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By R Billingham

QueenslandÆs new safety legislation for metalliferous and coal mining (Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 and Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999, together with the Regulations) came into effect on 16 March 2001. The legislation places clear obligations on mine owners, operators and workers to have a safe place of work and to manage risks to safety and health. It also places obligations on contractors, designers and providers of services. The legislation is non-prescriptive in that it states what outcomes must be achieved and not what must be done. The key issue is that the risk of injury to people must be at an acceptable level. The legislation creates a Mines Inspectorate with powers of inspection and audit of mines, their safety management systems and the management of risks. Auditing of the risk management process is carried out against standard risk management techniques and directives for corrective action may be issued when audits reveal non-compliance or unacceptable levels of risk.

Jan 1, 2002

By Glasson K. R

The history of Ore Reserve classification and reporting in Australia is largely a history of the Australian mining industry itself. In the late 1800s, when the industry was dominated by small scale, high grade underground mines, Reserves (if estimated) were based on hand sampling and geological inference, and reporting of Reserves was either non-existent or of extremely variable quality. By the mid-20th century, the industry was dominated by large underground base metal and gold mines. Reserve estimation was coming under the control of skilled geologists and mining engineers, however Reserve classification and reporting standards continued to vary in type and quality from mine to mine. Today, large scale, low grade mining operations predominate, and Reserve estimates are generally based on extensive drilling results processed (with geological control) by computer. Through the efforts of a Joint Committee established by The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Australian Mining Industry Council, Reserve and Resource classification and public reporting has been standardised and controlled by adoption of the ""Australasian Code for the Reporting of Identified Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves"" released in 1989. The Code, which will continue to be modified and improved by the Joint Committee, has also been used as a basis for guides to reporting in other countries, and there is now some hope that this difficult and vexing topic may finally become subject to international standards and controls.

Jan 1, 1992

By Steve Zaffron, Olga Loffredi, Eric Seedorff, Mary Poulton

"The New Face of Mining is a recognition of the central role of human beings in mining and the underappreciated power they can have in generating breakthroughs in business performance and shareholder value. The key is people creating, aligning on, and subsequently enacting the future of mining. A methodology that is effective creates a corporate environment for alignment to be possible and then transforms operations by embedding the necessary behaviors, processes and practices. The people within the organization then are empowered to find and to implement solutions quickly, as measured business results demonstrate in case histories of diverse mining challenges around the globe and over the decades.Urgent case for actionThe physics of mining does not change fundamentally over time, but the context in which it operates changes rapidly, periodically requiring a new face of mining. “The New Face of Mining,” which has been used as a metaphor for the campus-wide mineral resources research organization at the University of Arizona, has many facets, including societal, generational, technological, financial and environmental, but at the center, always, is humanity. The New Face of Mining is not necessarily about age, it is about people first imagining and then creating a new future for mining. The challenges facing the global industry evolve from year to year and differ in individual companies or mines at any one time.Quantified outcomes from case studies indicate that a methodology, now also offered annually in a four-day, open-enrollment leadership program tailored to the mining industry, is effective at generating breakthrough results in the mining business. Such challenges range from those with important technical components to others that are mostly social challenges. Our focus, however, is the centrality of people in aligning on and enacting the future of mining. We use the phrase New Face of Mining for leadership and ways to empower people in organizations that commonly are overlooked in the mining industry. Some of the material in this article is based on the ideas of Werner Erhard and on the book by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan (2009), The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life.At Davos, Switzerland in January 1992, nine visionary mining chief executive officers (CEO) gathered to create the Global Mining Initiative. Much has changed in the 26 years since that meeting:• The world GDP has increased from US$25.4 trillion to $75.8 trillion.• The annual number of U.S. patent applications increased from 186,000 to 629,000.• The number of websites has increased from 100 to 1 billion.• The number of academic references to artificial intelligence has climbed from more than 16,000 to more than 1 million.• The number of cell phone subscribers grew from 11 million in the United States to four billion globally."

Oct 1, 2019

By Thomas S. Lovering

Hot springs, geysers, steam-emanating fumaroles- these creatures of nature were until recently little more than geological curiosities, but today they are exciting the interest of engineers around the world for it has been shown that such hyperthermal areas can be profitably harnessed by man to provide heat and power for his communities. Although water from hot springs was used centuries ago to heat some Korean dwellings, is being used today by one-third of Iceland's population for similar purposes, and is finding industrial applications in New Zealand and elsewhere, the most dramatic use of geothermal energy has been its conversion into electricity. The largest installation at the present time is that at Larderello, Italy, where the Count of Larderello began to experiment in the production of electricity from geothermal steam in 1904. Eight years later after a quarrel with the local power company, the Count installed his first steam turbine, a unit of 250 kw capacity.

Jan 9, 1965

By H. Lawson

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued Program Information Bulletin P09-03in April of 2008, providing formal guidance on using programs that model the redistribution of stress during underground mining of coal. A key part of this guidance is visual observation and mapping of ground conditions. If a correlation between ground conditions and model output can be established, the model is considered to be verified, and can be used to guide mine design in similar ground. A simple scale is recommended for ranking observed roof, rib, and floor conditions. This paper discusses optimization and implementation of a ground condition rating scheme in the gateroads of a deep underground longwall coal mine. Roughly 80% of each gateroad length deteriorated in a fairly uniform manner. However, this manner varied between gateroads, as did pillar size. The implementation of a ground condition mapping program, similar to that recommended in PIB 09-03, was successful in characterizing the ground response to mining in gateroads of a longwall coal mine.

Jan 1, 2012

By D. Newman

"The U.S. stone industry is in a transition from surface quarries to single and multiple level underground stone mines. The factors driving this transition include surface quarries; ? reaching their economic stripping ratio, ? encroaching on the mineral reserve boundary where the remaining reserves are below the active pit, ? dust, noise, and blast vibration concerns as suburban neighborhoods and development move into formerly rural areas. Ground control is critical to the success of a safe and productive, mining operation. The primary focus of the ground control engineer in an underground stone mine is the stability of the roof or back, development and benched pillar stability, stability of the sill pillar between vertically adjacent mining levels, and floor stability. Roof stability begins with the selection of a stable back horizon based upon the presence of a thin shale parting, stylolite, or other discontinuities from which the production shot can easily ""peel"" away leaving a stable back stratum. Room width and the decision of whether to bolt the roof, the bolt length, bolt type, bolt diameter, and spacing of the support is controlled by the thickness, fracture spacing, jointing, and material properties of the back strata. Horizontal stress controls the header and crosscut azimuth as to avoid driving perpendicular to the maximum horizontal stress direction. Stable pillar dimensions depend upon the interaction of the; ? vertical stress resulting from overburden thickness and multiple level interaction of overlying level(s), ? mining height during development and the final mining height after floor shots are taken while benching, ? presence of faults, folds, or joints passing through the pillar, and ? stone lithology recognizing that the presence of oolitic bands, shale partings, and bentonite beds create zones of weakness that can destabilize an otherwise competent pillar. Floor stability is typically not a significant issue for underground stone mines because the bearing capacity of the stone exceeds the vertical pressure transferred through the pillar. However, floor heave can be a ground control issue where shale partings, moisture sensitive strata, weak stone bands, or horizontal stress is present. Roof stability and pillar stability problems can be initiated as the floor heave enables the pillar and roof to settle. The ground control issues for underground stone mines are most clearly presented through a series of case histories. The case histories presented in this paper are a mix of ground failures and successful mining. The focus is on the geotechnical data required for underground stone mine ground control for roof, pillar, and floor design and stability analysis."

Jan 1, 2016

By B. Wasmund, B. Haneman, G. Sheehan

Success in implementing new technology for metallurgical processes is not a foregone conclusion: This paper includes a survey of 23 new technology-based metallurgical plant start-ups, in which the authors have identified 7 successes, 9 difficult start-ups, and 7 failures. Success is defined not only as meeting the schedule and budget to the end of mechanical completion; the key goal is a fast ramp up to the full design production level, with minimum plant and equipment modifications required after start-up. This paper sets out the key factors that underlie achievement of a quick production ramp up curve, as determined from the authors' project experiences and a quantitative analysis of over twenty metallurgical plant start-ups, both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical. Thorough test-work and pilot plants, plus appropriate scale-up to the full commercial plant, are key determinants of success in implementing new technology in metallurgical processes. Another critical factor is the number of new elements and their interactions. Project phasing is also particularly important for new technology projects, with appropriate review after each phase to develop a risk mitigation plan for the subsequent phase. New technology projects need committed champions to advance the project in the face of sceptics, but also require dispassionate and unbiased experts to ask the hard questions. As a project evolves, it is important to periodically question the appropriateness of assumptions, as well as to re-assess the relevance and completeness of data from test-work I pilot plants I industrial analogues. Sufficient human and financial resources are required to complete the often arduous implementation phase. During the ramp-up period, the operation generates little positive cash flow; however, significant expertise and capital are required for the de-bottlenecking projects that are often necessary to reach the plant's design output level.

Jan 1, 2011

By Onur Golbası, Berk Gokce

Investment decisions in the mining industry are complicated by sector-specific uncertainties. This study presents a multi-submodule system dynamics model to capture the dynamic complexities of decision-making across mineral property development stages. The model includes five interconnected subsystems: valuation, production, growth strategy, demand, and finance. Developed through system decomposition, expert input, and literature, the model is tested on a hypothetical copper mine with 850 ktpa capacity and 1% cu grade. Simulated over five years with quarterly steps, it estimates an enterprise value of $78.9 million and a target growth rate of 11.2%. Results highlight the significant effects of operating costs, capital policies, and inflation on free cash flow, and the critical role of mineral reserves in sustaining growth. This model supports strategic investment analysis across different minerals and development phases, offering mining investors a robust tool for optimizing decisions.

Feb 22, 2026

Multilevel-multiseam hardcoal mines on the European continent usually consist of a huge network of underground openings, sometimes more than 200 km long in total, with some longwalls operating down to a depth of 1,500 m. While operating several longwalls simultaneously, these mines are making use of a number of stationary and mobile measurement- and analysis units in their main ventilation passes combined with atmospheric measurements on the surface. This paper provides an overview over the systems and technology used and describes the typical set-up of a measuring net. To detect and monitor underground fires through fire gases measurement and -analysis, a mobile underground testing laboratory collects data locally in the area of the fire. These laboratories have proven to be extremely useful not only during the actual fire fighting but also for the long-term gas measurements in critical mine areas. They have repeatedly detected starting fires and have thus given the mine the opportunity to react early and to avoid larger damage. Therefore several mobile laboratory units have now been installed for long-term testing in a number of German mines and similar units are being used in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Jan 1, 2012

By Michael F. Kitto

The production of sulphuric acid at base metals smelters is predominantly an involuntary activity and now comprises approximately 17% of all-forms sulphur supply in world terms. The majority of elemental sulphur is also produced involuntarily in response to environmental regulations regarding emissions from hydrocarbon processing plants. The paper examines the points of similarity and difference in the sulphur and smelter acid markets, and reviews their interactions. The reasons for the merchant acid market collapse of 1993 are analyzed, and the prospects of a recurrence are considered.

Jan 1, 1996

By Ronald B. Stone

This paper describes a proposed solution to the problem of mining a 315 foot diameter unsupported sphere at a depth of 2700 feet in a salt dome by conventional mining methods. The proposed solution utilizes many of the varied technologies available to the mining engineer for solving mining and underground construction problems. The following are reviewed in the paper: A. The location of the sphere within the dome as required by construction criteria. B. The relation of the location of the access shafts to the sphere. C. The rock mechanics theory in relation to the salt dome and large size of the excavation. D. The proposed "honeycomb" method of mining which will be a partial answer to rock mechanics stability requirements. E. The equipment which it is recommended be utilized to accomplish the construction. F. The rock mechanics measuring instruments proposed. G. The methods of disposal of the mined salt. Conclusions and areas of further study are outlined in the final statement.

Jan 1, 1968

By Norman A. Parlee

Introduction The principal primary iron and steel producing capacity of the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation is at the Dominion Iron and Steel, Limited, plant at Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The main raw materials are Cape Breton coal, Wabana (Newfoundland) iron ore, and Port-au-Port (Newfoundland) limestone. This plant, which was established at the turn of the century has gradually expanded its production facilities so that today its ingot producing capacity is over 720,000 tons annually. Principal operating units of the plant at present are three batteries of 173 Koppers by-product coke ovens with conventional by-product recovery equipment, three blast furnaces .of 15 ft. 6 in., 18 ft. 3 in., and 19 ft. 3 in. hearth diameter (inside the brick), one 700-ton hot metal mixer, ten open hearth furnaces (two of 175-ton capacity, three 12 5-ton, five 60-ton), one 10-ton electric furnace, a 40-inch blooming mill, a billet mill, a rail mill, a tie plate mill, rod and bar mills, and a wire and nail mill. Extensive machine shops and an iron and brass foundry are also available for plant maintenance and repairs. This paper will describe developments during the past five years and those now in process. It will also briefly discuss research being done and indicate the direction of future development.

Jan 1, 1951

By Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório, Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa, Morgana Rosset, Bárbara da Rocha Pereira

High-purity alumina finds application in various electronic industry sectors, with approximately 100 million tons of this compound being produced worldwide. Alumina is acquired through the mining process of bauxite, a rock composed of a mixture of minerals such as gibbsite, kaolinite, hematite, and either anatase or rutile. In 2020, both bauxite and alumina were included in the list of critical raw materials. Due to the demand for high-purity alumina production, the development of a methodology to remove impurities present in the leach liquor from bauxite processing by solvent extraction (SX) followed by precipitation has been widely studied. This work aims to obtain high-purity alumina from bauxite by a solvent extraction process followed by a precipitation step from the sulfur leach liquor obtained by the thorough dissolution of Al and Fe from bauxite. Different parameters were evaluated in the SX step, such as extractant type, pH, temperature, and volume-to-volume ratio. The results indicated that using Alamine 336 as an extractant at pH 0 and room temperature led to an extraction of 90% of Fe and 15% of Al. Aluminum sulfate was completely precipitated as aluminum hydroxide and 55% of Fe using NH4OH. After the calcination procedure, obtaining a 99.9% pure alumina was possible without generating a red mud-similar residue.

Dec 28, 2023

By N Hungerford, A Coote, S Doyle, D Henderson, F Della-Pasqua

A systematic, detailed airborne geophysical programme carried out in the Taupo Volcanic Region (TVR) in 2005 by Glass Earth NZ Ltd culminated in the identification of 21 epithermal gold targets. In this paper we present the follow up ground-truthing results from the first target drilled, Tahunaatara (TAH).   The Tahunaatara target was identified by means of a multi-disciplinary integrated approach (ôdata interventionö) that defined and ranked the target as being highly prospective for epithermal gold mineralisation. A follow-up ground resistivity survey over the target area revealed the presence of a ôresistorö buried beneath an extensive cover of recent volcaniclastic material. Geochemical soil sampling carried out in conjunction with the resistivity survey yielded anomalous gold values.   The host unit at TAH consists primarily of flow banded rhyolitic lavas, volcaniclastic deposits and tuffs of the Ohakuri Ignimbrite with small outcrops of silicified bedded breccias forming local topographic highs. Results from the first orientation drill hole show wide zones of intense silicification, clay alteration and mineralisation. Sulphide mineralisation is disseminated throughout the core in association with hydrothermal replacement and also occurs in association with quartz veins and infill in fractures (sulphide-only veinlets as opposed to quartz + sulphide veinlets). Textural evidence from drill core indicates that hydrothermal fluid flow was multi-staged with potential for multi-stage gold, and other elements. The presence of polymictic hydrothermal eruptive breccias indicates a hydrothermal vent system.   Alteration varies from argillic to silicic, with pervasive adularia and vuggy silicification also present. Chlorite is minor and associated with quartz, illitic clay and adularia. Assay results currently available confirm the presence of anomalous gold values in association with zones of vuggy silica deposition and intense silicification.

Jan 1, 2006

By Kenneth S. Johnson

Large reserves of high-purity Permian gypsum crop out and are at shallow depth in three regions of western Oklahoma, Gypsum beds in the Blaine Formation are 10 to 30 feet thick and are generally 95 to 99 percent pure, whereas the massive Cloud Chief Gypsum is 20 to 100 feet thick and is 92 to 97 percent pure. Reserves are estimated at 48 billion short tons. Eight companies in the State currently mine about 1 million tons of gypsum each year for wall- board, for plaster, as a retarder in portland cement, and as a soil conditioner. Future uses, under more favorable market conditions, may be in the chemical industries, largely because of gypsum's potential as a source of sulfur. Three thick sequences of Permian rock salt underlie most of western Oklahoma at depths of 30 to 3,000 feet. Individual salt beds 5 to 30 feet thick are interbedded with thinner layers of shale and anhydrite. Five large salt plains, fed by natural springs of saturated brine constitute additional resources of salt. Reserves, estimated at 20 trillion short tons, are virtually untapped, and, ironically, about 90 percent of the salt used in Oklahoma is imported. Chemical data on the rock salt are lacking, but evaporated salt produced from brines is generally 97 to 99 percent pure. Current production from three solar-evaporation plants is used mainly for stockfeed, recharging water softeners, and deicing roads. Potential uses are in the chemical industries, where salt or brine is a necessary raw material.

Jan 1, 1973

By Pedram Sahba

In today?s emerging economy, pooling resources is a growing trend to reduce overall system costs. Two important resources of every maintenance department are repair shops and spare parts. In this work, we consider a system consisting of mine drills at multiple areas in a mine. In each area, a number of identical drills are operational. When a failure occurs, the defective component should be repaired in a designated repair shop. The failed component can be replaced immediately if a spare part is available. Otherwise, the drill is down until a component is repaired and put back into service. In this paper, the effect of pooling resources is examined, and the conditions under which it is beneficial to pool the resources are investigated. In addition, determining the optimal number of stand-by units, equipment or spare parts, in each case is of interest.

May 1, 2013

By L. Xinguang

Shandong MinMetals Corporation, a state-owned import and export organization located in the city of Qingdao, Shandong Province, China, was opened in 1954, with the mission of marketing metal products and industrial raw material in oversea areas for hard currency to support the modernization project of the country as well as the province. The management officers are appointed by the provincial government, and report to the Foreign Trade Department of Shandong Province. Meanwhile, the company also receives guidance from MinMetals head office in Beijing, the capital city of China. The head office does not own and control any provincial MinMetals organizations, but merely coordinate business among provinces.

Jan 1, 1990

By J. L. Hoover

The goal of the drill bit consumption study was to develop an equation(s) based on various components that affect bit drill wear and use the equation(s) to estimate the consumption of bits during production drilling. Drill bit data from various geographic locations were compiled and used to develop linear regression equations using the Microsoft Excel Software. Multiple drill bit consumption equations were developed and statistical analysis was used to verify the accuracy of those equations. The equations will allow mining companies to more accurately forecast drill bit consumption when evaluating new mine properties. This capability becomes increasingly beneficial to forecasting as the cost of consumables increases.

Jan 1, 2012

By H. N. Dougherty

"The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) ventilation gallery was used to study methane-air flows around a continuous miner mockup with water sprays and a scrubber fan. Methane gas was released from pipes located at the face to simulate face gas emissions. Methane concentrations and air velocities were measured while varying parameters such as airflow quantity, entry width (sump or slab cut), and face ventilation configuration (blowing or exhausting curtain). Test data showed a similar pattern of methane concentrations at both low and high airflow quantities, but a difference in the distribution of methane concentrations between narrow and wide entry widths. Most tests showed that blowing face ventilation was more efficient in diluting methane than exhausting ventilation, similar to observations made in previous empty gallery studies. The patterns of airflow and methane concentrations observed in this testing can further improve the understanding of airflow in and around the CM and face, promoting effective use of face ventilation to improve the health and safety of miners. INTRODUCTION Attaining an accurate understanding of airflow distribution at the continuous miner face is instrumental in maintaining a safe mining environment. US mining regulations require that sufficient airflow must be directed to the deepest penetration of the face and render harmless contaminant gases, as verified by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Currently, continuous miner face air readings can be taken in the last open crosscut and at the inby end of the curtain mouth. By measuring adequate airflow in a pre-determined area it is accepted that a sufficient quantity of that air exists to sweep the face of harmful dust and gasses. Unfortunately, due to the location inaccessibility, precise face velocity readings cannot be measured in situ. Face velocities may be estimated through computer-simulated programs based on laboratory models. Improving upon previous empty gallery testing and to more effectively determine representative face methane readings, a mockup of a continuous miner with water sprays and a scrubber fan was used in the current study to further refine face airflow conditions that would be closer to actual mining conditions."

Jan 1, 2016

By D J. Brake

Faced with the need to improve workplace conditions in both its development and production headings in its existing K1 orebody, as well as its new K Link and K2 orebodies, the Kencana mine in Indonesia took the novel approach of reversing the ventilation on most of its access ramp by outcasting up the ramp to the portal. Working levels were then fed with fresh air via auxiliary fans sealed into the current surface ‘egress’ intake raises (ladderways) or another small surface intake raisebore rather than from fans hung in the ramp as in the past. Outcasting the portal provided a substantial increase in the total mine exhaust capacity allowing fewer levels to be ventilated in series and significantly improving conditions, especially in the most difficult workplaces to ventilate. It also reduced the consequences if there was to be a fire on a vehicle in the ramp. The same system using the ramp as an exhaust is also intended to be used as part of the final ventilation solution for the new K2 orebody which also uses a novel single surface ventilation shaft that is vertically split into separate intake and exhaust compartments using a concrete brattice. Using the main ramp as an exhaust has potential application in many other operations in Australia using surface ramps which otherwise frequently suffer from overuse of series ventilation circuits and poor working conditions at the mine bottom.

Mar 21, 2011