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By Rais SA

In June, 1986, Freeport Indonesia, Inc., in conjunction with Out- okumpu USA, laboratory tested the Flash flotation concept on Primary ball mill underflow. These laboratory results indicated a possible 10% increase in precious metal recovery and 0.6% increase in copper recov- ery were available over conventional methods. By October of the same year two Outokumpu Skim Air SK-240 units were operational on one mill circuit and were achieving 5 to 10% increased recovery in precious metals with equal copper recovery at one percent higher final concentrate grade. Two more cells were purchased and installed on the remaining grinding circuit in July, 1987. As part of the installation of the Skim Air cells, an existing cluster of six 508mm Krebs cyclones were replaced by four 660mm Krebs cyclones. To reduce high circulating loads, these new cyclones were made horizontal at 45 degrees. This arrangement succeeded in reducing the mill circulat- ing load by 100% and has allowed for a 10% increase in throughput at the same grind.

Jan 1, 1988

Esso Australia Ltd. operates a large natural gas producing system in the Gippsland Basin, supplying gas to the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, the State Electricity Commission of Victoria and several industrial customers. Gas reaches the Longford processing plants from three offshore platforms via a network of large diameter pipelines, which must be protected against the formation of ice-like hydrates. When gas production commenced in 1969, methanol was used to inhibit hydrate formation in the offshore pipelines. However, later investigations showed that the methanol was causing excessive degradation of molecular sieve in the onshore gas-processing plants. (Molecular sieve is used to remove water and H2S from the gas prior to further processing to remove heavy hydrocarbons.)

Jan 1, 1982

By McKendry J. B

Gretley Colliery is situated at Wallsend, a suburb of Newcastle in New South Wales and is owned and operated by the Newcastle Wallsend Coal Ccnpany, a wholly owned subsidiary of Peko Wallsend Limited. The mine has been an efficient bord and pillar producer by industry standards. However, its continued economic viability was threatened because the bulk of remaining reserves lie in more difficult mining conditions and are of poorer quality. Alternatives were examined to improve productivity and allow Gretley to become more competitive in the current difficult market Environment.

Jan 1, 1988

Based on twenty years of experiences of applying computers in mine water engineering in Hungary, a program package was developed for home utilization and for other users abroad as well. This program package has been adapted to the CAD System of Coal Mining of COMECON countries. The main features of the "mine water subsystem" in the CAD System of Coal Mining and short descriptions of the key programs of the package are presented in this paper. Foreword The serious water problems of Hungarian mining pressed and/or stimulated its professionals to apply computers for supporting their problem-solutions. The first trials of these computer applications in mine water engineering were dated from the sixties. Owing to its twenty years of experiences in computer appli- cations in mine water engineering the Central Institute for the Development of Mining in Hungary was requested to work out the "Subsystem of Mine Water" for the Computer Aided Design System ('CAD) of Coal Mines in COMECON countries. This paper gives a brief presentation on the main features of this "subsystem"with reference to significant components.

Jan 1, 1988

By Peverett N. F

The purpose of filtration in a gold reco- very plant is to separate the gold bearing liquid from the solids in the slurry. Some of the gold is inevitably lost due to incomplete separation. An investigation recently completed by the authors has brought to light a method of reducing such losses. In this investigation, the filtration pro- cess was represented by a steady-state mathema- tical model which took account of 14 indepen- dent variables and three parameters. One of the filters in the plant at West Driefontein Gold Mine in South Africa was isolated from the rest and fully instrumented. A computerized data acquisition system was installed close to the filter, and the data obtained from it served to test the model. Using the model together with an optimizing program, the optimum operating point for the filter as a function of throughput was found, and a control strategy developed to minimize the total gold losses in the filter plant.

Jan 1, 1977

By Rienks, Wyborn D

The Ravenswood Batholith in the Charters Towers -Ravenswood area of north Queensland, was formed by three main episodes of granitoid emplacement between the Early Ordovician and the Early Permian. Granite to granodiorite plutons of the first phase of intrusions in the Early to Middle Ordovician, probably formed by partial melting of a thin continental crust as a result of the emplacement of mafic material derived from the mantle. Some of this mafic material subsequently intruded the Ordovician granitoids as gabbro to diorite complexes. The early granitoids were deformed and metamorphosed prior to emplacement of second phase granodiorite to tonalite plutons in the Late Silurian to Early Devonian. These later plutons have generally not been deformed or recrystallised. Geochemical and isotopic data suggest the Siluro-Devonian plutonism may have been generated by a partial melting of the tholeiitic material emplaced in the lower crust during the Ordovician. A third intrusive phase consists principally off Late Carboniferous to Early Permian gabbro-granite complexes, high level granite to granodiorite complexes, and rhyolitic plugs and diatremes near the batholith margin. Gold mineralisation in the batholith is associated with two major events: mesothermal vein formation in the Early Devonian and porphyry types in the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian.

Jan 1, 1990

By S Latchireddi

Close circuiting autogenous and semi-autogenous mills is anenergy efficient way of grinding and a number of operations haveutilised this in the design of their comminution circuits. Owing tothe large flow of slurry through the mill that results fromoperating this way the grates and pulp lifters have to be designedto cope. However, the literature has little or no information onhow grate and pulp lifter size and design are related to theirability to remove slurry from the mill. Over the last few years theJKMRC has been researching this area and has developedrelationships between grate/pulp lifter design and flowratecapacity. At the same time it has determined the major causes ofpulp lifter inefficiency and a solution to preventing thisinefficiency (the Twin Chamber Pulp Lifter). This paperdescribes the models that have been developed through thisprogram and uses industrial scale data to illustrate their accuracy.Results from the industrial trials of the Twin Chamber PulpLifter are also presented.

Jan 1, 2001

The Fosterville goldfield, situated 25 km east of Bendigo, Victoria was at its peak between 1894-1910 with some 47 600 ounces produced (Figure 1). Since that time intermittent mining and tailings retreatment was undertaken until Bendigo Gold Associates delineated a viable resource and commenced an open cut heap leaching operation in early 1991. Unfortunately they encountered financial difficulties and Perseverance Exploration purchased the mine in April 1992. Perseverance operated a successful heap leach operation nearby Nagambie, 100 km east of Fosterville. Based on its acquired heap leaching experience, Perseverance Exploration was able to instigate operational changes to create a successful small gold heap leach operation. The major change was the using of the original multi-use leach pad as a single-use leach pad. The available data allows for a comparison of the two operating systems.

Jan 1, 1994

Systematic ICPES (Inductively coupled plasma emmission spectrometry) analysis of magnetic concentrates from drainage samples has been used to discriminate concentrates dominated by magnetite from those dominated by pisolites, presumably maghemite-rich. In addition, a set of spurious zinc enhancements was recognised and explained with the help of mineralogical data, and systematically isolated using chromium as a Discriminator.

Jan 1, 1987

By Mazandarani M, Chabot L, Vichion K

Pitch-steering models have been developed for discretely advanced mining machines (such as heading machines and coal shearers) using small-angle geometry and there are illustrative examples of simulator predicted performance. Although simple linear models result from the analysis of open-based machines, sledge mounted machines require execution of a Linear Programming energy minimisation to determine the attitude of the machine base at each advance over the previously cut floor steps. An analytical approach is based on elastic beam concepts developed for such applications as longwall face conveyors, caterpillar tracked machines such as continuous miners and longhole drills. Simulation results for longhole drills show the expected performance of an automatic guidance system and the destabilizing effects of sensing deviation too far behind the drill bit. Certain drill bit boundary conditions are expected to assist TBM. steering studies in three dimensions.There is a real role in mining machine steering for the mathematical models used in flight simulators.

Jan 1, 1991

By Peck WH

For many years it was realised that the methods used for unloading concentrates at Port Pirie were inefficient and labour intensive, therefore, when a decision was reached to standardise the east-west rail link from Sydney to Perth, the opportunity was taken to consider entirely new schemes for the handling of concentrates at Broken Hill and Port Pirie. After considerable testing and investigation, it was decided to install a completely new concentrates handling plant incorporating a tippler at Port Pirieòto replace the previous long established methods of unloading and dis- tributing concentrates to the operating plant.and the shipping berths. To achieve this, wagons of concentrates from the various mines are marshalled in a set order at Broken Hill and conveyed to Port Pirie in 56-wagon trains. On arrival at Port Pirie, the wagons are checked and moved to a position where they come under the control of the automatic wagon marshalling equipment.

Jan 1, 1975

If a straight line should be drawn on the map (Fig 1) 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 thewest, 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 outh 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 it 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 cherts of Devonian age, characterized by the brachyopods Spirifer...

Jan 1, 1911

Whilst decisions to commit projects have traditionally been heavily influenced by hurdle rates for d.c.f. analysis, it is suggested that evaluation of competitors' costs may be a desirable additional tool.The MICAS system developed over the past four years is described. This computer system uses standard costs modified by District and Mine factors to allow estimation of individual mine costs. The data base contains more than 15,000 items of data and more than 6000 costs are calculated.Recent applications include use for competitive analysis, predictive analysis, statistical analysis, and comparative assessments with scopes ranging from a few mines to the whole Australian export industry. Some areas where care is necessary are outlined and potential further uses are discussed.

Jan 1, 1985

One of the features of modern life has been the increasing speed of change. We see this in many facets of activity, but in few areas more clearly than in the financial sector. The speed of communication and the advent of screen trading have made world markets one.We have titled this presentation "Cycles". It has been the conventional wisdom that Economies, Metal Prices, Equity Markets, etc. move in cycles. The objective of our presentation is to examine these cycles, to comment on the interrelationships, and to postulate where we are in The Current Cycle". We will draw conclusions as to where one should direct effort in the Mineral Scene over the next decade or so.Throughout this discussion we will use various terms to describe Time. The "Short Term" is typically meant to refer to the next six months: the "Medium Term" is one to two years; and the "Long Term" is the three to five year horizon.

Jan 1, 1990

By Yuanping H

There is a practical method of handling methane in a fully mechanized high output coal face when the methane outflow rate from the face is too high to be handled by ventilation alone, a combined method would be adopted. Before adopting this method, above all, the sources of methane outflow, which can be divided into methane in the intake airflow and methane emitted from the working seam and from the worked-out area, are determined by air-methane measure- ments in the tail gate and intake conveyor gate or by air-methane measurements in the working space of the coal face. Then, in

Jan 1, 1988

By Scaife PH, Cripps Clark J, Cameron DB

Tuyere coke samples have been taken through the tuyere openings of B.H.P. International Blast Furnaces since 1978 with Whyalla No. 2 Blast Furnace taking samples on a regular basis since 1982. The degradation of coke during it's passage through the Blast Furnace can be measured and the relationships between these data, feed coke data and blast furnace operating data demonstrated. Tuyere coke sampling has been useful in revealing misleading external coke testing results and is still the method to monitor directly the performance of coke within the Blast Furnace.

Jan 1, 1987

Stressed steel cables, similar to those used in pre-stressed concrete, have been used for rock mass reinforcement, in civil engineering, for many years. This type of reinforcement has been attempted for open pit wall support, on several occasions, but has never gained wide acceptance as a practical approach because of high cost and complexity of installation in a mining environment. On the other hand, untensioned, fully grouted cable dowels (cable bolts) have gained wide acceptance for ground support in underground mining and it is perhaps surprising that this technique has not been used to a greater degree in open pit mining. The first systematic application of this technique in Australia was at the Mary Kathleen uranium mine in 1976, where it was spectacularly successful in maintaining steep stable walls in a jointed rock mass with unfavourably dipping structures. Cable bolting, and other techniques, are now being used to an increasing degree for wall support in both small and large open pits, for two basic applications: 1. stabilisation of potentially unstable sections of a wall, or 2. to allow steeper walls and reduce waste stripping volumes. In virtually every situation, wall rein- forcement has significant economic as well as technical advantages. The paper describes the development of the techniques, the mechanisms of wall support, the methods used, and discusses several case histories of its application to Australian open pit mines.

Jan 1, 1986

The economics of gold differs from that for base metals mainly because a large component of gold demand is investment or stock demand whereby the metal is purchased and stored for monetary or anxiety motives rather than fabricated into industrial products.The second major component of gold demand is fabrication, principally into jewellery but also, to some extent, into industrial products.Supply to the Western private- gold market comprises non-Communist mine production, Communist sales (chiefly from the USSR), and, finally, net sales by the Western Central Banks, which have total stocks of about 35,000 tonnes and which are sometimes net buyers as well as sellers.The different components of demand and supply fluctuate from year to year.

Jan 1, 1984

To secure a sustainable competitive advantage some smelters may need strategies based on flexibility in feed and product ranges depending on immediate future projections of profitability. This paper explores the technical requirements for strategic diversity in smelting, leaving procurement, marketing and contractual considerations aside. The days when a smelting operation is tied specifically to say only processing zinc concentrates are perhaps drawing to a close. While internationally traded mineral concentrates are available, attractive business opportunities must exist for fully diversified custom smelters. Certain new and emerging technologies have inherent characteristics that are evaluated in this context. The paper identifies the basic building blocks that will permit such a scenario and assesses the technical feasibility. The ability to respond flexibly to environmental pressures is highlighted as being of paramount importance.

Jan 1, 1996

By Javad Koleini S M

The sources of arsenic compounds vary from As(lll) oxide produced from roasters to wastes containing arsenic from chemical or mineral processing plants. The removal of arsenic via co-precipitation with iron is currently proposed as an acce

Jan 1, 1994