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By M I. Roberts

Corporate and workplace culture, as many owners, directors, executives and managers know, is by far the most powerful determinant of productivity. It’s much more significant than buildings and equipment. Yet although no one today would build a building or machine without a plan, few leaders have a plan for building and sustaining a safer and more productive culture.Using practical ways, culture can be planned and shaped as desired. Success requires implementing a project plan for changing the systems that drive behaviours that in turn shape attitudes. The combination of behaviour and attitude together with leadership largely shape culture.To improve performance, leaders need to:1. improve the organisational systems that drive behaviour2. action a project plan for improving specific performance metrics 3. demonstrate leadership that is conscious, disciplined, committed and passionate for purposeful use of human energy.This paper explains all three factors in practical ways with operational and corporate examples. It details understanding and applying the power of fundamental statistical analysis tools to recalibrate, focus and drive proactive leadership that takes responsibility for process improvement, supporting people and ensuring accountability.Experience and practical understanding of human and organisational behaviour confirm that the Measurement ? Analysis ? Reporting system combined with conscious leadership is by far the most powerful driver of behaviour. This wisdom produces profound changes in leadership style and behaviour. It develops outstanding leadership to create and sustain a safe and highly productive culture reliably producing consistently high quality products. It is the key to developing accountability, employee retention and a sustained competitive advantage.CITATION:Roberts, M I, 2016. Building safe, productive cultures and leadership, in Proceedings International Mine Management Conference, pp 163-178 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 22, 2016

By Kelly D, Moore C

The Golden Mile, which has been mined continuously for the past 100 years by both underground and more recently open pit methods, occupies an area of 1.2 km by 4 km adjacent to the city of Kalgoorlie Boulder in Western Australia (Figure 1). Large-scale open pit mining at the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) Fimiston operations is currently extracting 7.8 million tonnes of oxide and sulphide ore for a total production of 522 000 oz per annum. The effectiveness of grade estimation techniques at KCGM has been examined with reference to existing 10 m bench sample data from all operating areas within the Eastern Lode System of the Main and North pits. The aim of the study was to recommend practical parameters for grade control estimation. The review included comprehensive variography and comparison of nonparametric estimation methods (Joumel, 1983) such as indicator kriging and probability kriging with ordinary kriging, leading to the development of improved grade control parameters and procedures for both daily quality control and short term mine planning. This paper reviews the geological, statistical, geostatistical, mining and modelling features studied in order to present KCGM's Mining Department with recommendations for improving grade control.

Jan 1, 1994

By S Mitra, B J. Monaghan, T Honeyands, G Evans, R Chowdhury, D Scimone

Due to the harsh operating conditions, wearing of the inner refractory lining in a Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) furnace reduces the useful life of the refractories and incurs a significant cost component for relining. In this study, firstly, a combined compressible and incompressible computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to identify the potential wear prone zones in an industrial scale BOS system during the supersonic oxygen blowing phase by quantifying the wall shear stress distributions. Next, the retained slag splashing process was simulated by introducing an inert gas to residual slag mass to achieve a protective coating on the refractory walls. Effect of both design and operational parameters such as lance head configuration, lance position and the initial slag volume on the slag wall coating performance were quantified and most favourable conditions were determined.

Jun 19, 2024

By D E. Thorp

The mining and concentration operations of New Zealand Steel have been carried out initially from the Waikato North Head (WNH) deposit since 1969 and subsequently from the Taharoa deposit since 1972. Over the years the WNH operation has produced about 1.2 million tonnes of concentrate which has been converted into steel, while total exports to the Japanese Steel Industry from Taharoa reached five million tonnes in February of this year. Recent expansion plans both in domestic steel production and in the ironsand concentrate export market have made it necessary for the company to look closely at, among other areas, the mineral processing of the titaniferous ironsands in both deposits. This paper deals with the recent test work carried out at WNH and Taharoa on the use of the cone concentrator unit as a primary gravity concentrating unit ahead of the magnetic separation stages and as a cleaner concentrator following the primary magnetic separation.

Jan 1, 1977

By S Pradhan, A Kuras, R Mahajan

This paper describes the design of the precast concrete segmental lining for the 13.1 m internal diameter and 450 mm thick, 2.4 km long mainline tunnels for the Waterview Connection project in Auckland for the New Zealand Transport Agency.The design and detailing of this segmental lining presented some noteworthy challenges, including an alignment that has sections of low cover in soft ground. Key points of interest are that this precast segmental lining is the largest to ever include steel fibres as the primary method of reinforcement and the lining includes cams on circumferential joints to control ring deformation.The paper describes some of the key design decisions that were made in a collaborative manner with the construction team, tunnel boring machine manufacturer, segment manufacturer and the designers.CITATION:Mahajan, R, Kuras, A and Pradhan, S, 2014. Design of segmental lining for Waterview Project, Auckland, New?Zealand, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 289–294 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

By M Spiteri, S Woth, J Caratti, K Henley

Blasting is an essentially violent process aimed to disrupt and loosen rock for productive excavation and downstream processing. Dilution of the orebody to some extent is the inevitable result, particularly in narrow vein gold mines. A small change in gold recovery is usually a strong lever on revenue generation. As a result blast designs are carefully engineered to both minimise and control the direction of rock movement. Traditionally blast designs in gold mines have used the minimum powder factor that will still permit rock excavation. This now conflicts with the recent industry trend to optimise the total process flowsheet from the mine to the mill. Numerous mines have achieved success in reducing total mining cost by increasing powder factors. Not only is explosive energy cheaper than mechanical comminution energy requirements, the increased blasting effect may deliver benefits across all downstream processes of digging, hauling, crushing and milling. Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) Fimiston operation is the largest gold mine in Australia, located in the heart of the Kalgoorlie Goldfields. Blast dilution has been reduced at KCGM by managing location of blast boundaries and by firing along strike to choked faces. Significant economies of scale have resulted from application of a bulk mining methods. The bench height of 10 m is the largest in the Western Australian Goldfields, and is typically mined in a single pass with large face shovels. Recent increases in production rates in both the mine and mill has been partly attributed to a 30 per cent increase in powder factor. KCGM then examined the benefit of a further 18 per cent increase in powder factor to 1.0 kg/BCM. A concern though was the impact of very high powder factors resulting in excessive blast movement and subsequently ore dilution. This was the subject of a project conducted with Orica Explosives. OricaÆsDMC(Distinct Motion Code) blast model was applied to understand the effect of not just further increases in powder factor but also blast geometry and explosive type. The modeling work demonstrated that high powder factors may be applied with minimal increase in ore dilution provided the combination of blast geometry and explosive type is optimised. These results are currently being implemented to achieve further reductions in total mining costs without a significant impact on recovery.

Jan 1, 2001

By X Liu

The crystal chemistry of carbonate in Ca apatites, including Na-free and Na-bearing hydroxylapatite (CHAP) and Na-bearing fluorapatite (CFAP) and chlorapatite (CCLAP), has been investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray structure, using crystals synthesised from carbonate-rich melts at 1 GPa, 1400 - 1000¦C. The carbonate ion substitutes for both the X (OH, F, Cl) anion species in the apatite channel (type A carbonate) and the phosphate group (type B carbonate). The type A carbonate ion is oriented in the channel with two oxygen atoms close to the c-axis, and the type B carbonate ion is located close to the sloping faces of the substituted phosphate tetrahedron, with details varying with composition series. Sodium promotes the uptake of type B carbonate and also has a profound effect on FTIR spectra. Crystal compositions correspond approximately to the substitution formula Ca10-(y+z)Nay z[(PO4)6-(y+2z)(CO3)y+2z][X2-2x(CO3)x], with x + y up to 1.0 and z + 0.0 for CHAP, x + y + 4z + 0.4 for CCLAP, and x + y + 2z + 0.1 for CFAP, for equivalent conditions of synthesis. The sodium cation and A and B carbonate ion defects are locally coupled in all three composition series to facilitate charge compensation and minimise the effects of spatial accommodation. Synthetic Na-bearing type A-B CHAP with x + y + 0.5 has a similar chemical composition and FTIR spectrum to biological apatite.

Jan 1, 2008

A research and testing facility has been developed at Simtars to allow the spontaneous combustion testing of coal on a large scale. In this adiabatic reactor, the coal particle sizing is closer to that which could be found in the goaf and therefore the reaction is more likely to simulate the underground situation. This allows aspects of the spontaneous combustion process and methods for detecting a heating to be investigated which cannot be done in an operational mine. Up to 18 tonnes of run of mine or crushed coal is loaded into the reactor and allowed to self-heat while the temperature and gas profiles within the coal pile are monitored. The gases evolved from the coal are analysed using a fixed gas monitor system and gas chromatography to determine which of the common mine fire indicators and ratios can be used to predict the onset and progress of coal heatings. Benchmarking of the inherent propensity of a coal to spontaneously combust at both the large- and laboratory-scale is also possible by comparing the sample against previously tested samples. It has been found that the coal particle size affects both the time it takes for the coal to react and the location of the developing heating. The heatings generate approximately one metre from the inlet but in the crushed coal case do not progress to an advanced heating stage until the æhot spotÆ migrates towards the coal surface where there is an increased oxygen supply. Physical properties such as the compressive strength of the coal also affect the heating size and the time it takes for a heating to develop. Higher strength coals appear to oxidise more slowly and therefore take longer to self-heat as oxidation of the coal is the heat-generating step in the spontaneous combustion process. The best indicators of the state of the heating were found to be CO make and GrahamÆs ratio which are independent of air flow. Investigation of a potential spontaneous combustion should begin as soon as the CO make or GrahamÆs ratio exceed the background levels. The results from the tests undertaken on a number of Queensland and NSW coals are reported here together with the implications for the mining industry.

Jan 1, 2005

In todayÆs evolving and globalised world, mining companies are being pressured to move beyond compliance towards long-term sustainability and sustainable development. Companies are expected to æengageÆ communities and measure the success of these engagements without a clear understanding of æhowÆ to do this. This move, away from compliance, develops more of a focus on sustainability and æcommunityÆ social responsibility rather than corporate social responsibility. This shift leads to the development of world-class projects that provide sustainable development for people, reduce the incidence of costly delays, and promote good global citizenship for companies. The process of æengagingÆ communities in mining project design and development leads to sustainable development, a stronger license to operate, and a reduction in social and political risk. To create this mutually beneficial relationship between communities and companies, communities must be æengagedÆ in the project development and risk assessment processes as early as possible, preferably during the exploration or the concept phases. How to create this æengagementÆ and manage this risk will be discussed.

Jan 1, 2007

By A Purton, C Taylor, E Conroy

The spatial modelling of geometallurgical domains is an important step in the characterisation of an ore deposit allowing for the quantification of various rock types, their differing rock properties and the overall value of a project. The traditional approach to modelling such features is through the use of deterministic models, where a single estimate of the extents and structure of the ore deposit is mapped out by geologists based on available data and their interpretation of the geological processes. Any uncertainty in the layout of different domains is not accounted for and heterogeneities of chemical and physical properties of the orebody are likely underestimated. Spatial machine learning techniques can be used to derive geometallurgical categories, or classes, from multiscale, multiresolution and high dimensional measured rock properties. Subsequently, geostatistical simulations of these classes can be applied to obtain multiple equiprobable realisations that define the layout of the geometallurgical classes at unknown locations between boreholes, or domains. In-turn these realisations can be used quantify the uncertainties in the location of boundaries between different domains. The development of a workflow for defining geometallurgical domains and later geostatistically simulating them across the Orebody H; a complex stratabound Bedded Iron Ore deposit located in Western Australia’s Pilbara region is demonstrated. This could be used to identify zones of high uncertainty where collection of additional data might help mitigate or minimise risks and in turn improve forecast production performances.

Mar 22, 2022

By Watson D. F

Armstrong's (1983) criticisms of PhiIip and Watson's (1982b) note on optimal drilling patterns are based on misinterpretation, supported by errors in geometry. Furthermore, Armstrong argues conceptually from the perspective of Matheronian geostatistics, as does also Rudenno (1983a, b). Thus, both authors embrace a global, probabiIistic method of assessing spatial data sets, an approach that must be contrasted strongly with local, deterministic interpolation methods. Some of the important assumptions of geostatistics are outlined and the non-unique nature of the method discussed. A probabilistic approach can be judged appropriate when exploration data are erratic, or known to be unreliable, or when extrapolation is desired. Where data are treated as exact, kriging can give the most biased result if tested against other interpolation methods. We reiterate our previous conclusion that the equilateral triangular grid is approximately 30 per cent more efficient (in terms of numbers of drill holes) compared with a square grid for the same maximum interpolation distance. This is simply due to the improved isotropy of sampling. New, locally-based, deterministic methods for computing ore reserves seem to be required.

Jan 1, 1984

Pyrite is one of the principal Au-bearing minerals in refractory gold ores. Significantly high Au concentrations of up to 5200 ppm are present in pyrite. Pyrite hosting high levels of Au is also enriched in As. Pyrite as an unwanted mineral ends up in wastes and constitutes one of the primary sources of As in the mining and metallurgical wastes. Arsenic can be readily released to the environment due to rapid oxidative dissolution of the host pyrite under atmospheric conditions. In order to determine the form and occurrence of arsenic in pyrite, micro-X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy (XAFS) spectra were collected from a range of arsenical pyrite grains having different morphologies and a range of arsenic and gold concentrations. All the pyrite grains are characterised by the dominant edge aligned with As-1 valence state. In pyrite, arsenic atoms substitute for S atoms that are in six-fold coordination about each Fe atom. XAFS data suggest that As atoms occur in clusters within the pyrite structure. In addition to As-1, fine-grained, inclusion-rich and framboidal-type pyrite grains have a second As species at ~11 875 eV corresponding to As5+. This As5+ species in pyrite is highly variable and attributed to the oxidation of arsenic exposed on the surfaces of pyrite.

Jan 1, 2008

By B Firth, G OÆBrien, B Jenkins

In coal flotation, particles of different components of the coal such as maceral groups and mineral matter and their associations have different hydrophobicities and therefore different flotation responses. By using a new coal grain analysis method for characterising individual grains, more detailed flotation performance analysis and modelling approaches have been developed. The method involves the use of microscopic imaging techniques to obtain estimates of size, compositional and density information on individual grains of fine coal. The density and composition partitioning of coal processed through different flotation systems provides an avenue to pinpoint the actual cause of poor process performance so that corrective action may be initiated. The information on grain size, density and composition is being used as input data to develop more detailed flotation process models to provide better predictions of process performance for both mechanical and column flotation devices. A number of approaches may be taken to flotation modelling such as the probability approach and the kinetic model approach or a combination of the two. In the work reported here, a simple probability approach has been taken, which will be further refined in due course. The use of grain data to map the responses of different types of coal grains through various fine coal cleaning processes provided a more advanced diagnostic capability for fine coal cleaning circuits. This enabled flotation performance curves analogous to partition curves for density separators to be produced for flotation devices.

Jan 1, 2005

By I R. F MacCulloch, K Jones

Pintail Systems, Inc, a Colorado USA based company has developed and commercially applied bioremediation processes for biological detoxification of cyanide compounds in mine waste. Site-specific microorganisms are isolated from spent ore, tailings or process solutions and augmented in the laboratory for cyanide oxidation, denitrification and metal biomineralisation. Biological processes typically treat complex contaminants (cyanide compounds, soluble metals and nitrates) in a fraction of the time of conventional remediation processes. Cyanide is used in microbial metabolic processes as a carbon or a nitrogen source. Biological detoxification processes applied at the end of mine life can end long-term liability and perpetual monitoring and containment. Case studies from commercial application and demonstration programs for the US Environmental Protection Agency will be presented in this paper.

Jan 1, 2004

By Z Li, D Chalmers, J M. Tenney

This paper presents the findings and analysis of the investigation of effectiveness of thin spray-on liners (TSLs) as a gas management tool in underground coalmines. The project involves spraying TSL on the area surrounding gas drainage holes whereby the TSL acts as a thin membrane decreasing the permeability of the coal. This restricts air migrating through the coal seam and diluting gas from the drainage holes. There are a number of potential benefits from this technique but key points are that gas drainage holes produce gas with higher concentrations of methane. The design and execution of a field trial to investigate the effectiveness of a TSL on purity of in situ methane from gas drainage holes is presented in this report. For eight drainage holes, the results show an average increase in methane purity by 9.14 per cent and a reduction in air contamination by an average 7.93 per cent. Overall methane flow rate decreased by 27.6 L/s; however, flow rates were unreliable due to poor measuring equipment. For most holes, methane purity was not changed significantly; however, certain boreholes were responsible for most of the variation in methane purity. The boreholes showing a dramatic improvement in methane purity were likely those with intersecting cleats covered by the TSL. If the TSL was sprayed over more area, specifically in areas where the cleats are intersecting with holes, it is likely that purity of methane in the drainage holes will increase.CITATION:Tenney, J M, Chalmers, D and Li, Z, 2015. Thin spray-on liners potential in reducing dilution of in situ gas in underground coalmines, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 323–328 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

By D V. Boger

The use of chemical additives to initiate such processes as particulate separation through flotation or dewatering through flocculation, is common in the mining industry. The dosing of additives is none the less poorly controlled from a process control viewpoint and it is perhaps fortuitous that over-dosing or misuse of chemicals is rarely catastrophic to the production cycle. In many cases, such events would go undetected if it were not for economic considerations. Recently, the advent of orebodies with finer mineral disseminations and the push for greater efficiencies in both production and tailing disposal have resulted in the need for greater control of the dosing and utilisation of chemical additives. The need to grind at higher pulp densities and to finer sizes and to dewater to higher solid contents are but two examples that require a more stringent understanding of the true role of additives in controlling the rheology of suspensions and the influence of additives on the surface chemistry of particles. The inter-relationship between the surface chemistry of particles and the role of additives in controlling suspension rheology is now well understood for systems in which the average particle shape in the mixture is spherical or close to spherical. Luckily, this is the case for a large number of systems in the mining industry and the true role of typical additives in these systems will be explored. Difficulties arise for suspensions containing clays or other platey or needle shaped minerals and in many cases, quite small quantities of platey minerals dominate the rheology of suspensions. The role of additives in controlling the rheology of asymmetric particle systems is more complex but the effect of the additive in changing particle alignment in solution is the key to understanding suspension behaviour. The manipulation of the rheology of asymmetric particle systems will also be explored.

Jan 1, 1998

By Aiming Z, Shenyi S, Xialei W

Zhangmatun Iron Mine is situated in the suburbs of Jinan city. Shandong, China. Because of surface environmental constraints, no suitable site can he selected to dispose of mill waste. The full mill tailings must be disposed of underground. This paper deals with the work conducted at Zhangmatun mine to develop a total tailings backfill system, taking advantage of a double- shaft blade mixer and an activating agitator to prepare backfill. Cement and ground slag are added to tailings for strength development. Two scopes have been filled and the pillars have been effectively mined out during the field trial. The application of innovative total tailings backfill technology is a new concept at the mine. Detailed planning has achieved a close integration of mining, milling and backfilling. Full mill tailings, with or without rock, are disposed of underground in a continuous process to fill, totally and systematically, the cavities formed by mining.

Jan 1, 1998

By S Benson

Staurolite is one of the major contaminant minerals contained in the Tiwest Cooljarloo orebodies. Approximately 80 per cent of staurolite in mined ore, reports to the heavy mineral concentrate that is supplied to the Dry Mill. Staurolite in heavy mineral concentrate is typically five per cent by weight and has no significant effect in the Dry Mill other than to occupy equipment space, reporting as a tailing, that requires transportation and disposal back to the mine site. Staurolite is an aluminosilicate with a MohÆs hardness of 7.5. It is known to have potential as an abrasive blast agent and it is produced in substantial quantities in the USA for that purpose. Research indicated that there was potentially a market for staurolite within Australia, as a replacement for some of the lower grade abrasives as well as a material of choice. A small tonnage of staurolite product was manufactured through a simple circuit within the Dry Mill in December 1998. This was subjected to industrial scale tests by external companies specialising in sand blasting. The most significant batch of tests were conducted at the Tiwest Chandala site on plant and equipment undergoing corrosion repairs. Staurolite was tested against three other commercially available abrasives and compared very well with respect to surface profile, surface texture, coating adhesive strength and dust generation. As part of a due diligence study, free silica, radiation and heavy metals contents of spent abrasive and dust was investigated. This information was needed to seek approval from the appropriate Western Australian statutory authorities to sell staurolite as a product. Approval was received in November 1999. Tiwest has since installed a production circuit in the Dry Mill capable of producing 20 000 tpa of Staurolite.

Jan 1, 2001

By E Ben-Awuah

Mine planning is the backbone of all mining enterprises and determines the profitability or otherwise of any mining investment. Providing high quality ore and tailings containment at the right time are the main drivers in oil sands mining. Recent environmental and regulatory requirements also makes waste management an integral part of mine planning in the oil sands industry (Directive 074). Due to the limitation of lease area, the pit phase advancement in oil sands mining is carried out simultaneously with the construction of tailings dykes in the mined out areas of the pit. These in-pit dykes are constructed to hold tailings that are produced during the processing of the oil sands ore after an initial external tailings facility. Most of the materials used in constructing these in-pit and ex-pit dykes come from the oil sands mining operation, making it necessary to have a plan for supplying the dyke material. The research problem here is categorised as: determining the order of extraction of ore, dyke material and waste to be removed from a predefined ultimate pit limit over the mine life that maximises the net present value of the operation û a strategic schedule; anddetermining the destination of dyke material that minimises construction cost depending on the construction requirements of the various dykes as per their designs û an operational schedule. There has been developed, implemented and verified a theoretical optimisation framework based on mixed integer goal programming (MIGP) to address the oil sands long-term production scheduling and waste management problem. The research introduced the development of multiple material types and multiple destination optimisation techniques using MIGP in the context of mine planning. This study presents an integration of mixed integer programming and goal programming in solving large-scale mine planning optimisation problems using clustering and pushback techniques.

Sep 26, 2011

By M C. Ackland

The Grande Côte Mineral Sands Deposit (GCMSP) is located on a coastal mobile dune system in Senegal on the west coast of Africa. Senegal is a stable, democratic republic, having gained its independence from France in 1960. It has a population of about 12.5 million people. The dunes begin about 25 km north-east of Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, and extend northwards for more than 140 km. The mineralised dune system averages about 2 km wide with some areas extending to up to 4.5 km wide.Mineral Deposits limited (MDL), a Melbourne-based company with over 60 years operational experience in mineral sand mining in Australia, holds, through its Senegalese subsidiary MDL Senegal SARL (MDLS), a 25-year Mining Concession covering the deposits. The main heavy mineral (HM) areas identified to date are, from south to north, Mboro, Fass Boye, Diogo and Lompoul. Within the Mining Concession there is potential to identify additional resources beyond the limits of present drilling. The dunes are mobile or semi fixed, pale yellow in colour and overlie older white marine sands. The dunes range between 5 m and 30 m in height and the mineralised zones, which are essentially flat-lying, average around 15 m in thickness. The mineralisation consists, principally of ilmenite with accessory zircon, rutile and leucoxene. Zircon and ilmenite are the main commodities of interest.Independent consultants AMC estimated mineral resources for the four main deposits in 2006 of 1330 Mt of sand averaging 2.0 per cent HM at a cut-off grade of 1.5 per cent HM. At a cut-off grade of one per cent the resources were 3200 Mt averaging 1.5 per cent HM. All of the estimate was classified as Inferred Resources under the 2004 Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC, 2004).Subsequent completion of infill drilling, sampling and assaying of the initial mining area, centred at Diogo, was completed in 2008, enabling a final dredge path to be designed and ore reserves estimated, based on a JORC compliant Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource. Infill drilling is continuing in the Lompoul and the results of this campaign will be included in the JORC compliant data base by AMC in April 2010 to enable the 15 per cent year dredge path and mine plan to be finalised.Development studies have shown that the project can be optimised as a dredging operation, with mineralised sand being treated in a conventional floating spiral preconcentrator, wet concentrator and dry mineral separation plant. Engineering work now substantially completed by Ausenco Limited (Ausenco) has developed the combination of some existing plant from MDL’s past operations, and new plant for the complete process from dredging to final product separation and grading. Testwork on a series of bulk samples has determined that the project can yield a high quality zircon product and an ilmenite product along with minor rutile and leucoxene.Work to date indicates a likely output of around 80 000 t of zircon in various quality streams (Primary, Secondary, Standard and Foundry Grades), around 550 000 t of ilmenite plus around 15000 t of rutile and around 12 000 t of leucoxene/secondary ilmenite. Planned zircon output would represent around 7per cent of the total world production, which would make the GCZ&IP a significant producer on a world scale.The studies have indicated capital costs to be in the range of US$400 M total operating cost (after completion of ramp-up) of around US$50 M - $55 M/a. Revenue is expected to be in the range $127 M - $157 M/a.

Oct 5, 2011