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"Mechanical alloying (MA) synthesizing technology and thennohydrogen processing (THP) were utilized to produce nanocrystalline Ti-MMC's reinforced by TiB intermetallic compound by using TiH2-B powder mixtures. Powders MA'ed up to 8 hours were examined by X-ray diffraction and SEM study. All MA'ed powders afterwards were HIP'ed at 700, 800 and 950EC for 1 hour. Detailed XRD, SEM and TEM study of the samples were carried out to determine the structure and micrography of the Ti-TiB MMC material processed by MA+THP approach followed by HIP'ing at high temperatures.IntroductionThe fiber reinforced titanium base composites [1,2] which possess a great resistance to high temperature have been investigated. In these studies fibers of C and SiC were used as reinforcing materials. However, these fibers react with Ti-matrix at elevated temperature resulting in product formation at the interface between the matrix and the fiber. Because of the chemical reactions, strength of the product MMC material diminishes.In conventional techniques of whisker reinforced composite material production, the mixtures of matrix metal powders and dispersed fibers are consolidated by hot pressing, HIP and/or hot extrusion. These techniques, however, have some shortcomings. Hard and brittle fibers could be broken during mixing cycle of the processing. Consolidation techniques could also be the cause for fiber breakdown. Attaining of the uniform dispersion of fibers into the metal matrix is not an easy process. The chemical reactions at elevated temperature exposures in the interface between the matrix material and fiber reinforcement cause product formations leading to poor mechanical properties."

Jan 1, 1998

By Charles J. Haas

The objective of this research was to investigate the interaction phenomena of rock and types of rock bolts to develop design principals for using grouted roof bolts. The investigation was to determine the effectiveness of grouted bolts in resisting lateral displacement and axial separation along fracture planes, and also to determine if grouted bolts eliminate the axial tensile stress near the anchor and the resulting rock fracture. The first year's effort involved defining the post-tensioning response of grouted bars and determining the amount of shear resistance generated by conventional and resin-grouted bolts. A finite-element analysis showed that if the rock and resin grout behave in an elastic manner, the post tensioning of a grouted bar will affect mine roof stability only if movement occurs near the collar. An experimental shear test program revealed that both conventional bolts and resin-grouted reinforcing bars significantly increase shear resistance along fracture or bedding plane when the average normal compressive stress on that plane is low (in the order of 25 psi) and when the bolt is oriented so that the shear displacement tends to lengthen the bolt. An increase in shear resistance is also noted at the higher normal pressure of 250 psi; however, the increase is small compared to the corresponding shear resistance without a bolt. Conventional bolts oriented so that they tended to loosen with shear displacement added no significant shear resistance.

Jan 1, 1974

By L. G. Marshall

This report presents a cross section of the sand and gravel operations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The study covers individual operations, economic problems peculiar to the industry, glacial geology of the area and its effect upon the grades and types of products, and past, present, and future trends of the expanding population and its effect upon the industry.

Jan 1, 1963

By L. G. Marshall

This report presents a cross section of the sand and gravel operations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The study covers individual operations, economic problems peculiar to the industry, glacial geology of the area and its effect upon the grades and types of products, and past, present, and future trends of the expanding population and its effect upon the industry.

Jan 1, 1963

By A. R. Byers

"This paper describes the distribution, occurrence, and paragenesis of known sulphide deposits within an area bounded by longitudes 102°00' to 106°00' west and latitudes 54 ° 301 to 57 °00 1 north. The Precambrian bed-rock which outcrops over all but the southern fringe of the area con- . sists of regional metamorphic assemblages ranging from low grade or green schist facies to high grade or amphibolite-granulite facies. The areas . of low-grade metamorphism correspond to 'islands' of volcanic rocks which are surrounded by highgrade paragneisses and migmatites. Intrusive rocks range in composition from ultrabasic to granitic and may be divided into syntectonic and posttectonic sequences. The average composition of the former is granodiorite and of the latter quartz diorite.The massive sulphide deposits fall naturally on basis of mineral content into the following divisions: ( 1) pyrrhotite and / or pyrite, (2) sphalerite and/ or chalcopyrite plus iron sulphides, (3) sphalerite and galena, ( 4) sulphide-bearing pegmatite, and (5) nickeliferous pyrrhotite and / or chalcopyrite. The deposits of iron sulphides are ubiquitous. Ratio of pyrrhotite to pyrite is fairly constant for individual deposits, but their areal distribution appears to be independent of the nature of the enclosing rock and grade of regional metamorphism. All deposits containing ore-grade quantities of base metals have been concentrated at favourable structural locations. Copper-zinc and lead-zinc deposits appear to be associated with syntectonic granodiorite with the lead-zinc concentrations confined to calc-silicate gneisses. Copper-nickel deposits show a close relationship to post-tectonic gabbros and pyroxenites. The paragenesis is more or less the same for the majority of deposits, with iron sulphides and sphalerite being introduced early and followed by chalcopyrite and galena. Some vertical and / or horizontal zoning is apparent in a few deposits. Temperatures of formation and origin of the deposits are briefly discussed."

Jan 1, 1960

By K G. Harding, A Osman, A du Toit, F K. Crundwell, C M. Sheridan

"Most mineral processing plants have high water requirements for their operational activities. These plants often function in an environment where water is becoming increasingly scarce. An increase in population will result in an increased demand for water; potentially beyond the limits of supply and hence increased competition for the resource. In South Africa, Gauteng and the North West Province are likely to be first to experience a shortage of potable water.In order to avoid a water crisis, efforts must be made to ensure the effective management of water resources and the minimisation of wastage. Hydrometallurgical plants have a responsibility to society and the environment to operate in a sustainable manner - reducing their water requirements will certainly assist towards developing a sustainable footprint.This project improved site water management by: surveying the potable water and storm water systems with a view to assessing the current water accountability and determining methods to improve accountability determining the monthly and yearly water balance for the site and presenting it in the form of a water balance sheet drawing up an input-output and operational model in accordance with the Minerals Council of AustraliaÆs æWater Accounting Framework for the Minerals IndustryÆ calculating the water footprints of the refinery identifying ways in which water savings could be achieved recommending management systems for water usage monitoring.This work was conducted in South Africa. The value of this work lies in that it established the current baseline and assisted in developing management systems that can reduce water usage sustainably.CITATION:Osman, A, Crundwell, F K, Harding, K G, Sheridan, C M and du Toit, A, 2013. Water accountability and efficiency at a base metals refinery, in Proceedings Water in Mining 2013, pp 277-286 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Nov 26, 2013

By N. A. Karl, D. R. Wilburn

"This summary of international mineral exploration activities for the year 2015 draws upon information from industry sources, published literature, SNL Metals & Mining (SNL) (Charlottesville, VA) database and specialists in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Minerals Information Center. The summary provides data on exploration budgets by region and mineral commodity, identifies significant mineral discoveries and areas of mineral exploration, discusses government programs affecting the mineral exploration industry, and presents analyses of exploration activities performed by the mineral industry.Three types of information are reported and analyzed in this annual review of international exploration: budgetary statistics expressed in U.S. dollars provided by SNL; regional and site-specific exploration activities that took place in 2015 as compiled by the USGS; and regional events that affected exploration activities including economic, social and political conditions, which were derived from published sources and discussions with USGS and industry specialists. Commodity and regional compilations are presented in this summary. Because multiple sources were used to develop commodity and regional compilations, statistics may vary depending on the source and type of data that are being reported.The SNL data summarize planned company budgets for worldwide exploration activities in 2015 for 24 nonfuel mineral commodities and metal alloys and are based on company surveys. Surveys focused on precious metals (gold, platinum-group metals and silver), base metals, (cobalt, copper, lead, molybdenum, nickel, tin and zinc), bulk commodities (bauxite, chromite, iron ore, manganese, phosphate and potash), and other commodities (diamond, graphite, heavy-mineral sands, lithium, niobium, rareearth elements (REE), tantalum, tungsten and uranium).USGS data compilations and analyses are based on information provided by USGS mineral commodity and country specialists, as well as industry contacts and published trade journals. The USGS data summarize exploration site data collected for more than 80 minerals and materials, with a focus on base metals, diamond and precious metals. The USGS analyzed available information to assess the level of exploration activity in 2015 and to report trends in mineral exploration activity for the period 2005 through 2015. These analyses identify where mineral exploration is occurring by commodity and region and the intensity of activity that is taking place in each region for selected mineral commodities, and determines those factors that most affect changes in exploration activity."

May 1, 2016

By Brian Young, Ben Pantony

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has played an integral role in many large scale tunneling projects globally. Until recently, it has been regarded as a complementary monitoring tool. On the Los Angeles Metro Purple Line Phase 1, InSAR was proposed as a primary means to replace weekly and bi-weekly surface monitoring requirements on surrounding critical infrastructure. This paper will summarize the statistical analysis approach engaged in order to compare and contrast a year of historical InSAR data to known geodetic survey data, in order to utilize InSAR as an operational monitoring tool on this project.

Jun 13, 2021

By E. Lee Bray

"Editor’s note: The editors thank those who make this annual issue possible. A special thank you goes out to the Industrial Minerals Annual Review editor, to the Industrial Minerals & Aggregates Division Technical Committee chair and vice chairs, and to the authors of the individual commodity profiles.Jim Norman, member SME, of Tetra Tech Geo, is the industrial minerals annual review editor. Edgar Blanco, member SME, of Freeport- McMoRan, is chair of the Industrial Minerals &Aggregates Division’s Technical Committee.The technical committee vice chairs include:• NickTushar Gupta and Sallie Gaillard, of the USGS, members SME, agricultural materials.• Abhishek Choudhuryand Xihui Yin, members SME, of Montana Tech and Kemira, repectively, ceramic and refractory materials.• Bobbi Strange and Riddhika Jain, members SME, of Outotec, Martin Marietta and Outotec, respectively, chemical raw materials.• Snehamoy Chatterjee, Alyssa Kendir and Alind Chandra, members SME, of BMT, Universityof Kentucky and Michigan Tech, respectively,construction aggregates.• Subham Verma, Gauran Soni and Freddy Sime, members SME, fillers and pigments.• Kaiwu Huang, Thomas Hilderbrand and Ricardo Santander members SME, of Virginia Tech, Thiele Kaolin and Carbo Ceramics, respectively, sorbents, filters and process aids.• Rhaghay Dubey and William Rapier, members SME, of Outotec and a consultant, respectively, specialty minerals.On behalf of ME readers, the editors thankTwo U.S. alumina refineries produced an estimated 1.5 Mt (1.65 million st) of alumina from imported bauxite in the United States in 2018. The 500-kt/a (550,000-stpy) refinery in Burnside, LA, owned by Almatis Inc. produced specialty alumina used in the abrasives, ceramics, chemical and refractory industries. The 1.2-Mt/a (1.32 million-stpy) refinery in Gramercy, LA, owned by Noranda Alumina LLC produced alumina mostly for use in aluminum smelters but also produced specialty alumina. An upgrade project at the Gramercy refinery to convert 200 kt/a (220,000 stpy) of capacity to produce more profitable specialty alumina was completed in the first half of 2018, and another project to increase capacity was started but a completion schedule was not available. The amount of new capacity was not disclosed, but it would be used to produce nonmetallurgical grade alumina. The 2.3-Mt/a (2.5 million-stpy) refinery in Point Comfort, TX, which was temporarily shut down in March 2016, remained closed throughout the year."

Jul 1, 2019

By Lulie H. Crump

Salient information on reserves, production, and consumption of fuels and energy by State are summarized in this Bureau of Mines publication. The data are broken down by fossil fuels (coal, petroleum, and natural gas) and hydropower and nuclear for the major consuming sectors: Household-Commercial, Industrial, Transportation, Electric Power and Miscellaneous. In addition, total energy consumption in the Nation in 1972 is compared with consumption in 1971 and 1973 (preliminary data).

Jan 1, 1974

By Margaret Anne Stephenson

Today, in Australia, it is increasingly common to see agreements between Indigenous peoples and resource companies being achieved generally as Indigenous Land Use Agreements or agreements pursuant to the ?right to negotiation? process under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth). Despite progress in this area, resource development on Indigenous lands is not without its challenges for both the resource proponents and the Indigenous parties. History demonstrates that resource development on Indigenous lands has produced struggles between the traditional owners of the land and the resource proponents. In Australia their relationship is generally defined by issues of access to land and assuring continued access to the land for the life of the project. In this context, divisions in Indigenous communities often emerge. The proposed resource project can have the effect of polarising members of an Indigenous community. It may be regarded by some traditional land owners as an advantageous opportunity for the community and by others as a hazard to country and culture. The process of agreement making has proved not only a test for the Indigenous community but also for the resource proponent. In this paper we undertake a contemporary case study of a proposed Australian resource related-development project on Indigenous lands. This project involved a multi-billion gas hub precinct proposed at James Price Point in the Kimberley region in Western Australia. The James Price Point proposal produced a litany of challenges for all parties. The traditional owners faced fundamental social and human rights issues, including a minority opposition to the project, the project's potential cultural heritage impact, the threat of compulsory acquisition of their native title interest by a State government due to an initial failure to settle an agreement, a fracture of their unsettled land claim and a minority rejection of the agreement ultimately reached. Additionally, the ?green? lobby also rejected the proposed gas hub on environmental grounds bringing the green lobby into direct conflict with both the traditional owners in favour of the project and the resource proponent. Ultimately, Woodside announced its decision not to proceed with the proposed gas precinct at James Price Point, in April 2013. In this paper we analyse the complexity of the James Price Point gas hub negotiations with the traditional owners which resulted in an Agreement that promised to deliver substantial benefits for the Indigenous communities. We question why such a favourable and beneficial agreement for the Indigenous community also produced the plethora of challenges and concerns and we consider how future negotiation processes could be better structured to avoid the difficulties that have confronted Indigenous land owners and resource proponents alike.

Aug 1, 2013

By D. Richers

When modeling predictive pit lake chemistry, groundwater chemistry is integrated with the affected portions of the wall rock and chemistry of the lake in a complex series of mixing. Fractions of the solutions impinge upon fresh, unaltered or fractured and oxidized zones of the wall containing sulfide materials and/or soluble metal/metalloid salts. Changing conditions over the short term (biannually) and long term (decades) can drive reactions allowing for dissolution or precipitation of acid rock drainage and metal leaching (ARD/ML) constituents. Local zonal variations can result in a portion of the pit releasing materials into solution; whereas other portions of the lake might favor the formation of colloids or precipitants. The proportions and character of groundwater can drive the chemistry of the pit lake provided sufficient buffering capacity is available to temper the generation of ARD in the system. For sulfide-rich systems, reduction of oxygen by rapid inundation and consumption by sulfides is key to reducing the ARD/ML. This paper presents several models of a sulfide-rich wall rock system using a range of groundwater chemistries to show these constraints.

Jan 1, 2012

By William R. Yernberg

The combined 79th Annual Minnesota Section of SME Meeting and 67th Annual University of Minnesota Mining Symposium was held April 11 and 12, 2006, in Duluth, MN. About 300 mining professionals attended, including engineers, executives, mining managers and suppliers, from throughout the United States and Canada. This year’s theme was “Success in the New World of Mining.” The SME Minnesota Section meeting included a keynote session, a special projects update, a general managers update and technical paper presentations. The University of Minnesota Mining Symposium program featured a panel discussion on Minnesota’s relationship with China. The combined meeting included a trade-show consisting of 64 booth spaces. Tradeshow demand exceeded expectations, and an additional 10 booth spaces were added in the registration lobby. Also included were an SME short course on pump basics and social events.

Jan 1, 2006

By William J. Campbell

Evaluation by the Bureau of Mines of published expansion values for magnesium oxide shows significant variation in values, which may be attributed to sample variables, experimental errors, or systematic differences between measuring techniques. To eliminate the sample variable in measuring expansion, thermal expansion characteristics of a high-purity polycrystalline magnesium oxide were determined by 21 cooperating laboratories using one or more of the following techniques; X-ray camera, X-ray diffractometer, dilatometer, interferometer, and telemicroscope. All expansion values were corrected by the author to a single reference temperature of 25° C. Linear expansion was expressed as a power series in the form of the following equation. Expansion (percent) = [[ A + B (?t) + C (?t)2] ?t 104] The constants, A, B, and C, were determined by least square techniques for X-ray camera, X-ray diffractometer, and dilatometer data separately, and for combined data of all five techniques. Expansion values are tabulated from 26° C. to 1,400° C. in 2° C. intervals using constants derived from X-ray camera data. Below approximately 500° C., expansion values obtained by dilatometric and interferometric methods are significantly lower than those by X-ray methods; above 500° C., this bias decreases rapidly. Comparison of results within methods showed the least variance for X-ray camera results; dilatometer and X-ray diffractometer results have about the same variance. The average deviations, in percent, between observed and calculated expansion values among methods were approximately 10 percent from 100°C. to 300°C., 5 percent from 300°C. to 500°C., and 2 percent from 500°C. to 1,400°C. Maximum deviations were approximately twice as large in most instances.

Jan 1, 1962

By Martin Hertzberg

In this Bureau of Mines study, an equation is derived for the limit burning velocity for divergent, spherical propagation from an ignition kernel of radius, r: (Su)e = ( ) . For flame propagation into a preexisting, stretching velocity gradient of magnitude dv/dx, the limit velocity is (Su)e = (a dv/dx)1/2. These formulations are shown to be equivalent to the fluid dynamic concepts of Damkoh1er, Kar10-vitz, and Markstein. Existing data for the b10woff limits of flames are shown to give excellent agreement with those concepts provided that proper account is taken of two dilution effects: composition dilution caused by entrainment and velocity gradient dilution caused by flow expansion. Approximate flow-field solutions are also derived for the unburned gas motion above an upward propagating, spherical flame kernel in buoyancy-induced flows. It is shown that;, the upward hemisphere propagates toward a stagnation plane in a counterflow configuration involving the balance between the combustion force, which accelerates the cold gas upward, and the buoyancy force that accelerates the cold gas downward. The position of the stagnation plane above the upward propagating hemisphere is related to the ratio of the buoyant velocity, vb, to the burning velocity, Suo Extinction of the upward propagating wave occurs by flame stretch in that counterflow configuration when n = Vb/Su begins to exceed the expansion ratio, Pu/Pb' and the wave is blown off by its own buoyancy-induced flow field.

Jan 1, 1984

By David B. Burrows, Francis R. Conley

INTRODUCTION A prerequisite to the evaluation and management of oil properties is accurate information derived from the analysis of core samples; but reliable data, such as porosity and permeability, can result only if all oil and water have been removed from the core samples analyzed. The most common method of core cleaning used to date has been Soxhlet extraction—a somewhat static technique, which depends upon the slow diffusion of hot solvent through the core sample. Soxhlet extraction performs satisfactorily only with highly permeable samples and at best requires long cleaning periods. The centrifuge method was developed in 1951 by Continental Oil Co. to overcome the inefficiencies inherent in the Soxhlet method. The new method is basically an operation in which hot solvents are caused to flow through the samples under the influence of centrifugal force. The centrifuge unit has proved so successful that samples which formerly required days for partial extraction can now be completely cleaned in approximately one hour. The original idea was conceived in 1950 by Elmer S. Messer, whose early experiments consisted of flowing solvent over sandstone samples suspended in a revolving basket and driven by a vertically mounted vacuum cleaner motor. Results were so outstanding that more permanent units were constructed. A modified model using this basic design was recently built by Core Laboratories, Inc., and is now used regularly in their operations. DESIGN Fig. 1 shows a photograph of the two extractors routinely used to clean small core plugs in the Production Research Div. of Continental Oil Co.'s Ponca City laboratories. For illustrative purposes, the basket from one of the units has been removed, and because both extrac- tors are of identical design only one is described in the following discussion. Each extractor unit consists of a centrifuge and a solvent still. The core basket of the centrifuge is made of mild cold rolled steel 7 1/2 in. in diameter and 1 1/8 in. deep. The basket holds 18 1-in. samples (cubical or cylindrical) and is attached directly to a cone fitted to the shaft of the motor. Both the outer rim and the hollow hub of the basket contain perforations for the passage of solvent and extract. The solvent is delivered to the perforations by means of a copper tube inserted into the hollow hub. The motor is a vertical tool post grinder motor; (115 v, 5.6 amp, 0-60 cycles, AC-DC, rated at 1/3 hp). It has a rated speed of 10,000 rpm under full load and 15,000 rpm with no load. Variation of speed is obtained by the use of a variable transformer. The solvent still was constructed from one end of a stainless steel oxygen bottle by inserting a heating element, sight glass, and piping as shown on the schematic diagram, Fig. 2. The heater used was a three-position, 1,000 w, 115-v, immersion type. Intermittent flow of solvent to the centrifuge is obtained by means of a siphon bottle inserted between the condenser and the centrifuge.

Jan 1, 1957

By Jianbo Hu, Gang Han, Tao Zheng, Junfeng Jiang, Rui Su, Qihua Zhao

The rock quality designation (RQD) is a commonly used index for the classification and evaluation of rock mass quality and is widely adopted in mining and geological engineering. The traditional method of obtaining RQD still requires manual measurement of core length and calculation of RQD, which is inefficient. To address this problem, we propose a framework for drilling core image segmentation and RQD estimation from digital images of cores in core boxes based on the deep learning algorithm. The proposed framework is generated by combining the Mask Region-Based Convolutional Neural Networks (Mask R-CNN) instance segmentation algorithm, the U-Shaped Convolutional Neural Networks (U-Net) semantic segmentation algorithm, and the image processing functions of the Open Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV). To demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method, seven boreholes in the Xiushuihe vanadium-titanium magnetite mine, located in the Sichuan Province, China, were used as the case study. According to the comparison of the manual measurements and calculations of the cores taken from seven boreholes used to conduct this study, the framework can record the length of the drill cores and calculate RQD within an average error rate of 3.42%, while it saves about 85% of the working time. The results illustrate that the proposed framework enhances the efficiency of RQD calculation while satisfying the engineering requirements.

Jul 31, 2023

By F. S. Boericke

"INTRODUCTION The mineral found in natural-chromite deposits is never pure Fe0.Cr203, but rather one in which the Fe0 and Cr203 are in part replaced by Mg0 and A1203, respectively. The purest gravity concentrates from many domestic de¬posits consist of a mineral referred to as ""picotite,"" in which this isomorphous replacement is such that the ratio of chromium to iron is low. The Bureau of Nines has investigated methods of chemically beneficiating ores that contain too much iron to be classed as ""high-grade"" chromite 3/ Early investigations 4/ demonstrated that high-iron chromite or picotite ores can be roasted with carbon to obtain selective reduction of the contained iron, and that most of this reduced iron can be removed by acid-leaching the roast products to produce residues of higher chromium-to-iron ratios. tests 5/ indicated that commercially acceptable reaction rates cannot be obtained at roasting temperatures below 1,3000 C., using solid carbon as reducing agent. By this high-temperature reduction and subse¬quent acid-leaching, however, all ores investigated, regardless of the original composition, readily yielded residues considerably better than the minimum specifications for high-grade chromite.In an effort to obtain satisfactory reduction of chromite at lower temperatures, liquid and gaseous seducing agents were tested with varying success. Of the several reducing agents used, methane appeared to be the most promising and was shown to be highly effective at temperatures between 1,000º and 1,100º C., roughly 300º below the roasting temperatures necessary in solid carbon reduction. Further experiments indicated that mixtures of methate with some diluent (hydrogen or other nonoxidizing gas) gave better reduction than did methane alone."

Feb 1, 1946

By T Bookless, J Pownell, D Meadows

The ever increasing trend of the gold price has meant that ore deposits that were previously considered too complex, or unattractive by virtue of their low gold grade, are now being investigated more closely. These ore deposits present a greater risk of failure than previously was the case. To ensure that the risk of project failure is reduced and the maximum value is derived from the deposit, its mineralogy, as well as other characteristics, should be well understood such that the optimum process can be designed.Quite often the flow sheet design is assembled using individual process components, from various sources, and without consideration of the complete system. Test work programs require careful planning and an open viewpoint in terms of comminution circuit design particularly with respect to ever increasing power costs across the globe. As an example, high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) technology in many cases offers better mineral liberation than the more traditional comminution devices and it does so at a reduced energy input, and yet HPGR test work is often restricted in its scope due to the perceived novelty of the technology and the resultant lack of generally agreed and accepted test work routes.In this paper the authors outline a typical HPGR test work process route driven by the needs of different ore types and illustrate that to optimise the project value, any test work program should start from the premise that thorough understanding of the ore is vital.CITATION:Bookless, T, Meadows, D and Pownell, J, 2013. Enhancing project value through a designed high pressure grinding roll test work program, in Proceedings World Gold 2013 , pp 291-300 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 26, 2013

The issue of retrenchment is a topic of considerable relevance for the Papua New Guinea (PNG) mining, petroleum and gas industries. The unique environments in which Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) and other similar operations operate are likely to confront these industries with particular dilemmas that will require a range of investments to mitigate the problems associated with retrenchment and employment. This paper discusses retrenchment and employment in the PNG mining industry using the specific case study of PJV. The paper deals with the issue of employment and retrenchment of local workforces in the PNG context, which presents a serious challenge for the resources industry and the achievement of sustainable development objectives. The issue of future retrenchment of the workforce as a result of mine closure is an obvious challenge for both PJV and the Porgeran community at large, who have now come to rely upon both the employment opportunities presented through the mining. This paper examines these challenges and in doing so highlights some progress made by PJV. The paper also discusses downsizing, strategic practices and holistic approaches of retrenchment and employment. In doing so the paper highlights issues that have been overlooked in both academic and applied studies from global and local perspectives in the PNG mining sector. The latter sections articulate the relevance of the information provided by the case study in the wider context of retrenchment. The conclusion promotes a perspective that a great deal more investment will be required by all stakeholders to respond to the challenges of managing retrenchments and mine closure.

Jan 1, 2009