agioutantis

This paper presents an empirical design methodology that is based on successful US roof support systems using both primary and secondary support in coal mining entries and intersections. The recent nationwide dramatic reduction of roof fall rates, especially in areas with weaker roof, can be directly correlated to the effectiveness of the roof support systems. A large database of roof fall histories at several mines is used to define the approximate boundaries of three modes of roof support with respect to roof strength as classified by the Coal Mine Roof Rating (CMRR) and in situ vertical stress as indicated by the depth of cover. These roof support classifications are: • Suspension, where roof bolts mainly provide skin control for strong roof. • Beam building or reinforcement, where a roof of moderate strength can be supported by roof bolts only. • Supplemental (secondary) support, where the primary support by roof bolts may be augmented by several secondary support systems, eg cable bolts, trusses, additional roof bolts or standing supports. The Primary Support Rating index (PSUP) captures the capacity of the primary roof bolt system as a function of the actually implemented roof control plan, ie roof bolt length, roof bolt density, and roof bolt capacity, while it does not consider the type of bolt. The actual PSUP value is compared against a suggested PSUP value derived from statistical analysis of US case histories. Where secondary support is indicated, the expected rock load determines the necessary capacity of the secondary support system. A new (free) software package, Analysis of Mine Roof Support (AMRS), implements the design methodology and also allows comparison with other international indices such as the Reinforcement Density Index (RDI), the PRSUP, etc.

Nov 29, 2022

By S J. Schafrik, Z Agioutantis, E C. Jong, K Luxbacher

Real-time monitoring of mine operating parameters is available at most mines. However, access to these data for an individual operation is typically underutilised by mine managers and technical personnel. Such monitoring systems are typically designed to provide data streams and alarms to a responsible person, but they are not utilised to extract underlying trends or correlate different data groups. Furthermore, multiple monitoring systems are usually implemented at a given site without interconnection between vendors’ systems or connection to any central management, and mine personnel are only exposed to a minimal subset of such data. Thus, it is not easy to analyse and correlate individual data streams and generate information to enhance day-to-day operational decision-making and improve safety and efficiency.This paper addresses the primary challenges associated with centralising data management and effecting greater utilisation of the vast amount of collected data, while at the same time reducing the time and effort required to manage such large data sets. Furthermore, it presents the conceptual design of a database application that can organise, present and analyse data collected by multiple sensors in different environments. The database is designed to operate in a passive manner so that active mine data management systems are not impacted. An example is given where this database is used for managing atmospheric data collected at an underground coalmine operation in the US. These techniques have a universal application and can be incorporated in a wide range of mining and construction projects.CITATION:Agioutantis, Z, Schafrik, S J, Jong, E C, Luxbacher, K and Karmis, M, 2015. A platform for managing and analysing atmospheric data in underground coalmines, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 3–10 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015

By C T. Senra, A Souza

Increasing fuel prices, unavailabilty and high prices of tyres have imposed tremendous challenges for large open pit operations. Carajßs open pit mines, one of the largest iron ore projects in the world, has been particularly affected due to the high amount of giant trucks operating in this site. On the other hand, environmental constraints push the mining industry towards reductions in fossil fuels, noise and waste generation. As a feasible response to these requirements, an alternative mining method for open pit mining, aiming to reduce or even eliminate the need for trucks has been developed, based primarily on coal opencast continuous operations. This innovative approach for open pits involves the replacement of trucks by fully-mobile crushers, bench conveyors and ramp conveyors. Two different applications have been developed for exploiting waste and ore at Carajßs largest pit, named N4E. To make it possible, mine planning paradigms should be replaced leading to new conceptual design of open pits. This paper shows two case studies (waste and ore conceptual design) carried out at Carajßs mines to anticipate and put forward the future of open pit mining, proving that our industry would be greatly affected by this new way of exploitation, reducing thousands of tons of fossil fuels. Productivities can be enhanced and environmental performance greatly improved. In this approach mine automation can be easily implemented reducing operating costs and man's fatigue.

Jan 1, 2009

Sampling errors result from heterogeneities within the lot under study. Within a rock mass in situ heterogeneity results in the geological nugget effect, which accounts for most of the natural variability. In broken rock, constitution and distribution heterogeneities are important. A major result of the constitution heterogeneity is the Fundamental Sampling Error (FSE) which is the smallest residual error that can be achieved. It cannot be eliminated, but can be minimised and refl ects the fact that the broken rock sampling process is never completely free of error. Together with other sampling errors, FSE contributes to the total nugget effect. The FSE for a sampling protocol can be evaluated using the so-called Gy equation. Its practical applications to low-grade gold ores have often been unsuccessful due to problems linking the FSE and minimum sampling mass and the defi nition of key parameters such as the liberation diameter. Well-designed sample protocols minimise the total sampling error and hence the nugget effect. Reduction of the nugget effect is a key requirement for all sampling programs whether related to exploration and resource evaluation, metallurgical test sampling, grade control or metallurgical plant sampling. This contribution reviews the relationship between heterogeneity, FSE and nugget effect in gold deposits; and emphasises the need for FSE management throughout the mine value chain.

Aug 1, 2010

By P D. Munro

On the occasion of the 14th Mill Operators’ Conference and marking 40 years since the first one was held in Mount Isa in 1978, it is fitting to review the history of the Conference and its development over that time.The first 10 Conferences were irregularly held at three to four year intervals, with 9 of these in regional centres of Australasia. It is only since 2012 that the Mill Operators’ Conference has become a regular biennial event, alternating with the MetPlant Conference.The number of people attending the Conference has more than doubled to 470 delegates at the 13th one in 2016. It has outgrown its regional beginnings.Papers presented to the previous Conferences have been analysed according to commodity, country of origin, technology and theme plus the affiliation of the authors to discern any trends that may assist in planning the future events.Suggestions are made as to how the AusIMM might wish to arrange its mineral processing/metallurgical conferences.Recent changes to the structure of the Conference providing a more meaningful experience for the delegates and increasing their interaction and involvement should be vigorously pursued.CITATION:Munro, P D, 2018. Mill Operators’ conferences – a 40-year retrospective and a vision for the future, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 5–14 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018