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In taking the chair at this meeting of the Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers, I feel it my duty to thank you for the honour you have conferred upon me by electing me President for the current year, especially as Bwken Hill is the birth place of the Institute and myself one of its foundation members. I will now endeavour to entertain you for a short time with a few reminiscences of Broken Hill from its inception. Beyond the fact that the mines on the Broken Hill lode have paid to their shareholders in dividends and bonuses no less a sum than £896,500, created and maintained a city of 25,000 inhabitants. supplied a large proportion of the revenue on the railways of a sister state, and made their influence felt throughout the 'commercial centres of the world, very little, I regret to say, is known by the general public as to the form, extent, or vastness of the ore bodies, or the mode of occurrence of the various classes of ore which have been found to exist in them. It has occurred to me that a short paper by the senior mining manager on the line of lode might prove interesting. There has been great difficulty in getting some of the figures relating to the field, the total output of metals from the Broken Hill mines not being obtainable from the Mining Department in Sydney j but an inscription on the foundation stone of the Technical College recently opened in this City, sets forth that the Broken Hill Mines started in 1880...

Jan 1, 1903

By S Lloyd, J Chow, S Fitzpatrick, D Greenup

The Tropicana deposit was discovered in 2005 after AngloGold Ashanti followed up an unexplained gold-in-soil anomaly. Discovered in a remote, barely-explored area of Western Australia not previously thought prospective for gold, Tropicana is the most significant gold find in Australia for more than a decade. The new, large scale open pit gold mining operation will produce an annual production of around 330 000 to 400 000 oz over a ten year mine life mining around 60 Mt/a.Process plant construction started in early 2012 and is due to finish in the December 2013 quarter. The mining contract was awarded to Macmahon Holdings (Macmahon) and mining commenced in July 2012 using conventional drill and blast, truck and excavator open cut methods.As a construction and start-up project in a greenfields location, the establishment of mining activities at Tropicana Gold Mine (TGM) involves the implementation of technical and operational systems, including the mining contract. Some of these systems and likely challenges were identified during earlier studies, while others were not foreseen until they were encountered. Alternatively, the time frames around implementation change depending on the changing knowledge of the project and industry environment. These systems include those common to the industry and those specific to the operation and location.This paper examines the implementation and development of a number of the systems specific to the establishment of mining operations, including the history, process and some outcomes. Although expected to be discrete systems to implement, they become interdependent. This linkage between systems further offers challenges and opportunities for the continuous progress of each system and for TGM as a whole.CITATION:Chow, J, Fitzpatrick, S, Greenup, D and Lloyd, S, 2013. Tropicana Gold Mine - mitigating the challenges of a mining start-up, in Proceedings World Gold 2013 , pp 51-60 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013

By M Behrens

The Melbourne Main Sewer Replacement (MMSR) is a major urban infrastructure project involving approximately 2.3 km of tunnelling and construction works. The works extend from Docklands Precinct, on the southwest edge of the city, southwards to connect with the Hobsons Bay Main Sewer in Port Melbourne. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) tunnelled section of the works terminates at the Yarra River where the delta geology and alignment requirements precluded the use of underground tunnelling methods. The 132 m long river crossing works involve a cut-and-cover excavation within a staged fl ooded cofferdam construction to construct an immersed tube tunnel as an extension of the TBM works.This paper reports on the development of the staged construction method and highlights the geotechnical and structural design aspects involved in building a new sewer in the Yarra River to close the gap between the new TBM driven and pipe-jacked tunnels.

Mar 8, 2011

By M Logsdon, B Johnson, M Fordham

The underground Neves Corvo copper-tin mine in southern Portugal currently disposes of its tailings in a ætraditionalÆ wet tailings impoundment. With the development of new technologies for preparation and transport of thickened tailings or paste, alternative tailings disposal options have become available that provide a more sustainable water management system and a higher degree of environmental protection. In addition, growing European resistance towards subaqueous disposal may well result in mandatory use of dry disposal methods in the near future. Twenty-four tailings disposal alternatives were evaluated through a cost-effective and easily-implementable bench-scale geochemical screening program conducted at site. Since the tailings are pyrite-rich and highly acid generating, particular emphasis was placed on monitoring likely indicators of sulfide oxidation under the various simulated disposal scenarios. Dependent parameters investigated as part of the program included moisture content, use of alkaline additives (lime, cement), use of a bactericide, and agitation. Response parameters included paste pH, specific conductance, and temperature as indicators of oxidation. The testing was carried out for 30 weeks. Results indicate that a number of relationships between the geochemical stability of the samples (ie sulfide oxidation) and sample characteristics can be readily identified. Based on the results of the screening program, a limited number of tailings mixtures have been selected for further long-term testing in field weathering cells to aid in the identification of the optimal mix design for future tailings disposal at the Neves Corvo Mine. This type of testing provides an inexpensive and reliable methodology for semi-quantitative comparison between tailings disposal alternatives, in particular at locations where more rigorous evaluation through long-term, fully replicated testing is not immediately feasible.

Jan 1, 2003

It is my pleasure to deliver the first Keynote Address to the first joint conference between The Australasian Institute of Mining and- Metallurgy and The American Institute of Mining, Metallur- gical and Petroleum Engineers. I am particularly pleased to be participating in this first joint meet- ing as I have been a member of one Institute for 41 years and the other for 35 years. An examination of the membership of both Institutes confirms the fact that the mineral in- dustry is an international one. This has long been the case and basically stems from the occurrence of mineral resources in most countries of the world. It is therefore fitting that these two 'Inter- national Institutes', representing the professions involved in the mineral industry, should choose `International Resource Management' as the theme of the first joint conference. The topic of this Keynote Address is `The mineral equation' or the counterbalancing supply and demand items and the factors affecting them. I propose to attempt to present the overall picture of the mineral equation as subsequent papers and sessions will deal with specific items in more detail. My thesis is broad and deceptively simple; it is that the continued existence and growth of world material civilization depends, in large measure, on the continued use and further dis- covery of world mineral resources. Material civili- zation is used as a broad term to include the pro- duction of man's shelter and tools together with the production of the `consumer' goods and ser- vices needed by society. First let us spend a few minutes looking at the development of material civilization.

Jan 1, 1978

A statistical investigation of folding at Mount Isa disclosed similar patterns in both the shales and the "silica dolomite" zones. Analysis of these patterns yields 3 groups of folds fully developed north plunging folds, fully developed south plunging folds, and flexuresrepresenting stages of development of folds. Interpretation of results indicates that a regional force from a southerly direction was responsible for the folding.The general pattern of shearing is allied to that of folding, with the exception of bedding-plane shearing. Many shears resulted from continued application of force on folds which ruptured after overthrusting. Other shears resulted from rupture of the more incompetent shale members, without associated folding. The shear pattern is consistent with the theory of a regional force from a southerly direction.INTRODUCTIONThe notes on folding and shearing presented in this paper are part of a current study of the structural geology of Mount Isa.FOLDING 1Measurement of FoldsInvestigation of folding underground involved the measurement of plunge, strike and dip of the axial plane, and the order of magnitude of each fold, together with its location and the rock type. The total number of folds measured was 701, of which 411 occurred in shale areas and 290 within the "silica dolomite" zones. All folds measured are located on main levels, from 7 level to 13 level inclusive. The sections of the mine involved are the Black Star, Black Rock and Racecourse. Detailed investigation of folds on the upper levels (4, 5 and 6) has not yet been done, but observations there suggest...

Jan 1, 1961

By A Kobzev, C Robben

Sensor-based particle sorting of gold ores is the masterclass of preconcentration. The technical challenges of a grade in ppm scale makes a direct detection with currently available technology in milliseconds impossible. Consequently, the detection and classification of particles into ore and waste classes relies on detectable proxies which are the foundation for the classification. These must be reliable and repeatable across the ore bodies processed in future. A sensor-based particle ore sorting equipment must therefore be calibrated systematically by understanding the gold deportation in different lithological groups. Also, it must be in best operational state to minimise possible misplacement. The technical challenges are met by a stringent financial regime governing the business case. Many gold ore sorting projects require a stable grade of gold in the rejected waste significantly below 1gr/t. Two examples are introduced in this paper:  The pilot results and operational experience of X-ray transmission (XRT)-based particle ore sorting for pebble sorting of sulphide associated ore;  Laser-based particle ore sorting for pebble circuit of an orogenic, quartz associated gold ore. Usually, sensor-based particle sorters are installed in the crushing section of a plant. However, for large capacity plants, the number of equipment required, and the associated material handling costs result in significant capital and operating expenses for plants with 1200tph run-of-mine capacity. As a conclusion, it was decided to investigate sensor-based particle ore sorting applied to the pebble stream of two existing semi autogenous mills.

Nov 10, 2020

By W Zeng, D Walker, D Cai, E Baafi

"The efficiency of the truck-shovel haulage system is significantly influenced by the truck fleet size. A discrete event simulation model with 3D animation has been developed to estimate the productivity of a truck-shovel network system, shovel efficiency, truck cycle time, truck utilisation and the optimal fleet size. The simulation model considers the dynamic variability of traffic conditions and also the truck as an individual entity. The resulting truck cycle time was found to be realistic and thus providing a better tool for strategic mine planning.Citation:Zeng, W, Baafi, E, Walker, D and Cai, D, 2016. A 3D Discrete Event Simulation Model of a Truck-shovel Network System, in Proceedings Ninth AusIMM Open Pit Operators' Conference 2016, pp 265–273 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Nov 15, 2016

By R Marchant, D Willingham

"Predictive maintenance (also known as PHM or equipment ‘health monitoring’) refers to the intelligent monitoring of equipment to avoid future equipment failures. In contrast to conventional preventive maintenance, the maintenance schedule is not determined by a prescribed timeline; instead, it is determined by analytic algorithms, such as machine learning, using data collected from equipment sensors and/or via simulation.Predictive maintenance offers the following benefits for operators and equipment manufacturers:reduction of equipment downtime by identifying issues before failure, thereby enabling convenient scheduling of equipment service and extending equipment lifetimeautomatic determination of the root cause of the failure, enabling appropriate service to be performed without utilising resources to determine a diagnosis avoidance of costs of unnecessary maintenance and unexpected failures improved safety and product quality.Algorithms and data are critical to predictive maintenance success. Sensor data preprocessing is performed using advanced statistical and signal processing techniques. In the case that data isn’t available for the full range of operating modes, operating scenarios can be simulated. Machine learning techniques are then used to estimate equipment health. Once tested, predictive maintenance algorithms may be operationalised in an IT environment such as a server or cloud. Alternatively, algorithms may be implemented in an embedded system directly on the equipment, allowing for faster response times and significantly reducing the amount of data sent over the network.In this paper, we use both historical and simulated data of the plant under various modes of operation including run to failure, and we then leverage machine learning techniques in MATLAB to estimate degradation and remaining useful life. This technique, of combining both simulation models and machine learning, in the areas of predictive maintenance and equipment health monitoring has been adopted by Safran, makers of aircraft jet engines, since 2007. They now have over 160 modules developed (Lacaille and Aurelie, 2015).Citation:Willingham, D and Marchant, R, 2016. Predictive Maintenance Using Simulation and Machine Learning, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2016, pp 279–284 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Oct 10, 2016

The Newcrest Mining Limited Telfer Gold Mine consists of an underground sublevel cave (SLC) operation located 734 m directly below active open pit operations. Open pit and underground current production rates are 50 million and 5.7 million tonnes per anum (Mt/a) respectively. The SLC was initiated in late 2006 with breakthrough planned to occur on the 5484 bench of the west wall in late 2009. Risk to the south ramp was identified during this time, resulting in the construction of the north ramp. The SLC was continually tracked from initiation with a suite of monitoring systems and managed with a Major Hazard Management Plan (MHMP) and associated Trigger Action and Response Plans (TARP). At breakthrough the eastern limb of the cave was located within a 70 m horizontal distance from the south ramp. The south ramp was closed in October 2009 due to significant slope deformation, extensive cracking in the berms and batters between the ramp and breakthrough bench and a major failure 250 m to the north of the cave breakthrough. Wall response was first identified from slope deformation measurements taken by the wall monitoring radar in May 2009, at which point the SLC was 160 m from breakthrough. The impact of the SLC on the slope is a unique case with the monitoring systems in place able to provide data on the slope reaction to the SLC progression. This paper will discuss the management of the south ramp such as the early interpretation of risk associated with cave breakthrough, monitoring systems implemented to track the cave progression and wall deformation, data integration and interpretation and risk management. Following the closure of the south ramp further instrumentation programs and risk assessments were conducted to determine the risk of re-opening this haulage route. The outcomes of this program will also be presented.

Nov 25, 2010

By A Baker

Hail Creek Mine is an open cut coal operation owned by Rio Tinto. It is located 120 km south west of Mackay in the Bowen Basin region of central Queensland. Opened in late 2003, the mine produces two high quality coking coal products that are used in the production of steel in various overseas markets. Hail Creek is a dragline and truck/shovel operation with a capacity to mine eight million tonnes per annum. In 2010, the production was more than seven million tonnes.Traditionally, coal seam edge loss had been minimised on site by the practice of coal edge buffering. Importing buffer material can be quite expensive as it requires a large involvement from the truck and shovel or dozer fleet. In order to minimise this expense, a program of front splitting was introduced on site. Front splitting however involves an additional blast interaction which places added pressure on mining schedules. Both these methods of coal protection demonstrated a significant benefit with coal loss being reduced by approximately seven per cent (absolute) compared to traditional cast blasting.With the application of electronic detonators at Hail Creek the new blasting practice of dynamic buffering is able to be performed on site. Dynamic buffering refers to a blasting practice where two or three separate blasts are initiated during the same blasting event (front-split, cast and at times presplit). The process involves firing a front-split and allowing it to have time to settle and buffer the coal edge prior to the cast blast initiating. This practice is only made possible with the use of electronic detonators and the effective absence of a surface burning front. Current practice at site involves the front-split being fired (occasionally at the same time as the presplit) and the main cast blast being initiated several seconds later. Dynamic buffering is now used for all cast blasts to coal at Hail Creek. Electronic detonators have allowed Hail Creek to achieve reduced coal losses by buffering the coal edge without compromising the mining schedule.

Nov 8, 2011

By F P. van der Meer, E Lessing, E Matthies

High pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) technology is growing to be a common comminution tool in iron ore processing. The technology finds a wide acceptance and presents specific benefits in coarse ore grinding and closed-circuit grinding in preparation of ball mill feed, right down to the other end of the particle size spectrum for iron ore pellet feed preparation.A growing number of minerals processing plants are facing higher operating costs and difficulties due to a scarcity of process water, which in some cases is a result of more stringent environmental constraints. In addition, many new iron ore deposits are located in more arid regions of the world. These challenges have led to operators taking a new look at dry processing of iron ores.The use of dry crushing and classification technology in cement production from blast furnace slag, clinker material or limestone feed stocks indicates that the technology may be applied in minerals processing. In addition, dry processing provides the possibility of generating a final product from finely disseminated and inter-grown ores at sizes near or well below 100 µm, as may be required for beneficiation techniques such as in fine magnetic separation, flotation or magnetic flocculation.Dry grinding by HPGR has a number of specific features, challenges and opportunities, including balancing power input, moisture content requirements and classification efficiency in the process design. HPGR parameters and the latest HPGR design and sizing capabilities indicate considerable potential benefits from this dry processing technology.This paper highlights some of the specific issues that play a role in dry HPGR application, with respect to energy and materials balances. Examples of dry HPGR practices and process studies in iron ore mineral processing are discussed.CITATION:van der Meer, F P, Lessing, E and Matthies, E, 2015. Iron ore final grinding by high pressure grinding rolls and air classification, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 197–204 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

By K J. Riihioja, E Nozawa

SmartTag is a radio frequency identification (RFID) based technology designed to allow tracking of ore from its source through blasting, run-of-mine (ROM) pads, crushers, intermediate stockpiles and finally into the concentrator. This paper presents current developments and the future direction of the SmartTagÖ ore tracking system, as well as presenting some case studies. Successful applications of the SmartTag system have encouraged development to allow the system to be used in a wider variety of plants, in particular plants with finer crushing and screening stages. This presented Metso with a number of technological challenges, including RFID tag and antenna design. By reducing the traditional RFID tag diameter from 60 mm to 20 mm the RFID tags can now successfully pass through a secondary crusher. The new smaller RFID tags (referred to as mini RFID tags) have been used in some Process Integration and Optimisation projects with very promising results. The results indicate that the miniature RFID tags have a higher survivability to blasting and through secondary crushing stages. Extending ore tracking further through the process allows more reliable linking of spatial data with time based process performance. Metso is looking at developing even smaller micro RFID tags, and is also investigating other applications for the SmartTag system, including ore tracking from the original source to the final destination (ie from the mine, through the plant and ports to the customer).

Sep 26, 2011

By J Lainé, M Badawi, A C. de Araujo, Y Foucaud, C Veloso

Flotation is the one of the most used techniques for the mineral separation of non-ferrous ores worldwide. However, the increase of the complexness along with the decrease of ores liberation sizes ought to become important challenges for mineral processing, including flotation. It now appears necessary to better understand the fundamentals of the flotation process, particularly the adsorption of flotation reagents at the liquid/mineral interfaces, to propose further improvements. Flotation relies on different phenomena: surfactants adsorption, on one hand, and collision, adhesion, and transport of particles with bubbles, on the other hand. For acknowledging the reagents adsorption mechanisms, molecular modelling tools borrowed from chemical and material sciences, are increasingly used. Atomistic simulations were successfully applied to study the flotation reagents interaction with various mineral surfaces, eg of two common minerals from iron ores, kaolinite, and magnetite surfaces, or with fluorite surface, a tungsten ores common gangue mineral.

Aug 24, 2022

By M Pyle, T Vizcarra, G Ballantyne, B Foggiatto

Bulk Ore Sorting (BOS) has the potential to add significant value to mining operations by manipulating the feed grade and throughput to the processing plant. However, assessing the performance of BOS is complex, as it is influenced by geology, equipment, spatial and time domains. This increases the risk (real and perceived) of the technology. To manage risk, brownfield operations have the option to: (a) first test the variability in feed grade using a detector on the feed conveyor and subsequently construct the diverter and associated materials handling equipment when the value is established; or (b) conduct site trials with standalone sorting plants. The approaches described for brownfield projects are not available for greenfield projects where the in-situ heterogeneity needs to be quantified and translated into an economic evaluation to test the viability of BOS. Ausenco has developed a methodology that allows assessing the in-situ ore heterogeneity and uses an in-house technoeconomic model to determine the value of BOS for greenfield projects and assess the effects of sorting performance on project economics. The in-situ grade heterogeneity can be measured on a length of drill core and fitted to a mathematical model to assign a heterogeneity index. Given the spatial location, this heterogeneity index can be mapped across a deposit in combination with the average grade. Linking this information with relevant mixing models can determine the likely technical performance of BOS at an operation. However, the real value is only realised when this technical understanding is linked with an economic model and used to optimise the mine plan. Three case studies will be presented that show how Ausenco applies this methodology to assess the value of bulk ore sorting for greenfield studies.

Nov 10, 2020

By M Franklin, C Puglisi, S Fitch

Implementation of a well planned and executed Management Operating System (MOS) can result in widespread improvements to operational performance but its success relies heavily on the investment by and engagement of the larger workforce with the project. Over the seven month period of the Telfer MOS project, significant improvements were achieved; a 20% increase in monthly hoisted tonnes from the open stope and sublevel cave operations and a 45% increase in square metres of ore extracted from the narrow vein operation. The Telfer MOS was undertaken with the intention that the project wasn’t solely about producing new tools, it hinged on the investment and behaviours of the personnel affected by these tools and alterations. To ensure that the project ran smoothly, the Byrnecut senior leadership team and their operators were heavily involved in the project’s development. In the initial stage, Telfer’s MOS project determined that the quality and accuracy of the information received in the form of radio calls to mine control and completed operator plods was questionable. This required an overhaul of the data collection and verification process in the form of altered operator plods, which was then cross referenced with the operator’s radio calls to mine control. Once the data collection and verification process was implemented, the Telfer team was then able to produce several tools with the aim of providing visibility to the data being captured and its implications. These tools allowed the mine foremen to determine whether equipment was being under-utilised and where they should focus their production efforts to meet monthly targets. Whilst the initial underground project is now complete, the implementation of MOS across the entire site is ongoing with significant operating improvements occurring.

Mar 15, 2021

By I Onederra

A better understanding of the detonation performance of an explosive charge can be gained by directly measuring pressure, temperature and velocity of detonation (VOD). This is particularly important with explosives used in the mining industry because their performance is directly influenced by the degree of confinement given by the borehole diameter and the surrounding rock mass. A project funded by the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) was initiated in early 2009 with the view to design and build cost-effective prototype instrumentation to measure the relative differences in detonation pressures and temperatures of commercial mining explosives. The project’s primary focus was on low-density explosives. Low-density (also referred to as low shock) explosives have been available in various forms for nearly 20 years. There have been significant advances in the availability, reliability and flexibility of these explosives, which now offer a range of densities and degrees of water resistance. Their detonation performance is not well understood and cannot be accurately predicted with current ideal and non-ideal detonation codes. It was therefore viewed as important to be able to directly measure pressure and temperature during the detonation process of these complex mixtures in production blastholes. Identifying the pressure release patterns of both conventional and low-density explosives under different geotechnical conditions should provide the necessary information to both validate detonation codes and better define input parameters for breakage and fragmentation models. This paper gives a general description of the prototype instrumentation developed and reports on the results obtained to date in full-scale conditions.

Nov 8, 2011

By R J. Thompson

In truck-based hauling systems, the mine haul road network is a critical and vital component of the production process. As such, underperformance of a haul road will impact immediately on mine productivity and costs. Operations safety, productivity and equipment longevity are all dependent on well-designed, constructed and maintained haul roads. With the advent of autonomous haul trucks, the haul road itself becomes all the more critical to the success of these type of operations; not only in relation to mine operators requirements for safer and more efficient and predictable haulage systems, but also in response to autonomous truck manufacturers’ requirements for a more predictable and controlled operating environment. This paper presents a brief summary of the state-of-the-art in surface mine road design and then proceeds to examine the design and technological challenges associated providing a safe, predictable and affordable road for autonomous mine haul trucks. The paper serves as a basis for evaluating the contributions that enhancements in road design and management can deliver to autonomous mining operations, an initiative that also has scope for adoption within the operating life of many mines, haul roads and haul trucks.

Nov 22, 2011

By T A. Carter

In 2010 Agnew Gold Mine (AGM) struggled to produce the required tonnages from its stopes. The longhole rises used to create void in stopes were unreliable and often failed to gain the designed rise height. The number of firings per stope was having an adverse impact on the ground conditions at the stope brows, impeding stope productivity.Through practical experimentation with longhole drill rigs, box hole rigs and development drill rigs as well as trialling new methods in conjunction with reviewing drill hole data, drill hole accuracy was observed to be an issue on-site. Innovative dragging methods such as the reverse drag, combined with a slope instead of a vertical face on the rear of stopes, have improved dragging and a reduction of firings per stope, enabling larger production blasts.The methods trialled and subsequently implemented at AGM have facilitated the mine achieving budgeted targets for six consecutive quarters. This paper documents the use of these methods in a key lode of AGM’s operations to improve drill and blast practices in order to achieve production targets.CITATION:Carter, T A, 2014. Improving production drilling and blasting in the Kim South orebody at Agnew Gold Mine, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 251–258 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Mar 24, 2014

BHP Billiton Olympic Dam produces copper cathode, uranium oxide concentrate and refined gold and silver. The operation is comprised of an underground Mine and Processing Plant and is located 560 km north of Adelaide. Water for the operation is sourced from two wellfields located 120 and 200 km from the operation in the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) at a rate of approximately 36 ML/d. Regulatory drawdown limits were established to protect regional GAB springs and are monitored at compliance bores. Drawdown was predicted in the æOlympic Dam Environmental Impact StudyÆ (Kinhill, 1997); however, pumping at higher volumes may have the potential for increased drawdown resulting in a trend towards the compliance limits. In recent years increased usage of water in the Concentrator and Hydromet sections of the Processing Plant has caused excess process water reporting to the Tailings Retention System (TRS). This has resulted in excessive amounts of liquor ponding on the tailings cells with a potential impact being contamination due to seepage of liquor to groundwater. Effective management of water by the operation is necessary to both reduce GAB drawdown and reduce the amount of liquor on the tailings cells. A site working-group has been established to investigate and pursue opportunities to improve the water use efficiency of the operation. This paper will highlight the issue of water management at Olympic Dam and discuss the various options currently being investigated to improve management of this important resource.

Jan 1, 2006