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By Newman H. A

Goldsworthy Mining Limited is currently mining iron ore at an annual rate of 7 million tons from several small orebodies, each of which exhibit wide variations in iron, phosphorus, silica and alumina contents. Each orebody is mined at its average ore reserve grade and therefore mine planning and grade control techniques have had to be tailored to achieve a constant production blend.

Jan 1, 1973

By Mathews K. E, Willstead T. V C

Initial glory holing was followed by sublevel stoping, with a small proportion of total production mined by shrink and cut-and-fill methods.The sublevel stoping method was successfully modified to cater for altering ground conditions encountered at increasing depths. At present, 94 per cent of production comes from sublevel stopes. The evolution of this mining method and current techniques and practices is outlined. A combined shrink and,sublevel benching method was also developed to increase the mining rate of narrow orebodies over the standard stoping lift of 380 ft. Pillar recovery and stope filling operations have been continuously modified to suit the relIuirements of a rapidly developing mine.INTRODUCTIONOre production commenced at Mount Isa Mines in June 1931. Since then production has increased from approximately 2,500 tons of lead ores per mine day to the current 11,000 tons of sulphide ores per mine day comprising 3,100 tons of lead ore and 7,900 tons of copper ore. The early planners selected sublevel stoping with ring drilling for ore breaking as the most efficient and economical for Mount Isa conditions: This method satisfied requirements for:1. a low cost mining method for the comparatively low grade ores,2. a stoping sequence allowing development, stope preparation, breaking and drawing of ore to proceed concurrently,3. a method of extraction in which broken ore in the stopes would be kept to a minimum because of adverse effects of oxidation on mill metallurgy and...

Jan 1, 1961

The Prince Lyell Mine has been the major production source at Mount Lyell since under-ground mining commenced in 1972.Three lifts of stopes have been mined to date, with the fourth, the 40 Series lift, to commence production this year. As the mine has progressed deeper, the ore haulage system has evolved to accommodate the mine's economic circumstances while maximizing efficiency.In the first, or 10 Series lift of stopes, ore was removed from drawpoints by L.H.D. units and tipped directly into rakes of 7 tonne rail cars. The original concept for deeper stoping lifts entailed L.H.D.'s tipping into long ore passes, rail haulage, underground crushing and hoisting to surface via the No. 1 Shaft. The suspension of the No. 1 Shaft project in 1976, due to economic difficulties, lead to the intro-duction of diesel truck haulage of ore, initially via the internal Prince Lyell Decline and now to surface via the Main Decline.

Jan 1, 1985

By Dif A. E N, Abdalla MH

The effect of multiple tunnels /cavities on the stress and deformation field of the soil media was investigated by using a two dimen- sional plane strain boundary element model. The soil was considered as an elastic, isot- ropic and homogenous media. The interaction of two circular and parallel tunnels/cavities was investigated. Depth of burial, tunnel spacing and surface load width were the system variables considered. The results of this study indicated that the vertical displacements of the soil media increases by decreasing the distance between the adjacent openings, the interaction between the two tunnels/cavities can be neglected for K/D > 5, while the load width has a minor effect except in the dis- tance of D from the center line of the load and for a depth of 2D.

Jan 1, 1987

Willemite mineralization was discovered in 1966 in the North Flinders Ranges of South Australia, in the course of a stream sediment sampling programme. Further work outlined a total of nine separate willemite occurrences in the Copley/Beltana area, and ten small deposits in the Toondana area south of Parachilna. Mineable reserves of 1 000 000 tonnes grading 36.8% zinc were outlined in three deposits in the Copley/Beltana area and campaign mining of the Main Orebody commenced early in 1974. The main group of deposits all occurred within red, dolomitized Cambrian Ajax Limestone, and most are associated with significant thrust faulting. The area of the Main Orebody group of deposits has been intensely fractured, and the surrounding dolomites are often brecciated and contain up to 5% zinc. Lead and arsenic mineralization are minor components of the main group of deposits. Masses of Middle Proterozoic Willouran Formation crop out adjacent to or close to most of the deposits in the Copley/Beltana area. The Willouran is frequently highly sheared, brecciated, and often contains large inclusions of younger formations. It is believed that most of the Willouran outcrops represent piercement structures.

Jan 1, 1975

By Donchak PJ, Lang SC, Hammond RL, Bultitude RJ

The Hodgkinson and Broken River Provinces form the northern part of the Tasman Orogen. They are separated by a broad belt of Late Palaeozoic igneous rocks, but were probably originally continuous. They are bounded to the west by a system of major faults (Fig. 1) which separate them from the Georgetown Province. Although largely Precambrian, the Georgetown Province includes probable Siluro- Devonian granitoids, and in the south adjacent to the Broken River Province, metamorphosed Early Palaeozoic(?) volcanics and sediments of the Greenvale Subprovince. South of the Broken River Province, the Lolworth-Ravenswood Province includes probable Precambrian rocks, Cambro-Ordovician volcanics and sediments, and voluminous Ordovician to Early Devonian granitoids. The first systematic studies of the provinces were the 1:250 000 scale mapping programs by the Bureau of Mineral Resources and Geological Survey of Queensland (White, 1965; de Keyser and Lucas, 1968). These and subsequent regional studies were reviewed by Arnold and Fawckner (1980). Remapping by the Geological Survey of Queensland since 1982, and a concurrent regional study of the deformation by Hammond (1986) have provided much new data. We acknowledge the contribution of other members of the GSQ field parties - L. Cranfield, J. Domagala, B.G. Fordham, P. Green, R. Halfpenny, R. Hegarty, L. Hutton, S. Law, D. Macansh, T. McLennan and M. Scott.

Jan 1, 1987

By Gillies A. D S

A device has been developed for modelling the behaviour of coal under conditions which may lead to spontaneous combustion. It is designed to model the behaviour of a stockpile of large mass. The apparatus can test coal samples taken from the flow stream from mine through washing, stockpiling and transportation to the point of utilisation. It tests samples in an as received' condition and so takes into account the effect of aspects such as particle size and moisture content on propensity for spontaneous combustion to occur. Results of the preliminary tests undertaken are given and future applications of the apparatus are Discussed.

Jan 1, 1995

The major slime forming minerals in coal seams are generally montmorillonite, illite and kaolinite, and due to the consistant trend to full seam mechanisation in New South Wales and Queensland these minerals remain in the feed to a coal preparation plant. After coming into contact with water their size degradation is very rapid, and therefore they mostly report to the fine coal cleaning section of the plant. Froth flotation, being the most effective method of beneficiating fine coal, is widely practised in these two major coal producing states of Australia. Plant experience and laboratory tests suggest that the presence of these slimes in the flotation circuit depresses the flotation of fine coal. Although the deleterious effects of slimes on the flotation behaviour of minerals is well known, the mode of their adsorption at the mineral surface has been a subject of controversy for some time. In this paper, on the basis of the surface properties of slime forming minerals and coal, a model has been put forward to explain the adsorption of slimes at the coal surface. The degree of slime coating has been examined by scanning electron microscopy. Laboratory tests have revealed that with the appropriate use of polyvalent phosphate electrolytes these slimes can be liberated from the coal surface. Just attrition and desliming are not enough to ensure complete liberation of slimes. Coal, after treatment with these electrolytes and then deslimed, floats readily with a common frother, such as MIBC. Modifications in the conventional flotation circuits have been suggested to ensure an efficient flotation of fine coal.

Jan 1, 1978

The maintenance system for underground mobile equipment at Cobar Mines Pty. Ltd. has been modified from that originally planned as a result of experience gained in operating the equipment.Downtime due to breakdowns has been reduced by improvement of vehicle servicing and overhaul procedures.Frequency of breakdowns can be reduced by training operating and maintenance personnel to a high standard, ensuring adequate numbers of tradesmen and supervisors, good maintenance facilities and communications, a well designed mine layout, and a comprehensive stock of spare parts.A maintenance and downtime summary is compiled for each four-week operating period and this is useful in highlighting particular problems where corrective action must be taken.

Jan 1, 1969

By Bilodeau M. L

The paper describes a model which has been developed to assess the economic charac- teristics of base metal investment in Canada and the effects of past, present and possible future sharing systems, particularly mining taxation systems, thereon. The model is illustrated by applying the 1976 Canadian tax system to the economic characteristics of base metal discoveries made in Canada during the 1951-1974 period.

Jan 1, 1977

By Ren T. X, Jozefowicz R

In many branches of engineering, there has to be an understanding of the motion of fluids in order to solve problems. Many safety and health problems in the mining industry are typical examples that involve the understanding and analysis of fluid flow, such as explosions, the spread of fires, dispersion of gas and dust, and ventilation patterns. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is concerned with the use of computers to produce information about the ways in which fluids flow in given situations. Until recently CFD has been widely applied to a variety of industrial sectors and increasingly to problems in the health and safety areas. With the arrival of more powerful computers and CFD packages, CFD techniques are no longer practised solely in a research environment, but can be used by engineers in many industrial fields. This paper introduces the basic concepts and general procedures involved in the use of CFD technology. A comparison is given as a guide to the major features of a number of widely used commercial CFD codes. Areas of potential CFD applications are identified in a range of safety and health problems in mining industry. An example is presented to illustrate the use of this technology. It is believed that the exploitation of these areas using CFD approach will contribute significantly to the solution of today's many mine health and safety problems.

Jan 1, 1995

By M, C Silveira, C Ellice, D Christensen

Peak Gold Mines (PGM), a member of the Rio Tinto Group, is an underground and open cut gold mining operation located near Cobar, NSW. A multi-phase study was initiated in 2001 in support of developing a dry æmoisture store and releaseÆ cover system design for the PGM tailings dam, which contains potentially acid-forming tailings material. The first phase consisted of characterising the tailings and potential cover material (waste rock from an open cut operation) as well as soil-atmosphere cover design modelling. The second phase involved construction of two cover system field trials on the tailings dam and installation of a variety of field instruments to monitor the hydraulic performance of the test covers during all seasons of the year. Field performance monitoring commenced in April 2002 and will continue for a minimum of two wet-dry climate cycles (third phase), prior to using the field data for calibration and subsequent validation of numerical models developed for the cover system trials (fourth phase). This paper describes the work completed for the first two project phases and also discusses the initial performance of the cover system trials.

Jan 1, 2003

By C F. Prins, C LantuTjoul

Mineralisation in alluvial diamond or vein gold deposits is often hosted in trapping mechanisms. For instance, diamonds are nested in bedrock depressions such as gullies and potholes which were carved out by the sea long before the diamond deposition took place. Similarly, gold mineralisation can precipitate in the necks of a boudinage structure. In such deposits, the spatial distribution of the mineralisation is governed by the mutual arrangement of the trapsites and by the grade variations within each trapsite. Reliable estimates can be obtained only if they rest on a proper knowledge of both degrees of variability. This creates a challenging sampling problem, as during the exploration phase it is important to have a good global mean estimate to enable decision making towards the future. A similar problem occurs for local estimates at a later stage of development. To understand and manage the sampling for global means, specific sampling procedures are required based on an appropriate choice of sample support size and spacing. Estimates from such sampling campaigns should be unbiased, and the less variability they display, the better the sampling parameters. The performance and impact of sampling parameters are tested and compared on different simulated deposits.

Jan 1, 2005

By Newell R

The influence of layering on the rate of heat transfer through a packed bed consisting of particles of two different sizes and heat capacities has been determined by measuring the heat front velocity through beds of quartzite particles and iron ore pellets. The heat front velocity through the layered beds was less than that through a bed consisting of a random mixture of the par- ticles. This is due to the formation of an interface in which the smaller pellets in one layer penetrate into the layer of quartzite Below.

Jan 1, 1987

By Van Deventer J S J

The first step in the design of a process to treat a possible economic precious metal deposit should be an examination of the mineralogy of the ore. Using this and other initial tests, the extractive metallurgist can design a process to treat the ore. In the field of precious metal metallurgy, little emphasis is placed on the mineralogical information available to the metallurgist. The information is of far more use to the geologist and the mining engineer. Diagnostic leaching was designed to open up the field of mineralogical analysis to the metallurgist. When a mineralogist looks at the deportment of gold in an ore, he is usually looking for an element which is present in parts per million, so that errors in sampling are multiplied dramatically. Diagnostic leaching offers a cheap, simple, practical alternative. In order to determine with which minerals the desired precious metal is associated, a specific mineral is first eliminated using a selective oxidative leach, and cyanidation is used to extract the precious metal (in this case gold and silver) liberated by the destruction of this mineral. The precious metal extracted can be measured in solution to give a fairly accurate record of the amount of the precious metal associated with that mineral. Furthermore, the residue from this first stage can be subjected to another selective acid leach, and the process repeated. The procedure can be varied to suit the mineralogy of the matrix material. At the end of this diagnostic leach the metallurgist is left with a complete record of the deportment of the precious metal. He can now use this information to design a metallurgical flowsheet to treat the ore. Diagnostic leaching is thus an analytical tool which can be used by the metallurgist not only to examine new ores, but also to look at problems occurring at existing plants. The procedure is not only limited to ores and residues but in fact can deal with any type of intermediary product that occurs on a plant. The information gained from analysing an intermediary product can give a useful indication of how well a unit process is working, eg flotation, roasting, etc.

Jan 1, 1992

By Wang Y. J

This paper describes a more generalised or generic approach for the mine ventilation network problem. More specifically, it defines the network variables in a manner that establishes the network problem in a nonlinear programming format. Assigned to each branch are three variables: air quantity, regulator pressure loss and fan pressure. Each variable is imposed with lower and upper bounds. Based on these, the generalised network problem for a mine ventilation network with B branches is presented as a system of B independent network equations in 3B unknowns (variables) with variable bound restrictions, and it is classified as a nonlinear optimisation. A nonlinear programming model has been developed for this generalised network optimisation problem. The model is formulated and transformed into a standard equality-constrained nonlinear programming form with given variable bounds. Then, MINaS (Modular In-core for Nonlinear Optimisation System) is used to obtain solutions. Examples are given to illustrate this nonlinear programming approach to the mine ventilation optimisation problem.

Jan 1, 1993

By Williams P. A

Tailings dams constructed by the upstream method have traditionally been built using the sand fraction of the tailings, which has automatically provided a relatively permeable embankment material, and helped provide the necessary drainage conditions which are a pre-requisite for safe and stable dam construction using this method. This paper discusses some recent trends which have resulted in proposals to use impermeable material in place of the sand fraction as the embankment material, both for the starter dam, and subsequent lifts. The consequences of these types of decisions on the overall stability of the dam are illustrated, and the need for continued monitoring of pore pressures in the tailings as the dam is raised is emphasised.

Jan 1, 1992

By S Arthur, J Mills, A R. Penney

A key aspect of seismic management for narrow vein stoping of the west zone at the Beaconsfield Gold Mine has been the development of a fully remote extraction method that does not require personnel access to sill drives within the orebody once stoping commences. Initially, sill driving within the reef is undertaken in a conventional fashion under geological control. Sill drives are developed at a vertical backs-to-floor height ranging from 7 - 12 m. This mining stage includes all activities prior to the commencement of stoping, after which no personnel enter the unstoped section of the sill drive at any time for any purpose. The key aspect of the remote mining cycle is the use of footwall drill drives paralleling the ore drive at a minimum separation of 6 m under survey control. These drives provide the platform for fan drilling of the orebody. Up to 20 m strike panels are blasted in a single shot using electronic blasting techniques. Ore is mucked from the extraction level sill drive using tele-remote loaders. Aerials for tele-remote operation are installed through boreholes from the footwall drive, negating the need for personnel access to the sill drive. Once mucking of a stoping panel is complete, a laser scanning survey instrument is used to survey the final void for subsequent design and production reconciliation purposes. The survey instrument is mounted in the bucket of the tele-remote loader, and is also operated remotely. Finally, tele-remote loaders are used to dump waste rock fill from the upper sill drive. A system of flags and cameras installed in boreholes from the footwall drive assists the operator in locating the live stope edge during the filling cycle, again negating the need for personnel access.

Jan 1, 2008

By OÆGrady P

Finite element analysis is becoming a routine component of design of longwall extractions, now superseding more traditional somewhat intuitive approaches. Finite element modelling is relatively inexpensive and provides an adequate degree of similitude to give satisfactory analysis. The physical modelling of two decades ago is now largely replaced by numerical methods of which finite element is the best known. Important data for finite element work are physical properties, including creep aspects, introducing the non-linearity of stress response.Various computer packages are available and some were used to model two specific UK examples, using both linear and non-linear approaches. It appears that non-linear approaches will yield most benefit. The use of materially non-linear analysis is merited by the greater similitude it provides between model output and real mine situations.

Jan 1, 1991

By Mitchell M. A

The steeply dipping Mammoth orebody is mined by Gunpowder Copper Limited using a sub- level uphole bench stoping method at a mining rate of 350 000 tonnes per year. of three per cent copper ore. Access to the mine, is provided by 1 in 9 decline which spirals in the footwall connect-, ing all the sublevels, thus maximising mobility and accessibility of trackless mining equipment Sublevels are driven in ore off cross- cuts from the decline every 15 metres vertic- ally. Sublevel drives are stripped out to widths up to 18 metres before cutoff slots are mined at each end. A two boom fan drilling jumbo is used to drill inclined rows of holes to the floor of the sublevel above. Two or three rows are fired at a time which allows broken ore and remnants from the level above to be mucked out by rubber tyred LHD equipment to the brow. Ore widths of up to 80 metres are en- countered at lower levels where ring drilling from longitudinal drill drives will break ore to a draw point system below. Development is carried out with three boom rubber tyred jumbos. All haulage from the mine is in 20 and 35 tonne rear dump trucks. All aspects of the mining operation are discussed including ventilation, pumping and drainage, services and future planning.

Jan 1, 1974