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The curbing of expansion in tertiary level education in Australia and the question- ing of its objectives which are now occurring are likely to have important effects on mining and metallurgical education. Student enrol- ments are low but the serious shortage of specialised minerals industry graduates pre- dicted during the boom of the late 60's has not eventuated. Other manning problems of a less quantitative but possibly equally import- ant kind have been identified. They point to a need for a full and deep review of the education and training programmes available to Australian graduates planning to enter product- ion areas of the minerals industry. An alter- native educational structure providing greater flexibility is suggested.

Jan 1, 1977

In the exploration of an area proposed for the establishment of an underground colliery, consideration of all land and mining titles and consents has early priority. Environmental aspects have become more meaningful. Preliminary assessments of previous geological knowledge, together with new geological and geophysical data from surface investigations, condition the decision to proceed with costly diamond drilling programmes. Methods other than fully cored diamond drilling have a useful application in appropriate circumstances. Drilling exploration is conducted in stages of increasing density of-hole spacing to the point where, with holes at 1 km centres, reserves are categorized as measured. The programme is subject to constant review in the light of market changes.

Jan 1, 1976

By G B. Siddall

The paper examines the current state of equipment and circuit design, with reference to Australian practice. Following a review of the changes in milling applications over the last 15 years, developments in mill design are examined. Current issues include trunnion versus shell support; drive type and economic analysis for comparison of the various systems; the efficiency of the mill discharge system for slurry and pebble removal, and lining configuration. Peripheral problem areas such as pebble crushing and classification are briefly examined. Circuit design issues are reviewed. The decision to modify the traditional primary crushed feed is examined with reference to recent and proposed installations. A retrospective look at fully autogenous installations and their successes is presented, and current views on increasing throughput are assessed. Finally, future developments are anticipated in mill design and control, and competing processes are identified.

Jan 1, 2002

The mineral resources of Hamersley Iron are structurally complex with fluctuations in mineral chemistry. Besides orebody charact- eristics, mineral recovery is also affected by stringent product quality demands from the competititve steel industry. Under such conditions, a geological ore reserve estimate has little meaning because it is unqualified and presupposes the defini- tion of ore. A system was developed in Hamersley - the Mine Planning Technique - to optimise recovery from available resources. This incremental planning method reduces a geological reserve statement into a simple, logical sequence of events. While there are limitations in the method used, the benefits are enormous. Among its' numerous applications, the schedule - the end product of the technique - plays an important role at Management level in decision making and policy formulation on all aspects of resource exploitation.

Jan 1, 1979

By Goode RA

It is-assumed that a pipeline system is economically justified as a means of transportation.. The terms "True Life" and "Economic Design Life" are defined. The most usual design alternatives to be considered from both physical and economic -viewpoints are listed and a summary is given of the main factors to be costed in assessing the relative economics of each alternative. A brief statement of the recor mended method af economic. assessment is given and an example is included. The paper aims to present a reasonably accurate, simple and practical method of considering the main economic factors which govern design.

Jan 1, 1962

It is self evident that in many cases mining disrupts communities, however, community reaction to mining varies enormously. This is due to a whole host of factors, some physical, some financial, some political and some a direct result of the projected mining company attitude towards the community at large. Physical and political factors are increasingly being dealt with realistically and financial aspects are to a significant extent determined by profit margins. If the acceptable profit margin canÆt accommodate all necessary costs (which now includes a variety of community considerations unheard of even a decade ago), then the project is just not viable. Despite major commitments now made by many mining companies to their affected communities, corporate attitudes, and their projection, remain as the most outstanding factor in mining project development where real gains can still be made in effectively reducing social risk. This paper addresses both international and domestic experience gained in managing this aspect of mining development risk, including initiatives implemented by multilateral institutions.

Jan 1, 2003

The word `environment' may have many different meanings but, for the purposes of this paper, I have assumed the definition included in the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (Western Australia). This Act defines `environment' as `... living things, their physical, biological and social surroundings, and interactions between all of these'. The Act further defines the `social surroundings of man' as `... his aesthetic, cultural, economic and social surroundings to the extent that those surroundings directly affect or are affected by his physical or biological surroundings'. This gives a very broad meaning to the idea of environment and environmental issues, and it is therefore understandable that the influence that environmental issues have on mining activity can vary so much from state to state, and even within states, and why the degree of influence can change so much with time.

Jan 1, 1990

By Aust M. I E

IT is the custom, I must admit, for a presidential address to be a review of the progress during the year of the institution presided over, and of the sciences and arts within its ambit. On this occasion precedent is departed from in favour of a subject by request.As man has at last, in employing gravimetric and electrometric methods of subsurface research, started on the rational use of divining rods with some knOWledge of their governing laws and principles, and with some ability to interpret the results obtainedfrom them, I was asked to add to the voluminous literature of the quack or empiric divining rod. James Mansergh, the author of Melbourne's sewerage system, in his presidential address before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1901, admitted he was afraid touse the hazel rod lest in sinking on its indications to some solution.

Jan 1, 1928

The space probe Magellan is on its way to Venus (May, 1989) and with its sophisticated radar systems will discover much more about our twin planet. There is tennuous evidence that Venus once had liquid water. Did it have life? Why was it not stable and why did liquid water not persist through the period of the dimmer young Sun? These are profound questions for us. We understand why Mars froze when volcanism terminated (Just as Earth will freeze one day) but could Earth boil if we continue to add greenhouse gases (Broecker, 1985). What will happen if 10 billion humans continue to use fossil carbon as their main fuel source? The Earth is warming fast and the new satellite data show that the oceans are warming faster than we thought. Is this just a fluctuation or is the greenhouse signal coming through the normal noise of climate?

Jan 1, 1990

By Shinnosuke U, Zhang HE

In this paper, it is shown that the higher the pre-activation concentration of copper ions in pulp, the larger the adsorption amounts of copper ions and xanthate on arsenopyrite surface, and the better the arsenopyrite flotability in strong alkaline medium. On arsenopyrite pre-activated with cupric ions, the xanthate adsorption density in strong alkaline medium is approximately equivalent to that of cupric ions. It is therefore concluded that an amount of copper ions adsorb on arsenopyrite surface first, and then an amount of xanthate can (and only can) adsorb dependently on the surface active sites produced by these adsorbed copper ions on the mineral, so that arsenopyrite is kept rather flotable and is hardly separated from pyrite even in very strong alkaline medium. Selectively wiping out the surface copper active sites on arsenopyrite is the key point of successful separation of pyrite from arsenopyrite. According to this theory, a new 'SZLI' (know-how) method was recommended to satisfactorily deal with the difficult separation.

Jan 1, 1993

Optimisation of mining projects is directly related to effective and efficient management of risks through the life cycle of mining projects. Effective and efficient management of risks must include explicitly all aspects of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) through the life cycle of mining projects. This paper presents a different scale of OHS in the context of the optimisation of mining projects. Meaning of risk through the project life cycle is explained. Complex relationships between numerous risk, safety, knowledge, culture and change variables, and project life cycles are shown. The key element developed in this paper is a multi-disciplinary knowledge base that is necessary for constructive development of risk management and OHS models through the life cycle of mining projects.

Jan 1, 2003

Portland cement is a finely ground mineral powder obtained by intergrinding a mixture of 95 parts of clinker and five parts of gypsum. It is the generic name for hydraulic cement a man made product which hardens in the presence of water. Today's cement started formally with a patent granted in 1824 to Joseph Aspdin, a Leeds bricklayer. He called his patented cement 'Portland' because it resembled a gray brown stone quarried on the Isle of Portland off the coast of England. The first cement to be made in the southern hemisphere is accredited to Nathaniel Wilson, a pioneer farmer who with his brother John began experimenting in 1874 with the limestone on their property near Warkworth. In 1884 they produced the first Portland Cement to be made in this part of the world.

Jan 1, 1978

By Maru Y

The use of mercury for amalgamation has been an integral part of the small-scale gold mining industry in developing countries owing to its low investment cost, simplicity of the technique and high gold recovery. However, its impact on health and environmental hazards have not been given the attention they deserve. In spite of the growing awareness and concerns over the mercury pollution problem by regul-atory authorities, precautionary measures such as bans on the use of mercury in some countries have been largely ineffective.This paper first reviews some of the mechanisms of mercury poll-ution, and mercury toxicity which varies according to its oxidation state. It then describes how mercury released to the atmosphere would go through the "Mercury Cycle". Compar-isons have also been made with previously measured mercury levels in small scale Papua New Guinean miners with their counterparts in other developing countries.

Jan 1, 1994

By Hughson B

The need to prevent the sterilisation of coal stems directly from the fact that it is a non-renewable resource. In N.S.W. a vast amount of coal resource is located under major public utilities such as freeways, railways, stored waters, pipelines carrying gas, water and sewage, and transmission lines. Total extraction has occurred under freeways, transmission lines and pipelines with little or no damage. Where damage has resulted, the cost of restoration was only a small fraction of the value of the coal recovered. However, coal at present is being sterilised and perhaps lost for ever under stored waters and railways. If engineering solutions are available for mining under these improvements economically and with maximum safety, then coal should be extracted and utilised to the benefit of the State.

Jan 1, 1986

Comalco's Bell Bay smelter produces some 94 000 t.p.a. of primary aluminium in the form of foundry alloys, extrusion billet and rolling blocks. The extrusion billet and rolling block are produced by a process, in which molten aluminium is poured into an open ended water cooled mould of the required shape. The bottom of the mould is initially closed off by a dummy or starting block. Primary cooling takes place at the mould wall and secondary cooling is achieved by direct water sprays onto the out side shell of the product. Careful preparation of the molten alumin- ium is essential if stringent alloy specific- ation limits are to be met. Optimum casting temperature must be maintained within a narrow range and metal cleanliness is important to ensure a consistent product. Increased demands of recent years for larger product and higher standards of surface quality and dimensional control have been instrumental in forcing improvements in furn- aces, casting machines and in mould and dummy Doq,

Jan 1, 1977

By Moore R. F, Macias L. F

The Filbara region of northwestern Western Australia contains several known occurrences of mafic/ultramafic rock assemblages which may host platinum group element (POE) mineralisation. This paper deals with occurrences at Munni Munni and Andover. The Munni Munni complex is of particular interest because it is known to contain PGE mineralisation and is currently undergoing active exploration. The US/Australia Joint Scanner Project of October 1985 collected airborne scanner data for the BMR over Munni Munni. Such an ultramafic-mafic complex had not been previously researched with advanced remote sensing instrumentation. Extensive investigation of data from the NSOO1 (Thematic Mapper Simulator) scanner resulted in successful differentiation of gabbroic and ultramafic rocks, and also subdivision within the ultramafies. Similar differentiation could not be achieved using conventional Landsat MSS imagery and aerial photography. Encouraged by those results and in support of BMR field research into the mafic-ultramafic suites of the region, data from the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) instrument were investigated to attempt differentiation of the ultramafic and mafic rocks in the Andover complex some 50 km to the northeast of Munni Munni.

Jan 1, 1988

By the 1990's Australia could be the largest coal exporter in the world and one of the few industrialised countries potentially able to supply the shortfall in its domestic oil requirements by utilizing its oil shale and coal resources to manufacture synthetic oil. The major challenge to both industry and government in implementing the new role for Australia will be to ensure that their actions and policies enable the timely mobilization of resources needed to meet the potential demand for energy, both domestic and overseas. Australia's potential for coal production and exports and for the production of oil from shale and coal are discussed and the potential constraints to development Examined.

Jan 1, 1981

As mines become deeper, the problems of heat in the workplacebecome more acute. An important response from the industry hasbeen the widespread adoption of microclimate cooling such asair-conditioned cabins. However, not all work in mines can becompleted from inside an air-conditioned cabin, and in any event,it is still important to keep the ambient air in the mine outside ofany microclimate to a safe temperature. An important method forbringing workplace temperatures under control is the appropriateuse of refrigeration. The application of refrigeration inmechanised mines has been recently described (Brake, 2001;Brake and Fulker, 2000). This paper provides an overview ofsome of the important engineering considerations in thespecification and selection of mine refrigeration plants. Thepurpose is to provide a basic understanding of refrigerationprinciples, practices, terminology, hazards and opportunities formining engineers or other personnel who may need to beinvolved in the introduction of refrigeration onto a mine site.

Jan 1, 2001

Wheal Gawler was Australia's first metal mine. This leader was followed by an army of other metalliferous underground mines and surface operations in Australia. As a mine it was not highly significant economically because its small total production of nearly pure galena had low multiplier effects on the economy of South Aus- tralia. Its importance lay in its symbolism: here was a silver-lead mine close to the new town of Adelaide posing the question of what other min- erals lay in the Mount Lofty ranges and in the fields beyond.

Jan 1, 1987

By Sorokin AP

The main regularities of the tectonic history of the Circumpacific belt's Asian segment are discussed. The established longitudinal metallogenic zoning is characterized by essential copper specialization being replaced in the.continentward direction by tin-tungsten and then by copper-gold-molybdenum and-tin-lead- zinc ones. The zones indicated show specific magmatism and ore forming fluid composition. The eastern margin of Eurasia experienced specific tectonic history and exhibits a wide variety of mineral deposits. It is composed of the Siberian and Sino-Korean cratons and of the largest mobile elements of tectonosphere like the Hyperborean, Urals-Mongolian, Mediterranean and Circumpacific belts. The Earth's Atlantic segment mobile features show deep penetration of their geosyncline-fold systems into the eastern margin of Asia. A good example is the Urals-Mongolian belt, its Intra-Asian branch being located within the continental margin. The Intra-Asian structural features have WE and NE trending, while folding process moved southward : Karelides and Baikalides are found in the Transbaikalia and the Soviet Far East (Stanovoy, Bodaibo-Patom, Baikal- Vitim, Selenga-Yablonovy fold regions)

Jan 1, 1987