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Estimation of operating costs in the nickel production industry requires a detailed analysis of material flows from mine to smelter to refinery. Despite the small number of nickel producers compared to other base metals, the existence of two very different ore types (sulphide and laterite) and a wide variety of mining and processing technologies make the identification of these flows of critical importance if an accurate global picture is to be obtained. Smelting and refining processes in nickel metallurgy have evolved with a high degree of adaptation to specific operating conditions in different locations. Overall costs are calculated by combining individual cost elements for each unit in production chains from mine to saleable metal product. The average cost of western world primary nickel production in 1995 was US$2.07/lb ($4560/tonne). Average operating costs remained virtually unchanged in the three years to 1995 after an 8.5 per cent fall in 1993, but a 3.9 per cent increase to $2.15/lb is expected for 1996. A major factor in this rise results from the lower prices of copper and cobalt this year, reducing the by-product credits available to major producers.

Jan 1, 1996

By Ramsden AR

The ability of the scanning electron microprobe to provide non-destructive qualitative and quantitative mineralogical analysis at the micrometre scale makes it a very versatile tool for the mineralogical characterisation of ore deposits and their host rocks. With the trend towards exploitation of large tonnage low grade depositsnd precious metals at the parts per million level it is becoming increasingly important to have full mineralogical characterisation and knowledge of the mineralogical residence of the valuable elements to assist formulation of a cost-effective exploration program and obtain optimum recovery in the case of exploitation. Mineralogical applications include

Jan 1, 1989

The, Ore-bodies.-The ore-bodies of the North mine, North Broken Hill Ltd.; consist of two lenses, connected by a narrow neck of mineralized country. They pitch at an angle of 40° in an easterly direction and dip north at 60° to the horizontal. The southern ore-body, on a horizontal plane, has a total maximum length of 800 feet and in one place attains a width of 230 feet, whilst the northern orebody has a maximum'length of 600 feet and a maximum width of 80 feet.

Jan 1, 1940

Hydraulic transport of coal has been used for many years on the West Coast of New Zealand to extract small blocks of steeply dipping coal. Recent development at Strongman 2 Mine has seen the use of high pressure monitors to cut coal and a corresponding increase in the scale of production.This paper provides a brief introduction to hydraulic mining, describes the present system used at Strongman 2 and discusses future potential development.

Jan 1, 1998

By Bockhorst R. W, Christopher D. A

Over the past fifteen years, horizontal drilling in coal seams for advance degasification has become an established practice in the United States of America. Consolidation Coal Company pioneered the development of the horizontal drilling system and licensed the technology in the U.S. A. and to Du Pont (Australia) for commercial production. This paper discusses the most recent developments in the equipment design, especially the borehole telemetry system, known as the Downhole Drill Monitor (DDM).

Jan 1, 1988

By S Hapugoda, H Han, L Lu

Sinter quality depends heavily on the mineral phases, textures and physical structure of the sinter, which are formed upon solidification of the sinter melt. The interaction of sinter initial melt with its surrounding materials will impact the properties of the sinter melt and consequently the solidified structure and quality of resultant sinter. Spreading and penetration are two important phenomena dictating the interaction of the initial melt with its surrounding materials, such as nuclei and adhering fines. In the present study, the penetration behaviour of an initial melt into various natural iron ore substrates of different ore types during sintering was studied using a laboratory scale penetration testing procedure. The penetration depth and width were found to increase with temperature and vary with the type of iron ore due to their unique pore structure and mineralogical texture.

Nov 8, 2021

By Itoh K, Sakai K, Tsuji K

In Japan there exists a strong demand for mechanical excavation for tunnelling bacause the blasting method which produces much vibra- tions and noises is restricted in its applica- tion due to the fact that there can be many cases where tunnelling sites are located ad- jacent to residencial areas as a result of Japan's being a thickly inhabited country. Pressing demands for and deep interest in the mechanical excavation method have been shown by the circles concerned with reasons that it produces smooth cutting surface and causes less overcutting of profile as a result of the diffusion of NATM (New Austrian Tunnel- ling Method) in the recent years. This has caused a strong desire of the users to apply the conventional mechanical excavation method that has been used mainly for soft rock cutting also to the field of hard rock cutting. In order to meet such needs of the tunnel- ling industry, further research and development have been continued to have successfully real- ized the Boomtype Tunnelling Machine for Hard Rock.

Jan 1, 1987

Most compact bucket wheel excavators in use are in the small to medium range. Large compact bucket wheel excavators compete directly with con- ventional longer boom excavators which have operational advantages over the large compact. There are, however, situations where the large com- pact excavator is viable. In the development of these large compacts there are a number of technical features to be addressed. In addition the SECV now propose to expand the concept to a large compact bucket wheel excavator with a bridge and loading unit for their Loy Yang Open Cut.

Jan 1, 1989

By Quast K. B

Laboratory batch rod and ball milling tests were conducted on samples of Heavy Medium Separator (HMS) sinks from Renison Tin Limited. The product size distributions for this heterogeneous material were very different to similarly sized homogenous material previously reported by the authors. The effects of pulp density on product size distributions were only evident at pulp densities greater than 80 per cent solids. At high solids density, the major weight distribution product peak fell and broadened indicating less efficient breakage, particularly for rod milling. Tin distribution in the ground products was also affected by pUlp density, and there was always less cumulative per cent tin than cumulative per cent weight, ie there was no tendency for cassiterite to slime down to 10/lm.

Jan 1, 1995

Iron and steelmaking slags have been utilised for a century. All dumps are now exhausted. Because of constraints in establishing new stock yards, all slags have to be utilised immediately. At present, this is being achieved. Only in a situation where there is an increase in pig iron and crude steel production, together with the impact of new residual materials competing from other industries can marketing problems be anticipated.

Jan 1, 1979

By Tomlinson R. C

The paper will briefly describe planning in the National Coal Board (NCB) and the contribution that operational research makes to it. It will then give details of some of the models in use and will finally consider critically the problems of looking ahead to the next century.

Jan 1, 1977

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

As modern techniques of Petroleum Exploration and Development are rela-tively new in Australia,2 the alien terms "Mud Logging" and "Core Analysis" will bear explanation. Mud Logging and Core Analysis are two of the Petroleum. Industryts most useful "tools" in the successful search for, and development of, commercial oil and gas deposits. Modern Mud Logging could be more accu-xately termed "Drill Cuttings and Mud Gas Analysis". Presently, mud-logging has its greatest application in exploratory wells where subsurface geologic control is at a-minimum.

Jan 1, 1962

By Corbett G, Iwai N

The Japanese gold mining industry has a long and productive history and is presently undergoing a period of revitalisation encouraged by the Hishikari discovery. Deposits exhibiting the characteristics of epithermal mineralisation are very widely distributed throughout the island chain and an encouraging number of these are large, seven containing gold in excess of one million ounces. All the important deposits are quartz vein type and contain extremely high grade, or "bonanza". Zones.

Jan 1, 1990

By Ash M

The world-class iron ore mines at Mt Whaleback, Torn Price and Paraburdoo located in the Hamersley Province of Western Australia must mine the Mt McRae Shale to obtain high grade ore from the Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Iron Formation. The Mt McRae Shale contains a black pyritic shale lithology that reacts with ammonium nitrate-based explosives. This paper provides an overview of the problems associated with mining this reactive rock type as well as the development of a comprehensive procedure to safely and efficiently blast, excavate and dispose of this material. The strategy used to develop the procedure involved raising the awareness of relevant site personnel to the risks associated in mining the Black Pyritic Mt McRae Shale, obtaining the commitment of these personnel that a detailed procedure was required and that any procedure developed must be followed, otherwise the potential risks such as premature detonation were high. It was also necessary that an on-going training program be implemented so that all relevant new employees would be educated as to the reasons for adhering to the Black Pyritic Shale Procedure.

Jan 1, 1995

By M Coulthard, J Rivalland, K Dugan

Prior to 2001 Yallourn Mine has pumped approximately 1000 Megalitres of water per annum from aquifers beneath the mine floor in order to control aquifer pressures that were thought to have an influence on mine floor and permanent batter stability. In 2001 one of the deep aquifer pumps was shut down for five months in order to measure the aquifer recoveries. Prior to the shutdown a UDEC model was created in order to predict what level of recovery in the aquifer pressures would be critical to mine stability. The shutdown showed that the aquifer levels recovered and stabilised at levels that did not threaten the stability of the mine. The aquifers recovered to levels below the critical levels identified in the UDEC model.

Jan 1, 2003

By Lowder G. G, Cooper R. S, Radke F, Watmuff I. G

During the past five years Amdel has in vestigated metallurgically and mineralogically most of the Western Australian nickel sulphide ores. The mineralogical work has been carried out primarily to assist the metallurgical stud- ies and this paper reviews the application of mineralogical techniques to such ores to obtain information of direct use to the process met- allurgist. The techniques are described briefly and results are given of various in- vestigations of head samples, concentrates and tailings.. It is demonstrated that mineral- ogy has an important role to play in the optim- ization of nickel processing operations.

Jan 1, 1973

By Kristiansen J

A series of laboratory blasting and ball mill grinding tests have been done on four different types of hard and competent rocks. The results show that exposing these rock types to a higher level of explosive energy will enhance their grindability. True blasting optimisation should therefore look at the whole comminution process from solid rock to a marketable product.

Jan 1, 1995

The city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder is located 595 kilometres east of Perth in Western Australia, and has a population of just over 30 000. Western Australia's third largest city lies on one of the richest goldfields in the world, with over 45 million ounce

Jan 1, 1998

Existing fluid flow techniques may be readily applied to the design of ranges for seam gas drainage. The Reynolds number characterises the flow regime within the pipe and it can be used in conjunction with data on absolute pipe surface roughness to determine the system friction factor. The application of the solution to the isothermal compressible flow equation utili- sing Moody friction factors and the concept of equivalent length of pipe for fittings and valves provides a practical method for sizing gas ranges. The physical capacity of a range can be decreased by the existence of significant quantities of water in the range and also by the ingress of air into the system at poor pipe joints etc. Both problems can be elimin- ated by adequate attention to design detail.

Jan 1, 1982