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Although this is a symposium on "The Occurrence, Preparation and Use of Australian Black Coal", I do not think that, in these days, any of the main energy resources can be considered only in terms of country of origin or only by itself in isolation from other energy resources. Accordingly, I propose to comment on solid fuels generally in the world energy scene, and make some brief references to Australian solid fuels, and to some other matters in the latter part of this paper. In this address I am drawing heavily on the 1974 survey of energy resources published just recently by the World Energy Conference. I do this for a number of reasons. Firstly, the survey is the latest and most comprehensive publication of its kind; secondly, it is the result of several years' work by a panel of eminent people, from all the energy industries and from some 16 widely spread countries; thirdly, substantial assistance was given by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in its compilation; and, finally, to let all know of the existence of the book, as I believe it to be a source document for all those interested in world energy resources. The United Nations "J" series of statistical papers provide important information on the annual production and consumption of and trade in the various forms of energy. In their respective areas, these two publications are primary information sources. Our present sources of energy throughout the world are fossil fuel deposits (coal, oil, gas), nuclear materials, water, geothermal, solar and tidal - but we are at present heavily dependent upon the natural stores of non-renewable fossil energy resources. Fig. 1 shows the changing use of energy resources in the present century. A comparison between 1900 and 1973 shows clearly the shift which has taken place.

Jan 1, 1975

Although cyclones have been around in their current form since the early-1890s, there have been some exciting new developments, which have extended their efficiency/operation. These developments have taken place with both dense medium and classification cyclones. The more noteworthy developments are:Inlet designInlet design is the determining factor in classification cyclone capacity and efficiency. The recently developed ribbon inlet with patented pressure bulge has not only resulted in unbelievable increases in capacity, but also in efficiency. Sharpness of separation corresponding to an alpha value of greater than four has been achieved! Secondary offtakeOne of the factors leading to reduced cyclone efficiency is the presence of coarse particles in the cyclone overflow. The secondary offtake has been developed specifically to scavenge these particles from the cyclone overflow with great success. Water injectorThe other major factor resulting in reduced cyclone efficiency is the presence of misplaced fine particles in the cyclone underflow. The water injector, which has been around for many years in various forms, can reduce this short circuit fraction by up to 50 per cent. 3-in-1 cycloneThe 3-in-1 cyclone combines the inlet design, secondary off take and water injector into a single unit resulting in the most efficient classification cyclone available in the market. The RejectorTMIron ore has a high yield to underflow and traditional dense medium cyclones have always been spigot constrained. The Rejector TM is an exciting new development whereby the spigot capacity has been increased substantially. The application of the Rejector TM will result in fewer/smaller cyclones being required for a given duty resulting in efficiency gains and reductions in both operating and maintenance costs.

Jan 1, 2002

The Pacific Rim countries ofAustralia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Fiji, Philippines and Solomon Islands will be reviewed from an equity investors perspective.   The following areas will be covered: Country risks Exploration spending and activity Project development Taxation Relative cost of doing business Environmental considerations Political/bureaucratic situations Capital raising Equity markets as a source of funds Developing market funds The aim of the paper will be to outline the most attractive areas for investment by equity and private funds plus documenting the changes needed in the less favourable countries if they are to attract investors.

Jan 1, 1995

The paper gives details of the performance of a 6-ft. by 6-ft. grate discharge ball mill which was converted into a rod mill of the overflow type and then into a grate discharge rod mill. Proposals for further alterations are outlined.INTRODUCTIONThe mill of King Island Scheelite (1947) Limited recovers scheelite by gravity methods.Crushed ore at the rate of 34 tons per hour is divided between two mills. (6 ft. by 6 ft. and 8 ft. by 6 ft. respectively), the mill discharges being pumped to a common distributor which feeds seven Hummer Screens. Each screen has three 4-ft. by 2-ft. Ton-cap sections and repulping compartments are provided. The screen oversize is returned to the mills whilst the screen undersize is finished grinding section product. A third (6 ft. by 6 ft.) mill regrinding the coarser table tailings also discharges into the common Hummer Screen Distributor.The screen undersize is pumped to a bowl classifier which separates at 200 mesh. The bowl classifier sands are treated on tables whilst the bowl classifier overflow, after thickening, is treated in the slime plant by flotation. The flotation concentrate is further concentrated on vanners and slime tables.A recovery of 80 per cent. is possible by tabling whereas only 50 per cent can be recovered in the slime section. The object of comminution is, therefore, to reduce all the new feed to less than a certain mesh (22 mesh Tyler) with the production of a minimum quantity of minus 200 mesh material. cheelite is, a very friable heavy mineral (Sp.Gr. 6'0) and is therefore susceptible to overgrinding. For the evaluation of grinding performance it is hence advisable...

Jan 1, 1955

During the past eight years a vigorous drilling campaign resulted in large increases in the reserves of both copper and silver-lead-zinc ores.As a result the Company initiated an increased production programme.Some major capital works have been completed, others are in progress and more are needed to achieve the proposed daily throughput of 14,400 tons. The increased ore potential justified a copper refinery which has been constructed at Townsville. The increased production rate achieved to date, combined with improved techniques and greater mechanization, is assisting the Company to combat the general inflationary trends caused by increased costs for labour and materials.INTRODUCTION"Today we are armed with better weapons in our fight for lowered costs and greater efficiency, but we must not flag in our efforts to improve." Such was the resolution expressed by Mr. K. B. Gross, then General Manager of the Company, in his review lecture delivered to the First Ordinary Meeting of The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy at Mount Isa on 18th August, 1952. This present review of the period 1952 to 1960 records our efforts to fulfil this resolution. At the th:ne of Mr. Gross's statement,copper production was commencing in earnest. Although the importance of Mount Isa's copper orebodies was well recognized, the major discoveries which led to Mount Isa's emergence as Australia's premier copper mining and smelting operation were not known. These ore discoveries and their subsequent development are the major factors which warrant a further review of the Company's progress.The increased magnitude of the Company's operations is illustrated on graphs of Tons of Ore Treated (Fig. 1), Metals in Products (Fig. 2), Water Consumption (Fig. 3)...

Jan 1, 1961

Airblast overpressure legislative limits can be extremely difficult to meet throughout Australia, which has by far the most stringent limits of any nation in the world. As the difficulty in meeting the limits is strongly dependent on the scale of mining, it is not surprising that the Australian coal mining industry is experiencing particular difficulties in meeting these limits. Eight full scale overburden blasts have been modelled with respect to overpressure impact for a strip coal mine, involving both dragline (cast) blasting and pre-strip (non-cast) blasting. Overpressure levels in the range 100 to 125 dBL have been measured at distances varying from 2.4 to 5.7 km, and modelling has successfully estimated both the amplitude and shape of overpressure waveforms to within an average of 1.2 dBL. Typical errors of prediction are around 0.6 dBL. This accuracy of prediction has been achieved by considering the impact of only the face holes, and the accuracy of prediction of both shape and amplitude suggests that it is these holes which dominate the environmental overpressure impact at distances in the range two to six kilometres, for cast and pre-strip blasting operations. Modelling has been based upon the Elemental Overpressure Wavelet proposed by Richards and Moore (2002), incorporating actual hole coordinates, actual delay timing, and assumed delay scatter statistics. The incorporation of delay scatter statistics has been particularly significant, and allows the determination of the range over which the peak overpressure levels are expected to vary. To date, modelling has considered only the use of conventional pyrotechnic delays, though simple adjustment to the scatter definition would allow estimation of overpressure levels, and their variability, with electronic delays.

Jan 1, 2004

By Gordon DM

Tyres account for 25-30 per cent of the operating costs of large capacity haul units as used in open-cut mines.Tyre operating costs can be substantially reduced and often contained in real terms by applying knowledge that is now available.This paper describes certain specific advances in tyre management, namely batching, bias adjustment, cumulative plotting and the so-called "pressure-temperature" system of tyre pressure control, originated on the Mt Newman Mining Company's Newman minesite, and discusses the contribution that each has made to improving tyre management and reducing costs.

Jan 1, 1983

Upgrading of Indonesia's Bauxite by Washing Method There were eight bauxite samples used in this research, three samples from Kijang contain total SiO2 18.36 - 29.16 per cent, Al2O3 40.12 - 48.36 per cent, Fe2O3 4.27 - 5.13 per cent, one sample from Tayan, contains total SiO2 4.69 per cent, Al2O3 38.95 per cent, and Fe2O3 19.67 per cent, and four samples from Mempawah contain total SiO2 33.5 - 44.8 per cent, Al2O3 29.8 - 35.9 per cent, Fe2O3 7.29 - 9.88 per cent. All of those bauxite ores have not fulfilled the requirement for Bayer process yet; therefore simple up-grading using a rotary drum scrubber is needed. The scrubbing process was carried out with time variable up to 60 minutes with solid percentage applied was 50 per cent and rotary speed was set up 30 rev/min. The bauxite was washed by following steps: scrubbing, screening, drying, and finally it was analysed to show chemical content. The washed bauxite produced has size fraction that is retained on the 1.7 mm of screen opening. The result of the research shows that the higher alumina content of the raw bauxite, the longer washing time is needed moreover the higher quality of the washed bauxite is produced. The highest alumina content of the washed bauxite was 53.67 per cent with the alumina recovery was 89.66 per cent and the concentration ratio of 84.80 per cent was achieved within 20 minutes of washing time of the raw bauxite (Al2O3 48.36 per cent). The washed bauxite resulted from this research is suitable as a raw material for Bayer process.

Sep 13, 2010

Total quality control in tandem with Japanese style management largely accounts for the high product quality and international competitiveness of growing manufactured exports from Japan. Japanese management is often identified with life-time employment, promotion by seniority, company-based unionism, the process of obtaining the sanction of executives to a plan by circulating the draft prepared by a person in charge of a particular matter, internal consultation, consen- sus-based decision-making, etc., all of which are just formal manifestat- ions of the underlying current of the spirit of cooperation that translates itself into "management through labor- management cooperation".

Jan 1, 1982

By Fry P. R

Dragline operations have played a major and successful role in coal mining around the world for more than 30 years. Because of this long history, many of the operating draglines are reaching an age where maintenance and downtime costs are prohibitive, and decisions need to be made to either replace or refurbish them.In the current economic climate, refurbishment is a popular choice and this usually involves major structural repairs above and below the roller circle, together with replacement of the roller circle components. Often, the dragline tub is also replaced by a completely new one.

Jan 1, 1992

As near surface deposits are increasingly mined out and pit widths beginto exceed the reach of practical direct-casting stripping machines, high haulage costs can make truck-shovel pre-stripping operations uneconomic. This is compounded because the rate of inflation for diesel fuel oil, lubricants, tyres, etc. exceeds the general rate of inflation. The use of conveyor transport systems, long established in terracemining operations in weak materials, e.g. engineering soils, can provide a viable haulage alternative in pre-strip operations and in some open pit settings. The paper describes the engineering requirements and basic economics of such systems.

Jan 1, 1985

In the five years since Great Central Mines Limited (GCM) commenced exploration in the Jundee and Bronzewing areas of Western Australia's Yandal greenstone belt, the Company has been transformed from a junior explorer into Australia's fourth largest gold producer with annual production of approximately 440 000 ounces and mineral resources of seven million ounces of gold.The growth in resources has been driven by a high quality geoscientific approach, supported by a substantial budget for drilling and strong management commitment. In 1997, the Company expects to spend US$30 million on exploration in the Yandal greenstone belt.

Jan 1, 1997

Not so many years ago the reason for an inadequate result from a geophysical survey was insufficient data or poor quality data. In many instances such as gravity, magnetic and radiometric surveys, both these constraints are vanishing or have vanished. High quality sensors, improved data storage, accurate differential GPS and top quality interpretive software now enable the interpreter to understand not just the cause of the anomaly but the host environment in which it resides. Examples of potential field data and also data provided by the more complex electromagnetic systems, from Australia Ghana, West Africa, are used as illustrations.

Jan 1, 1997

Results of investigations on adsorption and desorption of CO M CH and a mixture of the two gases are described.4 Results showed that even when the equilibrium conditions contains 50% Co and 50% CH4, the gas emission in the initia' stages will contain as much as 80% CH . 4 The temperature has a small effect and so also particle size for 1.4-11.2mm. The ratio of CO2/CH gases adsorbed in coal samples depends upon t4he equilibrium pressure and this ratio decreases with pressure. Results of field tests support laboratory studies.

Jan 1, 1988

Prospecting in arid terrain can produce substantial environmental impacts, comparable to or greater in magnitude than the impacts associated with actual mining or petroleum production. Impacts are likely to be particularly severe where prospecting involves intensive geophysical exploration, especially in areas which have escaped degradation by other land uses such as pastoralism. With appropriate environmental planning and management, however, the environmental impacts of prospecting in arid terrain can be greatly reduced and mitigated, at low cost. In many countries, prospecting licences, exploration leases and associated tenements now carry a range of conditions relating to environmental protection. The assessment, avoidance and mitigation of environmental impacts is therefore an important component of and-zone exploration. My aim here is to give an overview of some of the main aspects of an environmental planning and management (EPM) programme for prospecting in arid terrain (PAT). Detailed operational prescriptions for environmental protection procedures are necessarily specific to particular areas and types of prospecting: see. e.g., Buckley (1982a, 1984, 1985a, 1986a), Klepacki et al. (1985) and Stone (1986). The intention here is to provide a checklist rather than a recipe book: as an aid in incorporating environmental aspects into the overall planning and management of an exploration programme, and in liaison with company environmental staff, consultants and regulatory bodies. I also hope to show that whilst some of the techniques used in particular environmental disciplines certainly require specialist expertise, the overall design of an EPM programme is not in the least esoteric, but simply an exercise in straightforward common sense. Perhaps this paper could be subtitled: "Demystifying environmental Planning".

Jan 1, 1988

By Ramsden AR, French DH

The limited contrast range of conventional black and white imaging does not enable full use to be made of the dynamic range of the video signal obtained from a scanning electron microscope or microprobe. The use of false colour substantially increases the information that can be derived from such images enabling relationships to be displayed that cannot be observed in black and white. This capability is now used extensively in combination with quantitative electron microprobe analysis as a research tool for ore characterization and host rocks studies related to minerals exploration in the CSIRO Division of Exploration Geoscience.

Jan 1, 1989

This paper examines the properties of Australian indigenous crude oil and the changes to Australian refinery process- ing required after the Gippsland crude finds in the late '60s. In addition the paper details the dif- ferent crudes available to Australian ref ineries and the relative product yields in relation to Australian crudes. Market demand for petroleum products both now and in the future is then related to the products yields. The paper also examines the impact of the OPEC induced crude price spiral and the subsequent changes in refinery engineering, current and projected market demands, and energy conservation measures both inside and outside the industry.

Jan 1, 1982

A search for the keyword nano reveals that it has not made a significant entry into the mineral processing research literature. In contrast, the terms micelle, colloid, interface, and monolayer are well established there. By considering nanoscience as colloid and interface science at the nanoscale, it is claimed that several previous and current investigations in the broad field of mineral processing fall under the umbrella of nanoscience. Several examples from hydrometallurgical processing systems (invisible gold and activated carbon in gold extraction; monolayers, reverse micelles, and microemulsions in solvent extraction; nanobiofilms and nanoparticles in biohydrometallurgy) are highlighted in support of this view.

Sep 13, 2010

By Ketelaar P. B, Nichols S, Power W. L, Utley D. C

The impact computers are having in geoscience is distinctly mixed. In the petroleum industry where much of the data are based on geophysics, computers have become an integral part of exploration and reservoir evaluation and simulation. In the minerals industry, the trend to computerisation is more advanced in some disciplines than others. Geophysical and remote sensing data are routinely processed and imaged using state of the art computer techniques. Mine surveying, planning, design and resource and ore reserve estimation are now all predominantly reliant on computers. However senior management of many companies, particularly in the mineral exploration industry, are still reticent to fully embrace the technology. 3D computer modelling of geology and orebody delineation is still largely in its infancy. Two current and significant drawbacks to the routine use of computer modelling of geology in both mining and exploration are the tedious and time consuming modelling process and the lack of seamless interaction between 3D computer-aided drafting (CAD) software and geographical information systems (GIS) which are largely 2D in their data treatment. There is an urgent need for a 3D spatial information system (eg 3D GIS) with intelligent and rapid modelling functionality. One of the keys to the successful building of 3D geological computer models begins with data base structure and design to ensure that there is no loss of data fidelity through data capture, storage, manipulation and modelling. Once a model is constructed, the latest generations of visualisation software provide sophisticated environments over a range of hardware platforms for visualisation in both mono and stereo viewing. This is demonstrated by the geological models which are presented in the digital interactive version of this talk whose URL on the World Wide Web is: http://www.ned.dem.csiro.au/FRACTAL/pubs/talk97AUSIMM/

Jan 1, 1997

Coal losses and dilution are among a coal mine operators everyday problems. These losses and unwelcome additions are generated primar- ily by the stripping operation and secondly by the coal mining opera- tion. Losses in yield due to preparation plant efficiency are a separate issue although they may be related to the coal mining operation. The losses and dilution can be traced to the following operations: (A) Overburden or Interburden Removal (1) Removal of coal edge by blasting operations. (2) Removal of top of seam by drilling/blasting. (3) Removal of top of seam by stripping equipment. (4) Removal of coal edges by stripping equipment. (5) Dilution due to stripping equipment. (B) Coal Mining (for the case where seams are ripped rather than shot) (1) Coal rib losses. (2) Coal rib dilution. (3) Coal left in floor. (4) Coal left in fault areas. (5) Floor material picked up whilst loading. (6) Spoil material picked up. (7) Spoil material from poor surface clean up. (8) Top of coal losses from final clean up. (9) Dilution from ripping too deep, i.e. into floor below seam. (10) Dilution from interseam parting. The losses apply to both the single seam and multi seam oper- ations although they are more pronounced in the multi seam mines than in a single seam mine due to the position of the coal which is lost. For example in the multi seam case the top seam coal edge loss is final. There is little chance of recovery with the subsequent pass even if the extra rehandle is done. However conversely the lower seam is relatively easy to locate as it has nowhere to go being contained by the lowwall bench.

Jan 1, 1988