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By Ross J. F

A pillar 'is a block of coal left in the first working of a coal seam for the purpose of supporting the superincumbent strata in such a manner that the winning out roadways will be safe to traverse by men and by the coal transport system.PRINCIPLES OF PILLAR EXTRACTION.The size of a pillar is chiefly dependent on the depth of cover, and in a lesser degree on the nature of the coal, or the condition in which the seam has been laid down. In a seam at 1,100ft. depth of cover, and assuming a spec'ific gravity of 2.5 overall for the cover strata, a pressure of 1,200lb. per sq. in. is the loading on the top surface of the coal seam before mining begins.When mining commences, and as the pillars are formed, an increased load is imposed on the coal left in the pillars, according to the percentage of coal extracted in the first working. Thus, if 25% extraction is taken in the first working, the load on the pillars is theoretically increased from 1,200lb. per sq. in. to 1,600lb. per sq. in. over the area mined. If this state of things went on indefinitely it would not be possible wholly to extract a pillar because of the extreme pressure tliat would be thrown on the diminishing portion; but, fortunately, another element, that of time, enters into and assists the process of extraction.If the superimposed strata were of an entirely plastic nature, this time factor could not operate, as the cover weight would settle instantly on the remaining portion of the p'illar and finally overwhelm it. The cover strata above a pillar generally have a certain rigidity which does not allow the superimposed weight to settle instantly on the pillar fraction, and it requires a period of time to elapse before the extra weight is felt by the pillar.The time factor varies widely, and is governed entirely by local conditions; it can only be determined by experience gained on the spot or in close proximity to the area of operations. It is dependent on the strength of the strata and its characteristics under bridging conditions.It is, therefore, logical to assume that the more rapidly a pillar can be extracted the greater will be the safety factor and also the percentage of recovery of coal.Up to the present time, the operation of the extraction of pillars in this country has been, with a few exceptions, a manual one, and before mechanization of Collieries can be fully accomplished, the process will have to be performed mecharrically.

Jan 1, 1947

Chromite ores have a long history of low pricing and for AustraliaÆs only chromite mine this has been a particularly tough challenge, especially as the mine is located nearly 400 km from the nearest port at Port Hedland. A stockpile of chromite fines (-16 mm) has been built up since 2003. The opportunity to develop a facility to treat this material to produce a chip (-16 + 1 mm) product and a sands (-1 mm + 45 micron) product was taken when the price increased to above US$140/t. A simple add-on plant containing a heavy media cyclone circuit for the chips and a spiral circuit for the sands was designed and developed. During construction of the fines plant the price of chromite reached a level where the payback for the entire project was less than eight weeks. Soon afterwards the price and the demand for chromite plummeted and the site was put on care and maintenance, except for the commissioning of the fines plant. This put considerable pressure on whether to continue to operate the plant or to place it in care and maintenance. Times of boom and bust provide management with almost totally opposite views. By not taking a conservative view on prices and costs, the effect of extremely low prices and minimal demand can be devastating to a good project. Designing and building plants with conservative costings in boom times gives a greater chance of keeping projects alive during the bust periods that tend to follow.

Jan 1, 2009

By C Tapia, B Hay

There is a close relationship between the mining industry, economic growth, and technological and social development. Mining activities benefit all economic agents, but only during a timespan determined by available reserves, primarily driven by internal factors such as production rate, technology and costs, and external factors such as prices determined by the market and taxes and royalties controlled by governments (Gordon and Tilton, 2008; Henckens, 2021; Tapia Cortez et al, 2018). The intense use of Mineral Commodities (MC) needed to maintain the current lifestyle has placed ore depletion as one of the main threats to sustainable economic, social and technological development. However, ore depletion does not only arise due to the finite nature of MC, price fluctuations or technological challenges. It is also triggered by the ‘economic limits of extraction’, determined by the optimisation of financial factors and technical restrictions within the regulatory framework (Henckens, 2021). Most reporting standards – if not all – define ore reserves as ‘the economically mineable part of a Measured and/or Indicated Mineral Resources’ determined by the technical and economic viability of extracting, processing and commercialising MC having the NPV as the fundamental decision – making tool (JORC, 2012; Krzemień et al, 2016). However, is the NVP an ‘economically’ basis index able to capture the complexity of economic phenomena? No, it is not, and it is crucial to define what is economic and financial. Although related, they are different disciplines. Economics studies the behaviour of the different market agents, including human behaviour and policies and explains the factors involved in the scarcity (or surplus) of goods and services. Finance focuses on financial systems and managing funds considering the time, cash available, and risk. It involves banks, loans, investments, and savings and can be considered a small subset of economics (Simon, 1959; Tapia Cortez et al, 2018). Given the economic nature of ore Reserves, endorsed by governments (Figure 1), NPV is an incomplete tool to determine ore Reserves as it limits the problem to simply maximising cash flows instead of optimising the economic benefits for all economic agents. In addition, using the rigid scheme of controlling taxation – unable to adapt to new market or economic conditions and systematically increasing – within the NPV framework only increases the sub-optimisation of ore reserves, mainly due to the systematic taxation rise. Short-term benefits of higher taxes and royalties are unlikely to offset the impacts of reducing exploration and project development in the long-term, which not only boosts ore depletion concerns but also reduces competitiveness, threatening economic and social welfare (Fisher, Cootner and Baily, 1972; Gordon, Bertram and Graedel, 2007; Lilford, 2017; Mardones, Silva and Martínez, 1985; Radetzki, 2009; Rodrik, 1982; Tan, 1987; World Bank, 2000). Holistic methods and collaborative tools, able to dynamically simulate and assess how changes in the technical settings, regulatory framework (taxes and royalties), and financial factors affect the availability of ore reserves and the impact for all economic agents, should be incorporated into the evaluation process to fill the gap.

Aug 2, 2023

The geotechnical and environmental aspects of heap leaching are very closely tied during design, operations and closure. Potential environmental impacts from heap leaching are mostly due to land disturbance and water quality issues, including both groundwater and surface water. Water quality issues are mostly related to containment design, which is primarily a function of proper sizing of the facilities and site specific liner design. Geotechnical analyses is the dominant discipline in providing cost efficient, operationally effective and environmentally sound heap leach facility designs. Much has been published on geotechnical aspects of heap leach design, for example Van Zyl, Hutchison and Kiel (1988) and Van Zyl (1987). This paper will emphasize a few specific aspects related to the geotechnical and environmental consideration for heap leach projects. These aspects are: ò site investigation; ò containment design; ò slope stability; ò heap flow dynamics; and ò closure design. Design of a heap leach project must consider not only the operating life but also closure and post-closure considerations. As a matter of standard practice, designing for closure is an extremely important concept. Not only is it important for environmental aspects, but experience also shows that projects designed for closure will be overall more economical for the total life cycle of the project. Closure considerations are also important during project feasibility evaluations to ensure that total life cycle costs are evaluated.

Jan 1, 1994

By Bourgeois F

The population balance concept has provided a useful framework for the description of the operating behavior of the ball mill. This approach finds expression in the so-called selection breakage function model for batch and continuous mills. This model produces very good descriptions of the size distribution of the products from ball milling operations and the model is very useful for the description of batch and continuous mills and, when combined with models for classifiers and other unit operations, provides a solid basis for flowsheet simulation procedures. The breakage and selection function model is essentially descriptive and not predictive because the parameters in the model cannot as yet be related to the fundamental material properties of the material that is broken and to the fracture mechanics that govern the comminution of brittle particulate material during the rapid impact and compression events that occur with high frequency in a ball mill. The population balance approach smears over the individual processes and regards the ball mill as a continuum with breakage occurring continuously in time and space. New experimental techniques, particularly the adaptation of the Hopkinson bar as the ultrafast load cell (UFLC) to the problem of observing the extremely rapid impact fracture of particulate solids, have made it possible to make accurate and consistent measurements of particle strength, particle fracture energy and the single-impact breakage function. These quantitative measurements have been incorporated into a new conceptual model for the description of the ball mill. The model is based on identifying all events that give rise to particle breakage, and using the fundamental experimental data obtained on the UFLC and other single-particle fracture tests, the probabilities of these events can be independently determined. The distribution of impact energies that occur in the ball mill has been established by discrete element simulation of the media motion. The probabilistic description of the individual fracture events and the distribution of impact energies are combined to make a priori predictions of ball mill performance under a variety of operating conditions. The new model is used to calculate the selection and breakage functions for quartz in a small batch mill.

Jan 1, 1993

Hindered settling devices (teeter bed, up-current) are widely used in the mining industry to classify mineral streams into various size fractions and to separate minerals. In the coal industry these devices are extremely successful in separating coal of low densities from shale and pyrite. In the beach sand and in the iron ore industry, this equipment is used to beneficiate minerals either as stand alone units or lately as classifiers in spiral circuits. The challenge that these applications give to metallurgists is to be able to simulate the equipment by using mathematical models with or without the aid of small bench scale tests. In any green fields and many brownfields projects, limited amounts of samples make pilot plant tests difficult. Although there are mathematical approaches available, the accuracy is of such a nature that it can not be used for design purposes. This refers to the use of StrokeÆs law, NewtonÆs and the so called intermediate law as is widely published. Research done by the author indicates that in most applications none of the above laws apply. Using the original data as published by Perry and Chilton (Chemical Engineering Handbook, pp 5-64, 1973) and re-plotting it indicates that the settling velocity of particles is a function of (particle diameter)n where n varies between 1.2 and 1.6 which is different from that predicted by the intermediate law that suggests that n = 1.18. Another way of describing the relationship between the drag force and the Reynolds number is done by iterating between settling velocity and the Reynolds number. This needs more computer time but the accuracy obtained from this does add value to simulations. A small but simple test is suggested to determine the settling velocity of particles to enable metallurgists to determine variations from the theoretical calculations to determine the influence of viscosity and particle shape.

Jan 1, 2008

By G R. F Alvear Flores

Mineral resources are becoming more complex in composition and structure making it more difficult to produce clean concentrates for primary metal smelting. In parallel, providing technological solutions to the recycling and recovery of end-of-life materials is becoming more important in moving towards the goal of increasing circularity. The availability of fundamental thermodynamic data and advanced thermodynamic tools greatly assists in evaluating these complexities and their impact on existing and new processes. In addition, it is fundamental to support the economic performance of smelters. This paper describes several examples on how fundamental work can be applied to industrial processing..

Jun 17, 2024

By J Vann

The key functions of project evaluation are to assess potential profitability and to develop an effective operational design. For mining projects, design aspects include mining methodology, ore treatment methodology and production rates. All of these characteristics impact on project economics and overall value. Resource models, which form the ultimate basis of project evaluation, typically consist of tonnes above cut-off, grade above cut-off and the spatial distribution (connectivity) of tonnes/grade above cut-off, for one or more variables. Dilution, ore loss and metallurgical recovery are all modifying factors applied to the resource model during evaluation and determination of profitability. A key issue is: how is the value determined? In addition to traditional combination of in situ tonnes/grade, the following merit serious consideration: the concentration of deleterious elements, throughput rates, mining/processing costs and û importantly û metallurgical recovery. Geometallurgy is an emerging field targeted at integrating these issues by identifying either direct measures or proxies for throughput (hardness, grindability), recovery (liberation, mineral shape/texture, etc) and concentrate quality from easily collected macro-, meso- and microscopic data. These ægeometallurgical variablesÆ drive project costs and revenues in a fundamental way. For geometallurgical characterisation to have a real impact on business design, it must enable improved mine planning. When creating spatial estimates for such variables, it is preferable to find proxies that can be measured as close to the intact rock mass as possible. However, spatial estimation of proxies for geometallurgical properties and responses is complex and requires special consideration. Unlike grades, both proxies and absolute measures of geometallurgical variables are not necessarily linear or additive and therefore require very careful geostatistical consideration. In some cases, models must predict extreme values of geometallurgical attributes rather than averages. Incorrect characterisation of metallurgical recovery/throughput can (and has) led to misspecification of the scale of projects, and thus can be seriously value destructive. Aspects of geometallurgy have long been important in iron, bauxite, manganese and coal deposits and are increasingly on the radar for base and precious metal miners. However, as more metallurgically complex deposits are developed and mining of large-scale, low-grade deposits becomes more commonplace, the importance of characterising the metallurgical response in order to generate properly optimised projects will rapidly increase. It is possible that in many ætraditionalÆ (ie grades and tonnes) reserve models, the variables that drive the project are missing!

Jan 1, 2007

Magnetic methods have for a long time been used in the search for iron ore. In fact the first recorded geophysical prospecting was the use of a magnetic compass to locate iron ore in the Kuruna region in Sweden as early as 1640.The largest magnetic anomaly discovered, about 700,000 gamma-s, is in this region.The enormous deposits in Russia in the Kursk region, where the ore consists largely of magnetite, were discovered by magnetic methods. Heiland estimates the proved reserves at 290,000 million tons and the additional potential deposits at twice this amount.These magnetite ores Show extremely high magnetic anomalies and consequently very insensitive instruments could be used to survey them. The first aerial magnetic surveys were carried out in this area in 1928.Large areas of the iron ore producing regions in Norway, Sweden and the United States have been covered by magnetic surveys in the past 30 years, much of the work being started after the first World War.In every major iron ore producing country, except Australia, extensive magnetic surveys have been, or are, carried out with the purpose of extending the reserves of ore. Australia is indeed fortunate that the depletion of iron ore reserves and the location of new deposits has not become an urgent problem. Nevertheless, some minor reconnaissance work has already been carried out in Australia, and the Commonwealth Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology and Geophysics is contemplating a more extended aerial magnetometer survey in the Middleback Ranges area. The work so far done in the Middleback Ranges country consists of a ground magnetic survey of a few small...

Jan 1, 1951

It is usually the case that the short-term plannerÆs role is occupied by the younger site mining engineer. ThatÆs because mine scheduling is generally seen as a mundane and thankless task. But, short-term planners play an extremely important role in maximising the value of the mining resource, generally the companyÆs biggest asset. A look at any mining operation today will expose the competing drivers behind the operational and strategic plans. Operations are too often faced with pushing short-term constraints. It is the responsibility of the short-term engineer to answer the question of æWhere to next?Æ. In answering this question the young mining engineer is in an environment overflowing with urgency and constraints. Hasty decisions made at this time may have significant adverse consequences to the long-term value of the resource. Long-term strategy must address a broad and expanding number of issues that are generally overlooked by the short-term planner. It takes a holistic, rather than the prescriptive approach of short-term planning to determine the best strategic direction for the operation. To better understand the consequences of decisions made at the operational level short-term planners need better vision of the whole business. The key to improving the mining business is a planning process that integrates the short-term planners role with the overall mining strategy. Future developments in the mine planning process will focus on bridging this ædisconnectÆ between the operational objectives and the long-term goals. Improvements will come from the tools which planning engineerÆs use, and the planning methodology surrounding them. There will be significant hardware improvements to improve the speed with which a short-term planner can evaluate plausible options. Software that maximises the use of the improved hardware will be developed. Complimenting these technological improvements, conceptual methodologies of mine planning will improve to allow strategic planning to be brought within the focus of the short-term planning engineer. In todayÆs mining industry the young mining engineer is embarking on a career where business processes are paramount. This paper discusses the ædisconnectÆ that occurs today between the operational planning and long-term strategy and how this is driving developments in mine planning today.

Jan 1, 2003

Atlas Copco is one of the worldÆs leading providers of industrial productivity solutions (Atlas Copco, 2009). Furthermore, the company spans 160 markets and held 34 000 employees at the end of 2008. The company is organised under three ætechniquesÆ whereby the Construction and Mining TechniqueÆs business division is located within +rebro, Sweden. This paper is aimed at briefly facilitating information on how the company and more specifically, the Construction and Mining Technique is run. Also, by sharing my experiences, this paper is intended to encourage and motivate students currently studying for a degree relevant to the minerals industry, to apply for this extremely beneficial scholarship. Through a number of presentations relating to the various divisions, products and aftermarket services of the company, I came to realise that Atlas Copco extends beyond simply selling equipment suitable for the mining and civil industries. This tour through Sweden also contained highlights of visiting the Underground Rock Excavation factory, Surface Drilling Equipment factory and Secoroc divisions. I was also fortunate enough to participate in a tour of the LKAB mine in Kiruna. In addition, time was allocated to less industry related activities, and I was able to go dog sledging, sip vodka cocktails out of ice glasses at the Ice Hotel and enjoy traditional Swedish foods of moose and reindeer. Most important and memorable to me; however, was the ability for employees of Atlas Copco to speak of the company and their products with such passion and enthusiasm, which truly made this a motivational and unforgettable experience.

Jan 1, 2009

One common public perception of mining is that financially it is an extraordinarily risky business. Another and contrary view, in certain circles, is that price risk and other financial risks can be relatively easily removed or shifted by a number of schemes or devices. In reality, beyond the orebody discovery stage, mining need not be any more risky than most heavy industrial businesses. Nevertheless, as stated by Rappaport, (1986): Risk is a parameter of central importance in establishing the economic value of any asset. The level of risk is determined both by the nature of the firm's operations and by the relative proportions of debt and equity used to finance its investments. These two types of risk are commonly referred to as 'business risk' and 'financial risk' respectively. The term financial risk is used somewhat more loosely herein to recognise the reality that any risk inadequately addressed in the design, construction and operation of a mining project can have significant financial consequences; usually negative. For instance, a specific area of business risk in mining is often called technical risk which definitely has severe financial consequences if not managed correctly. The various risk shifting, hedging and risk management tools available all have their place and range from merely useful to almost indispensable. However, in the long-term, financial risks are maintained at acceptable levels by the application of sound, more fundamental business management principles. There are many with a vested interest in perpetuating a perception that the conceptual foundations of sound management practice are extremely complex. In reality, most management concepts are prosaic, but their application requires incredible discipline and hard work. There is no magic formula or 'silver bullet'. It appears that a company whose activities are restricted to mining can analyse the range of risks specific to mine development and operations more clearly than companies in which mining is just one of many businesses. The almost universal failure of large oil companies in the mining business is probably the best example of lack of any clear comprehension of fundamental business characteristics and risks. Conversely, in regard to risk management, choosing to be in other business as well as mining does nothing to reduce the risks of the mining business. The individual shareholder can probably make such 'diversification of portfolio' decisions better than most management teams. It could be argued that diversification across a number of disparate businesses may actually increase overall corporate risk due to lack of management concentration and focus. These differences between the perceptions of financial risks and the realities in mining need to be further elaborated in relation to some uncompromising business concepts.

Jan 1, 1994

By Mendeckl A. J

Anglo American Corporation has always viewed technological development as vital and as such has placed research and the implementation of new technological practices high on its priority list. Support is given to a number of research institutes but a significant degree of reliance is placed on in-house research carried out at individual companies and at the Group's main laboratory complexes. The Corporation's interests are diverse with advanced practices and innovative technology ranging from new battery technology with wide application to deep level shaft technology with very specific application. In this paper, we aim to concentrate on a particular system developed primarily for use in seismically active deep mines. The system has proved to have far wider application and has the potential to be further enhanced to meet the needs of users across a broad range within the industry and even beyond. As the nature of this conference is to inform delegates of advanced mining practices, we should simply mention that we could have talked on subjects relating to the advances made in deep level winding technology including winder drive and brake control to alleviate dynamic rope loads, shaft steel design for high pay load high speed winding and shaft safety systems such as slack rope devices and moving lip loading facilities to cater for rope stretch. Other areas of interest relating to refrigeration using ice technology or non-explosive rock cutting using diamond wire or saw technology could also have been of interest. As the South African gold mines become deeper and the problems associated with depth become more acute, answers had to be found and systems developed to cope with very high rock stress and the related seismicity. The fundamental understanding of the behaviour of the rock mass has always been important but became critical on our mines to ensure the safe extraction of the orebody. Basic research into and the application of physics, applied mathematics, seismology, rock mechanics, electronics and computer technology have helped us to develop the Integrated Seismic System - Integrated because of the system's abilty to monitor seismic and non-seismic sensors simultaneously and because it encompasses data acquisition, processing and interpretation into one system. The system which is in use at all our gold mines has found application not only in South Africa but also in such locations as Australia, Chile, Canada, Europe and Japan. A highly motivated team of scientists under the leadership of Aleksander Mendecki developed the majority of the hardware and software needed for the system. In essence, the system allows us real time monitoring of energy release and stress transfer data that with the aid of modern computers is turned into useful information. The information so obtained has allowed us to improve our mine and extraction designs to minimise the inherent hazards. The system has proved to be an extremely useful management tool as substantiated by the demand for the product. The paper is intended to convey to the reader the technical concepts and the presentation is intended to demonstrate the usefulness of the system.

Jan 1, 1995

By O Dahl, I M. Platten, E J. Sides

Many narrow-vein gold deposits are characterised by a high to extreme nugget effect and the presence of coarse gold. They rank amongst the most difficult of deposits to produce an accurate and precise resource estimate. This contribution presents a case study from the Nalunaq Gold Mine in Southern Greenland. The mine commenced operation in May 2004 and is currently operating at a rate of 400 tonnes per day, to produce about 100 000 oz gold per annum from a total resource base of 1.2 Moz. Mineralisation is characterised by quartz veins that are hosted within a shear zone that is continuous over about 1000 m. The principal orebody is the Main Vein structure, which ranges up to 3 m in width, maintains an average dip of 35¦SE, and contains significant gold grades (1000s g/t Au). Gold particles are often visible, with 25 per cent being greater than 250 microns in size. Variography using underground development samples indicates a nugget effect of about 75 per cent. For the 2005 resource estimate, a 2D metal accumulation ordinary kriged block model was used to produce a global grade for the Target and South Blocks of the Main Vein. Grade control chip-channel samples are collected from æshantyÆ drive footwalls, and used as the basis for both the kriged block model and to determine the grade of individual stope blocks by peripheral weighted averages. Geology plays a key role in mining efficiency, given the locally variable nature of the ore zone.

Jan 1, 2006

By M Gabbitus, B Young, T Lukins, M Slater

This paper details the implementation of a new type of grade control system at the Black Star open cut mine in Mount Isa, Queensland. It explores the site requirements for grade control, what as previously in place and what the site required moving forward. It also details some of the features of the system installed and why it was chosen over other grade control systems available. Black Star open cut mine has been in operation since late 2004, and was developed to extract the surface extents of the Ag-Pb-Zn mineralisation previously mined in the Isa Lead Mine. Black Star is currently mining seven distinct orebodies in and around active void hazard zones and hence, its grade control requirements are very detailed and complex. The implementation of a new system to manage the model update and block out processes was, therefore, of critical importance to the site and required a detailed understanding of the requirements of the entire mining team from drilling through to geology, survey and production. Having previously run the grade control process using site specific æblack boxÆ scripts and macros, Black Star needed to implement a more open, auditable and flexible system, which allowed the geologists to control the process and make strategic changes as the situation demanded. MineSightÆs Axis Grade Control, with its flexible, generic framework for managing the process, met these demands. Being an out of the box solution that requires minimal setup and training was also a key factor in the decision to use it.CITATION:Lukins, T, Slater, M, Gabbitus, M and Young, B, 2012. The introduction of axis at Black Star Open Cut, in Proceedings Eighth Open Pit OperatorsÆ Conference , pp 71-74 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 18, 2012

By B P. Voutharoj, R A. Dutch, M Paknezhad, T Ostersen

With the proliferation of new sensor technologies, acquiring multiple data sets over the same ground is becoming cheaper and easier than ever. This new, higher resolution multivariate data provides a significant resource for exploration and resource geologists but comes with the added complexity of effectively integrating the various data sets in useful and meaningful ways to elucidate new geological understanding. Both geophysical data sets and hyperspectral data are extensively used for exploration targeting, providing different information at different resolutions and crustal scales. One of the biggest challenges comes from trying to effectively integrate data sets that record very different physical properties, across the different scales these data are captured at, in a way which can allow for a data-driven analysis of these combined data sets.

Sep 1, 2024

By E Wargem

The optimum mining of an orebody in an underground mining operation is fundamental to the mine’s ability to operate both sustainably and efficiently. The effective mining of an open stope or a cave is largely reliant on the recovery of the initial void created by conventional drilling and blasting. These initial voids are known by various names such as a Longhole Rise, Slot or Winze and can be mined either as a downhole or as an uphole. Regardless of the underground mining method, the process of the design and implementation of this initial void is largely uniform across many operations with various patterns of slot or winze designs used across these different operations. Diligent design, implementation and review strategies in drilling and blasting of these will facilitate cost-effective mining with minimal disruption to mine schedules and production targets. When an operation struggles in opening the initial void in underground mine blasting, it has a negative impact on productivity, mineral recovery, and the overall economics of mining. Near field blast vibration monitoring is a vital tool to use in analysing slot blasts and will provide additional feedback into the reconciliation part of the drill and blast process. It is one that is often overlooked in the mining industry in many operations due to many factors such as lack of skilled personnel, or a lack of required resources. The data obtained from near field blast vibration monitoring can be used to provide additional feedback into blast reviews and help in any drill and blast optimisation projects. This paper highlights key aspects of underground drill and blast reviews and the use of near field blast vibration monitoring for post blast analysis and shares learnings from various projects that the authors have been involved in within Australia and abroad.

Mar 29, 2023

By A G. L Pratt, J R. Grant

Mining companies face the ongoing challenge of sustaining and growing production. This paper outlines business investment concepts to grow reliable returns on investment from a portfolio of choices by:improved visualisation, diagnosis and tune up of the investment pipeline (pipeline management); good corporate decision making (governance) to select the right project mix, risks and sequence; and delivery strategies to enhance and reliably execute projects.

Jan 1, 2006

This is the seventh major symposium organised by Illawarra Branch over the past five years and the fifth dealing with various aspects of coal. It is clear that all of you here need no convincing that black is beautiful! This symposium is on a broader canvas, covering the overall field of occurrence, preparation and utilization of black coal throughout Australia. It is thus the most comprehensive treatment of the subject by the Institute since the symposium organized in 1950 by the Sydney Branch with the co-operation of the then newly formed branches in Newcastle, Illawarra, Central Western N.S.W. and Southern Queensland, all of which shared coal as a major interest. The 1950 symposium was adopted as a volume in the series of seven published by the Fifth Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress in 1953. This historical reminiscence brings to our minds the circumstances in which these new Institute branches were formed. This happened in the year of the presidency of the late Frank Hockey, and at the time the Australian black coal industry was in many ways at a very low ebb. It was the time of extreme shortage of coal following World War II, and the industry was beset by industrial unrest on such a scale that daily bulletins were posted listing the number of idle pits, of idle miners and of tons of lost production. There could not, of course, be any thought of export marketing. Some of the more picturesque bulletins recorded the number of pits at which the ceremonial emptying of billies took place, and the number of pits at which the aroma of the horses' breath was insupportable. At an Institute conference at the time it is on record that the late lamented Austin Edwards, that tireless mineral researcher, author and editor, in his gentle way chided the personnel of the industry and the members of the Institute for having allowed a situation to develop in which a whole generation of Australian children could grow up without ever having seen coal or knowing what it was. It is sad that most children and most Australians have still never seen coal, and think of it as something dirty and uninteresting. The desperate situation of the black coal industry inspired moves by people in industry and in governments, whose plans and efforts have been recorded elsewhere, to modernize coal mining methods, to introduce coal preparation, and generally to restore the mines and the mining communities and to re-cast the steel industry and electricity generation. Amelioration of the traditionally troubled industrial relations was an integral part of this overall programme, and whilst one would wish this aspect had progressed further the situation has, in fact, improved immensely. New investment in exploration, mining, preparation, transport and utilization both by the existing coal mining groups and by new entrants, Australian and overseas, have played a large part in bringing about the transformation of the industry to such a point that Australian needs are being fully met and a large export market is being supplied - a situation that few would have dared to hope for in those dark post-war days. Forecasts of exports from New South Wales and Queensland show coal becoming a dominant foreign exchange earner for an indefinite term. Old King Cole may have vanished from our children's nursery rhymes but King Coal is here to stay, providingthat costs in the industry can be kept within competitive limits. It is all too easy for an industry to price itself out of the export market by inflation, by increased costs for a variety of reasons, and through currency readjustments. A second proviso is that we must continue to encourage a balanced attitude to environmental matters.

Jan 1, 1975

By M Liang, C Putzmann, D Gokaydin

The mining industry faces numerous challenges in swiftly evaluating and exploiting new mineral deposits to meet the escalating demand for critical minerals and metals. These challenges necessitate the adoption of innovative techniques and technologies to expedite development cycles and facilitate the efficient exchange of knowledge and expertise. Traditional mineral exploration methods rely heavily on data governance, visualisation tools, and expert interpretation skills, often operating in isolation and limiting the integration of valuable data and knowledge (Lindsay and Perrouty, 2019). To address these integration challenges and bridge the industry’s knowledge gap, the concept of a digital twin offers a holistic solution (Ahn, 2021; Nagovitsyn and Stepacheva, 2021).

Sep 1, 2024