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By S Wangchai, D B. Hastie, P W. Wypych, A P. Grima

Industries that handle and process ‘dusty’ ores are facing increasingly difficult challenges to ensure sustainable operation and development. Most existing dust-control measures treat only the symptoms of dust generation and do not deal with the root cause/s of the problem. Many of these methods are also relatively inefficient in terms of controlling dust emissions. This paper summarises the various existing options available for dust control and some of their features, advantages and disadvantages. It then describes some of the new technologies that are being researched, developed and employed to minimise dust emissions by addressing dustability or dustiness and the dust generation mechanisms found in industry. Recent research results and case studies are presented to demonstrate some interesting findings obtained from this work. With improved understanding and modelling of dust generation mechanisms and bulk material dustiness, it is possible to achieve a step-change improvement in the design, troubleshooting and application of more efficient dust-control technologies.CITATION:Wypych, P W, Hastie, D B, Wangchai, S and Grima, A P, 2015. Research and application of new dust control technologies for the iron ore industry, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2015, pp 529–536 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 13, 2015

In the past two and a half years, over 40 000 metalliferous mining and related services personnel have been trained through an Australian Generic Safety Induction system. This is almost half of AustraliaÆs metalliferous mining related workforce. This remarkable industry acceptance and delivery of safety courses is supported by Acacia Resources, Great Central Mines, Homestake, Newcrest Mining and WMC Resources, amongst hundreds of other mining, exploration and major contracting and services companies. MARCSTA; the Mining and Resources Contractors Safety Training Association (a pro-active not-for-profit self-help group of 24 major contracting companies) developed this generic safety induction. MARCSTA set out to find the æcommon groundÆ necessary to help address the evident safety problems and cost of re-training that were plaguing development of an internationally competitive and productive export industry. The incredible expansion of Australian mining during the decade fuelled a need for out-sourcing, resulting in much larger numbers of contractors on-site. At the same time, changes within Australian legislation, community expectations and the development of huge fly-in/fly-out operations and widespread skills shortages led to a rapid labour turnover and a higher paid workforce. Many Australian mining houses also ran international operations, particularly in South East Asia and head hunted people across the world. The skill levels fluctuated and fell at some local operations. Employers could no longer rely on systematic in-house training of permanent employees to improve safety and productivity as workers could and often did move on. Serious discrepancies in both quality and quantity of safety induction training and work practices occurred. Repetitive, boring and ineffective safety training became an embarrassing and costly burden for companies and workers alike. Then a spate of mining deaths sparked highly publicity, workforce concern and a demand for improvement from government, unions and corporate stakeholders. MARCSTA recognised it had to develop a high-quality safety-training program to satisfy the needs of all employers and be acceptable to others within the industry. This induction system had to be flexible enough to meet differences in legislation between states and industry sectors and be portable to enable cost and time savings for the new transient workforce. Changes in the last two years as a result of evaluating and incorporating various Taskforce inquiries into underground mining fatalities later led to the development of the MARCSTA Underground Safety Induction. This logical development added to the run away success of MARCSTAÆs General Safety Induction and was seen to be essential for many surface mines that were planning to develop underground operations. There are many lessons that MARCSTA learnt during its development that Pacific and South East Asian mining operations can benefit from. The most important of these are the support of stakeholders within industry and the recognition of higher safety and health expectations from workers and government. This goes hand-in-hand with the productivity and return on investment expectations of companies and their shareholders.

Jan 1, 1999

By N Collins, A Woodley, A N. Danoucaras, C McCombe, N C. Kunz

Over the past decade, the mining industry has come to recognise the importance of water both to itself and to others. Water accounting is a formalisation of this importance that quantifies and communicates how water is used by individual sites and the industry as a whole. While there are a number of different accounting frameworks that could be used within the industry, the Minerals Council of AustraliaÆs (MCA) water accounting framework (WAF) is an industry-led approach that provides a consistent representation of mine site water interactions regardless of their operational, social or environmental context that allows for valid comparisons between sites and companies.The WAF contains definitions of off-site water sources and destinations and on-site water use, a methodology for applying the definitions, and a set of metrics to measure site performance. The WAF is comprised of two models: the input-output model, which represents the interactions between sites and their surrounding community, and the operational model, which represents on-site water interactions.Members of the MCA have recently adopted the WAFÆs input-output model to report on their external water interactions in their Australian operations, with some adopting it on a global basis. To support this adoption, there is a need for companies to better understand how to implement the WAF in their own operations. Developing a water account is non-trivial, particularly for sites unfamiliar with the WAF or for sites with the need to represent unusual features. This work describes how to build a water account for a given site using the input-output model, with an emphasis on how to represent challenging situations.CITATION:Woodley, A, Danoucaras, A N, McCombe, C, Kunz, N C and Collins, N, 2013. A robust methodological approach for mine site water accounting, in Proceedings Water in Mining 2013 , pp 335-342 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 26, 2013

The long-term outlook Tor Australla's traditional mining products is for flat demand and continuing low prices. This has come about because of three far-reaching changes since earlier boom days: 1. Continuing declines in intensity of usage of basic mine products; 2. The failure of newer western and third world developing countries to realise growth expectations; and 3. Continued production pressure from third world countries (and first-world primary producers) in an effort to earn foreign exchange and rectify trade balances. These trends have led to a general situation of excess supply and weak demand. In this environment, the prerequisites for survival in the mining sector are first-class mines, modern and efficient production methods, low unit costs, aggressive marketing, and products with reasonable operating margins. Many of Australia's mines meet these prerequisites. Following the A$ depreciation and widespread unit cost reductions, most of these mines will be moderately profitable at current depressed commodity prices. They are well placed to benefit from price rises if these eventuate. A new generation of mines is concentrating on a more profitable product range (gold, diamonds, uranium, mineral sands). Australia's balance of trade remains firmly dependent on the primary mining and agricultural industries (Fig. 1). Despite optimistic talk of high-tech developments, tourism and a resurgence of manufacturing, these will remain a small component of Australia's export structure.

Jan 1, 1987

By M Hopkins, A Mutale, A E. Vidal da Silva

The Cliffs Nickel Mine extracts a narrow near vertical nickel vein using a mining method of underhand bench stoping with paste backfill. In 2014, at a depth of 400 m below surface, the Northern block of the mine began to experience squeezing within ore development. At first the deformation was localised, within 30 m of the stoping front, but later became pervasive extending across the Northern block and resulting in a hiatus in mine production. The global mechanism is a progressive pillar failure, where the inter-level pillars in advance of the production front could no longer withstand the induced load and progressively yielded. The local mechanism of failure was observed as crushing of the massive sulphide ore and ‘punching’ of the pillars into the ultramafic hangingwall exhibited as floor and sidewall dilation and unravelling of the mafic footwall. The cause of the global mechanism was attributed to a combination of factors, including: high overall extraction ratio, small vertical pillar heights between ore development, high stress in relation to the low rock mass strength, shallow stope front angle, and insufficient ground support capacity. Following the progressive failure, the remnant rock mass conditions across the northern block were severely degraded, with numerous falls of ground that led to a reassessment of the mine plan. Recovery of the Northern block started in 2016 as a staged process. Development of the safe recovery work methodology involved a number of considerations, such as: production sequencing, development access design, ground support, and development of specific procedural controls. The Northern block was then broken into smaller mining precincts based on tactical factors such as location, ease of access, scale of rock mass damage and nickel content. A specific ground support standard and work methodology are employed, while cycle sheets are used to ensure quality and completeness of work. Large intersections showing signs of deformation have either been bypassed or treated using Rocprops to maintain stability during stope production. This approach has been successful in safely regaining access and restarting production in areas that had previously been removed from the mining reserve.

Mar 15, 2021

The building is a lofty, well-ventilated one of hardwood frame, with galvanized-iron walls and roof, and consists of five spans running north and south, covering a total length of 236 ft. Each span is composed of nine bays of 1:3-ft. centres, making the total width of the building 117 ft. The refinery is situated conveniently at a distance of 100 yds from the smelters. Through the third span of the building runs a 5-ton electric overhead travelling crane, of a 3-motor type, with a span of 29 ft. The crane runway extends over a railway line, which connects the smelters to the refinery. This crane is llsed for handling bullion, coal, melting kettles, lead pumps, &c. A 3-ton crane of similar type, but with a 50-ft. span, runs through the fifth span of the building and also extends over the railwav line alreadv mentioned. This crane is used to load the soft lead into railway trucks, or to stack lead awaiting shipment in the area covered by the crane's operations.

Jan 1, 1918

By J B. Pateiro-Fernßndez, M Fuchsschwanz, G Deissmann, S Ahmad

Quang Ninh province is the most significant coal producing region in the north of Vietnam. The Nui Beo Coal Company (NBCC) operates open pit mines in Quang Ninh province and the waste overburden produced is dumped as sidehill fill in the Chinh Bac waste dump site. In the past, no special consideration has been given to the environmental impacts during the dumping operations. The mine waste is transported in trucks from the mine site to the dumping site and the loading, hauling and dumping operations are the main sources of dust emission. Rain events, especially during the rainy season, cause the generation of contaminated surface water as well as seepage of water through the dump at a number of locations. The existence of cracks at the top of the dump can pose serious stability problems with heavy rain events leading to failure of slopes which can potentially disturb vast areas of land currently used for agricultural purposes and human settlement. For sustainable development at the Chinh Bac waste dump site in the future, apart from the social and economic considerations to be assessed, there is an absolute necessity for environmental protection measures to be in place both during and after the dumping of the mine waste overburden. Research Association Mining and Environment in Vietnam (RAME) is working to develop and implement concepts for the mitigation of environmental problems emerging from dust, contaminated water and lacking slope stability to ensure successful rehabilitation of the coal mine waste dumps in the north of Vietnam. Within the framework of RAME, the Institute of Mining Engineering I (RWTH Aachen University) is managing and working to develop the stabilisation concepts for the solid mine waste dump in collaboration with the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering (RWTH Aachen University), Brenk Systemplanung and the Vietnamese group of companies VINACOMIN (Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group). The most economical and environmentally sound operations, as well as locally adaptable environmental protection measures, are essential for the sustainable development of the dumping operations at Chinh Bac dump. This paper describes the dump site and the sustainable development possibilities with an emphasis on the environmental protection and stability problems at the Chinh Bac waste dump.

Jan 1, 2009

By M Yahyaei, F Vos, J Siliezar

Site-based case studies (including data collected from industrial surveys) and their application in evaluating circuit performance, have a significant role in developing reliable process models. Such models are useful to both plant metallurgists and researchers. Appropriate process models enable the plant metallurgist to assess the impact of different operational parameters on the overall circuit performance. They also provide the researcher with a detailed understanding of process behaviour in response to changes in ore characteristics and process conditions (ie plant throughput, ore competence, ore type). Thus enabling the identification of effective operating factors, and allowing them to be ranked in order of their influence on the process response, which eventually develops into a process control tool in the hands of plant operators.The above approach has been developed and applied at the Julius Kruttschnitt Mineral Research Centre (JKMRC) separately for both comminution and flotation processes. In recent years, the JKMRC has attempted an integrated approach by developing process models that incorporate the impact of upstream processes on downstream processes. This is not possible using the traditional approach of separate comminution and flotation surveys, so conducting integrated plant surveys is crucial for success in developing integrated process models. This paper summarises industrial experience gained while conducting such an integrated plant survey at Glencore’s Ernest Henry Mining operation near Cloncurry in north Queensland. An appropriate approach should be taken to enable the alignment of different requirements from different processes during the plant survey. This, as well as the challenges faced in integrating comminution process models with flotation process models, are identified.CITATION:Yahyaei, M, Vos, F, Powell, M S, Siliezar, J and Perkins, T, 2014. Challenges in developing integrated process models based on industrial survey data, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Mill Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 437–446 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 1, 2014

By A Calderon, J Harris, M Shi, D Viswanathan, C Ribeiro Duthie, P A. Kirsch

Mineral resource development activities impact the health and well-being of many people, from workers, to families and surrounding communities. In the current environment of corporate social responsibility life-of-mine planning considers that mining activities should be conducted in the best environmentally, socially and economically acceptable way for the entire life of the mine (ie from exploration to decommissioning and closure). In this context, the health impacts of mining extend throughout the life of the community from worker injury and chronic exposure to communicable and non-communicable causes of illness, through to family and community health and well-being. At the inaugural Life-of-Mine conference in July 2012, the authors proposed the life-of-mine in the life-of-community (LOMLOC) matrix as a framework for understanding issues at the interface between resource extraction operations and the surrounding environment.This paper reviews and compares health activities extracted from social and environmental reports published by selected major mining companies with American operations in Canada, Colombia and Brazil. These corporate approaches to public health management are mapped to the LOMLOC matrix to identify and compare trends and behaviour in corporate health investments. This analysis of how companies approach and prioritise health issues in the context of different regions, cultures and environmental drivers will serve as a resource for minerals industry managers, civil society and regulators regarding current health management approaches in this sector.CITATION:Ribeiro Duthie, C, Calderon, A, Viswanathan, D, ?Shi, M, Harris, J and Kirsch, P A, ?2014. Resource company investments in health – a life-of-mine / life-of-community perspective across America, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2014 , pp 349–364 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 16, 2014

By ALAN J. HARGRAVES

It is normal that Shepherd and Rixon, in their contributed discussion (this issue) see differences with Hargraves (1983), as it exemplifies the present uncertain situation worldwide, a situation expected to remain until better understanding and wider agreement lead to the real goal of the prevention of instantaneous outbursts of coal and gas.

Jan 1, 1983

Gold mineralisation at the Enterprise Mine, 230 km south of Darwin, occurs within folded and metamorphosed sediments of the Lower Proterozoic Burrell Creek Formation adjacent to the Cullen Granite. The mineralised zone, which occupies an area of approximately 800 m x 300 m is local- ised by a moderately tight, upright symmetrical anticline which plunges shallowly southwards. The anticline has been disrupted by numerous faults on which the maximum movement is 40 m. Gold is associated with quartz and sul- phide veins which are present as saddle reefs, inter-reef veins and fault controlled reefs. it occurs within the veins or their alteration haloes, either as free gold (2 - 50 per cent of total gold content) or intimately associated with sulphides, principally arsenopyrite and Pyrrhotite.

Jan 1, 1984

It is possible to closely simulate the product sizing distribution from an industrial rod mill by the correct choice of parameters in laboratory batch milling. For laboratory batch rod milling, changes in per cent critical speed and per cent rod volume cause the product sizing distributions to move in parallel at a constant slope. For ball milling, larger sized media in batch milling grind more coarse material giving a closer simulation to the industrial rod mill product. Changing the feed size distribution by removal of coarse particles or addition of fine particles changes the product sizing distribution, but would not normally be practiced in laboratory testing. These data should be applicable to many instances where laboratory simulation of an industrial product size distribution is required.

Jan 1, 1998

By J Johansson, J Lööw

Attractive mining workplaces are good, safe and healthy environments. They are also workplaces that the workforce of the future wants to work in. As skilled miners and engineers are already scarce, this is important both for today and for the future. However, the future of mining will also be subject to increased international competition. In attempting to become more competitive, many mining companies turn to rationalisation, looking to both rationalise their production and organisation as well as optimise their processes. Work organisation is important in both rationalisation and providing attractive mining work. As a result, this paper investigates a ‘lean production’ (LP) philosophy for the organisation of future mines. The aim of the paper is to investigate to what extent LP can be used to organise for attractive mining. It first defines what attractive mining work is and to what degree it can be influenced by work organisation. A short insight into the LP concept will be given as well as a review of how it is discussed and utilised in mining today. In conclusion, a summary of LP’s potential to realise future attractive mining is given.CITATION:Lööw, J and Johansson, J, 2015. Work organisation for attractive mining – lean mining and the working environment, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 197–204 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015

Slide presentation at conference

Jan 1, 1996

By R Schlueter, H Mischo

The mining industry is facing a variety of geological, technological and social challenges. Future deposits show a general tendency towards increasing depth with complex ores and decreasing grades. One promising approach to deal with low-grade ores is bioleaching in the form of heap and dump operations. Bioleaching is already a state-of-the-art technique, especially for the extraction of copper from sulfide ores. The next step in the development of this technology will be its application as an in situ technology. First attempts to adapt this technology in underground mining in the form of stoping and block caving have already been made. Both methods have to be carried out adjacent to conventional mining operations and therefore require much effort regarding drift development as well as extraction and transport. The adaption of bioleaching as a borehole mining method is the next step to establish an innovative in situ technique to meet future challenges.The Freiberg University of Mining and Technology established the Biohydrometallurgical Centre for Strategic Elements (BHMZ) to foster interdisciplinary research along the whole biohydrometallurgical process chain. In general, 13 different university institutes and several associated groups with about 30 PhD students are mainly focusing on the extraction of indium and germanium from deposits, tailings and recycling material. One of the core projects within the BHMZ is the design and implementation of an underground in situ bioleaching testing facility.This paper demonstrates the potential of in situ bioleaching under technological aspects. Furthermore, different conditioning methods to increase the permeability of the orebody will be explained, and the BHMZ’s underground testing facility will be presented.CITATION:Schlueter, R and Mischo, H, 2015. Potential and applications of underground in situ bioleaching, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 205–212 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015

By R M. Yanamandra, M Kumar, S K. Tripathy, N Mangadoddy, P Sudikondala

Spiral concentrators are one of the flowing film gravity concentration devices used to beneficiate coal and mineral ores. The aim of the current study is to understand the particulate flow and separation performance of an LD9 spiral concentrator using a multi-phase Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. The CFD model utilises the Algebraic slip mixture model to simulate particulate flows. The model employs the Renormalisation group (RNG) k-ɛ turbulence models to resolve the fluid turbulence. Initially, the volume of fluid method was adopted to track the water-air interface. Simulations were then carried out at low (0.3 and 3 wt.%) and moderate (15 wt.%) solids concentrations. Multiple particle-phase representing particles of poly sizes (75–1400 µm) and multi-densities (1450–2650 kg/m3 ) were simulated to study the particle segregation on the spiral trough surface. The numerical predictions are compared with the literature performance data at a diluted pulp flow rate of 6 m3 /hr. The results were found in close agreement. Further, the same CFD model is used to study the change in pulp velocity, streamflow rates, and separation performance at increasing solids concentration. For the same density particles, Fine particles mostly show higher volume concentration in the middle and outer trough regions, whereas coarse particles show higher volume concentration in the interior and central trough regions. It implies that the fine particles mostly segregate towards the outer region, and dense particles segregate towards the axial column.

Aug 24, 2022

By J Morgan

Regular monitoring of surface deformation over mine sites is important for providing updated information to managers regarding geotechnical risks related to ground instabilities. This is particularly true in cases where unexpected or accelerating movement patterns are observed, as these trends may have implications related to worker safety within active mining environments, as well as continuity of ongoing operations. InSAR is an active remote sensing technique that uses radar satellite imagery to precisely measure ground movement. This technology has started to become a standard tool for monitoring surface stability in many different sectors, including underground and open pit/cut mining applications. In recent years the launch of satellites that collect radar imagery on a more frequent basis, coupled with advances in InSAR processing techniques, has improved both the extent to which movement patterns typical of mining operations can be characterized and the temporal scale on which results can be reported to geotechnical departments. As a result of these developments, InSAR monitoring can now better meet the operational needs of mine sites. An overview of the more recently launched satellites that have a particular relevance to the monitoring of mines is provided, along with an explanation of the InSAR tools that are the most valuable to mine managers and geotechnical engineers. First, broad differences between high resolution X-band imagery and low resolution (but freely available) Sentinel imagery are discussed. Second, the various InSAR tools and their particular applications for different types of mine sites and operations are covered, which include fast delivery deformation maps for short-term reporting, multi-interferometric algorithms for longer-term analyses and rapid movement tracking (RMT) for emergency monitoring or high-risk situations. The ability of the technology to resolve 2D and 3D movement is also touched upon. Practical examples of InSAR application over a variety of mine sites will be presented, as well as surrounding hazards including landslides, to illustrate how InSAR can help provide geotechnical engineers with a picture of surface stability over the full mine site and surrounding areas to help manage risk. CITATION:Morgan, J, 2018. Wide area mapping of ground instabilities from space: InSAR for geotechnical risk assessment and hazard monitoring, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 375–382 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By J Meikle

A projected image is not always a true representation of a situation, or indeed an industry. This is often the case of the mining and minerals industry, which has frequently been portrayed in a negative light with a male dominance stigma attached. However, these issues can be combated for both the industry and its future, current undergraduate students, through undergraduate industry experience. In particular, vacation work enables female students to dispel many myths surrounding the industry and realise that the mining and minerals field offers career development for both genders. This paper will discuss how vacation work enables students to make important career decisions even before they have graduated. Industry experience provides undergraduates with the opportunity to gain practical knowledge relevant to their field of study. Additionally it allows students to observe the nature of the industry and the sacrifices necessary to advance careers. The prior insights into an industry are relevant to all students, but particularly female students, who might otherwise be dissuaded from a career in mining. This paper is written from the perspective of two female undergraduate students studying Mining and Minerals Processing Engineering.

Jan 1, 2006

By Stevenson BG

The relevance of ore-dressing mineralogical investigations to developing and improving metallurgical flow-sheets is discussed and examples are given of the application of such studies to various types of ores and mill products (Au, Cu-Sn, Ni and Sn). The mineralogical investigations described illustrate (a) assessment of the feasibility of ore pre-concentration by heavy-media cyclone separation, (b) evaluation of the potential applicability of various metallurgical treatment processes to an ore, and (c) characterization of mill products to assess circuit efficiency and to guide circuit modifications.

Jan 1, 1978

The importance of the accurate determination and interpretation of the bulk density and porosity of a given iron ore deposit is very often disregarded or neglected. Large amounts of time and money are spent on delineating and testing orebodies, and yet one of the most important factors in resource evaluation is sometimes estimated or, at best, determined from existing data from similar deposits. The Thabazimbi and Sishen South iron ore deposits are two well-known economical occurrences of high-grade iron ore in South Africa. Both these deposits formed as secondary enrichment of banded iron formation lithologies. Ongoing density studies on both these deposits are underway and results thus far proved very effective and necessary. Small-scale methods are used to determine average values for different ore types on both deposits. These values are used in resource estimation and geophysical interpretation.

Jan 1, 2007