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The term slag has been used to define a wide variety of material including mine spoil and slag produced at steel plants. The present paper is concerned only with the non-metallic alumino-silicates developed simultaneously with iron in blast furnaces.The control of iron quality by slag has long been appreciated but here aspects of slag control based on concurrent iron production are indicated. Consideration is given to the basic composition of slags relative to the type of allotrope required. Up to a point, the plant conditions, under which a particular slag type is processed, have some effect, but these conditions only widen the range of a given allotrope.They do not convert one slag type into another. The nature of the slag types and experiments with additives to convert one slag type into another are discussed.The various uses for allotropes of blast furnace slag are considered.Their use in air cooled slag, foamed slag, slag wool, cements, soil stabilization, glass bottles, and building bricks and blocks, is explored in some detail.INTRODUCTIONWithin recent memory, blast furnace practice has been solely concerned with the production of iron. The slag make at this time had not reached embarrassing proportions. In Britain, unlike Germany, no legislation existed to prevent the growth of unsightly slag banks. Generally slag found limited use as fill and road material in the immediate plant vicinity. This is broadly the case in Australia today. In Europe and America, where the slag make is of the order of several million tons annually, the room problem and the cost of dumping slag has stimulated commercial and scientific research on the disposal problem. Currently, most iron plants in Europe can profitably dispose of at least 95 per cent of their slag make.

Jan 1, 1964

The Department of Mineral Resources is the lead agency in mine site environment management and control inNew South Wales. The Department introduced a Mining, Rehabilitation and Environmental Management Plan (MREMP) process several years ago in order to integrate the activities of other government agencies who may have a material interest at the mine site. The MREMP process has resulted in a spirit of trust and co-operation between agencies and between agencies and mining companies. The spirit of co-operation has been reflected in greater public confidence that mining is environmentally responsible.  

Jan 1, 1995

By Cawte D. C, Just G. D, Whitchurch K. D

The stringent marketing specifications included in coal contracts mean that coal producers must supply cleaner and more consistent coal than may have been formerly required. Geostatistics has the potential to aid in the accurate estimation of the washability characteristics of coal. A prediction method, the Kriged Service Variable Approach has been developed.A Computer Aided Drafting and Design system has proved useful in the development and application of the approach. The geostatistical approach has been tested against coal geological and borehole data and applications discussed.

Jan 1, 1987

By E E. Hall, S, E D. Thimons, R J. Timko

The heart of mine ventilation science and technology is the protection of the life and health of the miner. Lung diseases that result from overexposure to various mine aerosols can largely be prevented by maintaining concentrations below prescribed limits. Maintaining safe aerosol concentrations depends, in part, on our ability to know what mine aerosol concentrations are in a timely and accurate way. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been developing several new tools to help miners monitor respirable coal dust, silica and diesel particulate matter. This paper will discuss three main topics. First, the latest results of the person wearable dust monitor (PDM), developed by Rupprecht and Patashnick under CDC contract. The PDM was tested side-by-side with conventional samplers at a number of US coal mines and results indicated that the PDM was comparable to conventional samplers. Second, improvements to the dust dosimeter monitoring technique that includes a new pump with built-in pressure transducer and algorithm to convert differential pressure to dust concentration have shown good precision. Third, advances in the use of the detector tube technique to monitor tailpipe diesel emissions and ambient diesel particulate matter show that strong correlations exist between differential pressure measurement and elemental carbon in the samples.

Jan 1, 2005

By J E. Everett, K Jupp, T J. Howard

Precrusher stockpiles are designed principally as buffers to decouple the mining and processing operations. They are usually paddock dumped or dumped over a face to form fingers by dumping haul truckloads and reclaimed by front-end loader in an ad hoc manner. In addition, they are often not built and reclaimed to completion but continually added to and extracted from. While this design suits the mining process and is operationally simple, there can be little confidence in the grade of the ore that is fed to the crusher. This makes short-term grade control difficult and reconciliation back to the mine face imprecise. Well-designed and operated precrusher stockpiles can overcome these deficiencies.The different types of grade variability in mining are reviewed in this paper. The role of precrusher stockpiles in reducing short-term variability is discussed and their ineffectiveness in addressing long-term variability is highlighted. Their role in removing the serial correlation of the extracted ore is explained.Precrusher stockpiles carry out the four, at times competing, objectives of storing, buffering, blending and grade separation. Their actual design and operation result from a compromise between these four competing roles. These roles are explained in detail along with the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of precrusher stockpiles. The recommended blended-in blended-out stockpile (BIBO) design is discussed in detail. Matched pairs of BIBO stockpiles of limited tonnage built and reclaimed to completion retain the best knowledge of grade and facilitate the reconciliation process.Simulation studies have been carried out on BIBO stockpiles to understand the blending opportunities of the different options for building and reclaiming, and to identify the methods that achieve maximum blending. It was found that laying down rows in one direction and reclaiming across these rows gives the best blending. Matching the width of the reclaim face with the daily crushing requirements is also important. The length of the rows, and building in either one or two layers has little effect on the extent of blending.Appropriate design can provide a reasonable compromise between the four objectives.CITATION:Jupp, K, Howard, T J and Everett, J E, 2013. The role of precrusher stockpiling for grade control in mining, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013 , pp 203-214 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 12, 2013

Study on Influence that Styrene-Phosphoric has on the Surface Property of Rutile Minerals

Sep 13, 2010

In a modern economy there is a compelling case why governments should not own property rights to mineral deposits. Assuming they do, however, governments will use these constitutional rights to raise revenue. They have two basic instruments to achieve this; a royalty charge on price or a rent tax on income/profits. On the one hand, a royalty charge creates a 'deadweight loss' to society by increasing cut-off grades and decreasing the life-of-mine. They are also regressive. However, they are easy to administer. On the other hand, a rent tax avoids the problem of 'deadweight loss'; it does not impact on the life-of-mine because the tax structure is neutral. But, they are difficult to administer correctly, particularly in the determination of rents and the definition of mining per se. If rents are incorrectly determined capital markets are distorted. And, if mining activities are incorrectly defined, downstream activities could be adversely affected.

Jun 1, 2010

In 1961, West Australian Petroleum's Eneabba No. 1 bore encountered 22 seams of coal totalling 40 ft in thickness between the depths of 6373 ft and 6441 ft. On analysis, this coal had a similar calorific value (8000-HOOO B.T.U./lb, assuming 20 per cent water) to the coal from the Collie Coalfield, Western Australia's only known area of commercially exploitable coal. Being buried to depths in excess of 6000 ft, the coal at Eneabba had developed weakly-coking properties, and thus, although much younger than the Permian coals of Collie, gave promise of being a major potential source of power for Western Australia.West Australian Petroleum undertook a programme of stratigraphic drilling and shallow test drilling to determine whether this coalhorizon persisted into the outcrop of the Lower Jurassic sediments in the Hill River district, 140 miles NNW. of Perth, and, if it was present, if the quality and quantity of the coal would warrant development of the deposits by open cutting. The coal horizon was identified in the near surface, but the poor quality of the coal and the complexity of the structure made development (in the area examined) uneconomic at the time.A strong seismic reflection in the Eneabba area occurs at the same depth as the Jurassic coals. This event originates within the upper beds of the Lower Jurassic and it is probable that the velocity contrast between the higher velocity siltstones and the very low velocity coals enhances this very strong, distinctive seismic reflection.This event can be followed on continuous seismic data over a large area of the northern Perth Basin, from 13 miles SE. of Dongara to 20 miles SW. of Coorow. It can be followed from a depth of 4000 ftnear Dongara to over 17,000 ft to the SE., so development of thisvast potential source of power will depend on the economics ofprocesses being developed for the production of power from theburning of coal seams in situ.INTRODUCTIONThe discovery of 22 seams of economically useable coaltotalling 40 ft in thickness in the Lower J urassic sedimentsof the Eneabba No. 1 bore (Fig. 1) led to the search forthese seams at economically workable depths. The Ministerfor Mines in Western Australia granted to West Australian1. Supervising Geologist, West Australian Petroleum Pty. Ltd.Manuscript received at The Institute, 25th May, 1964. and presented to the 1964Annual Conference.

Jan 1, 1964

Gold mineralisation at the Macraes Gold Project is hosted in the Hyde-Macraes shear zone and can be traced for ~30 km along strike, although economic resources are confined to a seven kilometre section in the vicinity of the Macraes  township. The shear zone, which typically dips at a low angle (~20¦) to the NE, is bounded by an upper hanging wall shear and a lower footwall fault. Mineralisation occurs along the hangingwall of the shear zone as well as in low angle concordant shears and stockworks. Ore types include graphitic cataclasites with variable amounts of quartz veining, 'lode schists' and quartz-vein stockworks. Mine geology and grade control activities are designed to ensure accurate definition of ore and waste as well as the accurate prediction of ore grade. Grade control involves an integrated process of blast hole sampling, geological mapping and geostatistical modelling. Geological mapping is carried out post blasting by means of excavating trenches across are zones defined by assay data. Conditional Simulation is used to model raw assay data to define ore-waste contacts and estimate ore block grade, although, geologically defined contacts have precedence. Low angle ore zones impart a wedge shaped geometry to many ore blocks. These ore blocks are bounded by contacts that can be selectively mined to, thereby reducing misallocation of ore and minimising grade dilution.

Jan 1, 2001

The association of deep well turbine type pumps with metal mining is by no means a new one, though undoubtedly each application has certain features of interest, conformable with attendant circumstances. Although all conditions pertaining to a particular operation in one mine are rarely, if ever, duplicated in another mine, it is felt that some aspects will be parallel, or in various ways comparable.Therefore the following descriptions of an installation of a deep well turbine pump as part of dewatering plant in connection with shaft sinking may be of general interest to metal mine operators.The Man and Supply shaft at Mount Isa Mines is designed as shown in plan by Fig. 1. It is the main entrance and service shaft for the entire property and hence is in constant use. Arrangements for sinking must be such as to cause little or no impediment to routinehoisting work. Also, being the main shaft, it has been essential to deepen it in step with successive level developments.During the period of operations at Mount Isa only a limited time has been available to complete succeeding levels down to the present No. 7 haulage level (895 ft.), and sinking operations in soft, broken, leached, and heavy water-bearing country have presented many features militating against reasonable speed and cost. Outstanding among these difficulties has been the large volume of water contained in the pervious brecciated country.

Jan 1, 1939

Deep lead mining by methods other thanconventional open-cut techniques has not been effectively employed in Australia in -the second half of this century. The reasons for this are essentially economic, and are related particularly to the labour intensive nature of the methods involved as well as the high consumption of support materials. These methods have been adapted in recent times to undertake bulk sampling programmes in deep leads. Although some consideration is given to surface-oriented hydraulic and solution mining applications, the prime function of this paper is to investigate the possible application of modern underground methods to deep lead exploitation. As deep leads are not currently being worked (with the exception of some minor operations on the Eastern seaboard), these applications remain essentially untested. They have, however, been conceptually developed following several years of small scale deep lead development. Current mineral economics, particularly with respect to gold, combined with the known extent of partially - or totally - unexploited mineralised leads demonstrates the necessity to investigate all possible means of ore extraction.

Jan 1, 1985

By Mukhopadhaya K. K, Cory A. H

The concept of using travelling magnetic fields created by linear motors was stimulated by Laithwaite who advanced ideas on motors with shaded poles (Laithwaite, 1968), rack and pinion motors (Laithwaite, 1970) as well as low speed, brushless motors and three dimensional motors (Laithwaite, 1973a and 1973b).Sudan (1963) and Sundberg (1969) had applied the concept to metallurgical processes. However, the use of travelling magnetic fields has not been used widely to produce conditions for the separation of magnetic from non-magnetic minera1s or even magnetic materials from non-magnetic materials, although some attempts were made by McCarthy (1922), Davis (1934), Dean, Gottschalk and Davis (1934) and Gottschalk (1934).Laithwaite (1973, a) while working with linear motors made suggestions for designing separators and in the work described here, the observations of Laithwaite and others are extended to determine the characteristics of the motor with a view to using it as a magnetic separator.

Jan 1, 1980

Promoters for Soap Flotation of Phosphate Minerals

Sep 13, 2010

Influence of Frothers on Bubble Shape and Velocity Close to the Generation Point

Sep 13, 2010

The results of precious metal exploration carried out by Amoco Minerals New Zealand Limited over EL 33-137 in the Longwood Range, Southland, are described. Widespread gold and platinum in alluvial deposits on the perimeter of the range and anomalous gold in stream sediments on its southern and south western flanks indicates that the precious metals were probably derived from erosion of the mafic rocks of the Longwood Complex.

Jan 1, 1983

By N J. Welham

This paper reports on an innovative professional development program for school science teachers run collaboratively between the Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing and Murdoch University. Ultimately the initiative aims at increasing the pool of school students with strong science and mathematics backgrounds while highlighting the challenging careers available in the mineral resource sector including the gold industry. The program is unique in that it seeks to develop a network of science teachers who may participate in a series of workshops, short courses and tours over several years. The objective is to raise secondary school studentsÆ awareness of potential careers within the minerals sector by exposing teachers to a real life, hands-on look into the mining and minerals resource industry. Though the program includes the breadth of the resource processing sector, the potential value to gold processing is in developing a greater pool of potential employees. The initiative allows teachers to develop a better insight into the practical applications of the theoretical sciences they are required to teach. The evolution of the program from the first trials with Western Australian teachers to the introduction of the initiative to Queensland teachers are reported on. Additionally, the results of a pilot study involving 40 participating teachers are described. This study used a questionnaire and follow-up interviews to gain quantitative and qualitative feedback from teachers. There is evidence that the professional development program has resulted in teachers acquiring a new found appreciation for the application of the fundamental chemistry and physics they teach within the school curriculum. Also reported are associations between teacher participation in this professional development program and changing attitudes towards the industry in a positive way. Finally, there is some indication that these positive teacher attitudes may result in their students developing a better understanding of the diversity and availability of career paths within this industry.

Jan 1, 2007

By M Berry, F MacCorquodale

The ownership, management and employment structures operating in the Australian minerals industry have dynamically evolved during the last 30 years. One of the most dramatic changes, from an exploration and mining geology perspective, is the reduction of in-house geological expertise and an ever increasing reliance on contract and consulting services.For all companies - big and small - two key issues resulting from these changes are the management of core geological intellectual property (IP) and competitive advantage. This is because there are less experienced geologists at exploration and mine sites, there are fewer head-office technical service teams to support mine sites, exploration teams are smaller with less specialists employed, and there is an ever-greater dependence on contract and consulting services.This paper reviews and explores these issues with an industry-wide geological context, then provides a case study of how Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest) has dealt with these issues in exploration. Newcrest has grown from a one-mine company with an Australian exploration focus, to a large global company with multiple operations and an extensive international exploration portfolio. NewcrestÆs management of its geological IP and competitive advantage has evolved as the company has grown and responded to market conditions, including its internal restructuring in mid-2013.CITATION:Berry, M and MacCorquodale, F, 2013. Managing geological intellectual property and competitive advantage - Newcrest Mining LimitedÆs experience, in Proceedings World Gold 2013 , pp 37-44 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013

By Waugh D. M

investigations have been undertaken into the flow characteristics of mineral slurries from a number of Australian metallurgical plants including Mount Isa Mines Ltd., North Broken Hill Ltd., and Broken Hill South Ltd. Experimental equipment installed for this work included facilities for continuous recording of flow rate and pressure drop and detection of sedimentation.Although the method has subsequently been described in published literature, it is believed that the investigations included the original application of a method for correlation of the flow rate and pressure drop data. This method depends on solving by graphical methods the values of the constants k, and c in the relationship EQUATION 1 where D is pipe diameter; ?P, pressure drop; L, length; and V, mean linear velocity. Discussion of this correlation also reveals why sedimentation velocity does not necessarily vary greatly with pipe diameter.INTRODUCTIONIn order to design pumps and pipeline installations for a Newtonian fluid, measurements of the fluid's density and viscosity in any of a number of instruments are sufficient. Substitution of these values in well known equations to calculate Reynolds numbers and subsequent correlation to determine friction factors are all that is required for engineering specification.As a result of work during the last decade, particularly that of Metzner and Reed (1955) and Dodge and Metzner (1959), it is now possible to design for homogeneous non-Newtonian fluids using relatively simple instrumental measurements.These methods can sometimes be applied to thick slurries which behave as if homogeneous. However, for the...

Jan 1, 1965

By M Carter

The Great South Basin is located beneath the northwest part of the Campbell Plateau, a+broad, nearly level, triangular shaped submarine platform, southeast of the South Island of New Zealand. It encompasses an area of 77 700 square kilometres and contains a sequence of Cretaceous to Tertiary sedimentary rocks which are up to 6000 metres thick near the centre of the basin (Shirley, 1983). The western boundary of the basin is adjacent to the steep Aucklands Slope. In the+ north it merges with the Canterbury Basin and to the south onlaps against the Pukaki Rise, a basement high. The eastern margin of the basin is bounded by the northeast - southwest trending steep linear Antipodes Scarp. In the extreme south the Antipodes Scarp curves westward and joins the north trending Aucklands Slope. The Campbell Plateau is dominated by tensional tectonics. The Antipodes Scarp represents a major region of transcurrent faulting initiated by Cretaceous rotation within the Campbell Plateau. Later movements are associated with the Alpine Fault of the South Island (Sandford, 1980; Anderton, Holloway, Engstrom, Ahmad and Chong, 1982).

Jan 1, 1983

By Matters C. W

THE following paper embodies the present practice and the results of past experience in the survey departments of two of the leading Broken Hill mines, the Central (Sulphide Corporation Ltd.) and the Broken Hill South S. M. Co. N. L.The authors intend to limit the scope of this paper to a consideration of office methods, as much has recently appeared in technical literature concerning field work, both surface and underground. Special reference may here be made to a valuable paper on 'Mine Surveying' by H W Gartrell, in Vol XIII of Transactions, in which the author gives considerable attention to field work. Moreover, much of the office work described in current literature is American, and sometimes not suited to local conditions, being ·often exceedingly elaborate and demanding a large staff of assistants. It is believed that the methods of recording information described in this paper are sufficiently simple and flexible to be adapted to most Australian mines. Brief acknowledgement must be made to the work done by Americans, who have raised mine surveying to the position of a separate profession, instead of being merely an unimportant branch of land surveying.

Jan 1, 1912