AMIRA Sharing the Benefits Newsletter - Issue 38 November 2014

Sharing the Benefits Newsletter Issue 38

In this issue Editorial …….................................. P.1 AMIRA Board update...................

P.2

November 2014

Message from the Managing Director

Welcome to Jeremy Mann............... P.3 AMIRA MD visits China................... P.3 DET CRC Technologies in the field............................................... P.4 P934A WAXI Stage 3 Kick-off meeting.......................................... P.5 Update: Unlocking Australia’s hidden mineral potential: The Roadmap...................................... P.6 Good news from South Africa.......... P.6 Wits proposes new project focusing on ASM……………………................ P.8 Technology corner……................... P.8 Ultra-High Intensity blasting............ P.9 th

20 Anniversary for the Wark.......... P.10 Update on P1150 moisture measurement for ore conveyors...... P.10 International recognition for Dr Ravi Anand………………………............... P.11 Researchers address AMIRA Board P.11 Public report on the TML project released......................................... P.11 Professor Ian Ritchie’s AO legacy... P.13 Welcome to new members.............. P.14 P972 seminar to be held in Santiago........................................ P.12 TM

FutureSmart a vision of technology development by Anglo American...................................... P.12 th

AMIRA holds 6 P9P SRM in J’burg.....................................

P.15

Accolades for CODES researchers.................................... P.16 AMIRA’s research partners win IET innovation award............................ P.16 AMIRA farewells Dr Megan Clark AC and welcomes Dr Larry Marshall P.17 Members win awards...................

Quo Vadis the mining industry?

For those of us who have been in the mining industry for a long time it has been an exhilarating ride at times. With the boom and bust cycles punctuating what has been a phenomenal growth in mining not just in Australia but also in other parts of the world.

Young geoscientists are not restricted to working in their country of origin anymore, opportunities to work in exotic places opened up as mining companies globalised their businesses.

Reflecting on the current downturn things are the same and yet different with previous downturns. The response of many companies is probably much the same as it always has been but what is different this time around? It seems to me, the biggest difference is the fact is that just about every mining company is relying on China to continue its insatiable appetite for commodities. And we have come out of an unprecedented boom in which the prices of just about all commodities rose in sync.

China of course does not just buy commodities it also invests. I recently had the privilege of visiting China for the first time.

One of the events I attended was the China Exploration Exchange held on the 24-25 October in Beijing. The theme was the Sustainable Development in the Outbound Mining Investment. In his address Mr Chen Feng, President of the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemical Importers & Exporters, made it very clear that the quantity and scale of Chinese investment has declined. Investment peaked in 2011 and has dropped by some 88% since. Bad news for the juniors who are looking for partners. Of course it may well be that the Chinese are becoming more discerning investors.

Overseas investment will continue however, but a number of issues need to be addressed.

Mr Chen gave the following advice: - Focus on bulk minerals which are still in short supply in China - Promote the development of private equity funds - Establish risk rating and warning system concerning foreign mining investment program and target country

P.17

Thinking about the changes that have taken place since I joined the industry back in 1975, I would have to say that some of the most exciting have been the innovations that have been developed over the last 39 years.

Technological innovation in exploration, mining and mineral processing as well as in the improved understanding of critical earth processes whether it’s the genesis of ore deposits, how rocks break to the behaviour of bubbles in flotation tanks. No doubt others can come up with better examples. I am sure the gray beards amongst us will remember contouring maps by hand. Then came desk top computers, and shortly after image processing and the world changed. AMIRA was involved in some of these early developments. For example the application of image processing to geophysics. a critical tool for effective exploration. And the advances in remote sensing, which led to such products as LANDSAT-TM Data “ER Mapper” software commercialised by E.R. Mapper. AMIRA was also involved in the development of QEM*SEM (automated computer controlled scanning electron microscope), some 30 years ago. Now known as QEMSCAN, and commercialised by Intellection Pty Ltd and subsequently acquired by FEI who also bought out its competitor JKTech MLA in 2009. I could go on.

Of course one another notable change has been the rise of the Minerals Equipment Technology and Services (METS) sector globally. The METS sector has been a significant driver of innovation and has made an important economic contribution not only in Australia but in other jurisdictions as well.

Don Scott-Kemmis chronicled this important trend in his paper “How about those METS?: Leveraging Australia’s mining equipment, technology and services sector” published in March 2013. According to Scott-Kemmis “The rise of the METS sector has multiplied and diversified the benefits Australia derives from its natural resource endowment”. I suspect that a similar observation would apply to the Canadian METS sector as well. In a recent PwC report on the economic impact of the Mining Supply & Services (MSS) sector in Ontario, Canada, it was noted that it is a large and important sector cont….page 3

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AMIRA Board of Directors Update AMIRA and the Board would like to express its gratitude to following retiring Directors for their input while on the Board as well as to thank their companies for permitting and supporting their employees to serve.

Paul Blewett Rick Gilbert Neville Plint Vice-President, Process Technology, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

Head of R & D, Anglo American Platinum

Asia Pacific Regional Counsel, Company Secretary, Boart Longyear Limited

.

Rick oversees the Process Technology Center which provides global support to the company’s development and operating plant efforts.

During his 31-year career, he has worked in both production and technical positions in the areas of leaching, minerals processing, solution extraction, electrowinning, process control and business development. Rick has served on the Board since April 2008

Neville joined Anglo Platinum in 1996 and has held a variety of research and management positions in metallurgical research, process control & analytical chemistry. He was Head of Research and Development for Anglo American Platinum.

Neville joined the board in 2009 and served as Chairman between 2011 and 2013.

Paul was admitted to legal practice in 1984. Eight years of private practice with Lynch Meyer in Adelaide was followed by a varied career in Corporate Counsel.

Paul’s current responsibilities extend to New Zealand and throughout SE Asia including China. Paul’s increasing responsibilities have not allowed him to continue to serve on the Board.

AMIRA Welcomes New Board Directors Richard Butcher

Head of Technical Services at MMG Limited

July Ndlovu

Richard has extensive experience in running large muti-discipline technical teams, expansion projects and implementation of mining projects in high risk geotechnical environments. He has worked on Gold, Coal, Diamond, Nickel, Copper & Uranium projects. Richard has been involved in the formulation of strategies for optimisation of mining operations and has lead continuous improvement and M & A activities.

Peter Kanck

Executive Head of Process at Anglo Platinum Ltd.

July served as consulting metallurgist process at Anglo Platinum. Previously, he held senior managerial positions in metallurgical operations and technical services at Anglo American Zimbabwe. July joined Anglo Platinum in 2001 and served as Business Manager of Polokwane Smelter as well its Head of Process Technology.

Senior Manager - Product Development and Integration, Boart Longyear.

Colin Moorhead Executive General Manager, Minerals, Newcrest

In his role with Boart Longyear, Peter is working with innovators, engineers, organisations and researchers to identify and integrate new technologies into the exploration industry. Peter was previously Program Integrator with the DET CRC assisting with the challenges of integrating researchers and the commercial world.

Colin has worked as an exploration and mining geologist at Newcrest in various roles since 1987 including Chief Geologist at Telfer, Cadia and Gosowong. In 2006 he took on the role of GM Technical Services for the Newcrest Group.

Colin was appointed to his current position in January 2008.

Mining Limited

AMIRA Welcomes Jeremy Mann Mr Jeremy Mann, who until recently was Head of Geosciences, Process and S&SD Technology development in Anglo American’s Group Technology Development department, has joined our Johannesburg office as consultant.

Jeremy is graduated of University of the Witwatersrand with a BSc. Eng Metallurgy (Minerals Processing).

He completed a number of professional courses and was awarded a Master of Business Leadership from UNISA. Jeremy represented Anglo Group Technology on a number of key industry / technology collaborative initiatives and as a result will bring a wealth of experience and will strengthen our ability to service our members in South Africa and beyond.

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Cont'd from page 1 in terms of contribution to GPD notwithstanding the fact that it is not been tracked or measured in a systematic fashion.

Despite these incredible advances, there is a long way to go to improve the way we are currently, exploring, mining and processing. We are all aware that is despite increasing investment over the last few years, exploration discovery rates have either stagnated or declined. Much has been published as to why this is so, but no doubt a key issue is that most of the world class deposits with shallow post-mineralisation cover have probably been found. This is true in many of the traditional mining countries.

So we need to look deeper which will require new ways of exploring, new ideas. And of course we not only have to address the challenges that accompany looking deeper but also the increased exploration and mining and probably processing costs that it will entail. cont….page 5

AMIRA Managing Director in China th

ICont…… had the privilege Page 5 of visiting mainland China for the first time in October. I gave an address at the 6 International Conference of Hydrometallurgy in Beijing, attended the 2014 China Mining Equipment and Technology Forum in Tianjin, and subsequently participated in the Exploration Exchange China 2014 in Beijing.

First a few words about the Hydromet conference which was held on 16-18 October. It was held at the Institute of Processing Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences located at Zhongguancun Beijing. It was a great way to get an idea of the breadth of hydrometallurgical research in China. Some 214 papers, in several parallel sessions, were delivered in English, with many of the papers being delivered by students. The keynote papers listed below, some of which were delivered by international speakers, gives a flavour of the topics covered and the assortment of institutions involved in hydromet research: - Recovery of nickel, cobalt, copper and zinc in sulphate and chloride solutions using synergistic solvent extraction – Chyon Cheng (CSIRO) - Effect of Na2CO3 concentration on scheelite digestion – Zongwei Zhao (Central South University, China) - Themophiolic bioleaching of low grade Indian granitic chalcopyrite ore: Optimisation of parameters and elucidation of kineticsmechanism – Abilash (CSIRI, India) - Desilication pre-treatment and atmospheric leaching of refractory high-silica cobalt white alloy – Zhifeng Xu (Jiangxi University of Science and technology) - Research on calcification-carbonization method for treatment of red mud derived from Bayer process – Tingan Zhang (Northeastern University) - Numerical simulation of multiphase reactors/crystallisers and application Chao Yang (Institute of Processing Engineers, CAS) - Resources and harmless of the wastes from metallurgical industries – Hongbin Cao (Institute of Processing Engineers, CAS) - Flocculation mechanism of synthetic goethite suspension using hydroxamated polymer or sodium polyacrylate – Huiping Hu (Central south University, China) - Removal of iron from metallurgical grade silicon by hydrometallurgical process – Wenhui Ma (Kunming University of Science and Technology, China) - The formation of nano-particles and wiskers from non-furious resources – Lan Xiang (Tsinghua university, China) The accompanying 182 posters were also illuminating in the diversity of research activity in China.

After the conclusion of the Hydromet conference I was off to Tianjin on a bullet train, again a first for me. Wonderfully smooth ride, only 45 minutes to Tianjin.

I am reliably informed that the China Mining Equipment and Technology forum, which was held on 20-23 October, is one of the biggest conference and exhibitions in the world. It was held at the Tianjin Meijian Convention and Exhibition Centre and had over 360 exhibitors. Huge variety of Chinese equipment suppliers on show, see collage below.

Cont…… Page 4

A collage from China mining

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DET CRC Technologies in the field Critical to the development of new technologies is the deployment in the field. Over the last six months the Deep Exploration Technologies CRC (DET CRC) has trialled a number of technologies in the field, one associated with a stratigraphic drilling campaign

by Geoscience Australia and Geoscience Victoria the other a deep exploration drill hole in a Cu-Au prospect in NSW. The Stavely Greenfields Drilling Project is a collaborative program being undertaken in the prospective Stavely area of western Victoria with the Geological Survey of Victoria, in partnership with Geoscience Australia and the DET CRC. The program is undertaking pre-competitive data acquisition in the Stavely area in order to test geological models and assess the potential for a range of mineral systems, with a focus on porphyry copper-gold and volcanic-hosted massive sulphide systems.

Fourteen holes have been drilled through cover into fresh basement rocks to obtain material for analysis. Drilling was undertaken in two stages. For holes with overlying unconsolidated Murray Basin sediments, a sonic drill rig was used to penetrate through to basement rocks. This was followed by diamond drilling into the Cambrian volcanic and sedimentary basement. Initial field logging indicates that some of the basement rocks intersected exhibit alteration and minor sulphides. During drilling, intervals of anomalous element concentrations were identified with the assistance of the Lab-at-Rig® technology developed by the DET CRC, which provides near real-time multi-element geochemical analyses. ®

The manual Lab-at-Rig was also recently trialled in a deep hole drilled in a porphyry CuAu prospect in NSW. The learnings from these deployments have contributed to the development of a ® workflow that will be applied with the automated version of the Lab-at-Rig which was unveiled at the DET CRC annual conference last week.

Boart Longyear UDR650 ring at the Stavely project and the DET CRC’s Solids Recovery Unit. Photos courtesy of Paul McDonald GV

AMIRA MD in China Cont'd from page 3 Amongst the many interesting sessions at China mining, two were of particular interest. One was on the progress and achievements of the Chinese Geological Survey and the other was the session on ‘Ensuring the Supply of Raw Materials for the Next Generation’ hosted by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

The Chinese Geological Survey is a hybrid organisation that not only acts like a Geological Survey that most western geologists would be familiar with, but also as an exploration company and a MET supplier rolled into one. Geosciences and Technique Research Development and International cooperation are two of its eight “missions”. A truly astonishing organisation in its breadth of activities.

The IUGS discussed their Resourcing Future Generations (RFG) initiative which has the aim of identifying and addressing key challenges involved in securing natural resources to meet global needs post-2030. According to the IUGS, addressing the multi-generational needs for mineral commodities will require the following actions by the geoscience community: - Comprehensive evaluation and quantification of 21st century supply and demand - Enhanced understanding of the subsurface as it relates to mineralisation - Evaluation of where new resources are likely to be found - Building additional capacity and other actions to facilitate discovery and responsible development of mineral resources in less developed nations Cont… Page 7

DET CRC Technology on show at Brukunga Several AMIRA International Directors visited the DET CRC’s Bazaar at Brukunga on the 20 November. The Bazaar is part of the DET CRC’s annual conference in which it showcases its technologies. On show included the Coil Tubing Rig, the carbon Fibre rods, ® Autonomous Sonde and the Lab-at-Rig

L-R: Chris Ward (AMIRA), Ian Sandl (Teck) - Director, Gavin Yeates (BHPB) - Director, Johan Meyer (Exxaro) - Director, Aubrey Paverd ® (Buenaventura) - Chairman, Joe Cucuzza (AMIRA), Daniel Vertes (AMIRA); Coil Tube Rig; manual Lab-At-Rig

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Cont'd from page 3 AMIRA’s Uncovering Australia’s hidden wealth Roadmap will help to address this. An initiative supported by over 30 companies and government organisations the results of which will clearly have implications throughout the world where cover is a problem.

We are hearing much about utilising manufacturing methodology in our mining operations. Many argue that we have much to learn from the manufacturing sector whether it be the car industry or from a diversified manufacturer like Procter & Gamble.

This not just about the application of the business improvement methodology Lean Manufacturing. The CRC Ore has recognised this with its bid for a second round CRC the aim of which is implementation of innovative manufacturing system designed to deliver improved productivity growth.

So no doubt a lot wins are possible by applying manufacturing thinking, but it will take some time to embed the various integrated systems necessary to extract full value. Also as Gavin Yeates pointed out in his address at the recent DET CRC Conference, great ideas often fail at the implementation stage because the necessary attention is not paid to processes, culture and structures. The idea of running a mine as a factory was mooted by Denis McMahon the then General Manager, Resource and Technical Development, Pasminco Mining at the 1991 A.M.I.R.A. Annual Technical Conference held in Tasmania.

In his paper “What the Underground Metalliferous Mine May Look Like in the Year 2010”, he presented the following profile of the new mine in the year 2010 as an underground factory: A mining system centred on an automated mechanical rock cutting machine which can operate on stope filling.  Ore production scheduled continuously for 168 hours per week.  Ore transport by conveyor systems including possibly vertical conveyors - from the rock cutting machine to the ore hoisting system.  All underground development done by an automated rock cutting machine.

The use of underground ore sorting, perhaps even in the stope, so that some stope fill is almost instantaneous. The mine product, rather than run-of-mine ore, would be mineral (or at least beneficiated ore).  One union or perhaps no unions and a workforce made up of a very limited number of skilled, well trained and highly motivated people.

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P934A WAXI Stage 3 Kick-off meeting A kick-off meeting for the third stage of the West African Exploration Initiative (P934B) was held in Toulouse over two days in late September 2014. The meeting, although proving a challenge to get to - with the Ebola situation in West Africa and a pilot strike in France - was well attended, with representatives from eight sponsor companies, six geological surveys, UNESCO and ADSM, as well as 16 academic institutions.

The meeting provided the research team and sponsor group the opportunity to meet each other, welcome new sponsor companies and academic groups, as well as align their expectations and outline a research program for the four year project.

Since starting the project in September, the team has welcomed another Sponsor – Qatar Mining. AMIRA International continues to seek further sponsorship for the project. Any inquires should be directed to Adele Seymon.

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P1162: Unlocking Australia’s hidden mineral potential - Stage 1: The Roadmap --- Update September 2014 saw the kick off of an important minerals industry initiative, which will deliver a Roadmap that will help unlock Australia’s hidden mineral wealth by greatly improving the ability to find new mineral resources in areas of cover.

A series of workshops are currently being held on the west and east coast of Australia.

These are designed to facilitate input from representatives of the 31 sponsoring entities – among them Australian and international mineral exploration and mining companies, service providers, government geological agencies and industry bodies.

The initiative was designed and proposed by AMIRA International in collaboration with the Centre of Exploration Targeting (UWA), CSIRO, Curtin University and the UNCOVER Group. The AMIRA P1162 Roadmap initiative will extend the UNCOVER effort. Ultimately the purpose of the Roadmap is to deliver a plan with the objective to stimulate innovation and strategic investment by companies, research providers and governments that will lead to growing Australia’s mineral wealth and sustaining a revenue stream for the country’s future.

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Good News from South Africa Acknowledging Prof. Kim Hein AMIRA International would like to congratulate Prof. Kim Hein on the receipt of the University of Witwatersrand Vice-Chancellor’s Transformation Individual Award: Staff Category.

The Award Screening Committee was impressed with Kim’s work and sterling transformation activities. The award reflects the feeling that the University has, of being privileged to have Kim as a staff member.

Kim plans to use any money received from the award to further her work in West Africa, specifically running a field school during WAXI3 for post graduate students.

L-R: Dean, Prof. Helder Marques, Prof. Kim Hein and Head of School of Geosciences, Prof. Roger Gibson; at the award ceremony on 17 October

Two firsts from the University of Witwatersrand Prof. Kim Hein’s student Musa Manzi is the first non-white South African to be awarded a PhD in geophysics. The work, which began as masters in 2009 and sponsored by Gold Fields, unravelled the geological history of the Witwatersrand Basin through the use of seismic reflection data.

“Musa’s work has opened up new ways of interpreting seismic data and unravelling the geological history of the Wits Basin. His work is particularly relevant to gold mining companies, as it has opened new avenues of understanding about, amongst other things, the location of methane gas along fault lines underground. This has a direct impact on the safety of mining in South Africa’s deep level gold mines,” says Prof. Kim Hein, who acted as supervisor to Musa’s Masters and PhD projects, along with Prof. Raymond Durrheim at the University of Witwatersrand.

“Between them, Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti had acquired a wealth of 3D seismic data over the years relating to the Wits Basin. Traditional exploration techniques using boreholes don’t allow one to see structural complexity at depth, but we pulled in new 3D seismic reflection technology developed for petroleum industry that effectively allowed us to produce a 3D visualisation of the subsurface of the whole mining area. It’s the equivalent of x-raying the ore body,” explains Musa.

L-R: Dr Asinne Tshibubudze, Prof. Kim Heins and Dr Musa Manzi

Another student of Prof. Kim Hein’s, Asinne Tshibubudze, will be first non-white South African to be awarded a PhD in structure and tectonics. The work, which began as a masters in 2008 and sponsored by the BHP Billiton Staff Development fund, Ozezone Resources, IAMGold and AMIRA International West African EXploration Initiative (WAXI) 2 project, established the temporal and spatial relationships between structure and metamorphism, plutonism, and gold occurrences in the Oudalan-Gorouol greenstone belt of Burkina Faso.

Asinne’s approach was to use a traditional field science approach combined with geochemical studies at the University of Witwatersrand, and geochronology studies at the Curtin University in Western Australia. “My work has led to a fuller understanding of tectonic complexity, and gold metallogenesis of the West African craton and has relevance to companies exploring in the terrane”, explained Asinne. His work gave some of the oldest U-Pb crystallisation ages for outcropping Palaeoproterozoic rocks yet identified in the craton.

“I am extremely grateful to the companies which have invested in the project on the one hand, but in the human capacity on the other” says Prof Hein. “Without this input, Asinne would not have gone from Mbilwi Secondary School near Thohanyandou in rural South Africa, to becoming a leading researcher. Asinne walked to school with no shoes and sold vetkoek (a form of doughnut) just to pay for fees.”

AMIRA International would like to congratulate Musa Manzi and Assine Tshibubudze for their wonderful achievement.

Source: This GOLD http://thisisgold.co.za/news; and Prof. Kim Hein

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The University of Witwatersrand proposing AMIRA MD in China to build knowledge base on artisanal and Cont'd from page 4 Exhibitors at China Mining were mainly small scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa equipment and service providers. Several The University of Witwatersrand is partnering with AMIRA International to develop a project which will bring technical, social and policy experts together from the fields of geoscience, mining, social anthropology, history, social science, public health, policy and regulation, and business practice to build a knowledge base for artisanal and small scale mining (ASM) across sub-Saharan Africa. Working at six diverse research sites, cross disciplinary data will be collected in collaboration with stakeholders from government, local ASM groups and the LSM mining sector to develop a vision and development scenarios in keeping with the principles of sustainable development.

The African Mining Vision (AMV) put forward by the African Union Commission and adopted by Heads of State and Government in February 2009, identifies a role for both large-scale miners (LSM) and artisanal and small scale mining (ASM); however the vision for ASM is underdeveloped and therefore the relationship between largescale miners and ASM can be conflictual and difficult to resolve without a shared vision for sustainable development. The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has provided global guidance to LSM about engagement with ASM, but does not provide guidance about vision building for the future where ASM is present.

At the heart of this dilemma is that ASM provides livelihoods for many communities living in poverty. Estimates are that millions of people are involved in ASM activities that are additionally considered illegal mining in many African countries. As a consequence ASM is often criticised for extensive environmental damage, serious health consequences, child labour and poor revenue generation for government.

Current regulatory frameworks fail to successfully regulate the vast amount of ASM in Africa.

“Although Africa has a long tradition of ASM, paradoxically the role for ASM in Africa is increasingly lost alongside the issues around the LSM sector. And although there is guidance for LSM on how to engage with ASM, there are inadequate detailed case studies of the wide range of factors necessary for LSM to coexist with ASM at exploration, mining and at closure” explained Prof. Kim Hein (Scholl of Geosciences) who with Nancy Coulson (Programme Manager Stakeholder Engagement - Centre for Sustainability in Mining and Industry) proposed the initiative. .

The principal benefit from the proposed work will come through the development of a coherent integrated sub-Saharan African ASM Fact Base that integrates technical, policy and community data. A secondary benefit will be evidence based case studies and customised diagnosis tools for Africa. Case studies of steps towards sustainable futures will be written in a user friendly style and will be widely disseminated across the African mining sector to improve awareness and knowledge. The case studies will also support training in this area. Finally, a capacity development programme which will be built into the project will fund cross-disciplinary postgraduate research and capacity building in African institutions. At the research sites training and facilitation will be conducted with stakeholders including ASM, LSM, government and civil society.

A preliminary proposal for this initiative is currently in preparation. AMIRA International will be approaching members to determine the level of interest in funding the initiative.

The proposal will be at the development stage and so AMIRA Inetrnational and the research partners will be open to suggestions and guidance from interested companies on how it could be focussed to meet stakeholder needs Olga Verezub

Prof. Kim Hein

+61 3 8636 9973

+276 11 717 6623 kim.ncube-hein@wits.ac.za

olga.verezub@amirainternational.com

Nancy Coulson +27 11 717 7055 nancy.coulson@wits.ac.za

AMIRA members, including Metso, Outotec, BASF, Boart Longyear, Orica, and BGRIMM were represented. No mining company members were exhibitors however Chinalco (51% partner of the Chinalco Rio Tinto Exploration Co.) and China MinMetals Corp. (majority owner of MMG who is a member of AMIRA) had booths.

The Australian Geological Surveys were there in force. Indeed both the Australian and Canadian presence was quite noticeable. A number of Chinese institutes were represented. These organisations are government owned and are not only involved in exploration in China but also act as METS suppliers.

A small number of foreign junior explorers were present seeking Chinese investors.

Eldorado Gold was the only foreign mining company exhibitor. According to their website Eldorado Gold is the largest foreign gold producer in China. They entered China in 2005 with acquisition of the Tanjianshan Gold project from Afcan Mining which was subsequently followed by acquisition of the Jinfeng Mine and White Mountain Mine from Sino Gold in 2009.

My last engagement was at the 3rd Exploration China 2014 Conference and then only briefly. Hosted by China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (CCCMC), the focus was on cooperation and trade on both China and international mining projects. The Australian and Canadian Ambassadors, H.E. Frances Adamson, and H.E. Guy Saint-Jacques gave key-note addresses extolling their respective countries strong links with China. The programme included the release of the China Outbound Mining Corporate Social Responsibilities Guidelines which is designed to provide a roadmap for investment and cooperation with China’s mining industry. Another important session included a discussion on how Chinese companies can be supported in their foreign investment and cooperation deals. As Mr Chen Feng, President of the CCCMC indicated, Chinese company’s skills in dealing with foreign investment need to be improved.

Joe Cucuzza

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Technology Corner HiSeis Finalist in the Australian Innovation Challenge 1

One of the affiliates of the Deep Exploration Technologies CRC (DET CRC) – HiSeis has been selected as a finalist in the Australian Innovation Challenge in the Minerals and Energy sector for its entry High definition 3D seismic for minerals exploration. Judging criteria included Technological Excellence and Novelty, Potential Impact, Sustainability and End User Benefit, and Adoption and Take up.

Previously used as an oil and gas exploration tool, HiSeis is now applying seismic technology as an exploration and mining tool in hard rock geology environments. This innovative new service will fast track exploration and discovery of minerals, improve mine planning and mitigate mining risk.

HiSeis's development of survey design, data acquisition, processing and interpretation of the seismic data Has overcome previous industry scepticism about the application of seismic in mineral exploration.

Optimisation and integration of all aspect of seismic survey has produced previously unattainable results.

HiSeis CEO, Don Pridmore is ebullient “we see the advent of Seismic technology as a game changer in every respect” he said, “we will make new discoveries, extend the life of existing mines, and make mining safer for those at risk. This technology will create a more sustainable mining industry" 1

The DET CRC arose from AMIRA International’s Drilling Technology Roadmap and is focussed on delivering cheaper and safer ways to drill, analyse and target deep mineral deposits

University of Tasmania Licences Mineral Exploration Technology Developed in an AMIRA project New technology developed by the University of Tasmania through the AMIRA Project P1022 will help mining companies detect valuable ore deposits faster and more accurately, deep underground. Geoscientists use a technique called transient electromagnetics (TEM) to find mineral deposits hundreds of metres below the surface. They do this by creating magnetic fields and examining the way those fields interact with conductive minerals in the ground. This technique creates large amounts of data that require 3D interpretation to pinpoint the ore bodies. This process normally requires significant computer power, making it slow and expensive. However, thanks to new software developed at Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES), the data can now be processed much faster.

The key algorithms were developed at CODES in collaboration with Fullagar Geophysics (FGPL) and AMIRA International. The project was sponsored by AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Rio Tinto, and Mira Geoscience.

University of Tasmania Director of Business Development and Technology Transfer, Dr Darren Cundy, said the intellectual property arising from this collaboration has now been licensed to FGPL. “The University is committed to doing research that is relevant and aligned with industry but equally to translating those research outcomes into benefits that are accessible to industry,” Dr Cundy said.

“Transferring intellectual property assets into the hands of businesses that can create real impact from our research is at the heart of our commercialisation strategy.”

Dr Peter Fullagar, Director of FGPL, said his company would make the software available to mining companies and other end-users under sub-licence.

“We have a unique combination of technical capability and industry experience, which will allow us to take this product to the next level,” Dr Fullagar said.

“With further development of the algorithms, we’ll deliver rapid interpretation of TEM data and integration with geological and other data.

Processing times will be reduced by a factor of 10 or more, something we expect the minerals industry will find very attractive.”

Source: Media Release University of Tasmania @9 Sep. 2014

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Cont'd from page 5   

A centralised monitoring and control system - probably integrated with the mill control system. This could possibly also include the continuous measurement of the grade of the ore being produced.

Engineering apprentices automatically graduating to mine operating positions.

Most non-mining and non-concentrating activities farmed out.

Some very interesting predictions, I will leave to the reader to determine how far we have come in achieving this profile in the last 23 years. The full paper will be included in the next Newsletter.

I suspect that the next important step change will be the ability to undertake speedy modelling and simulation of the entire value chain from exploration, mining and processing in a holistic way. I am sure that this will enable value to be extracted through more efficient and effective supply chain management. So learning how the manufacturing industry does it is important.

Joe Cucuzza

Ultra-High Intensity Blasting, a spin-off from the AMIRA AMSRI Programme Recently The Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution (CEEC) awarded its 2014 CEEC Medal to Dr Geoff Brent and the Orica team who developed the “Ultra-High Intensity Blasting” (UHIB) technique, recognising it as a breakthrough advance in mineral processing.

Dr Brent and his Orica colleagues, Dr Peter Dare-Bryan, Stuart Hawke and Michael Rothery, describe the UHIB technique as a new paradigm in mining, because it has the potential to increase mine production and profitability while reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The concept for the “Ultra-High Intensity Blasting” technique came L-R Joe Pease Chairman CEEC, Dr Geoff Brent - Orica, Sarah Boucaut from Orica‘s involvement with the Australian Mineral Science EO CEEC, Michael Rothery Orica, Stephen Boyce ORICA Research Institute (AMSRI).

AMSRI comprised of four world-class mineral research centres together with a global network of associates and collaborators. The alliance was an initiative of the global mineral industry through its research broker AMIRA International in joint venture with the Australian Research Council, the Universities of Queensland, South Australia, Melbourne and Newcastle, and state governments.

The major objectives of AMSRI were to develop technologies that would result in a step change improvement in mill productivity, energy consumption and water usage.

One of the projects included theoretical blast fragmentation and mill productivity modelling by the University of Queensland’s Marzin Ziemsky. The model showed that explosive energy when increased beyond normal accepted practice, by a factor of 4 times, a step change in mill productivity and power reduction was possible. The modelling indicated that increases in mill productivity in the order of 25 to 40% were possible, which would result in potential cost and revenue benefits of tens of millions of dollars annually. With this knowledge Orica took up this challenge to develop a method to increase the blasting energy while managing the environmental issues, of fly-rock, excessive ground vibration, air-blast and wall damage. The UHIB technique overcomes the constraints of conventional blasting by, blasting the rock in two layers within a single blast event, initiated with state of the art electronic blasting systems.

Dr Brent explained that with UHIB, an upper layer is blasted first using conventional powder factors and the broken rock is allowed to fall to rest before the lower layer is then initiated with ultra-high powder factors. In effect, the broken rock from the upper layer provides an effective buffer or blanket to contain the energy in the lower layer. This buffer prevents flyrock, while allowing powder factors in the lower layer that are up to five times higher than those used in conventional blasting, delivering much more intense fragmentation of the ore.

Dr Brent added that Orica’s blast modelling and field trials had also shown that control of surface ejection and vibration levels were better with the UHIB method.

“These results are quite remarkable, given the large increases in explosive energy, and reveal that highwall damage as well as vibration and potential damage to key mine infrastructure can be safely controlled when using this method,” he said.

Mr Boyce who led Orica’s Mining Applications technology team during development of the technique commented that “UHIB is being introduced progressively at a number of mines around the globe. The new technology is widely applicable across many mining sectors, including gold and base metals, such as copper, lead, zinc and iron ore.

The technique is of most value at mines where energy is expensive, or where the strength of the ore has been underestimated, and milling capacity is constrained. We believe companies will increasingly adopt UHIB, as energy costs rise and the capital expense for new mineral processing plants increase.

Mr Boyce said he and his Orica colleagues were proud to receive the CEEC Medal in recognition of the significant effort that had gone into developing UHIB Technique.

Source: Mr Stephen Boyce, Orica

Sharing the Benefits

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20th Year Anniversary of the Ian Wark Research Ins7titute On November 20, The Ian Wark Research Institute celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a showcase of its current work, inviting its alumni to talk about their work since leaving The Wark, and a little bit of nostalgia with three of the founding fathers – Emeritus Laureate Professor John Ralston and Professors Roger Smart and Roger Horn – reuniting to give a potted history of the institute.

In 20 short years, staff and students at The Wark have made an indelible mark on the Australian research scene – particularly in the field of minerals processing. The 25-year flagship AMIRA project P260 is now in its eighth iteration and has returned over a billion dollars of value to its investors. The Australian Academy of Science has named The Wark an “Australian national treasure”.

194 students have graduated from The Wark and gone on to occupy senior positions in government, academic research and research administration, intellectual property management, and in industry and there’s many more in the pipeline.

The Wark hosts a node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility and is a contributor to the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility – both products of the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. It was also a key partner in the $73M Materials & Minerals Science Learning & Research Hub housed in the iconic MM Building at Mawson Lakes.

The all-day event saw 25 alumni return from interstate and overseas to mix with former staff, industry partners, South Australia’s Chief Scientist, and representatives of the University’s senior management to share their stories, catch up with old friends and make new acquaintances. The Wark’s Director, Professor Magnus Nydén, said “It is wonderful to get a sense of the history of this place and to meet the people who made it happen. Let’s hope we’ll be doing it again in another 20 years.”

Source: Craig Hackney, Operations Manager, Ian Wark Research Institute

P1150 Moisture Measurement and Control for Iron Ore Conveyor Systems --- Update A new 2-year collaborative AMIRA International project P1150: Moisture Measurement and Control for Iron Ore Conveyor Systems is currently being developed, the outcomes of which will play an essential role in achieving economic benefits through accurate measurement and minimisation or optimisation, of the moisture level in iron ores. Accurate online moisture measurement is critical to achieve effective moisture control. Improved moisture control will lead to optimal moisture and dust suppression management. Achieving a 1% reduction in moisture content, from say 9% to 8%, will deliver multi-million dollar savings in sea-borne transport costs.

Two well-respected research organisations will undertake the 2 streams of the working program: Stream I Scantech International will focus on moisture measurement and calibration for ore diversity, Stream II TUNRA Bulk Solids Handling (TBS) will focus on control of moisture through moisture migration measurement and reduction system design.

The project will be led by the Project Leader/Manager – Dr Tom Honeyands, who has extensive experience in the Iron Ore industry.

The key project objectives are to: Stream I:  Develop a global moisture analyser calibration matrix covering the range of properties of sponsor iron ores, including ore mineralogy variations between hematite, goethite, and magnetite (A CM100 - conductive material moisture analyser system will be used for magnetite ores). This would be implemented on the Scantech TBM system, and may potentially be applied to non-Scantech analysers depending on compatibility of the analyser’s operating principles and software;  Develop an on-line mineralogy measurement system for iron ore on conveyor belts and integrate this with the existing TBM (or CM100) system;  Supply a measurement of through-belt ore moisture, and potentially the secondary measurement of the surface moisture, for input into control systems;  Trial a prototype system at one or more sponsors’ sites.

Stream II:   

Determine the mode and rate of moisture migration for each sponsor ore sample; Define moisture migration characteristics and associated curves for each ore, which will be compared to Sponsor material handling systems to identify whether existing belt oscillations or train wagon/routing vibrations are appropriate or helpful for moisture reduction; Conceptual design of moisture reduction/control system(s) to exploit the moisture migration measured for the range of ore types.

The project is planned to commence in December - January 2014 and will be opened for sponsorship during the first year from commencement. If your company is interested in joining the whole project or alternatively one of the streams, or if you would like to obtain more information about the study, please contact:

Olga Verezub +61 3 8636 9973 olga.verezub@amirainternational.com

www.amirainternational.com

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International recognition for Dr Ravi Anand It’s a great pleasure to once again congratulate Dr Ravi Anand for another well deserved award. Dr Anand, Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO, won the prestigious Association of Applied Geochemists’ Gold Medal for 2015.

This medal is in recognition of outstanding scientific achievement in the field of applied geochemistry. During more than 30 years of work in both government and academic circles, Dr Anand has gained international recognition as a leader in the fields of mineral exploration, regolith mapping and formation, and biogeochemistry, among others.

“I must say that AMIRA projects have played a big role in my career” said Dr Anand. Dr Anand has led many successful AMIRA projects the last of which is the recently completed P778A: Predictive Geochemistry in Areas of Transported Overburden II. We are pleased to continue to work with Dr Anand in the new Initiative; P1123: Geochemical exploration in regolith dominated terrains: A global perspective.

This project is currently in circulation seeking sponsorship.

AMIRA International supports UWA application for an ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre AMIRA International is supporting the CET’s application for a $5M Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Training Centre.

Over its five year life the proposed Multidimensional Mineral Systems Industrial transformation Training Centre aims to unite industry and research partners to train early-career geoscientists in an integrated research program leading to the deconstruction of lithospheric-scale variations in craton architecture and metallogenesis.

The Centre will be of importance to many of AMIRA’s member companies, who are keen to source exploration geologists that are trained in areas that will ultimately increase exploration effectiveness.

Researchers address the AMIRA International Board On the 19 Australia:

th

November the following key speakers presented to the AMIRA International Board meeting held in Hahndorf, South



Dr Brenton Cooper, Chief Technology Officer, Data to Decisions CRC "Big data; what does it really mean and why is it important for the mining industry"



Prof. Dr Andrea Gerson Minerals and Materials Science & Technology , Mawson Institute, University of South Australia "The state of the art in AMD mitigation and the outstanding challenges still to be resolved"



Prof. Andre Luiten, Director Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, University of Adelaide "Photonics: opportunities for new sensors for the mining industry"



Prof. Bill Skinner, Research professor, Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia “Flotation Processing: Outstanding questions and growing challenges”



Dr Stephan Thiel (Geological Survey of South Australia) & Dr Graham Heinson (University of Adelaide) “The state of the art in deep lithospheric imaging: implications for exploration”



Prof. Bruce Gemmell, Director CODES, University of Tasmania “Pushing the boundaries of discovery using mineral chemistry: a triumph of collaboration”

Dr Brenton Cooper

Prof. Andrea Gerson

Prof. Andre Luiten

Prof. Bill Skinner

Dr Stephan Thiel

Prof. Bruce Gemmell

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Sharing the Benefits

The Public Report for P1097 “Systematic Evaluation of Transportable Moisture Limit Measurement Methods for Iron Ore Fines Bulk Cargoes” released The P1097 TML project is coming to the end. The objective of this project was to advance the science and engineering that underpin the measurement of TML for shipping iron ore fines bulk cargoes, and to recommend the best method(s) for ranking iron ore fines stability whilst being transported as a bulk cargo. The project was supported by 6 Iron Ore producers, including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Vale, FMG, Roy Hill and Cliffs and 2 project observers comprising the Minerals Council of Western Australia and Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy.

The Research Team represented by TUNRA Bulk Solids Handling, CSIRO and University of Auckland, under the leadership of Dr Tom Honeyands, presented the final results from the two-year study at the Final Sponsor Review Meeting. The meeting was successfully held in Perth in June 2014.

Major achievements of the project are:  The Proctor/Fagerberg test was chosen as the most appropriate TML test for iron ore fines, and modifications were made to calibrate this test to the specific conditions encountered in the shipping of iron ore fines. The resulting test is known as the PFT D80 test. This supports the findings of the Technical Working Group (comprising sponsor companies BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale);  A draft ISO Standard method for the PFT D80 test was prepared and tabled at the ISO Standards meeting in Brazil in April 2014;  Iron ore fines still retain significant bulk strength at the PFT D80 moisture level. While minor surface failures are possible, subsurface failure modelling predicts that no failure is likely to occur under extreme vessel motions (i.e. worst 1% of possible vessel motion);  Modelling of the liquefaction potential of iron ore fines at the PFT D80 moisture level subjected to expected vessel motion, predicted that build up in excess pore water pressure and cyclic deformation were small and liquefaction did not occur.  All Sponsors of the project acknowledged the high quality work which was completed by the Research Team and the Project Leader, as well as AMIRA's collaborative project approach and coordination. 

P1097 Project Team (from left to right): Dauter Oliveira (Vale), Olga Verezub (AMIRA International – P1097 Program Manager), Erwin Kaptein (Roy Hill), David McCallum (CSIRO), Ralph Holmes (CSIRO), Elardus Mare (FMG), Tom Honeyands (CPI – P1097 Project Leader), Mick Pender (University of Auckland), Ken Williams(TUNRA Bulk Solids), Rolando Orense (University of Auckland), Damien O’Dea (BHP Billiton), Peter Marriott (Rio Tinto)

The Sponsor companies and the Researchers agreed to make the major findings from the project publicly available.

If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the P1097 Public Final Report, please send your request to Olga Verezub via email.

Olga Verezub +61 3 8636 9973 olga.verezub@amirainternational.com

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Professor Ian Mackay Ritchie 1936 - 2014 Member Order of Australia, 2014 Professor Ian Ritchie passed away at home on 12 August 2014 after a short illness.

Ian was born on March 18, 1936 in Tidworth, Hampshire, England. He obtained a B.A. in Natural Sciences and an M. Eng. in Chemical Engineering. Cambridge University where his final year project was on solvent extraction. He also received a “blue” for playing badminton for Cambridge. Upon graduation, he accepted a position with Transitron Electronic Corporation in Wakefield, Massachusetts, USA as a Research and Development Engineer. His research there was largely in solid state chemistry and resulted in a paper and a patent.

In 1962 he left the USA for the University of Melbourne to take a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry and then remained on the staff, being promoted to Senior Lecturer. He was awarded the Grimwade Prize for Industrial Science for his work on metal oxidation reactions. In 1972 he took up a position as Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia in Perth and he started investigating the effect of oxide films on cementation reactions and other corrosion reactions important in metal leaching and recovery. So began his interest in hydrometallurgy.

In 1984, he made another move, this time as Professor of Chemistry at Murdoch University in Perth following the death of Professor Jim Parker. Ian’s interests in hydrometallurgy rapidly grew in this new environment which was strongly mineral industry focussed.

Ian received many awards for his research including the 1997 Stokes Medal for Electrochemistry, the1997 Applied Research (R G Becher) Medal from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the 2000 President’s Award from the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. He also received a Doctor of Science from Cambridge University (1999) and an Honorary Doctorate from Murdoch University (2001). He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 1993 and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2001). Due to his research activities, particularly in electrochemistry, oxidation/reduction studies and kinetics, the discipline of hydrometallurgy was tremendously enhanced.

Professor Ian Ritchie OA 1936-2014

Ian will be best known to the mining industry as the Foundation Director and CEO of the A.J. Parker Cooperative Research Centre for Hydrometallurgy. His leadership role in the planning process and successful application to the Commonwealth Government was crucial to the establishment of the Centre in 1992.

Under his leadership, the Centre became internationally recognised for its hydrometallurgy research and was refunded for a further 7 years 1999, after which L-R: Prof. Ian Richie, Ann Ritchie, Prof. Jeff Gawthorne Ian retired. Until its closure in 2012, the Centre was the largest hydrometallurgical research organization in the world, supported by many industrial partners (Murdoch Uni.), Michael Jeffrey the Governor of WA, Jim May (CEO of AMIRA), Prof. Lesley Parker and Ian representing most of the leading national and international mining companies.

Parker at the opening of The Parker Centre in 1999 Under Ian’s leadership, the Centre was recognized with three awards:  the 1996 Western Australian Industry and Export Award for Research  a 1999 Inaugural Award for Technology Transfer from the Cooperative Research Centres’ Association, and  a 1999 Business and Higher Education Round Table Award for Outstanding Achievement in Collaborative Research and Development involving a Cooperative Research Centre.

Under Ian’s guidance, The Parker Centre became a focus of world-class efforts to provide technical solutions to the minerals industry.

Hydrometallurgy activities encompassed both fundamental and applied research in alumina, gold, and base-metal sectors. As a consequence, the Centre became a focus for the establishment of many AMIRA funded research projects including:  P266 Thickener Technology P380 Fundamentals of Gibbsite Precipitation  P420 Gold Processing Technology P457 Reducing the Corrosion Wear of Steel Grinding Media  P497 Cyanide Waste Management P507 Bayer Liquor Physiochemical Properties  P521 Alumina Crystallisation P575 Gibbsite and Alumina Quality  P768 Improving Heap Bioleaching These projects resulted in improved understanding of many industrial processes and in, some cases, significant advances in efficiency with resulting financial or environmental benefits to end users. Ian’s legacy comprises a significant volume of published work and the many students he supervised and mentored, many of whom are leaders in research organisations, tertiary education and in the mining industry.

Source: Dr Jim Avraamides, Senior Researcher: Gold Technology Group, Department of Metallurgical and Minerals Engineering Curtin University

www.amirainternational.com

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AMIRA Welcomes New Members AMIRA is pleased to welcome the following members:

Toro Gold Ltd is a private gold exploration and development company focused on the prolific Birimian and Archean geological terranes of Africa.

The Company is establishing a multi-million ounce portfolio of gold projects across multiple jurisdictions to offer investors exposure both to proven and emerging gold provinces while providing technical and political risk diversification.

Based on a highly successful track record of discovery, development, operation and corporate transactions across the African continent, the management of Toro Gold has the experience to identify and advance gold projects at all stages of their development and operational cycle. Source: torogold.com/en/

Sarama Resources Ltd. is a West African focused gold explorer with substantial landholdings in Burkina Faso, Liberia and Mali. Sarama’s flagship property, the South Houndé Project, is located in south-west Burkina Faso and hosted in the Houndé Belt, a region known for its world class gold deposits including Semafo’s Mana Gold Mine and Endeavour Mining Corp’s Houndé Gold Project.

Incorporated in April 2010, Sarama’s Board and management team have a proven track record in Africa and a strong history in the discovery and development of large-scale gold deposits. Headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, the Company is well positioned to build on its current success with a strong financial position and a sound exploration strategy across its property portfolio. Source: saramaresources.com/

Qatar Mining Company, wholly owned by the State of Qatar, was established in 2010 to undertake targeted, value accretive investments in the mining and metals sector and to become an international, multicommodity mining company by 2024. QM’s mandate is to enter the industry across the value chain: investing into currently operating assets; mining development projects and exploration plays from grassroots onwards, which will satisfy QM’s ultimate goal of being an operator as well as an active investor and partner in management.

One of QM’s objectives is to secure the supply of raw materials for Qatari-based industries and to focus investments on commodities where local and global demand is high. QM is open to investment in opportunities as they occur around the world while at the same time maintaining its strategy of geographical diversification.

The company will create long term value for the State of Qatar by contributing to the diversification of the economy and increasing non-hydrocarbon revenues through investments in mineral projects in various jurisdictions.

Sustainability and transparency are at the heart of QM. We are committed to the health and safety of our people and the sustainability of the environment and communities in which we operate. Source: qatarmining.com/about/

P972 After-care Sponsors meeting to be held in Chile The AMIRA project P972 “Apatite, Tourmaline and Rutile Mineral Chemistry Applied to the Characterization and Exploration of Andean Type CuAu Ore Deposits” was supported by BHP-Billiton, Vale, Rio Tinto, Barrick, Codelco and Newmont and carried out by a research team lead by Dr Osvaldo Rabbia from the University of Conception, Chile, with collaborators from Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada and the University of Oklahoma, USA. The aims of the project was to (i) create a database including the mineral chemistry of the three minerals that reflects magmatic and hydrothermal processes related to Andean porphyry Cu-Au systems, (ii) delineate the critical processes controlling the trace element signature of the three minerals and (iii) evaluate their potential use in porphyry Cu-Au exploration. Rutile, tourmaline and apatite from 20 porphyry systems along the Andean active margin were studied. One of the key outputs from this project was database that included results from three sizes of deposits (world-class, small, and prospects); three ore types (Cu-Mo; Cu-Au-Mo and Au-Cu) and five mineralized belts (Central Chile Cu belt; El Indio-Maricunga Au belt; Eocene-Oligocene and Paleocene Cu belts from northern Chile and Miocene Cu-Au and Cu-Mo belt from northern Peru) were considered in this study.

The project was concluded in early 2013. However, the research team of Osvaldo Rabbia, Laura Hernández, and Felipe Quiero from the University of Concepcion along with Thomas Ulrich, now at the Aarhus University, have continued to work on the data particularly on rutile.

A special meeting is being organized for December 15 in Santiago, Chile at which the research team will report on this additional work. We will also take advantage of this opportunity to discuss possible future research directions.

Joe Cucuzza

Sharing the Benefits

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FutureSmart TM Achieving a sustainable future through collaboration: a vision from Anglo American TM

TM

FutureSmart was unveiled by Mark Cutifani at the 2013 World Mining Conference in Montreal. “FutureSmart is Anglo American’s approach to collaborative innovation that we believe is necessary for the industry to become truly sustainable” said Cutifani.

“And my aim in doing so is not so much to ‘plug’ Anglo American as to look at some possible ways in which aspects of TM “FutureSmart ” might benefit the industry in general”.

TM

Anglo American hopes to use FutureSmart as a vehicle to develop a more sustainable approach to mining, using innovation and technology to find safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly ways to unlock mineral value not just for itself but for the industry as a whole.

Cutafani said that although individual companies have their own areas of excellence, much more could be achieved though cooperation. He went on to suggest that mining companies need to cooperate because in a number of important areas they have effectively ceded control of the mining technology space to OEM suppliers. “An ideal outcome is a progressive, competitive ecosystem where players compete on adding value to the mining process – and not by developing closed, insular, proprietary components’, Cutifani said.

Anglo American will lead the way by generating new ideas through stakeholder forums with its industry peers, suppliers and research institutions. According to Tony O’Neil, Group Director Technology & Sustainability at Anglo American, these (Open) forums will address issues related to operational efficiency, energy, water and safety.

In a presentation at the 3DX Forum in Las Vegas, Donovan Waller, Group Head of Technology Development, indicated the Open forums will bring together stakeholders with different perspectives, to reframe grand challenges and deliver a vision and roadmap. Integrated thinking and broad collaborative partnerships can drive rapid progress from ideas to application. Open forums are planned for mining, processing and sustainability. These will result in preparation of Roadmaps that will guide the necessary developments.

Source: Speech by M Cutifani at 2013 WMC; www.slideshare.net/angloamerican/mining-and-innovation-a-fresh-approach

AMIRA P9P Project Holds 6 th SRM at Anglogold Ashanti Offices Anglogold Ashanti hosted the AMIRA P9P Modeling and Simulation 6 Sponsors Review Meeting (SRM) in their corporate th

headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa on 11-13 November. While attendance was down due to many sponsors imposing travel restrictions on their staff, the South African sponsors were well represented especially Anglo American and Anglogold Ashanti.

Feedback from the preliminary P9 Roadmap distributed to all sponsors in October was discussed at the SRM and priorities were set on the strategic imperatives for P9 going forward. Also discussed were key research objectives for the P9Q proposal which is currently under development with plans to distribute a preliminary proposal to the P9P SAC in March 2015.

The next SRM is planned for 26-28 May 2015 in Brisbane, Australia.

Terry Braden, AMIRA International – P9 Program Manager, standing front-left with P9P 6th SRM attendees at the Anglogold Ashanti offices in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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www.amirainternational.com

Accolades for CODES Researchers The following three Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES) staff/students won prestigious awards at the recent Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) meeting at Keystone, Colorado in September:   

Dr Noel White (Adjunct Professor) won the Gold Medal - The Society’s most prestigious award, the R.A.F. Penrose Gold Medal, was established in 1923 and is awarded in recognition of a full career in the performance of outstanding work in the earth sciences.

Prof. David Cooke won the Silver Medal - The SEG Silver Medal is awarded annually to recipients in mid-career for excellence in original work in the geology of mineral deposits.

Stephanie Sykora (MSc student) won first place in the student poster presentation category (179 posters presented at this meeting!).

Australian Research Council (ARC) has selected the SE Asia Project from CODES (Researchers unlock the mineral riches of SE Asia), led by Professor Khin Zaw, in their Media Research News on their website see: www.arc.gov.au/media/profiles.htm Ms Stacey Leichliter, a MSc (2012) student, won the prestigious Robert Peele Memorial Award by the AIME (American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and petroleum Engineers). This award is given for the most outstanding paper published on behalf of the Mining and Exploration Division by an SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration) member below the age of 35.

Stacey’s paper, co-authored with Darrel Larson, is entitled “Geometallurgy for two recovery process operations at Cripple Creek and Victor gold mine”. This paper was published in Mining Engineering, January 2103, vol. 65, no. 1. Stacey will be presented with her award at the 2015 SME annual conference.

AMIRA International congratulates these worthy recipients of these important awards.

Source: Prof. Bruce Gemmell: Director, Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES)

Prof. David Cooke and Dr. Noel White receiving their awards

CODES, Imperial College, Natural History Museum, Lakehead University & AMIRA International win IET Innovation Award The Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES) University of Tasmania, along with Imperial College-Natural History Museum, Lakehead University and AMIRA International, have won the UK-based, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Awards in the “Measurement in Action” category.

The nomination was for “Laser ablation analysis for enhanced discovery of buried mineral resources” - an analytical and data interpretation methodology that can be used to detect the presence of mineral deposits buried in rocks beneath the surface of the Earth by measuring the trace element fingerprint of minerals formed at the time of mineralisation. This nomination is based on research from the AMIRA International P765, 765A and P1060 projects. The award winner will be announced at a Gala Dinner on November 19 in London, England.

The other nominations in the “Measurement in Action“ category were:  Createc  Imetrum Ltd  iMonSys Ltd, Triteq Ltd and University of Hull  United Utilities and the Centre for Water Systems University of Exeter Source: conferences.theiet.org/innovation/shortlist/index.cfm and Prof. Bruce Gemmell: Director, Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES)

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www.amirainternational.com

Hatch project named PMI 2014 Project of the Year Hatch’s AP60 project for Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) was named 2014 Project of the Year by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The PMI Professional Awards honour organisations and individuals whose passion, talent and expertise make the greatest contributions to the project-management profession. The Project of the Year Award recognises a completed project that demonstrates exemplary application of project management principles and techniques.

AP60 Phase 1 is the first of its kind in the world. The greenfield aluminium plant 464 km northeast of Montréal, Canada, was designed to demonstrate RTA’s new proprietary AP60 smelting technology at industrial scale. Its smelter will produce 40% more aluminium per cell than the previous generation of AP technology.

Hatch and its joint venture partner provided project management, engineering, procurement, construction management, pre-commissioning, and commissioning services.

RTA project director Michel Charron said “Project management—it’s all about how good you are at detailing a plan, presenting a plan, executing the plan, and delivering the result. And that’s what the team did so well.

They were the best.”

In the midst of a global financial crisis, the team was able to minimize project costs without impacting net present value. An exhaustive valueimprovement exercise resulted in capital expenditure savings of about $280 million without compromising operating costs.

The project was completed within budget, a month ahead of schedule, and set a new industry standard for safety—with a lost-time injuries rate of 0.27 for 5 million hours (99% better than typical Québec construction industry performance).

AMIRA International congratulates Hatch, a member of AMIRA, on this award.

Source: the Hatch report November 2014

AMIRA International farewells Dr Megan Clark AC and welcomes Dr Larry Marshall as the new CEO of CSIRO AMIRA International extends its best wishes to Dr Megan Clark AC who will step down as CEO of CSIRO in December. Dr Clark has ably led CSIRO since January 2009. Dr Clark joined the Rio Tinto board as a nonexecutive director from 20 November 2014.

We also take this opportunity to welcome Dr Larry R Marshall who will step into the position in January 2015. Dr Marshall is Managing Director of Southern Cross Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, Shanghai and Sydney, specialising in growing Australian technology companies in Asia and US. He has a longstanding partnership with SoftBank China, China’s most successful VC firm, and co-manages the Renewable Energy Fund, founded in 2012, with them.

Barrick Gold on a roll Barrick Gold (Hemlo Mines) Platts 2014 Global Energy Awards Finalist Barrick Gold - Hemlo Mines is one of ten finalists in the Platts Global 2014 Global Energy Awards. The finalists for the various categories were chosen from a list of nearly 250 nominations, based on their performance for each category's criteria within the designated time frame.

The finalists in the Energy Efficiency (Commercial End-User category) are:  Barrick Gold - Hemlo Mines  Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers  John A. Logan College  Kroger  Kuwait Petroleum International  New Gold Inc  Schneider Electric  Thai Oil Public Company Ltd  U-Haul International  United States Navy The winners will be announced on December 11 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

Source: geaweb.platts.com/Finalists/Finalists2014

Barrick named Mining Industry Leader by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Barrick Gold Corporation has been named in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the seventh consecutive year and has been ranked as the top performer in the mining industry category.

“We are honored to be included in this highly-respected index once again this year. Our goal is to be a responsible partner in resource development, ensuring our operations generate positive and sustainable benefits for all of our stakeholders, including governments, communities and investors,” said Co-President Kelvin Dushnisky.

“Achieving industry-leading social and environmental performance is a critical element of how we define operational excellence at Barrick,” said Co-President Jim Gowans.

“This recognition is a testament to our people around the world, who make responsible mining a focus of what they do every day.”

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index evaluates more than 3,000 companies annually using rigorous sustainability criteria to identify top performers. Companies are evaluated on a range of sustainability metrics, including governance, social performance, environment and economic contributions — taking into account both industry-specific trends, as well as sustainability issues facing multiple sectors.

Source: www.sustainability-indices.com

We look forward to working with Dr Marshall and wish him well in the role.

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Source: http://www.csiro.au

Sharing the Benefits

Contacts Australia - Head Office Melbourne Level 2 / 271 William Street Melbourne, Victoria, 3000 Australia Phone: +61 3 8636 9999 Fax: +61 3 8636 9900 Joe Cucuzza Managing Director +61 3 8636 9987 joe.cucuzza@

Africa

Latin America

North America

Perth

9th Floor 5 Hollard Street Johannesburg, 2001 South Africa Phone: +27 11 498 7649

San Sebastian, 2812 Of. 414, Piso 4 Las Condes, Santiago Chile Phone: +56 2 2925 6306

PO Box 461028 Aurora Colorado, 80015 USA Phone: +1 303 400 3982

Chris Ward Program Director Phone: +61 438 822 103 chris.ward@

Jeremy Mann Consultant Program Manager Phone: +27 11 498 7649 Jeremy.mann@

Enrique Carretero Program Manager & Latin America Regional Manager Phone: +56 9 9435 1243 enrique.carretero@

Terry Braden Program Manager & North America Regional Manager Phone: +1 303 859 6754 terry.braden@

Chris du Plessis Program Manager & Manager Strategic Business Development Phone: +61 409 776 781 chris.duplessis@

Gray Bailey Program Manager Phone: +61 3 8636 9920 gray.bailey@

Adele Seymon Program Manager Phone: +61 3 8636 9978 adele.seymon@

Alan Goode Director Data Metallogenica Phone: +61 3 8636 9957 alan.goode@

Olga Verezub Program Manager & Innovation Coordinator Phone: +61 3 8636 9973 olga.verezub@

*all email addresses (denoted by @) end with amirainternational.com

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