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By M Camarda, A Pirson, F Vasconcelos, J Mesquita

ArcelorMittal Prijedor is a goethitic iron ore mine located in the north-west of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which mainly supplies ArcelorMittal’s European subsidiaries. Annual production of the asset stands at the level of 1.5–2.1 million tons of iron ore product which is sent to ArcelorMittal Zenica steelmaking plant. Two types of products with approximately 50 per cent Fe are generated in Prijedor through a process composed by crushing, screening, and magnetic separation stages. Within this process one of the tailings produced is called ‘ultrafines’. The ‘ultrafines’ product corresponds to the desliming hydrocyclones overflow in Prijedor plant, which is classified in a size fraction below 25 μm and corresponds to about 5 per cent of feed. This material is richer in iron than the coarser size fractions of the ore but do not present a good performance in concentration processes. In this way, several studies have been carried out during the last years to find solutions to use the ‘ultrafines’ material without success. In this context, the possibility of dehydroxylate the goethite contained in the material transforming the mineral into hematite and thus increasing the iron grade of the final product was investigated. During the research, several dehydroxylation tests with different temperatures and time of exposure were performed. Using dihydroxylation process at temperatures higher than 800°C it was possible to produce a material with 43 per cent Fe from the original 39 per cent Fe ‘ultrafines’ sample. In addition, the dehydroxylation tests confirmed that goethite becomes completely transformed into hematite at 400°C (with an exposure time of 60 mins) and material is completely sintered at 1200°C. A simulation study based on dehydroxylation tests results showed that it would be possible to use a ‘ultrafines’ product with Fe grade higher than 45 per cent to produce a material with 50 per cent Fe through a complete dehydroxylation process.

Sep 18, 2023

By K Ehrig, V Liebezeit, Y Li, B Pewkliang, M Smith, E Macmillan

Pre-concentration of low grade ores via the rejection of low/no value materials based on fragment size is the subject of many published papers and studies over the past decade. However, the possibility of upgrading should not limited to low grade ores given the high cost of capital, energy, water, reagents, and ultimately tailings storage across the mining industry. Mining and processing facilities at Olympic Dam consist of an: 1) underground mine where ore is extracted via sublevel open stoping and 2) integrated processing plant located on the surface which produces Cu-cathode, Au-Ag bullion and uranium oxide concentrate. Blasted ore is trucked/trained to underground crushers which produce an ore feed with a product size P80 = -145 mm. Crushed ore is then hoisted to the surface and delivered to the ROM pads via an overland conveyor. The typical copper grade of mill feed is approximately 2 wt%. A rapid assessment of the potential to upgrade Olympic Dam mill feed prior to the ROM pads via rejection of low value materials based on fragment size was completed using existing data. Three separate datasets were utilised to assess the deportment of Cu, U, Au across size ranges of 200 mm down to sub-8 m. Cumulative grade vs cumulative mass distribution graphs for each element were produced. This data clearly demonstrates that Cu, U, Au grades remain constant down to ~212 m, which happens to be the liberation size of the sulfides. Hence, no potential to upgrade the ore stream via rejection of +200 mm - to ~212 m sized materials prior to milling. Mineralisation within the Olympic Dam Fe-oxide Cu-U-Au-Ag deposit (IOCG) occurs as disseminated sulfide grains within granite- to hematite-rich breccias. The typical sulfide grain size is sub-200 m that supports the outcomes of the grade deportment by fragment size study.

Nov 10, 2020

By J Seppelt

The Kanmantoo Copper Project is owned and operated by Hillgrove Resources Limited and is situated in the Adelaide Hills region in South Australia. Mining in the area has taken place off and on over the last 140 years to recover metal from both copper and lead-zinc ores. This paper focuses on the commissioning, ramp up and future outlook for the copper concentrator at the Kanmantoo Copper Project with major focus on issues encountered and operating performance achieved to date.CITATION:Seppelt, J, 2012. Commissioning of the Kanmantoo Copper Concentrator, in Proceedings 11th AusIMM Mill OperatorsÆ Conference, pp 127-136 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 29, 2012

The Marvel Loch Operations (MLO) plant was treating ores from up to six MLO sources and in addition needed to blend externally sourced ores with its own ores. This presented a metallurgical accounting dilemma, which was subsequently addressed by the design, implementation and testing of an automatic sampling system. The MLO automatic sampler was well designed and has been the subject of previous internal and external reviews. The sampling action is fully automated and the unit is essentially self cleaning particularly when sampling primary ores. The purpose of this paper is to document the rationale behind the design, the specific details of the sampling station, its use for ore purchase purposes and an assessment of the sampling system to meet the needs of the operator.

Mar 1, 2010

With the sinking of the No. 3 Shaft at North Broken Hill Limited, it was necessary to construct adjacent to the shaft a new changehouse for mining and surface personnel.It was also probable that as the older sections of the North and British leases were worked out, all employees at present working in these sections would be transferred to the No. 3 Shaft area. This could ultimately result in all personnel employed by North Broken Hill Limited being concentrated in this area, requiring the construction of new administration offices, workshops, mine store, etc., also in this area.

Jan 1, 1957

By Sewell L. G, White H. S

OWING to two large falls of ground which resulted in serious accidents occurring towards the end of 1908, it became evident that the "open chamber" system then in use was unsuitable for the conditions existing in the Mount Morgan mine. It will be admitted that in all mining operations the first consideration is the economy of the system adopted, combined with its safety and ability to give the desired output. A sectional system with square sets has been introduced into the mine, in which due attention has been paid to these factors. In this paper a brief description of this system will be given. An outline of those previously used will be included, as it is necessary to understand the conditions which existed in the mine at the initiation of the sectional system. Outside the actual mining methods employed, various points that might prove of interest will be touched on.The square set system of mining has been in use throughout, the stopes in the gold ore in the upper levels of the mine since underground operations were started in Mount Morgan. In the oxidized zone the ore was of a friable nature, and in some cases rImning ground was encountered. In the lower levels the ground became heavier, and although the stopes were for the most part long, wide, high, and irregular, and not sectionalized, no difficulty was experienced in winning the ore, and no accident of a serious...

Jan 1, 1911

By K G. Harding, E L. Haggard, C M. Sheridan

Mining is a water intensive sector, contributing to declining water resource quality around the world. Improvements to current mine water management practices can help reduce the amount of water utilised by the mining sector and the impact on water resources. Creating a water account can help companies understand water use in their operations and identify areas where water reduction is possible. Water accounting methods include the Water Footprint Network method and the WaterMiner tool.The Water Footprint Network method is used to determine the amount of direct and indirect water used by an organisation either in a process or to manufacture a product. The total water footprint is divided into the blue, green and grey water footprints. Blue water is the amount of water abstracted from surface and ground water resources. Green water is the amount of rain water utilised. Grey water is the amount of freshwater required to assimilate the waste stream to the natural resource and still conform to ambient water quality standards.The WaterMiner tool is a program available via the internet, which can be used to model water use of mineral processing sites. The program reports the amount of raw, worked and treated water used by the process and recommends flows that can be added to reduce the amount of fresh water required by the process.To gain information on mine water management practices in South Africa, a water account for a platinum mine was developed using the Water Footprint Network method and WaterMiner tool. Based on the results, suggestions to reduce the amount of fresh water utilised are made.CITATION:Haggard, E L, Sheridan, C M and Harding, K G, 2013. Water footprint for a South African platinum mine, in Proceedings Water in Mining 2013 , pp 15-20 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 26, 2013

ABSTRACTFor the binary system copper-lead two relationsEquation 1andEquation 2have been derived for the activities of copper and lead at compositions and absolute temperatures within the liquid region of the phase diagram.These relations give, with greater accuracy than is given by previously published relations, the activity-composition temperature variations for all regions of the phase diagram of interest to metallurgists.These relations are essentially simple forms of the Margules equations but with linear temperature dependence applied to their coefficients. This has been done in such a manner that a phase diagram obtained from these relations agrees well with the data available for this system. The methods of obtaining the relations and constructing a phase diagram from them are both given in detail. The enthalpies and entropies of mixing are compared with those derived by other methods.

Jan 1, 1971

By D Eschebach, D Mathewson

A belt press filter (BPF) handbook containing practical information for the reference of plant designers and operators has been created as part of Australian Coal Association Research Program project C23040. The handbook combines research and experience with newer generations of equipment and circuitry. BPFs are increasingly finding application in the dewatering of thickener underflow tailings slurries due to changing environmental regulations, difficulty obtaining tailings storage facility approvals and limited water availability. Sources of BPF inefficiency and low availability stem from a lack of understanding of the key operational parameters that affect their performance. This lack of understanding typically leads to increased operational expenditure due to suboptimal reagent dose rates and increased maintenance costs, or decreases in plant availability due to excessively high filter product water contents and equipment failure. It is essential for the continued economically competitive operation of Australian coal handling and preparation plants that complex factors affecting BPF operational performance are clearly defined and understood. Installation and operation handbooks are often provided to sites with new installations, but these manuals are manufacturer- or even model-specific and are often focused on mechanical maintenance. The handbook identifies industry ‘best practice’ and improvements developed by other sites, such as extra spray bars, air system bleed valves, guarding designs, feed and filtrate protection screens and roller tensioning systems. Equations to predict optimum operating conditions – such as free moisture, belt tension and reagent dose rates, with simple feed-specific variable inputs – have been developed from site-specific test work. The correlations developed provide a benchmark for plants to attempt to achieve. This provides operators and process engineers with a tool to explain BPFs and assist them in optimising the performance of BPF dewatering plants of both contemporary and less modern design.CITATION:Mathewson, D and Eschebach, D, 2015. ACARP belt press filter design, operation and maintenance handbook, in Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century, pp 73–82 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 27, 2015

By R J. Soriano, S Ciutina

The Masbate gold deposits are situated on the island of Masbate, 350 km south of Manila. A new plant was commissioned in April 2009. The grinding circuit consists of one semi-autogenous (SAG) mill Ø9.75 m × 4.27 m, two ball mills Ø5.6 m × 7.1 m and a pebble crushing circuit, which is usually called a SAG-ball mill-crusher configuration. The SAG mill was originally equipped with radial pulp lifters. The mill runs at fixed speed of 10.9 rev/min, which is approximately 80 per cent of critical speed (per cent CS). Due to the high speed of the mill the original radial design pulp lifters presented a high volume of recirculating load inside the chamber and consequently heavy wear on the outer circle (bottom pan).In order to address the high wear on the pulp lifters a number of avenues were considered in early 2011. The chosen solution was to change the geometry of pulp lifters from radial to curved design. The pre-existing drilling pattern on the discharge end of the mill was a major constraint. A number of designs were considered. The selection of the most suitable option was to be made based on 3D discrete element modelling (DEM) and smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) simulations.The original radial design and two potential solutions for curved pulp lifters were simulated with 3D DEM and SPH software. The main three objectives were predicting the charge dynamics, the expected wear patterns and discharge efficiency. One of the solutions was chosen and implemented during 2012.Observations carried on after installation of the curved pulp lifters have confirmed, as expected, a reduction in wear intensity on the outer pulp lifters. In addition to this, at early stages of operation with curved pulp lifters, the mill operator noticed a reduction in energy consumed by the mill with no detrimental effect on mill performance.This paper is intended to further study the effect of curved pulp lifters on mill energy consumption.CITATION:Ciutina, S and Soriano, R J, 2014. Curved pulp lifters – can they save energy?, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 109–116 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

By D Engelhardt, G Lane

The Cadia mine has shifted from an open pit operation to the Cadia East underground panel cave. The resulting increase in milled tonnes, more competent ore and the decrease in fines production through shifting to panel caving were predicted to require an increase of over 25 per cent in installed power. This expansion was accomplished via the installation of secondary and high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) crushing of the ore, with the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill receiving a combination of primary, secondary and HPGR crushed feed. This design, criteria and rationale for selection was presented at the SAG Conference 2011. This paper reports on the initial impact of secondary and HPGR crushing on the circuit performance with the new panel cave feed.CITATION:Engelhardt, D, Lane, G and Powell, M S, 2014. Cadia expansion – the impact of installing high pressure grinding rolls prior to a semi-autogenous grinding mill, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 233–240 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

By Gillies A. D S

The active history of foreign investment in the mining industry has resulted in Australia emerging as a major world producer of a range of mineral commodities. The current contribution to the national economy represented by mineral production and export revenues would not have occurred without both capital and expertise provided by foreign investors in the past. The initial foreign investment has led to the formation of Australian majority owned and controlled multi-national mining groups such as BHP Limited, CRA Limited and MIM Holdings Limited. These Australian companies, and others, are playing a significant part as foreign investors in the mining industries of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Indonesia. The study examines issues of importance in foreign investment in each of the countries. It concludes that in Indonesia, the nationalisation of the Dutch mining industry in 1957 did much to deter foreign investment. The remarkable degree of policy stability brought about by the Contract of Works system since 1967 has gone a long way to restoring that confidence. The level of investment in the Indonesian mining sector is steadily increasing. Its attraction to Australian investors is a combination of policy stability, favourable fiscal terms, geological prospectivity for a range of commodities and proximity to Asian markets to the north. PNG has a stable policy regime which until recently has been free from political interference at the administrative level. As such, investors were developing confidence in the system and investment was progressively increasing as evidenced by growing exploration expenditures up to 1988. The 1989 Bougainville revolution caused a re-assessment of PNG's investment and country risk. The recent Mt Kare incident has further raised concerns over the government's ability to guarantee internal security. Foreign investors are faced with weighing concerns with the risks of operation in PNG against the undoubted geological prospectivity of the country. The fiscal regimes of Australia, Indonesia and PNG were compared by means of a simulated open pit gold mine in each country. The effect of taxation is examined by reference to the relative change in project internal rates of return (IRR). The comparison of the relative differences between pre-tax and post-tax IRRs provides a measure of the relative attractiveness of each fiscal regime.

Jan 1, 1994

The paper describes the 209 in. single stage axial flow mine ventilating fan which commenced operation at The Zinc Corporation Limited, Broken'Hill, N.S.W., in January, 1954.This fan is used to ,ventilate the underground workings of The Zinc Corporation Limited and New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited and, at the time of installation it was the largest fan of its type in the world. It has amaximum capacity of 900,000 c.f.m. at 4·2 in. watergauge and is equipped with adjustable pitch blades and a novel form of variable speed drive.The considerations which lead to the adoption of this particular design are outlined, and a full description of the contruction and installation of the fan and auxiliaries is given.Comprehensive acceptance tests were carried out on the completed installation and, the testing procedure is described in detail. The results of sound level measurements are also included. A brief report on the performance during the 12 month period from 1st July, 1954, to 30th June, 1955, is then given.SELECTION AND DESIGN OF FANGeneral ConsiderationsBecause of the economic advantages of joint ventilation of the underground workings of The Zinc Corporation Limited and New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited, it was decided, after a full review of the future ventilating requirements of both mines, to sink a 20 ft. diameter circular upcast airway on the common boundary of the two properties, to handle a maximum quantity of 900,000 c.f.m.The anticipated air requirements were at this stage estimated to be:(a) initially 700,000 c.f.m. through a mine equivalent orifice of 160 to 2'40 sq. ft. (equivalent total pressures being 2·70 in. w.g. and 1·20 in. w.g.) ;

Jan 1, 1956

In dense medium processes for the beneficiation of minerals the consumption of medium (generally ferrosilicon) represents a major component of the operating cost. This provides a strong incentive for improvements in heavy medium recovery circuit design and operation. A major thrust in heavy medium plant design over the past decade has therefore been towards circuits which reduce medium losses. In this paper recent trends in plant design are examined in relation to the factors infl uencing circuit performance and medium losses. Operational details ' which have a significant effect on losses are discussed and illustrated by means of plant and pilot plant test data, with particular emphasis on the performance of wet drum magnetic separators. While the emphasis is on reducing the consumption of the high-cost ferrosilicon medium used in minerals beneficiation, most of the principles described in this paper are equally relevant to the design and operation of magnetite recovery circuits for coal preparation plants.

Jan 1, 1987

The Health Tracking project is one of five projects being undertaken as part of the Minerals Industry Cooperation Initiative (MICI) û a national initiative sponsored by the Minerals Council of Australia. The aim of the Health Tracking project is to assess the practicality of ways to demonstrate the monitoring of hazardous exposures and the occurrence of related occupational illness and disease and development of management systems and strategies at a national level. This second stage of the project will be completed in 2005 and will cover four areas: pilot development of a comprehensive job exposure matrix (JEM) for the minerals industry; development of both proactive and reactive occupational illness and disease metrics; recommendations regarding appropriate health tracking models; and provision of best practices guidelines for management of occupational health. The synergies between these areas will establish the path towards an effective national occupational health surveillance system and the development of effective prevention strategies and policies.

Jan 1, 2005

By E J. B van Etten

This paper reports on the results of several years of monitoring rehabilitation at a silica sand mine on the Swan Coastal Plain, south of Perth. Mining here occurs below the regional watertable and leaves a post-mine landscape of dredge pond voids (pit lakes) with surrounding battered slopes. The restoration we recommended was to develop the pit lakes as wetlands of regional analogue and value. Several different restoration techniques have been applied to re-vegetate pit lake slopes over many years which have enabled an evaluation of reasons for success/failure of different restoration approaches. Learning acquired clearly showed the benefits of using fresh topsoil for restoration over topsoil that has been stockpiled for several years. Most topsoil used in restoration was from seasonal wetlands and consequently restoration was most successful in the riparian zone from the edge of pit lakes to about 2 m vertically above the water table. Topsoil restored areas above this level remained poor in plant species and cover. Conversely, remedial seeding/planting proved largely unsuccessful. Permanently and seasonally flooded pit lake margins recolonised relatively quickly and successfully with native sedges and rushes. Development of rehabilitated upper slope plant communities over time was evident with loss of typical wetland species and greater growth and survivorship of upland and dampland plant species on mid to upper rehabilitated slopes. Plant communities of lower slopes showed a converse pattern of development, with a shift towards a more typical wetland composition. We believe matching topsoil to site and development of topographic profiles similar to natural wetlands of the region are the keys to optimising restoration success of sand mines with shallow water tables.

Oct 5, 2011

By J F. C L Costa, J C. Koppe, C Diedrich

Currently mineral resources evaluation is firstly expressed in terms of volume. Next the resources are transformed into tonnes by using an average bulk density applied to the whole deposit or, in some other circumstances, various different densities to distinct geological domains. Previous work in uranium, copper and nickel deposits used linear correlation between grades and bulk density to derive the density. Geophysics methods are also another good way to obtain density indirectly.These approaches do not take into account that two samples with the same grade but with different bulk densities can characterise different sample supports, leading to severe bias in grade and tonne estimates. It is important that the systematic measurements of bulk density are included into the estimation process, particularly when density is not correlated with the grades. Additionally, the extra time and costs involved in obtaining the bulk density data have made the mining industry disregard it.This study reports the impact in resource estimates by using a methodology that includes the bulk density variability. It involves the determination of a variability model for the bulk density and another model for the composite that was weighted by density as well as by its length. Next, these variables are estimated by kriging and the final grade estimates are obtained. The tonnages are obtained with the bulk density estimates. The conventional methodology was also applied and both estimates are compared to the reconciliation data from a major copper deposit. The results show a significant difference between the tonnage and grade estimates obtained from these two methodologies.The results show that considering density variability when compositing leads to a more accurate methodology resulting in better grade and tonnage estimates locally and globally.

Sep 26, 2011

By S Sims, A Stradl, G Hope, B Lacouture

Column flotation cells have been installed in numerous base metal operations around the world. The majority of these cells utilise conventional air-only spargers to introduce air into the bottom of the column. The recent development of instruments to measure the bubble characteristics in these columns has provided a renewed understanding of column behaviour. These new tools provided insight into why the columns at Red Dog Mine had never performed up to expectations. After efforts to optimise the spargers failed to substantially change the bubble size and air efficiency, alternate sparger systems were investigated. The Metso Minerals CISA Microcel sparger system appeared promising and was selected for a full-scale plant trial. The Microcel sparger system was originally developed for the coal industry at the Virginia Centre for Coal and Minerals Processing. In October 2003, a Microcel was retrofitted into one of two 3.66 m diameter flotation columns in the zinc retreat circuit at Red Dog Mine. The operation of the two different sparger systems in parallel allowed a detailed comparison. This paper discusses the performance of the Microcel based on the data collected during several detailed surveys. Bubble size measurements carried out in the pulp zone using the McGill University bubble viewer showed a significant difference in bubble size. The mean Sauter diameter of the bubbles decreased from 3.4 mm for the jetting-type sparger to 1.9 mm for the Microcel sparger. The overall recovery and the recovery by size fraction for both valuable and gangue minerals were compared. Paired t-tests demonstrated that the Microcel column produced a higher concentrate grade (0.6 per cent zinc absolute) and a higher unit recovery (2.8 per cent zinc absolute) than the existing Canadian Process Technologies Inc (CPT) SlamJet column. These improvements provided a payback period of 1.5 months for the $109 000 investment.

Jan 1, 2005

By J Edman, RáBeamish, G Cambourn, B Beamish

Moist Adiabatic Benchmark (MAB) and R70 testing have been applied to core samples of a multiple seam sequence from a borehole at the Doyles Creek Project. The coal samples range in rank from high volatile B bituminous to high volatile A bituminous, with a general increase in coal rank as depth increases in the borehole. The intrinsic coal reactivity to oxygen decreases with coal rank as indicated by the R70 values. The time taken to reach thermal runaway shown by the MAB testing however is strongly modified by the interaction between the intrinsic coal reactivity, the moisture content of the coal and the retained gas content of the coal. This is clearly demonstrated by the lowermost seam of the sequence. The MAB test for coal from the Whynot Seam took 20 days to go to thermal runaway, which projects to heating issues taking between eight to 12 months to occur for loosely piled coal found in coal roof falls or a longwall goaf and uncompacted stockpiles, assuming sufficient air is available for coal oxidation. The results from this project illustrate leading practice for the operational planning and development of an appropriate spontaneous combustion management plan (SCMP).CITATION:Beamish, B, Cambourn, G, Lewis, G, Edman, J and Beamish, R, 2013. Application of leading practice spontaneous combustion assessment to exploration at the Doyles Creek Project, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference , pp 293-298 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 1, 2013

By A D. Campbell

Conversion of Mineral Resources to Ore Reserves requires a multidisciplinary approach and application of a number of Modifying Factors. The Modifying Factors for mining, particularly dilution and recovery in a caving mine are complex and can be difficult to determine. Cave flow modelling software is widely used for mine planning, scheduling and forecasting metal production. However, the conversion of Mineral Resources to Ore Reserves remains a difficult and subjective process and a consistent approach to convert Mineral Resources to Ore Reserves as part of the cave flow modelling process is not published in the literature. This is due to the difficulty in estimating the Ore Reserve that remains as cave stocks at a particular point in the mine schedule, the recovered tonnage and grade of the diluting material at various stages in the mine life, as well as the Mineral Resource classification of both the recovered and diluting material that forms the Ore Reserve. The key principle of this paper is the tracking of the Mineral Resource classification in the flow model used to estimate the Ore Reserves. This is critical to defining the Ore Reserve as Proved or Probable and enabling transparency in the reporting process. An approach for dealing with mineralised external dilution in the Ore Reserve estimation process is also provided.This paper outlines the approach to convert Mineral Resources into Ore Reserves developed at the Ernest Henry mine sublevel cave (EHM SLC). The same method could be used in any cave mine and applied at any stage of the mine life. The process replaces broad-brush assumptions for the mining Modifying Factors, such as dilution and recovery, as these are determined numerically as part of the model computation. This paper explains the Ore Reserve estimation method with a worked example to enable the reader to adopt the process at any caving mine. Mineral Resource classification within the block model is embedded in the cave flow model and the flow model results used to attribute tonnes, grade and the mixed proportions of the Mineral Resource classification for material extracted from each drawpoint. This information is then used to convert planned mine production into the appropriate Ore Reserve classification. Since the flow model simulation follows the mine schedule, it can be used to predict depletion and cave stocks at any stage of the mine life, and can calculate a residual block model at the end of the mine life. The accuracy of the flow model is checked by validating the forecast ore grade and metal tonne with reconciliation data from the concentrator which is also used to calibrate the flow model.CITATION:Campbell, A D, 2017. A simple and accurate method for Ore Reserve estimation and Mineral Resource depletion in caving mines, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 253–260 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 16, 2017