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By A P. Tinnelly

This paper explores the structural/physical and policy based issues that have lead to the apparent resource conflict between Forestry and Mining on the West Coast. Both industries are important to the West Coast and bear many similarities, particularly at the corporate end of the mining scale. However there are very distinct structural differences which set the scene for friction at the boundaries. Examples of how mining impacts upon forestry illustrate where some of the friction arises and provides some insight as to where some solutions are or may be found.

Jan 1, 1996

By Ross R

Although mining is an old industry its management is quite a new science, and its complications are now being recognised as demanding expert knowledge in many branches of technical and professional education. Not the least amongst these isaccountancy, for probably its most important problem is "How to control the expenditure." Unlike most businesses a mining company stands almost entirely in the light of a purchaser in the world's markets, and not as a seller, except say for product so the established and perfected systems of modern industries cannot be adopted for mining purposes. For this reason it has been left for late years to consider the matter seriously, and now a number of well-managed concerns have devised costs systems to suit their own requirements.Very little, however, has been published and even that is disjoined and difficult to make use of. Some of the costs systems in vogue, although elaborate and imposing, are not of very great value for keeping check on wasteful expenditure, or for displaying the commercial effect brought about 'by any particular change in practice, or by an addition or alteration to a portion of existing plant.

Jan 1, 1912

The only simple sulphide mineral of antimony of importance is stibnite, SbS3, containing 71·8% antimony when pure. It is lead-grey, has a densityof 4·5 to 4·6 and melts at 546°C. It is both friable and sectile (Hardness 2 on Moh's scale) and, as a result, slimes very readily during milling.It is commonly associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite other minerals occurring with stibnite in minor quantities are chalcopyrite, galena, and scheelite. The latter mineral occurs in sufficient quantity at the Yellow Pine Mine, Stibnfte, Idaho, to justify the production of a scheelite concentrate.Stibnite mayor may not contain gold. Other minerals such as pyrite or arsenopyrite may contain gold. At Wiluna at the main mine nearly all the gold is asociated with arsenopyrite the stibnite being almost free from gold, whilst at the Moonlight Mine both arsenopyrite and stibnite carry gold.The mineral, tetrahedrite, which is a complex sulphide of copper and antimony; must also be considered an economic source of these two metals.Part of the copper may be replaced by iron, zinc; silver; or mercury, whilst part of the antimony is often replaced by arsenic.CLASSIFICATION OF ANTIMONIAL GOLD ORESFor the purposes of this paper antimonial gold ores may be conveniently classified as follows: CLASS 1. Ores from which a satisfactory gold extraction may be obtained by fine grinding, followed by cyanidation and which contain insufficient antimony to justify tIie production of an antimonial concentrate.CLASS 2. (a) Ores in which a satisfactory gold extraction may be obtained by straight cyanidation, but which contain sufficient antimony to justify the production of an antimonial concentrate.CLASS 2. (b) Ores from which the gold extraction by straight cyanidation is unsatisfactory. This type of ore requires the production of an antimonial concentrate for reasons which will be considered later.In deciding whether an ore belongs to class 1 or 2 (a) it should be remembered that the normal price of star antimony is about £1.00 sterling per ton and that the value of each 1% of antimony recoverable as metal is worth about £1 per ton.The antimony content of antimonial gold ores is liable to be considerably...

Jan 1, 1944

Mining is taking place at increasing depths of cover on the Southern Coalfield beneath predominantly massive sandstone strata. Within the next twenty years, there will be longwall mining at depths greater than 600 m. As the Sydney Metropolitan area continues to expand and as coal mining approaches these urban areas subsidence will continue to become an increasinglY important aspect of coal mining research. Investigations, commenced in the mid 1960's, allow prediction of subsidence in the Southern Coalheld with reasonable confidence. The work is showing that the characteristics of thc subsidence troughs over the deeper mining at Appin differ from the characteristics of mine subsidence at less cover.The longwall mining at Appin Colliery has resulted in a maximum measured subsidenee of 730 mm. The maximum strains were small because of the large radii of curvature of the subsidence profiles. There was no damage to any of the buildings in the township of Appin.

Jan 1, 1982

By S Dunbar, S Harrison, J Cilliers

‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.’George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain to 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy). Philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist.The minerals industry requires specific technical expertise in mining and mineral process engineering, geoscience, environmental science and social sciences to maintain and operate its current business and to develop future projects. A steady supply of new graduates is essential to replace not only retirees, but also those who left the industry during the recent downturn. The supply of trained graduates is however not instantaneous, and there is a four-year lag from entry into university to graduation. It is essential that this lag in human resource supply and a likely shortage of knowledgeable, qualified talent is taken into account when considering risks to the business of mining. The shortage of skilled professionals has in the past resulted in unsustainable salary expectations and is likely to pose financial and execution risk to new projects. This paper will review some recent statistics of students in training from around the world and explore what action is required to not only sustain the training courses that provide future ready talent to the mining industry, but also ensure that graduates from these courses are equipped to create change and be leaders in the industry. The future prosperity of the industry is dependent on delivering sustainable stakeholder returns through the cycle. This will be achieved by developing capable individuals that can respond to the complex, adaptive challenges facing the industry.*This is an abstract only. No full paper was prepared for this abstract.*CITATION:Plint, N, Cilliers, J, Dunbar, S and Harrison, S, 2018. Back to basics: resourcing the mining industry, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 33–34 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018

A vigorous seismic and drilling programme has been conducted over.ar area of .59000 square miles in the Roma district during the last three years. The work is Mill' in progress and although many new geological concepts have been discovered, he subsurface geology is not yet finalised. D.atailed examination has shown many variations of .section, has established the general basement trends and sedimentary thicknesses, has shown that much more of the section is marine than previously thought ~nd has indicated that any reservoirs throughout the section could be potential oil ind/or gas producers if suitable traps are located.

Jan 1, 1962

In planning its production and investment activities the mining industry has generally paid too little attention to perceptive analysis of its market environment. The nature of world economic difficulties over the past decade is not a mystery. Essent- ially prolonged affluence has engendered a false sense of security and fostered entrenched vest- ed interests hostile to economic change. The overall outlook remains poor. For mining projects mineral demand affects both product prices and the availability of specific sales outlets. Long-term projection of demand is complex and a key to success is concentrating on analysis of fundamental deter- minants and avoiding mindless extrapolation.

Jan 1, 1983

From statistics on general and electrical fatalities in the Australian mineral industry, it could be said that the present approach to industrial safety is irrational. Deaths are few and decreasing in number, yet spend- ing on occupational safety is large and increasing. State mine safety inspec- torates are being expanded and a National Occupational Health and Safety Commission was recently established. Recent data are analysed in the paper and mining industry fatalities placed in perspective with deaths in other areas. Cost effectiveness of different strategies is discussed along with social implications. Strategies found successful are described and others suggested.,

Jan 1, 1988

Accounting for borehole damage in analytical modelling of explosively generated stress waves is important for predicting the finer details of the stress wave patterns observed in the field. The classical Sharpe's [19421 concept of an effective borehole larger than the initial borehole diameter has been widely accepted to explain material damage around a borehole. A new analytical model based on dynamic compaction is advanced to predict far-field stress wave patterns. This model supports field data corresponding to reduced frequency of oscillations and increased damping. The present model recovers the earlier result when compaction around the borehole representing borehole damage is ignored.

Jan 1, 1990

Under South Africanncoalmining conditions, in the majority of instances coal is won using the bord and pillar system without pillar extraction. Examples demonstrate that strata control policy has an effect on practically all aspects of mining: (1) the choice of mining method; ((2) degree of coal recovery; (3) effect on productivity; (L}.) integration of'-support techniques with other operations. This is confirmed by use of modern research results and computer simulation. Although the examples are drawn from South African experience, the conclusion is generally valid. Strata control problems cannot be solved in isolation but as an. integral part of overall mining policy.

Jan 1, 1971

Geological information plays a significant, cost effective role, in the Mt Whaleback iron ore mining operations. The geology and structure are complex. Good communication between the Mine Planning Production Scheduling and Quality Control Sections is the key to utilisation of geological information to its full potential.Drilling and pit face mapping are the two basic sources of detailed data sets which are processed to prepare up to date geological cross sections and benchwise geological plans. This information is used directly for the blast pattern design and production scheduling. Physical ore type estimation is also undertaken. Orebody models are generated from the geological information.

Jan 1, 1990

By E N. Isaev, L E. Levin

New data on the geology of the Late Jurassic to Holocene sediments cover of the World and associated mineral resources (oil, gas, ferromanganese nodules, ores of massive sulphides and other metals) have been compilled in the Atlas at scale 1:25,000,000 and 1:10,000,000. The work was performed by scientists from four Institutes of Russia (VNIIzarubezhgeologia, VNIIoceangeologia, Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry of theRussian Academy of Sciences and Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences). The Atlas shows variation of thickness and formational composition of the large complexes (Upper Jurassic-Early Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous Eocene, Oligocene-Neogene, Pliocene-Pleistocene), distribution of oil/gas and ore deposits in each complex, data of deepsea drilling (leg 1-130),  thermo-pressure condition in the sedimentary basins within Circum-Pacific Rim.

Jan 1, 1995

By F Mwijage

"The benefits of measuring blast movement to reduce ore loss and dilution have been recognised by many people for many years and various methods have been used with limited success. Geita Gold Mine is running the pilot study on the blast movement monitoring (BMM) system which is a revolutionary method developed and patented by the University of Queensland and Blast Movement Technology (BMT). The system consists of directional transmitters placed within the shot prior to blasting, which are then located after the blast with a special detector and then the data is processed with purpose-designed software.As part of continuous improvement on grade control, Geita Gold Mine is running a research project in all operating pits with the objective of: quantifying the three-dimensional blast muck pile movement and finally utilise the movement data to define post-blast ore polygons and incorporate the movement dynamics during block modelling,quantify the potential savings for ore loss and dilution,improve mine geologists knowledge of blast dynamics, andstimulate greater co-operation between drill and blast engineers and geologists to achieve optimum blast designs.To any operation with selective mining, it is critical to the economics of an operation to control ore loss and dilution; getting it wrong will result in significant lost revenue. Implementation of ongoing pilot study on electronic balls as determinant on blast movement dynamics on ore would be of longer term solution and big investment pay back.CITATION:Mwijage, F, 2012. Pilot study on blast movement monitoring at Geita gold mine, in Proceedings Narrow Vein Mining 2012 , pp 49-58 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 26, 2012

Mine planning typically involves designing an operation to uncover coal with the minimum initial costs with reclamation planning and earthworks being done as an "add on" task. The landform is too steep to remain stable, has no drainage and frequently has areas of excessive acidity or alkalinity. Extensive earthworks are required to reduce grades to an acceptable level and create a drainage system. The flexibility available to the mining engineer to alter the post mining landscape clearly depends on the mining methods. Straight dragline stripping provides virtually no flexibility. However most mining operations over the term of current ten year plans have a substantial pre-strip component. It is this pre-strip material which has the potential to reduce the final reshaping earthworks. The reshaping operation itself is subject to some flexibility with various options being available to re-grade and provide drainage. The full utilisation of this flexibility to minimise earthworks cost should be the aim of reclamation design. ACIRL's current thrust in reclamation is aimed at the integration of mine planning and reclamation earthworks. This involves gathering all environment and agricultural criteria and designing the earth works necessary to produce an acceptable final landform. A key component of our work is the use of computer aided design (CADD) for the design of spoil piles, pre-strip dumps and spoil re-shaping. This approach has been applied to a number of mine sites with earthworks operations covering hundreds of hectares and hundreds of millions of cubic metres volume. We are continuing to provide that consultancy service and at the same time are involved in the development of more sophisticated software tools to apply to reclamation design.

Jan 1, 1991

Longwall mining in Australia is approaching maturity. Longwall production from 'state of the art' Australian longwall mines now rivals similar US based longwall operations. Regrettably however, Australian gate road development rates in general fall short of the required development to longwall production ratios that are required to sustain annual longwall production capabilities. By contrast, most US based longwall mines achieve the required development to longwall production ratios to sustain their longwalls. This is despite many having to drive three heading longwall panel gate headings to meet regulatory requirements.

Jan 1, 1998

Traditional methods for calibrating the most customisable forms of GyÆs formula for the prediction of sampling variances involve a large amount of experimental work. This work is often extremely sensitive to outlier treatment and often relies on assumptions. A general methodology called æthe consistency methodÆ, however, has proven efficient in guiding these critical steps and adding objectivity to these subjective tasks. After a quick exposition of its principle, it is shown how it can also be used to reduce the amount of experimental work when dictated by budgets.

Jan 1, 2008

By Giannini L. M

The determination of the "optimum pit limit" of a mine has long been considered as a fundamental problem of mine planning. A number of mathematical techniques have been proposed to solve this problem some of the more elaborate ones posing considerable computational difficulties for their implementation. Barnes and Johnson recently introduced "bounding techniques" to ease the computational effort required for determining the optimum pit. The aim of this paper is to point out and correct some errors in their techniques. A presentation of a general bounding algorithm is given.

Jan 1, 1985

By F Solomon

This paper explores the recent escalation in public opinion for business to demonstrate the social value it generates through its activities. The concept of social capital is analysed, including the linkages between social and environmental values. Also discussed are the challenges inherent in devising a method for evaluating social value, determining appropriate performance indicators and then evaluating acceptability of outcomes. The linkage between accountability and added social value in the minerals industry is analysed. This includes an illustration of the models of accountability that are now emerging and the adding of social value.

Jan 1, 2000

By Etheride MA

The evolution of economic precious metal and copper-gold deposits in high-level igneous terranes is dependent on very efficient fluid focussing. This is most readily achieved by contemporaneous deformation, igneous intrusion and hydrothermal activity. Mineralisation in these environments generally occurs in fault and fault-vein arrays developed in the cover sedimentary and volcanics sequences above older regional scale fault systems. Such reactivated fault systems an particularly prone to developing the complex fracture arrays, extreme local dilation and dramatic increases in permcahilit} that are necessary to efficiently focus hydrothermal fluid and produce large mineral deposits.

Jan 1, 1995

By E McLean, J Fleay, M Davis

Performance testing is often used by project owners and financiers to provide protection from, or assessment of, technical aspects of project design, procurement, construction and commissioning. The performance tests can range from comprehensive performance warranties relating to process performance and production in the case of lump sum turn key (LSTK) projects to less onerous demonstration tests for cost reimbursable contracts. This paper will discuss performance testing from both the contractorÆs and ownerÆs perspectives and focuses on: when performance tests are required, what type of performance test/warranty is optimum for each type of project, and how project performance should be evaluated. The requirement for performance testing can be driven by the project financiers, particularly in the case of smaller resource development companies. In such cases, differentiation between ownerÆs risk and contractorÆs risk can become contentious. At the other end of the spectrum, larger mining houses may choose to heavily influence the engineering and design process with the contractor supplying services on a reimbursable basis. In that case, the performance testing process is often limited to demonstration tests that validate performance for the ownerÆs corporate governance requirements. This paper was prepared due to the lack of published benchmarking of performance testing and the resultant differences in expectations between a contractor and a project owner that often surface late in the contract negotiation process. The paper provides a checklist of requirements for both the owner and the contractor that may be used to provide æcommon purposeÆ early in the contract negotiation process.

Jan 1, 2007