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To date Iron Monarch is the most important Australian source of iron ore and since HH5 has produced about 84 million tons of direct shipping ore containing 62 per cent iron and 3 per cent manganese.Previous geological work, mainly by Rudd, Edwards and Miles is reviewed and the results of later exploration by quarrying and drilling are discussed and modified interpretations of both stratigraphy and structure are advanced. Renewed study of the mineralogy of the iron ores is advocated.The Iron Monarch orebody lies on the up-thrown side of a major transcurrent fault that truncates it on its northern boundary. The nearby Iron Knob orebody is believed to occupy a horizon that is some thousand feet stratigraphically above Iron Monarch.The origin of the ore cannot be explained by any simple theory; development probably took place over a long period of time from Lower Palaeozoic to Tertiary.INTRODUCTIONIron Monarch orebody has supplied the Australian iron and steel industry with the greater part of its ironstone requirements since the establishment of the Newcastle steelworks in 1915. Annual production of direct-shipping ore has exceeded three million tons but declined slightly after 1956 when Iron Prince was brought into production. Total production of ore from Iron Monarch to the end of 1962 is about 84,000,000 long tons containing some 55,000,000 tons of metal.The deposit (Lat. 32°44'30"S : Long. 137°08'30"E) is 34 miles north-west of Whyalla, on the western shore of Spencer Gulf. A 42 in. gauge railway connects Iron Monarch and its associated small town of Iron Knob with Whyalla (Fig. 1).For the purpose of this paper Iron Monarch includes Iron Knob and the intervening jaspilite hill known as Substation Ridge, and the description of the general geology necessarily 'Assistant Chief Geologist, The Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd.This paper was presented at the Annual Conference of The Institute, 14-24th August 1968.

Jan 1, 1964

Several factors contributing to the loss of fibre during treatment are a function of the paragenesis of the veins. The occurrence, of magnetite from the cap rock within the veins prevents complete fiberization. There is a marked similarity between these veins and those in the Koegas-Westerberg area of South Africa.INTRODUCTIONAn investigation of the mineralogy of the Wittenoom Gorge crocidolite veins was undertaken in the latter part of 1962 at the request of the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. Ltd. It was anticipated that such a study might reveal the cause or causes of the lack of recovery of some asbestos during beneficiation. Some interesting features of the mineralogy and paragenesis of the crocidolite veins become apparent, but it is emphasized that the investigation is far from complete, as the study did not extend to the field occurrence.The samples examined were selected from the mill and from the untreated ore.GEOLOGICAL SETTINGWittenoom Gorge is situated on the Fortescue River in the Hammersley Ranges of Western Australia and is one of several gorges in these ranges, on the sides of which 'crocidoIite asbestos is known to occur. The Hammersley, Ranges consist essentially of a series of quartzites, shales, ferruginous quartzites and dolomites. These' rocks are part of the Nullagine Formation (Proterozoic) and are usually either horizontal or gently folded. In some 'areas small beds of riebeckite as well as crocidolite are known to occur interbedded in the sequence.Riebeckite is a monoclinic amphibole, the formula of which may be stated as Na2Fe2"Fe2" (OH) 2Si8O22, and crocidolite is a fibrous variety of this mineral. This formula...

Jan 1, 1963

The theme of this paper is the development of-the project feasibility study which includes discussion of the work which is carried out in preparing the project feasibility study, the necessary evaluations and structures that are employed to ensure that not only does the feasibility study itself stand up to scrutiny and is sound, but also that the investment the company is proposing to develop, "the project", is an investment decision which will represent good returns to the company. This theme is particularly relevant when there are competing divisions within the company and only limited cash resources are available to make the correct investment decision. Thus various potential investments may be evaluated against each other to determine which project will be given the go ahead for development. This paper will particularly focus on the various investment analysis techniques that are used and discuss the work that is required in preparing the project feasibility study and specifically the interaction of the project team members and the thought process that must be undertaken to complete the project feasibility study. Finally comments will be made on tax planning issues particularly with respect to taxation of gold production to be introduced in January 1991. Some ideas are presented which may help and possibly improve the financial position of the projects being reviewed. Further, it is suggested that the thought process which goes with the financial engineering aspects of a resource project can be widened to take account of taxation issues and tax planning to ensure the rise of the project feasibility and hence the decision to proceed to development by the project sponsors.

Jan 1, 1990

A brief review is given of the history of the Colliery to date together with the reasons for the development of an additional seam.Investigations into the quality of the coal ami its suitability for the production of metallurgical coke and determination of the economic mining limits and coal reserves are discussed. The commencement of mining operations and the inter-seamarrangements necessary for the disposal of coal won are described with the stages in the opening out of the seam itself and the reasons for the installation of a 48-in. trunk conveyor belt. Choke and manning of face equipment are considered and also the work of secondary development and pillar extraction.It is concluded that with modern face equipment and conveyor belt lines, concentrated mining followed by immediate extraction of pillars is practicable and is giving excellent results at Burwood Colliery.INTRODUCTIONBurwood Colliery, the total holding of which now comprises some 3,140 acres of land and 1,450 acres of sea leases, has mined the Borehole Seam since 1883. The early work took place from Nos. 1 and 2 shafts at Glenrock Lagoon and later on at Nos. 3 and 4 shafts at Whitebridge to which the centre of operations shifted in 1893, shaft sinking at this latter area having commenced in 1888.As all the early operations were confined to the Borehole Seam, reserves of coal on this horizon had been considerably reduced by the mid 1930's, so a cross measure drift was driven to the Victoria Tunnel Seam which is about 300 ft. above the Borehole Seam, and fully mechanized coal winning commenced from the second seam in 1938. Subsequently this cross measure drift was extended to the Borehole Seam and complete mechanization of the south-west sections of this seam achieved by 1945.Four track mounted mechanical units were put into operation in the latter area and these worked in a southerly and...

Jan 1, 1958

By Slechta J. J

An evaluation of a pilot scale Delkor horizontal belt filter at Bellambi's South Bulli Colliery showed high productivities and low moisture contents for a range of feed slurries. When treating flotation concentrate, a productivity in excess of 1000 kg/m2/hr (dry) at a moisture content of less than 22 per cent was obtained. The results indicated the belt filter had a capacity twice that of conventional drum or disc filters, and was capable of dewatering a very fine, thickened, classifying cyclone overflow slurry to an acceptable moisture content. The superior performance of this filter is discussed in terms of the factors influencing cake formation and the stratification of solids in the filter bowl of a conventional rotary vacuum drum filter.

Jan 1, 1986

The upper amphibolite-grade mctasediments of thc rinaroo area, North Queensland, form part of a regional aurcole to the large Tinaroo Batholith and are the stratigraphic equivalents of the Hodgkinson Formation of gencrally low metamorphic grade. There is no evidence of any lithological unconformity.The higher grade metasediments have a more complex deformation history than is typical for thc surrounding region and this may bc due to one or a combination of two factors; an additional strain componcnt associated wilh the intrusion of Ihe Tinaroo Batholith, or a more marked finite strain response to the overall regional stress field within hotter. more ductile rocks.Four deformational events can be characterized within Ihc Tinaroo Area. Close to Ihe Tinaroo Batholith D1 and D2, arc so strongly developed that they disrupl the continuily of Ihe original Iithological layering. In the aureole region, D1 is strongly overprinted and its original fabric intensity is obscured, but both D2 and D3 display a mappable decrease in intensity away from the granite margin. These three deformations occurred during Carboniferous or early Permian time. D4 is later and only patchily developed.The broad, moderate pressure metamorphic aureole surrounding the Tinaroo Batholith is a typical of the CairnsCooktown group of Permo-Carboniferous granitoids. which usually develop narrow, lower pressure contact aureoles. Two periods of metamorphism are distinguishable. The first reached peak temperatures somewhat greater than 520°C, the second temperatures around 620-630° C immediately adjacent to the granite contact.Several cale-silicate lenses containing scattered scheelite mineralization occur within the area. Scheelite appears to have crystallized at the same time as the cale-silicate minerals, its appearance coinciding with the intrusion of the Tinaroo Batholith. Unlike many "skarn-type" scheelite deposits, the scheelite-bearing cale-silicates are Fe-poor, with no positive correlation between total Fe and W.

Jan 1, 1982

Past arguments advocating reverse circulation sampling against blasthole sampling are reviewed to present the debate under a different light. The advantages and disadvantages of each drilling method are compared, and the choice is presented as an informed trade-off between them.

Mar 1, 2010

Simulation and Analysis of Media Behaviour in the Tower Mill by Discrete Element Method for Estimating the Power Draw and Spatial Distribution of Grinding Process The trends to the Tower Mill (TM) for grinding the materials are increased recently due to its unique merits. Among the various considerations of this machine, the main important items are increasing the efficiency of grinding as more as possible while keep the power consumption, manufacturing and maintenance costs as less as possible. Because this grinding process includes a huge numbers of media particles (ball or other shapes) that are interacted with each other and body of the machine, the DEM (Discrete Element Method) way is a very useful and essential step to getting confident evaluations. Because the DEM simulation is a very young scientific field and proper commercial software are very rare and still under modification, at first step, a FORTRAN code is developed for DEM simulation of two laboratory Tower Mill models (KM5 and KD5). The simulation and experimental results matched each other properly. Then one another DEM software was implemented to perform simulation of bigger models (huge numbers of balls), meanwhile could handle the complex 3D geometry data. The simulation and experimental results were compared and analysed in detail for not only laboratory but also for industrial models (KW5, KWD5, KWD50, KW300F, KW700F and KW1500) without any manipulation or compromising of the parameters of simulation. Some numeric data of industrial models are hidden here due to confidential reasons. The relative velocity of balls (ball-ball and ball-TM body), dissipate energy, interacted forces and stresses during the process are the key outputs of DEM simulation for design this machine. Therefore the main important processes in a Tower Mill machine are recognised and consequently some horizons of development of this machine are distinguished.

Sep 13, 2010

By F T. Suorineni, L Baird, A Papaioanou, D Hines

The Mathews et al (1981) stability graph was developed to provide guidance in the determination of stope sizes to control dilution in bulk mining of large orebodies. Longhole and sublevel open stoping (LHOS and SLOS) are the lower end in scale of underground mass mining with panel and block caving (PBC) at the higher end. Currently, the stability states of stopes in the stability graph are described qualitatively as stable, unstable or cave. The alternative quantitative option to the qualitative stability graph is the Equivalent Linear Overbreak Slough (ELOS) stability graph. The ELOS stability graph only applies to narrow vein orebodies. It is easy for the Mathews et al (1981) and the ELOS stability graphs to be applied outside the limits of their databases. What is currently referred to as ‘stable’ in the present stability graphs has diverse interpretations at different mines depending on their acceptable dilution values. In 2014, a research program was conceptually conceived at the UNSW Australia School of Mining Engineering to develop a quantitative dilution-based stability graph independent of orebody width to address some industry concerns on the use of the stability graphs. A dilution-based stability graph provides the mining engineer the flexibility to determine open stope sizes based on what dilution amounts are acceptable. The graph also unifies both the Mathews et al (1981) and ELOS stability graphs for wide and narrow vein orebodies, thus, eliminating their potential misapplications. To date, the concept is proven with case studies from metalliferous underground mining operations located across Australia. This paper presents the dilution-based stability graph concept, the initial results and future plans to account for other critical factors and increase confidence in its application with the addition of more data outside Australia.CITATION:Suorineni, F T, Papaioanou, A, Baird, L and Hines, D, 2016. A dilution-based stability graph for open stope design, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 511–522 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

In dealing with the pulverization and treatment of auriferous ores, it may be stated that there is not one system of treatment applicable to all classes. In the southern portion of New Zealand the ores generally contain free gold, with scarcely any impurity that is, it is found in an almost pure state, without any alloy, and its dissemination amongst the matrix is generally in tolerably coarse particles. The only difficulties the mill man has to contend with, are the economical concentration of pyrites, which in some of the lodes are rich in gold, and the extraction of the gold the pyrites contain. In some of the lodes there is what may be termed float gold, that is, the particles of the precious metal are so finely divided that it passes over the quicksilver tables, and, unless there are other appliances for saving it, this class of gold is entirely lost.Indeed it is only within the last five years that any attention has been given, in the southern portion of the colony, to saving the fine gold that has passed the amalgamating tables. In the North Island the ores are very complex there are scarcely two mines, although they may be adjoining each other, where the bullion is of the same character. On every field the gold is alloyed with silver', and in combination with other metals and mineral substances, such as copper, zinc, antimony, galenfl, iron, sulphur, arsenic, etc., and, in some instaaces, cinnabar, as in the case of the Champion lode at Tui Creek, Te Aroha. Ores of this class are extremly difficult to treat satisfactorily.

Jan 1, 1903

The Stawell Goldfield, the westernmost of the main Victorian fields, has produced over a million and a quarter ounces of gold from one and three-quarter million tons of ore. The lodes are quartz reefs and sulphide bodies occurring in sediments of lower Ordovician or upper Cambrian age. The lodes are confined to a relatively narrow suite of weak rocks lying between stronger ones above and below and there is a definite relationship between fold structure, pitch and strength of folding and ore.LOCATION HISTORY AND PAST PRODUCTIONThe town of Stawell, situated 150 miles north-westerly from Melbourne on the main railway and road to Adelaide, is the most westerly of the main gold areas of Victoria. Alluvial gold was found at Pleasant Creek (now Stawell West) in 1853 and the usual "rush" followed. Numerous alluvial leads, some surface, others buried under up to 100 ft. of Tertiary sediments were worked. The alluvial gold was soon exhausted, but in 1857 gold-bearing reefs were found on the slopes of a prominent ridge on the northern edgeof the present town. Early reef mining was by small working parties mining to shallow depths only and treating their ore at public crushing plants. Some of the early returns were very high grade. The next stage was the amalgamation of claims and the formation of companies, with their own treatment plants. This stage continued till the last mine closed in 1921. These companies had, by present standards, small holdings and far too many shafts were sunk, resulting in less efficient prospecting and operation.Since 1921 there have been one or two small scale attempts to revive mining but without success. Of recent years Gold...

Jan 1, 1960

Concentrations of bright green material in the "Golden Mile" of Kalgoorlie, which carry particularly high gold values, are known locally as "green leader".This assemblage consists largely of quartz, sericitic muscovite, carbonates, and pyrite. Some of the sericitic muscovite contains vanadium, giving the rock its green colour. Vanadium oxides, including nolanite, are also present. Tellurides identified in this study are calaverite, altaite, petzite, melonite, and coloradoite. Native gold was found in most of the samples; some of the gold, at least, has been formed from the decomposition of gold tellurides.It is suggested that mineralizing solutions carrying gold and tellurium leached vanadium from the host rocks and subsequently deposited gold tellurides and vanadium-bearing minerals in the "green leader".

Jan 1, 1977

Review of the mining legislation in New Zealand has coincided with a number of radical changes. These include a redirection of economic management towards a more open and competitive economy; major reform of the state sector aimed at greater efficiency, transparency and accountability; a new environmental administration; and a fundamental review of policy for management of natural and physical resources. These changes provide an opportunity to develop a consistent and coherent approach in the minerals and related statutes that will achieve objectives of economic efficiency, equity, practicability and good environmental management.

Jan 1, 1987

By P O. Koons, R J. Norris, S C. Cox

 The Southern Alps is an active oblique collisional zone which has a characteristic wedge-shaped geometry above a low-angle ductile shear zone. The Main Divide region is a relatively low strain zone above this ductile shear zone, and is _deforming principally along steeply dipping strike-slip faults. Extensional fractures are common at a high angle to the regional structural trend. These steeply dipping structures act as conduits for gold-bearing fluids from depth, and small mesothermal gold deposits have formed at several structural levels including the near-surface region. Gold has also been deposited in a meteoricmetamorphic fluid mixing zone near a conductive thermal anomaly on the western slopes of the mountains. These various gold deposits and their well-constrained structural and tectonic settings can be used as analogues for larger, deeper-eroded mesothermal gold deposits in the Mesozoic Otago Schist belt. High level Miocene veins in NW Otago have formed beneath the main divide of the initiating Southern Alps. Late metamorphic gold-bearing veins formed as fluid escaped from the ductile-deforming crustal root beneath Mesozoic mountains.  

Jan 1, 1997

By Edwards A. B

A suite of specimens from the newly developed Black Star copper ore body at Mount Isa was made available for mineragraphic study by the Mount Isa Mines, Ltd. The specimens were selected as representative of the different phases of mineralisation found in the ore body, rather than with a view to furnishing a complete cross-section of it; and the examination has been carried out with a view to ascertaining (1) the nature, extent and association of the arsenic, antimony and possibly bismuth, minerals in the ore, (2) the mode of occurrence of silver in the ore, and (3) whether galena and sphalerite occur in minute forms well below the sIzes readily observed in hand specimens.Analyses of the January to June, 1944, mill head composites show that the proportions of the elements Ag, As, Sb and Bi in the ore are as follows:Ag 0.000013 = 0.35 oz./tonAs 0.024Sb 0:002Bi 0.0005The copper content of the mill heads ranges from 3.5% to 4.75%, the lead content from 0.03% to 0.08,% and the zinc content from 0.09% to 0.23%.MINERAL COMPOSITIONThe specimens range from massive sulphide ore, consisting of areas of chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and rarely sphalerite, from 1 to 3 cm. across, to fragments of extremely finely banded pyritic shale in which no minerals other than pyrite are visible. The gangue associated with the massive sulphides is chiefly dolomite, and sometimes white quartz. The pyritic shale fragments show evidence of shearing and faulting on a micro-scale, the fractures sometimes being filled with sulphides and vein minerals.The ore minerals found in the polished sections are pyrite, arsenopyrite, marcasite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, valleriite, chalcostibite, galena, dyscrasite, jamesonite, magnetite, gold, graphite and rutile.Pyrite (FeS2)Pyrite occurs chiefly in two forms according to whether deposition took place along the bedding planes or along the intersecting faults and fractures. Deposition of pyrite along the bedding planes of dense, thinly banded shales ha,s produced a metasomatically altered shale in which the pyritic bands are from 0.02 to 0.03 mm. wide, and alternate with bands...

Jan 1, 1945

Most types of nuclear power reactors use uranium dioxide fuel. Power reactors using natural uranium dioxide fuel are of special interest to countries such as Australia that have their own uranium supplies. A wide range of uranium dioxide powders can be fabricated and the ideal one flows readily, presses without the need for binders or lubricants, sinters to the required density and gives low reject rates at all fabrication stages. Sinterable uranium dioxide is usually produced via the ammonium diuranate route.The Australian Atomic Energy Commission is aiming to demonstrate production of nuclear grade uranium dioxide from Australian concentrates, improving technology where possible. Details are given of the dissolution, solvent extraction, precipitation, filtration, drying, and· calcination-reduction steps. Solvent extraction from sulphate media is also under study with a view to developing a process to produce a nuclear grade product at the mine treatment plant site.

Jan 1, 1970

By A D. Stewart Gillies

Resource rent taxes are taxes which only become effective at such a time as a pre-determined rate of return has been achieved by an operation. Resource Rent Taxes have from time to time been considered for implementation in bothAustralia and New Zealand. The offshore petroleum industry in Australia is already subject to RRT as is the Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam) Mine in South Australia. Both the mining and petroleum taxation regimes in Papua New Guinea include a resource rent tax component called Additional Profits Tax.   The implications of the current form of additional profits tax for shareholder cash returns are that the tax burden on the operation may suddenly increase at some stage in the life of the mine if and when the threshold level of profitability for the tax to be triggered is exceeded. From that point in time onwards the cash return to the shareholders on the capital invested is greatly diminished. For mining companies in Papua New Guinea, the effective tax rate increases from 35% to 57.75% as a result of the onset of additional profits tax. This tax rate penalty is so severe that there appears to be merit in considering the concept of managing profitability through time rather than purely maximising annual pre-tax profits as is currently the case in most mining operations. This would have the benefit of deferring or perhaps preventing altogether the onset of the tax. One possible method for the effective management of profitability is through the control of average mining grade by cutoff grade manipulation.   Traditional cutoff grade theory has usually considered taxation as a direct cost at a fixed or variable percentage of annual profits. As a result of this most analyses are conducted on a pre-tax basis. If tax is included in analyses it is usually present as a time independent function of gross profit. Additional profits tax is both time, and rate of return dependent and therefore not adequately accommodated by currently accepted cutoff grade theory.   A review has been made of the effects of resource rent taxes on both the investment decision-making process as well as possible development and mining strategies which may be employed by mining companies faced with resource rent taxes. The review includes examples based on the structure of additional profits tax which is levied in Papua New Guinea.

Jan 1, 1995

By W Taylor, S Chen, R Haywood, M White, R West, J Ranasinghe

In March 2012 a combined BHP Billiton and Hatch team embarked on a program to improve the concentrate burner efficiency of BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam copper flash smelting furnace. A multi-faceted approach including an analysis of the furnace using operational knowledge and first principles engineering led to the design and supply of a new central-lance (disperser). A new, patented, swirl method of introducing the copper concentrate into the furnace was developed to integrate with the existing concentrate burner. Plant trials in 2014 demonstrated an increase of nearly 10 percent in the oxygen efficiency of the furnace. The improved efficiency is expected to provide savings in operating costs and asset life extension of downstream gas and dust handling equipment.CITATION:White, M, Haywood, R, Taylor, W, Chen, S, Ranasinghe, J and West, R, 2015. Improved copper flash smelting at Olympic Dam, in Proceedings MetPlant 2015, pp 382–395 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 7, 2015

By A H. Clemens, P Lindsay

Acid producing potential static tests have been undertaken on sample lithologies from New Zealand coal mines, to rank the lithogies into acid producing waste rock and stable non-acid producing waste rock. Results indicated that the main acid producing waste rock in the Waikato coal region are the marine Whaingaroa siltstone and the Glen Massey formations and the main alkaline producing lithologies were the Tauranga group volcanic-derived sediments (A & D) and the Mesozoic basement. Coal ash analysis of 28 samples from 28 mines have also been analysed for reactive S percentage and their base potential has been quantified by the chemical index of alteration (CIA). The results provide mine management in the Waikato Coal region with a classification of problematic and stable waste rock types. XRF and CIA values determined from wash drill cuttings would provide a method of determining waste rock volumes and magnitude of palaeo-weathering underground.

Jan 1, 1999

The smelting of the Broken Hill lead concentrates at the Broken Hill Asso,ciated Smelters produced, among other products, approximately 4,900 ounces of gold and 8,800,000 ounces of silver during the year ending June 30th, 1938. The following table shows the actual amounts of gold per ton of lead concentrate produced during this period at the important mines. The total gold in the period is calculated from the number of tons of lead concentrates produced, and by comparison with the production' of silver, shows thatthere is no constant relation between the amounts of gold and silver.The fact that no gold is seen during milling, even when gravity concentrating tables are employed, signifies that the gold does not occur as occasional coarse particles.Further, as the values increase considerably in the flotation slime, it can be inferred that the gold occurs as minute inclusions in one or more of the minerals in the lead concentrates.The four most abundant minerals in the lead concentrate are galena, zinc blende, chalcopyrite, and...

Jan 1, 1940