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By Kasai H, Hibi T, Matsuishi S

Coal oil mixture (COM), a liquid fuel pro- duced by mixing together coal and heavy oil on the 50-50 basis, has been brought to a level of practical use in Japan, being actually employed by a oil fired system at Yokosuka Thermal Power Station of The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. A COM Production Plant, built in Onahama which is located about 160 miles from Yokosuka, required COM to be transported by sea. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. therefore performed a series of studies to develop a spe- cialized COM carrier, the world's first of its kind. Long lasting high stability is of pri- mary importance to successful use of COM. Much have been done in the way of research on stability of COM in the static storage, and the mechanism of COM static: stability is almost completety known. On the other hand, the knowledge about the COM dynamic stability, such as the stability while being transported aboard the COM carrier at sea, is still limited at the moment. The motion of COM aboard the COM carrier and how COM would settle were studied by tests. A visualization test on the COM behavior under dynamic motion was also performed and the mechanism of COM dynamic stability was analysed. The tests showed that the ship rolling motion had @n effect of promoting the settling of coal content of COM in the cargo hold. And studies were also made to device a method for esti- mating the settling quantity of coal during sea Transportation.

Jan 1, 1987

By I M. Platten, S C. Dominy

The Clogau St DavidÆs gold mine has a recorded production of around 81 000 oz Au and it is the largest mine in the Dolgellau gold-belt and BritainÆs most prolific historical producer. The original mine was first worked for copper, however; in 1854, gold was found in waste material from the St DavidÆs section. In recent times the mine has operated intermittently between 1983 - 2007. The principal black shale-hosted gold-bearing reef (Main Reef) can be traced for about 3 km, striking approximately NE-SW and dipping steeply between 60¦ - 90¦ SE. The reef system pinches and swells, changes strike and splits into a number of smaller branches. Reef width is variable, ranging from over 6 m to a few cm and in places reducing to small irregular blobs. The reef is internally complex and composed of swarms of narrow (1 - 300 mm) subparallel veins separated by country rock sheets. The gold-bearing veins within the reef package are discontinuous; though generally possess bonanza grades running 10s - 100s oz/t Au. It has historically been shown that some gold-rich vein segments can grade up to 300 oz/t Au. The predictability of the gold-rich segments is poor, but has been shown to be related to presence of the Clogau (black shale) Formation, and/or the mechanical interactions of the reef with greenstone sills, reef branching and splitting and/or cross-fractures to form ore shoots. The mine is currently being re-evaluated as a potential small-scale selective operation.CITATION:Dominy, S C and Platten, I M, 2012. Geology, mineralisation and potential of the Clogau St DavidÆs mine, Dolgellau gold-belt, Gwynedd, Wales, in Proceedings Narrow Vein Mining 2012 , pp 101-120 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Mar 26, 2012

By N Clarke, A Barros

Preconcentration of run-of-mine subgrade and marginal ore by screening has the potential to substantially improve the economics of mining, particularly for large, low-grade orebodies, and to reduce environmental impacts. It has recently been the subject of a major research effort by a joint public-private research body, CRCORE. Yet despite this, there appears to have been only one fully commercial installation, at Bougainville Copper Limited in the late 1980s. Two reasons for the limited application are that not all ores have suitable properties and the economics of all pre-concentration processes on low-grade materials are highly sensitive to the precise balance of mass and value recovery and to the pre-concentration process cost, including materials handling. These factors make it imperative to have good test data on the process response of feedstock across the orebody. Collecting that data presents major challenges, which differ for green and brownfields operations. This paper first discusses the approach to preliminary evaluation developed by CRCORE, which relies on testing of coarse rejects or drill chips available from exploration drilling programs. This method is an efficient first step in evaluating an orebody which is deemed geologically to be potentially amenable to screen upgrading, but it does have limitations and must be followed by larger scale work. A suite of methods have been developed by the authors as a result of test work since the 1990s on several projects, supplemented by published data, which aim to provide statistically robust data at lower cost than large scale bulk sampling tests. For greenfields projects, the upgrade response measured on material crushed to -53 mm has been found to correlate closely with ROM ore, with no scale-up required for material with upgrade responses in the range of commercial interest. Large diameter whole drill core, such as PQ, is expected to be suitable for this method. As drilling such core is costly, the aim should be to establish relationships between upgrade performance and proxy measurements such as multi-element chemical or hyperspectral analyses. This approach was successful at the Gramalote gold project in Colombia. The method is not applicable for ores with thick vein material comparable with the crush size, but such material is not suitable for upgrading by screening and would be eliminated by the preliminary testing. For brownfields projects where blasted material can be sampled, the upgrade response can be accurately measured by sampling only the finer fraction of the ore, selecting a top size which represents 30–50 per cent or more of the ROM size distribution. This is likely to be between 50 and 100 mm. The much finer size compared with the full ROM ore greatly reduces the sample mass required to achieve a given intrinsic sampling error and enables sample preparation to be undertaken with large-scale laboratory equipment rather than mobile crushing plant. The accuracy of the method can be improved by measuring the approximate mass of oversize rejected during sampling. Some ores do show a systematic deviation from the assumed model fit which results in this method slightly underestimating the upgrade response, and it would therefore still be recommended to take one or two full bulk samples to confirm results before a final investment decision.

Aug 24, 2022

The ASC has a dual role of business facilitator and law enforcer. Only certain types of expert report are of interest to the ASC. The powers of the old Companies Code and the Corporations law are compared. NCSC Policy Release 149 was dependent on the prescriptive powers given to the NCSC in the Companies Code. The Corporations Law does not give the ASC power to prescribe the contents of expert reports. The requirement now is for all necessary information. Research evidence is that some investors want simpler prospectuses while others need more detail. The ASC's examination of expert reports is after registration of primary documents. This leads to a necessity for experts to maintain adequate records.

Jan 1, 1994

In recent years, wide consideration has had to be given to methods of improving the condition of the mine environment in many coal mines, and significant developments and changes have evolved. Thus even after substantial increases inòair flow rates at the working place (they have increased over three fold in the last generation), environmental conditions have arisen for which it has been necessary to introduce or consider: i) additional ameliorative measures, such as good housekeeping; ii) layout changes: such as Y or Z layouts; iii) homotropal ventilation; and iv) air conditioning. In certain countries, consideration has been given also to: v) additional payments reduced working times; vi) heat acclimatisation programmes; and vii) the use of cold or cooling suits At many hot and humid mines, the principal benefits from adopting (i), (ii) and (iii) have already been realised. At such mines,

Jan 1, 1983

By F Rashidinejad

Iran has had an active mining sector for some 7000 years. Exceptional in terms of its mineral diversity, Iran produces 62 minerals, and is ranked among the world’s 15 most mineral-rich countries. Many people around the world know Iran as one of the major petroleum exporters. Oil and natural gas dominate Iran’s economy, and oil exports provide the principal source of income, contributing more than 80 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. Transformation of Iran from an oil exporter to an independent country to oil has been on the table for many years, even before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Development of the Iran’s mineral industry is one of the major replacements for petroleum exports. In the last decade, Iran invested billion dollars in the mining and mineral industry sectors and to increase the added value, tried to export processed minerals instead of the raw materials. In accordance with the ‘20-year Perspective 2025’ that targeted by the Supreme Leader, Iran will be a country with the first rank in economy, science and technology in its region. The objectives over this perspective include briefly increasing annual production to 55 Mt of crude steel, 800 000 tonne of copper cathode, 1.5 Mt of aluminium, 200 Mt mineral products, 300 000 tonne of zinc and 5 000 kg of gold. These goals are achievable in normal circumstances, but concurrency of the 20-year Perspective 2025 with commencement of the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran, frustrated objectives of the perspective, at least the ones related to the mining and mineral industry sectors. This paper tries to elaborate the development programs and following challenges for the mining activities of Iran by 2025.

Nov 22, 2011

The weathering profile, in arid terrains, is commonly capped by different kinds of hardened crust, whose formation is related to recent or former climates. One may distinguish silcretes, calcretes and the ferruginous (or ferro-aluminous) laterites. the present keynote address mostly deals with the lateritic regolith and, moreover, the influence it has on mineral exploration. The lateritic regolith, also called "cuirasse", is a result of a massive accumulation of Fe (and/or Al) oxides on top of weathering profiles developed during former, probably seasonal humid, climatic episodes, and whose preservation depends on the characteristics of later climates. The total thickness of such weathering profiles commonly exceeds 50 m, with an almost complete substitution of the rock forming minerals by secondary minerals as kaolinite and Fe-Al oxi- hydroxides (hematite, goethite, boehmite, gibbsite). Such an alteration of the primary minerals assemblage is of course accompanied by significant changes of the chemical composition, as concerns major and trace elements. The latter are distributed amongst the main secondary mineral phases or trapped in some primary resistant minerals, but may also be leached, totally or partially. Gold is also affected by lateritic weathering, as shown for instance by morphoscopic and geochemical studies of gold grains collected in the different horizons of the profile, which indicates some dissolution followed by reprecipitation.

Jan 1, 1988

By M I. Pownceby, A Guiraud, S Purohit

Sticking and breakage of iron ore pellets during high temperature reduction can result in several operational challenges during shaft furnace ironmaking. With the shift to H2-based DRI processes and decreasing iron ore quality, this issue becomes more prominent. It is therefore important to understand how the iron ore chemistry and mineralogy affects the sticking and breakage of pellets inside the shaft furnace. This study provides a review of the mechanisms that lead to sticking and breakage of pellets inside the shaft furnace. The sticking index of pellets is related to the rate of metallic iron production as well as the precipitation morphology of product iron. Sticking of pellets is also enhanced by the formation of low-melting slag phases. The breakage of pellets inside the shaft furnace is often associated with the mechanical load of burden and pellet swelling, which is caused due to iron whisker or protruded iron formation. This paper investigates how the composition of iron ore, particularly the presence of different impurity oxides such as SiO2, Al2O3, MgO, CaO and alkali oxides in the pellets, influences the sticking and swelling indices. The effect of ore mineralogy on these adverse behaviours is also discussed.

Sep 18, 2023

By S Q. Zhao, J H. Wei

"An EXTENDED ABSTRACT is available for download. A full-length paper was not prepared for this presentation. The Xitieshan lead-zinc deposit is located in the north margin of the Qaidam Basin, Qinghai Province, China. It is one of the largest massive sulfide deposits in China and is supposed to be of the sedimentation-exhalation (SEDEX) type. Based on the main ore mineral and sulfur isotopic compositions in sulfides found in the wall rock, the S of the deposit is considered to originate from the mantle, but the fluid potentially mixed with sea water during the hydrothermal circulation exchange. The study of lead isotopes shows that the metallogenic material is characterised by the mixture of orogenic and upper crust sources. The lead isotopic signature of the wall rock is similar to that of the ore, which shows synsedimentary characteristics. According to the composition of the rubidium and strontium isotopic signature, the value of 87Sr/86Sr is lower than the average value of that in the crustal rock, which is larger than that of the mantle. Hence, the metallogenic materials of this deposit mainly originate from the crust, which is related to materials of volcanic rocks activation and migration of the deep hot circulating water. The process of the metallogenic fluid circulation shows continuous interaction with crustal material and lead to continuous enrichment of the ore forming fluids. From the study of the fluid inclusion microthermometry of the ore and the associated minerals combined with the C, H-O, Si isotopes, it is believed that the metallogenic fluid is mainly coming from the mantle or the deep magma chambers. The rising deep fluid then mixes with the sea water. The carbon dioxide escaping and mixing with sea water during the hydrothermal exhalation process leads to the rapid precipitation of the hydrothermal fluid to deposit metal. That is proposed as the principal formation mechanism of the Xitieshan deposit. Further studies are proposed, including obtaining geochronology data from this deposit.CITATION:Zhao, Z X, Wei, J H, Liang, S N and Zhao, S Q, 2015. Advances in research on metallogenic mechanisms for the Xitieshan sedimentation-exhalation lead-zinc deposit, Qinghai Province, China, in Proceedings PACRIM 2015 Congress, pp 487–494 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 18, 2015

By M T. Nguyen, S Vink, M Ziemski

On any given mine site the water system is contingent upon its initial design. Through time the initial design is adjusted by a myriad of water management options in order to improve water system performance or to adapt to a new production capacity or method at the mine site. These options generally do not comprehensively consider energy requirements, so it is unlikely that any given mine water system will be optimised in terms of both water and energy uses. Thus this may simply shift constraints of efficiency of one resource dimension, water, to another, energy. As a result, changes in water systems would cause more energy-related issues to mining companies. For example, the companies would have an increase in operational cost and/or pay more for carbon tax with changes in their water system. Therefore, in order to avoid undesirable and potential unforseen energy and infrastructure issues in a mine life cycle, it is essential to select suitable water management options for a mine considering both water and energy resources simultaneously.Considering water and energy criteria in evaluating water management options consists of net water volume availability, net operational energy demand and net water replacement energy demand. Ideal water management options should be high in water volume availability but low in both operational energy demand and water replacement energy demand. A water option would also be favourable if it has low potential of causing adverse environmental impacts such as lowering groundwater tables due to groundwater withdrawal, or elevating saline constituents in surface waters when reusing brine for dust suppression. However, these environmental impacts are not considered in this analysis.This article presents a graphical method to assess mine water management options, based on these three criteria. The proposed method to assist in screening mine water management options includes two main steps:1. categorise water management options into prioritised groups2. rank the options within each prioritised group.The method is applied to a gold mine and presented in this article as a worked example. CITATION:Nguyen, M T, Vink, S and Ziemski, M, 2013. Selection of mine water management options considering both water and energy impacts, in Proceedings Water in Mining 2013 , pp 29-34 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 26, 2013

By N Esmaeili, M Saghaeian, L Hosseini, V Sheikhzadeh, R Hejazi

Ore roasting has long been used for beneficiation and assay upgrading of different ores. In this process, which is mainly used for sulfide ores, the ore is heated to a high temperature. More specifically, it is a metallurgical process involving gas-solid reactions at elevated temperatures. Some types of Iron ore are weak in magnetic properties. Hematite, goethite and limonite are classified in this group. Unlike magnetite, which shows strong magnetic susceptibility, these ores are hard to beneficiate through magnetic separation route. Many researches have focused on gravity separation and flotation routes for upgrading these ores and these methods have also been utilised in the industry. One of the methods to whose industrial application less attention has been paid is magnetising roasting in which the non-magnetic iron ore is transformed to magnetite which is further beneficiated through magnetic separation. In this study, magnetising roasting tests have been performed on one goethite sample in order to check the feasibility of using this method for this specific ore in industrial scale. It is worth mentioning that high intensity magnetic separation have been performed on this sample before but the achieved results were not promising. Results have revealed that through magnetising roasting magnetite content of the ore could be increased from 1.7 per cent up to about 25 per cent. FeO content of the feed sample was increased from 1.03 per cent up to around 9.25 per cent. Also optimum size distribution for achieving the best results in magnetising roasting for this sample has been determined through this study. The best results were achieved when the ore size was 0–10 mm. The effect of coal ratio, time and temperature on the process have also be studied. A coal ratio of 5 per cent, time of 30 min and a temperature of 850°C were determined to be the optimum conditions. Finally, the technical feasibility of utilising magnetising roasting for this specific ore has been confirmed.

Aug 24, 2022

By Booth S. A, Milton D. W

Stratabound/stratiform and remobilised mineralisation have been recognised as the two dominant styles of mineralisation which constitute the Broken Hill ore deposit. Recognition of prospective sites for accumulation of ore depends on understanding the heterogeneity of the ore environment and the distribution of the two styles of mineralisation. The internal stratigraphy of the Broken Hill ore deposit and its enveloping rocks, is described, and a generalised stratigraphic setting of the stratiform mineralisation is outlined. Fhiphasis is placed on the existence of closely-spaced sub-basins as potential sites for ore accumulation close to the Broken Hill ore deposit. Further from the immediate ore environment, recognition of the same diagnostic stratigraphic sequence

Jan 1, 1983

By Brigden J. F, Birrell

A regional geochemical exploration programme commenced in July 1983, based upon low-density sampling of lateritic duricrust over parts of the Yilgarn Block of Western Australia. This resulted in recognition of an area significantly anomalous in chalcophile elements that progressively led to the discovery of the Johnston Range gold deposits in 1985. The deposits, on the Barlee 1:250,000 map sheet, occur in four mineralized zones, and production is expected to commence during 1988. The programme leading to the Johnston Range discoveries was a collaborative research/ applications study between the AGE Joint Venture (Greenbushes Ltd., St. Joe Minerals, and from 1985, Sons of Gwalia NL) and the CSIRO Laterite Geochemistry Research Group (Smith, 1987). It built upon a precursor project sponsored by Greenbushes Tin Ltd that commenced in 1980 and arose from an orientation laterite research project in the Greenbushes rare metal pegmatite district (Smith et at., 1987). Both were multi-commodity programmes and included the search for gold deposits. Basic methodologies for sampling and data interpretation have been described by Smith and Perdrix (1983) and Smith et at. (1984). Continuous geochemical coverage of designated parts of greenstone belts was sought using a triangular grid of 3-km or 1-km spacing, depending upon the expected prospectivity of the areas and the size and characteristics of the ore deposit targets. First-pass sampling, that resulted in the Johnston Range discoveries, was at 3-km spacing and several samples within a 30-km by 5-km area were

Jan 1, 1988

By C Tapia Cortez, C Sammut, S Saydam, J Coulton

‘Like every other commodity, the value of the metals is subject to variation’ (Ricardo, 1817). Mineral commodity price uncertainties have always been a significant issue in mining business due to the close relation between global economic conditions and commodity prices, which commonly generates significant and unexpected price fluctuations. Price forecasts have been driven by economic theory, which states that in the long-run market will be balanced and that prices tend to the marginal cost of production. However, this theory has been misunderstood in the mining industry and future prices through time, in real terms, are assumed to be unchanged. This is unrealistic due to regardless of the cycling nature of economy and the omission of uncertainties. Furthermore, using historical data in traditional price forecast approaches does not guarantee realistic predictions as past events will not necessarily be repeated at the same intervals and with the same intensity. Mining, finance and economic sectors have made significant research efforts to predict prices and control uncertainties through classic linear, Gaussian and probabilistic simulation approaches. However, by definition, uncertainties cannot be measured or accurately modelled. Uncertainties can be identified to measure and manage the associated risks; therefore, uncertainties in mining projects have been historically misinterpreted, erroneously measured and poorly controlled. It is widely known that supply and demand functions drive market prices. While technological development noticeably influences supply, demand is strongly driven by psychological factors, mainly related to customer preferences and lifestyle expectations. Thus, human behaviour is one, or if not, the most important variable to determine commodity prices in a competitive market. During the last decades, alternative methodologies have been used to study uncertainties in human, environmental and market behaviours. Chaos theory, fractals, artificial intelligence and econophysics have been widely and successfully used to investigate complex dynamic systems to address uncertainties over time in the fields of neurosciences, meteorology, aviation and market trading. The application of these techniques in the market suggests a more realistic approach to the business environment. Through the combination of the methodologies above a novel long-run price uncertainties simulation approach that emphasise the differences between risks and uncertainties is proposed in this paper. CITATION:Tapia Cortez, C, Saydam, S, Coulton, J and Sammut, C, 2015. Copper price uncertainties – chaos theory to manage risks in mining projects, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 261–272 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015

By G W. Swana

Elastoplastic parameter is a parameter that describe how much materials behave elastically up to certain stress states and plastically thereafter (Hudson and Harrison, 1997). In the continuum analysis, two main parameters of the elastoplastic parameter are modulus elasticity and Poisson’s ratio. In the slope, elastoplastic parameter holds the main role for stability related to deformation in ductile type of rock. There’s a limitation to determine elastic or plastic deformation at the field for ductile rock type. Field manifestation commonly showed that there was no accumulation zone during and after the sliding failure mechanism, in other hand, at the research area, manifestation of deformation at the toe of slope only indicated by bulging shape. This paper will focus at the sliding failure occurred at Coal mining Pit Y owned by Arutmin Indonesia, which according to failure investigation report similar with the condition described above. This paper also will be based on two hypotheses, first hypothesis is claystone rock mass has not been reached plastic deformation yet and the second hypothesis is there is a chance that elastoplastic parameter of the rock mass has been changed during the deformation/sliding failure process. Research method of this paper are back analysis using probabilistic analysis in Finite Element Method (FEM), which conducted before and after failure. Then, the result of the displacement or deformation of the analysis will be checked with the actual deformation shape. Meanwhile, the change of the elastoplastic parameter will be analysed and interpreted. This paper hopefully able to be developed to study about elastoplastic behaviour of rock mass in actual condition and the influence of another uncertainty factor which determine the slope stability.

Nov 29, 2022

By Kuwasaki N, Mitsune Y

Many activity measurements of components in liquid oxides have been reported in the field of slag chemistry. However, very little is known about the thermodynamic behavior of compo- nents in oxide solid solutions. In the present paper, e.m.fs. of the follow- ing galvanic cells employing solid electrolyte Zr02(CaO) were measured on the entire range of composition of the solid solutions. Pt/Ni-(Mgl-x ix)O/ZrO2(CaO)/Ni-NiO/Pt Pt/Ni-(Mgl-xNix)2SiO./ZrO2(CaO)/Ni-NiO/Pt Pt/Ni-(Mg l-xNix)Si03/ZrO2(CaO)/Ni-NiO/Pt. Activities of NiO in these solid solutions of (Mgl_ Nix)O and (Mgl_ Nix) 2Si0a(where 0

Jan 1, 1980

By W Patton, I Minniakhmetov, H Talebi, U Mueller

The sustainability of mining projects is linked to informed investment decisions based on public reporting of exploration and mineral resource estimation results. In Australia, public reporting guidelines are established by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee reporting code through the JORC Code (2012). Although the assessment of uncertainty in the results reported is a requirement, this is often communicated qualitatively and evaluated subjectively. This can become a liability particularly in the early stages of mining projects when spatial domains of geological interpretation and mineralisation envelopes inform resource estimations’ reliability. A recent review of JORC reports found no reports used quantitative assessments of the geological interpretation or mineral resource estimation envelopes, and 27 per cent of reports did not address the question of quality of geological interpretation. Reports that did address the quality used 19 different terms to communicate quality. This work presents methodologies for quantitative uncertainty assessment and communication and explores how they could be applied in public reporting practice. Quantitative uncertainty reporting would benefit mine planning and financial modelling as they normally assume the geology is 100 per cent right (since no error is reported or only a single deterministic model is provided). The complexity, cost, and additional work of doing a quantitative assessment could hinder a straightforward implementation. This could be overcome if mining companies budget for quantitative uncertainty assessment and associated professional development. A compulsory requirement for the inclusion of uncertainty assessments in public reporting or adopting standardised subjective language would improve industry practice.

Mar 22, 2022

By J Rostami, T Afshar, M Sharifzadeh

Accurate estimation of rock load and selection of types of ground reinforcement to match post-failure behaviour of rock mass are important issues to assure tunnel stability. This paper focuses on the main factors affecting rock load to evaluate the capabilities of the existing models for prediction of rock load. Rock mass properties, project features and excavation method, as well as ground conditions and stress condition were found to be the key factors affecting the magnitude of rock load. Field data from tunnels of about 37.5?km driven in several geological structures in non-squeezing ground was used in this study. An in depth statistical analysis was performed on data to find correlations between the input parameters and measured/observed rock load. A weighting system was proposed to obtain the proper contribution of each factor for estimation of rock load in tunnelling through various ground conditions. The new classification system offered predicted values for rock load that were in a good agreement with the actual field measurements. The high disturbance factor (D>0.4) was the prime factor which controlled the rock load. Rock mass quality was the second key factor influencing rock load, which could be estimated by GSI, GSIresidual , especially when combined with tunnel depth.CITATION:Afshar, T, Sharifzadeh, M and Rostami, J, 2014. Estimation of rock load for tunnels with different disturbance factors, in Proceedings 15th Australasian Tunnelling Conference 2014 , pp 3–8 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Sep 17, 2014

By T Angerer, N H. Maund, S Hagemann, D R. Cowan

Cliffs Natural Resources Pty Ltd - Asia Pacific Iron Ore's (formerly Portman Iron Ore Limited) K deposit (Dowd's Hill), at its Koolyanobbing operation in Western Australia, hosts enriched magnetite mineralisation below the presently mined haematite-goethite ore zone. Two distinct northwest-southeast elongated, highly magnetic anomalous bodies that dip to the north-east appear to be sourced by this deeper mineralisation. Magnetic modelling indicates significant remanent magnetisation with Qratios around 1.5, directed shallow down. The north-west anomaly is overlain by a ridge of uneconomic banded iron formation (BIF) and the present waste dump, whereas the south-east body was partly exposed during ongoing mining of overlying haematite-goethite ore. Sections of the magnetite mineralisation in this south-east anomaly were intersected previously by diamond drill holes. Review of the historic cores identified potential magnetite enrichment, with grades and mineralogy that might be amenable to beneficiation. A first-phase reverse circulation drilling program was designed to further delineate the trend and extent of the two anomalies. The following magnetite mineralisation assemblages are recognised from cores, reverse circulation (RC) drill cuttings and pit mapping of the south-east magnetic body: higher-grade magnetite-haematite ¦ goethite and magnetite ¦ pyrite and lower-grade, recrystallised magnetite-quartz (BIF), magnetite-carbonate, magnetite-talc and minor magnetite-bearing mafic schist. Disseminated specularite is locally present in theassemblages. Talc-schist and massive pyrite occur along the footwall contact. Magnetic susceptibility measured from drill chips within the magnetite-enriched zones reveals an apparent susceptibility values range of 0.2 to 1.3 SI. Preliminary results from Satmagan and Davis tube recovery analysis shows that the magnetite content in these mineralised zones correlate well with existing geophysical data and magnetic susceptibility measurements.

Jan 1, 2009

I The South Platform of the Gippsland Basin is an extensive area of shallow basement covered by a relatively-thin Late Mesozoic-Cainozoic section. Although the sporadic exploration to-date has not resulted in any hydrocarbon discoveries, the area is under-explored and its taste potential has not yet been fully evaluated. The best potential appears to be in areas underlain by the Golden Beach Megasequence where structures are mainly related to basement fault blocks.

Jan 1, 1992