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My roots span four generations. My great grandfather, Christian Frederick Fisher, along with twenty-one others was drowned in the New Australasian mine disaster at Creswick in Victoria in 1882. My grandfather, also named Christian Frederick Fisher, escaped and then followed a career of shaft sinking for large companies and operating small mines (very unprofitably according to my father) when funds allowed. My father, an excellent practical mining and mechanical engineer, was also a small miner and my early entry into the industry was, like many before me, very basic. My introductions to the business end of a No. 4 shovel, drilling with hand steel and later with jack hammers without the benefit of airlegs, feeding heavy cordwood to hungry boilers and felling trees for mine timber soon dispelled any illusions I had that mining was a bed of roses.Before it became well known I knew "Life was not meant to be easy".In a family-owned small gold mine in a remote part of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland I was fortunate in obtaining an excellent grounding in reef and deep alluvial mining. Operating in vertical and underlie shafts the variable ground conditions often required close timbering. Steam pumps were used underground and steam winders for hoisting.The complete absence of municipal or government infrastructure in this remote mining field threw responsibility on each mine operator to be self-sufficient, and responsible for mine development and installation of crushing and milling equipment, accommodation and water supply. Conditions, although harsh, were acceptable in the 1930s, and fostered great self-reliance.The first crushing from our Black Cat Mine in 1935 returned nearly 200 oz from 10 tons of ore. Gold was then worth $13 an ounce compared to about $400 an ounce today; but in those depression years of the 1930s our operation was profitable.This basic education not only returned dividends when confronted with difficult mining problems, but created a deep respect for the miners who develop the small mines and who continue to contribute to the industry today, often under difficult conditions.Australia and mining are synonymous. The industry has been immortalised by the famous historian, Professor Geoffrey Blainey, in his book "The Rush that Never Ended".Initial gold discoveries were concealed and exploration was frowned upon by authority as being disruptive to early rural development. But with the discovery of gold in the Bathurst area of New South Wales by Hargreaves in 1851, the rush to the gold fields began followed by an influx of migrants. The traumatic effect on industry and society that followed, created the pattern of the love-hate relationship that at times became temporarily submerged, but is so evident today.In the harsh economic climate of the 19th century with low wages and no welfare, the opportunity to wrest riches from the earth was literally "rushed" by the adventurous, the poor, the rich, people from all walks of life. Pressures developed on preFederation Governments to provide law, order and infrastructure to the rushes that have never ended.

Jan 1, 1984

By R Brown

The Singapore Land Transport Authority Contract C917A is for the design, construction and completion of all outstanding works under the original Contract 917, including taking over the design and construction responsibility for the works carried out by previous contractor. Construction works connect the bored tunnels between the stations at King Albert Park and Sixth Avenue on the Downtown Line two in Singapore.The original contractor became insolvent leaving the works incomplete. On 29 August 2013 McConnell Dowell were awarded the completion contract following a fast-tracked tender process. The completion contract required a quick start and therefore the recruitment of some of the original workforce. A large majority of the original workforce was from Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Philippines, Bangladesh, India and Thailand. In order to ensure that the safety standards were upheld, and that the new workforce embraced a safety culture, a behaviour based safety (BBS) approach was implemented.The BBS approach was implemented to overcome the existing poor cultural safety behaviours, and to ensure that high standards and expectations for safety were implemented. This ensured that the workforce were comfortable in identifying hazards, avoiding shortcuts, and changing poor safety behaviours.This article outlines how a BBS program was delivered on the C917A project, containing defined goals, communication tools, and assessment and feedback models.CITATION:Brown, R, 2014. Behaviour-based safety with a foreign-based workforce, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 65–68 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

By T Day, I G. Robertson, G J. Lyman

"Various approaches are used in the industry for establishing procedures (sample mass estimation and method of subsampling) for sampling and analysis of gold ores. The key factors that determine the accuracy of the results that can be expected for a given set of procedures are widely misunderstood.Recent developments in sampling theory show that the estimation of the accuracy that can be expected for a given gold ore as a function of sample mass is actually a simple matter. For a given sample mass, the accuracy that will be achieved depends only on the grade of the ore and the range of masses of the grains of the gold in the ore. This, of course, demands that a reasonable estimate of the distribution or spread of gold grain masses in the ore be known. But this is something that should be known if the gold is to be efficiently recovered in the processing plant.This paper provides a simple explanation of the real facts about sampling of gold, either in the field or in the plant, and provides results for a number of cases of combinations of fine and coarse gold in an ore. The prerequisites for accurate gold sampling are:correct sampling with no loss of sample or contaminationsample preparation procedures that recognise the impact of the gold grain mass spreadpractical analysis of the sample masses required to provide acceptable accuracy.Issues of corporate governance are also discussed.Citation:Lyman, G J, Robertson, I G and Day, T, 2016. The Simple Facts about Sampling Gold Ores, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2016, pp 159–172 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Oct 10, 2016

By D A. Bowman, S Schafrik

With the goal of reducing injuries and fatalities related to haul truck accidents, this research investigates technologies and intervention strategies for improving worker training using a virtual environment (VE). Funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), this research specifically focuses on training workers in preshift inspections of haul trucks to avoid preventable defects from causing worker injuries and expensive equipment damage. Improved training in these inspections is expected to increase uptime. The VE developed to train workers for preshift inspections consists of three phases: the virtual tour, the virtual inspection and the shift simulation. The virtual tour introduces information necessary to conduct a preshift inspection by guiding the worker around a haul truck, identifying parts to be inspected and explaining defects to look for. The virtual inspection assesses retention as the worker navigates around a haul truck and identifies defects. During the shift simulation, the worker is shown a simulation of the work shift, which animates severe consequences of any overlooked defects to emphasise the importance of preshift inspections. To provide multiple training platforms, desktop and CAVEÖ versions of the training VE were created. Flux Studio was used to model the environment and to produce Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) files for the desktop version. DIVERSE, an application programming interface, was then used to implement a more realistic version of the VE in a CAVEÖ, a room-sized visualisation system. Initial feedback from mining colleagues indicates that the training VE may replace normal classroom training for preshift inspections in the future. As opposed to PowerPoint presentations and instructional videos, the training VE provides better spatial understanding of the location of parts and incorporates interactive features to actively engage drivers in the learning process, which may result in better retention. Initial feedback also indicates that minor improvements can be made to the virtual tour and virtual inspection phases.

Jan 1, 2008

By P K. Singh

Recent advancements in understanding the detonation process are noteworthy, but they are still based on somewhat hypothetical situations. The actual variables that are essential parts of normal blasting practice have not yet been taken into account in such treatments. These include the various initiation practices employed to detonate a column of explosive, from single point initiation to multi-point initiation in blast holes, and the effect on detonation characteristics of both detonators and explosives under multi-deck and multi-hole blasting conditions. The in-the-hole velocity of detonation (VOD) of an industrial explosive is dependent on explosive’s charge diameter and blasthole diameter. The relationship between blasthole diameter and VOD provides a fundamental guideline to the rate of energy conversion and energy release within the detonation front on the interaction of explosives with the confining medium.The in-the-hole VOD of explosives was measured at four experimental sites in India for different blasthole diameters, ie 150 mm to 311 mm, but for identical explosive composition being same particle size, density, viscosity and loaded into blastholes with the same degree of confinement. The results of the studies demonstrated that there is definite relationship in in-the-hole VOD of the explosive and the diameter of the blast hole. The study also confirmed that the explosives initiated with concentrated boosters yielded higher VOD in comparison to those explosives that were initiated with multi-point priming. The measured increase in VOD of explosives for increasing diameter of holes was up to 24 per cent. The rate of change in in-the-hole VOD of explosives increases with increasing blasthole diameter. It can be further stated that the in-the-hole VOD of the explosive reaches a fairly constant value after reaching a limiting/threshold diameter of 311 mm.

Nov 8, 2011

By Jardine G, Woodall C

The Henty Gold Mine, located in Western lasiuania use, uuiusatise solutions to effectively manage a mining operation in an environmentally sensitive setting and has been presented with several environmental awards. Fill is required as part of the mining method to provide passive ground support, minimise rock exposure and ensure maximum recovery of the small but high-grade orebody. The use of the whole portion of leach residue in the backfill reduces the surface tailing disposal requirements. Therefore, High Density Paste Fill (HDPF) has been selected as the most appropriate fill method to meet these objectives. Additional benefits include the minimisation of excess water from fill and the subsequent need for the collection and treatment of water and slimes. There are minimal equipment requirements during placement, thereby optimising mine resources for production. The initial paste fill design was based on the Bad Grund and Ranunelsberg Mines paste fill systems of Preussag in Germany and comprised pumping filtered tailings paste some 1.2 kin uphill from the mill to the mine portal, where cement was to be added before being distributed underground. The system was designed following initial testwork that was undertaken on a bulk sample of ore mined from the scar surface Sill Zone. Subsequently, during the mining of the Zone 96 orehody, it was found that there were significant mineralogical variations in the composition of the ore mined. Following processing, the resultant Icach residue caused significant changes in the paste rheology and therefore the pump and flow characteristics. An alternative solution was implemented that involved the use of agitator trucks to transport the cemented paste to the portal. This required modifications to the fill preparation system and also the underground distribution system. Laboratory strength tests of the HDPF using actual gold plant leach residue showed low early strengths were attained with HDPF containing only filtered leach residue. Therefore, high binder addition rates or an increase in the fill cycle time would be required to allow the fill to gain sufficient strength. A considerable amount of potentially acid generating waste rock also requires underground disposal. By blending the waste rock with the HDPF, the strengths were improved and the required cement addition rate reduced by about one-half. The potentially acid funning waste rock is encapsulated in the highly alkaline cemented paste, minimising the potential for acid generation.

Jan 1, 1998

In the current climate, there is a real need to bridge the gap between theory and the real world mining considerations, and develop viable, cost-effective, high performance thickeners. With a greater need to extract profits from both difficult-to-process ores and lower grade orebodies, coupled with the necessity to produce 'greener', less water intensive technologies, suppliers need to take current thickener designs to the next level and into the 21st century. The complexity of 'getting it right' within a thickenerÆs feedwell, the 'nerve centre' of the thickener, is no small task. Delivering dilution water and mixing this water with incoming feed slurry, addition of flocculant, maximising flocculant-slurry interaction to build aggregate size, minimising unabsorbed flocculant percentage, volume average of solids volume fraction, momentum dissipation ratio, dilution recycle ratio, volume average shear, maximum shear rate at exit, aggregate size on exit, uniform discharge profile and more ù all of these need to occur in the right order and in the right proportions within the feedwell. This paper discusses the genesis and evolution of a new feedwell design, the first major innovation in the thickening industry in over 15 years.

Jan 1, 2008

By X Hu, Z Pokrajcic, R Embry, P C. Stewart, J Carpenter, E Jones

Whilst the value of Pit to Plant and Mine to Mill optimisation has been proven since the 1990s, sustaining the productivity and efficiency gains typically requires ongoing test work, blast trials, plant surveys, and model calibration services. In contrast, the input to digital twin Pit to Plant or Mine to Mill optimisation is tens to hundreds of millions of tonnes of standard mine operating data. This paper presents a series of digital twin case studies from across the mine value chain, including machine learning testing methodology, model accuracy statistics and the application of Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) for model interpretation. These case studies demonstrate how machine learning and data fusion ore tracking connects hundreds of millions of tonnes of downstream performance data to produce digital twin models (operating models that are continuously updated and integrated into the wider Mine to Mill/Pit to Plant ore tracking system). Digital twin modelling software has been used to add block model variables for dig-rate, crusher and mill throughput, recovery (tailings grade), lump yield, product grade and product quality, fines yield and fines in lump. Block-by-block predictions are added to the geological resource and grade control block models as new block model variables. These new block model variables are used across all mine planning time horizons from life-of-mine planning to daily schedules. In addition to the materials handling and geometallurgical prediction case studies, the paper also presents digital twin case studies for drill and blast simulation and plant set point optimisation. The case studies show how digital twin simulation enables drill and blast engineers to simulate the effect of different blast designs in different blast domains using the mines operating data. Plant set point optimisation applies mathematical optimisation algorithms to the machine learning model to provide live operational decision support to metallurgists and plant operators. The digital twin machine learning case studies demonstrate a digital and sustainable paradigm for Mine to Mill and Pit to Plant optimisation.

Jun 22, 2022

By S Girard, L Rowland, V Lawson, Y Shields

Since 1948, ValeÆs Matte Separation Plant has been successfully using magnetic separation and froth flotation to separate the copper sulfide, nickel sulfide and Ni-Cu metallic alloy contained in Bessemer matte for downstream processing. Though some equipment upgrades have been performed over the years, the flow sheet has generally remained unchanged since the early 1970s. The need to improve metallurgical performance led to the trial of a scalping flotation column to produce a final copper concentrate ahead of the cleaner circuit feed to take advantage of a high degree of copper mineral liberation, reduce cleaner-recleaner circulating loads and decrease the associated loss of selectivity. Plant results indicated that 50 per cent of copper contained in the rougher concentrate could be recovered at final grade target. Results indicate that up to a 1.5 per cent increase in copper recovery to copper concentrate was achieved during the scalper trial due to a reduction in the generation of fine chalcocite which has historically been observed to report to flotation tailings due to surface contamination. Deficiencies are currently being addressed and a long-term trial is scheduled to confirm the benefits of copper scalping.CITATION:Girard, S, Rowland, L, Shields, Y and Lawson, V, 2012. Copper scalping at ValeÆs matte separation plant, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill OperatorsÆ Conference, pp 299-308 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 29, 2012

By O Salisbury

Ingress of air into the longwall goaf environment needs to be managed appropriately to reduce the risk of creating a spontaneous combustion event. The maingate goaf edge is an area of particular concern in this respect, as air often penetrates for some distance into the goaf along this region inbye of the longwall face. Since the flow rate in this part of the goaf is also quite low, an opportunity exists to disrupt the air pathway by implementing a barrier to the airflow. Previous attempts using plugs made from an assortment of materials have resulted in varying degrees of success. More recently, Narrabri Coal Operations (NCO) has introduced the use of a chemical foam that is mixed with nitrogen to produce a standing barrier with the consistency of shaving cream. The implementation of this practice has consistently proven to be very effective for reducing the oxygen concentration along the maingate goaf edge by systematically retreating the foaming unit with the longwall. This paper presents how the foam is applied in the underground goaf environment to prevent oxygen ingress and uses results from gas monitoring to confirm the foam effectiveness.

Oct 12, 2022

The issue of retrenchment is a topic of considerable relevance for the Papua New Guinea (PNG) mining, petroleum and gas industries. The unique environments in which Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) and other similar operations operate are likely to confront these industries with particular dilemmas that will require a range of investments to mitigate the problems associated with retrenchment and employment. This paper discusses retrenchment and employment in the PNG mining industry using the specific case study of PJV. The paper deals with the issue of employment and retrenchment of local workforces in the PNG context, which presents a serious challenge for the resources industry and the achievement of sustainable development objectives. The issue of future retrenchment of the workforce as a result of mine closure is an obvious challenge for both PJV and the Porgeran community at large, who have now come to rely upon both the employment opportunities presented through the mining. This paper examines these challenges and in doing so highlights some progress made by PJV. The paper also discusses downsizing, strategic practices and holistic approaches of retrenchment and employment. In doing so the paper highlights issues that have been overlooked in both academic and applied studies from global and local perspectives in the PNG mining sector. The latter sections articulate the relevance of the information provided by the case study in the wider context of retrenchment. The conclusion promotes a perspective that a great deal more investment will be required by all stakeholders to respond to the challenges of managing retrenchments and mine closure.

Jan 1, 2009

By M A. Harrington-Baker, J M. Trudnowski

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) have the ability to immobilise dissolved metals by precipitating them as sulfides, provided that a favourable biochemical environment is created. Such an environment includes the presence of sulfate, anaerobic conditions and the availability of organic carbon. If such conditions are engineered within a reactive barrier or field-bioreactor, most metals can be effectively removed. To demonstrate this concept, three passive SRB field-bioreactors were constructed in 1998 at an abandoned mine site in the vicinity of Butte, Montana, USA to treat acid mine drainage with characteristic elevated concentration of metals and low pH. Performance of the field-bioreactors, using aqueous samples, was monitored over 32 months until the project was terminated, field-bioreactors were decommissioned and solid matrix sampling of the reactive matter was performed. The most important analytical results are presented in this paper together with conclusions regarding the appropriateness of the field-bioreactors construction features. Only Zn, Cu, and Cd were being removed as sulfides due to SRB activities. Changes in concentrations of other metals (Fe, Mn, Al, As), which do not necessarily precipitate as sulfide, seemed to be affected by SRB only in an indirect manner by responding to increased pH caused by SRB activity. An innovative cellular containment system used for placing organic matter worked very well in preventing settling of the organic matter and ensuring uniform flow of AMD throughout the entire cross-section of the organic carbon with no preferential flow paths This demonstration was funded by the US EPA and was jointly administered by the EPA and the US DOE under DOE contract number DE-AC22-96EW96405. The project was implemented by MSE Technology Applications, Inc, Butte, Montana, USA.

Jan 1, 2003

The Racecourse Orebodies at Mount Isa consist of a series of parallel steeply dipping lead/zinc/silver orebodies with a strike length of up to 1000 metres. Production from these orebodies between 13 Level to 9 Level has been by a series of cut and fill stopes in two level stages, leaving a crown pillar at 11 level. Development of the 15 level to 13 level extraction stage has recently been completed. The layout consists of a series of parallel stopes over a strike length of 1200 metres. Access to the stopes is by two declines connecting the stopes with a series of crosscuts This paper describes the basic layout with development and production methods employed.

Jan 1, 1977

By O Bøckman, E Thisted, K H. Esbensen, U Thisted

Process industry measurement systems, once installed, are often interpreted as static black boxes delivering correct values as long as not proven otherwise. After first implementation and set-up with a distinct sampling frequency, they often run ‘forever’ without checking if this frequency is still appropriate with respect to changed raw materials characteristics, different process conditions or changed customer specifications. Failure detection is based on operator experience and skills (often close to an art form) and/or from control measurements of reference samples. This may well be too late for many industrial process contexts. An appropriate sampling frequency is a critical success factor for valid monitoring and control.Based on the methodology of variographic analysis we here illustrate how to design/re-design/optimise an industrial measurement system in terms of sampling frequency, discretisation and accuracy based on customer specifications. We also show how variographics can be used to monitor for deviations. We use experience from process industry to show how these methods can be used not only for product characterisation, but also for monitoring input factors, process indicators and measurement of these. The information hidden in the vast amounts of data that is continuously created in modern process industries can be utilised to cut costs in the measurement activities and at the same time contribute to early error detection. We illustrate by case examples from production processes at a nickel refinery, supporting the Lean and Six Sigma methodology. This will provide a standard operating procedure for monitoring the stability of measurement systems, and provide a basis with which to discuss how a variographic approach can be integrated with the Lean and Six Sigma approach as an online tool to map, characterise and validate measurement systems and thus avoid more cumbersome measurement system analysis in full detail.CITATION:Thisted, E, Thisted, U, Bøckman, O and Esbensen, K H, 2017. Variographic case study for designing, monitoring and optimising industrial measurement systems – the missing link in Lean and Six Sigma, in Proceedings Eighth World Conference on Sampling and Blending , pp 359–366 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2017

By Elford H. S

Australia has many potentially important tin deposits, particularly on the eastern shore of the continent and in Tasmania. A number of these have been worked on a meagre scale, while some of them, because of metallurgical, transport, and other difficulties, have not as yet been developed.Believing that the full development of the tin fields of the Commonwealth of Australia is in part dependent upon the adoption of the most efficient methods of milling and smelting, the Development and Migration Oommission arranged for the first-mentioned author to visit the mining fields of Cornwall, one of the oldest tin-producing districts of the world, and prepare a report for the information of the Commission.This paper, now presented to the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with the hope that it will assist the full development of tin mining in Australia, is the joint work of both authors.For over two thousand years tin has been produced from the Cornish mines. Even the ancient Greek historians made mention of tin mining in Cornwall, and it is probable that during the earliest periods the mining was alluvial. As early as 1602 a stamp battery working in Cornwall was described, and in 1671 calcination and buddling was a recognised scheme of treating pyritic ore. In the first half of the 16th century the output of tin from Cornwall was 700 tons per annum, and, from then on, production increased to the maximum in 1914 of 6500 tons. At present (Oct., 1929) the Cambourne-Redruth area produces over 95% of the Cornish tin output. This area includes such mines as the South Crofty, East Pool, Dolcoath, Parkanchy, Polhigey, and Wheal Kitty. The remaining 5% is largely supplied by the Levant and Geevor mines at Pendeen, St. Just area, near Land's End.

Jan 1, 1930

By H Park, D J. Holland, L Wang, Y Matviychuk, Y Lee

Reuse of process water in mineral and coal flotation plants is widespread to effectively reduce freshwater consumption. However, the accumulation of the frother in the recycled process water is a growing problem as high remnant frother concentration often leads to undesirable overfrothing issues throughout the plants. Various approaches have been proposed by others to measure frother concentration, but none of them is used in flotation practice owing to the requirement of timeconsuming sample preparation steps and/or specialist training to operate and maintain. There is a pressing need for the development of a simple and fast frother concentration measuring technique to avoid overfrothing issues and to optimise the flotation process. The present paper presents two promising approaches to measuring frother concentration online. The first approach measures the concentration of alcohol type frothers based on the host-guest interactions between frother molecules and a formulated liquid. This method is simple and fast as it only requires mixing the formulated liquid with the water sample for up to one minute. The potential of this approach was demonstrated by determination of the residual MIBC concentrations at different locations across a coal flotation plant. The second approach measures frother concentration using a solid-phase extraction (SPE) process and a cryogen-free benchtop NMR spectrometer. Using this approach, both alcohol type and polyglycol type frother solutions can be analysed for concentration determination within 30 minutes. It has also been demonstrated that the concentration of individual frothers in a frother blend (ie MIBC and PPG425 in water) can be accurately analysed even in the presence of background chemicals. This technique has otential for real-time measurement of frother concentration as the whole process can be fully automated.

Aug 24, 2022

Western Australia has often been referred to as the fly-in, fly-out capital of the world. Fly-in, fly-out is a commonly used practice in Western Australia due to the geographic size and isolated location of the vast resource projects. In the State today, approximately half of all resource sector employees operate on a fly-in, fly-out basis, with a minority utilising drive-in, drive-out arrangements. fly-in, fly-out arrangements are generally beneficial from a sustainability perspective, delivering significant economic, social and environmental benefits to regional communities, the State and nation as a whole. Skills shortages and labour supply issues mean that the industry will be required to discover new ways of attracting and retaining employees, one of which is the adoption of fly-in, fly-out work journey arrangements. By 2015, the minerals sector in Australia will need to employ 70 000 more employees than it currently employs to achieve predicted increases in output. Of the 70 000 additional employees required, 42 000 will be required in Western Australia, almost 15 000 in Queensland and approximately 5000 in both New South Wales and South Australia. The fly-in, fly-out lifestyle as a preferred method of employment should be recognised as a valid lifestyle choice by all members of the community, offering a profound improvement in the quality of life for large numbers of employees and family members. It should be acknowledged that whilst fly-in, fly-out is a preferred option for many companies and their employees, individuals who make a choice to engage in fly-in, fly-out must balance the difficulties associated with the work û isolation and separation from family and friends û against the economic and lifestyle benefits that the work offers. This paper aims to illustrate the significant steps that the resources sector has taken to facilitate the fly-in, fly-out choice by ensuring that the commute option is a safe, attractive and manageable work journey arrangement.

Jan 1, 2008

By A Yáñez, P Vallejos, R Grau, J Yianatos

In flotation cells, especially in large flotation units, froth management is a crucial variable that should be considered during the design phase or optimised to improve the performance of existing flotation circuits. This paper presents a simulation evaluation of the effect of launder design on the metallurgical performance of an industrial flotation circuit consisting of five TankCell® e630 (630 m3 ) cells in a Cu rougher duty. This analysis was carried out using a new industrial simulator, which was built on a wide database collected from many industrial concentrators. This tool is currently incorporated into HSC Chemistry® software and allows evaluation of the effect of launder design on mineral froth recovery, water recovery, entrainment, and other variables to be quantified. The industrial flotation circuit was evaluated under different launder design scenarios, considering an actual flotation circuit that includes TankCell® e630 cells for calibration and as a reference (baseline). Firstly, two different designs were evaluated in the full circuit: a standard launder design and a new launder technology. It was found that the new launder technology enabled improvement of the mineral recovery along the circuit, mainly for coarse particles, due to the improvement in froth mineral recovery. Next, the partial upgrade of the launder design along the circuit was analysed. Thus, the new launder technology was evaluated in the first and the last two cells of the bank. The results showed that upgrading the launders in different cells along the circuit delivered an increase in the final recovery with respect to the baseline, with a partial impact on the concentrate grade. However, these changes are less than those when evaluating the full upgrade scenario. A partial launder upgrade either in the first or last two cells of the bank showed similar final recoveries, but the latter enabled a slightly higher concentrate grade (about 1 per cent higher) to be achieved. Finally, the evaluation of launder design using the industrial simulator made it possible to estimate its effect on variables that are not commonly obtained from plant surveys, including froth recovery per particle size, collection recovery per particle size and liberation, gangue entrainment and bubble loading grade.

Aug 24, 2022

By M John

The Kwinana Industrial Area (KIA) is by far the largest and most diverse industrial processing region (with supporting industries) in Western Australia. As with elsewhere in Australia (and globally), the KIA is facing sustainability challenges on various fronts, such as increasing water and energy scarcity, climate change, an aging workforce, and growing community expectations. Through the Kwinana Industries Council (KIC) the industries within Kwinana are working closely on common issues in the KIA, including the sustainable development of the region. Over the past decade, significant progress has been made by the industries towards the improvement of the sustainability performance at the company and regional level. Given the ever increasing sustainability pressures, there is strong desire to address sustainability challenges in the KIA, through a pro-active and collaborative industry approach. A sustainability roadmap is being developed to assist the KIC and its industry members with strategic decision making on the long-term sustainability of there. At the heart of the roadmap is a set of key performance indicators for each of seven priority themes or focus areas (water use, by-products produced, greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, economic performance, environment, community impacts and sustainable workforce). Aspirational targets and subsequent strategies are being developed for those activities where the KIC has an influence and can make a positive impact. The indicators and their targets enable constructive stakeholder discussions (eg with government and community) on emerging local issues and possible future directions for the KIA. The paper will report on the development process and the preliminary results of the sustainability roadmap for the KIA, including a historical perspective on milestones achieved so far and future aspirations.

Jan 1, 2009

I was delighted to be invited to be patron of this Joint Conference, but the challenging task you have set yourselves, and your speakers' depth of expertise, deny anyone, even the patron, the opportunity to be patronizing. Australia's history has been inextricably link- ed with the fortunes of our great mining industry. That link will remain. Just as the gold rushes of the last century, and the discoveries at Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill changed the lives of generations, so the more recent development activity in iron ore, bauxite, nickel, coal, and uranium are having a significant impact on the lives of Australians today. The minerals industry has contributed to Aust- ralia's jobs and prosperity. Mining is not free of problems, but so long as safeguards are strong and appropriate the net benefits the mining in- dustry brings Australia will continue to be enor- mous. We rely on our mining industry to find, prove, develop and sell our minerals profitably, and my Government is committed to maintaining a healthy mining industry.

Jan 1, 1978