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By B J. Hutchison, S Gannon, J Chambers, D Oko-oboh

The Kanmantoo copper mine is located in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia and is owned and operated by Hillgrove Resources (HGO). The mine is a drill and blast, truck and shovel operation mining sulfide (chalcopyrite) ore located in chloritised andalusite biotite schist. The initial Kanmantoo open pit operation occurred in the 1970s, before falling copper prices closed the mine. In 2010 the mine was reopened by HGO and the Kavanagh cutback of the Kanmantoo pit was undertaken. The Spitfire, Nugent and Emily Star satellite pits were also mined through to 2015 before the latest steep wall Giant pit design was developed to take mining out to 2019.There are no major fault structures and only two significant shear zone structures exposed in the open pit walls. The main Garnet Andalusite Biotite Schist (GABS) unit is quite competent so the pit designs have therefore mainly been controlled by four distinct joint sets. This paper is a case study on the influence of the joint regime on the wall stability of the main GABS unit and how a better understanding of the joint regime and the use of rock reinforcement has allowed the steep wall design to be adopted.The paper also describes the remote geotechnical mapping and slope monitoring techniques used to manage the rockfall risks associated with the steep walled slope design.CITATION:Hutchison, B J, Chambers, J, Gannon, S and Oko-oboh, D, 2017. Case study of joint structure and the design and performance of open pit walls at the Kanmantoo copper mine, in Proceedings Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017, pp 355–364 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 20, 2017

By Hargraves AJ

Pre-drainage experiments have been conduct- ed at Appin, Cook, John Darling, Leichhardt, Macquarie, Metropolitan and Moura No. 2 Collieries. Appin (550 m deep) experiences particular gas problems in development drivages, and the almost pure CH4 seam gas makes difficult tiro compliance with statutory maxima in intakes and returns. Patterns of 43 mm diameter drain- a,.;e holes drilled ahead and laterally into virgin coal have improved gas conditions in working places and have allowed tolerable advance rates. Cook, Leichhardt, Metropolitan and Moura No,. 2 Collieries have experienced gas and stress phenomena ranging from conical bursts less than one tonne to full scale instantan- -us outbursts of hundreds of tonnes with tens ,f thousands of cubic metres of seam gas. Gas ~Irainage experiments with patterns of holes up a,, 200 mm diameter have been undertaken with ;,;siness monitors on the coal to establish .lative effectiveness. Incremental flows into mg 43 mm diameter boreholes have investigated drainage patterns relative to length, and at comparative incremental flows have nlicated lowered permeability zones at stress ,.,utments. In some CO2 seam gas areas where iammability problems are reduced to perhaps ii, but where outbursts proneness is increased,

Jan 1, 1982

By H Tran

Local communities are undertaking an increased role in mine project decision making processes, associated with growing pressure and expectations from regulators, financiers and the general public. This is particularly evident in international projects within developing economies. Environmental and social issues are often complex. Solutions demand difficult choices and trade-offs between sustainable development dimensions: economic growth, social equity and environmental integrity. Proactive stakeholder engagement can play a critical role in assisting decision-makers in determining the operational reality of sustainable development by jointly exploring project trade-offs between proponents and affected stakeholders. Good stakeholder engagement has other potential benefits, ranging from reduced financial risk due to regulator delays, legal disputes or negative publicity to increasing market share through good public image. Approaches to consultation and disclosure have changed from short-term regulatory based focuses, to longer-term, strategic tools for relationship building, proactive risk management and new business identification. Approaches to consultation form a significant opportunity to contribute to overall social sustainability. This paper discusses, based on authorsÆ experience, the broader concept of stakeholder engagement and its contribution to social sustainability of the mining industry. The focus is on key considerations for an effective stakeholder engagement. Three case studies outline how broad based, proactive stakeholder engagement can contribute to improved operation and overall sustainability. The case studies include: a greenfields project in Ghana; a long-term mine in Australia; and an open-pit mine in Vietnam.

Jan 1, 2009

By T Gill, A Faragher, B Scott, V Kakebeeke

In 2000, after six year intensive exploration for high-grade haematite deposits, Rio Tinto included the channel iron deposits (CID) as a specific iron ore target in the Hamersley Province iron ore exploration program. The exploration model was simple and based on the then current understanding of CID genesis. Fundamental to the model was an interpretation that CID deposits after their final accumulation stage could be entirely concealed in their channels. Inversion to mesas and therefore exposure of the CID profile would only occur in areas where the modern drainages follow the ancient and have significantly incised their current bedrock. The model took encouragement from observations at Bungaroo Creek, where large CID accumulations occur in a deep valley incised in the Wittenoom Formation concealed below recent valley fills derived from the surrounding BIFs. Also, in the headwaters of the Yandicoogina system CID occurs below a more recent cover of calcrete and clay. After a number of failed or partially successful attempts, exploratory drilling in 2002 in the Caliwingina valley in the northern Hamersley Range identified significant CID mineralisation. Subsequent drilling programs from 2003 onwards revealed the presence of a large CID system, which stretches from the middle reaches of the Caliwingina Creek to deep under the sediments of the Fortescue Valley, a channel length of more than 30 km. Although the drilling is still somewhat sparse, the geological resource estimation suggests that Caliwingina is presently the third biggest CID system of the Pilbara (after Yandicoogina and Bungaroo Creek) and is of comparable size to the premining Robe River system (1.6 Bt), with comparable Fe-grades to the Yandicoogina global resource grade (57.7 per cent Fe). Large detrital and canga deposits overlie the Caliwingina CID, or interfinger with it, and although the economics of these are presently unfavorable, could ultimately present a low-grade iron resource of slightly smaller size to the CID mineralisation at Caliwingina Creek. Together with the recently discovered Serenity and Solomon deposits, as well as Cabbage Gum Bore and other smaller occurrences, the Caliwingina Creek deposit is part of a major new CID district in the central Hamersley Ranges, approximately halfway between Yandicoogina and Robe River. Although exploration in this new district is still underway, the preliminary indications are that this area will provide a total CID resource well over 3 Bt, and is on a par with the major known CID systems in the Hamersley Province.

Jan 1, 2009

By S Hanke, J Burden, P Spies

The Waterview Connection will complete Auckland’s long-planned Western Ring Route, a 48 km north-south motorway alternative to State Highway 1 that bypasses the central city to the west. The project involves construction of 5 km of new motorway – half of it underground in tunnels – to connect the Southwestern (State Highway 20) and Northwestern (State Highway 16) motorways.The Western Ring Route will link the major population and industrial centres of Manukau, Auckland and North Shore to give the region the connected and resilient strategic road transport system it needs to underpin economic growth and sustainable development. It will also provide a direct motorway link between Auckland’s central business district (CBD) and international airport.The project involves construction of twin 2.4 km driven tunnels with an outside diameter of 14.41 m beneath residential suburbs, a major arterial road and a rail corridor. Enabling works began in January 2012 while tunnel construction using an earth pressure balance (EPB) tunnel boring machine (TBM) began in November 2013.This presentation introduces the Waterview Connection project, its role in the development of the Auckland motorway network, its procurement process, the alliance delivery model and an overview of the project’s design features and construction progress to date.Design and construction highlights of the presentation include the TBM start-up, turnaround and breakthrough arrangements as well as the experience gained during the first tunnelling drive. The presentation also covers an innovative process developed for invert construction behind the TBM that is independent of tunnel excavation.CITATION:Spies, P, Burden, J and Hanke, S, 2014. The Waterview Connection Project – progress to date, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 519–540 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

The optimal production of the metals needed by society is best achieved by a close synergy between concentrate production and smelting. For over 75 years commencing in 1923, such a close relationship was enjoyed between the Sullivan Mine in Kimberley, British Columbia and the Trail zinc-lead complex. An effective program of continual change and improvement at the Sullivan concentrator was achieved through a strong entrepreneurial spirit. This spirit was in part maintained through a favourable location in south-eastern British Columbia that resulted in a dynamic local community that has survived the closure of the mine. Innovations to be reviewed include feed forward reagent control, the use of column flotation to zinc and lead cleaning and the application of ultrafine grinding coupled with concentrate dewatering using hyperbaric filter technology.

Jan 1, 2005

By A von Johannides, G J. van Hout, L F

In the past various systems have been used to plan the extraction of ore from block cave operations. These systems have varied from rather sophisticated models with empirical ægravity flowÆ rules applied to the very rudimentary models where only the recorded mined tonnageÆs have been accounted for against the available resource. The normal requirement of these models has been to only plan the movement of ground through the drawpoints. Little cognisance has been taken of the other parameters that affect the total mining operations. The intended purpose of the linear program planning system is to not only include the management, resource availability and geotechnical constraints, but to also include the mining rules. The paper will discuss the various constraints that have been considered, and attempt to illustrate where the system better serves the production system than previous ones. A brief technical discussion on the linear programming system is included.

Jan 1, 2000

This paper puts the view that, for one gold deposit in Victoria at least, the Australasian Code for the Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources is severely deficient. The author questions whether or not the Code constrains the proper dissemination of information relevant to resource valuation. The author offers a view about the estimation of inferred resources, and provides data believed pertinent to the proper valuation of Ballarat Goldfields Ltd Ballarat East Project.

Jan 1, 1990

By JSrvinen A, Yll÷ E

At Cominco's Zinc Refinery at Trail, British Columbia impurities are removed from zinc sulphate electrolyte by a two-stage purification process using zinc dust. Copper, cadmium and thallium are removed in the first stage whereas cobalt is removed in the second stage. Cobalt removal kinetics are affected by soluble antimony and copper additions to the electrolyte. This study was focused on the kinetics of cobalt removal by zinc powder cementation. Experimental variables included copper and antimony concentrations, pH and temperature. Common organic additives employed in zinc plants were studied to determine potential interactions with the cobalt removal process. Cementation products obtained from laboratory experiments and plant practice were studied using SEM. A number of significant results were obtained: 1. Copper and antimony ions were sustantially removed from solution during the early stages of the cementation reaction (within the first 15 minutes). Cobalt cementation kinetics are slow and follow a first order kinetic regime. 2. A drop in the cobalt removal rates can be correlated with a rise in the Eh of the slurry. 3. Ligninsulphonate, Percol 351 and animal glue at levels of 2 mg/L significantly impede cobalt cementation.

Jan 1, 1993

By Hughes J. C

THE smelting plant consists of five large furnaces operating in the treatment of current flintered material, and one small furnace operating periodically in the treatment of copper dross and antimonial slag produced in the lead-refining process.he following table supplies the leading dimensions and details of the large furnaces:-(a) Crucible - Dimensions 17 ft. 2 in. long x 4 ft. wide x 2 ft. 3 in deep. Capacity - 30 tons lead. Class of lining - firebrick. No. firebricks required - 3000.(b) Crucible Tank - Dimensions 20 ft. 6in. long x 10 it. 6 in. Wide x 4 ft. 3 in. deep. Material - 1/2 in. mild steel.(0) Jackets - Dimensions 6 ft. long x 19 in. wide x 6in. thick. Material - Cast-iron. Average life - 2 years. Number per side - 11, with 13-in. bosh. Number per end - 3, with 9-in. bosh.

Jan 1, 1922

By Yucheng H, Baogui Y, Wenyong L

High-water rapid-solidifying material, called 'high-water material', is a new material developed by the authors over many years. The material can solidify nine times its volume of water into solid. The material is a fine kind of binder with special properties. The solidifying body of high-water material with water has quite a high early strength. The compressive strength of the material within three days can reach the same strength as conventional Portland in 28 days. One ton of the material can replace three tons of conventional Portland cement as binder. Some important achievements have been made in application of high-water material. In metal mines, based on the material, a new full-tailing cemented backfill technology has been developed. The characteristic of the new technology is that high-water material is used as binder and full tailing or alluvial sand is used as backfill aggregate. Because of the application of the new technology, major technical problems in backfill technology such as classifying of tailing, dewatering, transportation of pulp, low strength of hackfill body. environmental contamination and so on, have been solved.

Jan 1, 1998

By A R. Bye

The mining industry is facing some key challenges that provide a compelling case for geometallurgy initiatives. Over the last 30 years, the average grade of Australian orebodies being mined has halved while the waste removed to access the minerals has more than doubled. In the last eight years, the industry’s energy consumption has increased 70 per cent while multi-factored productivity has fallen 24 per cent. The paper documents a broad range of industry case studies which demonstrate strategies for gaining value from geometallurgy.The mining industry constantly faces the key questions of how significant ore variability is on mine valuation and how would knowledge of the variability change the mining schedule, mine to mill design and operation. Using case studies the paper describes the methods used for incorporating mineral extraction attributes into orebody models and their technical integration into daily operation as well as mine planning optimisation. While pit optimisation from a fully attributed geometallurgical model highlights areas of opportunity and risk it is shown that during the scheduling phase of mine planning that significant value can be added. The benefits from these projects included reducing geotechnical and environmental risk, improving mine to mill performance, option analysis and quantified cash flow risk. There is growing acceptance within the minerals industry that ‘realistically assumed modifying factors’ defined by a competent person/s are not sufficient to mitigate the risk of funding mining ventures. Geometallurgy is moving away from factored ore reserves to data-rich block models providing reliable information for mining, metallurgical and environmental considerations.

Sep 5, 2011

By Mine F. J, Woods P. H

The Top End of the Northern Territory lies in the monsoonal zone and receives rain during the November-April period. Initially, at the start of the wet season, rain storms are localised, but, following the descent of the monsoonal trough from below the equator, widespread rain occurs. Overflow incidents at mine sites tend to arise midway through the annual wet season when excess water accumulated in ponds begins to discharge to the external environment. Remote-access monitoring may be undertaken at mine sites using equipment to continuously measure water quality parameters with storage of the information on a data logger. The data is then retrieved by visiting the site and transferring it to a portable computer or by remotely accessing the system using a telemetry system and transmission via telephone, VHF/UHF or satellite. Such systems are readily available and vary in cost depending on the sophistication of the data transfer system. Available sensors for continuous monitoring include those for conductivity, temperature, pH and other ion selective electrodes, eg nitrate, and water level. Of these variables, conductivity is most useful due to its inherent accuracy and stability of reading. Remote monitoring capability is able to provide: (i) more intensive monitoring of key issues; (ii) more timely information; (iii) correct perspective on the degree of environmental problem; and (iv) information from remote locations, which would be difficult to monitor by more conventional methods. Examples are given for applications of continuously logged measurement of conductivity of waters discharging to drains and in creeks at Pine Creek, Ranger, Nabarlek and Woodcutters mines in the Northern Territory. These applications demonstrate the timeliness of the continuous monitoring technique.

Jan 1, 1994

By T Sprague, D Pateman

"The Gosowong Gold Project is owned and operated by PT Nusa Halmahera Minerals (PT NHM), an Indonesian company 75 per cent owned by Newcrest. It is located on Halmahera Island, in the North Maluku Province of the Republic of Indonesia, approximately 2450 km north-east of the national capital, Jakarta (Newcrest, 2017).Kencana is one of two underground gold and silver mines at the Gosowong Operation where ground conditions vary from competent to very poor. Development headings occurring in poor rock mass conditions require high capacity ground support including long tendon cable bolts. Manual installation of cable bolts in these development headings has been a time consuming process due to borehole collapse, blockages requiring subsequent re-drilling and a minimum eight hour grout curing time interval. The installation of cable bolts including the setting, plating and tensioning can impact the critical path for development heading advance resulting in development cycle delays.A review was conducted by PT NHM on current industry practices for alternatives to manual cable bolting. PT NHM subsequently approached Minova to assist with the development and trialling of self drilling anchors (SDAs) installed using jumbos with a rapid setting pumpable resin, CARBOTHIXTM. A series of system development trials were conducted and a reliable bolting system was developed utilising the existing jumbo drilling fleet with minimal required modifications.The system developed was a ‘one pass’ bolting process to install and grout SDAs using a two component resin with a remote, mechanised system. Improvements achieved from the system include: eliminating hole closure issues and more immediate support in poor rock mass effectively reducing personnel exposure to poor ground conditions by removing the requirement to access the drive backs reducing grout set time with full installation times for 6 m SDAs averaging 25 min.The resin grouting system has now been successfully implemented to effectively manage areas of poor ground conditions and to accelerate advance rates in high priority headings.CITATION:Pateman, D and Sprague, T, 2017. Development and implementation of a long tendon bolting system utilising resin grouting technology, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 79–84 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Oct 16, 2017

By G M. Jones, J Rademan

Debswana, owned by the Government of the Republic of Botswana (GRB) and De Beers in a 50:50 joint venture partnership, operates the Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana - the most valuable diamond mine in the world. The mine provides between 60 - 70 per cent of DebswanaÆs earnings, and about 30 - 40 per cent of the GRBÆs income. In 2008, the company embarked on the Cut 8 Project - an open pit waste cut-back to expose more diamond bearing ore to sustain mine life by another six to seven years. This undertaking was much larger than previous cut-backs; it increased the waste stripping ratio threefold, increasing significantly the waste handling fleet of trucks, shovels and infrastructure, and impacted a large part of the materials handling plant which required replacement with new facilities. The project coincided with the beginning of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and a slowdown in the economy. Its $4 billion total life cost was billed as æthe largest private investment project in BotswanaÆ which produced heightened expectations amongst stakeholders that it would redress some of the issues brought about by the GFC and leave behind a legacy of jobs, increased opportunities for citizen owned business and improved social infrastructure.Most of the big project challenges were non-technical and ranged from dealing with various stakeholders?at?all levels, a 25 per cent currency depreciation of the Botswana Pula against the South African Rand, obtaining work permits for non-citizens in a job starved environment, managing construction to world class safety standards, managing the low productivity of construction workers and producing a viable legacy program that satisfied the GRB and stakeholders. Whilst most of these risks were identified in front end studies, the magnitudes were in many instances underestimated. Managing this uncertainty on Cut 8 can provide valuable lessons to other projects in a similar environment, or at least provide the information to indicate that these factors should be adequately provided for in the financial evaluation of a project in the form of budget, schedule, contingency or risk mitigation.CITATION:Jones, G M and J Rademan, 2012. Reliability of expert judgements and uncertainty assessments, in Proceedings Project Evaluation 2012 , pp 109-116 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 24, 2012

By D Tuazon, M Powell, M Ziemski, G D. Corder

Although mining companies have made broad corporate-level commitments to adopt sustainability, there continue to be problems when attempts are made to adopt higher-level sustainability aspirations and translate them into appropriate targets and methods at the more-specific operational level. The integration of sustainability principles into minerals processing operational decision-making processes has unique challenges that are not addressed adequately by current tools and methodologies, yet impacts from operational decisions can have longer-term effects realised at closure and rehabilitation.This paper describes a proposed methodology to achieve the integration of sustainability at the operational level through a systematic and rigorous process of identifying and qualifying sustainability issues and opportunities in an operation. The methodology, starting from a sustainability point of view rather than an operational one, guides the identification of process issues and opportunities by examining the operation, unit-by-unit, similar to a Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) process. Each issue or opportunity is qualified according to its measurability, scopes of impact and consequences so that it may be understood fully and the correct engineering problems are formed. Through improved decision-making to account for broader sustainability factors, operations can better address environmental and social expectations and pressures (both corporate and community, as well as immediate and in the longer-term), whilst still delivering on operational and business goals.The methodology has been tested with two case studies at minerals processing operations. At one site, the methodology identified a dust issue which had considerable business risks (loss of valuable product) compared to conventional engineering analysis processes. The other site also benefited from using the methodology as an opportunity to improve the operation of the milling and flotation circuits was identified. The opportunity not only showed a potential to improve operational efficiency, but also potential improvements in water and energy efficiency and a resulting increased resilience against water and energy supply risks. It was important to utilise the holistic approach of the methodology in the identification of opportunities at this site; the goals of the operation showed a strong coupling between water and energy issues which would be difficult to overcome using the operationÆs current organisational model, which deals with such issues separately of each other.CITATION:Tuazon, D, Corder, G D, Powell, M and Ziemski, M, 2012. A practical and rigorous approach for integrating sustainability principles into decision-making processes at minerals processing operations, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2012 , pp 233-242 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 10, 2012

By S Mundell, J Armstrong, M Evans

"Automation is a common goal within the coal industry for reasons such as efficiency, reliability and sustainability. However, it requires standards and frameworks so business systems can communicate effectively. Automation of sample analysis processes has been difficult to establish due to a lack of direct business system communication between commercial laboratories and mining companies. This has resulted in manual procedures that have contributed to problems relating to analysis instructions, sample identification, results formats and visibility of status.These problems result in loss of data and confidence in data validity, loss of process efficiency and inability to react to issues. An Australian Coal Association Research Program project (Evans, Armstrong and Arboleda, 2014) has addressed these issues through the Coal Quality Data Exchange methodology for direct business system communication between coalminers and commercial laboratories to optimise the transfer of coal quality data.The benefits to the coalminer of the framework are:increased clarity and auditability of what is being sent to the laboratory and what was requestedreduced potential for error introduced through manual transcription tasksincreased speed of loading of analytical results to the customer Geoscientific Information Management Systemimproved turnaround time for analytical resultsincreased knowledge about what took place in the laboratory with respect to the determination of the analytical resultsincreased visibility of the status of a ‘work order’. The benefits to the technology companies and commercial laboratories is a common framework on which to build a sustainable solution that gets away from the multitude of formats catered for today and time consuming manual processes. The common framework significantly advances the future possibilities for the automation of sampling and analysis processes in a production environment.CITATION:Armstrong, J, Mundell, S and Evans, M, 2014. Automating communications between laboratories and mines – a case from the coal industry, in Proceedings Ninth International Mining Geology Conference 2014 , pp 351–360 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Aug 18, 2014

By S C. Dominy

The gravity recoverable gold (GRG) parameter reflects liberated gold or gold-dominated composite particles that can be recovered by gravity separation. Recoveries depend upon mineralogy, in situ particle size and the comminution and extraction method used. Any ore bearing >15 per cent of gold greater than 50 ¦m in size is likely to have a GRG component. The principal characterisation methodology applied is the three-stage GRG (3GRG) test, based on a 40 kg to 100 kg sample. An alternative is the single-stage GRG test (SGRG), which is generally based on a 20 kg sample. Experience has shown that GRG values can vary throughout an orebody, particularly within different grade and/or mineralogical domains. Test programs must consider sample frequency and mass. This study demonstrates the variability of GRG results based on different sample masses. Consecutive underground faces on a coarse-gold dominated quartz vein were sampled taking five different masses from each. Each sample was processed using a SGRG approach. Subsequently, each development round was batched through a small gravity production plant. The results show that the small samples understate the plant GRG and show inter-sample variability. Large samples show less variability and a SGRG closer to the plant GRG. A high SGRG broadly correlates to higher gold grades, more coarse gold and larger gold particles. These results are intuitively correct, but indicate the likely challenges of sampling for gold recovery in heterogeneous systems.CITATION:Dominy, S C, 2013. Variability of gravity recoverable gold values in relation to test sample size, in Proceedings The Second AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (GeoMet) 2013 , pp 293-302 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 29, 2013

The Southern 'B' lode orebody at the New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited (NBHC) mine, Broken Hill, is a continuation of the zinc-rich orebody that was first mined in NBHC in the 1940's. Preliminary diamond drilling in the early 1960's resulted in sufficient information to delineate the southern extension of the presently mined 'B' lode orebody, In 1966 the sinking of a 7.3 metre diameter circular shaft (No. 3 Airway) was commenced to improve the ventilation of the southern extremities of existing workings and to provide a base to further explore and develop the orebody extension. Development on four levels was started in the early 1970'.s to link the existing workings with the new shaft. Three possible mining methods - sublevel open stoping, loader cut and fill with ramp access and sublevel caving - were investigated and the decision was made to mine the orebody by transverse sublevel longhole stopes and pillars with trackless equipment and ramp access between the major working levels.

Jan 1, 1977

By I Zulkarnain, H Permana, R A. Binns

Through an ambitious but relatively low-cost program of marine fieldwork, laboratory investigations and technology-transfer and training activities, three Indonesia-Australia-led marine expeditions were undertaken aboard KR Baruna Jaya VIII between 2001 and 2003. These IASSHA (Indonesia-Australia Survey for Submarine Hydrothermal Activity) cruises have sought to discover and investigate a variety of potential ore forming hydrothermal systems in a range of tectonic settings. All cruises have been successful, both scientifically and from the point of view of training, creation of capabilities and capacity building for such research in Indonesia. Over 60 scientists and technicians from Indonesian and Australian institutions and agencies have been involved. Three new sites and a possible fourth site of hydrothermal activity were discovered in the Sangihe arc in northern Sulawesi. Surveys in the Tomini basin tested a hypothesis based on previous data which suggested this might be an isolated anoxic, brine-filled basin over 2000 m deep where igneous heat sources existed to generate hydrothermal mineralisation. The bay, however, was found to be open to adjacent deep ocean circulation, and there was no evidence of massive base metal sulfides. Subdued evidence of hydrothermal activity was found in the Sunda Strait associated with the famous Krakatau volcano and the extension of the seismically active Semangko Fault. The BANDAMIN program (Indonesia-Germany) covered a portion of the Banda arc in eastern Indonesia, and also found evidence of recent hydrothermal activity and epithermal sulfide mineralisation.

Jan 1, 2004