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Aspects of the formation, decomposition and acid solubility of zinc ferrite were examined to find potential ways of increasing the recovery of zinc from a calcination process of mineral concentrates. Ferrite can begin to form within 2 hours at 450¦C. while complete reaction can occur after 35 minutes at 700¦C. The nature of the starting materials has a pronounced effect on the rate of formation and below 700¦C. ZnSO4 and Fe2O3 proved to be the least reactive of the materials investigated. It is possible that iron in a mineral admixed h sphalerite can be converted to a relatively inactive form, however, it does not seem possible to prevent zince f formation when iron is in the sphalerite lattice. At the two temperatures examined, 650¦C. and 700¦C, the presence of SO2 in the atmosphere accelerate .e formation of ferrite. Prolonged exposure to such atmospheres, however, caused the ferrite to decompose to ZnSO4 and Fe203. The optimum temperature for decomposition was 650¦C. and it was virtually complete within 2 hours in an atmosphere of 10% SO2 in air. Zinc ferrite was also decomposed by CO at low concentrations, and by heating with limestone at 1000¦C. for at least 2 hours. The solubility of zinc ferrite in acid was influenced by the starting materials used. As both the reaction temperature and the time at temperature increased the acid solubility decreased. The acid solubility was a minimum when the ___i_.. n - I -r~...................c -..... F, fe..i+e --A frn... A01- +^ Z(lo/

Jan 1, 1970

By Gibson G, Jaques L

The Broken Hill Exploration Initiative (BHEI) is a collaborative venture between the Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), Mines and Energy South Australia (MESA) and the New South Wales Department of Mineral Resources (NSWDMR) to provide a new generation of geoscientific information to promote and enhance the exploration for, and discovery of, new deposits in the Broken Hill region. The area under investigation (Figure 1) exceeds 150 000 square kilometres on either side of the NSW-SA border and is centred on the city of Broken Hill. N.T. I I OL n. WA 8A I Maw. AC,7 !ii oFCU vlc~ ~T. Fia I - Nlap showing the 150 000 square kilometre regwa,. i.i lcr investigation by the Broken HiII Exploration Initiauvr highlighted on the map of Australia. A major impediment to the exploration for, and to the understanding of, the genesis of the world-class Broken Hill Pb-Ag-Zn deposit is the structural and metamorphic complexit\ of the region. Important objectives of the BHEI are therefore: I. the definition of the three-dimensional structure of the province, 2. the deformation history, and 3. the stratigraphic and age relationships of the rock units. Early discussions between the BHEI partners and industry scientists revealed that new geophysical surveys would be a key requirement to help advance the understanding of the province, especially a contiguous high resolution airborne geophysical dataset covering both outcrop and areas of shallow surficial cover. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the new high resolution airborne geophysical data and to discuss their interpretation and potential for enhancing the knowledge of the Willyama Supergroup geology.

Jan 1, 1997

In Australia a social impact assessment (SIA) is generally required prior to the approval of a mineral resource extraction or processing projects as a part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. In recent years there has been increased attention on the adequacy of the SIA process applied in major project assessment. Most applications have focused on the impact identification process with little attempt given to the community negotiating power over how impacts will be addressed. The impact assessment tends to occur at a single point in time, with no subsequent re-evaluation or ongoing social impact management and monitoring process. The assessments rarely specify how responsibilities for impacts on communities may be apportioned between project proponents and government, and have been inadequate in dealing with cumulative project impacts. In Queensland, concern about these shortfalls have led to the release of the Sustainable Resource Communities Policy 2008 and requirements for social impact management plans (SIMP) to be developed for each resource development in the State. In this paper a 'pressure-state-response' approach to impact assessment is used to develop an 'impact-response-monitoring-evaluation' (IRME) framework that can be applied to ongoing evaluation and monitoring of social impacts. The framework is applied to coal resource developments in the northern Bowen Basin in Queensland to identify core requirements in a SIMP. The IRME framework is flexible enough to be implemented at various spatial and time scales, for the wellbeing of the local and regional mining and non-mining communities in Australia. The framework can be further examined in other mine developments and could be integrated with the existing mining or environmental protection acts.

Jun 1, 2010

By D Laurence

Australians are at the forefront of exporting their mining expertise in a number of areas. Minerals education is just one example. The growing economies of Southeast Asia host some of the most prospective mineral fields in the world. Laos for example, hosts the world class Sepon and Phu Kham copper-gold deposits. The Philippines has the fifth largest global mineral resource inventory. These and other countries in the region lack the mining engineers, geologists and metallurgists required by international mining companies to ensure their operations are sustainable. This paper describes the author’s experience in working with mining schools in Southeast Asia and specifically the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Various strategies to ensure sustainability and lessons learnt are presented.

Nov 22, 2011

By A Datar, D Mulligan

The extractive phase of broad-scale mining can have major impacts on landscapes and associated ecosystems. Post-mining ecological rehabilitation typically starts with reconstructing topography. A fairly common industry practice has been to use landform elements such as plateaus, terraces, and gentle slopes for stabilisation purposes. However, this approach can lead to the generation of fairly uniform landforms that do not necessarily reflect natural ecosystems. Previous research in undisturbed and agricultural landscapes shows that ecological attributes and diversity in microclimates is positively correlated with landform heterogeneity. An objective of this study was to investigate if those findings are still valid in post-mining rehabilitating landscapes on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia. We investigated the relationship between landform heterogeneity and status of ecological recovery. The landform heterogeneity is measured through variance in three landform characteristics (relief, slope, aspect) using remote-sensing data and the status of ecological recovery is represented by ecological indicators measured through field surveys. The results indicate strong correlations between landform heterogeneity indices and native vegetation species richness with sensitivity to the spatial scale of investigation. It is recognised that climate, substrate and rehabilitation practices act as primary drivers of rehabilitation success. However, the results indicate that, in some examples, landform heterogeneity (heterogeneity in relief and slope angles) contributes up to 30 to 50?per?cent of the variance in native vegetation species richness. While the primary drivers of ecological recovery are difficult to control over extensive areas and extended time periods, landform heterogeneity provides a tool to indirectly control the micro-environmental parameters to improve ecological recovery. Reducing the uncertainties in the choice of ecological and landform indices and the degree of landform heterogeneity suitable for particular rehabilitating landscapes would be site specific. The introduction of desired landform heterogeneity may provide a very effective tool for significant improvement in ecological rehabilitation across broad-scale post-mine landscapes, an outcome of benefit to industry, government and local communities.CITATION:Datar, A and Mulligan,?D,?2014. Do we need to change the way we set up the stage?, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2014 , pp 29–46 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 16, 2014

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to address this yearÆs New Zealand Minerals Conference.   As you have already heard from the Associate Minister of Energy, the Government believes that the minerals industry is an important part of our economy. In particular, our coal and lignite resources have the potential to play an important role in New ZealandÆs energy sector as both a primary fuel and as a means to produce electricity.   The Government has taken a keen interest in the primary fuel sector given the declining reserves of natural gas sector. The energy sector is a key driver of economic growth and it is therefore critical that we have a reliable supply of primary fuel as part of the energy mix.   In a global sense, New Zealand is like many other countries regarding the need to secure energy for the future. Natural gas will be a key bridging fuel in the transition from an energy market based on fossil fuels to one based on renewables over the next century.   However, natural gas as a solution to this energy transition has some pragmatic limitations for New Zealand. There is uncertainty as to when new domestic reserves of gas can be discovered and developed. And the alternative of imported LNG poses a number of costs and risks to the economy.   New ZealandÆs coal resources are vast-estimated to be enough to last hundreds of years at the current rate of extraction. The main question is can extraction be increased and sustained to meet the demand of domestic power producers and at the same time meet commitments to lucrative international markets?   At this point it is appropriate for me to place coal into context with Governments overarching policy objectives for energy. The Government has stated objectives for the energy sector emphasising energy efficiency and an increased focus of renewable energy, while still ensuring security of supply and certainty as to energy costs and risk. Coal certainly can make a contribution to these objectives going forward.

Jan 1, 2005

By S N. Nyoni, K C. Corin, C T. O’Connor

Considering future water scenarios, as influenced by the increasing scarcity of water and the move towards sustainable process engineering etc, the closed water circuit becomes an important point of study in metallurgical operations, such as in milling and flotation. However, a deterrent in the use of recycled process water is often a lack of understanding of the effects of the accumulation of dissolved ions and other process chemicals. Recovery of the valuable minerals may be impacted by the concomitant complex mineral-pulp chemistry interactions. Literature indicates that these interactions are not necessarily antagonistic to process outcomes. Wet milling using steel media results in the dissolution of Fe from the media, the rate of which is dependent, inter alia, on the type of media and the chemical conditions of the aqueous environment in the mill. The pulp-phase interactions of dissolved ions with sulfide minerals may result in significant changes to the chemical conditions in the mill, which may subsequently impact negatively on the flotation recoveries. To understand the effect of these interactions in the context of the processing of sulfide minerals, this study seeks to consider the effect of three factors, viz mineral type – pyrite (Py) and galena (Gn) -, milling media of different compositions – forged steel (FS), 21 per cent high chrome and ceramic media -, and water chemistry, viz, deionised water (DI) and synthetic plant water (SPW). Ceramic media and galena are used for the respective control cases where the milling media and sulfide mineral contribute no Fe species. Using DI as a control case, a high ionic strength case is used to mimic the changes in water chemistry for a closed water circuit. Batch flotation tests are used as a diagnostic tool to determine the effects of these media-water-mineral interactions to investigate correlations between the chemical reactions occurring and chemical species present during the milling process and the ultimate flotation performance.

Aug 24, 2022

By R Valenta, A Littleboy

Geological heterogeneity is one dimension of complexity in mining. Significant effort is put into developing an understanding of this complexity so it can be used in resource estimation, mine planning and economic modelling. However, over the decadal lifespan of a mining venture, many other dimensions add to the complexity of a mining operation. These include: technological evolution, market fluctuations; investor confidence; social norms; local expectations; and ecosystem functionality. As with geology, these factors are all heterogeneous, uncertain, time varying and represented through sparse and incomplete datasets. Recent work (Valenta et al) is beginning to show us how these risks correlate in different global settings. By analysing data relating to known, but as yet undeveloped copper deposits, this work (the complex ore body database) is demonstrating that it is the combination of issues (both price sensitive and non price-sensitive) that determine the viability of a deposit for extraction in the 21st century.CITATION: Littleboy, A, Plint, N and Valenta, R, 2018. Mining as a complex system: do we need a new model?, in Proceedings Complex Orebodies Conference 2018, pp 41–43 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 21, 2018

S. A. Tomich (Consulting Geologist, Perth) : I would like to commend Mr. Haycraft on his presentation on the economic geology of the North End of Kalgoorlie. This is an intriguing area which is in the Kalgoorlie field but not of it, inasmuch as it is separated spatially from the main Golden Mile by the Golden Pike Fault. Mr. Haycraft has stressed the differences-the mineralogical and structural differences of economic significance between the two areas.I would like to ask whether he is satisfied that the lithological sequence in the North End is the duplicate of that in the main Golden Mile area irrespective of the postulated effects of erosion, and more specifically whether there is any chance that the quartz-dolerite-greenstone of the North End may be in any way dissimilar from the quartz-dolerite-greenstoneof the Golden Mile which is tellurude bearing.J. A. Haycraft: In relating the quartz-dolerite in the Hannan's North-Mount Charlotte area back to the Golden Mile, we find some quite close similarities. Although the rocks are similar they are not necessarily one and the same.At Mount Charlotte we have three varieties of dolerite- a coarse-grained gabbroic dolerite on the eastern side of the orebody, the host rock medium grained and on the western side, a fine grained dolerite. Further west we have an amphibolitic variety of quartz dolerite.Recent drilling south of the Golden Pike fault on the Enterprise No. 20 level had indicated a remarkably similar sequence of rocks. We drilled west through a wide section of medium grained rocks into a fine grained rock and then into amphibolitic quartz dolerite before intersecting the Golden Pike fault. Williamstown dolerite was located west...

Jan 1, 1965

By P Nissen, T Jenke, M Ralph, M Cattani, M Quinlan

The West Australian Government hold an annual ‘Mines Safety Roadshow’ around the State’s regions and the capital city, Perth. Each year presenters provide an update on legislation and safetyrelated themes. A recurring theme is the mining industry fatality rate. Professor Michael Quinlan’s ‘Ten Pathways to Death and Disaster’ (Quinlan, 2014) has been referenced regularly to assist in structuring workshops and conversations concerning fatality prevention in the mining industry. The ‘Ten Pathways’ are the outcome of an analysis of fatal injuries in the mining industry, which identified a series of common themes to the fatalities: Pathway 1: Design, engineering, technical and maintenance flaws. Pathway 2: Prior warnings or causes for alarm ignored. Pathway 3: Failures in risk assessment. Pathway 4: Failures in management systems and hazard management plans. Pathway 5: Failures in auditing. Pathway 6: Economic pressures compromising safety. Pathway 7: Failures in regulatory oversight and inspection. Pathway 8: Worker and others expressing concern prior to the incident. Pathway 9: Poor management – worker communication and trust. Pathway 10: Emergency and rescue resources and procedures. To determine a fatality risk profile we asked participants at the Mines Safety Roadshows to indicate their perception of their employer’s performance in each of the Ten Pathways. We administered the questionnaire at the Mines Safety Roadshows in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023. In this paper, we report on the results of the questionnaires, and suggest how organisations can improve their fatality risk score.

Apr 16, 2024

By R-H Yoon

The thin film pressure balance (TFPB) technique was used to measure the kinetics of thinning of single foam films and disjoining pressures in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and electrolyte (NaCl). The results were analysed in view of the Reynolds equation to determine the role of surface forces in film thinning. It was found that film thinning is controlled by surface forces at thicknesses below approximately 200 nm. It was also found that hydrophobic force plays an important role particularly at low SDS and NaCl concentrations. The values of the hydrophobic force constant (K232) estimated from the film thinning experiments were used to predict the disjoining pressure isotherm using the extended DLVO theory, which were found to be in excellent agreement with experiment. The TFPB technique was also used to measure the equilibrium thicknesses (He) of the foam films stabilised by a non-ionic surfactant, n-octanol, in the presence of NaCl. At a given ionic strength, He increased noticeably with increasing octanol concentration at very low concentrations. This observation suggests that hydrophobic force is at its maximum level in the absence of surfactant and decreases with increasing surfactant concentration. The results obtained with the single foam films were used to explain the stability of the three-dimensional foams.

Jan 1, 2005

By G R. Hancock, J B. C Lowry, T J. Coulthard

A reconstructed landscape may exert long-term influences on its surrounds and behave in ways that may not be predictable given uncertainties regarding climate, soil and vegetation interactions (Evans, 2000). In recent years, computer-based landscape evolution models (LEM) have been used to assess potential and existing mining landscapes and their long-term geomorphic behaviour (Hancock et al, 2007; Hancock, Lowry and Coulthard, 2015; Tucker and Hancock, 2010).In this paper, we focus on the evolution of post-mining landforms, which are designed to include burial or encapsulation of mine-impacted areas and materials, including tailings, drains, spoil tips and other industrial architecture (Figure 1). At the Ranger Uranium mine in the Northern Territory of Australia, low-grade uranium ore, tailings, brines and other mine wastes will be buried at depth in the areas of the former pits and tailings storage facilities.The use of LEMs to predict long-term landscape evolution has several issues. These include that model predictions are based on the calibration and parameterisation of the model carried out using values determined from present day, or recent surface conditions. Furthermore, there is also the question as to how subtle perturbations or roughness on the DEM surface can produce alternative model results by randomly varying the elevations of the DEM surface.In this study we examine the effect on sediment transport rates and geomorphology for a proposed rehabilitated landform using multiple landscape realisations with increasing magnitudes of random changes in the DEM using the SIBERIA LEM (Willgoose, Bras and Rodriguez-Iturbe, 1991).CITATION:Hancock, G R, Coulthard, T J and Lowry, J B C, 2016. Use of landform evolution models to assess uncertainty in long-term evolution of post-mining landscapes, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference, pp 67–70 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 28, 2016

By N McIntyre, J Smart, J Ossa-Moreno, D Rivera

Hydro-economics is a field of research that analyses water resources from a multi-disciplinary approach (Harou et al., 2009). These models generally include one component that describes the water resources of the catchment being analysed (e.g. the physical behaviour of water), an economic component that describes users’ water demand function (changes of willingness to pay relative to availability) and a coupling methodology. These models go beyond calculating cash flows for water investments and analyse the economic behaviour of users when facing water shortages or surplus. In other words, water demand curves are defined for each water user (e.g. urban, agriculture, mining, environmental and hydropower), and they are used to retrofit the water resources component. As a result, the model approximates the catchment scale response to droughts and wet periods, including the effects of water markets, restrictions, recycling, water sharing and any cooperative efforts by users to adjust to changing climate conditions.These models are usually focused on agriculture and urban users, the main water consumers in most catchments, but they have sometimes included environmental, industrial and hydropower users (Bekchanov, Sood, & Jeuland, 2015). Nevertheless, although a relevant user of water in several catchments, the mining industry has been rarely included. This paper is part of an ongoing project that addresses this gap by developing a hydro-economic model in the upper section of the Aconcagua River in Chile. The aim of the paper is to analyse the sensitivity of the outputs of the model to changes in input data, both hydrological and economic, and to develop insight on usefulness of such models for reducing water conflicts in mining regions.CITATION:Ossa-Moreno, J, McIntyre, N, Smart, J and Rivera, D, 2018. Sensitivity of a hydro-economic model in a mining region to changes in hydrological and economic inputs, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2018, pp 52–55 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 25, 2018

By I Levy

At our Monkland Mine at Gympie, we operate a deep, narrow vein gold mine using hand held equipment, rail mounted haulage and narrow shafts. This is in many respects the old-fashioned way and is well suited most of the orebody geometry exposed to-date. We have also commenced some long hole stoping and we use alimaks for some jobs. The heart of our particular mining style is the employment and retention of experienced miners with remuneration based on productivity. We do our planning/monitoring/supervision down to the level of daily individual productivity. In focussing on cycles per se, we have chosen not to talk about drill and blast cycles or cycles for mine development, stope preparation or drawdown and haulage. Instead we have stepped right back from the operation as presently run and have adopted a very broad view of the mining cycle. We will in this presentation intertwine the ebb and flow of, exploration, project sponsorship, development, production and cash returns to owners. The time line considered spans both history and predicted future.

Jan 1, 1998

By M Grigorescu, S Crimp, J H. Hodgkinson, P Kokic, W Jin

Mines are typically located in remote, inhospitable locations and movement of materials between site, processor and port are often at risk from extreme weather events. Mining companies have recorded multiple supply chain, production and logistics delays caused by climatic events. Recent analyses of extreme temperature and rainfall events (90th and 99th percentile values) for 1960 to 1985 and 1986 highlighted regionalised increases in the frequency and intensity of extremes. The trajectory of this change is likely to be maintained (IPCC, 2014) in regions where increases have occurred historically, suggesting that some parts of the industry may be faced with management challenges beyond current experience (Hodgkinson et al, 2010; Loechel, Hodgkinson and Moffat, 2012). Reliance on historical data to plan for extremes (such as scheduling production downtime to reduce impact) will become increasingly ineffective as the data become less representative of future conditions. Importantly, mine site remediation and closure management need to consider the future climate to ensure rehabilitation is sustainable under changing conditions.Vulnerability assessments and risk-reducing adaptation will become more common as the industry reaches to secure both a mine’s longevity and the industry’s reputation as shareholders and clients become less tolerant of repeated or prolonged interruptions (Hodgkinson, Hobday and Pinkard, 2014). Climate-resilient new mines may be planned using site planning tools combined with knowledge of future climate scenarios. Scenario tools are valuable for developing a gated risk management approach to reducing climate-risk during a mine’s life, through to the rehabilitation process and for managing care and maintenance or closed mines.CITATION:Hodgkinson, J H, Crimp, S, Jin, W, Kokic, P and Grigorescu, M, 2016. Life-of-mine planning tools for a changing climate – intuitive, interrogative, iterative, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference, pp 71–74 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 28, 2016

By Y Tsukurimichi, D Asahina, T Endo, T Takemura

Scientific knowledge of Mars’ surface morphology and internal geological structure has been accumulated through satellite imagery and numerical topographic data using remote sensing technology, as well as seismic surveys by the on-site lander. Recent studies show that Marsquakes could be caused by the release of strain energy generated by the contraction of Mars. In particular, Marsquakes occur around the graben where many faults are existed and formed regularly spaced patterns. This implies that Marsquakes occur when the stress field of the Martian crust is an extension condition, and normal faults appear on the surface. We focus on the linear relationship between the fault spacing and the thickness of the mechanical layer as an approach to studying the internal structure from satellite images. Mechanical layer is a layer that composes of the same mechanical properties and is mainly bounded by lithology (Narr, 1991; Gross, 1993). The linear relationship between the thickness of the mechanical layer and the joint spacing has been studied and its slope is called the Fracture-Spacing Index (FSI) (Narr and Suppe, 1991). Soliva, Benedicto and Maerten (2006) showed that the stress drop zone (stress shadow) due to the fault activities affects the fault spacing. Figure 1 shows the approach used to estimate the thickness of the mechanical layer from the fault spacing on Mars. This paper aims to better understand the internal mechanical structure of Mars estimated by the geometrical pattern of faults on the Martian surface. We report the initial studies of this work. The lab-scale physical experiments and numerical experiments were presented to demonstrate the relationship between the thickness of the mechanical layer and the geometric pattern of fractures

Nov 29, 2022

By A Cornelius, P Connor, S Fraser

Iron ore mining is a major source of export income for Australia. However with the decreasing reserves of high-grade, low-phosphorus hematite ore, there is mounting pressure to provide consistent mineralogical ore grade. Enhanced 3D characterisation and modelling are crucial to respond to these exigent requirements. To tackle this problem a revolutionary mine-based, imaging system (based on Visible Near Infrared û Short Wave Infrared reflectance spectroscopy û VNIR-SWIR) has been developed. This innovative, CSIRO-built prototype produces mineralogical maps that will have a major impact on ore grade characterisation. Australian iron ore companies will benefit immensely by pioneering this emerging and unique mining technology. The significance of VNIR-SWIR reflectance spectroscopy is well demonstrated with field portable spectrometers and airborne hyperspectral systems. At the mine-scale level, this newly developed imaging system will allow accurate and objective mineralogical mapping of mine faces and benches with very closely spaced sampling. These spectral mineral maps will improve deposit delineation and bring accurate and objective ore grade characterisation that will minimise drilling and enhance ore recovery. This will in turn lead to cost saving and better long-term block model planning. This system will also improve safety for mine geologists in providing mineralogical information at a distance, avoiding the need for any close contact with the mine face. The mine imaging concept is a logical response to the industry need for automatic and objective tools for sustainable and future mining practices.

Jan 1, 2002

By G K. N Subasinghe

"In the design and operation of mineral processing plants, knowledge of the variability of ore properties and that of the expected metallurgical performance within the orebody is of great importance in order to avoid both production constraints due to inadequate design and less than expected metallurgical performance during operation. Of the many properties that determine the performance of downstream separation processes, such as flotation, gravity separation and leaching etc the liberation characteristics are of primary importance.Current methods of evaluating liberation characteristics of ores such as the use of Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA) and QEMSCAN techniques are expensive and suffer from the drawback that these tests are performed on comminuted particles at a given grind size and/or samples of product streams. This problem could be overcome by developing predictive models of liberation that can predict the grade distribution of comminuted products at any grind size based on texture of the parent rock. This paper discusses a procedure that has been developed to predict liberation using information obtained from a sample of the parent rock such as drill core, based on Barbery’s liberation models. The required characteristic statistical functions have been evaluated from image analysis techniques using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the parent rock and narrowly sized comminuted particles. Such information can then be used in a predictive model to predict or explain the variability of metallurgical performance at various grind sizes used in future operating plants. The model will predict not only the valuable mineral liberation but also gangue liberation, which will be useful to those who are looking to remove liberated gangue from comminution circuits.CITATION:Subasinghe, G K N, and Dunne, R, 2016. Predictive Model of Mineral Liberation for Geometallurgical Applications, in Proceedings The Third AusIMM International Geometallurgy Conference (GeoMet) 2016, pp 347–350 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jun 15, 2016

Electronic Detonators have made significant strides over the last few years, both in quality of product and performance in different blast applications. The precision and flexibility of the SMARTDET units provides the mines with a powerful means of controlling blast results, giving both cost and productivity improvements. The SMARTDET Electronic Detonator System, robust and easy to use, has been successfully deployed over the last 18 months in improving mine productivity and creating safer working conditions in both quarrying and long-hole stoping. The key to the improvements has been the precision and flexibility of the electronic timing, and the ability of the mine personnel to grasp the concept quickly and use it effectively.

Jan 1, 1999

By B Bradák, D Asahina, S Saydam, S Akdag

Human exploration of Mars has been on the horizon of scientific goals for decades now, and as part of the objectives of human missions to various planets, one of the possible goals is opening new economic frontiers by the potential extraction and utilisation of resources, eg mining minerals and using surface regolith (Neukart, 2024). A comprehensive understanding of surface morphology, lithostratigraphy, basic structural geology, and civil engineering technology is essential to conduct mining operations for resource extraction on extraterrestrial planets. For instance, proper assessment of the risks associated with excavation and infrastructure construction under unique environments such as low gravity, surface irregularities, and the presence of regolith is fundamental. Such knowledge has been accumulated through satellite imagery and numerical topographic data using remote sensing technology, as well as seismic surveys by the on-site lander (Knapmeyer- Edrun et al, 2021; Banerdt et al, 2020; Giardini et al, 2020). Recent studies show that Marsquakes could be caused by the release of strain energy generated by the contraction of Mars. In particular, Marsquakes occur around the graben where many faults exist and form regularly spaced patterns. This implies that Marsquakes occur when the stress field of the Martian crust is an extension condition, and normal faults appear on the surface. In this study, we focus on so-called graben structures, one of Mars’s common tectonic structures (Plescia, 1991; Banerdt et al, 1992; Hoogenboom Hagen, 2014). The study aims to provide additional information about the tectonic environment during the formation of such features and, in addition, the internal mechanical-rheological structure of Mars, revealed by the geometrical pattern of faults modelled and simulated in a laboratory environment.

Sep 1, 2024