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This work describes preliminary laboratory testwork to study the relative leaching response to cyanidation and thiourea leaching of an oxidised low grade gold ore. The potential of an alternative lixiviant like thiourea to commercial processing of mine dumps is discussed by specific reference to selected case histories. It would appear that on the basis of the available published information, there could well be a case advanced for the acid thiourea leaching of sulphide concentrate tailings being subjected

Jan 1, 1994

Australia has a long and successful record in mineral processing technology extending over 100 years. This has included the development of new processes and equipment and new analytical techniques. These developments have added greatly to the efficiency of mineral processing and thereby to Australia's national wealth. Demands on mineral processing engineers in the future show no signs of diminishing, in fact they will increase considerably as more difficult areas must be treated and the requirements for quality control become more stringent. These demands must be met successfully since mineral processing must continue to be one of the most important technologies in Australia's economic future.

Jan 1, 1989

By Equivar J, Mirabal C, Pyper R

In 1984, work was started to determine the viability of heap leaching silver-containing waste dumps from Cerro Rico near Potosi - Bolivia, at an elevation of 4300 meters (14 100 ft.). The result today is an unusual heap leach utilizing fine crushing, grinding, and agglomeration to process 1000 tonnes per day of ore containing 200 g/tonne silver. The unique metallurgi- cal, economic, and political factors will be discussed which led to the decision to build a heap leach rather than a conventional agitation leach plant. Capital and operating costs will be given along with some of the uncommon process design and equipment problems encountered while developing the operation.

Jan 1, 1991

Seven papers have been reviewed and in this session. Broadly they can be grouped into three categories as follows: A Chemical Characterisation of Mine Waters Miller & Murray - Prediction of Time Dependent Factors in Acid Mine Drainage Jeffrey et. al. - Sulphide Oxidation in Pyritic Overburden; A Controlled Leach Column Study Sheridan et. al. - The Effect of Ore Type, Depth, and Leach Time on Cyanide Species in Column Tests using NaCN Leach Solutions B Mine Water Treatment Management Gilchrist & Hunt - The Recovery of Water from a Colloidally Stable Kimberlite Suspension Chapman, et. al. - Treatment and Utilisation of Hilton Mine Water

Jan 1, 1988

Over the last 15 years the contract mining concept has developed into an integral part of the Australian mining industry. Today it is a $2 billion per annum industry with the potential to continue to grow at a rate of between ten and 20 per cent. Australian contract miners have also exported the concept overseas where growth prospects are unlimited. The industry today is at a cross-road where both contractors and mine owners must consider the current state of the contract mining industry and where it is heading. To look at the present and the future, it is necessary to look back at the history of contract mining and why it has developed. Current industry concerns can then be summarised and the areas that need to be considered to enable the industry to prosper, reviewed. The ultimate goal is to reach solutions with benefits to both the mining companies and the contractors.

Jan 1, 1996

Record quantities of slag were produced in 1974. Slag usage in this year amounted to 8.5 mega tonnes for granulated blast furnace slag and 7.7 mega tonnes for crushed blast furnace and L.D. slags. Granulated blast furnace slag is mainly used as a hydraulic bonding material in the manufacture of cement and in road construction. These applications give a fuel saving and reduce processing costs. Crushed blast furnace and L.D. slags find application as a substitute for natural aggregates in road construction and in the production of concrete. There is no doubt of ttie interest to utilise to the maximum all the slag produced by the steelmaking industry, thus preventing the build up of slag heaps detrimental to the environment and favouring the disposal of the heaps formed in the past. World wide efforts are being made to achieve this objective.

Jan 1, 1979

By M M. Tarshan

Separator performance is evaluated by the so-called separation efficiency. The concept of efficiency in mineral dressing operations must be interpreted with considerable care. Although qualitative use of term efficiency is valid and useful, difficulties arise in expressing it quantitatively because two conflicting criteria, grade and recovery are normally involved in its evaluation. It is undesirable to express efficiency as a single value, even though this is frequently done in practice, since there are strictly speaking an infinite number of combinations of grade and recovery that can give that one value. Inefficiencies in processes can be attributed to three broad sources: mineral limitations as represented by the separability curves, equipment limitations (which prevent the maximum separation indicated by the separability curves), and human failure to minimise these inefficiencies. In the present paper, the efficiency of a two-constituent separation process has been examined. The separation process has been evaluated by comparing the sharpness factor of the actual, the absolutely efficient and the absolutely inefficient operations.

Jan 1, 2000

By J J. Cilliers, E Ventura-Medina

Mineral froth flotation is used to separate particles of valuable mineral from its associated gangue. It involves the selective separation of the hydrophobic particles from the slurry into the froth. As air is blown into the slurry, the hydrophobic particles attach to the air bubbles, while the waste particles remain in suspension. While the froth rises up, bubbles start to coalesce and burst, allowing the entrained liquid surrounding the bubbles to drain and return part of the gangue to the pulp. Mineral separation is therefore a function of the amount of valuable material loaded on the bubble shells, as well as the amount of gangue material entrained in the liquid channels separating the bubbles (Plateau borders). As a result, the separation performance of the process is affected by mineral attachment and drainage or bursting in the froth. This study aims to establish the relationship between solids loading, froth stability and separation performance. For this purpose, a series of industrial experiments were carried out to measure mineral attachment as well as bubble bursting by combining direct sampling of the bubble films and video image analysis of the froth surface. This work suggests that the solids loading on bubbles strongly affects the separation performance. The results generally showed that solids loading and concentrate grade are closely related, while froth bursting rate can be linked to the drainage of gangue from the Plateau borders and also to the overall recovery of valuable mineral. It was shown in particular that higher loadings, usually associated with higher froth bursting rates, are indicative of more selectivity in attachment and therefore a higher mineral grade in the concentrate. Additionally, this work suggests that bubble solids loading and froth stability are essential parameters to include in froth flotation models as they allow control and optimisation of the flotation performance.

Jan 1, 2005

This paper presents the descriptions of a final year geological engineering project at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology involving the correlation of borehole and mapped ground conditions and their statistical Analysis.

Jan 1, 1994

In conjunction with a study on wear of drag bits the effect of clearance angle on penetration rate was studied.Increases in clearance angle from 24 1/2 up to 30° gave an increase in penetration rate. Thereafter the rate was apparently affected by partial clogging with cuttings.Analysis of results was by a linear regression model and the t-test was applied to assess the significance of parameters in the penetration equation.

Jan 1, 1969

Victorian brown coals occur in massive deposits, the quality of which is determined in the first instance by means of samples taken from exploratory bores. As a number of important utilisation characteristics are connected, not with the relatively homogeneous organic mass of the coal, but with minor components such as the ash content and particular constituents of the ash, it is necessary to know how bore samples relate to coal finally used in the process concerned. Tests are described in which the statistical parameters associated with bore sampling, operational sampling and sample reduction and laboratory procedures including a range of coal analytical methods were determined. These indicated properties where analytical errors were relatively high and where sample reduction procedures contributed substantially to imprecision in results. They also showed the effects of the non-homogeneity of brown coals with higher than normal ash contents. A further experiment explored the relationship between samples taken at various stages in the course of test boring, digging, and burning a defined 'block' of coal, and demonstrated an apparent increase in the proportions of adventitious mineral constituents as the 'intensity' of sampling Increased.

Jan 1, 1976

By S Carr-Cornish, K Moffat

Social licence to operate is developed and kept through managing both operational impacts and the relationship between local community and company. However, CSIRO research has demonstrated that in determining how accepting community members are of a mining operation, relational factors, such as procedural fairness and trust, are much more important than operational impacts, such as impacts on employment and the environment (Moffat and Zhang, 2015). Companies seek to develop relational factors through their engagement with local community; such engagement has many aspects, including, initially identifying stakeholders and positioning the company as part of the local community (Lacey et al, in prep; Thomson and Boutlier, 2011). These relational factors involve the social identities of people living in the community. Social identities are a part of people that shape their beliefs, based on their connections with various groups in their lives (Hogg et al, 2004).An engagement process, intentionally or not, inevitably interacts with the social identities of stakeholders (Crane and Ruebottom, 2011). For example, traditionally, at the very beginning of engagement processes, community members are assigned to categories using conventional stakeholder mapping and categorisation methods, often based on assumptions about stakeholders’ interests, which equates to assumptions about stakeholders’ social identities (Colvin, Witt and Lacey, 2016; International Council on Mining and Metals, 2012). Yet, there has been limited empirical inquiry into whether such categories reflect the social identities of stakeholders and if there is a bearing on relational factors, including, the perceived fairness of consultations and trust in mining companies (Crane and Ruebottom, 2011). Also at this time, companies commonly seek to create a presence in communities, for example, joining Chambers of Commerce and participating alongside community members. Again, there has been limited empirical inquiry into whether community members and companies identifying with the same overarching group and thus sharing aspects of social identity, influences relational factors (Crane and Ruebottom, 2011). In this study, we examined the effects of changing aspects of social identity by changing how stakeholders were identified and companies were positioned, on how stakeholders’ perceived a new mining operation, specifically how they perceived the procedural fairness of the proposed consultation process and trusted the company, two factors that underlie a company’s social licence to operate.CITATION:Carr-Cornish, S and Moffat, K, 2016. Out of the box – the power of social identities in engagement processes, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2016 Conference, pp 180–182 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jun 28, 2016

A variety of algorithms and methods are being used by the mining industry today to map mineral resource for reserve estimation. The traditional methods including Polygonal, Sectional and Inverse Distance methods are relatively easy to understand and implement. They have served industry well for several decades and should continue to do so for the large bulk mineable deposits with very regular geometries with relatively small variation in grade.

Jan 1, 1992

By C J. Corbett

Many underground mining methods rely on blasted rock moving under gravity to report to extraction points. Mining of orebodies dipping between 20 - 45 degrees poses a unique challenge for mining engineers in that a dip angle in this range will not allow the movement of broken ore down the footwall to the mucking horizon utilising gravity. This is more so in cases where the natural angle of repose of the rock is less than the dip of the orebody. Hence, innovative mining systems are necessary to mine this type of orebodies. In Australia, the method of uphole retreat panel stoping is commonly used to extract orebodies in the dip range of 20 - 45 degrees and thickness range of 5 - 15 m. In the Zambian Copperbelt a method called continuous retreat updip stoping is used for orebodies with similar dips and thicknesses. The mechanised form of this mining method has potential for application in the metalliferous mining industry in Australia. In this study a comparison is made between mechanised updip (MUDS) and transverse retreat stoping (TRS) methods. A hypothetical nickel sulphide orebody located in Western Australia is used as case study. The net present value for mechanised updip stoping is seven per cent higher than that of transverse retreat stoping based on the assumptions applied. Initial results of this study indicate that mechanised updip stoping can be adopted for Australian mining conditions. However, lack of significant local experience with the method is often cited as a reason for not adopting it even in situations where it is clearly the best option.

Jan 1, 2003

By N Green

The production of approximately 550 000 tonnes of æwhiteÆ or chrysotile asbestos fibre between 1972 and 1983 at the Woodsreef Mine in New South Wales left behind 24 million tonnes of tailings and 75 million tonnes of waste rock and overburden. The Woodsreef Magnesium Project is designed to extract the 23 per cent magnesium content of the tailings to produce magnesium metal and magnesium alloys, the latter with aluminium from the New South Wales smelters. Further value will be added to the tailings waste with the downstream production of magnesium alloy sheets and cast products for the transportation, electronics and other consumer goods industries. The mine opened in 1918 and closed in 1983 becoming derelict. There has been minimal expenditure on rehabilitation compared with that recommended in reports commissioned by the New South Wales Government. The tailings dump has been designated æasbestos wasteÆ by the EPA and will be eliminated through the magnesium refinery process of the Project with the dissolution of the remaining chrysotile fibres. The benign waste from the refinery process will consist principally of silica with some iron. Significant energy savings are expected from innovative new processing technology, in the alloy formation and in the application of the light weight, cast and sheet metal products, particularly in the transportation industries. Globally, there are very large resources of similar tailings with hundreds of years of useful productive lives that could be converted into the metal of the 21st Century, magnesium, and its alloys, to assist pollution and greenhouse gas reduction from transportation industries. No new mining and minimal feedstock preparation is required. Unlike potential producers using carbonate rocks such as magnesite and dolomite that have to be mined, the asbestos tailings composed principally of non-fibrous serpentinite do not contain any carbon dioxide.

Jan 1, 2002

The paper describes the progress made in the last decade with the introduction of comprehensive monitoring of the mine atmosphere into U.K. collieries. Brief descriptions are given of the various portable and fixed point instruments which have been developed for this purpose and the methods available for transmission of information to the surface are also discussed. The paper also outlines some of the research work being carried out both in the laboratory and underground on the development of alternative methods of fire detection. Some of the results from this work are illustrated and discussed.

Jan 1, 1981

By S D. Dessureault

In large coal strip mines, there are many different processes at work: stripping, overburden removal using trucks/shovels, cast blasting, slot dozer pushing, more fragmentation and further truck/shovel benches. A key component to each of these steps is the use of machines. In modern operations, most machine costs are tracked within Enterprise systems that transact costs and repair work order management. Similarly, in contemporary mines most machines are tracked using technology that provides precise performance measures for each key process. Such technologies include productivity monitors on draglines, dozers and drills and fleet management systems for trucks and shovels. Linking these two sources of seemingly disparate data û costs and performance by machine û would allow for the precise calculation of unit costs by specific machine. This is similar to an activity-based costing system, except in this machine-based system, calculations are made at an even finer granular level. There are many uses for such an integrated information system in mine planning and performance management, both in real-time and through historical analysis.A real-time fleet costs (FLC) measurement process was developed as part of a larger blending-related, multi-million dollar project centred on a centralised remote control room developed at the University of ArizonaÆs Mining Information Systems and Operations Management Mine Control Center. The FLC component of the overall blending system would allow a mine controller to manage the equipment fleet by viewing its cost in real time and, when mixed with other revenue-related components, the exact profit. For example, a mine controller may show high utilisation while still maintaining a production surplus. This could occur, for example, if the equipment is driven long distances. This might appear in traditional performance metrics as æhigh production performanceÆ, but in reality may prove less profitable. This paper discusses the technical development of the FLC, its deployment and its impact on controller performance, and compares mine profitability before and after its application.

Sep 26, 2011

The unique characteristics of the Target orebody and modernistic approach to mining present significant challenges and a concomitant high potential for new opportunities. The break-away from the traditional labour intensive mining methods improves both safety and productivity significantly. The intention of the paper is to illustrate the application of well known mining methods to the particular requirements of a complex orebody at depth. The evolutionary process followed to establish the final mining method design provides insight behind the finished product, and the modern approach to the planning and service principles equips the reader with a suite of mining engineering ideas.

Jan 1, 2000

Construction of Western Mining Corporation's nickel refinery at Kwinana, Western Australia, commenced in July, 1968. Production of 15,000 tons per annum of refined nickel metal will commence early in 1970, The plant will also produce approx- imately 150,000 tons of ammonium sulphate0 The ammonia leach process which was developed by Sherritt Gordon Mines Ltd., and has been in operation at their plant at Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada, for the past 15 years, will be used at Kwinana. The refinery will cost approximately 435 million, and will employ upwards of 250 people.

Jan 1, 1969

By McQuade CV, Riley SJ

Acid mine drainage is an unavoidable consequence of some coal mining operations. Typically runoff pH is below 3.5 and at these pH levels heavy metals are mobilised. Leachate from coal reject dumps may require collection and treatment to raise the pH and precipitate the metals before being discharged.A bi-product of coal mining operations at Clarence Colliery is coarse washery reject. At present the coarse reject is deposited above ground and rehabilitated. Adjacent to Clarence Colliery is the Kable's Transport Pty Ltd sand mining operation. It has been proposed that co-disposal of the rejects from both operations may produce a product whose leachate has near neutral pH.

Jan 1, 1998