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By A Giblett, M Daniel

"The Global Mining Standards and Guidelines Group (GMSG) currently supports nine individual industry working groups focused on developing standards and guidelines for the mining industry. In 2013 the GMSG established the Industrial Comminution Efficiency (ICE) working group to develop freely available guidelines for plant operators to quantify the operating efficiency of industrial comminution circuits. This initiative has engaged a diverse group of representatives from mining companies, equipment vendors, consultants and metallurgical laboratories with vast experience and capabilities in the field of comminution. The GMSG has issued the first two guidelines from the ICE working group in 2015–2016, with the third guideline having completed the approvals process and being in the final stages of editing ahead of release later in 2016.Two of the ICE guidelines present methods to quantify comminution circuit efficiency, and a complementary guideline describes best practice methods to collect the necessary samples and data to furnish these assessments. Collectively the guidelines cover sampling, survey data collection, laboratory testing procedures and calculation processes to allow the user to generate a relative circuit efficiency factor for the comminution circuit at the time of survey. The reference energy consumption is calculated considering the measured F80, P80 and ore strength at the time of survey, using either or both of the Bond or Morrell methods presented in GMSG guidelines dedicated to each method. The guidelines consequently provide the end user with practical tools to perform circuit efficiency analysis and to readily quantify the impact of optimisation efforts.This paper presents the content of the three ICE guidelines and describes their intended application.Citation:Giblett, A and Daniel, M, 2016. Global Mining Standards and Guidelines for Determining Comminution Circuit Efficiency, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2016, pp 3–8 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Oct 10, 2016

By Toro HCH, Von Borries GH

A brief description of the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG;) facilities of Compania Minera Disputada de Las Condes is given. A data-logging and computer system was connected to the plant inter facing the existing analog control system in a supervisory s, control philosophy. The development of a control straiov,v t,) maintain maximum power of the SAG mill atsubjected to process restrictions is shownThe present control scheme is discussed inalgorithm was designed based on correlations onLween vartaoles. Associated with this, a direct level of control was developed be, on classical control algorithms, process inter-active tuning has been included. Also, an algorithm to prevent overloading of the is discussed. Control scheme tests are presented in comparison t manual operator control under the same conditions. It is shown t the control strategy gives a more stable operation and a higher plant throughput.

Jan 1, 1985

The safety culture in mining has progressed towards a zero tolerance of injury. This change has required that some historically inherent risks of mining are engineered out or reduced. One of the significant causes of fatality in Western Australia and Worldwide mining is through rock fall, subsidence and inrush. Efforts put into understanding the material properties of the ground we mine and the backfill we place are reflected in improved safety statistics. It is no longer acceptable to not manage these risks and mining, to be sustainable, has to be safe.   Mining historically produced waste products with little consideration of recycling or impact on the surrounding land. The rehabilitation of mining waste products such as mill tailings, heap leach and waste rock is one step towards managing the environmental impact of these waste products. A better step is towards recycling and redepositing these products to produce a more environmentally sustainable mine site.   Gold fields St Ives lease is an active network of new and historic undergrounds and open pits within the Lake Lefroy and Kambalda district. The process of creating voids underground followed by open pits mining through the old voids allows the use of backfilling to control inherent hazards and dilution. Backfill provides opportunity for the disposal and recycling of mining waste materials at the same time as meeting requirements of mine support. Materials available on the St Ives site include spent heap leach, reclaimed tailings and waste mullock. Through recycling and re-depositing these materials to St Ives and neighbouring mines, the reliance on imported material to meet their needs and impact on surrounding land is reduced.   At St Ives, paste fill and barricade design have been reworked to allow backfilling into stopes with water inflows up to six litres per second. This has required a rethink of the drainage and monitoring of water management systems previously used for hydraulic fill and apply them to paste.   The St Ives open pits have developed methods to mine through underground workings and individual stope voids up to 62,000m3. Here backfill is used to reduce the consequence of catastrophic, unexpected failure of the crown and minimise ore lost down voids and dilution through increased blast movement. This paper outlines the less common methods being adopted to use the recycled materials and ways it has been managed to suit the needs of the company.

Jun 1, 2010

By J Thoma, W Skinner, W Stewart, R Smart

The acid neutralisation capacity (ANC) of rock sample containing significant iron carbonates and/or reactive framboidal pyrite can be a difficult parameter to determine. Results indicated that negative ANC results can occur if reactive sulfide minerals are present; and an over-estimation of ANC will result if significant Fe rich carbonate minerals are present during industry standard ANC tests. In this paper we investigate these problems. Results showed that a significant lag period may be needed (up to 432 hours) after standard Sobek ANC type tests of siderite for the complete hydrolysis of iron released from this mineral. This even occurred with standard industry modifications that included the addition of two drops of hydrogen peroxide. In this work we use a modified Sobek test that included filtering, and thence continued hydrogen peroxide addition until there was no subsequent pH drop, followed by back titration to pH 7.0. Results indicated that the ANC for the siderite (after zero hours) was immediately comparable to the ANC determined after 432 hours lag by standard Sobek type tests; and a calculated theoretical carbonate ANC. Investigations of coal waste samples containing significant framboidal pyrite indicated that standard Sobek ANC type tests can result in negative ANC values due to the oxidation of this reactive pyrite. Because sulfide acidity is already addressed by the MPA calculation, the inclusion of sulfide acidity as part of the ANC determination is effectively biased towards acid generation and thus positive NAPP values. Negative ANC values cannot be ignored or assumed to be zero as this masks any actual ANC available within the sample, which may possibly affect AMD categorisation. This sulfide acidity can be factored out using the quantity of S in the ANC digestion liquor and knowing the non-acid generating sulfate content of the sample prior to ANC testing. Results indicated that incomplete iron hydrolysis at the completion of the Modified Sobek ANC test is not only a function of iron carbonate dissolution, but is also related to the dissolution of Fe-sulfate salts, and the oxidation of reactive sulfides such as framboidal pyrite.

Jan 1, 2003

By R Pozo, F Reyes

Codelco Chile is currently developing the El Teniente û New Mine Level Project (NMLP) in order to increase ore production by seeking to mine the ore deposit located under the current operational orebody. Reserves of 2000 million tonnes (Mt) have been quantified, which will be extracted as from the year 2017 by using the panel caving and progressive sinking method. Codelco and SKM Minmetal (SKM) jointly developed the project prefeasibility stage (PFS), closing these studies in March 2008. The first part of the project approach is to replace mine production currently feeding the Colon concentrator facilities with 137 000 tonnes per day (t/d), focusing attention on a production increase from the year 2026 up to 180 000 t/d. Project efforts have also been centred on maximising the contribution of new technologies for both construction and operational phases of the New Mine Level, together with selecting the best mine infrastructure to keep El Teniente operations going on for the next 50 years. Implicit in this is the inherent improvement of a variety of current Mina El Teniente process and management practices. The plan is to reduce actual mine operational risks and take advantage of new opportunities afforded by the project, which is in effect a greenfield project with respect to the implementation of fundamental changes in the labour and business environment. In addition, issues related to human resources, maintenance and management, materials handling, establishing centralised operations and accesses, automation and remote operations control and power efficiency could also be addressed. The project, beyond the New Mine Level exploitation, considers the mineÆs future potential, with a second deeper exploration in prospect named Deep Level. Finally, the project identifies features that would add value to the mine operations, in an initiative named æSpace for Future TechnologiesÆ. This will allow the eventual implementation of new electrical equipment and the application of mechanised technologies and other process improvements for the mine development.

Jan 1, 2008

By X Li, J Wang, D Liu, Y Liu, K Hu

"Since the adoption of open-door policy 30 years ago, rapid economic growth has resulted in serious resource depletion and environmental destruction, especially in mining areas. As an urgent response to this situation, the central government and the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) have adjusted policies with concrete and realistic actions for halting this trend of non-sustainable mining activities in China. æGreen Mine CampaignÆ is one of the actions implemented. In 2010, MLR announced the æGreen Mine CampaignÆ, in which existing and new mines will be evaluated against the æGreen Mine Construction StandardsÆ and certified as æGreen MineÆ if complying with these standards. The standards cover five key aspects: the considerations of science-supported resource exploitation efficient resource utilisation standardised management environmental friendliness harmonious community relationship.Every year, MLR reviews ægreen minesÆ from all provinces. Thirty seven mines, including coal, metal, non-metal, gold, chemical industry and building materials mines, passed the review and were certified as green mines in 2010. In 2011, 187 out of 194 mines that participated in the review were certified as ægreen minesÆ. These mines are viewed as good examples of sustainable mining development in China.CITATION:Liu, Y, Hu, K, Li, X, Liu, Y, Liu, D and Wang, J, 2012. The green mine campaign and sustainable mining in China, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2012, pp 339-342 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jul 10, 2012

By J Coveney, A Rich, D Grimsey, J Wood, S Creedy

In 2021, BHP and Metso examined processing of high-MgO nickel sulfide concentrates using Metso’s Ausmelt Top-Submerged-Lance (TSL) technology. Test work was conducted in Metso’s pilot test work facility in Dandenong, Australia to explore operability of the SiO2-FeO-MgO-CaO-NiO slag system across a wide range of compositions, temperatures and bath oxygen potentials. Pilot-scale testing aimed to define slag ‘operability limits’, representing the lowest bath temperature at which stable process and equipment operation could be maintained. This work was supported by FactSage™, version 8.2 (by Thermfact/CRCT and GTT-Technologies) thermodynamic modelling, slag viscosity measurements, physical characterisation of quenched slag samples performed by the University of Queensland and benchmarking of commercial-scale TSL nickel smelting operations. A wide range of slag compositions were examined, with Fe/SiO2 ratios varying from 0.4–1.1, CaO content from 0.8–7.0 wt per cent and MgO content from 6–19 wt per cent. Slag SiO2/MgO ratio, wt per cent CaO and matte grade were found to have the greatest impacts on identified operability limits. Operability limits were found to be influenced by both the solids content in slag and viscosity of the remaining liquid slag phase, with the relative contribution of these parameters heavily influenced by the slag composition. In the majority of trials, limits were defined by a theoretical solids content of 40–50 per cent, however in trials with a low Fe/SiO2 ratio and/or low wt per cent CaO, limits were characterised by a much lower solids content due to the increased effect of the liquid slag viscosity in determining the behaviour of these slags. The test work highlighted inherent flexibility of the Ausmelt TSL process to operate across a wide slag range of slag compositions and recover from process disturbances without an interruption to feeding. The trials also demonstrated the possibility for Ausmelt TSL technology to process concentrates with an Fe/MgO ratio as low as 1.4, which has important implications to the commercial-scale processing of high MgO feeds. Arsenic rejection across the trials was very good, with only 30 per cent of arsenic in the feed inputs reporting to the matte phase. Such high levels of arsenic removal provide the Ausmelt TSL process with a notable advantage over alternative smelting technologies.

Aug 21, 2024

By P Marlow

Raiseboring is an attractive method of constructing shafts, being safe, fast and comparatively cheap. But this means back-reaming through weathered ground. However in the gravels and weathered near-surface rocks typical of the Western Australian goldfields, back reaming large diameter shafts through to the surface is risky and conventional sinking from surface has normally been required.An alternative construction approach has recently been used to stabilise the weak surficial materials and allow raiseboring through to the surface. The method is based on first installing rings of non-contiguous reinforced bored piles around the shaft perimeter, for temporary support, then back reaming shafts at full diameter through to the surface. Immediately after the reaming head is removed, the weak exposed materials are supported using remotely sprayed fibrecrete.The method has been successfully applied to four shafts since July 2007; 3 m and 4 m diameter shafts at Trident Mine, a 3 m diameter shaft at Wattle Dam and a 4.5 m diameter shaft at Athena Mine.Bored pile layout designs have varied from eight to 24 piles, of diameters 120 to 270 mm, in one or two rings. In one case, the top 10 m of the proposed shaft was pregrouted. Subsequent surveys have confirmed that fallout occurred in some shafts, out to the ring of piles, implying that the piles inhibited collapse.The practical implementation of the method was not always easy and many valuable lessons have been learnt. This paper documents key aspects of the method and the critical elements for its application.

Mar 21, 2011

By Haeussler P, Christie A, Bradley D, Skinner D

Mesothermal gold deposits of southern Alaska and Westland, New Zealand have both formed at the seaward edge of major collisional zones in the Pacific basin. In Alaska, production of large fluid volumes correlates in time with the addition of heat into the lower parts of the accreted terranes in the late stages of collisional orogeny. This heat was critical for driving both the metamorphic reactions that released the large volumes of fluid that carried the gold, and the contemporaneous widespread anatexis and magmatism. In Alaska's Chugach terrane, this heat was produced by subduction of a spreading ridge beneath the North America continental margin in the Eocene. The resulting products were the S-type granites and gold-bearing veins. The similar widespread S-type plutonism and gold veining in Westland's Buller terrane suggest that a similar tectonic event could have triggered ore formation along the southeastern edge of Gondwanaland. Based on the Alaskan model, a Devonian or Early Carboniferous age is favoured for high volume metamorphogenic fluid generation and gold vein formation in Westland.

Jan 1, 1995

By K Muller, T Oosthuizen

Blast exclusion zones are instrumental in protecting equipment and personnel. When there is no constraint in footprint, the exclusion zone can be enormous, practically eliminating the hazard of flyrock. Unfortunately, this may not always be the case and in many circumstances the blast design needs to be altered to suite such scenarios. When a conservative design approach is taken, it could completely eliminate any form of ejection, whether it is from the free face or the bench itself. The degree to which typical flyrock models describe fragment motion through air with ballistic flight equations are not justified when such a high level of control is applied. This paper examines various methods of risk analysis and suggests an approach to be used for controlled blasting.The outcome of principles discussed in this paper can be seen in video form (Mavmedia, 2014).CITATION:Muller, K and Oosthuizen, T, 2015. Should the blast exclusion zone be based on a qualitative or quantitative analysis? A practical implementation conundrum, in Proceedings 11th International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, pp 425–428 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 24, 2015

By Weller KR, Lim IL

The high pressure grinding rolls is one of the few new comminution devices that offer substantial savings when compared with traditional crushing and grinding circuits and with SAG milling. The machine has been well accepted in the cement industry, but mining companies have been more cautious in adopting this technology, partly because of wear and availability problems, and partly because of uncertainties in designing circuits which will deliver the power savings without complicating downstream processing. This paper addresses the latter problem by providing a model structure for predicting power draft and throughput from measurements made with small pilot scale high pressure rolls. Three existing models for predicting product size distributions are assessed and suggestions made for future work. The model structure comprises a power equation, incorporating measurements of torque and rolls speed previously used by the authors. Transport through the mill is assumed to be plug flow. Throughput is governed by the equilibrium gap between the rolls, which is determined both by machine settings and the physical properties of the feed material, including its size distribution. Therefore some form of physical testing in a model machine is required to determine throughput parameters. Results from copper and nickel ore experiments covering a wide range of machine conditions are presented and compared with model predictions. Model assumptions are discussed and directions for future work Suggested.

Jan 1, 1993

The mIning operations of Bougainville Copper Pty. Limited are located at Panguna on the Island of Bougainville which is part of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.C.R.A. Exploration Pty. Limited first established mineralization in the Panguna area in 1964. Exploration work since then has established ore reserves estimated to be 900,000,000 long tons of ore assaying 0·48 per cent copper and 0·36 dwt/ton gold. An economic feasibility study completed in July, 1969 enabled a decision to be made to proceed with a major mining operation. The ore will be mined by open cut methods and will be treated in a conventional concentrator with a nominal capacity of 90,000 short tons/day. The concentrate will be pnmped as a slurry through a 16 mile long pipeline to a port established on the east coast where it will be filtered and dried ready for export. Other supporting facilities for the mine include two towns, a 135 MW steam power station, and access roads.

Jan 1, 1971

The environment has emerged as a permanent component of Australia's socio-political context, intricately linked with personal and future security.The implication of this powerful new influence on the Australian Minerals and Energy Industry sector has been a plunging public image.

Jan 1, 1993

Ok Tedi Mining Limited commenced construction in mid-1981 of facilities and infrastructure to mine and process gold ore at Mt Fubilan in Papua ew Guinea. Production ofgold began more or less on schedule in mid-1984 although design capacity is yet to be achieved. Due to geotechnical problems, two important items of infrastructure, hydropower and permanent tailings disposal, are not yet in place. Current low metal prices make it likely that copper facilities will be postponed.The deposit compriscs a leached gold capping overlying copper sulphide porphyry mineralisation containing significant gold and molybdenum. Mining is by open pit methods. The soft leached capping gold ore is ripped and dozed, loaded by hydraulic shovel and trucked to a dump pocket. After passing a large semi-autogenous mill of nominal capacity of I, I00 tonnes per hour, the ore is treated by the carbon-inpulp process, with a gravity circuit to recover coarse gold. The final product is 12 kg dore bullion bars.At present, all tailings are detoxified with hydrogen peroxide; after cycloning, the coarse fraction is stored, and the slime fraction discharged into the river system; expected environmental impact is acceptable. Investigations for a suitable dam site for a permanent tailings system are still underway.Peak 'I. hour power demand for Stage I is 17 MW, presently supplied by a diesel alternator power station and a 2 MW mini hydropower plant.Initial access to the base camp at Tabubil was only by air. Eventually a road was pushed through 134 km from the river port at Kiunga (where port facilities have been constructed) and a further 23 km to Mt Fubilan.Roads are constructed of compacted gravel and crushed limestone generally underlain by geofabric. Eight major steel bridges were built.The town of Tabubil has been established, including housing, airport, shops, offices, schools and all facilities.Environmental studies have been extensive and a detailed monitoring program is maintained. Ok Tedi Mining Limited is making considerable efforts to train Papua New Guineans and to foster local business.

Jan 1, 1985

By S C. Dominy

Gravity amenable gold ores are those that after comminution produce liberated particles, composites and/or carriers that can be recovered by gravity separation means. Recovery depends upon mineralisation type and the comminution and concentration method used. Any in situ ore with more than 20 per cent of gold greater than 100 µm in size is likely to have a strong gravity recoverable component. A less traditional approach is where the gold is sulfide-locked and the gold carrier plus any liberated gold is recovered via continuous gravity recovery following fine crushing. Specific tests are undertaken to determine the level of gravity amenable gold within a deposit. The principal methodology is the gravity recoverable gold (GRG) test, which consists of three sequential liberation and recovery stages. For continuous gravity recovery (CGR), the sample is fed over a laboratory Wilfley table to simulate continuous recovery of the gold. Tails from the feed can be progressively re-ground and re-tabled to develop a grade-recovery curve. Primary geology and gold particle size-distribution have a strong effect on the mass of sample required to provide representative results for both tests. Where low-grade ore contains very coarse gold, substantially larger sample masses are required. Experience has shown that GRG and CGR values can vary throughout an orebody, particularly within different geological-grade domains. A testing regime must consider sample frequency and support.

Sep 5, 2011

By A K. B Chigwada

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

Apr 16, 2024

By R A. Pax, B Cornish

"Although it is well known and easily experienced that the feed size distribution influences the throughput and stability of operation of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill, the details are poorly understood since it is often only the input and output measurements that are used to identify unfavourable in-mill conditions. Load cells and power monitoring are sometimes used but are generally poor indicators of the mechanisms that lead to such unwanted conditions.At the MMG Century operation a 12-microphone array around the SAG mill using non-contact acoustic measurement methodology has been used to diagnose the in-mill conditions to facilitate improved throughput and stability of operation. Use of acoustic measurement and control has provided a demonstrated increased throughput of at least 20 per cent as well as improved stabilisation of the mill. Since the information derived from the acoustic noise from a mill allows discrimination of the behaviour of the steel balls and the rock, a number of in-mill conditions can be identified with signals that include toe and shoulder angles, water holdup and the ball to rock ratio.Feed size variations, measured online with an imaging system, have been used to determine their effect on the internal charge behaviour. It has been found that circumferential segregation of steel balls and rock occurs as well as poor mixing of large rocks. Both of these effects are not conducive to optimal breakage rates of different size fractions. Longitudinal segregation effects also occur. This paper presents and discusses these results and illustrates how the new acoustic knowledge can be used to manage and improve mill operation and stability.Citation:Pax, R and Cornish, B, 2016. Understanding Size Effects of Semi-autogenous Grinding (SAG) Mill Operation as a Pathway to Solving Feed Disturbances - Case Study using the MMG Century SAG Mill, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2016, pp 321–330 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Oct 10, 2016

The revival of the mining industry at Captain's Flat after a long period of years of inactivity has attracted attention to the importance of the ore-deposits of that field as potential sources of supply of lead and zinc. Mindful of the necessity for taking stock of the State's mineral resources, the Department of Mines of New South Wales as part of its programme of geological investigation, carried out a survey of the oredeposits and associated country rocks during 1938 and 1940.Surface geology was mapped in detail and all available exposures were examined and logged. Unfortunately, and this condition militates against the formulation of conclusions because of insufficiem.t data, some of the older workings, notably in Keating's Section, were inaccessible and the logging of levels and stopes is by no means as complete as could be desired. However, with the progress of development and exploration, further information of geological value will come to hand for incorporation in supplementary reports. It may be expected that, under such circumstances, modification of certain statements herein expressed may be necessary but it is not anticipated that any vital alteration will be occasioned.Within the State of, New South Wales, Captain's Flat ranks second to Broken Hill as a pqtem.tial producer of lead and zinc. In addition, large quantities of iron pyrites are available for the manufacture of sulphuric acid which finds application in the superphosphate industry.The mines are now controlled by an operating company known as Lake George Mines, Ltd., incorporated in New South Wales, the parent organisation being the Lake George Mining Gorporation Ltd., registered in London.Over £600,000 has been spent by the Company in exploration, mine development, surface plant, housing and water 'conservation, while the State' Government constructed a branch railway from Bungendore at a cost of £200,000. The various activities consequent upon these development and construction programmes and the prospect of employment in the industry has led to a rapid increase in the population of the township.The State, generally, has benefited to the extent of a substantial contribution to the relief of the unemployment problem, and it is hoped that reasonable permanency will be assured to some hundreds of workers for many years.

Jan 1, 1941

By T McLeod, B Catto

AngloGold Ashanti Australia’s (AGAA) Tropicana gold mine (TGM) geology department seized the rare opportunity of building a new geology department for a new operation: the philosophy, the people and the processes. Not satisfied with the status quo, or simply repeating what was familiar and already known, the vision was for an innovative, agile, multidiscipline, high performance team, capable of delivering on expectations.To achieve this, the geology department has operationalised key components of human resource management (HRM).This paper describes the operational design and implementation of key HRM components: job analysis, organisational design and organisational development. The benefits of this approach are presented in terms of engagement and autonomy in roles, opportunity for role variety and flexibility of the organisational structure. The result is a geology department that provides the functions of mine geology, resource development, regional exploration, survey, data management, geographic information systems (GIS), resource modelling, scheduling, sample preparation, resource coordination and hydrogeology, and even geotechnical engineering for a year!Considerations for application in other geology departments are presented in terms of fundamental requirements and lessons learnt. Fundamental requirements for success have been the sustained support of the general manager, valuing the scrutiny that comes with continuous improvement, high quality HRM systems and tools within the organisation, and a committed leadership group within the department. One of the most important lessons learnt is that a robust process of ‘induction to role’ is critical – the process of familiarising new starters with who we are and the way we work.CITATION:Catto, B and McLeod, T, 2017. Rewriting the rule book – geology organisational design, in Proceedings Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017, pp 137–142 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 20, 2017

By P Breuer, A Simons

The sulfidisation, acidification, recycle and thickening (SART) process is currently being used at NewcrestÆs Telfer Gold Mine to recover cyanide and copper from the cyanidation tails of the pyrite concentrate carbon-in-leach (CIL) process. While the process has been effective at attaining high recoveries of cyanide and copper, the Telfer SART plant has experienced higher than expected sulfide additions to achieve these recoveries. This paper details the results of surveys on the Telfer SART plant, which show that residence time appears to be causing the high sulfide consumptions. The paper also details the results of laboratory scale experiments which confirm the observed residence time impact during the acidified stage of SART.CITATION:Simons, A and Breuer, P, 2013. The impact of residence time on copper recovery in Telfer Gold MineÆs cyanide recycling process, in Proceedings World Gold 2013 , pp 189-196 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013