Search Documents

Sulphide Corporation Pty. Limited operates a Lead/Zinc Smelter at Cockle Creek, some 11 miles from Newcastle, N. S. W . Works effluents totalling some 8, 500, 000 gallons/day join Cockle Creek some 1. 8 miles from its mouth in the most northerly section of Lake Macquarie, The Creek is also the source of the Works cooling water intake of which approximates 8, 000, 000 g.p. d. In view of the wide use of the Lake for recreational activities by the people of Newcastle and the surrounding areas, particular care must be taken to ensure that the control of effluent quality is of a high order. This paper outlines the philosophy and measures taken for the treatment and control of plant effluents discharging into Cockle Creek.

Jan 1, 1971

Efficient project planning during the detailed feasibility to final engineering stages of a project requires not only the accurate prediction of the grade, tonnes and recovery, but their degree of variability as well. An understanding of the major parameters involved in the grade and tonnage estimates is essential, and the communication to those receiving the results is most important. The personnel involved in the project require more than just a global reserves classification. Quality parameters other than grade should be evaluated as carefully as the estimate itself. This paper does not present any novel ideas to overcome or enhance any of this. Rather, it takes a step back and tries to look at the global picture of requirements for proper project planning.

Jan 1, 1987

By Yang RL, Bailey ML

During overburden blasting operations in dragline pits, coal edge losses along the lowwall edge of the new pit are often experienced. In tonnage terms, losses can be significant. With the thick seams at Callide Mine, 20,000 tonnes of coal can be lost along a 600 metre pit. In addition to the immediate dollar value of the coal, replacement of this coal (from which overburden has been removed) will be from higher ratio and higher cost pits in the future. Unit costs of production for the remainder of the coal uncovered in the current pit increase. Experiments involving variation of blasthole inclination and/or amount of standoff on the front row of blastholes have given no significant improvement in the coal edge loss control.

Jan 1, 1988

By McGill RA

The Ranger Uranium Mine is surrounded by a World Heritage National Park. The strict environmental controls under which the mine operates are based on scientific and social requirements. Release of non-process storm runoff water to the Magela Creek during flood discharge and under controlled conditions has been identified as Best Practicable Technology for the operation of the water management system. Social and political factors have limited this release to a wet season with an Annual Exceedance Probability of one in ten. The first-generation trigger mechanism was based on a percentile analysis of monthly rainfall. The second-generation trigger is based on cumulative monthly volume increase in the retention ponds and is considered to be more applicable to the operation of the mine water management system.

Jan 1, 1988

By Spencer GA, Saul SJ

The flight line spacing in low level aeromagnetic surveys is the principal factor governing both the cost and the amount of geological detail which can be extracted from the data. The rate at which geological resolution diminishes with wider line spacing is illustrated by progressive subsampling of a 200 m spaced data set from the Charters Towers region in Queensland.The usefulness of high frequency type filters in enhancing shallow structural features is seen to be limited to the 200 m data.It is concluded that each data set is suited to a particular scale and style of geological investigation with only the 200 m data having sufficient detail to identify the subtle structural patterns which are crucial to mineral exploration.

Jan 1, 1976

By E Lounejeva, J A Halpin, A Chappaz, D D. Gregory, S Wu, T Lyons, P J. Sack, R R. Large, S W. Bull

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. Newly published models suggest that some orogenic and Carlin-style gold deposits formed by the remobilisation of trace elements during interaction with hydrothermal or metamorphic fluids from early sedimentary pyrite that was enriched in Au, As and Te. The released trace elements are transported by the fluids to favourable trap sites where they are deposited. Therefore, early enrichment of Au, As and Te in source rocks (particularly in pyritic black shale) can be crucial to the formation of orogenic and Carlin-style gold deposits.The most important cause of the enrichment of gold and other trace elements in the sedimentary basins has been examined in this study to determine which basins are the most prospective for the development of orogenic gold deposits. An important influence for Au and other associated trace element accumulation in sedimentary pyrite is the temporal variation of trace element content in the oceans, as revealed by a database of over 1400 analyses of pyrite from black shale through geologic time. It is inferred that sediments coeval with those where sedimentary pyrite is enriched in Au and associated trace elements are more likely to be source rocks of orogenic and Carlin-style gold deposits.Factor analysis of the trace element content of pyrite through geologic time was conducted to investigate the multivariate relationships amongst trace elements and how these chemical factors explain the uptake of trace elements. One important factor includes Te, Au, Pb and Bi content. The incorporation of these large cations into pyrite is enhanced by As3+ substituting for Fe in pyrite lattice. The As3+ ion occurs in relatively oxidised environments and, thus, it is expected that shales deposited in non-euxinic waters are better source rocks for orogenic gold deposits.The examination of both the time in which the sediments were deposited and the redox conditions of the basin, and the ocean more broadly, can be used as a guide to approximate the extent of a basin’s fertility. To illustrate the use of this exploration tool, examples from the unmineralised Jet Rock Formation (UK) and the mineralised Castlemaine Group (Bendigo, Australia) are presented in this paper.CITATION:Gregory, D D, Large, R R, Halpin, J A, Lounejeva, E, Wu, S, Bull, S W, Sack, P J, Lyons, T and Chappaz, A, 2015. Accumulation of trace elements into black shale – how to identify a viable source rock for orogenic and Carlin-style gold deposits , in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 59–64 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

By Halvorsen N

For mining medium-hard materials on the surface, "Continuous Surface Miners" have been employed for some years. The latest generation surface miner extends the performance of this type of machine to the point where the same cost efficiencies can now be achieved in medium-hard materials as has been achieved in softer materials by machines such as the bucket wheel excavator. The paper explains briefly the technology of the Krupp Surface Miner (recently released to the market) and develops the costs of ownership and typical operating costs. Comparisons are made between a shoveLtruck system and Krupp Surface Miner (KSM) systems based on both truck and conveyor transport systems. Further benefits of mining with the KSM, such as environmental, selective mining and improved product reovery are discussed briefly. The equipment is now available to mine semi-hard materials (with compressive strengths up to 60MPa) on a continuous basis and reap the benefits which continuous systems can deliver. All new and existing open cut mines should review their costs with regard to this technology.

Jan 1, 1990

As Pliny commented two millennia ago, The only certainty is that nothing is certain. Despite the many breakthroughs, advances and promises, the way we each live and work remains awash with technological, economic and political uncertainty. The resources sector is no exception in this regard. Mining itself is much more than a complicated process or recipe; it is a complex adaptive system. The way we adopt and adapt new technologies, the way we evolve data into corporate wisdom, the way we make decisions and even the way we view our concept of rationality should each be the subject of intense review. Translating these sentiments into sustainable company growth is indeed the challenge. This is unlikely to be achieved within convention, but through innovation. The game is changing!

May 1, 2010

By K Nilsson, D Connelly

Troy Resources acquired the Karouni Gold Project in Guyana, South America in 2014 and immediately proceeded to a Pre-Feasibility Study and project implementation. The study considered two open pit mines feeding a conventional carbon in leach (CIL) gold plant with a capacity of 1Mtpa. The study assumed a total of 2.61 million tonnes of ore with an average grade of 3.84 g/t gold with a recovered gold production of 303,526 ounces over a three year mine life.The project development involved drilling metallurgical test holes, securing second-hand major pieces of equipment where suitable, and arranging shipping to Guyana. The remote location meant logistical considerations were paramount. The plant consists of conventional two-stage crushing with single stage ball milling and a gravity circuit. The tailings circuit includes DETOX.The extremely high rainfall presented challenges with water management and the necessity to dispose of clean water to the environment. The DETOX was also mandatory due to the highly sensitive environment and past history in the area. The criticality of this meant that in the design, any cyanide in the tailings would precipitate in a plant shutdown.Lessons were learned and the project has been both profitable and successful for Troy Resources in a new operating location. In addition, the project has created jobs, delivered royalties and brought new skills into an area where previously there was little current mining activity.CITATION:Nilsson, K and Connelly, D, 2015. Karouni Gold Project from drill core to commissioning, in Proceedings MetPlant 2015, pp 197–206 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 7, 2015

Following a summary of aerodynamic principles and the changes imposed by the process, areas important to the operator are then enumerated. These include furnace lines, cooling and casting technology, coke properties, gas distribution and others. Questions are raised on the implication of lowering the hearth substantially below the tuyeres and about the status of stack injection. Finally, the future developments are identified as being those associated with gas volumes required to pass through the furnace stack per unit time or per tonne of product.

Jan 1, 1975

The accuracy with which block values are known can have a fundamental effect on the success of an operation.From a geostatistical study the variance of the error in extending sample values to block values can be determined and the engineer must ensure that this is sufficiently small by adjusting the size of blocks or moreintensive sampling. A study is given for a deposit showing a high degree of anisotropy and it is shown that the shape of the block is not important in determining the estimates.

Jan 1, 1976

By D Ziaja, W Jaspers

A brief history of the development of pneumatic flotation cells from early in the 20th century to the present day and a comparison to conventional cells demonstrates the efficiency and simplicity of design and operation of the ænew generationÆ of pneumatic cells. Recent successful testwork on phosphate minerals in the USA and a variety of coal types in Australia confirm the utility and efficiency of the design. The key aspects of this technology are improved recovery and selectivity with lower capital expenditure and operating costs.

Jan 1, 2005

The kinetics of desorption of nitrogen from molten iron were investigated using the electromagnetic levitation technique. The respective influences of gas flow rate and surface active element (S) were examined. A second order behaviour with respect to the nitrogen concentration in the melt prevailed at all experimental conditions. Sulphur had a marked inhibiting effect on the desorption rate. The experimental results on the rates of nitrogen desorption have been interpreted with the aid of a reaction mechanism consisting of a sequence of elementary steps.

Jan 1, 1991

By Zhou A, Cadogan J. M

Direct reduction of iron ore (DR) is one of the promising technology emerging in the world's steel industry. Kinetics and Mossbauer studies of DR with hydrogen have been carried out at two temperatures of 600¦C and 800¦C in this investigation. The results show that different controlling steps govern the reduction rate at different temperatures. The mechanism was also found to vary during the reduction. The Mossbauer spectra of the samples reduced in various time intervals were studied to determine the phase changes during reduction.

Jan 1, 1997

By A R. Bye

The mining industry is facing some key challenges that provide a compelling case for geometallurgy initiatives. Over the last 30 years, the average grade of Australian orebodies being mined has halved while the waste removed to access the minerals has more than doubled. In the last eight years, the industry’s energy consumption has increased 70 per cent while multi-factored productivity has fallen 24 per cent. The paper documents a broad range of industry case studies which demonstrate strategies for gaining value from geometallurgy.The mining industry constantly faces the key questions of how significant ore variability is on mine valuation and how would knowledge of the variability change the mining schedule, mine to mill design and operation. Using case studies the paper describes the methods used for incorporating mineral extraction attributes into orebody models and their technical integration into daily operation as well as mine planning optimisation. While pit optimisation from a fully attributed geometallurgical model highlights areas of opportunity and risk it is shown that during the scheduling phase of mine planning that significant value can be added. The benefits from these projects included reducing geotechnical and environmental risk, improving mine to mill performance, option analysis and quantified cash flow risk. There is growing acceptance within the minerals industry that ‘realistically assumed modifying factors’ defined by a competent person/s are not sufficient to mitigate the risk of funding mining ventures. Geometallurgy is moving away from factored ore reserves to data-rich block models providing reliable information for mining, metallurgical and environmental considerations.

Sep 5, 2011

By P R. Lock

The Silver Swan nickel mine is located at the Black Swan Nickel Project, 53 km north east of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The Silver Swan orebody is a massive sulphide nickel deposit dipping 70¦ east with an average in situ grade of 14 per cent. Mining of the massive orebody is by Mechanised Ramp Cut and Fill (MRCF). A mining recovery of 98 per cent and minimising dilution are primary goals in extracting the high-grade ore. Placing a distinguishable marker bed (working platform) on rock fill was identified as a key method to achieving these goals. Gravel from a pit located onsite was considered the most suitable material for the marker beds. Research undertaken to design the marker beds using the gravel revealed conventional methods used in mining would not suffice, but that road stabilisation methods could be a viable alternative. Trials used a road recycler to mix cement and gravel in situ and several test beds were constructed on the surface to determine the final design. The trials attempted to replicate a marker bedÆs life cycle of construction and placement and mucking of ore from the marker bed. Testing the marker bed for strength for use as a working platform was completed using a Clegg Hammer; good correlation to a Clegg Impact Value and the compressive strength of the stabilised gravel was found. This paper describes the use of a road stabilisation machine, tests conducted, monitoring and marker bed design and discusses underground placement of the marker bed and its performance.

Jan 1, 1998

By R Justa Cámara, L M. Pinillos Lorenzana

Barcelona Metro Line 9 (Line 9) is an essential infrastructure, improving the transversal transport in Barcelona by connecting the greater part of the currently existing radial lines. The purpose of Line 9 is to create a peripheral line surrounding the city of 1.6 million people (metropolitan area exceeds five million), and includes 52 stations, of which a total of 32 are deep shafts and 19 transfer stations in a densely populated area with several geographical constraints.The tunnel has an inner diameter of 10.90 m, bored with an earth pressure balance (EPB) tunnel boring machine (TBM) in soil sections with precast concrete lining type universal ring and segments 40 cm thick.A single tunnel solution was adopted, driven by functionality and costs savings. The internal tunnel section is divided into two levels to allow for one way rail transit including the platforms in each station on each level in order to optimise the space created by the TBM excavation and comply with the operational needs. The division in two areas of the tunnel was carried out through the construction of a horizontal slab resting on the tunnel segments with a constant thickness of 40 cm at the central part of the slab and supporting side walls.CITATION:Justa Cámara, R and Pinillos Lorenzana, L M, 2014. Two transit levels in one tunnel tube – an innovation in Barcelona Metro Line 9, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 387–398 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

The mining industry has expanded significantly in the Pacific Region over the past two decades through a mix of new developments and brownfields expansions of existing operations. Despite this overall success there are also a number of well publicised examples of less than successful minerals ventures. These problem developments highlight the fact that success cannot be taken for granted and that rigorous planning and attention to detail is essential. The dominant growth has come through expansion of existing businesses, notably alumina, iron ore and coal, achieved through both efficiency gains on existing plant and step change capacity additions such as new mines and/or expanded processing plant. This expansion has largely been linked to increased market opportunities. The major issues are the quality and extent of the host resource, achieving the market targets, and the efficiency of the expansion effort. There can be also a range of site specific issues which need to be addressed. The development of new greenfields operations is often more complex as it can bring a wide range of new issues. Depending on the nature of the development, and the companies involved, these can extend from initial financing through to obtaining a market position. Incorporating major new technology and/or establishing infrastructure and attracting staff to remote locations can also add significant challenges. This paper outlines many of the critical factors which need to be considered prior to proceeding with major expansions or greenfields developments. These will be linked to a number of developments in the region over the past decade.

Jan 1, 2004

By B P. Wrench, M J. Gowan, P J. Chapman

Embankment dams constructed mainly of sand or non-plastic fine soils are susceptible to liquefaction, particularly in high-rainfall, high-seismicity environments where there is sufficient water to saturate the materials and sufficient energy from an earthquake to cause liquefaction. This paper shows the process adopted to review the stability of an existing cross-valley, centreline-raised cyclone tailings sand embankment dam.The study showed that two-dimensional stability analyses did not sufficiently capture the potential for instability, overestimating the depth of the critical failure surface. Instead, three-dimensional modelling was required to provide a reasonable representation. Post-liquefaction stability analyses carried out using the three-dimensional model indicated an adequate factor of safety (FoS). The FoS under seismic conditions was still considered to be a concern based on pseudostatic analyses (but noting the limitations of the analysis method).Earthquake-induced settlements were estimated using an empirical approach based on case history records (Swaisgood, 2003). The post-earthquake event settlement was estimated to be in the order of 600 mm, which is considered to be acceptable for the embankment, taking account of the proposed long-term freeboard of more than 8 m under operating conditions and 2 m under the probable maximum flood condition.CITATION:Chapman, P J, Wrench, B P and Gowan, M J, 2015. Review of static and seismic stability of a cross-valley sand tailings embankment in a high-rainfall, high-seismicity setting, in Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century , pp 163–172 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 27, 2015

By C Chen, T Kan

The distribution ratio of Pb (LPb s/m) between three types of slags (FeOx–SiO2, CaO–FeOx and FeOx– CaO–SiO2) and molten copper after equilibrium was measured at 1300°C and oxygen partial pressure (pO2) of 10-10–10-6 atm. Results showed that for FeOx–SiO2 slag, the LPb s/m increased from 0.024 to 2.57 with pO2 increased from 10-10 to 10-6 atm. The LPb s/m with CaO–FeOx slag was lower than the FeOx–SiO2 slag at the same pO2, ranging between 0.015 and 0.53. Using the FeOx–CaO– SiO2 slag generated LPb s/m values (0.02–1.6) in between. The oxygen partial pressure in the investigated range had no obvious effect on the activity coefficient of PbO (γPbO) which was averagely 0.44, 1.70 and 0.71 for FeOx–SiO2, CaO–FeOx and FeOx–CaO–SiO2 slags, respectively. The increases in the (CaO+MgO)/SiO2 mass ratio of the FeOx–CaO–SiO2 slag induced the decrease in the LPb s/m and the increase in the γPbO value. However, the variation in the Fe/SiO2 mass ratio didn’t exert obvious effects.

Jun 19, 2024