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The Ravensworth-Liddell area is part of the Muswellbrook- Singleton Coal District of the Northern Coalfield. It lies in the Parishes of Liddell, Ravensworth, Vane and Howick, in the County of Durham, midway between Singleton and Muswellbrook, and is traversed by the Great Northern Railway, and the New England Highway.Ravensworth and Liddell railway stations are 57 miles arid 61 miles, respectively, north from Newcastle (Fig. 1).The area has been the centre of an intensive search for open cut coal during the past few years. More than 1,200 bores, of which about 10% were cored diamond drill holes, were drilled to depths of about 200ft. Portions with thicker cover have been explored by 10 diamond drill holes to depths of over 400ft. but core recovery from these deeper holes was poor, and the lack of detail in the recorded logs limits geological interpretation. The drilling has proved about 34,000,000 tons of open cut coal, and about 246,000,000 tons under deeper cover.GEOLOGYThe Ravensworth-Liddell area lies on the eastern flank and southern extremity of the Muswellbrook Dome, extending from Hebden in the north, to Jerry's Plains in the south, and the rocks under consideration belong to the Tomago Stage of the Upper Coal Measures. On the north they are truncated by the Hebden Thrust fault, which has a throw of about 4,500ft. (Raggatt, 1929). On the west they are bounded by outcrops of the Upper Marine Series, which conformably underlies the Upper Coal Measures, and...

Jan 1, 1953

By English W, Poppit I

COALEX Pry Limited operates two underground steaming coal mines on the western edge of the Sydney Basin near Lithgow, New South Wales. Baal Bone Colliery uses longwall technology for an output of over two million tonne/year while Clarence Colliery currently uses continuous miners and breaker line supports for an output of two million tonnelyear.A computerised geological database and modelling system has been implemented to service these mines routinely, as well as several outlying prospects. The database is constantly upgraded for drillhole information, surveyed spot levels on the surface and underground, quality sampling details, surveyed mine workings and geological mapping. This information is edited on a routine basis, allowing dynamic modelling of key aspects of geology for ongoing operations.

Jan 1, 1991

Autogenous and Semi-Autogenous grinding has become an accepted method of reducing primary crusher product to micron sizes in a single or a two-stage grinding circuit. The elimination of secondary and tertiary crusher circuits and sometimes rod mills helps to lower overall operating costs and, in many instances, can make uneconomical projects viable. Selecting AG/SAG Mills have been rather a "hit and miss" affair over the years, but now with the many different types of tests available, accurate mill size predictions can be made, provided the test data is evaluated correctly. This paper endeavours to simplify the process of evaluating test data and sets down some guidelines for designers to follow when selecting AG/SAG Mills.

Jan 1, 1991

By Morley I. W

In the year 1926, Edie Creek, in the Morobe District of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, saw the greatest gold rush of recent years. Situated 35 miles inland from the coast, and at an altitude of over 6000 feet, Edie Creek presented to the original prospectors a wet, jungle-clad uninhabited, and inhospitable region. There were no roads; and the only means of approach from the equally inhospitable coast was by an eight to ten days' tramp through coastal swamps and gorge-scarred mountains. All food supplies and equipment had to be carried on the backs of "kanakas," and in many cases through country occupied by hostile natives.Since the first discovery of payable gold at Edie Creek, mining on the Morobe Goldfield has shown remarkable progress, and in spite of the tremendous natural difficulties, the field today ranks as one of the most important in Australasia.Aeroplanes, more than any other factor, have been responsible for this rapid development. They provide the only means of transport from the coast, and at present serve the needs of over 600 Europeans and 3000 indentured native labourers engaged in the industry.

Jan 1, 1933

By D François-Bongarçon

The theory of sampling (TOS), and therefore representative sampling, is based on three fundamental principles: sample correctness, which handles the search for non-bias; segregation, the effects of which must be eliminated or minimised; and variance control to help achieve the desired reproducibility. After briefly reviewing these very few, albeit essential first principles of Gy’s TOS, the state-of-the-art in TOS is examined through the prism of these principles and the prospects for the future are explored, with suggestions for further research where relevant. Regarding segregation, which is currently the focus of much research, new orientations are proposed. For correctness, which takes on a major importance when it comes to sampling devices, some new, important principles that have been put forth by recent research, are described in details.CITATION:François-Bongarçon, D, 2014. State of affairs and current research trends in theory of sampling fundamentals, including segregation and correctness, in Proceedings Sampling 2014 , pp 11–16 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 29, 2014

By Hale C. T, Carnie W. A

Rosebery mine has had over 100 years of mining activity. The reserve has remained static for the last eight years with an expected mine life of six years. A move to rectify this was made in 1994 with the birth of the Deep Exploration Project (DEP). $45 M was committed to drill 100 km of underground exploration diamond drilling and develop 5.5 kin of decline aiming to add 9.5 Mt to the reserves and minimise lead time for development of P and K lenses discovered in the early-1990s. In 1996 this aim was expanded with the objective to build the resource base to 20 Mt by June 2000 allowing the mill to operate at 1.0 Mtpa (0.9 Mt from underground). Preliminary results of the project to-date are outlined and exploration diamond drilling techniques and strategies are described.

Jan 1, 1997

By MacLean L

In 1975 the Commonwealth Government established import parity pricing for all liquid hydrocarbons discovered after the 16th September, 1975. These discoveries were termed "new oil" to differentiate them from existing discoveries and production. Overnight the price of the product being sought trebled, resulting in greatly enhanced economics by increasing the potential returns on existing prospects and by making smaller plays economically viable. After 18 years of drilling, the offshore Gippsland Basin has attained a moderate level of exploration for a basin of its size. Fifty seven prospects have been drilled within the basin but only a few of these were drilled along the southern and northern margins, while the deep water areas along the eastern margin have remained virtually undrilled following the Hapuku-1 oil discovery. The major hydrocarbon accumulations within the basin are trapped beneath the Latrobe Unconformity surface and exploration has largely concentrated on this single play in areas immediately adjacent to the major producing fields.

Jan 1, 1982

By H J. Ross, R K. Beatson, T J, W R. Fright

Traditional method of explicitly defining three-dimensional (3D) ore-waste and geological boundaries relies heavily on a time-consuming process of manual digitisation. This method of modelling can be best described as surface modelling, as complex surface geometry is built up by digitising points that lie on the surface. With the advent of fast 3D interpolation methods, however, construction of geological surfaces using volume functions is now a practical alternative to explicit modelling of surfaces. Unlike explicit modelling, surfaces contained in volume functions are not explicitly defined or digitised. Instead the existence of surfaces in the volume function is implicit, thus the process of modelling surfaces from volume function is called æimplicit modellingÆ. Based on recent advances in fast scattered data interpolation methods, implicit modelling first defines a continuous three-dimensional function that describes the grade or rock distribution. This volumetric function is interrogated for a grade value, or a geological surface, thus allowing the extraction of the 3D object to be automated and eliminating the need to manually digitise surfaces. Since the function is continuous throughout space and does not depend on a mesh or grid for its definition, the extracted geological or grade wireframes can be constructed at any desired resolution in the specific volume of interest. The volume modelling method can work on scattered drillhole data of any data density, including processing combined information from dense grade control data as well as sparse resource drilling. It offers distinct advantages over surface modelling, including: being able to wireframe geological objects that may take days to digitise in tens of minutes; substantial improvement in modelling accuracy; and the ability to generate conditional models rapidly allowing mining risks inherent in geological modelling to be examined.

Jan 1, 2003

IN this paper an attempt is made to describe the sluicing operations on the tin fields of north-eastern Tasmania. No claim is made to completeness, for much of the ground has already been covered, and nothing is to be gained by needless repetition. On this account some portions of the subject have obviously received but scanty attention in order that others may be rather more fully dealt with; for instance, figures referring to the accuracy of various methods of valuing alluvial deposits, particulars of efficiencies, and water duties on both overburden and drift; also, the system of recording water distribution, &c.The plans of the tin-streaming shed, sluice and feed·race, and overburden tail-race represent types of the most modern design.The principal alluvial deposits being worked at the present time are situated either in the ancient or modern bed of the Ringarooma river or its tributaries. This river flowed in a north-easterly direction, receiving numerous tributaries on either bank, and finally emptying into Boobyalla harbour. The most important of these tributaries, from a mining point of view, are the Cascade, Main creek, Weld and Frome rivers (which unite just before joining the modern Ringarooma), Wyniford river, and Bradshaw's...

Jan 1, 1911

In this paper is given a description of the flotation plant recently erected by Broken Hill South Limited at the South Mine, Broken Hill, N.S.W. It has been built on the site of the old flotation plant, which was described in a previous paper published by the author. The present paper is supplementary to the former paper in that it replaced the following sections thereof, namely, those from end of the second paragraph, page 269, to the end of the first paragraph page 282, and from the end of the second paragraph, page 284, to the end of the third paragraph, page 302.The roll crushing, fine grinding, gravity concentration, filtration, disposal of products and sampling in the new plant are the same as described in the above mentioned paper.The reconstruction of the flotation section, described herein, completes the reconstruction and modernisation of the treatment plant which was begun in 1928. A description of these earlier alterations has already been published in the Proceedings of this Institute.

Jan 1, 1935

There is no good news! The market environment for raising capital for resource projects is getting tougher. The regulatory and accounting environment is fast becoming more difficult and the hurdles to successfully raising debt, lease, equity or hybrid finance are now considerably higher. As ever, well structured companies and capital issues can and will survive, if not thrive. An outline of the market and regulatory environment for successful issues is set out below, followed by some comparison of stockmarket values of resource assets compared to more technical appraisals.

Jan 1, 1990

By J J. Boshoff

This iron ore mine site, located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, commenced operations in 1998, with ore derived by mining of open-cut pits in Channel Iron Deposits (CIDs). A portion of the ore extracted at the mine is processed at wet processing plants that produce both ore saleable product and waste fines (i.e. tailings) slurry. The waste fines produced at the wet plants are presently stored within Waste Fines Cells (WFCs).Waste fines cells A (WFCA) and B (WFCB) are located within an Autonomous Haul System (AHS) area and consist of embankments that span the width of the pit in east-west alignments. Technical studies and design analyses were carried out to support embankment raises and ongoing development of the WFCs. During operation and development of the WFCs, a multitude of simultaneous activities took place to the immediate north and south of WFCA respectively. These activities included the construction of the embankment raises using the AHS fleet, mining of the CID to not only mine the ore but to also create future deposition space for WFCB, blasting next to the WFC embankments as part of the mining activities, seepage collection and dewatering of the pit in the vicinity of the WFC.This paper discusses the material characteristics, design approach, construction staging and equipment requirements, blasting near embankments, water management, facility consequence category and closure concept.CITATION:Boshoff, J J, 2018. A waste fines cell with a multitude of concurrent activities, in Proceedings Mine Waste and Tailings Stewardship Conference 2018, pp 39–49 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 23, 2018

By Davis RA, Wasp EJ, Cowper NT

The transportation of solids by pipeline is not new. In 1891 a United States patent broadly covering a method of pumping coal with water was granted to W. C. Andrews. His pilot plant was constructed on what is now the site of the New- York Public Library in Manhattan. His process was applied to pumping coal mine waste back into the worked out portion of coal mines. On October 26, 1967, the world's first long distance iron ore slurry line was put into service by Savage River Mines. The commissioning of this 5.0 million dollar installation climaxed three years of development, testing, and construction and proved the Company's faith in pioneering' this unique transportation method for iron ore. This paper will discuss some of the more pertinent items in connection with that three-year period. Also to be discussed will be the operation of this line during the past eleven months.

Jan 1, 1969

ABSTRACTFor the binary system copper-lead two relationsEquation 1andEquation 2have been derived for the activities of copper and lead at compositions and absolute temperatures within the liquid region of the phase diagram.These relations give, with greater accuracy than is given by previously published relations, the activity-composition temperature variations for all regions of the phase diagram of interest to metallurgists.These relations are essentially simple forms of the Margules equations but with linear temperature dependence applied to their coefficients. This has been done in such a manner that a phase diagram obtained from these relations agrees well with the data available for this system. The methods of obtaining the relations and constructing a phase diagram from them are both given in detail. The enthalpies and entropies of mixing are compared with those derived by other methods.

Jan 1, 1971

By J Moffatt, T Payten, N Spooner, L Teixeira, L A. Balzan, G Wilkie, G Tsiminis

Fluorine is a penalty element due to its reactive nature. In acidic environments many fluorine minerals dissolve to form hydrofluoric acid (HF), changing processing conditions. When smelted HF can be released, causing negative effects to nearby people and the environment, as well as potentially damaging the smelter. Sale of ore with high fluorine levels elicit a financial penalty or are banned outright. Real-time sensors create the opportunity for instantaneous decisions on ore processing due to changing conditions. A fluorine sensor would allow rises in fluorine concentration in a processing stream to be flagged, and decisions on processing conditions or diversion to stockpile before processing could be undertaken. As fluorine is a light element, it is difficult to detect with in-field XRF devices and does not work well with PGNAA. There are currently no existing sensors to quantify the presence of fluorine in real-time, and thus decisions based on fluorine grade cannot be made at minute- or even hour-scales. Sensors designed to measure the presence of minerals that contain fluorine are a possible avenue to enable the real-time detection of this element. Mineral-based sensing may also give an added advantage of additional information about how the fluorine will react under different processing steps. The authors were given a grant under CRC ORE II (project number P1–005) to search for mineralspecific signatures suitable for real-time analysis. The work focused on novel regimes and applications of fluorescence as a means to detect specific minerals. The aim was to exploit fluorescence responses unique to minerals of interest in mining systems in order to produce sensors that address gaps in existing capability. After the successful discovery of signatures specific to two major fluorine minerals an additional grant (P1–014) was funded to develop the research into a prototype on-belt sensor, in partnership with Scantech International Pty Ltd. This paper details the development of a sensor package through multiple Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) through collaboration with government/industry grant schemes, academics from university, and a sensor-focused Mining Equipment and Technology Services (METS) company. We give a brief description of the new sensor technique and provide a case study of multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Aug 24, 2022

By Adusumilli M. S, Subrahmanyam T. V, Rao V. D

Chance find of an economically important mineral on the sur- face and its exploitation without proper exploration work, has become the habit of humanity since the Bronze Age. The explora- tion and exploitation techniques have, however, been substan- tially improved in the technologically developed western world and system controlled major communist countries. Nevertheless, the greatest need is felt in the Third World countries where large mineral potential exists, but with inadequate investments in exploration and exploitation techniques, a handicap that has been beneficial to the more developed countries, since long. The great number of the Third World countries which are striv- ing hard to develop, need to formulate mineral exploration and exploitation strategies which could enable them to develop their resources. This requires planning and creating new concepts of ore deposit types and genetic models, rheology, economics and their innovation and integration. The following approach could help them to be economically "more independent" by the end of this century. 1. Bridging of pure and applied geology gap, and creating con- sciousness of research and development. 2. Revision of mineral resources concepts adopted to modern technological world. 3. Improved mineralogical research, and determinative miner- alogy as an important asset. 4. Creative research and establishing know-how, with philosophical base for regional exploration projects. 5. Indepth investigation into the origin and growth of earth as a system, and its importance in the association, quality, and quantity of metallic, non-metallic and energy resources con- centrations. 6. Mineral beneficiation, targets and strateties; methods of eco- nomic and improved recovery systems. Development of alter- native technology, and utilization of mineral technology strategies. 7. Theoretical and practical modelling by conventional and com- puter techniques of the existing and expected mineral resources, and mineral development. 8. Critical analysis of the status of mineral economics of the Third World and developed world with forecasts for the year 2000 based on problems faced by the developing world. 9. Minerals at cross roads of International Interdependence. 10. Philosophical, realistic, traditional and modern strategies for mineral development. The dynamic economic system opera- tion in national mineral sector.

Jan 1, 1988

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 P Taskinen, D Lindberg

The increase in metals demand in the electrifying globe means significant growth in the smelting of copper, nickel, zinc, and lead, produced from primary sulfide sources or using sulfide mattes as the intermediates of the process chains. This means that leaner and complex mineral deposits will be evaluated as ores and are in the future traded in the commodity market for smelting and refining to pure metals. An important issue in the trend is the technology metals, like antimony, tellurium, and gallium, which exist as trace elements in sulfide ores and form no ores of their own. Their recovery becomes important in the coming decades as will be the case with growing slag amounts without use in other industries. The key is to produce environmentally acceptable slags in the smelting operations. It sets new boundary conditions to the treatment of flue dusts. This means that all material streams of smelting and refining must be re-evaluated for the deportments of the main and minority metals. In copper smelting, the recoveries of precious metals are today important for the feasibility of the custom smelters but due to low prices of many minority metals they are discarded in slag landfills. It is one of the emerging issues also in the secondary copper smelting today and once the demand grows, the same question will be faced also in the mining-beneficiation-smelting-refining chain of the primary production of nickel, zinc, and lead. The distributions of many technology metals in the copper and nickel smelting have been recently studied using methods where the chemically bound trace elements in the slag and its phases at the smelting conditions have been studied. Thus, the key data about options for process modifications and additional processing steps are piling up. Short processing routes in the metals smelting and refining are attractive due to their simplicity. At the same time, complexity of many raw materials challenges the fluxing at high oxygen partial pressures in low silica slags with high metal concentrations. The compromise between high primary recovery and safe operation is a demanding task in conditions where slag foaming outside the processing window is evident. The increase in the demand of pure nickel is challenging the raw material basis where low-grade sulfide ores are soon smelted along with nickel laterites to matte. It is a demanding task at high MgO concentrations. The low solubility of MgO in iron silicate slags requires new fluxing strategies and new smelting end points for the operation at reasonable temperatures; the direct nickel matte smelting in one-matte mode may be an option.

Aug 21, 2024

In this paper a quantitative deterministic risk modelling approach (Quadrim) is introduced. The mathematical framework and equations for quantifying uncertainty within and aggregating across value chain nodes from error propagation techniques is proposed and discussed. A case study and worked examples, based on a hypothetical mine are then presented. This illustrates how uncertainty from the mining and economic value chains can be handled in a typical net cash flow calculation, and how this can be translated to a risk model. It is then illustrated that current valuation techniques do not just result in an information gap for decision makers. Traditional approaches such as discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis and truck and shovel productivity analysis, which do not take into account uncertainty in input values, can result in potential bias in estimates such as net present value (NPV) or equipment hours

Sep 26, 2011

By P Navarra, R Kuhne

Dynamic simulation (discrete event simulation) is the preferred methodology to evaluate the impact of dynamic aspects of processing plants on the overall plant capacity. This tool can be used to: identify bottlenecks in the plant,justify upgrade and expansion projects by evaluating their impact, oroptimise maintenance and operating practices without disrupting the operation. Iron Ore Company of Canada's (IOC) pelletising plant is a complex operation because of multiple products, varying equipment capacity and shifting bottlenecks. Furthermore, with extensive capital requirements for projects and long lead times, a high level of confidence in project outcome is required. Therefore, a model of IOC's pelletising plant in Labrador City was constructed in 2007 by a joint IOC and Hatch team. The model includes both operational and metallurgical aspects in order to better capture the complexity of IOC operation. In this paper, the justification, boundaries, and functionality of the model are described. A comparison of simulation results to historical plant operation is given. It is observed that projects have interactions and that the benefits of combined projects are not equal to the combined benefits of the individual projects. Projects can have synergies that result in greater benefits when combined or can have overlapping benefits that result in lower benefits when combined. The power of the proposed modeling exercise lies in the ability to assess the impact of projects on overall performance.

Jan 1, 2009