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There is no doubt that the mining sector is considered to be the backbone of many countries. Furthermore, it has played an important role in the prosperity of nations, whether developed or developing. Saudi Arabia is one of these countries that has a large variety of metallic and non-metallic mineral resources that range in size and value occurrences of limited potential to deposits large enough to sustain profitable exploitation. Therefore, the Saudi government needs to reinforce the capacity of the sectoral institutions to better regulate and promote the sustainable development of the sector. The ability to overcome the administrative and legal complications that constrain private sector participation in the minerals sector, through new mining code which will streamline the procedures for obtaining licenses and will add more predictability and transparency to the application process, are proposed for increasing the sustainable development. This paper will outline how the Saudi government is tackling the major challenges that face the minerals industry. This paper provides the background to the Saudi Arabian mineral sector and its industrial base. Finally, the paper identifies the problems and constraints that face the minerals sector in Saudi Arabia and provides an assessment of the effects of government policies and planning efforts in the minerals sector, particularly during the period of the development plans which started in 1970.

Jan 1, 2009

By M Rattenbur, A B. Christie, S C. Cox

A new minerals initiative to increase the level of understanding of New Zealand's mineral resources and to promote the development of minerals began earlier in the year in a partnership pilot-project between Crown Minerals and the Institute for Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS). The project aims to gather a set of comprehensive geoscientific data and build a series of digital GIS packages to highlight New Zealand's mineral prospectivity. The pilot study was carried out at a regional scale, and is focussed on mesothermal gold mineralisation in the South Island. A significant amount of geological data and information was sourced from open file technical reports held by Crown Minerals and from various databases held by GNS and has now been compiled into a single GIS dataset, which will soon be made freely available to interested parties. In addition to this comprehensive data compilation, prospectivity modelling using Weights of Evidence techniques was undertaken to highlight those areas likely to contain ore deposits. It is clear from this study that the South Island of New Zealand remains highly prospective for mesothermal gold mineralisation. Many of the highly prospective areas, which also contain historic mine workings, remain open for exploration. The study not only highlights these areas, but also other areas where the potential for similar mineralisation exists, in all likelihood with no surface expression. The study has also highlighted the value of many of the open-file technical reports held by Crown Minerals and the need to carry out additional studies using this and other available data at a more detailed level, possibly as the basis for a web-based minerals information system.

Jan 1, 2002

Forecasting, particularly when applied to meaningful issues, is known irreverently as 'futurology'. There is quite a range of opinion ext.ant in the world when mineral resources are looked at. The opinions range from the doomsday view that there will be acute shortages of all essential commodities, to the optimistic outlook that new 'discoveries will prevent any possibility of shortages. The environment is, as yet, only studied locally and quite parochially; surprisingly there is little integration when considering the spatial atmosphere, the seas in depth and the earth's crust.

Jan 1, 1981

By J King, T Hunter, R Coleman

"The industry that supports operations and new projects is suffering a rapid decline in the currently severely curtailed capital investment environment. This is evidenced by a decline in the number of skilled teams, who are now centred in fewer locations. Other features are an aging and retiring ‘Baby Boomer’ generation, coupled with a low uptake of new graduates and the uncertainty in predicting future capital expenditure programs and requirements. Combine this with a reluctance of cash-poor operations to modernise and adapt in an environment of low metal prices, and there is a real uncertainty in how service providers will meet industry needs as they evolve.The industry that supports operations and new projects is suffering a rapid decline in the currently severely curtailed capital investment environment. This is evidenced by a decline in the number of skilled teams, who are now centred in fewer locations. Other features are an aging and retiring ‘Baby Boomer’ generation, coupled with a low uptake of new graduates and the uncertainty in predicting future capital expenditure programs and requirements. Combine this with a reluctance of cash-poor operations to modernise and adapt in an environment of low metal prices, and there is a real uncertainty in how service providers will meet industry needs as they evolve.Trends amongst service providers will be put forward as well as developing options and alternatives. These embrace a whole gamut of agile alternatives in the areas of partnering, alliances, commercial and shared risk models and mutual innovations. These will be discussed with some case studies and suggested approaches.Particular emphasis will be upon brownfield expansions and upgrades which have emerged recently as a preferred lower capital and focused way to achieve best practical outcome at lowest cost. There are a number of specific features of such brownfields projects including the requirement for very close cooperation between the execution team, operators, maintenance and suppliers and a maximum usage of site resources and ingenuity. Often, required investment hurdle rates are high, downtime allowed is minimal and site resources usage is maximised. This requires mutual trust, good planning and high health, safety, environment and community (HSEC) standards and practice. In many ways the practices and skills needed are the exact opposite of the historical ‘big greenfields’ project with which the industry has been geared for more recently.Another developing area has been with innovative commercial models and practices. These have been as a direct result of the more challenging investment criteria being adopted and the relative hunger of service providers. It has become more common to look at these commercial/costing alternatives very early in the project cycle as an essential project tool and not just as a possible option. These commercial solutions cover such alternatives as leasing and rental, deferred payments, build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) and build–own–operate (BOO), whole-of-mine preferred spares and maintenance terms, and aggressive performance targets with real assurance penalties. Once again this requires very close mutual dealings and trust, and sufficient time allocation compared to a conventional approach.Citation:Coleman, R, King, J and Hunter, T, 2016. Upgrades, Modernisations and Expansions... Where Will the Expertise, Capability and Skills Come from in the Future?, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2016, pp 69–76 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Oct 10, 2016

By T Do, J Siliezar, M Larson

With the expansion of magnetite projects in Australia has come the opportunity to take advantage of newer technologies that were not necessarily available when the magnetite industries of North America and Europe were maturing. One of these technologies is the IsaMill, originally developed for the economic treatment of ultra-fine grind (UFG) duties of Mount Isa Mines. As understanding of the IsaMill has increased, so too has the ability to process coarser feeds while maintaining the same energy efficiency advantage and tight product size distribution that originally made the IsaMill so attractive. In the case of magnetite the hard non-elastic ceramic grinding media is ideally suited to the grinding duty when compared to steel grinding media. The centripetal separator and naturally steep product size distribution curve provide a mill discharge that maximises the critical concentrate grade. This paper analyses the effect of the IsaMill grinding technology on the full-scale Ernest Henry Mine (EHM) magnetite operation along with pilot and lab scale demonstrations of optimisation. Issues encountered and the solutions to maximise the mill throughput and quality are examined in an effort to promote better understanding across the industry. CITATION:Larson, M, Do, T and Siliezar, J, 2013. Enhancing magnetite returns - the benefits of IsaMilling, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013 , pp 411-416 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 12, 2013

By Lawrie D. C

Finely ground beryl was decomposed by mixing with ground limestone and soda ash and heating at 900°C for 4-6 hr. The sintered mater:al was then crushed and leached by boiling under reflux with 5N sulphuric acid for up to 4 hr. The liquor containing Be, AI, Fe and other elements as sulphates, was separated from the residue which consisted mainly of silica and gypsum, either by filtration or bydecantation washing.The clarified leach liquor was first treated to remove Fe+++ by contacting with a primary amine-kerosene solution in 2 countercurrent stages. The iron free liquor was then passed to a 4-stage counter-current extraction unit where it was contacted with O·5M di- (2 ethyl hexyl) phosphoric acid (EHPA) in kerosene. Under the operating conditions, 99 per cent of the Be and 7 per cent of the Al was extracted.The Be and Al were stripped from the organic phase by sodium hydroxide solution of suitable concentration to form soluble "beryllate" and "aluminate" respectively. Most of the Be was subsequently precipitatedas Be(OH)2 by heating the alkaline solution to 90°C, the Al remaining in solution. After filtration and washing, the Be(OH)2 could be ignited directly to BeO at about 1000°C or used as a feed to further purification stages if required.A small counter-current extraction unit was operated continuously using liquor derived from the sintering and leaching stages. Dataobtained in batch laboratory tests were confirmed. A product obtained by ignition of the washed "beryllate" precipitate contained more than 99 per cent BeO.INTRODUCTIONIn 1958 an investigation was commenced into the recovery of beryllium oxide from beryl, as part of a programme to utilize mineral resources of South Australia. A survey of the literature indicated that little work had been done on direct solvent extraction of beryllium from aqueous liquors, so it was decided to apply the experience gained in this field in uranium processing to the current problem.Preliminary extraction tests on solutions of beryllium...

Jan 1, 1965

By P González, E Córdova, E Faundez

An integrated mine system must be capable of displaying and reporting valuable information that can be used to easily understand, manage and take action on the key parameters being reported.One of the key aspects of integration is the standardisation of the mine information up to a level capable of adapting the main characteristics of past projects at the mine and enforcing the same or higher standards for newer projects being developed.At the El Teniente mine, photogrammetry is used to map the advance of horizontal developments, and the constructed 3D representation of each face is then used by the geologists to obtain structural information about the areas being photographed.The mine realised that valuable mining information could also be extracted from the photogrammetry being applied, with three possible areas of development envisioned.The first area was creating a link between the developments being planned on a yearly and monthly basis and matching them with plan sections of the 3D developments of the system to account for any deviations.The second area was to use vertical sections of the 3D developments to estimate the overbreak of the excavations in different areas of the mine.The third area was the provision of a more detailed analysis of the sections so that they could provide information on the thickness of the shotcrete being applied.This paper presents the different alternatives being used and examines how the project is currently being developed and managed at the mine. It also looks at the challenges associated with implementing the reporting platform and the results being obtained.CITATION:Córdova, E, Benado, D, González, P and Faundez, E, 2016. Mine planning information from photogrammetry sources at the El Teniente Mine, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 653–658 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

Quartz, adularia and clay minerals from low-sulfidation epithermal veins at Hishikari were analyzed for their oxygen and hydrogen stable isotope compositions to establish the source of paleohydrothermal waters. Positive correlation between Au-Ag and adularia: quartz ratio, the presence of quartz pseudomorphs of bladed calcite, and Au-bearing smectite and vermiculite is indicative, but not definitive, evidence for the control of boiling on ore mineralization. Oxygen isotope equilibrium temperatures between quartz and adularia are about 220¦C and average homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions vary between 190 to 210¦C. The calculated d18OH2O and dDH2O values (from quartz, adularia and early smectite) are consistent with paleohydrothermal fluids that were a mixture of magmatic and meteoric waters, or alternatively, the values could derive from heated meteoric water which had undergone isotope exchange during circulation through basement rock. Overall, d18Oqtz values in veins increase toward the north, most likely reflecting palaeo-fluid flow (source).

Jan 1, 2001

THE township of Costerfield is situated in the parish of Costerfield, county of Dalhousie, and lies 6 miles east of Heathcote and 30 miles south-east of Bendigo. It is separated from Heathcote by the Mt. Ida Range, which forms the western boundary of the Silurian formation. It is situated at the head-waters of Tin-pot Creek, a small southerly tributary of the Deegay Ponds Creek, which flows east to the Goulburn River.The field was discovered in 1860 by two prospectors, Coster and Field, who were guided there by a shepherd, M Nicol Coster and Field had already discovered an antimony lode about three miles nearer Heathcote, when M Nicol offered to guide them to the larger outcrop. The main Costerfield reef at that time projected above the surface, and was white through oxidation, though the bluey sulphide showed on fracture. No alluvial gold of any consequence was obtained at Costerfield, but a little was obtained, at Redcastle, 7 miles to the north, and in some of the gullies to the east.Following its discovery there came a period of prosperity to Costerfield, while the mining operations were confined to the oxidized zone. The early success of mining at Costerfield was due to the gold values, and it is probable that the oxidized zone was secondarily enriched. The earliest available record of values is a crushing of Coster and Co. on the Antimony reef (now known as the Costerfield reef), when 200 tons from a depth of 70 ft. averaged 4 oz. per ton in July, 1861. At this time a crushing mill had not yet been erected at Costerfield, and the ore was carted and treated at Redcastle. The massive antimony ore, consisting of mixed oxides and sulphides, was separated by hand-picking as "marketable ore," and the remainder crushed for gold. A higher average is recorded from South Costerfield in September, 1861, when a 15' cwt. parcel...

Jan 1, 1922

By G D. Price

Scheelite mineralisation east of the main divide in' the Southern Alps of New Zealand was originally identified by Royden Thompson who is now a geologist with the NZ Geological Survey. This mineralisation was brought to the attention of CRA in 1978. Reconnaissance surveys were carried out in 1979 to delineate the extent of the mineralisation. This was undertaken using ultraviolet light examination of the sediments within the major drainages in the Southern Alps. This defined tentative zones of prospective mineralisation. As a result of this, preliminary reconnaissance, exploration licences were applied for -those areas in which indications of scheelite mineralisation were strongest. A total of 1737 km2 of ground was applied for within four exploration licences. These covered the main Southern Alps mountain chain between the Haast/Wanaka highway and the Mt Cook National Park.

Jan 1, 1983

Comparing Energy Efficiency of Multi-Pass High Pressure Grinding Roll (HPGR) Circuits With increased emphasis on reducing costs and carbon emissions in mineral processing, it is becoming essential to employ the most efficient comminution devices and to use them to maximum effect. High pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) are considered highly efficient compared with other devices, however their relative efficiency in multi-HPGR circuits is less well understood. A series of comminution tests was carried out to evaluate three multi-pass HPGR circuits and a jaw crusher-ball mill circuit. Combinations of HPGR units (1.0 m and 0.25 m diameter), jaw crushers and Bond ball mills were used to grind a 32 mm top size porphyry copper feed (BBWI = 12.1) to a product P80 size of about 150 ¦m. Up to three passes of HPGR were used in each circuit, with energy measurement and size analysis at each point in the comminution process. The energy efficiencies of individual comminution stages and of the overall circuits were quantified and evaluated using three different approaches. The operating work index method for comparing comminution energy efficiency underestimated HPGR performance due to the large amount of fines generated. The -75 ¦m efficiency factor and F50/P50 reduction ratio interpolation methods both give a fairer measure because they better take into account the amount of fines generated by HPGR. The results show that the relative comminution efficiencies of the three multi-pass HPGR circuits tested differ by as much as 22%, providing insights as how to best employ HPGR in a comminution circuit. The most energy efficient of the circuits tested was a three-pass HPGR circuit with a 1.0 m diameter roll on the first pass in closed circuit with an 8 mm screen followed by a second and third pass in a 0.25 m roll.

Sep 13, 2010

A pyrite flotation concentrate assaying 0·065 oz/ton gold was investigated to determine the mode of occurrence of the gold. Ftom cyanidation and acid leaching experiments it was concluded that O· 02-0· 03 oz/ton goldwas in solid solution in pyrite and the balance of the gold was finely dispersed as grains throughout the pyrite.Autoradiography and electron-probe examination of possible areas in briquetted concentrate did not detect any grains of gold. Neutron irradiation and gamma spectrometry confirmed on 100 mg samples the fire assays obtained on 1 assay ton samples.Oxidation to hematite and reduction to magnetite at 600°C made practically the whole of the gold extractable by cyanide. This technique could be of major significance for gold ores which contain a substantial amount of "refractory" gold.

Jan 1, 1969

By Hargraves A. J, Smith J. W

Experiments conducted at Tahmoor Colliery, Sydney Basin, have demonstrated the variability in chemical and isotopic composition of seam gases issuing from boreholes in the Bulli seam and desorbing from lump coal from the same source.From this work it appears that an immediate preferential release of methane accompanies the physical disturbance of the coal seam by penetration with development or drilling or by detachment. In addition, both early released methane and carbon dioxide are depleted in 13C relative to later desorbed gases, therefore the analyses of gas samples taken after such events may not reflect the true bulk composition of the undisturbed seam gas in situ. A method for overcoming this problem by taking gas samples at depth in the "steady state" is proposed.

Jan 1, 1987

Wetting Characteristics of Mineral Surfaces - Contact Angle Measurements through Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Sep 13, 2010

By B McCreath

Industrial process water for the Commodore Coal Mine and the adjoining Millmerran Power Station is provided by pumping secondary treated sewage effluent 100 km from the Wetalla Sewage Treatment Plant near Toowoomba. (A separate source is used for potable water.) The effluent is not of sufficient quality for discharge to a watercourse, but it is suitable, with further treatment, for the mine and power station. In designing and constructing the pipeline, special emphasis was placed on preventing accidental spills or planned releases to the environment. The pipeline and associated works can transfer 1000 ML/annum for reuse in the coal mine and power station.

Jan 1, 2003

By L McCracken

Up until 1990 CoalCorp North Island's accident record was six times that considered acceptable in those NSW operations with good accident prevention programmes. This was an obvious avoidable burden on the company in both human and cost terms.   Late in 1989 an accident prevention programme was implemented with the objective of achieving a 50 per cent reduction in the lost time accident frequency rate within 12 months. The key to achieving this objective was recognised as being an attitude change in the total workforce from General Manager downward. Management commitment and action were seen to be critical to the success of the programme.   Through very basic and simple training programmes in accident investigation, analysis and reporting, communication, on-the-job coaching and in focusing on improving supervision skills, the original objective was achieved.   During 1991 the application of methods improvement and hazard recognition techniques are seen as the logical step to achieving a further 50 per cent reduction in the accident frequency rate.

Jan 1, 1991

By J L. Maule, S J. Mathews, K A. Rodgers

Gold and Silver bearing epithermal veins of the Golden Cross deposit are hosted in Miocene and Pliocene calc-alkaline volcanics occurring 8 km northwest of Waihi at the southern extent of the Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand. Veining occurred during a period of hydrothermal activity that began early to late Pliocene, and possibly continued into the Pleistocene.   Field relations and petrographic relationships reveal that multiple generations of FeS2 occur in the Golden Cross region, with FeS2 occurring in all nine rock types recognised at Golden Cross. The variability of FeS2 morphology was investigated by preparation of high purity FeS2 separates, and grain counting. Marcasite is the dominant FeS2 phase at Golden Cross, and along with pyrite is shown to have a systematic habit variation. Pyrite shows a sequence from cubes through octahedra to pyritohedra to dendritic growth. This pyrite sequence conforms to an experimentally determined sequence. The parallel sequence for marcasite at Golden Cross is from tabular through bladed aggregates to euhedral miscellaneous marcasite morphologies. The FeS2 sequences observed are believed to be due to increasing temperature, and perhaps also increasing FeS2-oversaturation and fluid flow.

Jan 1, 1994

By A Rantala, K Aberkrom, O Haavisto, P Blanz

More complex ore bodies with lowering grades increase the challenges of maintaining high throughput, energy efficiency and required particle size for optimal downstream processing in grinding circuits. Continuous and often rapidly changing characteristics of the mill feed requires constant focus to operate the circuit at optimal level. Modern process instruments, on-line analyzers, monitoring and process control systems provide attractive and managed options to increase the circuits’ capability to respond to the challenge, often in phases and in rather short time period. Furthermore, well instrumented and performing base level automation in the grinding circuit enables advanced process control (APC) strategies that utilize measurements from the whole circuit to stabilize and optimize production. In this paper alternatives for incorporating process measurements and controls to typical grinding circuits are proposed. The expected benefits to throughput, availability, energy efficiency and particle size stability are described in recent case examples.CITATION:Rantala, A, Blanz, P, Aberkrom, K and Haavisto, O, 2015. Increasing grinding circuit robustness with advanced process control, in Proceedings MetPlant 2015, pp 129–141 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 7, 2015

Alluvial mining even of shallow deposits is often economically a marginal proposition and causes significant disruption of the land surface through the need for large scale excavation. In-situ leaching using chlorine-based solutions eliminates the need for excavation, the disruption of surface activities, and may greatly reduce processing costs and improve recovery especially of fine gold. A spreadsheet model has been developed to design and analyse the economics of in-situ leaching of alluvial deposits. In-situ leaching of shallow deposits may be achieved in a number of ways including solution infiltration via perimeter ditches or the use of injection and production wells. In most instances deeper alluvials may only be processed using well systems. Two deposits are analysed in this paper. The first consists of one metre of payable wash beneath one metre of overburden. Some thirty fields per year are treated processing 450 000 BCM per year at a cut-off grade of around $4/tonne ($8/rn3 or the gold value equivalent of 0.26 gh or 0.52 g/m3). The principal costs are well drilling and labour. Sensitivity analysis indicates that doubling the throughput halves the cost. The economics of the project are relatively insensitive to reagent costs and consumptions, and halving the recovery doubles the cut-off grade. Shallow deposits treated using the infiltration ditch system may be marginally cheaper and more conveniently managed although this depends on the relative cost of digging the perimeter ditches. In a second example, deep leads with one metre of wash beneath 30 metres of overburden necessitate significant drilling and feature reduced throughputs as a consequence. In the example chosen 30 fields a year are processed for an annual throughput of 65 000 tonnes costed at around $20/tonne (1.4 g/t Au equivalent, $40 /m3). Sensitivity analysis indicates that throughput, and drilling cost per metre are not important but there is a high sensitivity to recovery and to the depth to payable wash.

Jan 1, 1992

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

Sep 13, 2010