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By Cutler JL

At the present stage of the Rundle oil shale project planning, with depressed world oil prices, early development of the resource is unlikely. However, this postponement is being used to carry out technical studies required to evaluate alternative rehabilitation strategies and establish a sound environmental planning basis. Major technical data from the following studies are reviewed: Resource: - mine planning; material characterisation; retorting; geology; Environmental: - meteorology; surface water management; laboratory and field leachates; revegetation; waste characterisation; hydraulic and chemical modelling; dust suppression; plant/water interactions; and impact evaluation. These studies have shown that topsoil replacement, seeding mixtures, fertilizer application rates, subsoil quality and handling, waste pile slope and most importantly soil water storage are key factors in successful rehabilitation.

Jan 1, 1987

The operators of the iron ore railroads in the Pilbara faced problems of excessive wear between rail and wheels as the tonnage hauled increased in the early 1970's. Joint research projects were begun between Hamersley Iron, Mt Newman Mining and the BHP Melbourne Research Laboratories to study these problems and recommend solutions. The particular problems of wheel rail interaction were solved by asymmetrical profile grinding of the rail and modifications to the machining of the wheels. Rail materials were improved through increasing yield strengths by alloying and by heat treatment. Wheel materials were improved by alloying. The economic benefits of these improvements have been demonstrated by much reduced re-rail requirements and other reduced maintenance costs.

Jan 1, 1986

By Deutsch G. P

The output of an underground mine often depends entirely on the mine winding system. -Decisions made--at the design stage affect the economy and operation'of the mine'.througb -its entire life. A modern mine winding installation is an integrated system and its design requires a multidisciplinary approach including expertise in the-materials handling, mining, mechanical, civil, structural, electrical and control engineering fields. The paper-sets out the elements of typical mine wind- ing systems-and describes some of the more important decisions which must be made during the planning and design process, It is no longer.adequate to. base the choice of a system on the pre- ferences and experiences of individuals. Major Australian winding install- ations are usually designed on the basis of overseas experience and some of the detail design is often carried, out overseas. Differences in basic design criteria occur from country to

Jan 1, 1973

By D Langberg, R Taylor

Many metallurgical operations produce fine residues and dusts as by-products which can be difficult to handle and offer little direct financial incentive to treat. There is a growing imperative to deal with these materials particularly since land fill is fast becoming an uncertain long term solution. One possible means of treatment is to extract the valuable metals while fusing the remainder into a slag. In this way valuable metal components of the material can be recovered and the less valuable components be converted into useful products, eg cements and inorganic polymers which have a high environmental stability and a growing market. The aim of this project is to establish solids injection and fusion in a slag bath as a viable method of treating industrial wastes and residues. The benefits of this approach are expected to be: the ability to treat a wide range of organic and inorganic residue materials, ease of recovery of volatile and valuable elements and the production of final materials which could be used in other industries. In ongoing experimental work at the CSIRO Minerals a 250 kg slag bath reactor has been used to test the injection of Paragoethite residue into an iron silicate based slag. An experimental apparatus has been designed and commissioned to pneumatically inject solid material at feed rates of up to 80 kg/hour. The capture efficiency of injected solids by the slag bath was calculated by monitoring the composition of the slag. Using this method of treatment, the zinc contained in the residue can be recovered as a fume by varying the oxidation state of the slag. Other valuable elements could be recovered by creating a matte or metal phase in the reactor with the final material being used in the production of cement. A capture efficiency of injected solid paragoethite particles in the slag bath of up to 97 per cent was achieved. Under the conditions of the experimental work capture efficiency was found to be independent of injection velocity and slag depth. The rate of fuming during injection was found to increase slightly with injection velocity and was independent of slag depth.

Jan 1, 2002

Over the past 18 months the De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd operations have made a concerted effort to move away from using the traditional shock tube initiating systems. These systems are being systematically replaced by the use of electronic delay detonators (EDD). Various trials were conducted in both host rock and kimberlite rock masses to improve tunnel advance as well as to optimise delay timing during trough openings (Ngoma et al, 1999; Mohle, 1999; Baltus, 2000). The high cost of EDDÆs, when compared with traditional initiation systems, led to a number of detailed studies being conducted on the mines where EDDÆs were being used. These studies aimed to quantify the additional benefits when blasting with electronic detonators. The studies showed that the change was justified on the basis of increased quality control and reliability gained through the use of EDDÆs. However, these benefits attract other related benefits, like fragmentation control, and backbreak reductions. When compared to the shock tube initiating systems the increased development face advance and the reduction of oversize during production blasting using EDDs, compared favourably to the less costly systems. As blasting engineers gained experience and confidence in the use of the system bigger blasts were initiated in mass under-cut blasts and slot raise development, by using multiple hole firing and second delay periods between holes. In the open pit and sublevel open stope mining methods the control of the fragmentation distribution and the effect of the mass of explosive detonated during a blast is detrimental to the loading and hauling production rates and the stability of the rock mass behind the blast. With a stable rock mass the bench cutting can be executed to establish steeper overall slope angles leading to large cost savings due to a reduction in waste stripping. It is the purpose of this paper to indicate through quantification that the use of the EDDs as an initiating system improves all-round blasting performances and assists in meeting customer requirements. The customer being the ore treatment plant.

Jan 1, 2001

By Glaessner M. F

The island chains of the Western Pacific (Fig. 1), on account of their related origin, and the similarity of the rocks that compose them, constitute in the main a most homogeneous mineral province. They lie in a complex "mobile" zone of the earth's crust, that formed a geosynclinal area separating the continental margins of Australia and South-Eastern Asia (the so-called Sundaland) from each other, and from the margin of the Pacific Ocean proper (FIg. 2). The whole region was drowned at the close of the Ice Age, as a result of the rise of sea-level that accompanied the melting of the great ice caps in the polar regions, leaving only the higher portions as islands and peninsulas, many of them separated only by shallow seas or "shelves."The geosyncline was infilled with Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments that have undergone varying intensities of folding and metamorphism, and has been subject to intermittent periods of volcanic activity, continuing into the present. Midway between the two continental margins there is a narrow belt of pronounced negative gravity anomalies, with an extraordinary S-shaped convolution in the vicinity of the Banda Sea and Celebes, that marks the core of this unstable region. The folding within the "mobile" zonetrends parallel to it, so that the islands in its vicinity, which are regions elevated by folding, are all elongated in the strike direction of the folds. This explains not only the linear shape of Sumatra and Java, but the arc of islands enclosing the Banda Sea, and the peculiar shape of Celebes.Parallel to the belt of negative anomalies, at a close remove from it, is the line of Recent, or active volcanoes, that extends along the whole length of Sumatra and Java...

Jan 1, 1947

The general principles of technical due diligence best practice that are involved in assessing a mineral property in the early stages of its development are described and a bibliography of relevant papers is attached. The issues specific to the evaluation of gold deposits are highlighted. The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy's (The AusIMM) initiatives in this area, dealing with the proper public reporting of Reserve/Resource information (JORC Code) and property assessment/valuation (VALMIN Code), will be used as a framework against which the illegal tampering with drilling samples to artificially boost their gold content (salting) from the Busang gold deposit (Kalimantan, Indonesia), owned by Bre-X Minerals Limited (Calgary, Canada), will be reviewed. While the Busang saga was based upon fraud, through salting the samples, the general lessons to learn from such a scam are worth documenting. In Australia, most of those working in the mineral industry belong to long established professional institutes and consultant associations (eg The AusIMM or Mineral Industry Consultants Association [MICA]) that require their members to work within their technical limits and to comply with best practice guidelines, or risk being judged and found wanting by their peers in the context of strong Ethics Codes. There is also a strong interface between such representative professional bodies and the corporate and financial market regulators (ASC/ASX), which closes the monitoring loop. Canada has only now seen the wisdom of having this type of early warning system in place. Fraud and deliberate deception will be always possible, but deception on the enormous scale that occurred at Busang is most unlikely with proper surveillance systems in place and the use of accredited technical professionals. There should have been more hard data available about so big and rich a deposit owned by a C$6Bn company.

Jan 1, 1997

In the Renison Bell area of western Tas mania, a series of Lower Cambrian quartzites, shales, carbonate beds ("dolomites"), cong- lomerates, tuffs and argillites have been folded into a broad monocline whose general strike is NW-SE, plunging slightly north and dipping NE. The downwarped eastern side of the monocline is disrupted by a steep (50-800) east dipping normal fault, known as the Bassett Structure, whose throw is in excess of 500 m. A series of flat north dipping normal faults, each with a throw of approximately 50 m, further disrupts the sequence. All major faulting was pre-mineralization. A cassiterite- bearing Devonian quartz porphyry body intrudes this Cambrian sequence 2 km south of the currently operating mine. Of economic importance is the presence of three carbonate beds in the sequence. These carbonates consist of a mixture of calcite, dolomite and siderite. The No. 1 (youngest) and No. 2 carbonate beds are each approximately 15 m thick and are separated by 20 m of hematitic conglomerates and tuffs. The No. 3 (oldest) carbonate bed is approximately 5 m thick and is separated from the No. 2 horizon by 50 m of dark grey, finely laminated shales and quart- zites. Whilst the carbonates are remarkably persistent over at least 30 km2, facies changes are common and as a result of these changes, the carbonates vary considerably in

Jan 1, 1973

Project evaluation is completed through individual studies covering technical and financial aspects of the mine to market. These studies are completed at various levels of detail depending on where the project evaluation is in the projectÆs life cycle. The competency of the studies varies in relation to the quality of data, level of the skills employed, control, management and reporting structure. The focus of this paper is managing elements of the study, looking at the cost of opportunity to influence the project, against the value added. Selection of the study manager and study teams is central to getting an integrated project evaluation addressing the correct issues completed on time. Retention of key personnel can reduce rework which, in turn, can reduce time and cost impacts. It is important to have a work breakdown structure at the outset so that the study teams have a common numbering and naming system that will integrate areas, equipment, budgets estimates and accounts. Having set up the evaluation groups and provided training in the study procedures, understanding the scope and schedule are vital elements in producing a project evaluation that addresses the opportunities and the risks of the final project. Arriving at an accurate capital budget requires integration of the research controlled through common systems. Project evaluation process must also address how the project is to be delivered.

Jan 1, 2007

By J Stojanovic, V Kasic

Gold-bearing polymetallic sulfide deposits are common in Serbia, and mostly occur in the Karpato-Balkan and, to a lesser extent, the Serbo-Macedonian metallogenic province. These deposits û Coka Marin (Majdanpek), Grabova Reka (Blagojev Kamen), Lece (Medvedja) and Veliki Cip (Boranja) û are dominated by Cu and/or Pb-Zn mineralisation that contains a variety of Pb, Zn, Cu and Fe (¦ Sb, As, Bi) sulfides and sulfosalts, as well as native elements. Gangue minerals are composed of quartz, carbonates and rare silicates and barite. Based on their gold content these deposits can be divided in three groups:1. Polymetallic deposits with a high gold content (>1 g/t).2. Polymetallic deposits with an intermediate gold content (0.1 to 1 g/t), and3. Polymetallic deposits with a low gold content (<0.1 g/t). Gold occurs as native gold or as an alloy with silver. Native gold ranges in size from 5 to 20 ¦m, with a few rare grains over 100 ¦m, as isolated grains or as microveins (in the first group of deposits). Its distribution within the deposit in uneven. Native gold in the second group is smaller in size (1 - 5 ¦m, rarely 20 ¦m), where it is uniformly distributed in a quartz-silicate matrix. The third group is of no economical importance. The subject of research has been the first group of polymetallic deposits.

Jan 1, 2008

By Q-c Li, G-l Gao

Cyanided tailings produced by gold processing operations may cause environmental problems, because they contain pollutants such as arsenic, sulfur and cyanide compounds. Moreover, tailings containing economic metals such as Au, Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn, are potentially valuable resources. In this article, cyanided tailings are catalytically oxidised by nitric acid in the presence of air or oxygen. The resulting solids may be leached to recover Au and Ag. The solution can be used to prepare ferric sulfate or iron pigment. Gases released in the reactions were recycled and reused by oxidation and absorption. All of these greatly improve metal recovery and the reuse prospects of cyanided tailings. Under the following conditions where the initial temperature of oxidation is 80¦C; initial concentration of nitric acid is 30 per cent (by weight); feed proportion (nitric acid to cyanide tailings mass ratio) is 3:1 and reaction time is two hours, the conversion ratio of cyanided tailings is 90.06 per cent. At the same time pyrite in the cyanided tailings is oxidised effectively, gold recovery is as high as 92.3 per cent and nitric acid loss per cycle is only five per cent because of NOx recovery.

Jan 1, 2007

By S Slusarczyk, Z Kozlowski

Vibration of surface caused by seismic quakes can make a risk to great mining costruction. We have to do with this risk in the Belchatow open cut mine where seismic quakes of various energy and range have occured since the end of 1970s. The seismic risk influence on the mine structure with the special attention to the slopes of an internal dump has been presented. Hydrogeological and geotechnical conditions of the lignite mining and internal dumping of overburden and ash from Belchatow power plant have been considered. Seismic activity in Belchatow open cut from 1979 to 2001 was described and the connection between mine working and seismicity of this area was investigated. The energy and approximate location of the quakes and seismological parameters of the strongest ones observed from 1995 to 2001 were presented. The mechanism of the quake focuses was determined by means of the primary-arriving wave method. Stability of the slopes was evaluated by means of the Fellenius method. It has been found that seismic events occured in Belchatow region may cause only local eboulements whereas there are not any safety risks to the stability of slopes of the internal dump in Belchatow open cut.

Jan 1, 2003

By Huafu L, Ruishi N, Hongnian Y, Qinglong Z, Yangshen S

The Dongshan terrane was first recognized in 1984 (Guo,et al., 1984, 1989) as an old continental crust block of migmatized granitic gneiss in the Southeast Coastal Hercynian-Indosinian orogen, and it was thought to have occured on Dongshan Island, which has an area of less than 100 km? Recent research work has shed much light on the geology of the Dongshan terrane.The Dongshan terrane is approximately 40-50 km wide and 380 km long, trending NE. It runs from the region of the mouth of the Ming River through Putian and Huian Counties, Amoy and Dongshan island of Fujian Province to Nanao island of Guangdong Province, bordering the southern segment of the coastal region and coastal islands of Fujian and eastern tip of Guangdong Province. The Dongshan terrane is divided from the Zhejian-Fujian Mesozoic Volcanic Mountain Chains by the Changle-Shaoan fractural zone, and its eastern boundary is covered under water in the Taiwan Straits.

Jan 1, 1990

By J F. Penrose

To obtain cost-efficient financing by way of securing an optimal credit rating, the operating and market risks of a single-asset mining project should be accommodated in the financial structure. Weak financing structures can cause projects to fail, as evidenced by the Murrin Murrin and Bulong examples; these can be compared to the investment-grade structure of Straits (Nifty), which managed operational, market, and financing risks well. Most mining projects are capital-intensive, and have heavy dependency on debt financing. A weak financial structure may result in the early failure of an otherwise sound and economically viable project. Appropriate management of technology, construction, and management risks generally will get a project built; of the project failures that occur, most are caused by a liquidity crisis as the project goes through ramp-up (the transition period between completion of construction and full operation). A projectÆs viability can be enhanced through sound hedging practices, while poor hedging can increase the likelihood of financial default.

Jan 1, 2003

Over the last 15 years the contract mining concept has developed into an integral part of the Australian mining industry. Today it is a $2 billion per annum industry with the potential to continue to grow at a rate of between ten and 20 per cent. Australian contract miners have also exported the concept overseas where growth prospects are unlimited. The industry today is at a cross-road where both contractors and mine owners must consider the current state of the contract mining industry and where it is heading. To look at the present and the future, it is necessary to look back at the history of contract mining and why it has developed. Current industry concerns can then be summarised and the areas that need to be considered to enable the industry to prosper, reviewed. The ultimate goal is to reach solutions with benefits to both the mining companies and the contractors.

Jan 1, 1996

By M Ruhrberg, J Grassmann, C Bauer

Within the context of acid mine drainage (AMD) associated with mining activities worldwide there has been a tremendous research effort to determine the extent of AMD and assess the influencing factors controlling this process. However, the majority of the current approaches focus on local and regional scale case studies and do not provide a global scale picture of AMD potentials. This study attempts to develop a method aiming at a global environmental impact assessment related to AMD. To confine the complex topic this study concentrates on acidic emissions from heaps in consequence of copper mining processes. In order to pursue this approach two factors are of significant advantage: a comprehensive environmental data base of more then 600 copper sites worldwide and a method which has been developed and proven to be successful in assessing environmental impacts related to land use. Current and future research efforts focus on using this background knowledge to enable both a comparison between sites and a categorisation of sites according to emission estimates.

Jan 1, 2003

This paper deals with the evolution of present mechanised declining and orebody development practices at Kambalda, since their inception in 1969. Eight separate decline accesses have been established over the past eighteen years and to date some 175 kilometres of declining and lateral development has been achieved utilizing a wide range of mechanised development and mucking units. Improvements in-the range of equipment available, functionalization of the develop- ment tasks and the resultant changes to piecework contract structuring have all contributed to the improved performances achieved in this concept of mine development. Even though numerous development advance rate records have been established at Kambalda, an ongoing evaluation of changes to both drilling and mucking units is underway to further improve these development performance rates.

Jan 1, 1987

The Agnew Mine No. 1 Ventilation Shaft is the largest diameter shaft blind drilled in a hard rock mining environment. The selection of this method of shaft development was based on achieving an accelerated mine development and exploration programme. Drilling the shaft from a pre-sink depth of 73m commenced on March 22, 1982 and the shaft was stopped due to rig structural problems at a depth of 750m, 280m from the designed depth, on February 12, 1983, 137 days behind schedule. While problems with rig mechanical availability, cutter life and lost drilling tools in the hole hindered progress and escalated costs, penetration rates above prediction were achieved and both the speed and safety aspects of the method were well demonstrated.

Jan 1, 1983

The Golden Pig Mine is wholly owned by Bunnine Operations Limited and is located in the Yilgam Goldfields at Southern Cross, Western AustraliaThe paper briefly describes the geology and history of the operations. Mining is by shrink stoping, both hand held and mechanised. Advantages and disadvantages costs of the mining system are discussed.

Jan 1, 1993

Over the last five years the :forward momentum in the Australian resources sector has been dominated by gold production and exploration companies. While reporting of exploration results to shareholders and Stock Exchanges has generally been detailed and responsible, the standards of reporting ore reserves still leaves much to be desired in terms of contemporary investor expectations. Australian gold ore reserve reporting practices are critically examined and suggestions are made as to how gold mining companies can enhance stock market recognition by investors through more informative and useful Reporting.

Jan 1, 1987