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Problems encountered in the design, construction, acceptance, commissioning and early operation of the electrolytic zinc plant at Port Pirie are reviewed. Recommendations based on the author's experience are made for proper control of each phase of the development of new plants.

Jan 1, 1971

In the 25 years since Broken Hill's 75th Anniversary which was marked by an Australasian Institute and Mining and Metallurgy Conference in Broken hill, there have been some significant changes in the role of mines inspectors. This paper updates the information given by the then Chief Inspector of Mines, J.H. Burford, to that 1968 Conference, with an emphasis being placed on mines inspection, although it also reflects changes to mining legislation and regulatory bodies.

Jan 1, 1983

In the wake of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, evolved AGENDA 21. This document which was adopted at the Conference, provides a global action guideline for sustainable development into the 21st century.Sustainable mining requires a complete understanding of the `mineral cycle', including government legislation, mineral exploration, mining operations, rehabilitation, product use, re-cycling and waste disposal that takes into consideration associated social and environmental considerations and achieves economic objectives.

Jan 1, 1993

By Jones TRP

The Agnew Nickel Mine has a short his-tory of mining activities. However it has experienced a large variety of ground support problems. These problems relate to geological, hydrological, geomechanical, structural and mining techniques. The majority of the prob-lems occur in other underground mines. How-ever the large serpentinite hosted ore body which contains over 80% of the ore has prob-lems rarely encountered in other mines. Sol-utions to the problems are only being gained by understanding the factors creating them.

Jan 1, 1985

By Cottrell EC

Remote sensing has been used for many years but until recently its application has been limited by the resolution of the data available. High resolution airborne multi-spectral scanner data (MSS) has proven suitable for a number of applications including environmental management and monitoring. A shallow water mapping research. project completed on the Gold Coast has shown that- remote sensing can be used as a cost effective tool for environmental management and Monitoring.

Jan 1, 1987

By A Lu, C Wang

The natural semiconducting mineral rutile and sphalerite exhibited highly photocatalytic activities on degradation of methyl orange under visible light irradiation. The isomorphous substitutions of host metal ions by foreign ions and other defect states in natural semiconductors altered the band structure, decreased the intrinsic band gap, and then made them very attractive for solar energy utilisation. Our study indicated that natural semiconductor minerals might be suggested as a new class of cost-effective and solar light-responsive photocatalyst.

Jan 1, 2008

By Goode A

Since 1985 there has been a revival in the alluvial gold mining industry in North Queensland. However, not all mines which have been established have been successful, some times due to a misconception that alluvial mines are quick to establish and easy to operate. A check list of factors which need to be considered when assessing alluvial mining projects in North Queensland is presented and their relative importance is briefly discussed.

Jan 1, 1989

Every year my consultancy business reviews over 100 mines worldwide, primarily focusing on property and business interruption risk. What we have found is that the most successful mines have: identified their principal risks and determined what controls are required to manage or eliminate these risks; and managements systems that underpin these risks and the business in general.

Jan 1, 2003

Newmont Waihi Gold operates the Martha Mine open pit at Waihi, New Zealand and is developing the Favona Underground Project two kilometres to the east. The Company is exploring the Waihi district under eight exploration permits totalling 6300 hectares.   Martha Mine is scheduled to close in late-2006. The Company has instigated and funded a significant programme of community consultation to mitigate the effects of mine closure on the community and enhance effective participation in the selection and provision of appropriate community facilities post mining.   This paper provides an overview of current issues and future developments.

Jan 1, 2004

By Sofoulis I

Recent studies in the Archaean of the Kalgoorlie-Norseman area show that the layered rocks can be subdivided into two main units, both containing basic igneous rocks and sediments. The lower unit is distinguished by the presence of acid volcanic flows and sills. In some areas, clastic sediments become coarser and,pas-s into conglomerates. This passage is accompanied by thinning of the beds. These features and their distribution suggest a basin of subsidence flanked-by areas of shallow-water deposition. -.

Jan 1, 1964

HISTORY Up until the late 1880's the mining industry acquired a considerable proportion of its capital needs from domestic sources. Exchanges were established wherever major new fields were opened and Ballarat, Bendigo, Charters Towers, Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie and Silverton all boasted active trading in mining shares. For much of the first half of this century there was only modest developments in the mining industry and its capital require- ments were correspondingly lower. RECENT EXPERIENCE The new mines of the sixties were, in many cases, characterised by their remote situation and their output of bulk commodities such as iron ore., coal and bauxite. Infra- structure costs were particularly high and the level of capital expenditure was of previously unheard of proportions.

Jan 1, 1975

In order to see the sand mining industry in the context of the coastal plain environment, the following points are noted. The coastal plain comprises several different geomorphological and ecological entities, some or all of which may be profoundly different from their condition before European colonisation, Sand mining is only one of a number of competing land uses which modify the environment of a given area. The frontal dune system in particular has undergone considerable deterioration and with the pressures of an ever increasing population, this deterioration will accelerate until an adequate control policy is Implemented.

Jan 1, 1971

By Hunter M. M

The present value of the future profits of a mining operation, using a discount factor which represents the effective cost of venture capital, provides a measure of the projected success of the operation. The present value can be maximised by appropriate selection of cut-off grades successively through the life of the operation. A case study is presented in which detailed optimisation of cut-off grade results in a worthwhile increase in profitability compared with the use of a constant, break even, cut-off grade.Some implications of this approach to profit optimisation are discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By Smitham J. B, Keast-Jones R

Six Australian coals were selected to determine their potential to produce, ultra low ash (less than 2 per cent) coal by progressive size reduction followed by density separation and/or froth flotation. Density separation in organic liquids is effective in the absence of contaminating liberated mineral matter which can be removed by froth flotation with several cleaning stages. The limit of cleaning of these coals was an ash value of 1 per cent while commercially attractive yields were obtained at 2 - 3 per cent ash depending on the coal.

Jan 1, 1987

By Enugroho E, Nashution Y, Susanto M

PT Allied Indo Coal is the owner of the Parambahan Open Cut Coal Mine in the Ombilin Basin in West Sumatera with an annual production of in excess of 0.5 million tonnes/year of saleable coal.The parent company Allied Queensland Coal was one of the first foreign companies granted a contract of work. by the Indonesian Government. PT Allied Indo Coal is therefore a contractor to the Indonesian Government and pays a 20 per cent royalty of all coal mined.

Jan 1, 1992

In the- past, at Great Boulder Gold Mines Ltd,, ,' s.. number of attempts ' ha'tre been made to remove water ' `solublo copper and' iron sa'lt's from calcined pyritic concentrates, but various problems have arisen and the methodsi ve been abandoned. A method of rapid washing has now been developed,, and although some problems still. exist,, a workable `process has boreh established .which. has; resulted in 'substantial savings of 'reagents used for. the. cyanidation of calcine

Jan 1, 1964

Industry and Government is littered with computer systems which suffered massive cost overruns in their production and which do not fully meet the expectations and needs of their users. There are many in the computing business who caution that cost overruns of 100% are to be expected and who counsel seriously against accepting an implementation date as being realistic. System development methodologies and "Spectrum" is an example, have been designed to control systems development so the cost and time overruns are prevented. While some success has been claimed, our experience and information from other users indicates that this control is illusory, the first estimates of cost and time are inflated by the control system methodology, and the methodology itself can bury the original system.

Jan 1, 1983

By Chen B

In recent years great efforts have been made in the optimisation of ball mill operation. This paper describes a methodology developed for modelling and optimising the steady-state grinding process. Thirteen basic similarity numbers of the process are derived. Based on these similarity numbers, we build a group of mathematical models which give a full description of the relation between dependent and independent variables. The parameter estimation and multi-objective optimisation of the grinding process have been done using these models, and validated with experiments in a continuous laboratory-scale ball mill.

Jan 1, 1993

By Walton DR

It is self-evident that the availability of well qualified and experienced people to manage mining operations is vital to the success of an individual mine and to the ability to develop new mines either in Australia or overseas. For larger operations the term "mine manager" is here used to denote a range of positions within an individual company. Thus "mine managers" may be people managing individual mines at one geographic location with overall management provided by other "mine managers" in the roles such as mine super- intendents, production managers, general managers, etc. Smaller operations may have only a single level of management nominated as "mine manager".

Jan 1, 1980

By K McCaffery, R P. Halomoan

Two column flotation cells have been installed as single-stage rougher cleaners at Batu Hijau. The objective was to provide additional residence time in the cleaner circuit to maintain maximum recovery during high mill throughput and high feed grade periods. Installation of the columns has allowed the relatively coarse, well-liberated rougher concentrate and the relatively fine, low-grade scavenger concentrate to be treated separately, improving metallurgical performance in the cleaner circuit. Plant results show that the columns produce a high-grade concentrate at an average stage copper recovery of approximately 80 per cent. There is also indication of increases in both overall plant copper recovery and final concentrate copper grade. In addition, the operability and stability of the cleaner circuit has greatly improved.

Jan 1, 2007