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By Selby J

South Australia's economic development has relied heavily on the mineral industry. In the late 1840s the rich copper deposits at Kapunda and Burra saved the Colony's economy when South Australia became a world copper producer. Copper lodes developed at Moonta-Wallaroo during the 1860s brought further prosperity when mining activities at Kapunda and Burra were in decline. In addition to those large mines there were many smaller workings scattered through the Flinders and Mount Lofty Ranges producing copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc. Most of the mines of this period were worked by Cornish immigrants who brought their own technology and mining methods with them. These people have left a cultural legacy unique in Aus- tralia. In this Jubilee 150 year (1986) the Department of Mines and Energy, working in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Planning, is helping to preserve and interpret selected historic mining sites, most of which have been neglected since their closure. This work is designed to draw people's interest to mining history by providing interpreted sites for them to visit and to demon- strate the importance of the mining industry in South Australia's cultural and economic develop- Ment.

Jan 1, 1987

By H Kurth

Geoscan is used for multi-elemental analysis of conveyed bulk materials in real time. It has been used for coal analysis since the 1990s, in the cement industry, and since 2003 for measuring mineral ore quality. Geoscan-M has proven performance and demonstrated paybacks of weeks or months, in iron ore, manganese, copper, zinc-lead and phosphate industries. Geoscan-M measures continuously through the full bed depth and is unaffected by belt speed, particle size, layering and dust levels. Increments of two minutes (typically one to five minutes) are accurately measured and provide the plant operators with tonnage weighted results of each element within seconds.A Geoscan installed after crushing is able to measure quality shortly after mining. The analysis results can be used to divert the increments based on composition, such as diverting waste for disposal and diverting marginal material to a stockpile for processing at a later date. The bulk sorting process allows different qualities to be placed into relevant stockpiles for subsequent blending. Material meeting product DSO (Direct Shipping Ore) quality can bypass a beneficiation circuit to prevent unnecessary treatment costs. An analyser in a blending application enables proportioning of different quality feed materials from multiple stockpiles to achieve a desired compositional consistency for process feed. The parameter used for decisions may be; a) primary metal content, e.g. Cu, Fe, P, etc. b) deleterious component content, e.g. Mg as an indicator of talc content, c) process parameter content, or a combination of these. Process parameter content may be the elemental ratio between critical components, e.g. Cu:S ratio, Fe:Si ratio, basicity, Lime Saturation Factor, etc. or the content of an “indicator” element, e.g. Si as an indicator of material hardness or grindability.Measurement of the composition in real time enables prompt feedback to the mining operators and also feed forward to the process operators. Compositional variability can be critical in the process and advance warning enables appropriate reactions prior to processing. This may include modifying the feed rate, changing the feed blend (through additives), or modifying reagent dosing in anticipation of a change in feed quality. Benefits include, but are not limited to; reducing waste processing, improved feed grade stability, reducing energy, water and grinding media consumption, producing less tailings, increasing process efficiency, higher metal recovery, better plant utilisation, reducing plant downtime, better utilising mined material, all achieved using the same process plant throughput capacity.CITATION:Kurth, H, 2015. Optimising plant feed quality and process performance using Geoscan elemental analysis, in Proceedings MetPlant 2015, pp 373–380 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 7, 2015

During the latter part of 1937 consideration was given to the construction of a; local smelting plant for producing blister copper. Previously copper concentrates had been shipped to the United States of America. The proposition had the advantages of a saving in cost of realization, quicker financial return and reduced dependence on overseas shipping.The smelter was designed by the existing staff, who had difficulty in obtaining data on small plants, particularly on the reverberatory furnace. Construction was started in March, 1938, and the reverberatory was blown in on January 16th, 1939. One roaster had been operating for several weeks prior to this date.While results and operating technique on this new departure in small-scale smelting are barely beyond the experimental stage, it is felt that the experience gained to this time should be recorded to help fill the obvious gap in published information covering plants of this type.At present there are three copper smelters operating in Australia; the other two plants are equipped with blast furnaces.LOCATIONThe new smelter is situated in a position convenient to the concentrator and to the power plant. The site is traversed on two sides by a brick flue, from an old smelter plant, which connects with a 250-ft. stack. This stack and portion of the old flue are used in connection with the...

Jan 1, 1939

In the latter half of 1973 a contract was given to Roberts-Holland Joint Venture for the stripping of the southern exhaust airway.The contract was carried out efficiently and relatively cheaply. It was completed 2 months ahead of schedule.The sinking stage and in particular the drilling jumbo proved to be a success and helped produce an above schedule stripping rate.No major problems were encountered with ground conditions or ventilation. A survey of the shaft showed the diameter to be within the set limits of 5·49 m ± 0·15 m.

Jan 1, 1974

In responding to why some longwall roadway development rates are different among mines, the Roadway Development Task Group (RDTG) of Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP) has initiated a benchmarking study to survey each longwall mine to determine the correlation between roadway development practices and roadway development performances. This paper describes a web-based relational database system which has been developed purposely to monitor the performance of Australian longwall roadway developments aimed at assessing both the physical and operational factors which could influence roadway development practices and their performance indicators. Statistical analysis of an earlier survey suggested that continuous miner units that achieved more than 1750 m were units mining two-heading development.

Dec 6, 2010

IF a straight line should be drawn on the map (See 1, page 96) through the northern half of the South Island of New Zealand, from Mt. Domett in the north to Arthur's Pass in the south, and another line drawn parallel to it and at a distance of ten miles to the west, according to the topographic scale, it will be found that within the belt thus drawn across the country all the most important mines, past and present, of the South Island are situated, with the exception of a few in Otago.The most important product of this tract being gold, and Reefton, the most important southern mining field, being situated at about its central portion, the zone may aptly be termed "The Great Reefton Gold Belt." The occurrence of so many gold mines along this particular strip of country is not at all a matter of chance, but is the outcome of cause and effect. Running along the eastern side of the gold belt are the Brunner and Victoria Ranges, which are chiefly composed of crystalline schists and metamorphic granite of probably Cambrian or Silurian age; between these and the gold-bearing series there are interposed at one or two places some beds of slates, limestones, and...

Jan 1, 1910

Autogenous-Carrier Effect and Gangue Influence in Fine Particle Flotation of Ilmenite/Titanaugite System

Sep 13, 2010

By R B. Evans, M G. Townsend

In Northland, New Zealand, localised large deposits of halloysite clay have been produced by in-situ alteration of rhyolite volcanics of Pliocene or Pleistocene age, which were erupted through pre-Pliocene sedimentary strata and locally through Pleistocene basalt; and which were subsequently onlapped by further basalt flows. Alteration to clay has been a result of both hydrothermal and of meteoric processes, and decreases in intensity of alteration with increasing depth. The raw material is crushed and fractionated to produce a product of less than two micron particle size, which is of exceptional whiteness and brightness. The unique properties of the clays render them highly desirable for specialised ceramic purposes.

Jan 1, 1990

By A H. Clemens, T A. Moore

This paper discusses a number of technical issues related to marketing coal. It outlines how the results of research undertaken in New Zealand and overseas can help producers address a range of technical factors that impact on production costs and marketability. The paper also discusses trends in coal utilisation for power generation and how new technologies may require coal with different characteristics. Research and development into options for CO2 sequestration are discussed including carbon storage in forests, and removal of CO2 from flue or fuel gas in power stations, and its disposal.

Jan 1, 1997

By K Niiranen

Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB) operates one iron ore mine, three concentration plants and three pelletising plants in Kiruna, Sweden. The current methods of separation at the beneficiation plants are low intensity magnetic separation (LIMS) and reverse apatite flotation, where the wet LIMS stage is regarded as the crucial part of silica separation from the ore. Because future silica levels are expected to increase in the incoming material to the beneficiation plants, geometallurgy has become an important area of development and research.A laboratory-scale methodology was developed for the systematic characterisation of the ore for mineral processing, with the focus on the high silica ore type B2 and newly discovered subtypes. This methodology combines mineralogical, geochemical and process mineralogical characteristics. Automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN®) is used to study the modal mineralogy, the distribution of silicate minerals in different particle size classes after comminution, the deportment of silicon (Si) between various silicates and the degree of liberation and intergrowth of magnetite and silicates. An essential stage in the systematic characterisation of the ore deposit for mineral processing is the estimation and simulation of different parameters from the laboratory scale to the full scale at the concentration plants. This is achieved by using empirical models based on the data collected at the mineral processing plants. As the first step to implement the geometallurgical information, the current geological model is reconstructed with the mineralogy and the two, newly defined subtypes of high silica ore type B2 are separated into different domains.To study the reduction of the SiO2 content in the magnetite concentrate, a large-scale reverse cationic silicate flotation laboratory test program was initiated in early spring 2016. This program investigated potential silicate flotation in the beneficiation plants at the Kiirunavaara site. The second target is to implant mineral processing parameters into the block model based on the new geological model. This information provides a good basis for making a prognosis for mine planning and a quality prognosis regarding the crude ore for mineral processing.CITATION:Niiranen, K, 2017. A geometallurgical perspective on a high-grade iron ore deposit at Kiirunavaara, northern Sweden, in Proceedings Iron Ore 2017, pp 309–318 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 24, 2017

By D Kilkenny

Underground contractors in the mining industry must be prepared to take a position at the forefront of innovation of equipment and work methods in order to maintain a competitive advantage over in-house operations and remain relevant. Innovative concepts such as split-feed development jumbos, high capacity trucks and loader guidance systems were implemented by contractors to stay ahead of ‘the pack’. All of these are now common across the industry.The demands of regular participation in competitive tendering coupled with aggressive fleet depreciation, means contractors tend to have more communication and opportunities to work with equipment suppliers than mine owners. Therefore, they are more likely to influence equipment design and product directions. They also have a unique opportunity to assist in trialling new concepts and technologies across a wide variety of operating conditions rather than being restricted to one mine.In addition, as a ‘guest’ on a mine site, mining contractors do not have the luxury of creating the environment for their preferred systems, rather they must have the capacity to adapt their technology to suit the offered environment at a particular mine. This leads to a pursuit of adaptive technologies that can be implemented selectively and seamlessly without excessive disturbance rather than ‘all-of-mine’ systems. These incremental innovations then become available for use across the mining industry where they can add value as ‘bolt-on systems’ to existing operations.Mining contractors, therefore, act as the bellwether for industry practices and equipment. However, in order to maintain their position they must engage industry stakeholders to deliver practical, innovative and cost-effective technologies that add value and result in an improved bottom line for all. This paper uses case study material to illustrate how the Byrnecut Group has approached innovation and how the theory of Disruptive Technology applies to underground mining innovation.CITATION:Kilkenny, D, 2017. Innovation in mining – a contractor’s role, in Proceedings 13th AusIMM Underground Operators’ Conference 2017, pp 59–68 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Oct 16, 2017

By D Craw

The Old Man Range, south of Alexandra, in central Otago consists of a package of highly folded greenschist facies schist of the Wanaka lithologic association. The range is crosscut by several east to ENE-striking high angle gold-bearing quartz veins, (eg Whites Reef and Grays Reef), which were extensively worked in the late 1800s. The range is bounded on its east side by the Old Man Fault, which separates these rocks from generally flat lying and planar Caples Terrane schist. To the west of the Old Man Fault, about halfway up the range, a large subparallel, 100 m wide fault zone strikes NNW and appears to cut off the historic veins. The fault zone consists of highly sheared and folded rocks and numerous high angle cataclasites and centimetre-scale clay gouge zones. Hydrothermal alteration is not apparent and the individual faults and shears are clay altered, possibly due to weathering, without visible quartz veins. Gold, limonite pseudomorphs after pyrite and rutile are concentrated in some of the narrow cataclasites and gouge zones. These mineralised structures are texturally similar to the gold-bearing reefs and may be structurally related. It is postulated that the NNW-striking shear zone and ENE-striking veins may be a conjugate array formed during a period of Cretaceous normal faulting.

Jan 1, 2004

By J Watt

The Hidden Valley Gold Project is located in a remote and mountainous area of the Morobe Province approximately 30 km south of the township of Bulolo and approximately 90 km south-southwest of the provincial capital, Lae. The Hidden Valley deposit was discovered in 1984 with the nearby Hamata and Kaveroi deposits discovered in 1987 and 1992 respectively. Reserves (Harmony, 2009) at these three deposits are 42.1 million tonnes of ore containing approximately 2.9 million ounces of gold and 45 million ounces of silver. A further 5.4 million ounces of gold and 84 million ounces of silver are in the resources category. The process plant is designed to treat 4.2 million tonnes per year of gold/silver ore extracted by open cut mining methods. Ore is classified into three ore types according to oxidation state: oxide, transition and primary. The silver to gold grade ratio is high for the Hidden Valley and Kaveroi ores, generally in the range 15 - 20:1, and much lower for Hamata, typically 1 - 2:1: Primary ore is the dominant ore type at Hidden Valley with sulfur grades up to about two per cent sulfur. Oxide and transition ores are more prevalent at the Hamata deposit, but its primary ore has up to five per cent sulfur grades. Variable ore types, particularly in the initial years of operation, high silver to gold ratios and limited plant site area, due to the challenging terrain, present the main processing challenges for this project. This paper describes the operating strategies and process development for the main areas of this circuit, highlighting selections of processes and equipment that achieve cost effective, yet flexible solutions to the treatment of ores from these deposits.

Jan 1, 2009

Greymouth River Dredge û Birchfield Minerals Ltd Blackwater Gold Mine û Macraes Mining Company Ltd Globe Progress Gold Mine û Macraes Mining Company Ltd

Jan 1, 1996

Interest in mining narrow, vein-type ones has increased world-wide during the last few years despite the fact that prices of metals have not risen in proportion as production costs of mining, such as labour and energy. In many mines, where narrow ones are mined, the mining technique and equipment used have been poorly mechanised. The mining methods have been cut-and-fill or shrinkage stoping. Pneumatic jack-legs have been used for drilling and slushers have been used for loading. The methods that have been used can be called the 'first-generation' methods. Work has been very hard for miners. It has been dangerous and exhausting. Production volumes of mines, and a s a result of that, also profits have been low.

Jan 1, 1990

Undisturbed minor sedimentary structures-cross-bedding, ripplemarking, scour-and-fill, slumping-are present in most of the rock types in the Willyama Series of the Broken Hill district and in the orebodies.This indicates that there has not been any significant movement of mineral matter within or into the rocks during or after metamorphism, that the rocks have not flowed during tectonic deformation or during metamorphism, and that the ore is an original sedimentary deposit in its sedimentary position.Sedimentary processes, depositional and mechanical, are indicated to explain the deposition of sedimentary metallic minerals and their concentration into large masses. The Broken Hill orebodies show evidence of these processes.INTRODUCTIONI visited Broken Hill for one week in May, 1958, at the invitation of Mr. Haddon F. King, Director of Consolidated Zinc Pty. Ltd. He asked me to examine the rocks and orebodies in the mines and outcrops at Broken Hill for:1. Sedimentary structures that might be used to determine the facing of the banding;2. Indications of the original nature of the rocks if I considered they may have been sedimentary; and3. Indications of any possible sedimentary origin for the ores.It has been stated (Gustafson et al., 1952, p. 30) that there was no indication, in the banding, of the facing of the banding, but recently B. P. Thomson had found examples of what he had interpreted as graded bedding (personal...

Jan 1, 1959

The New Zealand Steel Ironsand Slurry Pipeline was successfully commissioned in February 1986. The project includes 18 km of high pressure, polyurethane lined buried pipe. McConnell Dowell Constructors Limited has developed a coupling which has allowed this pipeline to be fully welded. The design and development of the coupling and its application on this project is discussed.

Jan 1, 1986

By Kennedy G. L, Evans D. G

The development of the carbonization of brown coal briquettes to produce a hard char suitable for use in place of imported hard coke has continued in Victoria, and an experimental carbonization plant has recently been commissioned at Morwell by the Gas and Fuel Corpora.tion to assess the prospects for the commercial production and marketing of hard char in Victoria. The char offers advantages in its very low ash content and its uniform lump size, while the indications are that it could be marketed at a price competitive with that of imported hard coke. The hard char is unique amongst metallurgical fuels in combining a high reactivity with high physical strength, and research by the University of Melbourne into its utilization in foundry cupolas for melting iron has shown how modifications could be made to take advantage of these properties. An 18 inch experimental cupola has been built to test in practice the predictions made from this fundamental research.INTRODUCTIONSteady development has continued in Victoria from the promising laboratory researches at the University of Melbourne which were reported to the 1955 Annual Conference of The Institute (Worner, 1956). This work had shown that a hard lump char could be produced by the high temperature carbonization of standard industrial briquettes by careful control of the heating conditions, and that the special briquetting techniques adopted in Germany were unnecessary with Yallourn brown coal. Continuation of this research has led to the refinement of carbonization techniques and has increased the strength of the char until it has equalled that of conventional metallurgical cokes.

Jan 1, 1960

About 90 per cent of the pre-mining BIF-hosted iron ore resource of the Hamersley Province of Western Australia is of the Phanerozoic supergene martite-goethite type. The remaining ten per cent formed as supergene deposits at ~2000 ¦ 200 Ma, and were later modified by burial to form the Proterozoic martite-microplaty hematite ores. The supergene-metamorphic segment of this general unified model has been challenged by three recently published hypogene-based genetic models for the hematite ores, all requiring meteoric oxidation to produce the ore. The most recent and detailed, by Taylor et al (2001), is based on data from the small Southern Batter and North deposits of the Mount Tom Price mine. The authors proposed that during Stage 1 æoverpressured bicarbonate-saturated basin brines from the dolomite aquifer of the Wittenoom FormationÆ at 150 - 250¦C, dissolved free silica from BIF to produce a stratigraphically thinned, magnetite-carbonate-silicate-apatite rock. In Stage 2, meteoric oxidation of siderite to secondary microplaty hematite + ankerite, and magnetite to martite, at unspecified elevated temperatures and pressures, was followed by carbonate leaching (Stage 3). Finally, during Stage 4, weathering with removal of apatite, produced the typical low-phosphorus, porous martite-microplaty hematite ores of the Tom Price-Whaleback type. However, evidence of both microplaty hematite and martite reduced to magnetite, and of infill silica, apatite, and ferroan chlorite, with late-stage pyrite, in the pore space of martite-microplaty hematite ore, shows that the hydrothermal activity at Mount Tom Price is a post-ore event. Neither pyrite nor ferroan chlorite could resist the oxidation required to form hematite ore. Recrystallisation of microplaty hematite in these infilled zones to a typically coarser form than present in most of the normal ores, is a further supporting factor. A more credible, post-ore alternative to the hypogene genetic model is suggested here. Re-exposure to leaching by ground water of the metamorphosed ore deposits in the Phanerozoic resulted in the partial removal of remnant goethite. Localised modifications in the porous BIF/ore contact zones were driven by exothermic oxygen/pyrite/carbon reactions in the footwall Mt McRae Shale. Cool descending oxygenated meteoric water in the permeable ore horizons, acted as one limb of a thermal convective cell. In the other limb, heated reducing solutions rose through the permeable contact zones, to produce the observed localised modifications of BIF and ore. Expelled silica from the carbonatised BIF invaded adjacent porous ore to form erratic silicified ore zones, and to produce the local quartz vein systems found in the associated overlying BIF.

Jan 1, 2002

By J Cornejo, A Pinochet, C Caviedes

The ore extraction rate and the incorporation of new areas are key operational parameters. In massive deposits mined by caving techniques they both control the cave back geometry, which is mostly responsible for the induced stress state around productive levels. Early detection of deviations from admissible geometries will prevent stability problems related to geomechanical hazards, helping to improve safety and working conditions and reduce the potential for lost reserves.This paper describes a mine planning tool currently in use at the El Teniente mine. This tool involves the control of the cave geometry based on rules that have been defined as a result of different studies and experience collected during the operational history of the mine.This mine planning strategy achieves an extractive mining process with lower risk than conventional planning methods, ensuring ore reserves extraction if followed as planned while reducing unexpected changes in mining sequences.CITATION:Cornejo, J, Pinochet, A and Caviedes, C, 2016. Geometric control for strategic mine planning at El Teniente Mine, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 191–196 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016