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There is growing acknowledgement that successful organisations, including mining companies, achieve their competitive advantage by better managing their employees, customers and other stakeholders. The fact that I have been asked to address this conference is perhaps evidence of the recognition of the importance of ensuring the improved management capabilities of the personnel within Australian mining companies. As many of you will be aware, prior to my appointment to the role of President of Minera Alumbrera Limited (MAA), the operator of the Bajo de la Alumbrera project, my career had been more generally focussed on industrial relations and human resources management. My appointment was met by surprise in some quarters, as it is unusual for a person without the technical background of a mining discipline to manage a world-class mining operation. However, it was recognised early in the life of the Alumbrera project that the operation did not lack technical expertise or a committed workforce; rather what was required was innovative management of the project and its operational resources, particularly given that we were operating with totally ægreenÆ workforce in a country without a large-scale mining culture. It is my experience that a particular shortcoming of mining companies is that they have tended to ægrowÆ managers based on their technical expertise rather than people management skills. Historically, many companies have assumed, or at least hoped, that their better technical people would develop the requisite skills to take on the challenges of management. Such philosophy has not always met with success. Whilst the topic for my presentation was originally published as People in the Mining Industry, within the context of the overall theme for this plenary session, People: Education for the Future, it is a subject with an extraordinary breadth of possibilities for discussion. Therefore, I have chosen to redefine my presentation to People Management Issues in Offshore Mining Projects,an issue which I consider to be an important area within the overall topic and one which has particular currency given the increased tendency by Australian miners towards offshore exploration. It is also relevant from the perspective of continued rationalisation of our industry, the recognition that there will be more large-scale, global corporate mining entities and that significantly more mining professionals will become æcitizens of the worldÆ. We therefore need to prepare our future leaders for these challenges. The topic also allows me to highlight the importance of an holistic management approach as the establishment of a new project in a foreign environment puts into stark relief the need for the application of the full range of competencies, rather than the narrow ætechnicalÆ approach to doing business. I hasten to add, however, that the mining industry is not alone in this regard and I was interested to read an article in the Weekend Australian of 22/23 January 2000, which reported on the first key speech of former Westpac CEO, Bob Joss, as Dean of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He said: à We know that when our students go out into the world, if they have to struggle, it will not be because theyÆre not smart enough, or they donÆt have enough good ideas. It will be because they struggle over managing themselves and their relationships to other people. The article then went on to say that Bob Joss foreshadowed an initiative to build alliances between the Business School and other Humanities departments within Stanford University to draw on their learning. Other business schools have also recognised this need, albeit somewhat late in the day, as have the most enlightened of modern corporations; in summary, successful businesses have recognised that in an age where competitive advantage through, for example, technological breakthroughs is very short-lived, it is the quality of management that will provide the leading edge. By using the Alumbrera project as a case study, I will identify certain of the challenges with which companies and individuals may be confronted in the establishment of a greenfields project outside Australia. However, many of the issues raised will have direct application in the context of the development of an Australian operation. My objective is to provide an indication of areas which should be considered at the formative stages of a projectÆs development, with particular focus on the issues of people management. I would expect that such a study would be of benefit to companies, education institutions and individuals in preparing themselves for similar experiences.

Jan 1, 2000

The quality of the external water source for a mineral processing plant may influence the extent to which the environmentally desirable practice of recycling of water from plant products is possible. This is particularly likely for froth flotation plants where the chemical quality of the water may affect the plantÆs performance. The quality of the external water source or the recycled water can be improved by a water treatment step, and in turn the extent of recycling which can be tolerated is able to be influenced. The quality of the external water can range from very high quality, soft water derived from melting snow, to poor quality, hard water (high levels of dissolved calcium and magnesium) from underground aquifers, and to even lower quality sea water (very high levels of dissolved species including sodium chloride). It can be noted that some underground water is more saline than ocean water as well as containing high levels of dissolved calcium and magnesium. Occasionally, a different source of water is utilised in the wet and the dry seasons. Increasingly, sewage water from cities is becoming a potential external water source with sustainability implications. If the initial quality of the external water is high, the scope for recycling of water from all the products is maximised. Such reuse or recycling of water from the products allows chemical species from oxidation of the ore and from other inputs to the process such as reagents to increase in concentration in the water returned to the plant. Such accumulation of species can have negative effects on the performance of a process such as froth flotation but instances of positive effects exist. Some reagents which are used in flotation plants such as lime or sodium carbonate also happen to be commonly used for independent water treatment plants. Hence, the flotation process may inadvertently provide some aspects of water processing. Where the quality of the water in the feed to a mineral processing plant (external water plus recycled water) is not an issue, more powerful solid-liquid separation processes can be considered to maximise the removal of water from the products and its reuse. Such processes may also have complementary benefits in a sustainable mineral industry by, for example, producing a tailing stream with a higher per cent solid value which is more suitable for safe storage on the surface or underground. This paper documents findings on the effect of water quality on the flotation process. It also considers current directions of change in the need for increased removal of water from plant products. It then considers the implications of these trends for maximisation of water recycling by such operations.

Jan 1, 2003

By D L. Richardson, B Tiedt, C D. Morgan

Following residentsÆ concerns that the ongoing operations of Collinsville Coal (CCP) mine may be resulting in the release of contaminants, including products of acid mine drainage (AMD), into downstream environments, the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency (QEPA) issued CCP with a Notice to Conduct or Commission an Environmental Evaluation at Three Mile Creek. A key objective of the Environmental Evaluation was to assess the extent and magnitude of impacts to aquatic communities and their habitats. A multidisciplinary investigation examined a suite of physical, chemical and biological indicators to meet this objective. The study also aimed to identify contaminants of concern and the location of potential pollutant sources. Potential indicators of AMD, including elevated dissolved solids concentrations and low pH, were evident within the mine lease. However, significant differences in concentration of these indicators upstream and downstream of the confluence with Three Mile Creek were not observed. Although only proxy indicators of AMD contamination, these results suggest that the extent of impacts downstream is minimal. For the purpose of this study, physio-chemical indicators were selected on the basis of those best likely to provide an understanding of the likelihood of contamination, within the constraints of readily available long-term monitoring data. Ecosystem health indicators were adopted to supplement the existing data set and provide a more æroundedÆ perspective of water quality attributes within the system, generally unattainable by standard physio-chemical assessments. In contrast to AMD products, sediments were considered more likely to have a widespread impact on aquatic ecosystems. Waterways throughout the study region, including those unaffected by mining, have been affected by broad-scale sedimentation and were typically highly turbid. Due to the many diffuse sources of sediment potentially liberated within the catchment, the contribution of the mine compared to other land uses on total sediment loads entering streams is difficult to determine. This is clearly a major management issue for mines throughout the Bowen Basin. Streams of the central Queensland region display enormous variability in water flows and physio-chemical characteristics over a range of spatial and temporal scales. This variability presents major difficulties in distinguishing anthropogenic impacts from natural variability (noise). Despite this variability, impact monitoring by mines in the central Queensland district has tended to focus almost entirely upon physio-chemical indicators. The results of the present study indicate that a multiple indicator approach to environmental assessment is more useful for separating mine related impacts from natural ænoiseÆ and impacts from other land uses. In the absence of such information, by adopting the precautionary principle of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), there is potential for an environmental impact to be incorrectly attributed to mining when other activities in the catchment may be contributing to changes in stream æhealthÆ.

Jan 1, 2003

By R Gaze, J Horton

Block models generated with all linear interpolation algorithms contain inherent smoothing that typically results in an underestimation of grades and overestimation of tonnes in resource estimates. For mineral deposits that are anticipated to be exploited by underground mining methods excessive smoothing may result in materially misleading estimates of Ore Reserves. To account for smoothing in the open pit mining environment recoverable reserve techniques such as indicator kriging and uniform conditioning are employed to provide non-spatially located proportions of the large blocks above the cut-off grade. These models are not suitable for underground mine planning where the actual location of material above cut-off is required to design its extraction. To correct for excessive smoothing it is proposed to modify the ordinary kriged block estimates a posteriori using an affine correction with a local variance adjustment factor. The proposed methodology is demonstrated for a base metal deposit during a feasibility study.

Jan 1, 2009

Large scale rhyolitic volcanism is an important process at some convergent plate margins because it leads to chemical differentiation of the upper.-crust and is responsible for the production of long lived near surface thermal anomalies; the Taupo Volcanic Zone is.a Quaternary example. The main features of the magmatic systems-of the zone. are the existence of large high level chambers containing homogeneous silicic magma which erupt at intervals of thousands to tens of thousands of years. Geochemical work on the deposits resulting from these eruptions has shown that with few exceptions the magmas have been remarkably uniform in their . composition throughout the history of the zone although individual batches with lifespans of the order of. one hundred thousand years can be recognised by subtle differences in trace element ratios. Basalt is a rare proportion of the rocks exposed at the surface but has played a major role as a medium for heat transfer and as an end member in chemical mixing processes.

Jan 1, 1987

By C Rees, M Predebon, J Denney

It has been said on many occasions that æthe future of the mining industry of Australia, and indeed the world, lies in the hands of the studentsÆ. As a student, this can be a daunting, yet very exciting, statement. If nothing else, it is a direct challenge to the student body of the mining industry to take responsibility for its direction æafter 2000Æ. However, for the students to embrace this challenge, some responsibility must be borne by the universities and the industry itself to provide some direction and encouragement. Perhaps, therefore, the real challenge is to find the right balance between students, industry and education to best prepare the students for a career in the mining industry. The future industry will demand students who are capable and willing to adapt to change and technology and able to exert the vision and leadership required to ensure the mining industry continues to thrive well into the next century.

Jan 1, 2000

By P Wollants, B Blanpain, R Ding

Vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) is the refining process used by ALZ (Genk, Belgium) for their production of stainless steels. The process consists of three stages: oxygen blowing at a pressure of 100 mbar, degassing, and reduction of the slag with ferrosilicon at 5 mbar. The magnesia-chromite bricks used in the slag zone of the ladles suffer from acute wear. In this paper results obtained from a program to improve the refractory life span are presented. The dominant wear phenomena were identified with an electron microscopy study of bricks taken from different locations in the ladle. Concurrently a dynamic model for the vacuum oxygen decarburisation (VOD) refining process was developed. The model calculates the elementsÆ oxidation rate during the blowing oxygen stage and allows the continuous calculation of the change of the metal, slag and gas composition throughout the VOD process. From these activities a general scheme of the refractory wear was worked out and measures to improve the refractory life were proposed and implemented.

Jan 1, 2000

By W J. Rankin

A study of refined metallic copper and nickel production was carried out using Life Cycle Assessment methodology to estimate the life cycle emissions of greenhouse and acid rain gases for these metals using data derived from the literature. Various processing routes were investigated which included a pyrometallurgical and a hydrometallurgical route for each metal. The effect of a number of process variables, namely ore grade, fuel type for electricity generation and efficiency of generation were also examined in the study. The results of the study, expressed in terms of total (or full cycle) energy consumption, Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Acidification Potential (AP), showed that the hydrometallurgical processes involving solvent extraction and electrowinning had higher energy consumptions and GWPs than the pyrometallurgical processes for both metals. Nickel metal production was shown to be several-fold more energy intensive than copper metal production. The significant effect that falling ore grades have on attempts to meet greenhouse emission targets was also highlighted in the study.

Jan 1, 2000

Until recently, the Australian mining industry received unquestioning encouragement from both State and Federal Governments. Now governments adopt a more questioning outlook about, for example, the proportion of local mine income accruing abroad, about the contrib- ution of the industry to public revenue, and about the industry's impact on the environment. This paper reports on attitudes at a recent industry-government-academic conference on planning and problems for the minerals sector in the next decade and beyond. It also examines a government policy review in Canada, which has undertaken some change in direction of mineral policies in the last few years.

Jan 1, 1977

The Ertsberg (Gunung Bijih) Mining District is located in the core of the highlands of west New Guinea, an island long recognised as the product of a Cenozoic arccontinent collision. Geologic studies in the Central Ranges of the Papua Province of Indonesia (near Puncak Jaya, 4884 m) have revealed timing relationships, when combined with mechanical considerations, led to a refined model for the tectonomagmatic effects of collisional orogenesis and the formation of the spectacular Grasberg porphyry-type copper-gold (Cu-Au) deposit.   An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation.

Jan 1, 2008

The history of civilisation continues to register a steady tide towards the urban life as the basis of its social organisation. The manifestation of this movement is a continuous growth and increasing density of population in our towns and cities, as the favourite space for the development of humanity. Naturally, this trend raises a certain number of problems which grow proportionally with the size of the city. The use of the underground space has an important role to play in solving such urban problems. But various issues must be taken into account when developing urban underground space.

Jan 1, 1999

The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Australian Mining Industry Council are concerned that a sufficient number of able young people receive an adequate level of professional training for the mineral industry. A Joint Committee on Education has been formed to pursue these objectives. At a time of strong growth in the industry it is most important to forecast the demand for people, so that the educational authorities will be able to provide adequate facilities. The factors to be considered in fore- casting the demand for professional staff are set out, and the proposed method of assessment is outlined.

Jan 1, 1981

It is often said in business that if you donÆt have a customer you donÆt have a business. The same rule applies to project evaluation; if you donÆt have customers you really donÆt have a viable project. It is therefore essential that in the early stages of project evaluation the following fundamental questions are addressed: What products will this project produce? Who are the potential customers? What are the customersÆ requirements with respect to grade and impurities? Do they have adequate capacity to take the production from the proposed project? Will the products introduce adverse effects in the customerÆs process circuits? Will additional waste streams requiring disposal be produced? In the past the attitude has been along the lines of the customer will take whatever we produce at the mine site. Times have now changed with customers now operating under much tighter environmental regulation with waste disposal becoming increasingly difficult. It would therefore be prudent that the principles of product stewardship be used as a tool in project evaluation. This paper will provide a general discussion on customer requirements and provide detail on case studies of the impact of mine products on smelter process circuits. It will provide examples where there were synergies between the mine product and the smelter circuit and where the mine product had adverse impacts on smelter performance.

Jan 1, 2007

The Mons Cupri Cu-Pb-Zn deposit is situated within a complex Archaean volcanic sequence dominated by rhyolitic fragmental rocks. This sequence is underlain by a 150 m group of rhyolitic ash flow tuffs with minor conglomerate and sandstone, and is overlain by approximately 180 m of dacite and andesite flows. The Mons Cupri sequence itself consists of several elongate or circular rhyolite domes, flanked by rhyolitic fragmental rocks ranging up to 400 m in thickness away from the domes. The lithology of clasts (typically 1 cm to 1.5 m in size) provides strong evidence that the flanking fragmental unit was derived by explosive eruptions associated with the rhyolite domes. An approximately 15 m thick shale horizon, bleached and silicified at its base, overlies both the rhyolite domes and the frag- mental unit. A south-dipping chloritic pipe-like body, with near-surface dimensions of 1,000 by 250 m and narrowing at depth to produce a cone-shaped cross section, lies within the rhyolitic frag- mental rocks about 250 m north of the largest rhyolite'dome in the Mons Cupri vicinity. Its east west elongation parallels that of the rhyolite dome. Ghost fragments indicate that the material in this fissure is a severely chloritized derivative of the rhyolitic frag- mental unit. The chloritic pipe is overlain

Jan 1, 1973

By L C. Thompson

BioLix is the term for a new class of biologically-derived lixiviants for precious metals (gold and silver) recovery. BioLix can be used as an alternative to cyanide on virgin and spent ores. The BioLix process is based on inducing microbial enzymatic reactions that generate organo-lixiviant chemicals. The bioprocess involves a two-stage culture strategy. First, specialty microorganisms are cultured to generate a high biomass. Then, a food-grade quality amendment is introduced that forces the microorganisms to produce the organo-lixiviant. The second-stage culture is applied to the ore where the microbial/lixiviant system acts on mineral surfaces to extract precious metals. The process operates at ambient temperatures and near neutral pH. This paper will examine the BioLix process through an extensive laboratory development and demonstration project. Laboratory development consisted of identifying and isolating specialty microorganisms and inducing agents for the production of the organo-lixiviant solutions. A demonstration was performed on low-grade and high-grade oxidised ore from the Buffalo Valley mine in Nevada, USA. Results indicate that the BioLix process was comparable to cyanide in terms of gold recovery and operated at near neutral pH and ambient temperatures. Applications for the BioLix process will be discussed including spent-ore re-leaching, cyanide replacement for virgin ore, and in situ mining.

Jan 1, 2004

By Lin Bin, Minggao Qian, Zhiyi Yang, Fullan He

There are no efficient methods and instruments available in China at present for diagnosing the leakage problem for a hydraulic support system in underground coal mines. A new method has been developed to solve the problem. It is proposed that

Jan 1, 1998

By A G. Shellsh, R J. Henham, J R. Foley

The Porgera Gold Mine, west of Mt Hagen in PNG is a large open pit and underground operation currently producing gold at the rate of almost one million ounces per year. This deposit has produced some 8.8 million ounces to-date and has current reserves of 103.4 million tonnes @3.2 g/t Au. The Porgera Joint Venture has invested over $A1 billion in infrastructure in this project. Technical management of this operation involves the interrogation of some 700 000 metres of diamond drilling, some 50 000 blastholes per year, and very large volumes of laboratory, geotechnical, environmental and production reporting data. Over the past seven years this data has been consolidated into a single centralised, relational database which now acts as the single reference point for all the technical application systems used for surveying, grade control, production reporting, deposit evaluation and modelling. Data transfer to application programs and management systems is controlled by the centralised database, this process at times involving a two-way, real-time, binary data transfer. The benefits of a specialised database application include security and integrity of the data asset, ease of access, and performance in a multi-user environment. This replaced fragmented, inconsistent data sets stored inefficiently as individual, unindexed, variably formatted files associated with the different application programs. Most importantly, the database has allowed mine management at all levels to make timely, confident investment, cash flow and optimisation decisions as it provides the primary link between the deposit and operational data sets on one hand, and the application programs and management and performance measurement systems on the other. This paper discusses the economic value and importance of technical data in terms of the resource asset and the means by which this data is being managed and used at Porgera.

Jan 1, 2000

The emerging coal seam gas (CSG) industry has the potential to provide a large-scale energy province for Queensland. Aquifer impacts and management of associated by-product water, both in terms of quantity and quality, are pivotal considerations for the development of a sustainable CSG industry.Legislative changes have been introduced to ensure that the CSG industry manages potential groundwater impacts and beneficial reuse of the by-product water to a level acceptable to both government and the community.The relevant new pieces of legislation covering petroleum and coal seam gas activities include the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (P&G Act), Petroleum and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2004 (POLA Act), the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Regulation 2004 and the Petroleum Regulation 2004. Other relevant legislation includes the Petroleum Act 1923 (Petroleum Act) and Part 7AA of the Mineral Resources Act 1989 (Coal Seam Gas Regime). The P&G Act introduces a full regime for managing water rights. This includes provisions for monitoring and reporting on the effects that the taking of underground water under petroleum tenure has on other bores in the area. The P&G Act also imposes a æmake good obligationÆ on petroleum tenure holders, which requires the restoration of bores affected by the taking of water or the payment of compensation. These provisions represent a significant departure from the Petroleum Act, which says very little about water rights and does not specify restrictions on the taking of water under petroleum tenure. This paper attempts to outline the requirements and obligations of the P&G Act for the CSG industry in terms of underground water rights, development impact assessments, aquifer trigger thresholds, monitoring and reporting requirements, as well as the make good obligations.

Jan 1, 2006

IT is most remarkable and valuable property of mediurn and high carbon steels that they should be so susceptible to heat treatment, the wide range of variability in tenacity, ductility, etc, due to the normal influence of the carbon in the untreated material being enormously inereased thereby.The physical properties of steel and other metals are much more closely related to their structure than to their ultimate analysis.For instance, we may by chemical analysis determine the carbon content of a steel to be 0.5% ; but this information alone is insufficient to enable us to say what are the physical properties of the metal.Such a steel may possess 11 tensile strength of anything from 35 tons per sq. in., with much ductility, up to 80 tons per sq. in., with practically no ductility, according to its heat treatment. A microscopie examination, on the other hand, would show the structural composition of the steel, from which its physical properties could be approximately deduced. From this it will readily be understood that the microscope has played an important part in the development of modern rnetallurgy, and to-day it is in daily use for the examination of metals and alloys in the laboratories of most works dealing with the rnanufaeture and working of metals.THE IRON-IRON CARBIDE EQUILIBRIUMTo understand fully the mode of occurrcnce of the different constituents of a knowledge of the Iron-Iron Carbide equilibrium diagram (Fig. I) is essential to heat-treat steel successfully and to interpret microstructures correctly such a knowledge isabsolutely indispensable.A portion of the Iron-Iron Carbide Diagram, dealing with steels below 1000 and containing up to 1 carbon is given below.It should be noted that the diagram deals entirely with pure carbon steels, and does not indicate the influence of the usual so-ealled "impurities" present in all commereial carbon steels...

Jan 1, 1926

Landscape interpretation, geology and mining history are being successfully used to explore options for sustainable community tourism product development. Recent work by the author in Europe and Australia has indicated the value of adding and producing interpretive information about mine and quarry locations û both active and inactive. This work has allowed for the branding and development of new sustainable community tourism products based on the landscape, folklore, mine and geological heritage. Communities in rural areas are seeking new opportunities to sustain their local economies. Using a relatively new phenomenon called geotourism as a starting point, they have developed themed products connected to walking/cycling guides, interpretive panels and visitor centres. These themes can be linked to geology, archaeology, botany, local history and to industrial heritage sites such as old mines, to generate local employment. This new geotourism approach has successfully brought a new and greater audience to discover the value of geology and mining history. Communities have established a unique place for themselves within the tourism marketplace using the geotourism brand. Other communities with an established tourism product are also now using geological and mine heritage via geotourism to rebrand and meet changing global trends. The geotourism approach has allowed for positive collaboration among communities, service providers, local and government authorities to channel tourist revenues into rural communities. The pooling of resources under the banner of geotourism has led to cost-effective marketing, targeting and promotion of products using multimedia and web sites. Geotourism has emerged strongly in Europe, North America and China in the last decade. The Australian minerals industry now has an opportunity to implement this new branding concept to assist and benefit the communities in which they run their activities. Communities can also take advantage of the potential to develop a sustainable geotourism business around a past or present mineral industry in their vicinity.

Jan 1, 2009