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The creation of an accurate and precise enough database requires the collection of many representative samples, subsampling and assaying them without destroying their integrity. The selection and implementation of sampling protocols often lead to severe difficulties, making the unaware practitioner vulnerable to massive exploration, feasibility and operating failures. Therefore, there is no substitute for a good understanding of the Theory of Sampling (TOS). Either because of ignorance, or because of short-term economic reasons, failure to comply with many stringent conditions can be devastating for the validity of a feasibility study, leading to false evaluations, to the abandonment of a viable property, or to the exploitation of one that is not profitable. All these failures have something in common: insufficient duplicate sampling, subsampling and assaying were performed; very important, preliminary heterogeneity tests were never performed; for short-term economic reasons, poor sampling and subsampling protocols were selected, second-class sampling systems and weightometers were installed and poor preventive maintenance and cleaning were implemented;and sampling experts were called only when the project was obviously in trouble. The conclusion is clear: in due time, iterative auditing of sampling practices is an insurance policy against massive financial losses for the company involved. A complete, comprehensive 100 point checklist of sampling Quality Assurance and Quality Control is provided, so critically important details to ensure success are not forgotten.

Mar 1, 2010

By D Cliff, B Belle

Trigger action response plans (TARPs) are inherent to managing multiple hazards such as high gas content with multiple coal seams, high spontaneous combustion propensity, heat and ventilation. TARPs aim to provide assurance and guidance when the situation deviates from the original plan or there is a change in conditions that could be hazardous. Over the years, learnings from various incidents have continuously required coal operations to revisit the TARP trigger values that were based on historical data or guidance values from the industry. In most cases, the background to the basis of TARP statistical data (ie average, maximum, hourly or daily for the monitoring or sampling location) is unknown. The introduction of real-time monitoring devices to monitor gases and airflows has provided greater understanding of the hazard scenarios and their controls. This paper analyses the carbon monoxide data from operating longwall mines and compares these with the historical trigger values to understand the changes and identify improvement opportunities while setting trigger levels in the TARPs. As an example of setting trigger values, those used during the sealing of a panel are explored in terms of setting values based upon the sampling location and the level of risk. It is envisaged that the learnings shared herein will further enhance the understanding and management of multiple hazards in Australian coalmines.CITATION:Belle, B and Cliff, D, 2015. Improved trigger action response plan development based upon mine-specific data, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 73–78 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

The object of this paper is to give an insight into various metallurgical operations involved in the making and shaping of steel for shipbuilding at the Newcastle plants of the Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd., Commonwealth Steel Co. Ltd. and the Port Kembla plant of Australian Iron and Steel Ltd. Whilst not steelmakers, inasmuch as their processes start with semi-finished. steel supplied by the Steelmaker, the plants of Stewarts and Lloyds (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. and their associate company, British Tube Mills, Rylands Bros. (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. and the Newcastle and Kembla plants of John Lysaghts (Aust.) Pty. Ltd. make substantial contributions to the Australian shipbuilding industry, principally by way of boiler tubing and wires for welding rods and sheet steel, including special silicon lamination sheet for electrical motors.THE MAKING OF STEELThe making of iron and steel began as an accident, slowly developed as an art and has not yet become an exact science. The iron age dawned on the day when, by chance, man's primitive ancestor built up the wall of his fire with ironstone. In the ashes of the fire he found pieces of sponge iron from which he hammered out the first sample' of wrought iron. For many centuries iron ·was manufactured in bloomeries and occasionally, when the temperature was excessive, the iron combined with some carbon and steel was produced. But it was not till '1740 that steel was manufactured under controlled conditions. In that year Huntsman invented the crucible process which held undisputed sway for over a 100 years until in 1856 the invention of the Bessemer process revolutionised the whole industry.From then on, rapid progress was made. The Siemens...

Jan 1, 1951

By Y Cao, J C. Tien

Occupational health and safety is essential in modern mining workplaces and in China it is often not given enough emphasis due to a lack of knowledge and/or appreciation. Although many health and safety regulations have been passed over the years, serious and relevant laws and regulations on mine health and safety are of recent history (since 2002), the level of stringent enforcement is still inconsistent and accurate field data are scant and not readily available. As of year-end 2006 there were 676 562 recorded cases of occupational diseases in China, of which 616 442 or 91 per cent were miners’ pneumoconiosis. Of these, 146 195 (23 per cent) have died, and an average of 10 000 new cases were added every year between 1991 and 2006. Another report shows that 93.18 per cent of miners have never had a contract with their companies, which means their cases were not even part of China’s official statistics. This study attempts to examine the prevalence of occupational diseases in the Chinese mining industry during 2000–2013, compiled from government annual reports and academic studies. The research will review the correlational analysis among occupational diseases, ventilation practices, protection devices and legislation.CITATION:Cao, Y and Tien, J C, 2015. Occupational diseases in China, with the emphasis on its occurrence in Chinese mine workers, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 155–160 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

By D Pearce

The 15-year long debate between the industry, Government and Aboriginal people about the rights and wrongs of Land Rights, the right of Aboriginal people to control development on their land and the relationship between the parties, has been long and often bitter. It has so far been a war of words and often the truth has been the first casualty. This paper looks at the debate and presents the perspective of Aboriginal people, as well as looking at how the industry and Aboriginal people can work together for everyone's benefit. It addresses such matters as: ò why Aboriginal people believe they have the right to control development on their land; ò the perception that Aboriginal people are anti-development; ò the perception that Aboriginal land is 'locked-up'; and ò how companies can negotiate with Aboriginal people.

Jan 1, 1994

By A Sainoki, D Fukuda, K Shioya, C Zhang, M Sharifzadeh, T Yamaguchi, S Saydam, J Kodama, C A. Amagu, Y Fuji

In an open pit mining, ensuring stability of rock slope has been one of the major challenges. As the instability of rock slopes can results in slope failures; consequently, endanger the lives of workers, affect mining operations, and often lead to economic losses. Therefore, it is practical important to study the stability of rock slopes to ensure safe, smooth, and effective mining. The stability of rock slope of about 130 m height at Higashi-shikagoe limestone quarry, which has experienced slope failures four times since 1996, was assessed. The rock mass at the quarry is consists of mainly limestone, schalstein and slate rocks intersected by clay seams of about 70 m thick at footwall of the rock slope. Previously, the effects of limestone excavation at the foot of the rock slope and shear failure due to rainfall infiltration have been investigated. Although clay is widely known to plays a vital role in the stability of slopes in engineering projects including mines, but its impacts on slope deformation at the study quarry are not adequately examined. Therefore, the present study addressed the impact of presence of clay on slope deformation at Higashi-shikagoe limestone quarry by employing both field displacement measurements and numerical simulation. Firstly, surface displacements measured by automated polar system (APS) for over eight years were analysed to understand the overall characteristics of the slope deformation. The measured results show that the displacement gradually decreases with time. The maximum displacement of about 100 mm was observed at middle of the rock slope. Secondly, the effect of deterioration and plastic behaviour of the thick clay layer were simulated using two-dimensional finite element method (2D FEM). The simulated results reveal that the clay exhibited deterioration by water contact and plastic behaviour arising from mining activities at the footwall of the clay zone. Based on the characteristics of the measured and simulated results, it was found that the displacement induced by the effect of deterioration of clay is more noticeable at the north side of the quarry whereas displacement induced by excavation is quite significant at the south side of the quarry if clay behaves as an elasto-plastic material.

Nov 29, 2022

By N Boughen

This paper synthesises the findings of five studies undertaken by the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship in 2009-10. This research explores the concerns, expectations, and information needs of a range of stakeholders, (ie government, seafloor exploration and mining industry, other marine industries, environmental non-government organisations (NGOs), community members) in relation to the possible exploration and mining of minerals and aggregates from the seafloor, as well as the conditions for meaningful engagement with communities regarding seafloor exploration and mining (SEM) activities. The SEM industry has been described as the ‘next minerals frontier’, as incentives to explore and mine seafloor resources increase because of diminishing reserves of easily accessible onshore mineral and aggregate deposits. However, the conditions (if any) under which SEM would be acceptable to stakeholders (notably the public and regulators) have not been established. This work seeks to address this gap and ascertain the levels at which potential environmental and social impacts become unacceptable to those stakeholders. The research follows an earlier phase of studies undertaken in 2006 - 2008 that: identified the opportunities and barriers to the development of SEM in Australia, took the first step towards understanding the public and political contexts surrounding the industry, and mapped the positions of key stakeholders and captured their major issues and concerns. Together, these two phases of research confirm that environmental concerns dominate stakeholders’ responses to the idea of an expanded industry. However, the most recent phase of research has also found that, similar to current onshore scenarios, reservations due to environmental concerns do not completely outweigh social and economic objectives. This is provided stakeholders feel confident that there are systems in place (regulatory frameworks, watchdogs, independent research, and stakeholder consultation) to ensure that all interests are protected. When making decisions about the social acceptability of potential seafloor mining, stakeholders favour a precautionary approach, supported by rigorous scientific analysis of the potential environmental impacts, transparent and socially responsive management processes, and meaningful stakeholder engagement. This paper outlines the details of these findings, which may also be relevant to understanding the social acceptability or ‘social licence to operate’ for other future mining scenarios featuring a new approach or technology.

Nov 22, 2011

By R L. Grogan

Regulators of deep-sea mining projects are becoming increasingly hesitant about the concept of adaptive management as a tool to facilitate compliance and continuous improvement. Adaptive management is a relevant and useful instrument to ensure that the mine plan is successfully implemented throughout the life of mine, in parallel with optimum environmental performance and compliance.CITATION:Grogan, R L, 2018. Adaptive management in deep sea mining – looking like you know what you’re doing when it’s never been done before, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2018, pp 20–22 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 25, 2018

By S Amor, A Beasley

This paper provides an example of how industry can respond to the implementation of new regulatory approaches to mining risk, health and safety by adopting a robust, practical, software-based approach to the management of risk accountabilities in terms of competence, experience and suitability for obligations and responsibilities, as required in Queensland Coal Mining operations due to the introduction of Recognised Standard 22 (‘RS22’; Resources Safety and Health Queensland, 2021). Based on the authors’ experience from working with several Qld mine operations, it offers a snapshot of the experiences, approaches and reservations faced collectively by industry as a result of the introduction of RS22. Several challenges exist within the detail of RS22, leading to varied interpretations, implementation strategies and overall compliance between mine sites. Arguably the single biggest challenge identified has been how to find a balance between compliance and practicality – considering cost, operational interruption, available pathways for delivery of competence, ongoing compliance and value adding to the business operations and people. Software-based solutions are increasingly being relied upon to address the introduction of new regulatory approaches and the significant administrative load placed on mining operation Site Senior Executives (‘SSE’) due to RS22 means this case is no different. This is further complicated given the continuous, ongoing changes with the site management structure witnessed by the authors across each of the mining operations as a result of continuous changes to personnel, the site risk profile and an overall mining industry uncertainty of how to respond to RS22. The stringent reporting/notification requirements under legislation compounds this further. The approach put forward by the authors is a well-considered rationale and approach to the application of training and skilling; and equally how to ‘future proof’ the coordination of site training needs around changes to the Management Structure, the Risk Register, skilling processes and succession planning. A brief investigation of other legislative frameworks concluded this approach would likely meet or exceed expectations of jurisdictions across Australia and overseas, making this a highly flexible approach for establishing a competent Management Structure to provide safe systems of work.

Apr 16, 2024

By A Karrech, C Schrank, O Gaede, I Canbulat

Strain-based failure criteria have several advantages over stress-based failure criteria: they can account for elastic and inelastic strains; they utilise direct, observable effects instead of inferred effects (strain gauges versus stress estimates) and they model complete stress-strain curves, including prepeak, non-linear elasticity and post-peak strain weakening. In this study, a strain-based failure criterion derived from thermodynamic first principles utilising the concepts of continuum damage mechanics is presented. Furthermore, implementation of this failure criterion into a finite element simulation is demonstrated and applied to the stability of underground mining coal pillars.In numerical studies, pillar strength is usually expressed in terms of critical stresses or stress-based failure criteria where scaling with pillar width and height is common. Previous publications have employed the finite element method for pillar stability analysis using stress-based failure criterion, such as Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown, or stress-based scalar damage models.A novel constitutive material model, which takes into consideration anisotropy as well as elastic strain and damage as state variables, has been developed and is presented in this paper. The damage threshold and its evolution are strain-controlled, and coupling of the state variables is achieved through the damage-induced degradation of the elasticity tensor. This material model is implemented into the finite element software Abaqus and can be applied to 3D problems.Initial results show that this new material model is capable of describing the non-linear behaviour of geomaterials commonly observed before peak strength is reached as well as post-peak strain softening. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the model can account for directional dependency of failure behaviour (ie anisotropy) and has the potential to be expanded to environmental controls such as temperature or moisture.CITATION:Gaede, O, Schrank, C, Canbulat, I and Karrech, A, 2014. A strain-based failure criterion for pillar stability analysis, in Proceedings AusRock 2014: Third Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference , pp 393–398 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 5, 2014

By McConachie W. J

Introduction.Ore Bodies.Lead.Copper.Ground.Main Haulage Levels.Stope Preparation.Stoping Practice.General.Longitudinal Stopes-Ring Drilled.Parallel Hole Drilled.Transverse Stopes -Ring Drilled.Parallel Hole Drilled.Charging and Wiring.Fragmentation.Pillar Recovery.Special Applications of Blast Holes.General Drilling Data.Future Trends.Acknowledgements.INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this paper is to present a detailed account of current blast hole stoping practice at Mount Isa. Details of blast hole machines, types of diamond bits and performances are covered in B. E. Logan's paper "Diamond Drills and Bits".ORE BODIESThis brief description is limited to an outline of the salient features of the Black Star lead and copper bodies.

Jan 1, 1953

By P J. Bangerter, G D. Corder

With the societal desire and drive towards low carbon energy sources, there is a growing awareness of the important role that minerals and metals will play with renewable energy technologies. Copper is an essential metal for technologies that generate energy from renewable sources, in particular for wind and solar photovoltaic energy systems. A recent report (Arrobas et al., 2017) estimated that the median increase in copper demand through to 2050 for wind technologies and for solar photovoltaics would need to be 250% and 300% respectively to meet the goal of a 2°C global temperature increase scenario compared with a 6°C global increase, which is largely an extension of current trends (IEA, 2018). The aim of this extended abstract is to demonstrate with the necessary increase in copper production for renewable energy technologies that sound sustainability performance across the global copper value chain is to the benefit of government, society and industry.CITATION:Corder, G D and Bangerter, P J, 2018. Balancing the benefits and impacts of future copper demand – climate change and arsenic, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2018, pp 17–19 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 25, 2018

By Parida K. M, Paramguru R. K

Laboratory-scale studies aimed at developing a process for solubilising manganese values from a low grade pyrolusite containing material using low grade pyrite, both available in India, are described. Leaching 21 parts by mole of pyrolusite with 6 and 26 parts by mole of pyrite and sulphuric acid respectively results in good manganese dissolution (98 per cent) at 100°C within one hour. The probable kinetics of the leaching process has also been given.

Jan 1, 1995

By E J. Hancock, K H. B Chu

Failures within hard rock underground excavations have historically been defined by a depth of failure, estimated in the field or through individual measurements, with a simplified failure geometry; such as 1/3 span, cubic or paraboloid. This simplified shape, volume and mass of failure is typically used to estimate in situ demand as a simplified discrete point. However, the highly variable failure geometry indicates simplified methods to estimate the mass can be erroneous in comparison to high precision LiDAR scans. Advances in technology have enabled the accurate capture of failure geometry and allow a far more accurate analysis of failures to be completed. This case study investigates a number of real-life failures to accurately define the failure geometry, the distribution of the failure parameters and compares this to traditional methodologies. This paper also outlines a suggested means of standardising failure geometry parameters whilst accounting for their variability.

Nov 29, 2022

By N Clarke, J Hunt, A Barros, L Keeney

The Gramalote orebody is a large low-grade gold deposit situated in the San Roque municipality, 124 km north-east of Medellin in Antioquia, Colombia. It is jointly owned by AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) and B2Gold and is currently in Feasibility Study phase. In 2013 AGA requested CRCORE to undertake a preliminary study of the potential application at Gramalote of pre-concentration by screening, part of the Grade Engineering suite. 160 samples of coarse assay rejects (-3 mm) were tested and showed one of the strongest responses seen worldwide to that time, suggesting that about 70% of the gold could be recovered into 40% of the mass. This was seen as potentially markedly improving the Gramalote economics. A large-scale testing program was implemented on site to follow up these results. A total of 18 samples of 17 t each were mined along a pre-existing exploration adit. A complex test flowsheet allowed size fractions to be generated from the as-received material as well as after crushing to 53, 23 and 3 mm, all from the same head sample. The procedures were designed after carrying out a heterogeneity study to measure sampling errors. The coarser size fractions were designed to study the effect of crushing on upgrade response and predict the response on open-pit run-of-mine ore. The finer size fractions were designed to investigate means of predicting the upgrade response across the orebody. The large-scale testing closely confirmed the average upgrade response as predicted from drill core assay rejects but found that only the -53 mm crushed material accurately predicted the upgrade response of individual samples. Ore geochemistry was able to usefully distinguish samples with good and poor response. A small study on drill core suggested that, for Gramalote, fine crushed material distinguishes vein associated and disseminated values but not other factors that control actual outcomes.

Nov 10, 2020

By S Szylkarski, D N. Graham

In mining, water management is an operational necessity, requiring planning and detailed engineering, as well as risk assessment. Yet, the hydrology of streams and aquifers typically extends well beyond the boundaries of mine operations and intersect with environmental and social values. Mine managers often plan, design and assess the impact of water management activities (such as dewatering, excess water disposal and flood management) with a mine site or process specific focus. The challenge is that the impacts are spatial, long-term and complex – and may be cumulative across multiple mine sites. Further, there is usually little consideration of the feedbacks and interactions between surface water, groundwater and catchment hydrology. Failure to understand these processes can lead to poor decisions and increased costs. This presentation outlines an approach to simulating integrated hydrology in mining catchments that addresses the shortcomings of traditional modelling techniques.CITATION:Graham, D N and Szylkarski, S, 2016. Simulating integrated hydrology in mining catchments from planning to closure, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference, pp 101–105 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 28, 2016

By H von Blottnitz, J L. Broadhurst

Eco-efficiency has been proposed by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development as an environmental performance indicator framework that contributes to sustainability by assisting corporate decision makers improve the environmental performance of their operations and processes, while also extracting additional economic value. Given that the recent engagement of the minerals industry with sustainability has highlighted the need for requisite tools and methodologies, it is therefore of interest to assess whether eco-efficiency indicators can drive sustainability performance improvement during process design within the minerals industry. Previous work indicates that the choice of sustainability performance indicators to be used for decision making needs to be governed by the decision context; ie the performance indicators need to be fit-for-purpose. Here, the strengths and weaknesses of eco-efficiency indicators are analysed using case studies. First, a more rigorous definition of eco-efficiency indicators for the minerals industry is proposed based on indicators currently offered in the literature. Two case studies are then selected to reflect typical decision situations encountered within minerals process design. For each case study, eco-efficiency indicators are computed and are compared to more traditional graphical representations of the economic and environmental performance of process design alternatives considered. The sensitivity of these indicators to various process design parameters is also investigated. Results confirm that the meaningful application of eco-efficiency indicators is strongly dependent on the decision context in which the process data is generated. Results also show that eco-efficiency indicators can be related to technical process design parameters to allow for richer communication of performance information for various decision trade-offs; however, in some cases, graphical approaches that provide more insights into the environmental-financial trade-offs should be preferred. The research thus contributes to guiding the selection of the appropriate tools for more environmentally sustainable design of minerals beneficiation processes.

Jan 1, 2009

By D Kent, J Bullock, M Wilkinson

Over the last few years at Glencore’s Mount Isa Copper Operations (MICO) mining conditions have become increasingly challenging through lower head grades and higher work indices. MICO has had great success improving operating efficiencies and increasing productivity through focusing on technology, innovation and operational discipline. The recent implementation of the Mine Site Technologies (MST) ImPact System has supported the continued transformation of the MICO operations through improved personnel safety and direct measurement of productivity. The ImPact System has implemented new safety systems such as the heavy vehicle proximity detection system, underground personnel tracking system and emergency evacuation dashboards improving the overall safety of the workforce. The ImPact System has facilitated productivity improvements via real-time equipment and personnel monitoring, and the implementation of exception reporting (personnel productivity), KPI reports and production dashboards, and transparent reports highlighting developing maintenance issues.This paper discusses the components of the ImPact System, the current installation at MICO, and critically analyses the implementation processes and right sizing of the system to meet the needs of the business today and into the future.CITATION:Bullock, J, Kent, D and Wilkinson, M, 2017. Productivity and safety improvements supported by MST’s ImPact System at Glencore’s Mount Isa Copper Operations, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 279–286 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 16, 2017

By C K. McKenzie, P Popov, B E. Papillon, I Kharitonenko

Flyrock produced by blasts in surface mining and quarrying is a major hazard that can result in serious injuries or property damage. This paper presents a fully integrated and automated approach for reviewing blast outcomes from a wide variety of rock blasting environments from the perspective of flyrock safety associated with blasthole collar ejections. The process is applied at a corporate level for an explosives service provider handling up to 100 blasts per day from mines, quarries and construction sites throughout the US.Flyrock risk minimisation has inspired research and the associated development of a reliable flyrock model to estimate flyrock ejection velocities and the resulting maximum projection distances of fragments. In spite of significant achievements in this area, flyrock incidents continue to occur, mostly due to implementation mistakes. An efficient preventive measure is continuous blasting process improvement that relies on on-site video recording, storage, automatic analysis and classification of the recorded blasts followed by the automatic generation of reports.In this paper, a novel blasting video analysis system that is capable of processing a large quantity of video records is presented. Blast analysis and parameter measurement are fully automated and are carried out using videos recorded with a conventional consumer camera. The blast video recording process does not require the use of surface markers, range poles or objects of a predefined size for scaling purposes.Although automatic video analysis is commonly used in many application areas, such as video surveillance, traffic monitoring and robotics, the algorithms that have been developed to recognise and track solid objects with well-defined shapes, textures and colours are not efficient at dealing with blasts, which, by their nature, have dynamically changing parameters. Moreover, very strong camera vibration caused by blasts that cannot be totally compensated by camera image stabilisers may cause conventional computer vision algorithms to fail.This paper presents novel computer vision methods developed for automatic tracking of the trajectory from a blast ejection point to the highest point reached by blast particles and the ejection velocity. The system also uses colour and motion analysis to detect the emission of toxic fumes during a blast. The solution is vibration tolerant and can differentiate foreground and background data, even in the presence of camera vibration. Moreover, the blasting video analysis method can automatically categorise correctness of the measurements and therefore indicate cases when additional visual inspections may be required to verify reports generated automatically.CITATION:Kharitonenko, I, McKenzie, C K, Papillon, B E and Popov, P, 2015. An automated system for flyrock and fume monitoring of blasts, in Proceedings 11th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, pp 417–424 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 24, 2015

By J Mar·n, R Anderson, S Strohma, R Harvey

Xstrata is the operator of both Minera Alumbrera Ltd (50 per cent Xstrata, 50 per cent Wheaton River) and Ernest Henry Mining Pty Ltd, (99.99 per cent Xstrata), both copper-gold deposits, using conventional SAG/ball milling at current capacities of 36 Mt/yr and 10.3 Mt/yr respectively. Alumbrera is located in Catamarca Province, in the north west of Argentina. Ernest Henry is located in Cloncurry, north west Queensland, Australia. Both operations started in late 1997, with commercial production achieved in early 1998. Different designs and equipment are in use for both operations, however the evolution of SAG milling performance, although logically related to their specific features, reflect similar trends of consistent increases in throughput. This paper will discuss the main changes to the SAG mill liners in both operations and the results achieved to date. A summary of the operating strategies will be included.

Jan 1, 2003