Search Documents

The non-metallic minerals, excluding the construc- tions and fuel materials have for long been the "poor relations" of the Mining Industry of New South Wales. The State is self-sufficient in only a few of the industrial minerals and is almost completely lacking in any of the essential fertilizers. The deficiencies must be met by imports from overseas and interstate and in fact New South Wales imports some quantity of every one of the non-metallics. For the year 1967 the value of non-metallic mineral production amounted to only $9,390,000 or less than 3.5% of the States total of $275,900,000 for all classes of mining and quarrying. In roughly the same period, the 1967-68 financial year, New South Wales imported non- metallic materials, valued at well in excess of $22,000,000 from overseas and over $2,000,000 from interstate sources.

Jan 1, 1969

Highwall mining commenced in the Appalachian region 50 years ago. With innovative equipment design introduced in more recent times, penetration distances over 300 m are now commonplace. It is only in the last three years that highwall mining has become part of the Australian coal industry. Geotechnical evaluation is an integral part of the Australian procedures, and although still being refined, has already proven its worth. Statutory guidelines have also been prepared for operations in Queensland. This paper explores trends in equipment design, geotechnical prediction, operating techniques and statutory requirements with regard to highwall mining Australia's coal deposits. A quick assessment guide to assist in the evaluation of potential sites is included.

Jan 1, 1992

Access to land for exploration, development and mining purposes is extremely critical to the viability of the mining industry and subsequently the well being of society.The mining industry has been subject to environmental controls and considerations for the past 20 years. Today there is greater land use competition and more debate as to its use. To retain reasonable access the mining industry must comply with the rules and regulations by which it is governed.A new set of rules and regulations have been approved for use in Queensland, known as the Mineral Resources Act 1989. This Act clearly outlines the titles available and the requirements to obtain access.There are three main titles of interest to mining companies. These are an Exploration Permit, Mineral Development Licence and a Mining Lease.The Exploration Permit (EP) is for exploration purposes. Applications for EP's are assessed on their content and past performances. An EP is granted subject to a security deposit and conditions. Prior to entry the EP holder is required to inform the land owner of the proposed activities and times of entry.

Jan 1, 1990

The efficiency with which it is expected that a particular coal may be burnt in a power station boiler significantly affects the value of the coal. Consequently many laboratory tests have been developed to provide data on the combustibility of coal. Computer modelling of coal combustion has also provided insight into limits on coal burn- out. Such modelling suggests that burnout of bituminous coal in a power station boiler will be strongly influenced by physical limits on the diffusion of oxygen to the individual coal particles. Coal chemical reactivity appears to be relatively less important. As a consequence of the diffusional limits, significant improvement in burnout is achieved either by producing less large p.f. particles or by providing sufficient furnace residence time to burn the large particles. Field data from a variety of power stations supports these cn.clusions. Burnout was also found to correlate well with volatile content for a number of coals from widely different sources. This is expected as the high vola- tile coals produce less residual char to be burned by the relatively slow heterogeneous Combustion.

Jan 1, 1987

New Zealand's Land and Income Tax Act 1954 contains unique incentives for companies engaged in mining certain specified minerals or petroleum. Sections 152 and 153 provide for the taxable income of such companies to be based not on profits made but on dividends paid to shareholders. A significant saving in tax results, particularly where profits are not distributed: but the Act attempts to ensure that undistributed profits are used for further mineral exploration and development. To encourage investment in the mining industry, persons taking up shares in a company mining for the specified minerals or petroleum are entitled to a one-third deduction in respect of monies paid on the shares and used by the company for its purposes; and company shareholders may make loans to the company and write-off such loans for tax purposes to an amount of up to half their taxable income. Maximum utilisation of the tax incentives calls for careful consideration as to whether a mining or petroleum company should be financed by way of loan capital or share capital.

Jan 1, 1971

The problems associated with achieving adequate accuracy for on-site axial flow fan performance measurements are discussed. The ability to test accurately rests heavily on equipment and installation design detail.Aerodynamic performance trials frequently cannot be carried out due mainly to the poor standard of installation design. In a majority of cases this results in unsteady, non-uniform inlet flow conditions to the fan. Details of installation design features and instrumentation, necessary for successful testing, are given for different types of installations and methods of testing. These cover both conventional practice, and new innovations which can provide solutions to difficult problems. Quantitative aspects of flow measurement are considered for various fan and duct configurations.Although the main emphasis is on large primary mine ventilation units which require on-site testing, the principles outlined have wide application to many other types of fan installation.

Jan 1, 1973

By Henderson J, Ward RG

Dissolved oxygen has been measured directly using a rugged, reliable, accurate electrochemical probe system developed for steelworks application by B.H.P. Central Research Laboratories. Furnace measurements show that the steel is generally supersaturated with oxygen and that oxygen contents vary considerably from heat. to heat. Ladle measurements also show considerable heat-to-heat variations. Analysis in terms of ladle deoxidation chemistry differentiates between carbon monoxide controlled and manganese silicate controlled oxygen levels. Deviations from these levels are sometimes due to aluminium present in other added ladle alloys but in some cases the plant applicability of laboratory derived equilibria is questionable.

Jan 1, 1972

By Barber J

The manganese ore of Groote Eylandt is a shallow sedimentary deposit of Cretaceous age. There are a number of deposits which vary greatly in ore texture, density, percentage of matrix and thickness. The thickness in the present five operating quarries varies from 1-5 metres. The mine output in 1973 was 3 million tonnes of which 60% was blasted, the remainder ripped and bulldozed. The shallow deposit and its varying thickness create rather unique blasting problems which must be overcome in order to produce a minimum overall mining cost but not necessarily resulting in a minimum drilling and blasting cost per tonne. Future planning envisages the introduction of site mixed slurry explosives following test work and the application of a twin boom single operator rotary percussion drill. The paper outlines the overall developments,present and envisaged practices and the reasons for these changes.

Jan 1, 1974

By Williams DJ, Battino S

The rapid crushing technique for the measurement of gas content of coal consists of accelerating the rate of gas desorption from coal by crushing. This technique allows the determination of gas content in the space of hours rather than days or weeks as required for the traditional slow desorption technique. The crushing technique is used particularly when gas content determinations are urgently required for mine safety purposes. The method is now routinely used in underground coal mines of NSW and to a lesser extent in QLD. Despite the rapidity and efficiency of this method, concerns have been raised upon the reliability of the method to deliver accurate results. Experience in Australia has shown that there is in fact some discrepancy in results between gas laboratories using the rapid crush technique. The development of rapid crushing techniques for seam gas content measurements in Australia and the main causes of variability in the gas content test results were investigated. The gas laboratories participating in the gas content testing were CSIRO Division of Coal and Energy, BHP Technical Services and GeoGas Pty. Ltd.

Jan 1, 1998

The port of Townsville is situated on the main north/south rail system of the Queens- land Government Railways and is the eastern terminus of the east/west rail link from Towns- ville to Mount Isa. With a stable beef and wool producing area along the east/west rail route, the expanding mineral industry development at its western end and the continuing growth of the Townsville region the administrators of the port are continually'keeping abreast and ahead of port development to ensure an effective and economic growth of port facilities to meet the needs of the area served by Townsville.

Jan 1, 1974

The Mineral Resources Act 1989-90 came into force on 1 Septem- ber 1990 and the Second Schedule of this Act set out the Savings, Transitional and Validation Clauses to this legislation. The Second Schedule gave rise to a number of interesting situa- tions however due to the fact that the time set aside to attend to these matters (the prescribed period) has now expired, with the exception of the points raised below, most of these situations are now history and are of no relevance. The Transitional provisions of the Second Schedule provided for a three month "prescribed period" in which certain actions were required to be undertaken to ensure tenements granted or applied for under the repealed legislation transitioned into the framework provided by the Mineral Resources Act. This Second Schedule of the Mineral Resources Act highlighted a number of anomalies which are still worthy of mention and are listed below.

Jan 1, 1991

The reliable estimation of ore reserves in mineral sand deposits depends on drilling methods and assay techniques that have been specially developed within the industry. Improvement of these techniques is a continuing process, as variations within and between deposits are highlighted during the actual mining operation. Constant monitoring of metallurgical losses along with mineral production allows comparison of mineral tonnages accounted for by mining, with original calculated reserves. A review of ore reserves in the Jerusalem Creek field from scout drilling in the sixties, through mining in the seventies, shows the progression from understatement prior to mining, to the present when more than two thirds of the reserves have been depleted.

Jan 1, 1979

By I Grant

On the 1 June 1978, the Town and Country Planning Act 1953 was replaced by the revised and more comprehensive Town and Country Planning Act 1977. The new act brings in some substantial changes to the law affecting regional and district planning, and for the first time makes provision for maritime planning. The importance of the Town and Country Planning Act 1977 to the Mineral industry is primarily in the relationship between Regional Planning Schemes and District Schemes as the needs and resources identified in a Regional Planning Scheme will override the underlying District Schemes. The mineral extraction industry must be recognised as a regional responsibility which draws on the resources of a region to satisfy the demand of the communities within that region rather than a purely local operation within one District.

Jan 1, 1978

By Gee C. E

Ore reserves at the Kambalda Nickel Operations of Western Mining Corporation are estimated using the polygonal method for calculating areas of influence of drillholes. All raw assay and survey data are stored on one disk pack on the Company's CYBER 73 computer located in Perth, about 600 km from Kambalda. The initial step involving the computer is to search all assay data and calculate all potential ore-grade intersections. As the orebodies are thin, structurally complex and many are in close stratigraphic proximity, the selection of intersections which have the best grade over at least a minimum mining width involves complex logic. The orientation of an ore surface at each drill intersection point and a zone code are added to each intersection by the geologist from geological plans prepared for each ore surface. The orientation data together with downhole surveys enables the calculation of inter- section true widths and the zone code links each recalculated intersection to the appropriate ore surface.

Jan 1, 1977

By Durao F

A multi-layer feed-forward neural network was trained (using the error back-propagation algorithm) to learn a subset of rules designed to stabilise the performances of the copper flotation section of a complex sulphide processing plant and then tested in order to evaluate its expert performances. Two types of neural networks were compared: the classical ones, fully connected between one layer and the adjacents (with different architectures), and entropy networks, partially connected and generated according to a methodology that simplifies its building up. The advantages and drawbacks of both were analysed and compared with classic (rule based) expert systems.

Jan 1, 1995

What is the best circuit to comminute primary crusher product to make beneficiation feed? Finding the best circuit to crush and grind minerals to beneficiation sizes is a complex problem that can lead to interminable discussion. Conclusions reached can be questioned. This will continue as long as the technology of comminution continues to expand, and is a mixture of many technical and economic factors in what is not a precise science. Laboratory and pilot plant procedures now exist that can help process engineers make sound decisions on which circuits are the best for crushing and grinding the specific ore being studied. It is the aim of this paper to discuss such procedures so a better under- standing of key decision parameters is avail- able, and to update comminution testing which has seen a. period of change in which new procedures have been introduced.

Jan 1, 1978

By Brady B. H

Increasingly, consideration is being given to the nominal `outcomes' of degree courses in engineering, including mining engineering. These are concerned not only with knowledge and technical understanding but also with capabilities in the professional application of engineering principles to problem solving, multi-disciplinary teamwork, communication and life-long learning. This paper discusses concepts of education, professional formation and training and the associated development of competencies in applying knowledge, understanding and technical insights and skills to new situations. In developing guidelines on preferred attributes and competencies in graduate mining engineers, a survey was conducted of a range of industry personnel involved in selecting graduate mining engineers. The results not only clarified the spectrum of competencies sought but also provided valuable detailed views to assist in defining a mining engineering curriculum. Considering a greater concern with the development of more `well-rounded' graduates, the implications are discussed with regard to teaching and assessment activities and the time demands on academic staff when a `coaching' role is emphasised. In line with international and Australian moves in engineering education, notions on education of mining engineering graduates in Australia are under review. The results will provide continuing challenges to all involved.

Jan 1, 1997

The introduction of legal certification of mine managers is a matter of history. It was introduced as part of legislation for mine safety. It has been said that such legislat- ion was written in blood. Like all legislation this legislation is divided into three sections; commands, obligations and sanctions. While legislation in all States on this subject is similar, the differences are great enough to have prompted the preparation of a Uniform Code by the Annual Conference of Chief Inspectors of Mines. This Uniform Code has not been adopted fully by any State to date. Legal certification of mine managers has made managers more aware of the requirements of the legislation covering their industry, legislation that reads as a summary on past accidents and methods of preventing them. While budding managers spend considerable' time in their early years in the preparation for certification, history has shown that the industry has benefited from their efforts. A better knowledge of the safety acts by the managers has produced safer operations, and a higher standard of management has raised the technical standards of mining operations to a stage where Australia can be proud.

Jan 1, 1980

It is well known that in most areas of Central Europe it is not difficult to find water - usually at shallow depths - and to recover and use this water. What is much more difficult, however, is to find water sources that offer both sufficient in quantity and qual- ity. Far too often, there are sources that offer abundant quantities but of poor quality or vice versa, i.e. high quality water but insufficient volumes. In the former case where water quality is not adequate - which is more often than not due to anthropogenic factors and only very rarely a result of geogenic effects - the application of treatment techniques can help to turn such water into potable water that is suitable for human con sumption.

Jan 1, 1988

Proper technical appraisal of a coal deposit and the determination of optimum open- pit mine design can only be made after detailed examination of a number of interrelated geographical and geological factors. Initial evaluation of the geography and the overall attitude of the coal measures can often determine the most likely coal mining technique. Conclusions reached in the early stage of the investigations frequently dictate the quality and quantity of particular types of data required from further drilling of the deposit. In many cases, insufficient information relating to the overall engineering aspects of a coal deposit is derived from drilling. Little or no attention is paid in the exploratory phase to such things as the specific gravity of selected overburden samples, floor conditions, clay content of the overburden and selected strength tests on cores. This is a direct result of geologists treating coal deposits purely in geological terms without sufficient consideration being given to the engineering parameters required for a proper evaluation of the deposit.

Jan 1, 1977