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Until 1937, the mining of ore was carried out by conventional methods, using pneumatic drills and standard drill steel. The adoption of the diamond drill, formerly used for exploration work, for blast hole drilling in stopes, was first developed by Noranda Mines Limited, Noranda, Quebec, although it had been used previously in Northern Ontario and Western United States, to remove weak pillars and ore remnants left by conventional methods. Previous to the adoption of the diamond drill method at Noranda, a sub-level benching system of stoping was used. Sub-levels were driven at 35 ft. intervals and the benches drilled off by pneumatic drills using sectional steel. Results were very satisfactory, in sulphide ore, where the drilling was comparatively easy, but in the harder rhyolitestopes the footage drilled per machine-shift was only half of that obtained in the sulphide stopes, and owing to the high gauge loss, there was often difficulty in drilling holes to the required depth. This led to trials with the diamond drill for this type of work. While the cost per foot was more than with sectional steel, an appreciable saving in development work could be made by increasing the sublevel interval from 35 ft. to 60 ft., and stope widths from 60 to 100 ft. This saving, together with the increase in blasting efficiency, resulted in a substantial reduction in overall costs.CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL APPLICATIONWhile long diamond drill blast-hole mining has widespread application, there are certain conditions which appear to be desirable, if not absolutely necessary, for its successful use.

Jan 1, 1946

Amongst the unavoidable studies of the mining engineer who desires to reach the maximum efficiency, is the subject of patents. With the fundamental principles of the patent laws of this and other leading countries he should of course befamiliar, but still more should he keep abreast of that practical knowledge which will enable him to act or advise wisely when the patenting of a new invention, or the sale, purchasing, or adoption of a new patented machine or process becomes amatter for consideration. As every engineer worthy of the name is an inventor and more particularly every mining engineer he has a direct interest in watching the progress of legislation and administration concerning patent monopolies.His worldly prospects may indeed, to a considerable extent, depend upon the defeat of bad patent laws and the removal of incompetent officials, or the appointment of better ones. Better patent administration is always in Australia a valid requirement, and until engineers generally take up and press the demand, bad administration is likely to continue. Even though every engineer is not a patentee, nevertheless his interests in patents must always be direct and powerful, and ignorance or apathy in regard thereto must inevitably injure either his own interests or those of his employer. When we consider the tens of thousands of mines scattered through Australia alone, on everyone of which there is expensivepatented machinery, and when we consider the thousands of...

Jan 1, 1901

By A M. van Niekerk, W Mey

Coal mining has an impact on the water management of the water scarce Upper Olifants River Catchment. A prefeasibility study was carried out by Anglo Coal and Ingwe Collieries Limited to establish the water supply and demand in the catchment. A geohydrological model was used for the coalfields to determine the stored water and excess water available. Two distinct collective and treatment systems were proposed for the Witbank and Middelburg municipalities to treat excess water from the Anglo Coal and Ingwe Collieries Limited. The Emalahleni Water Reclamation Project for Witbank was initiated first. Water management and treatment experience gained at Anglo Coal was the cornerstone to develop the collection, treatment and distribution system. A full enquiry was issued to Keyplan, Veolia, Bateman Africa and IST Technik to construct, commission, operate and maintain a 20 ML/day desalination plant to treat acidic, saline mine waters to a South African National Standard (SANS) 0241 Class 0 potable water. After the technical and financial adjudication, Keyplan were awarded the contract. An integrated regulatory process was adopted through consultation with all the relevant regional and head office staff of the Department of Minerals and Energy, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and the Mpumalanga Department of Land Affairs via an authorityÆs steering committee. A rock engineering evaluation was done to select both the plant and waste disposal sites as all possible sites are undermined. Various contracts are required with the individual mines for water supply, the Emalahleni Local Municipality for the delivery of potable water and for the disposal of wastes.

Jan 1, 2006

By J M. F Clout

In the iron ore industry significant emphasis is placed throughout the mining process on meeting chemical composition specifications for the export of fine ores, however, little has been published on the implications of ore chemical composition for iron ore sinter and pellet product quality. The ore bulk composition, together with the nature of the minerals in the fine ore both play a critical role in determining the type of high temperature bonding phases that form during sintering and pelletising. This paper uses the experimental determination of phase relations in model sinter and pellet systems such as Fe2O3-CaO-SiO2 (FCS) and Fe2O3-Al2O3-CaO-SiO2 (FACS) to examine the links between iron ore chemical composition and the temperatures used during sintering and pellet firing. The phase relations help to establish the critical thermal and compositional parameters that control the bonding phase chemistry which in turn influences the physical characteristics of the sinter or pellet matrix. Results show that lower Fe-grade (

Jan 1, 2002

By A Rojc, J Ronaszeki, C Smith

Nuclear logging was tested for the in situ determination of Fe, Si, and Al in iron ore blastholes with field tests at the BHP Billiton Iron Ore, Mount Waleback Mine. Prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) was used to determine percentages of Fe and Si while natural gamma logging was employed for the determination of Al. The accuracy given by nuclear logging is comparable to the accuracy provided by the laboratory analysis which was determined by taking the average of four samples collected from the cuttings deposited on the surface around the perimeter of a drill hole. The work also indicated that there is a chance of determining Al by PGNAA.

Jan 1, 2002

By Fink ST

Management requires up-to-date information on the activities of an enterprise in order to maintain control and to assist in decision-making and planning. In today's environment it is essential that this information is immediately available and in an easily assimilated format. If this is not the case, management is forced to make decisions based on intuition and past experience. At Mt Newman Mining Co, a computer application has been developed and implemented with the objective of providing this type of information to management. The Key Parameter Reporting System (as the application is known) allows for daily (constant) on-line capture of selected production statistics, safety statistics and free format textual comments relating to topics such as industrial relations, major maintenance and other pertinent news. Information can be retrieved,'and displayed or printed in either a tabular or graphical format. All senior managers have colour visual display units in their offices for immediate access to the system. Access to selected sensitive information is controlled. All company staff are able to retrieve unsecured information from the system via visual display units installed in all company Locations.

Jan 1, 1983

By Jones M

The concept of precise, accurate timing with Electronic Delay Detonators (EDDs) was first seriously addressed in the mid-1980s and much was made of the cheapness and profusion of digital watches in terms of the likelihood of EDDs also being cheap and easy to produce. Ten years later, with every major explosives company and many electronics groups having instituted projects to capitalise on the promise of these devices, production devices are still to come into general use. In South Africa, Expert Explosives units have been used in most applications during proving trials and more recently for production blasting in underground ring stoping and open cast coal. The outcome has been valuable learning both as to the benefits and technical requirements for electronic delay blasting, and especially, safety aspects. Examples are shown of production blasts which utilised the power of EDDs. It is evident that it is not delay accuracy alone which determines the value of these systems, but the whole robustness, flexibility and ease of delay allocation when harnessing blast engineering knowledge. Muckpile movement and shape, fragmentation and vibration frequencies have shown to be greatly influenced by designs which can be implemented no other way. The flexibility of a system and the power of the software controlling it are crucial in capitalising on blasting potential, which lies in integrating control of blast timing with other developing electronic Technologies.

Jan 1, 1995

World class ore deposits can be defined commercially as deposits which contain metal concentrations in the upper quartile of resources size and/or grade, world wide, from which economic extraction can be undertaken, over a production period exceeding ten years, at a cost below the weighted average cost of cumulative production of the contained principal commodity of mines world wide.

Jan 1, 1993

By J F. Seale

The design of the settling pond for the Malvern Hills opencast coal project was based on a primary requirement to control runoff and sediment generated from the immediate 6 ha mine catchment, which included two seepages from old underground workings. The pond has been particularly effective in controlling turbidity in the outflow water, with the consent limit of 50 NTU being met on all but one occasion and normal levels of discharge less than 10 NTU. Water quality testing carried out at the time of consenting indicated that there were no acid-generation issues with the proposed mine site in dominant mudstone strata of the Broken River Formation, and that water from the old mine workings was near-neutral in terms of pH and well-buffered. However, it became apparent over the very dry summer of 2003 - 2004 that slaking of the exposed mudrocks in the mine batters was resulting in significant acidity generation, and outflow pH levels were well below the consent limit of 6.5 during and following periods of rainfall. Although these acidity problems have been remediated in the short-term by the use of lime products, it is clear that a programme of lithotype characterisation for AMD should have been undertaken and this has now been implemented. Design of long-term acid drainage control measures is being carried out, and will probably be based around the use of hydrated lime for pH control with enhancement of natural wetlands.

Jan 1, 2004

By Stuart M. S, Allen P. B

The Childe Harold deposit was mined by the Granny Smith Joint Venture (GSJV) from late-March through to early-December 1993. This was a fast-tracked mining project whose history began with an offer to purchase agreement being signed at the end of October 1992. A feasibility study was completed by the end of December 1992 after completion of a reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling program. Subsequent additional definition drilling culminated in a remodelling of the reserve by March 1993, by which time all necessary governmental and company approvals had been granted. The crucial aspect of mining Childe Harold quickly was to maintain oxide ore supply to the Granny Smith mill at the maximum possible rate for blending with existing fresh ore stocks. As a result, high production rates had to be balanced with

Jan 1, 1994

By J P. Hsi

Recent increase in the development of underground space in urban areas in Australia has included soft ground tunnel construction. The ground movements associated with soft ground tunnel construction may present risk to other existing and proposed structures in the nearby vicinity. Much experience has been gained both in the UK and Asia in recent years in the engineering evaluation of this risk. The paper presents a procedure to assess these aspects of soft ground tunnel construction with reference to recent projects.

Jan 1, 1999

The Bayswater seam of the Singleton Coal Measures is discussed in relation to its field occurrence and related li~hotype profiles. The seam is correlated throughout widely separated areas of the Hunter Valley with the Farrells Creek seam at Howick, Broke seam at Broke, and Saddlers Creek seam at Mt. Arthur. The unusual features of composition of the seam in relation to adjacent seams is dealt with in terms of the seam environment, particular attention being given to the sandstone at the base of .the seam. Petrographic and other data are used to support the arguments submitted.

Jan 1, 1973

By S Pigram, G J. Jameson

This paper is concerned with the tracking of particles in the froth phase of an aerated water/glycerol mixture. Experiments have been carried out in a specially designed laboratory flotation cell that allows formation of a deep froth. Phosphorescent tracer particles of various sizes were injected into the centre of a froth column where they were excited by ultraviolet lights, positioned at the back and front of the column. The motion of particles was captured on a digital camera with a green filter. The images from the digital camera were then transferred to a computer and an image analysis program was used to convert the colour intensity to the concentration of particles at each location within the froth. The tracer technique was used to determine the dispersion of hydrophilic particles and the variation of the concentration of solids with axial and radial positions.

Jan 1, 2005

By Ho-Tun E, Stewart PSB

The definition and recognition of silver minerals is very difficult. In general such minerals occur at low concentration and can be hard to identify and measure using conventional optical mineralogy. The present paper describes the use of the QEM*SEM system to tackle this problem and provide information of use to the metallurgist. Three aspects of QEM*SEM are used to special advantage in this application. Firstly the automated mode of operation is used to make a rapid search for the sparse phases. Secondly the X-ray capability is used to identify the mineral phases. Finally the image analysis programs quantify the distributions of the minerals which are found. The paper deals with the identification stage of the process and with the use of the data which can be derived. Silver minerals which covered a range of ore types and composition were collected and studied in detail. On the basis of these measurements and information received from a number of mining companies regarding the important minerals, a classification table was prepared. This table listed about 40 different silver mineral types which could be identified by QEM*SEM and which were of interest in silver recovery processes. Where the silver occurs in solid solution in concentrations greater than about one per cent, the silver content in the species was subdivided into ranges based on statistical intervals. The QEM*SEM system was programmed to recognise these as separate species. Examples are presented of the use of the system in defining the type and morphology of the silver mineralisation to assist in the assessment of batch flotation test Samples.

Jan 1, 1993

This paper describes new research and development currently being undertaken by the CSIRO Mining Technology Group to advance the automation capability of continuous mining equipment in underground coal mining operations. The effort aims at increasing the overall rate of roadway development as well as providing a safer working environment for underground mine personnel. The activity is funded by the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) and forms part of a larger underground development initiative, known as the CM2010 project. The CM2010 is managed via a consortium of leading mining industry representatives through the Roadway Development Task Group (RDTG). The Task Group has identified three research areas requiring new development in order to realise the CM2010 project objectives: self-guiding (autonomous) continuous miner capability, an enhanced drilling and bolting process and improved mesh deployment. CSIRO's primary role in the CM2010 project is in the development of the autonomous continuous miner guidance capability.This paper reports on outcomes achieved at the half-way mark of a three year research and development project. It details the technical developments undertaken towards demonstration of a 'self-steering' capability to enable a continuous miner to automatically maintain a given mining heading and mining horizon under production conditions. A primary technical requirement of this automated functionality is the means to accurately determine both the location and orientation of the continuous miner in real-time. Testing and validation of the guidance system solution has been implemented using a combination of an instrumentation-grade inertial navigation unit and radar technology. Comprehensive performance evaluations have been conducted using a scale skid-steer mobility platform known as the Phoenix. Results achieved to the present stage of the project are highly promising and suggest that an automated self-steering functionality is achievable under production conditions. This new outcome represents an important move towards implementing a step change improvement for future underground roadway development.

Dec 6, 2010

By Neto J. A N

Usually there are organisational interfaces between each stage - companies or departments. Each organisation will have different ideas about "optimum" operation. These ideas will be driven by how the performance of each is measured ' and rewarded. Therefore it is important to set up data acquisition processes with respect to maximisation of overall profitability and resource utilisation. In the simplest case - if the miners are paid on tonnes and the concentrator has severe grade penalties on concentrates, then there is the possibility of a conflict of interest over metal Balance.

Jan 1, 1991

By D Schwab, R M. Tosdal

The Quesnell-Stikine arcs, in the Canadian Cordillera, are host to Triassic and Early Jurassic alkalic porphyry Cu-Au and calc-alkalic porphyry Cu-(Mo-Au) deposits formed outboard of ancestralNorth America in island-arc tectonic settings (McMillan, 1991). The majority of the alkalic porphyry Cu-Au deposits are products of a discrete magmatic event at the end of the Triassic, with a second and smaller event in the Early Jurassic (Mortensen, Ghosh and Ferri, 1995). Of the Triassic complexes, the Galore Creek alkalic intrusive suite is one of the largest and most silica-undersaturated intrusive complexes, and host to the most significant undeveloped alkalic porphyry Cu-Au resource in North America (Lang, Stanley and Thompson, 1995). Because of the common presence of feldspathoidal-bearing rocks in the complex (Enns et al, 1995), Galore Creek likely represents an end member example of the alkalic porphyry Cu-Au class. The Galore Creek alkalic Cu-Au-Ag porphyry district, located in NW British Columbia (Canada), contains 12 mineralised prospects (Enns et al, 1995; Micko et al, 2007; Schwab et al, in press) with a total measured and indicated resources of 785.7 Mt at 0.52 per cent Cu, 0.29 g/t Au and 4.87 g/t Ag (NovaGold Resources Inc, February, 2008). The Central Zone is the largest and best delineated. Other economically important mineralised centres include the South-West, Bountiful, West Fork and Junction deposits. The South-West Zone, the focus of this contribution, is a Cu-Au-Ag breccia-centred deposit with a measured and indicated resource of 69 Mt grading 0.42 per cent Cu, 0.69 g/t Au, 2.67 g/t Ag. Hosted in brecciated intrusive rocks, the South-West Zone is distinctly younger than the Central Zone and most of the other mineralised centres (Enns et al, 1995; Schwab et al, in press). The South-West Zone therefore preserves the late stages of hydrothermal evolution at Galore Creek. An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation.

Jan 1, 2008

By G McMillan, P Mulvey

"Geochemical characterisation is done based upon the geology and metallurgical batch testing prior to commencement of the operation of the plant.  Tailings repository design is based upon geochemical assessment of the waste material, as well as the geomechanical issues associated with storing the waste. The resultant conceptual and detailed design is incorporated into the environmental impact statement (EIS), upon which mine approval is based. The entire environmental monitoring and harm mitigation program, which is usually a condition of the Mine Lease approval, is based upon the applicability of the original characterisation.Tacit to this process is that there is no change in the geochemistry of the tailings, i.e. no change in the implications for acid & metalliferous or saline/neutral mine drainage (AMD/SNMD) generation. But any changes in milling and processing can have a substantive impact on the geochemical behaviour of the tailings metallurgy, and potentially render an operation non-compliant within the conditions of the mine license.Environmental and statutory approval implications for continuous improvements of metallurgy need to be understood because unintended consequences could cost more than the benefits of the improvement, and in some cases cost more than all the profit made from the mine.  Examples uncovered during audit and consultant practice will be presented together with a process to ensure implications for adverse environmental harm and license conditions are fully considered.*This paper is only available for individual download. It is not included in the conference proceedings*CITATION:Mulvey, P, 2013. Continuous improvement - how changes in metallurgy can have a substantive impact on environmental impact and closure - lessons learnt from environmental auditing, presented to MetPlant 2013 Conference (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jul 15, 2013

I have spent most of the past thirty-five years working as an economic geologist in the area of exploration and development of base and precious metals. Most of this period has been as an employee of Trans-National-Corporations (TNC's). I presently act as a consulting geologist to a joint venture company, bringing together two such TNC's: Anglo American' Corporation and affiliated companies De Beers (Diamonds) and Minorco (Metals mining outside of Southern Africa), and Normandy Mining Limited of Australia. Normandy is presently through its gold arm PosGold, Australia's largest gold miner and Anglo American can claim to be the world's largest gold company producing over 280 tonnes of gold a year, more than twice its nearest rival Gold Fields of South Africa. In addressing this topic, the role that Government can, and should play in mineral development, I will be drawing heavily on some examples from these and other TNC's experience in recent offshore mining Investment.

Jan 1, 1995

In 1948, it became clear that the ventilation system of The Zinc Corporation Limited and New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited mines, would be inadequate for future operations. The,paper describes in detail the process of designing an entirely new ventilation system for a large underground mining operation. The system was based on a single new upcast airway to be located on the boundary of the two properties, which were to be ventilated in parallel as two separate ventilating districts.From calculations of resistance, and assessments of future air requirements, the duties of a new exhaust fan to be located on the collar of the upcast airway were specified as 700,000 cubic feet per minute at 2·6 in. w.g. total pressure for initial operation in 1953 increasing to a maximum of 900,000 c.f.m. at 3·6 in. w:g. total pressure ten years later. The economic size of the new airway was calculated from a consideration of the first thirty years operation of the system, and it was decided to provide a 20 ft. diameter concrete-lined shaft.The new system went into operation five years after the initial planning, and the effect of the difference between actual and predicted rates and distribution or production are discussed. The final result was entirely satisfactory.INTRODUCTIONThe first proposal for an investigation of The Zinc Corporation Limited-New Broken Hill Consolidated Limited ventilation system with a view to putting it on a proper technical basis was made in 1938. A new Main Shaft was then being sunk, and it was decided to postpone the enquiry until this had been completed to No. 14 Level, when operations would be temporarily suspended and the shaft commence to operate as a major airway. The investigation was completed early in 1940, when Z.C. Ltd. upcast fan was...

Jan 1, 1956