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By T Baumgartl, M Edraki, L Huang, D R. Mulligan

"Phytostabilisation with tolerant plant species has been advocated as a cost-effective solution for sustainable cover of tailings from metal mines and bauxite refinery. The development of sustainable plant ecosystems on such wastes requires not only tolerant plant species compatible with local climatic conditions, but also the formation of stable and functional root zones through systematic processes to develop functional soil matrix and horizons (eg A-B-C). However, the process requirements for reconstructing functional root zones in tailings are poorly understood. Based on a review of current literature and industry experience in tailings revegetation, the present paper conceptualises three key phases in the process of root zone development in amended tailings: hydro-geochemical stabilisation resulting from the interactions among tailings characteristics, amendment measures and local climatic conditions the rehabilitation of soil biological capacity the establishment of ecological (carbon and nutrient) linkages between the rehabilitated root zones and the above ground plant communities.Key research is required on: the relationship between hydro-geochemical stability and mineralogy and geochemistry of tailings, in response to rehabilitation treatments under local climatic conditions the relationship between soil biological capacity and hydro-geochemical stability in the root zone the transition of soil microbial communities specific to exogenous organic matters into those required for mineralising litters of in situ plant communities.CITATION:Huang, L, Baumgartl, T, Edraki, M and Mulligan, D R, 2012. Sustainable phytostabilisation of mine tailings - A critical analysis of system requirements and approaches, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2012, pp 105-116 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jul 10, 2012

The first grant of land rights in Australia was pursuant to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. That Act has been at the core of the dispute between land rights and miners' rights. The mining industry believes that the Act, in giving a right of veto to Aborigines with respect to exploration and mining on Aboriginal land, has been responsible for a stagnation in exploration amd mining activity in the Northern Territory. In February 1985 the Commonwealth Government released for public comment its preferred model for national land rights legislation. The model has been opposed by the mining industry because it believes, first, that land rights is a matter which should be left to the States and, secondly, that the detailed mechanisms contained in the model constrain the industry in the manner of the Northern Territory legislation. Aboriginal leaders have opposed the model because it does not, in their view, measure up to undertakings given by the Commonwealth Government and, in addition, it provides for amendments to the Northern Territory legislation which are likely to result in the loss of the Aboriginal veto right. Are land rights and miner's rights compatible? The answer is yes provided all parties, including Governments, are prepared to talk and compromise and Governments recognise that the grant of land rights and any control by the Aboriginal people of exploration and mining on their land is not a substitute for raising the living standards of Aborigines as a significant group of disadvantaged Australians.

Jan 1, 1986

By S Hapugoda, J R. Manuel, X Cao, B D. McDonald, N A. Ware, L Lu

Roy Hill is a large iron ore mining, processing, railing and port operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Since delivering its first shipments to customers in December 2015, Roy Hill has quickly achieved a 60 Mtpa production rate of lump and fines products. The process plant, principally consisting of wet scrubbing, screening and de-sanding unit processes, was expanded from early 2020 to include operation of a Wet High Intensity Magnetic Separation (WHIMS) Plant. The WHIMS Plant treats tailings to recover approximately 4 Mtpa of ultra-fine (nominally -150 μm) high-grade hematitic concentrate which, after dewatering, is blended into the fines product. Unlike typical hematite concentrates, which consist largely of dense particles with smooth surfaces, the WHIMS concentrate is characterised by very finely microporous hematitic/goethitic particles, reflecting the overall characteristics of the Roy Hill deposit. Detailed test work has been conducted in collaboration with CSIRO to characterise the WHIMS concentrate in terms of its physical and mineralogical properties, and to determine its influence on the granulation and sintering performance of Roy Hill fines – from fundamental/lab-scale and sinterpot perspectives. The results demonstrate that blending of the high-grade hematitic Roy Hill WHIMS concentrate into the fines product can maintain overall sinter quality and positively influence granulation and sinter melt formation, as well as Fe grade.

Nov 8, 2021

By B Maybee

In underground mine planning, many potentially value-eroding decisions are made due to a lack of time and proper evaluation practices. The information required for mine planning decisions goes beyond external sources of uncertainty that are recognised by typical evaluation techniques used in the mining industry, to include technical factors (eg mine development layout) and the ability of a mineral extraction project to achieve its anticipated production levels. Due to the individual characteristics that define underground mining projects, each will exhibit a different risk profile, and thus advanced optimisation and evaluation techniques are required to capture this information.As underground mine planning tools become more sophisticated, mine planners have the capacity to investigate numerous mine sequencing options to identify the best strategy for a given project, creating higher value for shareholders. This paper describes a risk-based evaluation methodology (RbEM) that accounts for financial and technical risk in the evaluation of underground mining projects. While the use of the RbEM has been described in previous works, no benchmarking of the benefits that can be realised from a change in those decisions that are made early in the process has been undertaken. To show the benefits that can be achieved from using the RbEM, this paper updates a case study to which the RbEM was applied, and takes a retrospective look at whether additional value would have been gained by following the strategic recommendation of the RbEM versus a typical optimisation exercise that aims to maximise the net present value.CITATION:Maybee, B, 2012. Can a risk-based evaluation provide a more valuable mine design?, in Proceedings Project Evaluation 2012 , pp 53-58 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 24, 2012

Resources and reserves are critical inputs into the determination of an operating mineÆs financial results and balance sheets, but how well understood is this fact. Do the investors, directors, accountants and geologists/engineers responsible for preparing or relying on relevant aspects of the end results properly understand the inputs and outputs and the associated risks that may be established. The first step is to understand how financial reports are impacted. The most obvious, and best known, impact is in the calculation of depreciation and amortisation charges against long term assets. In addition, however, there is a requirement to regularly determine whether asset book values are impaired û this is nearly always performed globally by the preparation of a discounted cashflow model for a mine which is usually based on a mine life as determined from the resource and reserve statement û the particular driver here is normally the short and long term production plans. A key aspect of the short term production plan is that it would normally not assume that the reserve and resource statement implies consistent grade, stripping ratios, etc. However, outside of the early years of a plan, more generic assumptions of these variables are often made in conjunction with the reserve and resource statement. Depending on the timeframe of the detailed production plans, this can have a large impact on a projectÆs net present value. Other financial balances that may also be impacted include restoration and rehabilitation provisions, retrenchment provisions and deferred or equalisation stripping accounts. The age old question of whether all reserves should be used or whether some or all of the resources should be included for financial reporting purposes has never been adequately resolved. It is our view that there should be no prescriptive answer to this question but judgement of all professionals involved in the process needs to be included. Furthermore, the company needs to be able to support their conclusions with well thought out and appropriate answers. This may not be in line with the approach that certain accounting standard setters may be proposing or taking, and this paper will outline the current status of global requirement and the likely future directions. Whether reserves or resources are utilised, does not change the key requirement that those preparing or using reserve and resource statements need to understand key aspects. For example: geologists/engineers do they know how reserves or resources will be used? have they imparted information on variability of key drivers such as grade or depth or dilution? do they know that major financial/business altering decisions may be made based on the analysis? accountants do they understand where the numbers have been derived from and the assumptions that may have been made in their determination? do they understand the degree of accuracy (or inaccuracy) that may exist particularly with resources)? do they understand the history of resource reconciliations and what it may mean for the future? directors do they understand the processes undertaken by the company to prepare the financial report and the interaction between the geologists/engineers and accountants? do they understand the potential sensitivity of results to the input variables? Financial reporting is extremely reliant on the use of the reserves and resources, however, the geologists/engineers, accountants and directors do not always understand the interactions between themselves which may lead to misleading public reporting. More education and communication between various parties is needed.

Jan 1, 2002

By K Le Bron

Fatalities that occurred because of rock falls in off-reef excavations (excluding shafts) over the last three years range between ten per cent and 20 per cent of the total number of fatalities that have occurred due to rock falls in the South African mining industry. These rock falls, mostly exacerbated by blasting practices, occur because of failure on discontinuities within the rock mass. Among other reasons of their occurrence is insufficient support installation or the incorrect assessment of rock mass conditions. This report presents qualitative analysis intended to outline rock stability conditions in tunnels subjected to dynamic loading. Seismic waves including those created by firing an explosive charge in tunnel rocks are considered. The rock behaviour is monitored using geophones and extensometers variably installed to record the near and far effects of roof bolt support units on a dynamically loaded rock. The paper discusses the results of field investigations.

Jan 1, 1999

By H Chalcraft, T D. Mullen

Conditions encountered at a recently completed brownfields mining project provided valuable insight into, and development of, techniques for working in and around known underground mining voids in an open cut environment. The careful application of underground blasting principles to a pit environment and successful excavation whilst maintaining appropriate stand-off distances were two primary areas of innovation enabling the success of the project.Mary Mac Hill is a gold deposit situated less than 2 km south-west of the town of Laverton, Western Australia. It is owned and mined by Crescent Gold Limited. Previous underground mining by various other mining companies has left an extensive network of underground horizontal development, subvertical stopes and shafts, some of which daylighted at surface. This was identified as potentially posing substantial risks, which would prevent the application of conventional mining methods. Two major stopes were located under a hard banded iron ridge topped by a peak of cap, connected variously by narrow drives and vertical development. Due to the proximity of the first of these stopes to the surface, its dimensions and governed by procedures and advice provided by externally engaged engineers, Crescent Gold could not access the area of the ridge immediately overlying the stope using conventional open cut mining methods. This was the first of many hurdles surmounted in mining this deposit.The following report outlines how the challenges this geometrically complex deposit presented. Solving these problems enabled the team to mine the contained gold ore to a completed design, without subjecting personnel or mining equipment to harm due to a void breach incident. This paper outlines the numerous complications and difficulties Mary Mac Hill posed and explains the strategies developed to overcome them. The report also presents technical mass blasting details explaining two of the critical crown pillar blasts.CITATION:Mullen, T D and Chalcraft, H, 2012. Mary Mac Hill - The challenges and strategies of successful open cut mining: A complex underground gold deposit riddled with a network of complicated voids, in Proceedings Eighth Open Pit OperatorsÆ Conference , pp 89-96 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 18, 2012

By A D. Pradana, D R. Pradana, Y H. Putra, Z Zulhan, T Hidayat

The high temperature processing of nickel laterite ore is currently dominated by the Rotary Kiln- Electric Furnace (RKEF) technology. The ratio of SiO2/MgO (S/M) in the ore is one of the critical parameters that determines the success of the RKEF process. Incompatible S/M ratios in the ore can cause aggressive chemical interaction between the slag and MgO refractory. The slag-refractory interaction at conditions relevant to nickel laterite ore smelting was investigated in the present study. Synthetic mixtures representing the slag compositions of nickel laterite ore smelting were prepared by mixing MgO, SiO2, Al2O3, CaO, Fe2O3, and Fe and heating the mixtures in steel containers at 1300°C under an argon atmosphere for 3 hrs. Pure MgO crucible were used as containment material in the melting process of the mixtures to represent the MgO refractory. The kinetics of the slagrefractory reaction were investigated using samples with selected initial S/M ratios of 2.0 and 3.0 (wt/wt) (with constant CaO = 3 wt per cent, Al2O3 = 5 wt per cent, FeO = 10 wt per cent) by performing melting at 1500°C in MgO crucibles for 5, 30, and 120 mins under an argon atmosphere. The effect of the S/M ratio in slag on the slag-refractory interaction was also investigated by performing melting of mixtures with different initial S/M ratios of 1.75, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 (wt/wt) in MgO crucibles at 1500°C for 120 mins under an argon atmosphere. After the melting process, each sample was quenched in water, mounted in resin, ground, polished, and coated. The interaction between the slags and MgO refractory was then evaluated by analysing the polished samples using a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Thermodynamic simulations using FactSage™ 8.0 thermochemical software were performed based on the experimental slag compositions, refractory, and conditions to support the evaluation process. The results show that a higher S/M ratio in slag leads to a higher tendency for the refractory component to dissolve into the slag. A higher S/M ratio in slag also leads to an increasing extent of solid-state diffusion of iron oxide into the remaining refractory grains. The dissolution of MgO into the slag is rapid; the MgO concentration in the final slag increased by 2.4 wt per cent and 5.7 wt per cent at initial S/M ratios of 2.0 and 3.0 wt/wt, respectively, within 5 and 30 mins of the melting process.

Aug 21, 2024

By B Beamish

The concept of a ‘critical velocity zone’ in the longwall goaf environment for the development of a spontaneous combustion event has been supported by numerical modelling. However, there is no experimental data available for Australian coals to show ventilation effects on the self-heating incubation behaviour of broken coal in the longwall goaf. A preliminary study using incubation testing has been completed on three high volatile bituminous coals (A, B and C) with R70 self-heating rate values of 3.86°C/h, 3.15°C/h and 2.09°C/h and moisture contents of 11.3 per cent, 3.9 per cent and 4.7 per cent, respectively. Mass to flow rates used in the adiabatic oven reaction vessel have been selected to be indicative of a sluggish, natural air leakage and medium ventilation environment. Under a sluggish ventilation flow rate all three coals incubate to thermal runaway in minimum time frames of 2.8–3.1 years, 34–42 days and 79–95 days, respectively. When the ventilation flow rate is increased to natural air leakage, coal A with the highest R70 value and highest moisture content selfheats to 28°C above mine ambient temperature before heat loss takes over due to moisture evaporation. However, both Coals B and C at this flow rate incubate to thermal runaway in a shorter time frame than under sluggish flow. At the medium ventilation flow rate, only Coal B incubates to thermal runaway, albeit after a significant extended period of time. These results show how important it is to determine the heat balance between the coal intrinsic reactivity (as indicated by the R70 value) and moisture content. The results also have implications for the possible location of the ‘critical velocity zone’ and subsequent hotspot development and migration.

Oct 12, 2022

By N Guresin, A Cooper, L Lorenzen, H Muller, S C. Dominy

Sampling and metallurgical test work during various phases of engineering?studies?is of?paramount importance for a robust processing plant design. When developing a process flow sheet, risks in achieving desirable financial outcomes are minimised by ensuring appropriate sampling and adequate metallurgical test work supports the engineering and cost estimation at each phase of project development.The quality and type of samples used for metallurgical test work are just as important as the metallurgical test work itself. The key characteristic required of any sample is that it represents some defined portion of a mineral deposit. Representivity should take into account the spatial orientation, lithology, alteration, degree of oxidation, mineralogy and competency of the ore such as hardness and abrasiveness. Statistically representative sampling procedures and an appropriate metallurgical test work program should be designed to bring metallurgical understanding up to feasibility study standard and to give a basis for process plant design.Snowden has observed that the quality of sampling and quantity of metallurgical test work carried out during the various phases of engineering studies are often insufficient to truly support a robust plant design. Some designs are often the result of the plant design based on benchmarks of apparently similar orebodies or buoyant metal prices supporting cash flows until rectifications can be implemented.The paper will discuss important aspects of sampling and test work required for engineering studies in designing process plants based on industrial case studies.CITATION:Guresin, N, Lorenzen, L, Dominy, S C, Muller, H and Cooper, A, 2012. Importance of effective sampling and test work protocols for process plant design, in Proceedings Sampling 2012 , pp 95-108 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 21, 2012

THE following paragraphs represent an endeavour to describe, briefly the equipment used for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and superphosphates by the Corporation.SULPHURIC ACID PLANTS.Two separate units are in operation, No. I Plant working on sulphur dioxide generated from pyritic ore, No. 2 Plant working on sulphurous gases obtained from the Huntingdon-Heberlein desulphurizing process. The latter plant is unique in being the first installation for the successful use of these gases.

Jan 1, 1918

Government established and financed the NZ Steel Investigating Co in 1960. Its investigations showed that a steel industry was feasible and desirable based uponNorth Island titanomagnetite ironsands, and charted a route for its establishment. The initial processing used post-1945 preheating and prereduction developments, but later innovative improvements created what was essentially a new New Zealand technology. Of the North Island titanomagnetite deposits: the small ones at Waipipi were best made available for export; those at Kawhia and Taharoa were too remote for the economic siting of a mill; that at Raglan proved too small; while at Waikato North Head three times the requirement of 50 million tons of concentrate were located in two sand areas averaging 18 per cent titanomagnetite. Economic studies showed that a South Auckland site would be ideal, close to New Zealand's biggest market. The mill site, on a basalt flow at Glenbrook, was located by a half-day's fieldwork - near both the Waikato North Head deposit, and a railhead for bringing in Waikato coal, etc, and taking out steel products.   This development was one of several since World War II which altered significantly the lives and homes of New Zealanders (others were natural gas, oil, geothermal power, epithermal gold, aluminium, opencastable lignite, etc). All had the essential ingredients of the highest government backing, direct or indirect government finance, and first-class New Zealand scientific and engineering skills (eg to create new technologies). Not one such project failed.

Jan 1, 1993

The value of Australia's education services exports increased to over $15 billion dollars in 2009, placing education as the third overall export earner behind coal and iron ore; however there are concerns over the impact of emerging policies on the future of both the industry and the provision of mining education. Policies have impacts on the growing number of international rankings (or league tables) of mining jurisdictions and universities. A high position in such rankings might be used as a measure of perceived quality with benefit to those at the top and to the detriment to those lower down.    Top performing companies in the relatively new domain of sustainability have been shown to achieve better financial performance than their industry competitors, assisting them in attracting top quality committed staff, hence positioning themselves well for the future. The world's mining companies, jurisdictions and universities are now ranked with results in the public domain. It is argued as to the validity of the data or perceptions used in such rankings, but there is no doubt they are influential in determining the flow of dollars around the globe. By investing your pension fund assets in the shares of the top performing companies, by placing your exploration dollars in a country at the top of such a list of attractive jurisdictions, attending or recruiting from a University at the top of the rankings - risk must surely be reduced?   While savings and risk reduction can undoubtedly result from the introduction of new technologies developed through appropriate R&D (the other core activity of a university), the maintenance of a very high level of exploration and production performance through dedicated highly skilled staff every hour of every day quietly improves financial performance, while avoiding safety, environmental and/or community incidents (ie protects the 'triple bottom line'). As always risk reduction comes down to enabling quality people to do a quality job - through the actions of such people we can sustain the global mining industry and secure our social license to operate. However, there is global concern over where the numbers of such people, including those with the recently required skills in sustainability, are going to come from.   This presentation will discuss some of the complexity and interactions involved in the development of such rankings, the dangers inherent in their simple acceptance and use, plus indicate some of the directions mining educators might take to sustain and increase the supply of quality graduates to the global mining industry. This is an ABSTRACT ONLY. No paper was prepared for this presentation.

Jun 1, 2010

The theme of my address to your Institute, indeed its name, is "The Mineral Industry - What Next?" Knowing that I was required to make four appearances, and not wanting to be too repetitious, I wrote a rather long speech of which I will deliver various sections at different places, with a common introduction. Specific areas I have addressed are "Exploration", "New sources of minerals and energy", and "Mining and metallurgy of the future".

Jan 1, 1984

By J J. Cilliers, K Hadler

The potential of air rate profiling to significantly improve the flotation performance of a bank of cells has been shown by numerous studies. To date many profiles have been evaluated; balanced, increasing, decreasing and combinations of these. An increasing air rate profile, where the air rates are increased proportionally to each cell down the bank, has been typically found to yield improved flotation performance compared to other profiles. Air rate profiling has two distinct components; determining the correct total air rate for the bank, and determining the correct distribution of that air. This can be done simultaneously by finding the optimal air rate to each cell in the bank in turn through air recovery optimisation. Air recovery is the fraction of the inlet air which overflows the weir of a cell as unburst bubbles. The peak in air recovery (PAR) is a robust measurement of optimal performance for the operating conditions in the cell, and sets the PAR air rate. In this study, plant trials of different air rate profiles and profiling based on PAR, were evaluated. The total air rates to the bank for all profiles tested were approximately equal, allowing direct comparison. The highest cumulative mineral recovery was achieved by operating at the PAR air rates for each cell down the bank. Different distributions of the same total air rate to the bank gave the same cumulative upgrade ratio, but lower cumulative recoveries. In this work the upgrade ratio is defined as the ratio of the concentrate grade to the feed grade. The increase in cumulative mineral recovery, at the same upgrade ratio, in this study was greater than 33 per cent. Air recovery based optimisation of air rates to banks of cells significantly improves flotation performance as it simultaneously determines the optimal air rate to the bank, and the optimal distribution of that air.

Jan 1, 2009

By Best R. J, Poulos H. G

The method for design of primary roof support for the large todoidal cavern constructed to house the Sydney Opera House parking station is presented. The cavern was constructed with 5 m of rock cover beneath Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens. Design of rock reinfonnent using a combination of fully grouted rock dowels and Macalloy bars was based on control of horizontal shear movement along bedding features in the roof. A combination of linear arch type analyses and non-linear jointed finite element analyses were used in the design study together with an analysis of the shear resistance offered by fully grouted bolts under shear deformation.

Jan 1, 1993

By S Warden, T Neville, P Leckie

At its simplest, the classification and characterisation of an orebody is a matter of Where, What and When. Where and with what spatial resolution are measurements taken, What properties are measured, and When are the data acquired, processed, and delivered to create the most value. This paper delves into how existing and near-term advances in measurement technologies, field automation, and whole-system-digitisation are combining to open new routes for mine and exploration productivity improvement. Commencing when the initial exploration hole is dug, the advancement in deployment of survey technology—from expert-operated, to driller-operated, to driller-integrated—is used to demonstrate a template for adoption of higher technology measurements. We then introduce and discuss the multi-use measurement as offering outsized returns from a single measurement run, highlighting two new technologies that acquire rock strength while drilling and downhole assay data as examples. For rock strength, we highlight a novel approach to determining Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) while drilling, its relationship to and advantages over Mechanical Specific Energy (MSE), and how it offers utility to multiple downstream processes. For downhole assay, we detail how a back-tophysics approach to Pulsed Fast and Thermal Neutron Activation (PFTNA) analysis offers significant advantages over other measurement methods and earlier implementations of PFTNA, generating a rich data set that can significantly extend and improve the information on which mining decisions are made. Finally, we discuss the possibilities enabled via optimising data delivery, collection, and curation— noting a fundamental limitation of historical systems and exploring the possibilities that will be unlocked by soon-to-market solutions that better enable Orebody Characterisation data to (virtually) move in space and time with rock material post-blasting. Ultimately, the value of optimising the Where, What, and When from point of measurement to the moment it generates maximum value will create greater life-of-asset production for a lower cost and energy input.

Sep 1, 2024

Once and for all, the debate on the exponent in Gy's formula is pushed to its limit. It is explained why an exponent of 2.5, obtained when using a square root of nominal size d to adapt the value of a calculated liberation factor to a different comminution size, will rarely be encountered in practice, if no arbitrary decisions are made.

Mar 1, 2010

The process of electrostatic separation was developed in the late 19th century, but did not make much headway for about 25 years. High dc voltages, of the order of 20 kilovolts, are involved, and the only means of obtaining such voltages at that time were by the use of frictional machines, such as the Wimshurst. These were not reliable, for two reasons:-a. If a spark discharge occurred it took an appreciable time before a steady voltage was again attained.b. In damp weather the machines were almost useless.In the first 20 years of the 20th century the advent of mechanical and vacuum-tube rectifiers led to promising developments of 'the process. In the early 1920's flotation became widely used commercially, and proved to be more reliable, and capable of wider application, than electrostatic separation. During the last 15 years or so, with a better knowledge of the fundamentals forming the basis of the process, electrostatic separation is beginning to compete with flotation, especially in the treatment of smallsizedgranular material, such as beach sands. Electrostatic separation can be, and is, widely used in many cases where flotation is impossible, such as in the cleaning of food products which must be kept dry.

Jan 1, 1950

By J Rutter, D La Rosa, P Walters, M Scott, L Keeney

Bulk ore sorting technologies, whether surfaced based or penetrative, have seen an increased uptake by the mining industry for preconcentration application. As with all technologies, going through the technology validation process is key to de-risking the operationalisation of the technologies and to demonstrate and confirm predicted value propositions. The ability to laboratory calibrate cross-belt bulk sensors is standard practise for sensor vendors, however transitioning the technology from laboratory to real-world application is a non-trivial process. The industry has taken two main approaches to trialling and validating bulk sensing technologies in operational environments, namely:  Construct an off-line pilot facility at scale, or  Install bulk sensing systems on production conveyors Each of these two approaches have significant advantages and disadvantages and require different experimental design programs and analysis methodologies. Consideration of material movement, heterogeneity degradation, logistical requirements, and financial investment all factor into which approach is most suitable for an evaluation scenario. CRC ORE in partnership with mining companies, have conducted several bulk sensor pilot trials utilising different sensor technologies employing each of the two main approaches outlined above. This paper describes the challenges faced, learnings obtained and outlines a position on how to transition bulk sensing technologies from the laboratory into the operating environment. The case studies presented cover a range of commodity types in both open pit and underground operations.

Nov 10, 2020