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By Chitombo G. P, Thompson A. G

Excavation engineering involves three key design processes; excavation design, blast design and reinforcement design. An excavation engineering methodology is proposed in an attempt to promote integration and simultaneous consideration of these three design processes. This methodology requires research and development of, inter alia, a universal rock mass classification system and a universal data display system. Simple examples are used to explain and illustrate the concepts central to these components in the three design processes.

Jan 1, 1995

I The South Platform of the Gippsland Basin is an extensive area of shallow basement covered by a relatively-thin Late Mesozoic-Cainozoic section. Although the sporadic exploration to-date has not resulted in any hydrocarbon discoveries, the area is under-explored and its taste potential has not yet been fully evaluated. The best potential appears to be in areas underlain by the Golden Beach Megasequence where structures are mainly related to basement fault blocks.

Jan 1, 1992

By B Belle

"Mines around the world are inherently and operationally diverse. Current methodologies for the design of mine ventilation and cooling infrastructure involve controlling major safety and health hazards. Globally, it can be estimated that mine ventilation systems from various commoditiescirculate over 150 000 m3/s of exhaust air through shafts. Additionally, over 2 000 000 workersare transported every day through shafts in labour-intensive mining countries like China, India,Southern Africa, and the Americas. A key objective of this paper is to share experiences and provide a case for the revision of ætime-honouredÆ ventilation design parameters based on a benchmarking exercise on design exhaust shaft velocity from various global operations (gold, diamond, platinum, coal and base metals). An active fi eld observation on exhaust shaft velocity has indicated that, regardless of the commodity or continent where the mine operates, almost all life-of-mine (LOM) design parameters provided are in the same range of 20 m/s to 22 m/s, which is not convincing considering signifi cant variations exist in shaft depths, geography, commodity, operating and capital costs. From a due diligence perspective, there are no documented views that are available on the most widely used design exhaust air velocity. Based on the global exhaust shaft velocity data, it is noted that a significant portion of shaft velocities are outside the current design velocity of 20 m/s (some operating up to 30 m/s) and other signifi cant portions of the exhaust shafts operate in the critical velocity range. In the case of Australian coal mines, limited data suggests that none of the mines have ever reached the LOM design exhaust shaft velocity. It is self-evident that when the shafts are not operating at their design quantities either the mine system resistance is low or the ventilation and main fan is operating ineffi ciently. The most common reasons given for not reviewing the shaft system were, ætime-honouredÆ design parameter are being used and cannot be changed, mine fan pressure limits, possible fan blade damage, possible spontaneous combustion risks, leakage or simply did not consider such a possibility. In conclusion, the study has reiterated the historic lessons that a safe and expensive airway should not be utilised uneconomically by circulating too litt le air through it."

Jun 1, 2012

By M Flis

The Razorback Iron Ore Project is a high tonnage, low-grade magnetite deposit that defines a new iron ore district in South Australia. Known since the 1960s, the deposit has come into its own as the iron hungry world demands not only larger tonnages, but higher grade and cleaner magnetite concentrate ores that counterbalance the increasingly dirty haematite ores that are coming into production.Razorback is hosted by the Neoproterozoic Braemar Iron Formation, a tillitic unit that is part of the Adelaidean Geosyncline sedimentary sequence. At Razorback, this formation forms the southern limb of the Pualco Syncline, dipping at 42° to the north and outcropping along a prominent ridge. The formation consists of a series of alternating bedded tillitic and interbedded magnetite units that represent cycles of glacial advances and retreats. Seven cycles, resulting in seven stratigraphic members, are recognised. Members B, D, and G are the thickest, at 30 - 70 m each, and are the target of current investigations. While the bedded magnetite has the highest iron content, typically 35 per cent Fe, the tillitic unit, at typically 26 per cent Fe, has similar iron content in the ground mass but is diluted by the inclusion of iron-poor granite and metasedimentary dropstones. The mineralisation forms a simple dipping tabular body with only minor faulting, folding and intrusives. Grades, thickness, dip, and outcropping geometry remain very consistent over kilometres of strike, presenting an excellent mining proposition.Razorback differentiates itself from other Australian magnetite projects in a number of important ways. It is not a banded iron formation (BIF); it will have low crushing and grinding costs; and it is located in an infrastructure-rich area close to open-access, high capacity rail, to a selection of ports and to gas, electricity, labour and engineering services. Royal Resources has announced an Inferred resource of 277 Mt @ 25.9 per cent Fe. The company is targeting a resource of 500 - 1000 Mt to support a 10 Mt per year concentrate production. Davis Tube Recovery work shows that the ore is capable of producing a concentrate of over 68 per cent Fe with very low deleterious elements. Metallurgical testing confi rms the ore is soft, and with near-zero initial stripping ratio the project will have a low opex. With access to existing critical infrastructure, capex will also be low, ensuring Razorback will be a highly competitive iron producer in this emergent mining district.

Jul 11, 2011

By A Boucher, M Baudin, P Androszczuk, I Minniakhmetov, A Rigby, P Machado, M Wright, B Van Dijken

IGO Ltd’s (IGO’s) Nova Operation (Nova), which is 160 km east-north-east of the town of Norseman in Western Australia (WA), mines and processes nickel-copper-cobalt (Ni-Cu-Co) sulfide ore from the magmatic Nova-Bollinger Deposit (Nova-Bollinger), which is hosted by the Mesoproterozoic age high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Albany Fraser Orogen. Over its 56-month life-of-mine (LOM) operations to 31 December 2020, Nova has processed 5.63 Mt of ore grading 2.04 per cent Ni, 0.86 per cent Cu and 0.07 per cent Co from its underground mine. At the end of 2020, both the Nova-Bollinger JORC Code reportable Mineral Resource estimate (MRE) and Ore Reserve estimate (ORE) were >90 per cent classified in the highest JORC Code confidence categories of Measured Mineral Resource and Proved Ore Reserve respectively. The high JORC Code classification confidences assigned to the Nova-Bollinger MRE and ORE results from the 386 km of surface and underground diamond drill testing of the deposit to a nominal 12.5 by 12.5 m pierce point spacing in mineralisation. The close spaced high-quality drilling and bulk mining method employed at Nova has effectively removed the need for any grade control modelling outside of the MRE process. Importantly, having only the one fully drilled out deposit being mined and only the one process plant, Nova’s reconciliation process is in the fortunate situation of not being confounded by issues such as external ore sources and constant updates as new grade control information becomes available. IGO’s Nova reconciliation processes are focused on reconciliation ratios that quantify operational period differences between the MRE and ORE head grade and tonnage forecasts and the process plant head actuals. These metrics have been used to identify key reconciliation issues and have initiated several studies into the causes for specific reconciliation results, which are discussed in the paper. In late 2020, a period of sustained poor reconciliation results led to the recognition that increasing the understanding of risk between the MRE and ORE should be investigated. To assist with modelling stope level risk within the mine plan and subsequent reconciliation, an attempt was made to develop a formula to quantify ‘stope risk’ from MRE metrics such as sample spacing, kriging efficiency and so on

Mar 22, 2022

By N Phillips

Fosterville gold mine recently celebrated production of its one millionth ounce of gold based firmly within a history of refractory sulfide gold mining. Compared with other Victorian gold mines, the disseminated nature of the sulfide gold is a deposit style with low estimation variance combined with established processes to accurately delineate the controlling structures. The systems in place had been established and have worked effectively for the majority of the one million produced ounces.By the end of 2014, diamond drill campaigns targeting the lower Phoenix orebody at depths of 800 m below surface began showing a change to the nature of the gold within the deposit. Coarse visible gold within 0.5–2 m thick quartz carbonate veins were being intersected with regularity showing the emergence of a different zone of gold mineralisation.Data about the new and exciting discovery couldn’t be gathered fast enough, however, established systems and processes throughout the geology and processing departments were not developed to handle a coarse gold environment. Change would be commensurate with the size and scale of the discovery, and new learnings would need to be implemented quickly to keep in front of a mining schedule that was focused on producing tonnes due to the dropping grades of the sulfide ore.Gold assays being returned were showing that the gold nature was different to those of other Victorian deposits. Comparative to the highly nuggety nature of gold found in other Victorian goldfields, the fine grained gold accumulations were dispersed in relatively consistent narrow linear trends grading consistently into the hundreds of grams per tonne. New drill intersections were being returned by the day and research to find developed orebodies that had published information into how to handle such a rapid change yielded few examples.The challenge was to review and set new standards with regards to handling an orebody that transitioned the very nature of the gold being mined. This involved reviewing all steps in the estimation process including data capture and quality control and quality assurance through to mineral liberation through the mill. Difficulties also involved finding analogous orebodies that consisted of both free milling and refractory ores that were dealing with drill assays that were measured as percentages of gold.CITATION:Phillips, N, 2017. Fosterville gold mine – breaking the mould for Victorian gold, in Proceedings Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017, pp 393–400 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 20, 2017

By K Ehrig, J Griffith

An extensive suite of elements are routinely assayed on all resource drill core samples to assist in deposit scale resource definition, local mine scale delineation of ore zones, and ore characterisation for the planning and scheduling of mining and processing of ores at Olympic Dam. This paper discusses a deposit scale geochemical relation that can be used by mine geologists to find more high-grade ore at the local mine area scale at Olympic Dam.A 3D grade shell representing 0.8 per cent Cu was created for a mine area using drill hole assay data. This defined the geometry of the ore zone. The Cu-grade shell was then overlain onto the existing resource block model to evaluate the relationships between the Cu-grade shell, copper and other elements. The strongest correlation was between copper and manganese. The block model showed a dramatic decrease in the concentration of manganese just below the below the Cu-grade shell.Several drill holes that intersected the Cu-grade shell were selected to evaluate the copper manganese relation at the drill hole scale. As expected, the individual drill holes displayed a strong inverse relation between copper and manganese. A geochemical footwall was then modelled representing 0.1 wt per cent Mn. Using both the Cu– and Mn-grade shells, several drill holes were designed/drilled and all hit high-grade copper.For the vast majority of the deposit the inverse relation between copper and manganese is valid; however, in areas with intense chlorite alteration (related to amounts of mafic to ultramafic rocks) this relation is not as strong, due to increased manganese in the rock mass. Even though using the copper manganese relation as a drill targeting method was not always as reliable in a few small areas of the deposit, it demonstrates the value of using existing assay data integrated with the resource block model to discover local mine scale geochemical relationships which can be used to more effectively design drill holes to discover high-grade ore at Olympic Dam.CITATION:Griffith, J and Ehrig, K, 2017. Using existing data to improve the delineation of ore at the Olympic Dam Fe-oxide Cu-U-Au-Ag deposit, in Proceedings Tenth International Mining Geology Conference 2017, pp 321–326 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 20, 2017

This paper is for mine managers. It is about maintenance of mining equipment. This is an extremely broad subject so this paper is given with the caveat that it necessarily contains generalisations, not true in all cases, but broadly correct. The job of mine managers is to be good at making money from the excavation and preliminary treatment of mineral. To do this well, they need to understand the cost and value drivers in the business. This includes understanding the drivers associated with maintenance. Maintenance is often identified as a problem at mine sites. It is frequently listed as the cause of production shortfalls when reporting. The state of maintenance within mining as an industry is generally among the lower end of the range, when compared to manufacturing, petrochemicals, etc. Why is this? Experience and review of many audits and evaluations of maintenance has shown that some patterns are consistent with good performance and some consistent with poor performance. These often centre around the time horizon of the management team and are associated with knowing the sensitivity of the business to certain maintenance drivers and the mechanisms of maintenance and their results. To summarise, some common misunderstandings can be listed as statements that are obvious and extrapolations from those, which are not necessarily correct. For example: High availability of equipment is necessary for production. Incorrect extrapolation:focus on availability will produce high production. Design is often the greatest factor in determining the reliability of a mining machine. Incorrect extrapolation: the newest and biggest machines generally have the lowest cost operations. Operation has an enormous impact on machine productivity and reliability. Incorrect extrapolation: the fastest operators are generally the best from a productive point of view. Some maintenance improves the performance and reliability of machines. Incorrect extrapolation: more maintenance will give you more reliability. Some maintenance depends on disassembly and reassembly of components. Incorrect extrapolation: assembly is basically the reverse process of disassembly. Maintenance improvement in the mining industry in the last 15 years has focused largely on planning and systems improvement. Incorrect extrapolation: most of the problems in maintenance can be traced to a lack of planning. Actions based on flawed extrapolations will steer a business suboptimally. It is therefore important that the mine manager understands these issues so that the improvement effort can be directed to the greatest benefit.

Jan 1, 2006

Industry has a very special request to make. Environmental issues must not be allowed to become a factor of competition so that nations or individual industries can gain economic advantages for themselves by encroaching unduly upon the environment. An international harmonisation of the demands imposed on specific industries and industrial plants where discharges are concerned is therefore essential. The same applies to any to any action contemplated against noxious products. An important step towards that goal is no doubt represented by the United Nations Conference on the Environment scheduled for 1972. Conclusions: Australia must recognise its responsibilities in an inter- national movement to control pollution. It must react on a national scale to a problem which is threatening our whole national environment. To gather, collate and coordinate the information needed to ensure policies which strike a balance between conservation and development, we must look towards the Commonwealth to coordinate the activities of its own instrumentalities and those State and independent bodies working in the area. Financial aid must be provided to stimulate research and later to ensure that environmental protection policies are observed. These policies will be founded on social economic theories which will be both practical and sound, The United Nations conference on the Environment is scheduled for 1972 and in this is the opportunity for international cooperation. Cooperation in the field of controlling legislation and the collection of much needed data. There is an imperative need to assemble facts for world use - an international know-how bank which acquires the most sophisticated technology of process design and waste purification. Arising out of this Conference, is it too much to expect that there could be established an international authority for environmental control, whose activities are governed on a multi-national basis? Such an organisation would have as its primary concern the collection and classification of official regulations, as well as the sheer collation of data to permit economic evaluation of the costs of conservation of the environment. There is an international scope with different factors involved, including industrial technology: in other words, the concrete measures taken against industrial pollutants ought to be more or less identical for similar industries irrespectives of the countries in which they operate. The assembling of an international common foundation of knowledge is imperative so as to acquire the most sophisticated technology of process design and waste purification available for all who are interested.

Jan 1, 1971

By M B. Lovitt

At present there exist few engineering calculations and principles to determine exclusion zones for personnel in the vicinity of underground explosive storage areas. This paper is written to encourage discussion and proposes a method to determine the impact of a blast wave through scientific principles. Then, criteria to determine an ‘exclusion zone’ need to be identified.There has been much work on identifying the pressure rise and the energy of explosive detonations underground but little to develop standards in criteria that can be used to identify exclusion zones for useful design of underground infrastructure. The author presents the newest ways of calculating the pressure rise and energy (impulse) of detonations and puts forward some criteria to be used in the identification of personnel exclusion zones to spark peer review and discussion of these criteria towards developing standards for engineering design.Smith and Sapko (2005) used Sach’s scaling laws to develop a relationship for both pressure rise and impulse, which incorporated factors for intersections. Intersections will have a large bearing on the peak pressure and the energy of the blast wave and needs to be incorporated. Silvestrini, Genova and Leon Trujillo (2009) developed the scaling laws with an energy concentration factor to predict blast propagation in partially confined geometries and together the author has proposed equations for determining the peak side pressure and the impulse in a tunnel. Given the weight and type of the explosive, the average cross-section of the tunnel complex and the number and type of intersections encountered, the pressure and impulse can be calculated.The military has carried out many investigations as to the influence of blast pressure and impulse on the human body. Lung damage, ear damage and velocity knock down are three of the criteria standards that are presented as possible methods of determining exclusion zones around an underground explosives magazine. The author suggests that the velocity curves presented by Bowen, Fletcher and Richmond (1968) could be an acceptable method of determining an exclusion zone as it incorporates the side pressure and the energy of a blast wave to determine the ability of the wave to knock down personnel.CITATION:Lovitt, M B, 2014. Exclusion zone calculation for underground explosives storage, in Proceedings 12th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2014 , pp 319–326 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Mar 24, 2014

By J D. Bryant

The Ernest Henry Copper-Gold mine, the third largest copper deposit in Australia, is located 35 km NE of Cloncurry in the Mt Isa-Cloncurry mineral district of NW Queensland. Ernest Henry Mining Pty Ltd (EHM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Xstrata Copper Australia, operates the mine. Approximately 10.2 Mt of ore grading 1.12 per cent Cu and 0.56 g/t Au were processed during the 2001 - 2002 financial year. The Ernest Henry plant produces copper-gold concentrate, which is trucked to Mt Isa for smelting. The Ernest Henry deposit is a member of the diverse Fe-oxide-(Cu-Au) class of deposits. The orebody is hosted within a sequence of moderately SSE-dipping, intensely altered Paleoproterozoic intermediate metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks. Copper (chalcopyrite)-gold mineralisation occurs mainly within the magnetite-biotite-calcite ¦ pyrite matrix of a 250 m + 300 m pipe-like breccia body. The breccia pipe comprises two anastomosing lenses separated by a lower grade, clast-supported breccia zone. Several anastomosing brittle faults affect the macro-geometry of the orebody. Copper grade is proportional to the degree of matrix support in the breccia. The July 2002 Ore Reserve was 88.7 Mt @ 1.0 per cent Cu and 0.5 g/t Au. Resource estimation at Ernest Henry is based on a large database of predominantly diamond drill hole information. Drill spacing is typically 50 m + 50 m. Ordinary kriging is used to estimate Cu, Au, SG and IST (oxidation indicator) into model parent cells of dimension 20 m E + 20 m N + 16 m RL. The block model is comprised of five geological-geochemical domains represented by 3D wireframe surfaces. Zonal control, where samples and blocks are assigned the same domain number, is used to control grade estimation. The geometry of the domains defines hard grade boundaries across strike and soft boundaries along strike A Deep Drilling Project was initiated in August 2002 with the initial aim of testing the down-plunge extension of the orebody to a vertical depth of over 1 km. The encouraging intersections to date have resulted in a significant increase in the mineÆs open pit Mineral Resource together with the identification of an underground Mineral Resource. Added benefits of the project included an expanded and updated geological legend and an improved understanding of the host geological sequence.

Jan 1, 2003

By S Q. Zhao, J H. Wei, Z X Zhao, S N. Liang

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. The degree of regional denudation is one of the most important factors for judging the preservation potential of ore deposits as it can be used in a predictive manner to help guide exploration. There are many methods available to judge the denudation degrees of mineral deposits. These include regional geochemical assessment methods, the characterisation of primary lithogeochemical halos, the thermoelectricity of pyrite and apatite fission-track methods. Each method has its specific principles, application scopes, limitations and successful cases. Based on previous studies, this paper discusses the research progress on assessments of ore deposit denudation in China and provides a summary and discussion of various methods that can be employed.CITATION:Liang, S N, Wei, J H, Zhao, Z X and Zhao, S Q, 2015. Review on the ore deposit denudation degree, in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 65–68 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

By B Indraratna, A Dey

The surface geometry of a rock bolt plays a very important role in the rock/resin/bolt load transfer mechanism. Very little work has so far been reported on the influence of the bolt surface geometry on the bolt/resin interface failure mechanism. This paper examines the behaviour of bolt surface roughness under constant normal stiffness condition in the laboratory. To study the shear behaviour of the bolt/resin interface a series of shear tests with an initial normal stress between 0.1 to 7.5 MPa has been conducted on the flattened bolt surface of two most popular bolt types currently being used in Australia. Bolts with deeper ribs offered better shear resistance at low initial normal stress conditions whereas bolts with shallow and closer ribs offered better shear resistance at high normal stress conditions. The maximum dilation occurred at a shear displacement of 60 per cent of the rib spacing irrespective of the bolt type and depth of the rib.

Jan 1, 2000

By L B. Zhou, Q Wang

The present discussion focuses on the developmental directions of eco-restoration of acid mine waste rock dump, by using acid mine waste rock of Shuilong Mountain as an example. Based on the analysis of site factors, the current slope ecological restoration technologies of domestic and international and local practices have been integrated into the eco-restoration of acid mine waste rock in Shuilong Mountain. A set of suitable slope Eco-restoration technologies have been formulated locally for acid mine waste rock of Shuilong Mountain, which include establishing green barrier, implementing ecology buffer zones, selecting suitable plant species and combined seeding and tube-stock planting. It aims to restore the plant ecosystem to a near natural state, in couple with slope stabilisation and soil remediation.CITATION :Wang, Q and Zhou, L B, 2012. Projection of ecological restoration of acid mine waste rock of Shuilong Mountain at Dexing Copper Mine, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2012 , pp 305-308 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 10, 2012

By R Barritt

Remedial options for a waste rock dump (WRD) were considered as part of closure planning studies at an active mine in Western Australia. To minimise the impact of any seepage from the landform it was determined that placement cover system utilising the moisture ‘store-and-release’ concept was appropriate. The purpose of the cover system was to:•Reduce net infiltration of meteoric water to attenuate peak concentrations for contaminants of concern in natural receptors to levels that can be assimilated without adverse impact to the surrounding ecosystem; •Provide a growth medium for establishment of a sustainable vegetation canopy; and •Improve current quality of surface water runoff from waste storage areas.The project comprised several phases of work: materials characterisation, numerical soil-plant-atmosphere (SPA) modelling and finally cover system construction and monitoring equipment installation.CITATION:Barritt, R, 2018. Conclusions from long-term cover system performance monitoring – a case study, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2018, pp 101–105 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 25, 2018

By M Hassall, E Humphries

Personal risk assessment processes, also known as Take 5 or SLAM (Stop, Look, Assess, Manage) have been utilised in high hazard industries for over 30 years. However, there is limited research to understand if a personal risk assessment process improves safety and health outcomes. The author’s learnings during discussions with training participants in G3/G-MIRM (Risk Management Systems) and G2 (Risk Assessment for Supervisors) courses have provided them with significant insight into understanding if a personal risk assessment process is valued across a number of mining industry organisations. These discussions arise when the four-layer model is presented (Figure 1) where ‘Layer 4’ represents the last resort risk checking activity. In this context, training participants agree that this process has value. However, the consistent opinion is that the personal risk assessment process is not effective, that it is a ‘tick and flick exercise’ and is not achieving the desired outcomes.

Apr 16, 2024

By D Caffrey

To demonstrate the advantages of using electronic delay detonators over pyrotechnic detonators, a trial using the DNES Dynatronic System was conducted at the KCGM Mount Charlotte operation in 1998. The trial clearly demonstrated that accurate control over the firing delay time between blastholes can lead to fragmentation improvement and ground vibration energy control which are two important issues for the Mt Charlotte underground operation. Excellent fragmentation was achieved by employing a 12 ms delay sequence. Detailed fragmentation analysis has shown a 10 to 20 per cent passing increase for the rock fragment size from 0.1 to 0.4 m compared with the pyrotechnic detonator firing. There was no increase in ground vibration level on the surface with the electronic detonator firing even though the electronic detonator firing had a much shorter blast duration than the pyrotechnic detonator firing. In fact, our energy calculation has clearly shown that much less energy had been propagated to the surface from the blast using electronic detonator firing.

Jan 1, 1999

The major copper orebody at Mount Isa is being extracted at a rate of four million tonnes per year. The method used requires an equivalent rate of back filling with (mainly) cemented fill. There were three major incentives for developing this mining system. The first was the prospect of high ultimate recovery of the orebody. The target is 100 per cent recovery. Also the proposed stoping layout appeared to offer significant advantages in development and production costs. Finally, extensive subsidence above the northern end of the orebody could have disturbed permanent surface installations and jeopardised a possible future open cut. The full implications of this ambitious strategy were not apparent in the early years. Now, after 12 years of production the benefits are being realised and they can be weighed against the costs. Probably the most interesting result which comes from this analysis is the significance of cutoff grades and dilution factors in balancing mining and filling rates.

Jan 1, 1980

By L Forrester

The tube bundle system is an integral part of an underground coalmine’s gas monitoring system. The maintenance of these systems is vital to ensure the quality of the data produced. Integrity testing of the tube bundle lines is required monthly, as specified in Standards Australia AS/NZ 2290.3 (1990). The various forms of integrity testing are reviewed, including pressure testing and introduction of a known gas. This paper provides a recommended and standardised methodology for those techniques where none currently exists. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats (SWOT) analysis is performed. The parameters considered for the SWOT analysis include resourcing required by the mines, time for the testing to be performed, and quality of the results produced. The suitability of such integrity testing protocols to be used in a mine emergency situation is also evaluated.CITATION:Forrester, L, 2017. Tube bundle integrity testing methodologies, in Proceedings Australian Mine Vent Conference 2017, pp 129–136 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 28, 2017

By R Fury, I Skepper, D White, G Miller

Although the Pressure Acid Leaching (PAL) of nickel laterites has been conducted at Moa Bay, Cuba, since the early 1960s, the commissioning delays generally encountered by the æsecond generationÆ of PAL lateritic nickel producers in the late 1990s have demonstrated the potential complexity of the PAL process and the importance of technical risk management in maximising the realised project value. This paper describes some of the strategies used by the Ravensthorpe Nickel Project (RNP) to manage the technical aspects of the Ravensthorpe project risk. Central to these strategies is the use of Front End Loading (FEL) to deal with issues early in the development phase, when changes to the project structure can be made most effectively and cheaply. Such an approach requires a management philosophy that recognises risk as a potential cost, which accepts responsibility for dealing with risk, and which is prepared to provide adequate resources for risk management.

Jan 1, 2004