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By H Zhai, C Zhang, I Canbulat, K Yui

Sedimentary rock is a lithology that is commonly encountered in mining practices. Their properties, especially the resistance against weathering, are often of critical importance to long-term engineering stability due to their ubiquitous existence on the earth’s crust. The weathering of rocks is a complex process that involves physical degradation, chemical and biological erosions. In this study, the impact of physical weathering on four common sedimentary rocks, namely sandstone, siltstone, limestone and shale, are simulated in the laboratoryoratory environment taking into consideration the impact of preservation condition, temperature and time. In order to optimise the design of the experiment, Taguchi’s design of experiment method is implemented based on the L16 orthogonal array and selected simulation conditions. The weight and dimension variation, fracture intensity, slake durability, and uniaxial strengths of specimens are then tested to quantify the impact of weathering under various conditions. The results indicate that weathering significantly influences the strength of shale, siltstone and limestone but not sandstone. The impact of weathering on dimension variation is insignificant. For soft rocks, most physical weathering took place after second cycle of simulation, resulting in strength reduction up to 100 per cent (disintegration) but generally in a range from 28 per cent to 32 per cent. Additionally, time is the most important factor contributing to the physical weathering of weak rocks, followed by residual, preservation conditions and temperature. Last but not least, some shales, depending on the content of clay minerals, tend to develop significant fracturing or even disintegrate under the influence of weathering.

Nov 29, 2022

By D Connelly

The Iron Road Limited Central Eyre Iron Project (CEIP) area, located on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, covers extensive Archaean iron formations that occur as coarse-grained magnetite bearing gneiss. The cumulative strike length, estimated from aeromagnetic data, is at least 95 km.The project is located in a grain growing area 185 km west of the existing iron ore and steel making operations of OneSteel at Whyalla. A narrow gauge railway built to transport agricultural products to the deep-water port of Port Lincoln, 175 km to the south, traverses the project area. A number of well-serviced rural townships are located nearby. Current activities include resource expansion drilling, extensive metallurgical test work, community consultation and a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) that commenced in April 2010.The PFS has encompassed the Central Eyre Iron Project, comprising the three significant iron occurrences (Warramboo, Kopi and Hambidge) and was completed in early 2011. Extensive test work programs and metallurgical modelling confirmed viable process options for the project, using simple off the shelf processing technology.Preconcentration by coarse cobbing yielded promising results, and is the key to reducing not only the capital expenditure but also the operating cost, in particular the power cost, which is the highest operating cost component of a magnetite benefi ciation plant. The ore is also amendable to high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) processing. This offers a potential for further reduction of the energy requirements.Test work also confirmed that a high grade blast furnace quality concentrate (~68 per cent Fe) can be produced at a relatively coarse grind (P80 106 µm).

Jul 11, 2011

By R Lau

The fire safety design for road tunnels includes the following aspects: active systems, passive provisions and operational procedures. The active systems include the smoke control system, fire suppression system, detection system and fire fighter’s assistance systems. Passive provisions include escape passages, fire separation and fire resistance systems. The operational procedures refer to fire fighter access, reporting and alerts, evacuation processes and crowd control.Currently, these systems are typically designed by different designers or teams. These systems are intended to work together in a coordinated manner to provide the desired safety outcome. However, in practice, this is not always happening. The fire engineering process is supposed to bring together all these aspects and arrive at an integrated safety system. The fi re engineering process in practice is not integrating the design with the practice or reality and is thus arriving at less than desirably efficient safety systems.The example of design inputs shows how disconnected each system design basis is. The smoke control system design is based on the design fire size. The performance of the smoke control system is to achieve a smoke free environment for a defined space for a particular fire size – the design fire. The fire suppression system – most commonly sprinklers or deluge systems, is designed according to codes and to achieve a certain water discharge rate. The fire detection system is designed to detect temperature rise/rate of rise and perhaps density of smoke. Fire separation is determined to provide a certain period of service – mostly for structural elements. Escape route size and location is determined mostly by code compliance. Evacuation procedures are determined by Authority operational requirements rather than human behaviour.To arrive at an integrated fire safety system, the design basis and performances must be coordinated. An approach using fire scenarios would ensure all systems are designed to a common performance requirement. This paper will discuss how the current design approach outcomes compared with a fire scenario approach. More effective and efficient fire safety systems would require the stake holders to understand the implication of this approach and to embrace this through the fire engineering process.

Mar 8, 2011

By G D. McDonald

Flinders Mines is an ASX300 iron ore explorer and developer with a tenement package located in the Hamersley Ranges region of Western Australia, approximately 70 km north of Tom Price. Exploration over the past three years has identified a Global Resource in excess of 740 Mt at a grade of 55.4 per cent Fe (+50 per cent Fe cut-off). This resource is spread across multiple deposits and has been divided into a number of mineralisation type domains based on geometallurgical and geochemical boundaries. These domains are comprised of transported haematite rich detrital iron deposits (DID) and goethite dominant Channel iron deposits (CID) as well as in situ bedded Brockman iron deposits (BID). On the basis of differences in physical and chemical characteristics, the DID have been divided into four discrete units. The four DID units form a stratigraphic sequence with the iron grade increasing and the contaminant concentrations decreasing with depth. The upper DID unit is lower grade and currently unlikely to provide a marketable product, without signifi cant beneficiation. The lower three DID units, together with the CID and BID, are of a higher quality and have the potential to yield marketable ore. The ability to define and recognise these different units has resulted in a more reliable and robust geological interpretation and hence greater confidence in the resulting resource model. This has been evident in the excellent conversion of inferred to indicated resources.

Jul 11, 2011

By Y Cao, J C. Tien

Occupational health and safety is essential in modern mining workplaces and in China it is often not given enough emphasis due to a lack of knowledge and/or appreciation. Although many health and safety regulations have been passed over the years, serious and relevant laws and regulations on mine health and safety are of recent history (since 2002), the level of stringent enforcement is still inconsistent and accurate field data are scant and not readily available. As of year-end 2006 there were 676 562 recorded cases of occupational diseases in China, of which 616 442 or 91 per cent were miners’ pneumoconiosis. Of these, 146 195 (23 per cent) have died, and an average of 10 000 new cases were added every year between 1991 and 2006. Another report shows that 93.18 per cent of miners have never had a contract with their companies, which means their cases were not even part of China’s official statistics. This study attempts to examine the prevalence of occupational diseases in the Chinese mining industry during 2000–2013, compiled from government annual reports and academic studies. The research will review the correlational analysis among occupational diseases, ventilation practices, protection devices and legislation.CITATION:Cao, Y and Tien, J C, 2015. Occupational diseases in China, with the emphasis on its occurrence in Chinese mine workers, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 155–160 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

By G M. Evans, C M. Phan

This paper presents an analysis on the dynamic adsorption of frothers and collectors onto air bubbles in flotation. The analysis was carried out using the theory on the surfactant transfer by diffusion and adsorption. The bubble size was considered when solving the diffusion equation for the dynamic surface excess. The adsorption kinetics was modelled employing the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and its extension with the inclusion of the lateral interaction of the adsorbed molecules (the Frumkin adsorption isotherm). The numerical computation was applied to solve the governing equations. The dynamic adsorption of the surfactants was measured in terms of the dynamic surface tension for sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) and Dowfroth 250, using pendant bubble tensiometry. The results show that for air bubbles with diameter of the order of 1 mm, the bubble size effect on the dynamic surface tension is small and the solution of the diffusion equation for a planar gas-liquid surface can be used to describe the dynamic adsorption onto the air bubbles. The experimental data obtained with SDBS were well described by the Frumkin adsorption isotherm and the molecular diffusion. The model description for the experimental data obtained with Dowfroth 250 required the kinetic equations. The paper is relevant for further analysis of the role of the adsorbed surfactants in the particle collection.

Jan 1, 2005

By Stephenson D. B, Burgess J, Burgess F. L, Marshall S. H

A new high intensity flotation process 'FASTFLOT' is explained and its theoretical advantages compared with other flotation systems are discussed. The results of initial FASTFLOT testing on the zinc roughing circuit at Pasminco Mining, Broken Hill South concentrator are presented and compared to recent plant data. The comparison suggests that on roughing duties, the FASTFLOT process yields superior concentrate grade while requiring less than one third the residence time of a conventional mechanical cell plant. Strategies for FASTFLOT deployment are also presented.

Jan 1, 1994

By T J. Grandfield

Paste fill has been used successfully at Henty Gold Mine for the past five years. It has allowed 100 per cent extraction of the orebody, stabilised poor ground and enabled wide sections and offsets to be mined safely. However, there are a number of inefficiencies in the current paste fill system. These include the low output from the drum filter, the addition of aggregate to the paste to compensate and the trucking of paste from the plant to the portal. These inefficiencies have increased the operating cost of the paste fill system and caused a number of operational challenges such as blockages and increased pipe wear. These challenges have been partly overcome by taking ownership of the paste fill process, improved quality control and better communication. Henty is currently developing two new orebodies, the Mt Julia and the Darwin and has an opportunity to build an efficient paste fill operation. This is likely to be a high density paste system without aggregate, either located above the new orebodies or located at the plant and pumped to the new site.

Jan 1, 2002

By J Yamatomi, Y Tamanishi, S Miwa

The four-dimensional (4D) network relaxation method, originally developed by Akaike in 1999, uses Lagrange relaxation and is known for its ability to include the price change and possible better outputs, but the computation time is huge. However, the continuous advancement in computer technologies allows the use of higher-speed computers with more memory capacity. Therefore, in this paper the authors have tried to implement the method with adjustments and improvements in its algorithm to suit the current computing system. As a result, the computation time has been drastically reduced and more constraints can be included, which makes the scheduling a more realistic one. The case study of an open pit gold mine with 129 500 blocks can be solved considering the capacity constraints in 71 seconds. In previous case studies, the mined ore had to be processed or disposed of immediately. Now, stockpiling can be included as another option. Since the details of the algorithm are still being improved, the computation time is a little longer than the previous cases without the stockpiling option. However, it is found that scheduling with the stockpiling option is possible in a reasonable time. In conclusion, the 4D network relaxation method has become more useful with advances in computer technologies and provides better results.

Sep 26, 2011

By J B. Pateiro-Fernßndez, M Fuchsschwanz, G Deissmann, S Ahmad

Quang Ninh province is the most significant coal producing region in the north of Vietnam. The Nui Beo Coal Company (NBCC) operates open pit mines in Quang Ninh province and the waste overburden produced is dumped as sidehill fill in the Chinh Bac waste dump site. In the past, no special consideration has been given to the environmental impacts during the dumping operations. The mine waste is transported in trucks from the mine site to the dumping site and the loading, hauling and dumping operations are the main sources of dust emission. Rain events, especially during the rainy season, cause the generation of contaminated surface water as well as seepage of water through the dump at a number of locations. The existence of cracks at the top of the dump can pose serious stability problems with heavy rain events leading to failure of slopes which can potentially disturb vast areas of land currently used for agricultural purposes and human settlement. For sustainable development at the Chinh Bac waste dump site in the future, apart from the social and economic considerations to be assessed, there is an absolute necessity for environmental protection measures to be in place both during and after the dumping of the mine waste overburden. Research Association Mining and Environment in Vietnam (RAME) is working to develop and implement concepts for the mitigation of environmental problems emerging from dust, contaminated water and lacking slope stability to ensure successful rehabilitation of the coal mine waste dumps in the north of Vietnam. Within the framework of RAME, the Institute of Mining Engineering I (RWTH Aachen University) is managing and working to develop the stabilisation concepts for the solid mine waste dump in collaboration with the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering (RWTH Aachen University), Brenk Systemplanung and the Vietnamese group of companies VINACOMIN (Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group). The most economical and environmentally sound operations, as well as locally adaptable environmental protection measures, are essential for the sustainable development of the dumping operations at Chinh Bac dump. This paper describes the dump site and the sustainable development possibilities with an emphasis on the environmental protection and stability problems at the Chinh Bac waste dump.

Jan 1, 2009

The production of synthetic rutile from ilmenite using hydrochloric acid leaching is investigated. Previously published data is used to comment on the optimum process conditions. It is shown that the most important aspect to consider is the maximisation of impurity dissolution and the minimisation of titanium losses.

Jan 1, 2001

By J Morgan

Regular monitoring of surface deformation over mine sites is important for providing updated information to managers regarding geotechnical risks related to ground instabilities. This is particularly true in cases where unexpected or accelerating movement patterns are observed, as these trends may have implications related to worker safety within active mining environments, as well as continuity of ongoing operations. InSAR is an active remote sensing technique that uses radar satellite imagery to precisely measure ground movement. This technology has started to become a standard tool for monitoring surface stability in many different sectors, including underground and open pit/cut mining applications. In recent years the launch of satellites that collect radar imagery on a more frequent basis, coupled with advances in InSAR processing techniques, has improved both the extent to which movement patterns typical of mining operations can be characterized and the temporal scale on which results can be reported to geotechnical departments. As a result of these developments, InSAR monitoring can now better meet the operational needs of mine sites. An overview of the more recently launched satellites that have a particular relevance to the monitoring of mines is provided, along with an explanation of the InSAR tools that are the most valuable to mine managers and geotechnical engineers. First, broad differences between high resolution X-band imagery and low resolution (but freely available) Sentinel imagery are discussed. Second, the various InSAR tools and their particular applications for different types of mine sites and operations are covered, which include fast delivery deformation maps for short-term reporting, multi-interferometric algorithms for longer-term analyses and rapid movement tracking (RMT) for emergency monitoring or high-risk situations. The ability of the technology to resolve 2D and 3D movement is also touched upon. Practical examples of InSAR application over a variety of mine sites will be presented, as well as surrounding hazards including landslides, to illustrate how InSAR can help provide geotechnical engineers with a picture of surface stability over the full mine site and surrounding areas to help manage risk. CITATION:Morgan, J, 2018. Wide area mapping of ground instabilities from space: InSAR for geotechnical risk assessment and hazard monitoring, in Proceedings The Fourth Australasian Ground Control in Mining Conference (AusRock), pp 375–382 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 30, 2018

By S van der Sluijs, M van Ende, Y Tang, A Emami

This paper presents a phenomena-based model for investigating the possibility of scrap melting in an Open Slag Bath Furnace (OSBF) for green ironmaking. The goal of this study is to enhance the circularity of the steelmaking process by utilising scrap as a green source of iron in OSBFs. The model takes into account the fundamental differences between OSBFs and traditional processes such as Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) and Basic Oxygen Furnaces (BOFs). The model considers three primary regions where scrap heating and melting occur: the solid feed pile, slag and hot metal. It accounts for factors such as the furnace geometry, scrap charging mechanism and specific heat and mass transfer properties of the reactor. The model was validated using literature data and was used to investigate the heating and melting behaviour of individual scrap particles under various process parameters. The study finds that the scrap melting process in OSBFs involves three stages: shell formation, shell remelting and subsequent melting of the parent scrap. The carbon content of the scrap and the liquid hot metal plays a critical role in determining the melting behaviour. Depending on the carbon concentration and temperature, the melting process can be heat transfer controlled or mass transfer controlled. The paper also examines the scrap feeding methods in OSBFs, including direct charging into the slag or charging through a feed pile. The model provides insights into the melting rate of scrap compared to Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) in OSBFs and highlights the role of carbon in this process. Overall, this phenomena-based model contributes to the understanding of scrap melting behaviour in OSBFs and provides valuable insights for optimising the circularity and efficiency of green ironmaking processes. The findings of this study can inform the design and operation of OSBFs, paving the way for increased utilisation of scrap as a sustainable feedstock in the steel industry.

Jun 19, 2024

By M I. Pownceby, N A. S Webster, J R. Manuel, J M. F Clout, E Donskoi, N A. Ware

The relative influences of sinter mineralogy, sintering temperature, solid and pore macro- and microstructure on iron ore sinter physical strength are not yet fully understood. Whilst a range of analysis techniques have been used by researchers to evaluate sinter physical properties and sinter mineralogy, none have been able to directly link sinter mineralogy and physical strength under controlled conditions. CSIRO has developed a unique laboratory method to study the fundamental melting properties of fine iron ores in a laboratory furnace under a controlled temperature and gas atmosphere environment designed to simulate the industrial sintering process. Compacted tablet samples for a 0.41 per cent and a 2.5 per cent Al2O3 series were fired in a tube furnace at various temperatures, cooled, then tumbled using a modified Bond abrasion test apparatus to determine a relative tumble index (TI) at each temperature. Quantitative XRD (QXRD) analysis was then carried out on the tumbled samples and optical image analysis (OIA) was conducted on polished sections of a separately fired compact in each case. The amount of total SFCA was found to decrease with increasing firing temperature for both alumina series with the total amount of SFCA higher in the 2.5 per cent Al2O3 series compared to 0.41 per cent Al2O3 series samples. The increase in the amount of magnetite and hematite with increasing firing temperature was largely at the expense of a decrease in total SFCA. Overall, there was good agreement between the quantitative mineralogy determined from QXRD versus OIA for SFCA, hematite and magnetite. Qualitative analysis of high magnification images of the sinter correlated with both the OIA and QXRD results.

Sep 18, 2023

By N J. Goodman

The HIsmelt technology was developed and proven in Western Australia (WA) after more than 30 years and several billion dollars of research and development. The HIsmelt technology was transferred to China and is now successfully operating at the Molong plant in Shandong Province, China using WA iron ore fines as the major feedstock. Several more plants are under construction in China, and the technology has been approved by the Chinese Government as an environmentally acceptable alternative to the blast furnace. The unique flexibility of the HIsmelt process offers multiple pathways to decarbonise the production of steel in the near future. These pathways include:  Use of sustainably grown biomass converted to Biochar to replace coal as the reductant.  Pre-reduction of iron ore fines using hydrogen or biomass to direct reduced iron (DRI) powder.  Capture of carbon dioxide from the HIsmelt off gas and geo-sequestration underground. These pathways are highly suitable for the Australian iron ore industry as they utilise:  The large areas of land and long growing season available in Australia for the production of large tonnages of sustainably grown biomass.  Coarse iron ore fines directly without the need for fine grinding and pelletising.  Existing oil, gas and other underground gas reservoirs to store carbon dioxide. The HIsmelt technology will allow Australia to transition from ‘Asia’s quarry’ to Asia’s supplier of low cost, low carbon and high quality metallics that are required to produce ‘green’ steel with net zero carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, HIsmelt pig iron can be converted locally into steel via electricarc or basic-oxygen steelmaking furnaces to supply all of Australia’s demand for green steel.

Nov 8, 2021

By Q Fan

The steelmaking desulfurisation plays an important role in coal-based steelmaking route of blast furnace and BOF converter within the flow sheet of BF-deS-BOF. With the advent of H2-based ironmaking and steelmaking process, the transition flow sheet of DRI-Smelter-BOF has been assessed and developed by the steelmaking industry. What is the role of deS in H2-based route of DRI-smelter-BOF? This paper will present the influence of sulfur-containing iron ore on steelmaking desulfurisation and the leading role of EAF-smelter played in H2-based steelmaking route. The sulfur contents of iron ore vary considerably around the world and lower-grade iron ores with high sulfur are likely to be used for H2-based route, a considerable amount of sulfur that comes from DRI will report to the melt of EAF-smelter and the operating conditions of EAF-smelter also impact the sulfur content of the hot melt for steelmaking deS. The EAF-smelter of H2-based route is the focus of the steelmaking industry at moment, unfortunately, an industrial-scale EAF-smelter has been the missing link of the flow sheet of DRI-Smelter-deS-BOF, despite similar EAF-smelters being used for various applications of Fe-Ti and Fe-Ni processes. The latest progress is that several pilot-scale and industrial-scale EAF-smelters with reducing capability are planned for construction within next several years and low-grade Australia iron ores are certainly to be employed as basic feedstocks for H2-based route of DRI-Smelter-deS-BOF.

Sep 18, 2023

By R Hartner

Digital optical microscopy (DOM) and automated SEM-based (ASEM) mineralogy systems (MLA, QEMSCAN) have experienced significant developments within the last decade. However these developments have been independent from each other and the two mineralogical techniques have so far not yet been integrated to combine the strengths and technical benefits of both analytical platforms. This detailed comprehensive mineralogical information is critical support for geometallurgy.Major hardware and software advances in DOM in the last few years have provided important new capabilities with potential applications to automated mineralogy. These technological advances have been largely driven by sectors outside mining (eg medical pathology) and have not yet been widely adopted within the minerals industry. The advent of DOM offers significantly more automated mineralogy capabilities than traditional expert-mineralogist driven optical microscopy. This is based on advances in automated image acquisition, high resolution cameras for digital imaging, imaging of large areas through mosaic options, integration of multiple layers and application of advanced image analysis techniques.Ongoing research involves combining the outputs of DOM and ASEM-based microscopy to create new capabilities for integrated microscopy based on development of advanced cross-platform image fusion and data integration between DOM and ASEM (exploiting the benefits of both analytical platforms). This requires non-linear image registration and transfer of mineralogical identification from ASEM to DOM systems using sophisticated image manipulation and data analysis software.Examples will be given of image fusion and data registration for a range of different ore types. Image fusion techniques are demonstrated using a porphyry copper deposit sample where sulfides and precious metals are classified using the MLA and gangue mineralogy obtained from DOM images. Data integration enables creation of a library containing optical property variability information for minerals identified by the MLA; thus reducing the reliance on skilled mineral identification by supplementing human interpretation

Sep 5, 2011

By Snowden D. V, Standing C. A, Ryba A, Bywater A

McKinnons open pit gold mine, located within the Cobar Basin in New South Wales, is characterised by complex mineralisation controlled by the intersection of steep faults in the hinge zone of an anticline. Resource estimation using indicator variography and indicator kriging was based on RC drilling on 25 in sections together with grade control RC drilling on 12 in by 12 in and 6 m by 6 in patterns. Rigorous sampling and checking procedures were used to verify the reliability of the drill hole data. Blast hole data was used to assist grade control in defining ore block boundaries.

Jan 1, 1997

By D Chalmers, C C. Harb

The detection and control of gas levels in mining is a continuing challenge for the industry. Standard detectors have many problems that could be overcome with laser based spectroscopic instruments, but to date these systems have not been suitable for mining conditions. This paper reports the development of a new digital data extraction scheme to modernise traditional cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS). CRDS is a direct cavity enhanced laser based absorption technique, which is used to allow the identification of an unknown substance by their molecular fingerprint; this unknown substance is identified by analysing the ring downtime of the light exiting the optical cavity. Traditional CRDS has many issues when analysing substances in hostile environments, or when multiple species may be present. This presents an alternative approach, called real-time CRDS (rtCRDS) that has the potential to overcome many of these issues and produces systems that could be used in the mining industry. The system utilises newly developed widely tuning quantum cascade lasers combined with improved optical cavities and novel digital data extraction to produce spectra over a 1500 nm range in a few seconds. The ring downtime measurements produced are accurate and have high sensitivity and maximum signal to noise ratio. This paper discusses the technique, illustrating the advantages compared to traditional systems and show real-time spectra for a set of molecules of interest to the mining industry. This paper also provided an analogy between this approach and that used in digital communications systems, and shows that this scheme is ideally suited to provide a network of sensors in hostile environments.CITATION:Harb, C C and Chalmers, D, 2015. Real-time methane detection – modern digital laser spectroscopy for hostile environments, in Proceedings The Australian Mine Ventilation Conference, pp 161–166 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 31, 2015

The borehole televiewer is a downhole geophysical logging device that produces continuous, oriented, 360¦ images of the drill hole wall. Two types of borehole images are currently being generated at the BHP Billiton Mount Whaleback deposit. The optical televiewer (OTV) tool captures a ærealÆ image of the borehole wall whereas an acoustic televiewer (ATV) generates an image through variations in physical borehole size, scattering the energy from an acoustic beam. Orientation of the resulting ævirtual coreÆ is derived through magnetometers and accelerometers, providing values within one degree for both inclination and azimuth. Downhole structures such as fractures, joints, foliations and bedding planes are selected directly off the borehole image, recorded and displayed in a 3D modelling package along side adjacent drill holes. Measurements are corrected from apparent to true dip and magnetic to true north. Strata-bound magnetic anomalies are identified and corresponding measurements excluded. The importance of borehole imaging increases substantially with its ability to integrate the OTV and/or ATV data with other forms of lithological and structural data. At Mount Whaleback, the borehole televiewer has been implemented to provide information for geotechnical exploration including structural analysis, lithological characterisation and rock-mass conditions. Within the large area in and around Mount Whaleback, drilling may intersect a number of different geological formations with various rock types and conditions. With the application of the borehole televiewer, reverse circulation drilling can provide information traditionally obtained by diamond drilling.

Jan 1, 2007