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By J Paradis, K Dudgeon, M Topping

At Newmont’s Jundee Operation, exploration and resource geologists collaborated to produce an open pit resource model. Using a variety of modelling and estimation techniques but no new data, an uneconomic underground target was converted into a potentially economic open pit evaluation. During an industry downturn, it is more important than ever to efficiently share expertise, ideas and resources to problem solve and produce meaningful project outcomes. The two departments brought together different methods and ideas, and the process showed that certain methods worked better than others in different situations, thus the appropriate method was applied to each part of the evaluation. The results were used to create new procedures and improved lithology modelling and resource model estimations. Adaptability of the geology departments and collaboration such as this are key to ongoing improvements and future mine life at Jundee.CITATION:Dudgeon, K, Paradis, J and Topping, M, 2014. Cook open pit model – the hurdles: how we leapt, lunged, stumbled and overcame them, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 169–174 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 18, 2014

The Mt Keith Mining Alliance operates a fleet of large capacity hydraulic face shovels and more than 40 X 240 t capacity haul trucks to deliver annual production in excess of 40 Mbcm per annum. The Mt Keith Nickel mine is currently operating at a depth to 300 m below surface with a planned final depth of the order of 500 m. As is the case with any large open pit managing the health of the workforce on continuous shift operations is of critical importance to achieving outstanding safety and production outcomes. Fatigue management at Mt Keith is effectively managed by the personnel operating the mining equipment, with assistance and understanding of the management team and supervisors. The program has been driven through the introduction of Fatigue Champions and a comprehensive management plan that includes education, individual health plans and the use of new technologies. Mt Keith has been instrumental in trialling new technology which assists in monitoring fatigue in operations personnel. Insight into these developments is provided in the context of the overall fatigue management plan. The field trials of the OptAlert(TM) system and how it assists in measuring fatigue is explained. The implications for individual operators and the context for a fleet wide approach to fatigue management is also discussed. Mt Keith has recently completed the second phase of trials with the result that this new and exciting technology is being considered for adoption globally across BHP BillitonÆs open pit mining operations.

Jan 1, 2007

By A K. B Chigwada

Mining organisations grapple with the same problems year after year, wasting incredible amounts of time and money. According to estimates from the International Labour Organization (ILO), over one million work-related deaths occur annually, and hundreds of millions of workers suffer from workplace accidents and occupational exposure to hazardous substances worldwide. Many accident reports cite human failure as a primary cause (Busse and Johnson, 1998). The workers at the Bhopal chemical plant pumped methyl isocyanate into a leaking tank (Morehouse and Subramaniam, 1986). On 3 December 1984, more than 40 tons of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, immediately killing at least 3800 people and causing significant morbidity and premature death for many thousands more. The company involved in what became the worst industrial accident in history immediately tried to dissociate itself from legal responsibility (Broughton, 2005). Australia is not spared from safety problems either (Lucas, 2022). The ILO Convention 176 (1995) as a response provides that national law should inter alia provide for the supervision of safety and health in mines; the inspection of mines by designated inspectors of the competent authority; the procedures for reporting and investigating of fatal and serious accidents; the compilation and publication of statistics on accidents, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences; the competent authority to suspend or restrict mining activities on safety and health grounds until conditions giving rise to the suspension are addressed; and worker consultation on matters related to safety and health in mines. This has assisted in getting enough data to define the magnitude of the problem to the mining sector.

Apr 16, 2024

By C G. Sweeney

The underground mining industry is seeing unprecedented shortages in skilled labour. Migration to Australia being at an all-time low is a leading concern, with pandemic-induced border closures and lockdowns only exacerbating the skills shortage, not causing it. The skills shortage is forecast to peak in 2023 and remain high beyond 2025. With this skills shortage in mind, mining companies throughout Australia are trying to deal with stricter protocols around Health and Safety (H&S) legislation, as well as more stringent controls on quality assurance, particularly as underground mines are reaching greater depths and extending into ‘unchartered territory’. The cumulation of this is proving to be a major hurdle in ‘effective’ operational geotechnical management. The drive for automation in mining is bringing another level of complexity. However, ‘once automation is up and running, it presents the opportunity to access talent pools that may not normally be available. There is also a change in skillset that will be required to drive automation. ‘The top two emerging roles that will be critical for the future of the mining industry are artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) specialists, and process-automation specialists’ (Writer, 2021). If anything positive has come from the pandemic, it has shown that remote working can be effective and that the drive for automation and critical evaluation of skills required on-site should be given greater priority. UQ acknowledges that the industry is changing, and that digital technology is required to be offered in mining related disciplines. Industry and academia need to do more to promote geotechnical engineering in mining and balance the curriculum to suit the future of mining and make it more enticing. The average cost of a geotechnical failure is about $5 million in coalmines and can be into the hundreds of millions of dollars if production is affected (Cartledge Mining and Geotechnics, 2020). The cost of a good geotechnical design far outweighs the potential losses if a failure were to occur. This alludes to the growing importance of experienced geotechnical consultancies playing a pivotal role in managing mine site geotechnical hazards, while the industry is developing the next generation of geotechnical engineers.

Nov 29, 2022

By J Jackson, M F. Young

"Ore is the economic portion of a mineral deposit that can be extracted economically. Hence an ore type is a classification of the ore based on one or more dominant characteristics in order to enable communication between unit operations and/or technical disciplines.In project evaluation, ore types are often defined early based on geological observations by geologists and initial metallurgical testing is based around this classification even though a number of processing options can be under evaluation. However, the geological drivers of performance for each of these processes can be very different and the ore type classification for one process may not be relevant for another. In operations an ore type, as either defined in the project evaluation phase or those that evolve with additional knowledge, is unlikely to provide the knowledge required across all the unit operations. The ore type has a meaning to someone but does not necessarily for all unit operations across the value chain.Geometallurgical or orebody knowledge has evolved through the consideration of multiple processes within the value chain, the improved understanding of variability of process performance within ore types and the effect on the complexity of the mineral extraction processes. Furthermore orebody knowledge has been moving from personal based knowledge and understanding to a more process oriented approach where measurement and spatial and process performance modelling is playing a greater role. Advances in mine planning and scheduling allow for both detailed analysis of the block model and the expected extraction processing attributes across various time scales. This capability of analysing and describing the complexity still requires to be communicated to the various unit operations, which may be beyond the traditional classification of an ore type.The limitations of an ore type and potential alternatives to enable the relevant information to be communicated to the relevant groups are outlined through a number of case examples across the value chain.CITATION:Jackson, J and Young, M F, 2016. Ore Type – Everything to Someone but Nothing to Anyone, in Proceedings The Third AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (GeoMet) 2016, pp 267–274 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jun 15, 2016

By M T. Grigoleit, M S. Schneider

The iron ore industry in Australia has, in recent years, experienced an unprecedented growth phase. But now that major expansions are moving into the operation phase, new challenges have emerged. Whereas initial planning may involve a few modelling studies, ongoing performance monitoring and improvement requires a different, more intense approach. This is especially important in the face of changing factors such as commodity prices, exchange rates and labour markets. Response time is key. As a mining operation proceeds from initial planning to daily operations, the time window for analysis shortens, going from months to weeks to days as the business matures.Simulation models and analysis tools are typically built and run by specialists in the planning phase, but then what? The investment has been made, but realised only once. What if further analysis could be carried out in-house, re-using existing models using up-to-the-minute data? Can we create virtual mines that run in parallel to live operations that allow computers to identify areas of a value creation or operational improvement? These questions can be answered by the innovative application of big data, simulation and predictive analytics. The future will be having this all integrated into one platform that offers, for the first time, an opportunity for non-experts to apply existing modelling and analysis assets – combined with live data – to deliver support for continuous improvement, and the ability to respond quickly to external changes in the best possible way, before they become big problems. These techniques will represent a step change in the ability for operations to maximise efficiency and will underpin the intelligent operations of the future. These issues are addressed in this paper.CITATION:Schneider, M S and Grigoleit, M T, 2015. Maximising productivity through big data, simulation and predictive analytics, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 475–480 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

By D Xu

BHP Billiton Iron Ore is one of the world’s premier suppliers of iron ore. It currently has operations in Western Australia and Brazil and also has some iron ore interests in West Africa.BHP Billiton’s Optimisation R&D team has developed a proprietary mine planning optimisation tool that uses a mixed integer linear programming (MILP). This tool is called Blasor and it is used to rapidly evaluate the resource development potential (RDP) scenarios for the company’s business development strategy. In addition it generates life of asset (LOA) mine plans for the company’s operations and growth projects. The Blasor optimiser maximises the discounted operating cash fl ow (DCF) as the objective function, subject to mining, processing and transportation capacity constraints and blended product quality constraints. The paper will outline how Blasor has been applied to the resource development potential (RDP) strategy scenario studies, growth project evaluations and LOA mine planning within BHP Billiton Iron Ore.The practical application of Blasor to resource planning optimisation within BHP Billiton Iron Ore has demonstrated the value of such a tool for optimising strategic directions through the evaluation of a number of carefully proposed scenarios and maximisation of operational decisions, such as cut-off grade, open pit development sequence, etc. Particularly for the company’s business development direction studies, Blasor plays the role of a fair valuation tool in that it discovers the most valuable resource development scenario, thus establishing a sound basis for comparing the economic merits of each scenario.

Jul 11, 2011

By N Petropoulos and M J Thurley, E Righetti, M Wimmer

Fragmentation in sublevel caving (SLC) is vitally important. Both gravity flow and any downstream processes are affected. Reasonably coarse fragmentation may lead to larger draw bodies (isolated extraction zones) and hence potentially higher primary ore recovery and depressed/delayed waste rock inflow from above. Fewer flow disturbances are expected by mitigating oversize. In addition, it requires less boulder handling and reduces wear and possible hang-up problems in orepasses. To assess the present-day functionality of large-scale SLC, a multiyear, comprehensive measurement program was initiated. It covers the main elements for SLC, namely blast function, fragmentation and gravity flow. The present paper focuses on fragmentation measurements. An image acquisition system was used to document the drawpoint and the load-haul-dump (LHD) bucket for each mucking cycle. At the beginning, four buckets (about 70 t total) were sieved to validate the results of both 2D and 3D image analysis techniques. The fundamental and specific problems are discussed herein. At the moment, fragmentation of the SLC rings is evaluated using a quick rating system and a 2D fragment delineation software. The results enable a description of fragmentation and its variation during mucking but also – combined with the gravity flow measurements – conclusions on the fragmentation for different parts of the SLC ring. Possible influences on flow disturbances and ore recovery/dilution are investigated. The recent findings allow a better understanding of breakage and flow and support future process improvements.CITATION:Wimmer, M, Nordqvist, A, Righetti, E, Petropoulos, N and Thurley, M J, 2015. Analysis of rock fragmentation and its effect on gravity flow at the Kiruna sublevel caving mine, in Proceedings 11th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, pp 775–792 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 24, 2015

By J Ross

The foundation of effective leadership is communication. You can have all the leadership theories, models and training you want, but in the end it is all about leaders talking to, listening to and understanding the point of view of those below and above them.The foundation of effective safety is peoples’ behaviours. Every incident, every near miss and every safe act comes down to what one person does and how that affects themselves and others. We tend to focus these behavioural considerations on the people at the ‘coal face’, those most in harm’s way. But it is the individual behaviours of everyone in the organisation, particularly those at the top, which are just as (if not more) important. The foundation of effective safety leadership in the mining industry is that it starts at the top, with the individual behaviours of leaders. The behaviours of each and every leader will be reflected in their teams. And where their teams are made up of leaders, these leaders will pass these behaviours on to their teams and so on. It’s the sum total of what people see their leaders do and what they do as a result, that creates the ‘culture’ of the business – and it’s this culture that makes or breaks how safely people work.

Mar 21, 2011

By A M. Avis

This paper presents an overview of recent developments in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process to provide the background for a more detailed analysis of environmental and social constraints that the Heavy Mineral Mining industry has encountered over the past decade. Four cases studies are reviewed to provide a context for further analysis and identification of cross cutting environmental and social issues that either resulted in the projects not proceeding, or in the Australian case study, places existing operations under significant pressure from anti-mining lobbyists. The Xolobeni project, from the Eastern Cape in South Africa, is presented as the primary case study because it is recent, topical, and accessible; and raised numerous issues related to mining in a sensitive environment. A proposal to mine an area adjacent to the Okefenokee swamps in 1997 was also met with strong opposition from various environmental groups in Georgia, USA. This case study is briefly reviewed to further understand what ultimately resulted in the project not proceeding. Opposition to mining at North Stradbroke Island is reviewed to identify current issues more applicable to a developed country. A further review of a strategic assessment undertaken at Wavecrest, Eastern Cape, South Africa is provided in support of possible solutions to the challenges identified in the case studies. Important common themes were identified, including in some cases unfortunate timing of the environmental studies, but in all cases opposition was due to ecological sensitivity, landscape quality and sense of place. In one case study limitations to the EIA process included inadequate detail in the specialist investigations and insufficient information on mitigation. In all cases public participation was a limitation. It was either insufficient; flawed through possible bias; too ‘top down’ and required engagement with mobilised, motivated lobbyists. There was also insufficient investigation of social impacts, particularly amongst rural communities directly affected by a project. Generally alternatives were inadequately considered, a recognised limitation of project level EIA. It is concluded that the EIA process should be started as early as possible (at prefeasibility), and that investigations should be expanded from a typical fatal flaw assessment to one that applies methodologies used in strategic assessment. In particular, opportunities and constraints of the natural and social environment should be assessed in the context of the mining option as well as other options, to allow for a more meaningful assessment of alternatives. Public participation must form an important part of this initial study, despite the potential risks associated with public engagement at an early stage in the project. The application of the IFC Performance Standards; and expanding the scope of the EIA into an environmental, social and health impact assessment will lead to a more rigorous procedure, and result in more defensible products which could successfully unlock the key to the resources in these sensitive areas.

Oct 5, 2011

By A Weeks, W J. Shaw, A Kuk

Grade control is a process that requires the interaction between many components of the mining operation and successful grade control is only realised through good data, robust systems, and a well-trained, motivated and disciplined workforce.The Mt Magnet Gold Project Pty Ltd (MMGP), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ramelius Resources Limited, started mining at Mt Magnet in February 2012 with high expectations for success. Positive cash flow would fund an aggressive exploration and mine development program in the area to increase mine life. Disappointment followed when after start-up the operation had issues achieving budget grade and realising the predicted grade of the mined ore. In January 2013, things started to improve. During the next six months, gold production steadily increased with successive months achieving record production. What had changed?Improvements started following the realisation that controlling grade was not the sole responsibility of the mining geologist and that everyone on-site has a role to play. This paper examines the factors that delivered success for MMGP.CITATION:Weeks, A, Shaw, W J and Kuk, A, 2014. Who is responsible for grade? – an evaluation of the value chain at Mt Magnet Gold Project, Western Australia, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 477–482 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 18, 2014

By P Malkin, S Thomas, P M. Stone, D Kostyuk

In open pit mining, it is common that the bottleneck to productivity and profit lies in the truck-shovel mining operation, especially as strip ratios and mining intensity have increased with resource depletion and advances in mining equipment capabilities. This paper outlines a study of truck-shovel productivity using a new proprietary discrete event simulation platform for truck-shovel operations called MineDES. The study will specifically address the issue of whether truck queuing at shovels should be considered productive or not, and how mining engineers can determine the optimal truck fleet size for specific operational configurations.The MineDES simulation platform will be described and illustrated, highlighting the features that make it an appropriate tool for conducting the experiments at the heart of this study. The study encompasses a set of experiments, consisting of a number of simple truck-shovel operational scenarios for a benchmark open pit mining operation, which are simulated using MineDES. Each experiment is designed to highlight different factors, which are most important in calculating the ideal truck fleet size and for understanding the marginal productive impact of each additional truck added to the fleet. The scenarios will principally address the issues of how different types and levels of unscheduled equipment downtime and process variation, combined with the traffic delays/congestion arising in more intense mining operations, will affect productivity. The results of the experiments are interpreted using a simple fit-for-purpose cost and revenue model in order to highlight the indicative cost of over- or under-trucked configurations.The study has found that the optimal fleet size that maximises productivity and value will, in the presence of even small process variation, lead to non-zero trucks queuing at shovels on average. As process variations and unscheduled downtime events increase in the truck-shovel system, the required fleet size to optimise productivity and value increases. MineDES provides a convenient platform for quantifying this for real operations.CITATION:Kostyuk, D, Thomas, S, Malkin, P and Stone, P M, 2014. Is truck queuing productive?, in Proceedings Orebody Modelling and Strategic Mine Planning Symposium 2014 , pp 267–274 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 24, 2014

By P Thompson, D Rose, S Yu, W Baum, R Zahn, D Meadows, G Hall

Opportunities to improve mill operations are often cited by mining companies and recognised in many concentrators spread throughout the world but are not always followed through. Copper-molybdenum concentrator operations are challenged by a continuously increasing list of detrimental factors. They include deteriorating ore characteristics and poor mineralogical information on deeper ores, water quality and availability, steel wear and increasing power costs. Rapidly declining productivity, sustainability and environmental factors, new taxes, mining industry global skill set shortages, to name but a few, must also be considered. The days of maximising value by just increasing production or simple cost cutting are fading and will not be sufficient for the future of more complex mineral processing operations and larger plants. As a result, FLSmidth’s Global Process Technology Group has launched a plant and process optimisation program based on mineralogical and metallurgical surveys.Copper-molybdenum concentrators of the future need a paradigm shift. Modelling and simulation tools alone are not the answer to complex mineralogical associations and larger scale equipment and operations. Detailed area by area review aimed at identifying process constraints in terms of equipment and operating practice in conjunction with robust diagnostic work, ie mineralogical and metallurgical characterisation, are mandatory for process optimisation. The navigational beacon, for all operations who want to remain competitive, will be ‘process efficiency’. Since the use of automated mineral analysers has become more readily available and reliable, mineralogical-metallurgical plant surveys have proven themselves as the most efficient tool for optimising plant performance.The following paper will illustrate how operations can move toward eliminating under-performing flow sheets, fixing run-away flotation conditions, maximising individual process equipment performance, preventing shortcuts in Bond work index testing which may cause the failure of comminution models and minimising costly and time-consuming ‘debottlenecking’. As previous plant surveys have shown, the net project cash flow can be increased by 50 to 200 per cent if a combination of robust ore characterisation and plant process mineralogy is performed. The combined plant survey approach has been demonstrated successfully in a multitude of operations. This includes the use of key ore types in concert with statistically sampled process streams, bench-scale metallurgical tests and automated mineral analysis on a size-by-size basis.CITATION:Meadows, D, Hall, G, Rose, D, Thompson, P, Baum, W, Zahn, R and Yu, S, 2014. Copper-molybdenum concentrator surveys using mineralogy and process benchmarking tools to improve overall plant performance, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 315–322 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

This paper describes techniques that have been used at RixÆs Creek Colliery to control blast vibration from throwblasts that face a residential area 4 km in front of the face. The paper describes blast design, face control including laser profiling, selective loading of blastholes after borehole camera surveys, and techniques used to assess the effect of burden variation, the cumulative effect of drilling and delay sequence, and the effects of meteorology.

Jan 1, 2001

By X Y. Ma, X G. Tian, P F. Zhang, T B. Zhao, Z H. Li, Z Y. Fu

This study analysed the fracture characteristics and movement process of goaf roofs under the condition of gangue backfilled mining, based on the engineering conditions of Tangshan Mine F5001 gangue backfilled working face. The inclined borehole detection method is adopted to conduct long-term and fixed-point detection of the roof stability. The distribution characteristics of mining-induced cracks in the roof are described quantitatively based on the crack density, and a similar model test method is used to assist the analysis of the roof movement under the control of gangue backfilled mining using stress sensors and digital speckle deformation field monitoring. The results show that under the condition of gangue backfilled mining, structural cracks in the roof typically appear at the boundary of rock strata. The appearance of cracks is related to the rock strata where they are located. Structural cracks appear in the form of single cracks ahead of the working face and develop into structural cracks in the goaf. The roof movement of the coal seam develops in five stages: fracture incubation, crack extension in advance, dense fracture development, steady fracture expansion, and roof stability. Separation forms the primary component of the roof subsidence, accounting for more than half of the subsidence value. The separation generally extends over a long distance along the strike, and vertical crack-intensive areas appear in the roof above the cut-off and stop line. The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis to support designs of backfilled mining and upgrading of hydraulic supports in working faces.

Nov 29, 2022

By S Roberston, G Batt, R Shanahan, B Shah, A Trench, H Bromfield

The geographic imperative of ore systems leaves mining, more so than virtually any other aspect of modern industry, heavily dependent on obtaining and maintaining social licence to operate. A prospective miner cannot arbitrarily walk away from a deposit in search of more favourable community perceptions – concentrations of mineral endowment represent highly specific and fixed elements of the landscape, and their development and extraction thus requires the acceptance and trust of a specific network of landholders and stakeholders, sometimes with diverse and even competing interests in the development and use of the local environment. Weakness or absence of such social licence can bring added costs and complexity to developing and operating a mine – and in extreme cases even result in project failure. Because it must be maintained throughout the life of a project, such social risk becomes a substantial part of overall project risk profile, particularly during routine operations once initial technical and development risks have been largely resolved.CITATION: Bromfield, H, Roberston, S, Shah, B, Shanahan, R, Trench, A and Batt, G, 2018. On equitable distribution of mining wealth and the social licence to operate imperative – an African case study, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 6–7 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

By N Elith

The explosives demolition of a post-stressed, steel reinforced, concrete road bridge in Australia’s capital city, Canberra. The bridge was 50 m from the new replacement bridge, 320 m from community structures and within five kilometres of the national parliament buildings. The job required multiple overlays of risk assessment, public relations, safe work procedures, specialised blast design, environmental predictions and flyrock controls. Project stakeholders included Worksafe, Roads ACT, bridge owners, consulting structural engineers, community groups and road users. The bridge precincts, including a major road underneath, had to remain operational to peak traffic in the days leading up to the demolition. The break-up and removal of debris had to be executed in just two days from Friday to have the road beneath re-opened for Monday morning city-bound traffic.In Canberra, all explosives demolitions are now viewed with particular caution after a demolition in 1997, during which a young girl was killed. Any approval requires that Explosives Regulations, AS2187 2006 and Worksafe processes are satisfied, and a convincing case presented for blasting as a safe and viable option.Our design used specialised shaped cutting and blasting charges to sever in situ concrete beams and tendons and to shatter components of the stressed concrete bridge assembly. We include comments on structural engineering reports dealing with pre-weakening mechanisms. The benefit of pre-weakening is that it reduces the amount of explosives needed to safely complete the job and facilitates quick removal of debris after the shot. The complementary skills of the team, each one an expert in his field, resulted in a highly successful demolition, praised by authorities as an outstanding example of controlled use of explosives.

Nov 8, 2011

By A R. Bye, T R. Stacey

Anglo PlatinumÆs Potgietersrust Platinums (PPRust) operates three open pits and plans to excavate 90 Mt of rock in 2007. With pit slopes expected to reach a height of 400 m, the geotechnical department has a key role to play. Over the last four years PPRust has successfully implemented new geotechnical strategies and tactics to reduce risk, improve safety and maximise profitability. A large database of core logging, face mapping and rock testing data has been assembled and used for failure analysis, geotechnical zoning and rock mass ratings. The data has also been used for optimising blast designs on a daily basis through the use of a geotechnical block model. This greatly improves blast fragmentation and therefore loading and milling efficiencies. The slope design process involves limit equilibrium analysis, numerical modelling, rock fall analysis and block modelling. Slope management includes comprehensive limit blasting and visual inspections, and state-of-the-art slope monitoring equipment, namely the GroundProbe radar, Riegl lasers and GeoMoS automated prism monitoring. The risk-consequence approach has been used in slope optimisation, where all the slope analyses, operational controls, costs of failure, economic analyses of various slope designs and fault tree analyses are used to determine the ideal slope designs. These activities added over $25 million of value to the operation and also ensured compliance with Anglo AmericanÆs acceptable risk level. The successful mining of the optimised slopes is to due to the greatly improved geotechnical knowledge and slope management. PPRustÆs geotechnical work is used as a benchmark for Anglo American open pit operations. The focus of the paper will be on the value added to the operation by all aspects associated with slope management.

Jan 1, 2007

By M Bettison, R Wright, N Taylor

The primary mine planning focus during early study phases of future mining projects is Life of Asset ore production and grade quality, this will always be the situation. While waste schedule optimisation is generally considered in the latter study phases nearing execution for a limited number of schedule periods only and not a true optimisation considering all attributes such as waste destination location, design, cycle time and closure. This can be particularly applicable in large multi-pit bulk mining operations where one approach to meet Life of Asset ore tonnes and grade targets has been to maintain pit development flexibility resulting in large open pit areas and substantial expit Overburden Storage Area (OSA). The value opportunity is to develop a Life of Asset waste schedule source-to-destination optimisation prior to mine development considering all applicable attributes and routinely review throughout the Life of Asset taking account of improved ore and waste knowledge.CITATION:Taylor, N, Wright, R and Bettison, M, 2018. Utilising mine planning to deliver closure landforms through productive movement, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2018, pp 96–99 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 25, 2018

By Manca PP, Lassandro R, Caranassios A, Massacci G, Ciccu R

The paper discusses the state of the progress reached in the development of the diamond wire tool for cutting hard rocks. To the advances of this relatively new technology a substantial contribution has been provided by the research being carried out at the University of Cagliari on samples of granite rocks from different Sardinian stone quarries. On the basis of field experiments and laboratory test data, the mechanism of diamond wire cutting has been assessed. In particular the influence of the rock features and operational variables on tool performance (cutting rate and bead wear) has been Elucidated.

Jan 1, 1992