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By P G. Greenhill

The Wonawinta silver project near Cobar in NSW is under development by Cobar Consolidated Resources Limited (CCR). RMDSTEM Limited is part of the owner’s team for feasibility, design, engineering, construction and commissioning.With a 51Moz resource CCR is one of the largest pure silver players in Australia. A probable reserve of 14.3Moz has been defined for a mine life of approximately five years. The silver mineralization is contained in host rock composed of clays and oxidized limestone. The ore also contains on average 1.3% lead as cerussite, and other minerals. A simple circuit consisting of slurrying of the ore, gravity treatment of the coarse fraction to recover lead, silver extraction using CIL, elution and the Merrill Crowe silver recovery process, has been developed.The “value engineering” approach to this development pioneered over the past decade by RMDSTEM has meant that RMDSTEM has delivered the bankable feasibility study at a cost of $0.07 per resource ounce. It is highly cost effective making efficient use of shareholders funds as well as being very time efficient. This paper describes the application of the value engineering approach to the development of the Wonawinta project.

Aug 8, 2011

By C G. Ferguson, S L. Makin

The Cawse nickel project is a new generation pressure acid leach (PAL), solvent extraction and electrowinning process used to produce LME grade nickel metal and cobalt sulphide concentrate containing 40 per cent cobalt by treating nickel and cobalt oxide ores from a lateritic ultramafic profile. The project is located 50 kilometres NW of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. The commercial success of the Cawse nickel operation is dependent in part upon the ability of the principal ore type to be beneficiated. A simple process of rejecting lower grade material on the basis of particle size achieves this. The process is called upgrading and allows subgrade material to become commercial ore grade and also allows higher ore grades to be processed in the early parts of the operation. The success of the upgrade process is dependent upon the physical and chemical properties of the ore being processed and the nickel grade of the ore. The upgrade ore type represents >80 per cent of the Cawse nickel resource and is hosted mostly within a limonite unit, represented by goethitic clays in the upper saprolite zone. In the upgrade processing circuit the ore is crushed and slurried. It is then passed over a series of screens that remove all material over 0.5 mm. This ensures that coarse material is removed from the main ore stream. Upgrade is reliant on selectively rejecting lower grade or barren material, which can include silica, magnesite and relict saprock. To predict leach feedgrade, the grade control estimates the head grade and upgrade percentage for all ore delivered to the run of mine ore pad. To do this reverse circulation (RC) drill holes are logged for ore type, assayed for a range of elements and undergo simulated upgrade testwork. The percentage and grade of material rejected through the upgrade circuit has the most influence on upgrade per cent. This reject is determined by the physical properties of the rock mass and drum scrubber parameters. The correlation between nickel upgrade and reject can be established to predict upgrade from the known mass reject. Parcels of upgrade ore milled to date closely follow projected correlation trends. Upgrade circuit results have been excellent, with average nickel grades upgrading by 34 per cent, cobalt by 23 per cent, with 55 per cent mass passing.

Jan 1, 2000

By M Lak, R Amiri, A Haratian, M Asghari, S Haji

In recent years, due to advances in designing of various magnet assemblies, a wide range of magnetic materials with different properties can be concentrated. Jalal Abad iron ore beneficiation plant, which is located in Iran, Kerman province, is currently producing iron ore concentrate with the capacity of 0.8 Mt/a by having medium intensity magnetic separators (MIMS) with rougher and cleaner stages that finally leads to the production of an iron concentrate with the Fe grade of about 65 per cent. In this plant, the rougher tailings directly goes to the thickener as the final tailings and cleaner tailings feeds to the ball mill for regrinding. Since some hematite particles with weak magnetic properties cannot be recovered from only these two stages of magnetic separation, the obtained tailings from this concentration plant has approximately an iron grade of 25 per cent to 27 per cent. Accordingly, laboratory processing tests were conducted on the obtained representative sample of the final tailings. Based on the experimental results performed on final tailings, a new magnetic drum separator with a specific magnetic assembly was designed that could finally lead to product with iron grade range of 58 per cent to 60 per cent with relative and total weight per cent of 8.6 per cent and 3.86 per cent. Finally, it could be concluded that feeding of magnetite particles to the existing drum separators, due to their high magnetic field intensity, cannot efficiently lead to improvement of the grade of concentrate. Therefore, pilot magnetic separation tests were done on the final concentrate for evaluation of product upgrading probability. Consequently, by increasing another stage of cleaning and by decreasing the magnetic field intensity, the final product grade could be enhanced from 65 per cent to 67 per cent.

Nov 8, 2021

By J Rock, K Bambrook

"Hanwha Mining Services was approached by Glencore Coal to provide a series of (trial) demonstration blasts at its Clermont coalmine. The intent of the project was to trial a bulk explosive product that would be able to provide sufficient energy for the ground type encountered without production of post-blast fume. Three blasts were loaded using the patented XLOAD bulk explosives with a density of 1.00 g/cc. XLOAD bulk products are water resistant explosives that can be loaded at densities much lower than traditional (generic) water resistant heavy ammonium nitrate – fuel oil (ANFO) or pumped blends with significantly reduced risk of fume. In addition, these products have detonation characteristics that generally deliver a higher heave partition than conventional bulk products and hence improve muck pile looseness and digability.The priority key performance measures included the absence of fume from blasting, being at least cost neutral and providing similar if not improved shovel dig rates. The design for the initial blast took a conservative approach to ensure the key blast outcomes of fume control and fragmentation were achieved.The second blast used the same pattern dimensions as the benchmark bulk product used in this area to provide a cost neutral comparison with the benchmark products that had been used over the prior six months. This resulted in a 20 per cent lower powder factor than would have otherwise been used. To test the suitability of XLOAD, this shot was slept for over two weeks between loading and firing in geology where the sleep time is typically kept to a few days to minimise the fume risk.The third blast utilised a slightly larger drill pattern to push the capabilities of XLOAD and provide a cost neutral comparison between the trial product and the traditional benchmark products. All three blasts were fired with no fume observed, no recordable incidents and good fragmentation. Shovel productivity from all three of the trial blasts was excellent with higher average instantaneous dig rates being recorded (average six per cent improvement against the instantaneous dig rates recorded for the benchmark blasts).Citation:Rock, J and Bambrook, K, 2016. Controlling Blast Related Fumes with Unconventional Explosives, in Proceedings Ninth AusIMM Open Pit Operators' Conference 2016, pp 39–49 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Nov 15, 2016

It is a common misconception that the grant of mining tenure, whether it be an Exploration Permit, Mineral Development Licence or Mining Lease, will entitle the holder to access all land within it in order to explore or mine. The ability for miners to access their tenure in order to undertake activities is critical to the industry. While significant time and energy is quite rightly dedicated to resolving native title and cultural heritage issues before the commencement of mining operations, the same cannot always be said for addressing potential impediments that arise as a result of the overlap between mining and other tenures. Miners should be aware of the overlaps that occur with other tenure and the impact of these overlaps on the minerÆs ability to explore or produce from the area. The existence of an overlap with petroleum tenure, nature refuges, national parks, wild river areas or reserves such as aboriginal land leases are all likely to have an impact on the minerÆs ability to access the area and conduct activities. In some instances, such as an overlap with petroleum tenure, Queensland legislation encourages the miner to reach agreement with the holders of the overlapping tenure. However, in other instances, such as an overlap with a national park, mining tenure is unlikely to be granted at all. This paper summarises the impacts and impediments that arise as a result of overlaps of tenure that are likely to affect mining operations. It also provides examples of how these impediments can, if possible, be overcome under Queensland legislation.

Jan 1, 2007

THE township of Costerfield is situated in the parish of Costerfield, county of Dalhousie, and lies 6 miles east of Heathcote and 30 miles south-east of Bendigo. It is separated from Heathcote by the Mt. Ida Range, which forms the western boundary of the Silurian formation. It is situated at the head-waters of Tin-pot Creek, a small southerly tributary of the Deegay Ponds Creek, which flows east to the Goulburn River.The field was discovered in 1860 by two prospectors, Coster and Field, who were guided there by a shepherd, M Nicol Coster and Field had already discovered an antimony lode about three miles nearer Heathcote, when M Nicol offered to guide them to the larger outcrop. The main Costerfield reef at that time projected above the surface, and was white through oxidation, though the bluey sulphide showed on fracture. No alluvial gold of any consequence was obtained at Costerfield, but a little was obtained, at Redcastle, 7 miles to the north, and in some of the gullies to the east.Following its discovery there came a period of prosperity to Costerfield, while the mining operations were confined to the oxidized zone. The early success of mining at Costerfield was due to the gold values, and it is probable that the oxidized zone was secondarily enriched. The earliest available record of values is a crushing of Coster and Co. on the Antimony reef (now known as the Costerfield reef), when 200 tons from a depth of 70 ft. averaged 4 oz. per ton in July, 1861. At this time a crushing mill had not yet been erected at Costerfield, and the ore was carted and treated at Redcastle. The massive antimony ore, consisting of mixed oxides and sulphides, was separated by hand-picking as "marketable ore," and the remainder crushed for gold. A higher average is recorded from South Costerfield in September, 1861, when a 15' cwt. parcel...

Jan 1, 1922

By B Abbasi

It is well known that most roof falls in coal mines typically occur at and around intersections. Room-and-pillar and longwall coal mining systems typically develop 3-way and 4-way intersections. This research develops an improved scientific understanding of stress distribution and associated instability behaviour around 3-way and 4-way coal mine intersections through 3-D numerical modelling and limited field observations. Numerical analyses were performed for an Illinois longwall coal mine to identify factors that influence intersection stability. The stability of immediate roof, floor strata, and coal ribs at and around intersections are considered with pre-mining regional horizontal stress. Non-linear failure analyses used the Hoek-Brown failure criterion for rock mass. Progressive failure zones in and around intersections were developed. For a typical 4-way intersection, pillar corners across the intersection fail first and lead to progressive failure of the immediate roof and floor layers. The mechanism of failure is similar for a 3-way intersection but the shape and extension of failed zones differ. For the 3-way intersection, the effect of off-set distance was analysed. It was found that minimum off-set distance of about 10 m (centre to centre distance between two 3-way intersections) was required to minimize interaction between two intersections. A simple instrumentation program monitor ground movements around intersections. These data were used to design the intersection geometry that is now being practiced by the mine. CITATION:Abbasi, B and Chugh, Y P, 2018. Instability analysis in three-way and four-way coal mine intersections, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 345–359 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By J E. Everett, D Linden, P Maney

In response to the implementation of a new schedule for iron ore fines in the International Maritime OrganizationÆs (IMO) International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code, improved measures for the management of moisture have been developed. In particular, prediction of cargo moisture allows management of iron ore fines within the supply?chain to facilitate the safe?shipping of iron ore fines.An ARIMA model, augmented to allow for shipment tonnage, has been developed to predict the moisture level from previous shipments of the same product. The model explains about 60 per cent of the moisture variance. It was found that inclusion of other available information, such as ore composition, train/rake assays and recent rainfall at port and mine, did not add to the predictive power of the model.CITATION:Everett, J E, Linden, D and Maney, P, 2013. Predicting iron ore fines shipment moisture, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2013 , pp 17-26 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 12, 2013

By R Austerberry, S Green

The discovery of the Cuffley Lode at Mandalay Resources Costerfield Operations provided an opportunity to extend mine life via mining the offset depth extension of the previously worked Alison Mine. Access from the existing Augusta Mine placed the initial Cuffley underground workings at approximately 250 metres depth from surface. As the new orebody transitioned towards production, a secondary means of egress needed to be established. The depth of the initial capital development presented a challenge in establishing a secondary means of egress that could be confidently relied on. The availability of land to locate a surface shaft collar further reduced available options and geotechnical drilling further limited suitable shaft locations. Time limiting factors such as permitting and having a secondary means of egress in as soon as possible, further highlighted that an innovative secondary means of egress was needed. A consideration of using an emergency gig lowered by a suitable sized crane supplied by an external crane contractor was investigated and found to be a suitable outcome. This Emergency Gig was deployed via the Cuffley Return Air Raise. When trialled, the emergency gig was found to provide a reliable, repeatable extraction method with an acceptable level of risk. Issues discovered during such trials further improved the process to a point where this extraction method became the adopted secondary means of egress for additional lodes that existed at depth. When assessing possible methods of secondary means of egress, the use of a third-party crane and custom designed and fabricated emergency gig should not be discounted. Where a crane can be sourced within an acceptable timeframe, the emergency gig extraction method provides a reliable safe and cost-effective means of secondary means of egress, especially when multiple shafts are to be developed. Local laws may negate the ability to employ such a system, although it is believed with good communication and well-constructed risk assessments, this system can be safely deployed.

Mar 15, 2021

By B Newcombe

From many years practical industrial experience the author has drawn together a list of the key points to consider when embarking on a large-scale geometallurgical project. Fundamental aspects which must be considered include (but are not limited to):understanding the variability of the orebody both laterally and with depth;comminution properties and variability;flotation properties, requirements and variability – differing ore zones may have substantially different requirements for optimal performance;the role of texture – the consequences of both grain size and distribution and how the circuit will handle these;realistic expectation in terms of the financial requirements and time frame results are required within; andintegration of, and communication between key personnel within the various departments of the site (mining, geology and processing) is a fundamental aspect of any geometallurgically based processing system. An example of a highly complex nickel sulfide ore will be used as the basis of discussion.

Sep 5, 2011

By Xu Z, Hu C

An attempt has been made to investigate the performance of green pellet formation of the Daye magnetite concentrate from the weak-magnetic separation plant. The optimum conditions for the commercial production of green pellets was found through experimental research. The satisfactory size range for balling is 75 ¦ 3 per cent -200 mesh. The suitable moisture content is between 8.7 and 9.1 per cent and the optimum amount of bentonite added is between 1.5 and 2.5 per cent. The emphasis is on the size of the feed materials since the grinding fineness, which can be obtained at the plant, at most is 78 per cent -200 mesh. If the optimum fineness for the pellet formation is above this value, this means that the concentrate must be re-ground before balling. The results from experiments showed that a good quality green pellet can be attained by using materials below 78 per cent -200 mesh, which provides a strong foundation for the commercial production of green pellets.

Jan 1, 1999

Innovative Technology for Optimised Thickening Sedimentation

Sep 13, 2010

Exerting the Advantages of National Key Discipline, Outstanding the Training of Engineering Capability, Cultivating Talent to be with Innovation Ability

Sep 13, 2010

Characterisation of Manganese Ores

Sep 13, 2010

By S Lockie, G Ivanova, J Rolfe

One of the consequences of mining expansion in the Bowen Basin region of Central Queensland in Australia has been a substantial increase in demand for housing, with subsequent impacts on housing and rental markets. Those pressures are reduced to some extent by a proportion of the workforce choosing to live in other centres and commuting to workplace for block periods. The main factors influencing location choice are: housing availability and affordability, basic urban services and lifestyle of the town and the town physical attractiveness such as coastal town. Low costs housing provided by the mining company acts as an attracting factor for some miners to live in the mining town. Recommendations for three short-term and two long-term strategic policy guidelines to address housing situation and location issues are provided.

Jan 1, 2009

By P W Haines

The McArthur, Balma (new name) and Habgood Groups are thick (up to 4.5 km) correlative sequences of shallow water evaporitic carbonates, mudstones and sandstones that are exposed largely within the Batten, and southern and northern Walker Fault Zones (Batten and Walker Troughs) of the McArthur Basin respectively. Recent re-mapping of the Walker Fault Zone has provided data for refined stratigraphic correlations between these groups. Two significant hiatuses are now recognised within the Balma Group (base of Vaughton Siltstone and base of Yarrawirrie Formation) and these may represent tectonically-generated sequence boundaries which may correlate with similar local hiatuses within the McArthur Group such as at the base of the Teena Dolomite and Lynott Formation respectively.

Jan 1, 1994

By Taylor G. R

Fluid inclusions within quartz accompanying several stages of mineralization at Hillgrove are de cri bed. Pyrite-arsenopyrite-gold mineralization shows uncorrected filling temperatures of between 195°C and 250°C. Later stibnite-antimonide-siderite and stibnite-calcite mineralization has filling temperatures between 100°C and 195°C and a bimodal distribution of temperature peaking at 175°C and 145°C, possibly correlated with the two stages of mineral deposition. Secondary included fluids within an earlier generation of deformed quartz veins are derived from hydrothermal fluids contemporary with the main-stage mineralizing fluids described above. Primary inclusions within latestage, cross-cutting quartz-chlorite-calcite veins show these veins to be unrelated to the mineralization.A correlation between filling temperatures and salinities indicates that mineralization accompanied the mixing of a hot, partly saline, fluid (at 5 per cent equivalent NaCI) with cooler, less-saline meteoric or connate water. Over a vertical distance of 200 m, equivalent mineral assemblages were deposited over the same temperature range. Studies on single crystals suggest rapid deposition with fluid temperature dropping 45°C during their growth. Ore mineragraphy and the fluid inclusion data suggest that the metals were transported by sulphur-poor, relatively low-temperature, low-salinity solutions, possibly as carbonate complexe , and that a vertical zonation of the W-Sb-Au mineralization is compatible with the mixing of this hydrothermal fluid with cooler groundwater. Regional metallogenic and geological considerations suggest that ore metals are derived from the remobilization of deep-seated stratabound deposits or from metamorphic fluids expelled from deepseated volcanoclastic sediments.

Jan 1, 1984

By Y Chen, G Xu, B Albijanic

High concentrations of airborne coal particles is the main reason leading to health and safety hazards in underground coalmines. Water spray is one of the effective methods to suppress coal particles in mine sites, but the use of plain water is not effective enough to capture coal particles. By adding surfactants, coal wettability can be improved which will increase the coal dust suppression efficiency. In this study, a modified sink test was employed to evaluate coal wettability in the presence of two anionic surfactants: sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS). Sink rates were calculated by measuring sink weight over test time. Different surfactant concentrations (0.01 per cent, 0.05 per cent, 0.1 per cent, 0.2 per cent and 0.4 per cent) and two types of water (tap water and deionised water) were selected to investigate coal wettability over three size ranges (0–38, 53–75 and 75–90 µm). The results show that both SDS and SDBS surfactants can lower the water surface tension and improve coal wetting performance. Sink rates increased as the surfactant concentration increased, and surfactant solutions prepared by tap water performed better than deionised water in enhancing coal wettability. Also, coal wettability varied for different coal particle sizes; the smaller coal particles were, the worse the wettability they possessed.CITATION:Chen, Y, Xu, G, Wang, R and Albijanic, B, 2017. Study on coal wettability for dust suppression in the presence of surfactants by sink test, in Proceedings Australian Mine Vent Conference 2017, pp 105–110 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 28, 2017

Two independent sets of observations from rifted con-tinental margins suggest a way to reach a quantitative under-standing of how the topography of rifted margins erodes. First, a prominent erosional escarpment, which demarcates an elevated, inland region of low relief from rugged, deeply-incised terrain on the seaward side, is the main feature of the geomorphology of many rifted continental margins. Second, apatite fission track ages from the southeast Australian and southwest Saudi Arabian margins scatter about constant Paleozoic ages over the higher elevations inland from the escarpment, but decrease systematically seaward of the escarpment to near-rifting ages approaching the coastlines. We have developed erosion models based on conservation of mass principles to explain these observations. These models seek to explain the "rejuvenation" of erosion at the time of rifting, initiation of the observed erosional escarpment, and its migration inland with time at a rate on the order of 1 km/10 yr. We find from the modeling that erosion at rift flanks and passive margins is fundamentally a non-linear pro-cess. The erosional development of passive margin topogra-phy has much is common with travelling wave solutions to non-linear diffusion-type problems, and to self-similar sto-chastic processes, such as diffusion-limited aggregation. We suggest that the fission track data record the thermal effects of erosional unroofing at rift flanks and passive continental margins. Models intended to explain the erosional develop-ment of continental margins must explain both the geomor-phology and the fission track observations as well.

Jan 1, 1990

By Y Pan

The recycling of steel is a crucial aspect of the shift toward a sustainable metals industry. The emphasis on steel recycling through the introduction of the scrap based mini-mill concept is also matched with a desire for greater product quality and reduced environmental impact, which, in turn, has generated important innovations. There have been significant advances in the technology for recycling steel over the last 20 years and this paper will provide an overview of these developments and discuss future directions in steel recycling including scrap management, control of tramp elements, electric arc furnace technology and ladle metallurgy.

Jan 1, 2004