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By G R. Ballantyne, V Souto, K Bartram

Particle sorting allows partially liberated minerals to be separated prior to energy intensive fine grinding. Sensors select particles for separation and air, water or mechanical ejectors are used to physically deflect those selected. To achieve effective separation there has to be sufficient liberation, accurate detection and presentation of a separated monolayer of particles. These three physical constraints determine the particle size limits, the sorting technology utilised, the separation efficiency, and the throughput that can be achieved. The combination of all these factors controls the effective limits on the degree to which sorting can reduce the specific comminution requirements and increasing energy efficiency. This paper will explore two case studies: the application of sorting in base metal mining and precious metal mining.CITATION:Ballantyne, G R, Hilden, M, Bartram, K and Souto, V, 2018. Characterising energy efficiency of particle sorting, in Proceedings 14th AusIMM Mill Operators' Conference 2018, pp 531–540 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Aug 29, 2018

By Giannini L, Kelsey P

A fundamental problem in mine planning is the determination of the production schedules over the life of the mine. The objective is to maximise profit in terms of the net present value without transgressing the physical constraints of the mine

Jan 1, 1998

By R Strand, B Usher

Environmental compliance and mine designs are increasingly including assessment of flows and water qualities as a key driver to decision-making over life-of-mine. Integrated site-wide water quality models linked to dynamic water balances have been used for regulatory submissions, feasibility studies, operating mines and mine closure studies. These models, developed in GoldSim, link aqueous chemistry to the physical system of the site-wide water balance. Geochemical mechanisms included are determined from geochemical characterisation and site water monitoring, depending on the data availability at each site. External geochemical modelling using PHREEQC, version 2 (by D?L?Parkhurst and C?A?J?Appelo) and Geochemists Workbench (GWB), (by C?M?Bethke and The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois) identifies the most important geochemical processes to be included in the model as a series of geochemical mechanisms which include source term loading rates, pH-buffering and equilibration of water quality. Water balance components include seasonal flow variability; waste facility water storage and system lags; run-off variability; milling processes and tailings production as a function of ore types; simulation of automated and scheduled maintenance of settling ponds; water re-routing for water treatment and freshwater demand, usage and storage.Case studies illustrating the use of these models for regulatory submissions and mine feasibility studies in a variety of climatic and regulatory environments show the utility and applicability of these models. Site-specific examples of these models developed by Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd are currently used at operating mines across the world. One of the larger mines where this is used is a mature poly-metallic mine in South America where the model has aided mine managers in understanding how various planned initiatives and potential water options will result in changes to flows and water quality. It is used regularly to inform water and waste management to minimise impacts to the receiving environment as a consideration of both flows and concentrations. The mine has also used the model in support of water treatment design, regulatory submissions and mine closure planning.Further examples of feasibility and operational/compliance assessment in arid and strongly seasonal environments for planning, regulatory and closure consideration of mine wastes and pits have shown the utility and usefulness of these approaches for a range of mining operations at various stages of mine life.CITATION:Strand, R and Usher, B, ?2014. Integrated site water balances and water quality models for decision-making over life-of-mine, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2014 , pp 271–284 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 16, 2014

By R McIlwraith, B Breul

"This paper discusses the successful use of bituminous geomembranes (BGMs) in mining applications since their development in 1974. It explains and illustrates the structure of a BGM composite, which is a geomembrane manufactured by impregnating a polyester geotextile with a compound of bitumen, elastomer and filler. Examples of applications of BGMs in the mining industry are also presented in the following contexts.Storage of solid waste: storage of mining waste at mines in Canada heap leach pads in France, Peru, Chile and Turkey at the base of a mining waste landfill in Brazil capping of solid mining waste in Chile and Canada temporary capping of mining stockpiles in Australia (with possible reuse of the BGM for other works).Examples of the application of BGMs for the storage of liquid waste in mining containment reservoirs in Canada, Guatemala and Peru will also be given.For each example given, reasons are supplied that supported the choice of BGMs by the clients and consultants, drawn from the following advantages of the BGM:BGMs have excellent puncture strength, due to the internal polyester reinforcement, as well as excellent ultraviolet resistance. This often eliminates the need for a cushion geotextile or cover soil over the BGM.BGMs have a very long life expectancy, in excess of 300 years, in subsoil conditions (Breul et al, 2004).BGMs can be installed in very harsh climatic conditions. They are suitable for high wind environments as their heavy mass per square metre makes them resistant to wind uplift. The low coefficient of thermal expansion means that BGMs are suitable for installation in mines where very low or very high temperatures are expected. This reduces construction delays and allows for a quicker use of the mining facility.The fact that the BGM can be installed by the mine’s own workforce, after appropriate training from the BGM manufacturer, allows for a more flexible construction sequence on the mine.Ability of the BGM to connect to other materials such as concrete, steel, rock and other geomembranes that may be on the mine site.The technical advantages of a BGM enabled the engineering consultants to prepare solutions for their mining clients that had a lower environmental risk, had a faster completion schedule and were overall a cheaper option than with a polymeric geomembrane.CITATION:Breul, B and McIlwraith, R, 2015. Bituminous geomembranes in mine construction, in Proceedings Tailings and Mine Waste Management for the 21st Century, pp 289–296 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Jul 27, 2015

By S Ferguson, G Noble

The mining industry is facing economic pressures to treat more challenging and lower grade ore types, as well as pressure relating to environmental impact and social license to operate. Preconcentration through bulk ore sorting has the potential to benefit all these areas by enabling mining operations to divert material of low economic value prior to processing, thereby achieving higher feed grades and recovery, while reducing the processing plant and tailings dam footprint and capital required throughout the life of mine. The effectiveness of bulk ore sorting depends on the heterogeneity of material at the measurement location, as well as the accuracy and precision of the measurement. An understanding of ore heterogeneity can be assessed using drill core data, which provides metre by metre elemental assays. This paper reviews such data and assesses the grade distributions over different scales, which suggests that sufficient heterogeneity exists at mining scales to allow the potential for bulk ore sorting. Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) technology has proven to be a successful measurement technique within many industries, including mining. PGNAA was first developed in the early 1980’s for the measurement of the elemental composition of bulk materials on a conveyor belt. Today, Pulsed Fast Thermal Neutron Activation (PFTNA) technology is also applied in elemental analysis of bulk materials and has some advantages for bulk ore sorting. In order to enable effective bulk ore sorting, however, a PGNAA/PFTNA analyser must be designed to provide a representative bulk ore analysis with the necessary accuracy and precision. Examples are presented to provide an understanding of the factors affecting PGNAA/PFTNA performance in relation to effective bulk ore sorting.

Nov 10, 2020

By T Arena

To maintain copper recoveries and maximise production at the Sepon Copper Operation it is crucial to control the amount of copper entering the leaching circuit. This requires close control of blending of the multiple ROM stockpiles to achieve the desired head grade. Grade variability in the ROM stockpiles can lead to significant variation in the processing plant copper feed grade.Head grade sampling from the milling circuit at Sepon is complicated due to milling in leach solution to preserve the water balance. Copper is present in both liquid and solid forms and copper in the added milling solution has to be accounted for. This leads to difficulties in manual head sampling which also introduces delays due to sample preparation and assay turnaround. On-stream analysis is complex because of the solution and solid copper and the need to account for recycled copper solution.This paper describes the complexity of feed grade management at Sepon and the application of on-belt analyser technology to assist in the control of copper metal throughput.

Aug 8, 2011

By R J. Butcher

Many deposits have been evaluated as potential block caves over the last 20 years due to the perceived benefit of low operating costs. However, block cave projects are typically capital intensive, with mass mining providing high throughput rates that required large investments in mining, processing and utilities infrastructure. While the key economic metrics in deciding to proceed with a caving project are typically net present value (NPV) or internal rate of return, these may not represent the best decision metrics for some companies. Where a caving project is competing for scarce capital amongst other projects in a company’s portfolio or where the caving project is the only project being evaluated by a company trying to raise capital, other metrics may be more appropriate. This paper explores the use of present value ratio and the minimising of maximum negative cash flow as suitable metrics in determining alternative strategies. Trade-offs between optimising for economic value and capital efficiency measures allow for decision-makers to evaluate potentially higher-risk, higher-capital and maximum NPV projects against lower-risk, lower-capital projects.CITATION:Stewart, C A and Butcher, R J, 2016. Block cave evaluation, in Proceedings Seventh International Conference and Exhibition on Mass Mining (MassMin 2016), pp 809–816 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

May 9, 2016

By S A. Campbell

There has been a reduction of coal production in the United States due to environmental pressure and the increased use of natural gas. This reduction will require coal producers and consumers to make decisions on whether to sample more to verify contract quality or sample less in an effort to cut costs.CITATION:Campbell, S A, 2014. The shrinking coal market in the US – sample more or sample less?, in Proceedings Sampling 2014 , pp 3–6 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 29, 2014

By I Mason, M van de Werken, B Zhou, J Hargreaves, W Stasinowsky

A critical step in open cut coal mining is clean removal of the overburden. This is usually achieved by drilling, blasting and digging. A key part of this process being successful is to stop drilling at the correct blast ‘stand-off distance’. The stand-off distance is the distance between the base of the drilled blasthole and the top of the coal horizon to be mined. Having this correct provides a protective cap of rock above the coal horizon so that the blast will fracture all the overburden without damaging the coal horizon or mixing it with the overburden. Drilling beyond the correct stand-off distance causes the blast to continue into the coal horizon, damaging it and mixing it with the overburden, leading to significant losses of coal product. Conversely, drilling short of the correct stand-off distance results in additional work to remove the intact overburden.

Sep 1, 2024

By S J. Schafrik, E S. Gilliland, E C. Jong, J Waynert, C W. Weiss

Two commercially available through-the-Earth (TTE) communications systems were evaluated at an active underground longwall mine in West Virginia. One system utilises magnetic field (H-field) antennae while the other system utilises electric field (E-field) antennae to achieve communication. A large portion of this mine is overlain by an inactive gas-oil field composed of densely spaced wells. This feature provided a unique opportunity to determine the impact of cased wells on both TTE technologies. The following communication modes were investigated: surface to underground, underground to surface, underground to underground and real-time two-way communications. Standard deployments of the TTE systems using the manufacturer’s recommended procedures were able to achieve clear communications between underground and surface locations under certain circumstances. As a result, the design and deployment that will optimise TTE transmissions are unique to each system and to the specific area of the mine. This field study was conducted as a part of a larger multisite evaluation of available TTE systems in an effort to determine their operational sensitivity. The performance of these two TTE systems suggested that one may be preferable over the other depending on the conditions present during deployment.CITATION:Jong, E C, Schafrik, S J, Gilliland, E S, Weiss, C W and Waynert, J, 2015. Pairing magnetic and e-field through-the-Earth communication systems based on mine site conditions, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 245–252 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Nov 4, 2015

By R A. Anand, N N. Viswanathan, M M. Pande

Slags are the most voluminous solid by-products generated in pyrometallurgical operations, and, as such, finding an application for these oxidic materials is pertinent to maintaining resource efficiency. In particular, pyrometallurgical copper production is associated with high slag rates, typically ranging from 2.2 to 3.0 tons of slag per ton produced copper, which necessitates slag valourisation. A possible application for these iron silicate slags is as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), which effectively lowers the CO2 emissions per ton of cementitious material. Although utilising iron silicate slags as SCMs has been studied in previous work, the scientific literature has limited data on the effect of composition on the inherent reactivity in cementitious systems. More specifically, no reports on the impact of FeO/SiO2 ratio have been presented in previous publications. Therefore, the present study aimed to isolate this parameter in a synthetic FeO-SiO2-Al2O3-CaO-MgO-Cr2O3 system. Since the amorphous content is a pertinent parameter for SCMs, a high-temperature confocal laser scanning microscope (HT-CLSM) was utilised to assess the crystallisation behaviour at continuous cooling conditions. Furthermore, high-temperature rheological experiments were conducted to measure the viscosities of the slags in relation to the crystallisation behaviour. The experiments showed that depolymerising the slag by increasing the FeO/SiO2 ratio generated a less viscous slag, which showed higher tendencies for crystallisation. Furthermore, experiments assessing the inherent reactivity as an SCM showed that depolymerising the slag by increasing the FeO/SiO2 ratio as the sole independent parameter generated an initially more reactive slag. However, replacing SiO2 with FeO was found to negatively affect the reactivity as measured over seven days within the tested compositional range.

Jun 19, 2024

By P Cooper

Continuous improvement using six sigma methodologies commonly follows the DMAIC methodology of define, measure, analyse, improve and control. A key requirement in the use of this approach is to ensure that data is trusted, validated and contextual. In today’s production environments it is common to find disparate technology comprising the system architecture and highly customised interfaces between the various technology layers. This complexity often leads to inaccurate data presented at the operations management layer or worse, data that is not trusted. Identifying defects and making corrective actions cannot be efficiently carried out unless trusteddata can be easily obtained with a production context. It is also common to find that disparate systems of this nature present information in multiple ways and through multiple presentation systems. This paper discusses how the use of web-based technologies in an integrated technology stack can aid the accessibility, accuracy and trust of data used in decision-making and also how a unified visualisation environment can lead to greater operator efficiency.

Jul 11, 2011

By McMahon D

The approach to valuations at the Normandy Poseidon Group is a measured and methodical process that utilises skills sourced from a number of different disciplines. Whilst being subject to a strict set of guidelines, it is also sufficiently flexible to be able to cope with the considerable variety across the resources industry. The group uses Discounted Cash-Flow (DCF) techniques extensively in order to develop a base valuation. Other external factors (eg the market) are, however, also taken into account when forming a view on value. Other methods of valuation are used in tandem or as alternatives depending on the task. DCF techniques are an important tool but would never be used in isolation. Considerable care must be given to developing the DCF analysis as its components (eg discount rate) are prone to misuse. Whilst the valuation process is quite detailed and scientific, it is really only as good as the inputs or assumptions (technical, financial, etc) that are used. The methodology used remains consistent whether the group is undertaking the corporate planning process or making an acquisition.

Jan 1, 1994

All companies and individuals who embark on a business venture incur costs. For the most part these costs can be conveniently categorised, firstly into capital and operating costs and then into the various elements of these major cost centres. Although the nature of expenditure naturally differs as between industries certain broad cost types are characteristic of all heavy industries. The capital costs of gaining access to an orebody, equipping a new mine, building a treatment plant and perhaps refining and smelting facilities are likened to capital expenditure by a manufacturer on new plant and equipment required for an expansion or new product innovation. Similarly the day to day costs of labour and materials employed in the running of a mining operation can be likened to similar costs in other heavy industry. There is another group of costs that are not so easily categorised. Most industries incur unavoidable costs that do not form part of the direct or capital costs of physical production. These costs include taxes and other payments to government and research expenditure. The mining industry has a particularly heavy burden of non-production costs and it is the objective here to highlight and analyse a few of them. These costs are exploration expenditure, infrastructure expenditure, royalties and income tax. This is not to suggest that these are the only major non-production costs that the mining industry needs to bear. The industry may incur significant costs for environment protection, land tenure maintenance and on liaising with Government on a wide variety of matters. It is for reasons of subject manageability that the list is confined to the four costs mentioned. For the mining industry, exploration and infrastructure expenditure, royalties and income tax have several distinguishing features. Firstly, they are generally proportionately large costs. Exploration and infrastructure expenditure for example, could well exceed mine development costs. Depending on how royalties are levied, they may be very high in relation to profits earned and many in fact exceed profits. Secondly, except for income tax, they are costs that are generally not payable by other industries. Exploration expenditure is in some respects comparable with industrial research and development. However, because mines are wasting assets exploration is necessary for survival, and it is likely to form a larger part of costs per dollar of profits or sales than R&D. It can therefore be said that exploration is of far more significance to the miner than R&D is to the typical industrial company. Furthermore, unlike exploration expenditure, R&D results are transportable and patents permitting, transferable. The infrastructure burden that miners must carry is unique to the industry. Whereas urbanised industry is not usually liable for the capital cost of power, water, transport, townships and community facilities, the miner must finance these projects himself. Neither the payment of royalties, nor of course, income tax are unique to the mining industry. Royalties are more properly described as a unique charge on some primary industries but however described, they are a charge that manufacturing and service industries do not have to pay. Whilst we all pay income tax, the mining industry's uniqueness derives from the special problem that the industry has in arriving at annual net income in view of the capital intensity of the industry, partly due to expenditure on infrastructure, the indefinite life of capital equipment and its unpredictable residual value, funds expended on exploration and long lead times associated with a mine development. The third distinguishing feature of these costs is that, with the possible exception of exploration expenditure, they are heavily influenced by the policies and actions of Government. As such the industry has a responsibility to promote the industry by emphasising its potential to improve national product including exports and by requesting that the Government provide for the industry in its long term planning and seek its co-operation to prevent the industry incurring inequitable penalties relative to other industries.Finally, exploration and infrastructure expenditure are significant because they are front-end charges on a project. When due allowance is given the time value of money and the deferment of income from a mining development to which they relate, exploration and infrastructure expenditure assume greater importance than the raw money expenditure suggests. For all these reasons, exploration and infrastructure expenditure, mining royalties and mining income tax are worthy of detailed study. This is the purpose of this paper. The objective is to examine the determinants that give rise to them and provide some thoughts on their impact on on-going and potential mining developments and, where relevant, to make some suggestions as to how they may be minimised.

Jan 1, 1977

This presentation is a 20 minute snippet of my professional career, and my progression in the mining industry, from a lazy uni student to an up-and-coming blast engineer in the middle of a mining boom.My name is Daniel Hepburn and I am a blasting engineer for Orica Mining Services. I graduated from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), in Melbourne in 2003. I completed both of my final year projects with Orica Quarry Services and was offered an assistant shotfiring job, which I accepted and worked for eight months. Having missed the cut-off date for the Orica graduate program, I planned to work with Quarry Services until the following year where I hoped my marks and the experiences I had gained would secure a graduate position. I didnÆt have to wait long, as in August of that year, I was offered (and I accepted) a graduate position in Perth as a technical services engineer for Orica Mining Services. The Orica graduate program is based over two years, and consists of real roles from day one; however, there is also opportunity to fast track the program for high performers. There is a structured rotation, from site to site, interstate or even international if you are so inclined. This includes the backpacker program, which allows graduates to experience the Orica culture in countries of their choice. There are also opportunities to try cross-functional roles in the different Market segments within Orica. I was lucky in that I knew what I wanted to do and where I wanted to work, so I stayed in Perth for my entire graduate program. I was also lucky enough to be fast tracked and finished my graduate program in 15 months. At the end of 2005 I accepted a position as an open cut blasting engineer based in Perth and even in such a short period of time I have already completed a number of major accomplishments. Some of these accomplishments are described below. This paper is available as a PowerPoint presentation only.

Jan 1, 2006

By M Darvall And R Fare, D Dormer

The Argo Archaean lode gold deposit is hosted within a structurally complex shear zone system, 70 km south of Kalgoorlie, and 3 km west of the crustal-scale Boulder û Lefroy Fault. Argo is an active underground mine currently producing at a rate of 120 koz pa with a Probable and Proven Reserve as at December 2005 of 2.19 Mt at 5.94 g/t Au (419 koz), a reduction on the December 2004 Probable and Proven Reserve of 4.58 Mt at 5.74 g/t Au (845 koz). This Reserve is hosted in six separate gold bearing lodes within the Argo shear system. Presently, a further six subeconomic shears are recognised. The 2005 Reserve figure represents a reduction of 426 koz compared to the 2004 Reserve as a result of a thorough review of the geological interpretation/resource model, and engineering factors applied to the Resource/Reserve, and depletion due to mining. Year on year Resource/Reserve figures at Argo had gradually increased as additional information on the system became available and mining methods were increasingly resolved with early production. The portal for Argo underground mine was cut in June 2002 within the highly profitable Argo open pit. The proposed æAvocaÆ bottom-up mining method required extensive lead time between development and the commencement of stoping in April 2004. During development considerable additional complexity in the Resource was encountered. Additional structures were identified, and complex splay interactions affecting the geology impacted on development. Intensive concurrent exploration in the footwall to the main lode during this period was the main cause of the increase in the Resource/Reserve figures during early development. As development progressed, lower grade continuity was observed than was previously interpreted. At the same time, drilling of deeper portions of the deposit and subsequent reinterpretation of the geological model significantly reduced strike lengths of economic mineralisation. Radical changes to the mining methods were required to improve productivities and to satisfy geotechnical considerations. The changes altered the engineering factors applied, which resulted in a reduction in the Reserve figures.

Jan 1, 2006

By T Takayama, R Muroi, M Matsumura

The steel industry occupies 14 per cent of CO2 emissions in Japan, and the sintering process is one of the major emitters. Since most of CO2 released from the sintering process comes from coke fine combustion, replacement of coke fines with biomass char as bonding agent is a potential countermeasure. In order to explore the effective use of biomass char, we chose char made from Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) as a sample. First, the char’s combustion behaviour was examined with varying the char’s particle size by means of admixing the char in alumina ball packed bed placed in an electric furnace. As a result, the finer the PKS char the faster the burning rate and reaching a higher temperature compared to coke fine. In addition, it is also concluded that the optimum size of PKS char was larger than coke fines. Next, the effect of different heat profiles on sinter structure was examined by sintering tablet made of chemical reagents. In this experiment, the chemical composition is designed based on sinter composition. By this sintering test, even at high temperature, rapid cooling is effective to make fine sinter matrix and fine pores, which has possibility for high sinter reducibility. Based on these two experiments, using PKS char as a sinter fine source has the possibility to improve sinter reducibility.

Nov 8, 2021

By S Robertson, I Buitrago

Mine life cycle planning and enduring value are taking centre stage to meet corporate goals and deliver socio-economic outcomes for communities over the life of a mine. There is a general agreement in the literature about mining-induced effects on locals adjacent to mining operations and subsequent closure. In response, international regulatory bodies, through the implementation of global agendas, encourage exploration and mining companies to embrace the concept of corporate social responsibility. This concept is designed to provide sustainable outcomes and maintain a social license to operate over the life of a mine. This paper proposes a practical application of the sustainable livelihood approach as a tool for international planning. With this approach as the governing framework, this paper proposes an innovative tool for mine life cycle planning. Based on the findings, this paper discusses the socio-economic impacts of mining and mine closure. It also argues that transferring some of the benefits from mining to create lasting value for communities needs to be considered at the initial stages of planning for the mine and the community. Findings also indicate that conditions such as a strong local government, good governance arrangements, relevant capacity-building for sustainable livelihoods and a diversified economy are important to transferring some of the benefits from mining to create lasting value for communities. The paper is based on a mixed research technique for data analysis and a case study methodology. The case studies were conducted in Australia and Colombia.CITATION:Buitrago, I and Robertson, S, ?2014. Mine life cycle planning – creating lasting value for communities, in Proceedings Life-of-Mine 2014 , pp 301–312 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).

Jul 16, 2014

By J Rutter, D La Rosa, P Walters, M Scott, L Keeney

Bulk ore sorting technologies, whether surfaced based or penetrative, have seen an increased uptake by the mining industry for preconcentration application. As with all technologies, going through the technology validation process is key to de-risking the operationalisation of the technologies and to demonstrate and confirm predicted value propositions. The ability to laboratory calibrate cross-belt bulk sensors is standard practise for sensor vendors, however transitioning the technology from laboratory to real-world application is a non-trivial process. The industry has taken two main approaches to trialling and validating bulk sensing technologies in operational environments, namely:  Construct an off-line pilot facility at scale, or  Install bulk sensing systems on production conveyors Each of these two approaches have significant advantages and disadvantages and require different experimental design programs and analysis methodologies. Consideration of material movement, heterogeneity degradation, logistical requirements, and financial investment all factor into which approach is most suitable for an evaluation scenario. CRC ORE in partnership with mining companies, have conducted several bulk sensor pilot trials utilising different sensor technologies employing each of the two main approaches outlined above. This paper describes the challenges faced, learnings obtained and outlines a position on how to transition bulk sensing technologies from the laboratory into the operating environment. The case studies presented cover a range of commodity types in both open pit and underground operations.

Nov 10, 2020

By R Jacobs

"The Jaguar project is relatively unique in that it was evaluated, financed, built and operated to completion within the last ten years, providing the opportunity to holistically review and reconcile expectations against the actual outcomes. It is a case study that allows wider conclusions to be drawn with respect to the risks and opportunities involved with project evaluation and execution.Jaguar is located in the Leonora Mining District of Western Australia and was commissioned in mid-2007 as an underground accessed, single high-grade volcanic-hosted massive sulfide (VHMS) deposit with an on-site concentrator, producing copper and zinc concentrates exported via the Port of Geraldton to South-East Asian markets.The feasibility study (FS) had several iterations (JML, 2005a); the last dated July 2005 was specifically targeted to secure project funding, and summarised the reserves-only portion of the resource and its planned exploitation. The commissioning of the mine was the transition for the owner Jabiru Metals NL from junior explorer to producer and the project was the dominant asset of the company.Jaguar operated through several significant deviations from the linear project plan set out in the FS, including the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), a corporate takeover and disruption to the mine plan from the onset of material geotechnical issues. Whilst the GFC or mining disruption were not specifically predicted in the FS or peer reviews, the generic effects of the events were assessed in the project risk assessment and they influenced subsequent management decisions. In parallel to the internal project-specific risks, the short planned life of Jaguar was a risk to the continuation of the corporate entity which was being addressed by significant investment into brownfields exploration to extend or replicate the project, and ultimately added value such that attracted a corporate takeover.Holistically, the project delivered the returns predicted in the FS, but in a much different guise than was expected. This paper will describe the reality of operations compared with the study predictions and expectations through the perspective of the project and corporate risk assessment.CITATION:Jacobs, R, 2016. Jaguar base metals project case study – has reality reflected the study?, in Proceedings Project Evaluation 2016, pp 86–97 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne)."

Mar 8, 2016