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Australia is a leading producer of mineral sands and according to U.S. Bureau of Mines, produced 24, 53 and 64% of world's production of ilmenite, rutile and zircon respectively in 1983. The industry which is mainly export oriented earned in export income about $210 million in 1985. The dominant position which Australia occupies in world produc- tion of mineral sands is also maintained in many areas of research and development work on the processing and application of these minerals. Some of this research which is leading the world has been responsible for setting up industries to produce value-added and high-tech products such as synthetic rutile and partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ). The production of high purity zirconia is due to commence shortly while research in rare earths offers an exciting prospect for future Developments.

Jan 1, 1986

By Hosking JW, Muir DM, Ruane M, Smith I. Hinchliffe WD

Maintaining carbon activity is critical to the satisfactory recovery of gold in the Carbon-in-Pulp (C.I.P.) process. Reduced activity can lead to gold losses in tails and lower tonnage throughput.Carbons from a number of W.A. C.I.P. circuits have been examined for the extent of fouling by inorganics such as calcium, magnesium, copper, nickel and silicon. Many of these carbons have exceedingly low activity leadingto low gold loading and excessive contact times. The relative importance of these fouling agents and cyanide levels on carbon activity is discussed. Mathematical modelling shows that relatively small improvements in kineticactivity lead to much lower tank volume require-ments and carbon residence times.

Jan 1, 1984

Australasian mining companies expect a high standard of professionalism from their metals exploration teams. They also have, increasingly, a global perspective, employing explorationists of diverse cultural backgrounds and operating in diverse environments. Human resource development (HRD) of these professional explorationists needs to address all personal facets of functioning independently and interdependently in a modem working culture, as well as the needed technical competency. Creation of a learning organisation to promote this development is critical. Organisational consultants can support managers and supervisors as mentors facing the wide spectrum of development required by the explorationists; mentorship and guidance counselling can then complement training in the maturing of professionals from technical competence to professional independence and interdependence. Empowerment and clearly stated expectations are keys by which professionals can learn efficiently and effectively.

Jan 1, 1996

By Thorburn D

This paper reviews the history of environmental assessment in New Zealand with reference to mineral developments. Emphasis is given to larger more controversial projects particularly metal mines. The changing role and application of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Procedures is examined in the context of changes in the government's environmental administration and the response of the Ministry of Energy's resource allocation group. Conclusions are drawn on the effectiveness of the present environmental assessment activities and on the allocation of administration of priorities in the Ministry. The Ministry of Energy has effectively ceased to exist.

Jan 1, 1990

The continuously growing coal mining industry of India presently includes shovel dumper combinations in open cast mines, sometimes with dragline mining of overburden, together with the whole range of longwall and bord and pillar underground mining, continuously undergoing fuller mechanisation. This transition from "low tech" to "high tech" systems is now monitored for reliability and provides bases for comparisons of downtime relative to age and make of equipment, whether imported or indigenous, including spare parts, as well as frequencies of particular failures to allow analysis and progressive improvement. Varying geologies complicate technology and equipment requirements, especially in underground mine,s with minimal technological standardisation, but now, reliability in South Eastern Coalfields Limited has been given more importance and superior technological back-up is being developed.

Jan 1, 1991

The technological advancement in computing power and the increasing demand for information processing systems spread throughout many aspects of a corporation's business activities has revolutionised management information systems departments. This revolution is manifest in the proliferation of mini-computers and micro-processors as well as the planned or unplanned migration from centralised processing to distributed processing. The total data processing investment in people, hardware, software and telecommunications has reached a high level in many organisations. Therefore, the cost of inadequate planning or ad hoc growth of systems can be considerable. The concept of MIS systems planning has gained adherence in recent years; however, there appears to be a wide diversity in the effectiveness and quality of corporate systems plans. To be effective a systems plan must have the support and concurrence of executive management of an organisation. A disciplined planning approach to systems together ,with the involvement of senior user management as well as MIS management is necessary to develop a satisfactory systems plan that forms the basis of a corporation's data processing strategy.

Jan 1, 1980

By Silitonga M

Generally, the acceptable parameter for predicting the intensity of ground vibration due to a blast is the amount of explo ive u ed and the distance from the explo ion. A eries of closely controlled tests were carried out and it was observed that the degree of confinement or burden of an explosive charge play an important role in the variation of the transmitted magnitude of the shock wave through the ground.The intensity of the shock wave increases with burial depth or with greater confinement of an explosion until a critical depth is reached.Beyond this critical depth, the magnitude of ground vibration remain constant. This is an important finding, which explains the anomalies between the expected level and the monitored ground vibration in a particular situation.

Jan 1, 1984

Owing to the 'creeps' and consequent movements in the mines, followed by the recent fire in the southern workings, the whole of the orebody above the 800 ft. level is now very much crushed and broken. The same applies to the hanging wall or overwall coutrny, which has subsided towards the workings, so that for some years past all development work within the lode has had to be carried out with extreme care.The continual but slow subsidence of the overburden into the stopes necessitates a periodical renewal of all gangways in the lode, and, as the subsidence amounts to as much as 60 ft. in places, these new gangways must necessarily pass through the mullock-filling of old stopes in addition to broken ore. They at times pass into the broken ground of the hanging-wall for some distance, where the orebody has widened underneath by the original folding and puckering.

Jan 1, 1932

By J Borthwick, M Yusi, M Douge

Feasibility studies form a vital and significant component of the project delivery cycle. They are at the heart of the valuation process. This paper focuses on variables which can affect a project and how these are assessed as part of the decision-making process through feasibility studies. Test work and site selection needs; the degree of engineering required to meet the study requirements and the quality of owner project information are discussed. Also, local factors including permitting needs, social, environmental and government relations are considered. Engineering and site factors are crucial in the estimating process. The interaction of detailed engineering, engineering assumptions and estimating methodologies are therefore examined. The ownerÆs perspective is considered along with risk analysis, which is fundamental in project feasibility study activities. The impact of this is also discussed.

Jan 1, 2009

By Robson L. C

The developing countries whether they be in Africa, Asia or the Pacific, are a potentially vast market for the technologies of the more developed countries.Conducting business in the less developed countries however requires a keen understanding of their culture. A keystone of the culture of the Pacific Island Nations is kinship with the land. Without an appreciation of the implications of the land rights debate, a business venture into these countries is likely to be delayed or even doomed to failure.The European heritage, with its notions of private ownership of land, have frequently been a stumbling block to a proper understanding of the concepts of customary lands. According to our laws, ownership of land confers a number of definite rights: principally the right to use the land, the right to exclude others from its use, the right to transfer it and the right to receivF income from the property independent of use.

Jan 1, 1990

Extensive geophysical exploration and drilling operations have been: conducted in, South Central Queensland by Phillips Petroleum Company and Sunray DX Oil Company since late 1959. The main outlines of subsurface geology are now known, but many problems must be solved before a comprehen sine. picture can be presented of the geology and petroleum prospects e Interpretations to date suggest that -fiddle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, probably, related to the Tasman belt of geosynclines, once extended. over. most. of the area An oro;eny 2.n late Paleozoic time, succeeded by deep pre-Pexmian erosion, removed the older sediments over large. areas, but Paleozoic sediments, were preserved from erosion in the Adavale and ancillary structur-a.l basins. Marine sediments of Devonian age are con-sidered prospective source beds for petroleum. Current work is directed toward finding favorable structure and reservoir beds to test the oil prospects of the area.

Jan 1, 1962

By M.E. Crump

Gallium occurs at above background levels in most samples collected from 11 of the major geothermal areas in the Taupo Volcanic Zone. Concentrations of Ga in the 48 samples ranged from 8 to 144 mg kg-' and varies widely from place to place within each geothermal area. Gallium is contained within the alumino-silicate structure of clay in the mud, having substituted mainly for Al. Suggested deposition mechanisms for Ga also involve co-precipitation with Sb, As, and SiO. colloids. Digestion trials, carried out to determine extraction conditions for possible commercial exploitation, showed that heating the mud to 500 -600¦C for 1 hour followed by acid/alkali treatment gave complete recoveries.

Jan 1, 1995

By E Hogan, M Goodz, R Wright

The planning, permitting and monitoring procedures of the re-opening and rehabilitation of mine sites is an ongoing process which must continue throughout and beyond the life of the project. Both industry and government bodies must remain flexible to allow guidelines to be altered where and when necessary.To enable the successful re-opening of the Morning Star mine at Woods Point in alpine Victoria, many environmental and historical issues had to be evaluated.The site which had been derelict for 28 years had to be rehabilitated to a safe and aesthetically pleasing state prior to construction of a new operating mine site. Considerable liaison with government authorities and the local community was required.

Jan 1, 1992

By Dai Q

The mechanism of flotation of potash ores with long chain primary amines has been assessed. Since at high electrolyte concentration in saturated brine the electrical double layers of the interacting particles and bubbles are entirely compressed, the induction time measurements confirmed the elimination of kinetic factors associated with the energy barriers opposing particle-to-bubble attachment under such conditions as could be expected. The lack of the kinetic hindrance resulted in the correlation found between the contact angles on the KCl surfaces and the sylvite flotation measured under the same physico-chemical conditions. The iep values and acid numbers obtained for various Esso oils tested as extenders in the flotation of coarse potash ore fractions confirmed the base oils with high content of nitrogen-bearing compounds to be good extender oils. The performance of such oils could further be improved by dissolving in them a small amount of long-chain aliphatic amine.

Jan 1, 1993

The economic future of the Palmer Goldfield lies with both the gold mining and the tourist industries. An equitable solution to the competition between the two involves putting a dollar value on the historical evidence there for our Australian heritage.On 23 October 1986 the Queensland Government gazetted the Palmer River Reserves R16 of 16 200 hectares, in recognition of the competing land uses emerging in the region. The intention is that historically significant gold mining sites and relics will be preserved in situ with provision for continued gold exploration and mining.This paper explores and explains the administrative process of achieving a set of Management Guidelines for Rl6 within the Queensland political milieu. The result of that process is the achievement of some of the highest preservation standards in Australia, prohibiting surface disturbance of defined Category 1 sites, and no mining proposal has yet been refused approval.The Palmer Goldfield R16 experience is a major step in achieving a co-ordinated approach to both current mining and preservation of Queensland's mining heritage.

Jan 1, 1990

By Stewart Gillies AD

Resource rent taxes are taxes which only become effective at such a time as a pre-determined rate of return has been achieved by an operation. Resource Rent Taxes have from time to time been considered for implementation in both Australia and New Zealand. The offshore petroleum industry in Australia is already subject to RRT as is the Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam) Mine in South Australia. Both the mining and petroleum taxation regimes in Papua New Guinea include a resource rent tax component called Additional Profits Tax.

Jan 1, 1995

Since its beginning, with the works of D. Krige and later, G. Matheron, geostatistics has been analyzing in detail the essential factors at play in ore reserves estimation problems, with the ever-present aim of an optimal use of the available information. Not only do the reserves depend on the geological in situ resources, they also require a correct appraisal of many technical and economical parameters. The objective of the present paper is to show how the method of technical parameterization of reserves, which is at the heart of the geostatistical approach, provides an extremely powerful and versatile tool for characterizing a mining project. After a review of the main properties of the technique, its use in the economic optimization of a project will be examined. Two examples from copper and gold deposits will be given.

Jan 1, 1987

By Moorrees C

The end uses of magnesia are determined by both its chemical and its physical proper- ties. There is seen to be an increasing need for products of high chemical purity. Prod- ucts containing 90-95 per cent MgO can be routinely produced by physical beneficiation and calcination of most magnesite ores, the dominant source of magnesia. However, pro- duction of grades containing more than 98 per cent MgO with low impurity levels is not readily achieved physically. Such products can only be readily produced by chemical processing techniques. This presentation outlines the types of impurities present in magnesite deposits and the general concepts that are involved in chemically upgrading them. Of the potential leachants, only hydrochloric acid and aqueous carbon dioxide appear to be commercially attractive.

Jan 1, 1987

A zone rich in-fish debris in the Rolling Dow= Group in the sub-surface of the Great-Artesian Basin has been discovered a Further research has shoe i this zone to-be of very wide distribution in the Artesian Basin and to occur. at the base of the Ta?nbo .f ormati'on resting on the Roma forma-tion. The zone gives a very characteristic curve on the electric and' gamma ray logs and is thus an excellent correlation marker in the sub-surface over a very wide area. It is probably to be correlated sith.the Toolebuc member described from: outcrops east of Boulia. There .are apparent similarities between the Fishecale zone of the Great Artesian Basin in' Australia and the Fishscale sand of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

Jan 1, 1962

By Davies C. E

At present the source of virgin iron for steel produced in New Zealand is titanomagne- tite extracted from titaniferous beachsands. Some of these beachsand deposits contain extractable quantities of ilmenite as well as titanomagnetite and both minerals represent challenging sources of vanadium and titanium products in addition to iron. This study looks at some theoretical aspects of smelting these ores directly with coal rather than with electric power, and takes into consideration the properties of the raw materials, the thermodynamics of possible process routes and the background of the economics involved.

Jan 1, 1980