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MERLIN, the Queensland Department of Minerals and Energy's corporate geographic information system, provides ready access to all georeferenced data held by the department. Its aim is to provide a consistent, current, statewide coverage of timely information to assist in tenures management, exploration targeting and competing land use decision-making. Initially developed in 1988 and under continual enhancement since then, its functionality is the result of on-going close consultation with a wide range of departmental clients and potential users. A true geographic information system, MERLIN maintains both graphical data with linked textual information on a wide range of features of interest. The proprietary software products Arclnfo and Oracle are used to hold the graphics and attribute information respectively. Access to information is provided by a specially designed graphical user interface programed in-house. Hardcopy output of graphics displays including related attribute data as well as detailed reports of textual information can be retrieved at any departmental office. MERLIN is a network of computer systems which link each of the Department's regional offices and head office in Brisbane. The current state of exploration and mining is maintained by departmental officers processing tenure applications, transactions and dealings directly into the system. Data entered at regional offices are transferred overnight to head office to up-date central records and maintain a currency of data statewide as at the close of business the previous day. Through MERLIN the Department of Minerals and Energy now offers a much streamlined tenures management service as well as access to information about past exploration and mining, Queensland's mineral and energy occurrences and resources, and up-to-date information on the state's geology including maps, boreholes, geophysical surveys and field observations. In the future, this Geographic Information system will be invaluable to the mining industry in the development of mining projects.

Jan 1, 1995

Establishing the link between the solid, cold rock of dikes, sills, plutons, and lavas and hot, active magma chambers is the quest of igneous petrology. Differentiation of Earth, the diversity of the igneous rocks, and the spectacle of volcanism are ample evidence that magmatic processes are fundamental to our understanding of planet formation and evolution. Single gabbroic plutons, on the other hand, often show intricate and abundant evidence of the effects of crystal growth and sorting. It has not proven simple, however, to establish the basic principles of magmatic behavior leading to this crucial evidence. Because of their abundance, exposure, simple geometry, large range in size, and often straight-forward petrology, sills are excellent examples of the magma chambers. Physical and chemical processes operating in sills can be recognized that also routinely operate in many other bodies. Understanding the dynamics of sill solidification is essential to understanding the genetic links between lavas and plutons.

Jan 1, 1990

Indigenous brown coals, which provide a readily available primary energy source, have played a significant part in the industrial development of Victoria. The deposits located in the Latrobe Valley compare in extent with other major deposits of brown coal in the world. Smaller but valuable deposits occur at Stradbroke, Gelliondale, Anglesea and Bacchus Marsh. Extensive drilling, aided by geophysical surveys, and detailed analyses of coal samples, have enabled the extent and quality of these Tertiary deposits to be Defined.

Jan 1, 1979

Silica and limestone fluxing levels in copper smelting slags were studied. Copper concentrates with flux additions were smelted to matte (55.5 per cent Cu) and slag in a pilot scale submerged combustion furnace.Results indicated that oxidic and sulphidic copper levels in slags were minimised with a slag Si02 level of 36 per cent and a SiO2/CaO ratio of 5.5. Total copper losses in slags were 0.6 per cent under these conditions.To produce the desired slag chemistry, additions of bulk silica and limestone to copper concentrates of fluctuating grades were predicted numerically. The method employed the solution of two simultaneous equations, each respectively for silica and limestone calculations.The predicted flux additions were applied in a further series of tests and the resultant stages were found to be satisfactory. The method is applicable to smelting 'operations which employ two flux bins, with weigh feeders, so that slag chemistry may be controlled with the flux/concentrate feed mix.

Jan 1, 1985

By Leung L, Downey M

This paper presents an overview of a technology package developed by BHP for locating discontinuities in coal seams using an in-seam seismic (ISS) exploration technique. The technology package includes instrumentation, data processing software, field procedures, numerical modelling and interpretation know-how. The technology developed has proved to be highly successful; features such as faults and dykes, not detected by other methods, have been delineated. Using equipment specifically designed for underground use, surveys are carried out quickly and at low cost. More than 30 ISS surveys have been conducted by BHP in Australia. Substantial savings in production revenue have been realised in situations where ISS has identified mining conditions which would have impeded longwall operations. Case studies of several ISS surveys are described in the Paper.

Jan 1, 1987

Mining software systems have provided a basis for integration of resource, survey, and design functions. They can similarly provide a basis for incorporating ground conditions into the process.Exploration and mine geologists have a prime role to play in this process, extending their responsibilities further across the geological spectrum, into exploration of ground conditions, analyses of results, and assessments of their implications for mining. Ground conditions are as much a part of the geology of a prospect or mine as its mineralisation, and can have critical imnlicationa for mining.

Jan 1, 1993

Structural geological information is widely used at the Mt Whaleback Mine, Newman, WA. Recent improvements in the structural understanding of Mt Whaleback are providing a very cost-effective way of reducing geological risk, improving the economics of mining, optimising pit design and addressing safety problems. The structure of the Mt Whaleback orebody is highly complex and has a significant influence not only on iron ore genesis but also on pit wall stability. A team approach between the Structural Geology and Geomechanics Groups has been providing excellent results to reduce geological risk at Mt Whaleback.

Jan 1, 1994

A review of ground control procedures in Western Australian underground mines is presented. Geotechnical input into initial mine design and methods of ground control is rare. As a result, the frequency of unexpected rockfalls is comparatively high, with over three quarters of the mines adopting non-specialist ground control designs experiencing unexpected falls-of-ground. In contrast, mines that provide some level of specialist input into initial ground control design experience decreased rockfall frequencies.

Jan 1, 1992

By Boyd G

This paper describes the planning, analysis, design and operational experience of highwall mining based on auger drilling techniques applied to thick coal seams exposed in an opencut highwall. Being the first time such technology has been used in Australia, a large commitment to technical design and logistics planning was given by Callide Coalfields Pty Ltd. This commitment included technical and operations management and supervision, mine services, and the retention of consultants to undertake geotechnical analysis, instrument preparation and instrument installation.

Jan 1, 1991

By Boyd D. M

Minor magnetic anomalies which may be un represented on a magnetic contour map can be extracted from the original survey data and plotted by the described method to provide a rapid interpretation of the magnetic survey, provided that the data has been recorded digi- tally on magnetic tape. The example used comes from 40 kilometers south of Charters Towers, Queensland.

Jan 1, 1977

By Witkowski A

I have the pleasure to present 6 excellent papers in this section all of major relevance to the mining environment of today where competing social, legal and monetary interests and their often complex interaction require serious consideration. This is particularly true today where huge fluctuations in commodity prices makes mining a perilous undertaking while the world increasingly are becoming aware of the serious threat that mans activities has on his environment. The 6 papers deal with such complex issues as safety in an underground environment; How to protect sensitive wetlands well into the next century; The enormeous waterproblems in China and conflicting dewatering/water supply needs; Disposal of contaminated water in sensitive areas and the dynamic interaction between mining companies and legislation.

Jan 1, 1988

One of the problems with mining projects is the setting of the design criteria that will best match the requirements. Normally this is expressed in economic terms but can be other factors. With massive orebodies these problems are often compounded by the general lack of distinct mining boundaries. A technique using evaluation surfaces was developed at Palabora for the underground mine design. This technique has subsequently been applied on several other mining projects to assist in the determination of the design criteria. This paper discusses the method, illustrated by some of the results of these studies.

Jan 1, 2000

Background BHP Iron Ore Pty Ltd is one of the major iron ore producers in the Pilbara Region of North Western Australia. The company manages three separate joint ventures; the Newman, Goldsworthy and Yandi joint ventures and two 100 per cent owned operations, Yampi and Jimblebar. The Newman operations constitute a mine site at Newman and a 426 km railroad to Port Hedland where there is an ore processing/port site. The Goldsworthy operations currently constitute a mine site at Shay Gap/Nimingarra, a developing mine site at Yarrie, a decommissioned mine site at Goldsworthy and an ore processing/port site at Finucane Island (Port Hedland). The Yandi operations include mining and processing facilities at site and a spur line to join the Newman Hedland railroad. Jimblebar operations are scree and bedrock mining near Newman and include mining, processing and a spur line to Newman where it joins the Newman-Hedland railroad. The Yampi operations constitute a mine/port site at Koolan Island (which is presently being decommissioned). The combined BHP Iron Ore operations produce approximately 46 Mtpa of iron ore. This paper will concentrate on the processes developed and applied for the decommissioning of the Goldsworthy site. The Goldsworthy site is on the northern boundary of the Pilbara Region and adjacent to the western extremity of the Great Sandy Desert. It is located approximately 110 km east of Port Hedland (see Figure 1). The area is generally of low relief with isolated low ranges. The mine site being within the Mount Goldsworthy range area. The geology of the area is essentially Archaean granite with Archaean banded iron formation becoming dominant within the ranges. The chief soils are hard alkaline red soils. The vegetation is essentially shrub steppe with the main hummock grass species being spinifex (Triodia sp). The climate for the region is semi arid tropical. The temperature ranges from a mean low of 15¦C in winter to a mean high of 40¦ in summer. Rainfall is episodic, occurring mainly throughout the summer as a result of tropical depressions or cyclonic activity. The average annual rainfall is approximately 300 mm and annual evaporation may exceed rainfall by up to 2500 mm. Goldsworthy Mining Ltd commissioned the Goldsworthy site in 1965/66. Goldsworthy was the first iron ore operation and associated town site in the Pilbara region. The mine development peaked in 1977 with the town population reaching 1400 people. In 1982 mining ceased and the mining operations were relocated to Shay Gap, 80 km east of Goldsworthy. The Goldsworthy town continued as the base for the railing operations between Finucane Island and Shay Gap. BHP Minerals acquired Goldsworthy Mining Limited in 1990. The population for the town of Goldsworthy at this stage was around 450 people. An assessment of the Goldsworthy site operations concluded that it was uneconomic to continue the operation of the site. The decision was made to transfer the base for railing operations to Port

Jan 1, 1994

The Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET) /Calgary Coal Research Laboratory and the National Research Council in Ottawa established a joint working research group with industry to develop and test various computer models for application in surface coal mining operations in western Canada.The first part of the paper deals with the problems the group experienced during the past two years especially having model specification and requirements defined and understand site management practices.The second part of the paper deals with site specific development of general mine model for TransAlta Utilities' Highvale Mine in Alberta. Described here are the development of an interactive truck/shovel model for their three pit operation, selection and application of dragline model for tandem operation with the extended bench method, criteria for operational model of the five seams operation with selec-tive mining approach.

Jan 1, 1985

A simple production technique has been initiated and implemented at Oaky Creek open cut coal mine to optimise recovery of coal from the relatively thin geological seams. The production technique is based upon minimising coal dilution through careful dragline operation and the selective use of mine mobile equipment to clean the top of coal. In addition, recovery of coal from the pits has been increased by refining blasting and dragline methods.The implementation of the recovery optimisation programme at Oaky Creek has provided significant economic benefits from increased yield through the preparation plant by the reduction in dilution, and from increased raw coal tonnage through improved pit recovery methods.

Jan 1, 1990

By V Rajakumar, S Trang

Titanium has the potential to become the third wave of light metals used in high volume applications, following on from aluminium and magnesium. These light metals have functional attributes that can meet many of the goals needed for societyÆs transition to sustainable development. CSIRO has initiated a Light Metals Flagship to focus additional R&D efforts in support of the light metals industry. The vision of the Light Metal Flagship is for Australia to lead the Light Metals Age by reducing the costs and environmental impacts through innovative technologies for these metals. Life cycle principles will be used to identify novel technology pathways for metal production and product manufacture that are more energy efficient, less capital intensive and incorporating eco-efficient material flow chains.Under the auspices of the Light Metal Flagship, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of titanium metal production was carried out with mineral sands mining of ilmenite as the starting point. Upgrading of the ilmenite to synthetic rutile by the Becher process and titanium metal production by the conventional Kroll process were the processing routes considered. Two alternative processes for titanium metal production, the FFC Cambridge process involving direct electrochemical deoxygenation of titanium dioxide, and a plasma process for producing titanium powder from titanium tetrachloride were also examined using LCA methodology and compared to the Kroll process. The environmental impacts included in the LCA were greenhouse gas emissions (Global Warming Potential, GWP) and acid rain gas emissions (Acidification Potential, AP). The Gross Energy Requirement (GER) of each process was also determined.These results for titanium, along with those from previous LCA studies by CSIRO on aluminium, magnesium, steel and stainless steel production, were used to show that despite the relatively large amounts of primary energy required for the production of these light metals, their special properties (eg corrosion resistance, strength and light weight) mean that these metals offer potential GER and GWP reductions compared to other competing materials in a number of applications, when viewed on a life cycle basis. Two applications considered in the paper are the lightweighting of motor vehicles and chemical plant equipment manufacture.

Jan 1, 2004

By Gilbert DJ, Lemon NM

A case history of a two year study of low grade ores in the Middleback Range area with the objective of defining possible areas of interest from a combination of geological- petrological-metallurgical criteria. Covering the general geology of the area and ore types; the results of metallurgical testwork and the pattern of evolution of these tests; the petrological explanation of the results of the testwork; the culmination of the work in the selection of areas of best potential for more intensive work. Jaspilites consisting of magnetite, hematite and limonite with quartz and silicate-carbonate-sulphide minerals are hosts to high grade iron mineralisation but also constitute a large low grade iron Reserve.

Jan 1, 1975

By Ruschitzka C

The productivity and economic success of a German hard coal mine is attributed to the high productivity of a small number of operation points; however high rates of production are associated with increased gas emission at the working sites. Therefore modem high technology is required in order to reach the planned production rate, since high methane concentrations often cause unplanned breakdowns in operation. The optimised simulation of gas emission is a fundamental planning tool for mine design as well as for determining the potential of a coal deposit and has increased in significance over the last years. Methane-INFO enables the three-dimensional, graphical simulation of a working site taking account of different aspects such as the mine design, ventilation, production rate, geology, seam quality, gas exhaustion, etc. The following paper gives a short overview over the benefits of the discussed system.

Jan 1, 1995

This is the time of year tor the presidential address, and with the present incumbent engaged in the coal mining industry, it will therefore come as no surprise to you that the theme of my address this evening is concerned with coal.There are other reasons for this apart from my contact with the coal industry. At present, coal is supplying considerable overseas revenue at a time when the remainder of the mining market is in a somewhat depressed state. That times will change goes without saying, if history is to be believed.However, so far so good for coal. My first reaction when The Institute indicated its wish that I be president for 1976 was to become deeply conscious of the honour bestowed on me.On consideration, I realized that very few past presidents have been intimately connected with the coal mining industry to the extent of indulging in it for lengthy periods as a full time occupation or, conversely, a part time interest for a long time. It also appears that not one had started their career in the industry. In my case, 'also, there were 8 very interesting years ,as a gold miner and metallurgist before commencing in coal.It therefore seemed appropriate to endeavour to discover ,why this should be so, as coal mining is now a very important part of a very important industry. What were the reasons why the industry took so long to emerge when there were ample reserves of easily accessible coal?Frankie and Johnnie in their bar room epic of the depression years concluded, and I paraphrase, that "their story held no moral, their story told no tale". If my story has such a message, it could perhapsbe construed as reinforcing the oft-repeated dictums, true or false, that "history repeats itself" or "man never learns".Coal mining is by far our oldest major Australian industry except for agriculture. Its history is almost as old as that of settlement:For various reasons, there has been a glamour associated with metal mining ventures which prob...

Jan 1, 1976

By Dagbert M, Belisle J. M

Several packages for the estimation of porphyry type deposits exist and produce acceptable results. Recently, however, the need for really trying to obtain maximum information from drill holes has prompted the generation of geostatistical solutions to the problem of reserve calculation. It will be shown that an understanding of a few key points is necessary in order for these solutions (variogram analysis and kriging) to he really ptimal. The most important new fact to be ecognized in open pit ore reserve estimation is that block models do not give an accurate rediction of ore tonnage when a cut-off is pplied but often yield an overestimation of p to 25%. When checked against extensive roduction records, geostatistical methods provide a practical solution to this problem. t now seems that the model used here gives he best possible results. Inasmuch as all arge deposits present very similar geostatis- ical characteristics only a few days of work re necessary to produce a complete inventory f these. The techniques used will be demon- trated using examples from five deposits and pecial emphasis will be given to the accurate rediction of tonnages of ore and waste using he new "transfer function" technique of G.

Jan 1, 1977