Australian Mining July 2011

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SERVING THE MINING INDUSTRY SINCE 1908

VOLUME 103/7 – JULY 2011

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COMMENT

Mining Australian

Copyright Reed Business Information Published 12 issues a year by Reed Business Information (ABN 80 132 719 861) Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Australia Tel: (02) 9422 2999 Fax: (02) 9422 2966 Publisher – Michelle Graves Email: michelle.graves@reedbusiness.com.au Editor – Cole Latimer Tel: (02) 9422 2352 Email: ozmining@reedbusiness.com.au Journalist – Jessica Burke Tel: (02) 9422 2909 Email: ozmining@reedbusiness.com.au Key Account Manager – Sarah Bateman Tel: (02) 9422 8994 Mob: 0408 991 585 Email: sarah.bateman@reedbusiness.com.au Key Account Manager – Tim Richards Tel: (02) 9422 2818 Mob: 0407 948 774 Email: tim.richards@reedbusiness.com.au QLD and SA Sales Manager – Sharon Amos Tel: (07) 3261 8857 Fax: (07) 3261 8347 Mob: 0417 072 625 Email: sharon.amos@reedbusiness.com.au New Business – Alex Evans Tel: (02) 9422 2890 Email: alex.evans@reedbusiness.com.au RBI Manufacturing & Electronics Group: Production Co-ordinator – Mary Copland Tel: (02) 9422 2738 Fax: (02) 9422 2966 Graphic Designer – Dave Ashley South Africa – Bob Stephen Stephen Marketing PO Box 75, Tarlton, Gauteng 1749, South Africa Tel: 27(011) 952 1721 Fax: 27(011) 952 1607 USA – Jonathan Sismey RBI 24th Floor, 125 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Tel: (1) 212 370 7445 Fax: (1) 212 370 7441 Email: jsismey@ix.netcom.com Larry Arthur RBI Suite 203, 3700 Campus Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660 Tel: (1) 949 756 1057 Fax: (1) 949 756 2514 Email: lharthur@ix.netcom.com Printed by GEON 20 Baker Street, Banksmeadow, NSW 2019 Tel: (02) 8333 6555

A Kronic problem Drug use is more than just the mining industry’s problem.

M

iners have always received a fairly bad rap.

From Australias’ ‘first’ gold miner Hargreaves and the following gold rush and influx of miners to Victoria’s Ballarat goldfields, to the modern fly in fly out miner whose commute may take in a few time zones, they’ve never had the greatest image.

And with the apparent heavy use of synthetic cannabis on mine sites across the country, the image is again being tarnished.

Fly in fly out miners are bearing the majority of this, with a reputation for hard work and hard partying, often involving the use of many drugs, such as pot, cocaine and ecstasy.

To the point where much of the drug use in Western Australia is pointed to as being a miner’s problem.

Comment Cole Latimer ozmining@reedbusiness.com.au But is it?

The typical image is of a young man, in his twenties spending big when ever they “fly home”.

But the average miner, at least in New South Wales, is in their forties, with a family.

And are working hard to afford ‘the good life’ for their family.

Sure some miners are bound to take drugs, but what is the percentage compared with other industries?

Is there a higher percentage of miners taking drugs than those in the banking and financial industry?

Not likely.

Or is it easier just to tar the industry with a broad brush as it is not the most attractive one to begin with.

The Government’s reaction is warranted though, if a drug is made illegal, it is often for good reason.

But linking in its usage with miners, especially in Western Australia, doesn’t make much sense.

Drug use transcends profession.

We’ve got a lot of comments from people on our website, regarding synthetic cannabis’ use and legality, and

it would be interesting to see exactly how many of those people actually work in the industry.

It seems easier just to blame mining and the resources industry.

This easy blame route is also being taken on the carbon tax road.

While it shouldn’t be debatable that a carbon tax needs to exist, blaming the majority of carbon output on mining is a bit rich.

Especially considering the amounts of methane pumped into the air by grazing animals such as sheep and cattle, which as a global percentage for methane emissions are in the double digits.

Instead of playing a blame game, we should look at how to solve this problem: working together to find a solution.

For the future of the country.

FRONT COVER All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

ON this front cover we’ve featured a close up of a detonator being inserted into a charge.

Blasting has taken a major step forwards in Queensland with the release of new blasting and shot firing guidelines this month.

The guidelines are designed to ensure blasters comply with new, safer standards on site which were developed to prevent blast plume events.

These blast plumes typically consist of Nitrogen Dioxide, a gas that is toxic to humans and when inhaled, turns into acid inside of people’s lungs, causing serious damage.

Speaking to Queensland’s safety commissioner Stewart Bell, he explained that these new guidelines, coupled with a series of blasting safety seminars over the next few months, will hopefully reduce the incidence of blasting accidents.

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Contents Features QUEENSLAND SPOTLIGHT Hanging Queensland out to dry We investigate how QLD is faring six months after the devastating floods .................................................................................................. p10 The ‘Centre’ of the FIFO debate The latest developments in the ongoing FIFO saga.............................. p12 Emerging from the storm A focus on how one coal miner has bounced back from the floods ..... p14 Underneath it all The Coal Seam Gas industry continues to draw attention, both positive and negative...................................................................... p16-17

July 2011 issue

Getting a bird’s eye view

Unmanned aerial mapping….p23

This hybrid is a pure blood

MAPPING & SURVEYING Software for hard rock Geotechnical modelling software ........................................................ p18 Setting the benchmark high Tasmania is leading the world in mine mapping ............................ p20-21 MINESITE VEHICLES Confining contaminants Heavy duty truck washes .................................................................... p25 Fully loaded The latest underground loaders ........................................................... p26 A tyre-d minesite issue Hard wearing mine tyres ..................................................................... p27 Serious safety standards Getting miners to site in one piece ...................................................... p28 In the hot seat Pulling apart the issue of hot seat changeover ..................................... p30 Better braking: Safer vehicles Stopping uncontrolled vehicle movements .......................................... p32 Moving into the 21st century A rigid haul truck for the future ......................................................... p34 MINESITE CONSTRUCTION Camp construction Remote site structures ......................................................................... p36 Opening the door on workshops Entry is an open and shut issue ........................................................... p37 Laying the right foundations Supporting construction ...................................................................... p38

4 July 2011

AustralianMining

Komatsu unveils hybrid excavators….p24

DRILL, BLAST & GEOMECHANICS The Hole truth Accuracy in drilling systems ................................................................ p40 The future of safer blasting Uncovering Queensland’s new blasting guidelines ......................... p42-43 Minesite solutions Blasting optimisation .......................................................................... p44

Regulars INDUSTRY COMMENT.......................................................................... p6 NEWS ................................................................................................... p8 PRODUCT FOCUS: Motors & Drives ........................................... p48-53 PERSONALITY PROFILE: Peter Ross ............................................ p55-56 PROSPECT AWARDS ......................................................................... p58 JOBS .................................................................................................. p60 EVENTS .............................................................................................. p62

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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The power of innovative mining

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

Abandoned mine management Queensland’s minesite rehabilitation is constantly moving forwards Mines Minister Stirling Hinchliffe writes.

T

he Bligh Government has made an ongoing commitment to manage historic abandoned mine sites right across the state of Queensland.

That’s why the 2011-2012 State Budget includes more than $24 million for the ongoing management of abandoned mines like Mount Oxide, Mount Morgan, Horn Island and Federation Mine at Croydon.

The works we are carrying out will reduce safety and environmental risks, and minimise the chance of potential spills of contaminated water and acid runoff from a number of old mine sites.

These problems with old and outdated mining practices were created over many years and will take many years to address but we won’t shy away from that.

Mining practices and regulations introduced by state Labor Governments have changed, meaning companies are now required by law to rehabilitate land when mining operations wind up.

6 July 2011

AustralianMining

Dealing with closed mines is an ongoing issue in Queensland, Hinchliffe says.

Of particular importance is the historic Mount Morgan Mine in Central Queensland. Gold was mined on the site for 100 years before Mount Morgan

Limited went into receivership in 1991 and responsibility for environmental and heritage management of the site fell to the State Government.

We have taken positive action to clean up the river bed and banks of the Dee River adjacent to the mine and treat water in the mine open cut pit and remove contaminants before it flows into the river.

I’m pleased to say that we have just completed a $1.8 million upgrade to the water treatment plant at the Mount Morgan Mine site.

This will increase water treatment to more than three million litres per day and boost annual water treatment capacity to more than one billion litres a year.

Commissioning of the second treatment line has finished and the upgraded plant is fully operational at its new capacity.

This is an important step in boosting environmental measures to deal with the impacts of these outdated mining practices from many years ago.

Looking ahead, we want to work with the industry to ensure legacy issues can be dealt with well into the future.

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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The latest mining news and safety Australian Mining presents the latest news and safety affecting you from the boardroom to the mine and everywhere in between. Visit www.miningaustralia.com.au to keep up to date with what is happening.

BMA strikes to conclude at QLD coal mines Union representatives for the striking BHP Billiton workers say the industrial action will conclude the final stop work meetings at Goonyella Riverside and Peak Downs mine.

Members stopped work from about lunchtime until midnight.

The stop work meetings have been attended by about 3000 BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA), according to the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

Six Bowen Basin mines were involved, including the Dysart, Emerald, Blackwater and Moranbah operations.

Workers were calling for better wage increases in line with the company’s soaring profits and more involvement in rostering requirements in the first strikes at the company for a decade.

NSW accused of poaching workers from Mackay Mining company Ulan Coal has sparked fear in Queensland’s coal mining Mackay region, with concerns it is trying to “poach” skilled workers for its new mine in New South Wales.

Representatives from the miner headed to the Mackay Show to find miners and tradespeople for the expansion of its coal mine, which is located about 30 minutes north of Mudgee.

The company is apparently looking to hire not only skilled workers including recruit operators, electrical and mechanical tradespeople, process area co-ordinators and mine under-managers and deputies, but also those with little to no experience.

Questions raised over mining tax revenues Doubts are being raised over the Gillard government’s expectations of revenue it will collect from mining taxes paid by Australia’s three biggest resource companies.

Industry insiders believe the expected tax taken from Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Xstrata will be significantly less due to depreciation of multi-billion-dollar assets against their liability in the minerals resources rent tax (MRRT).

While it was thought the big miners would suffer most under the tax, the latest revelations show it may be smaller companies who cop the biggest blow.

National Radiation Dose Register’.

Minister for resources and energy Martin Ferguson said “the new national register strengthens protections for employees over their working life by ensuring that data for monitoring radiation doses will follow them if they move across jobs and across jurisdictions.

“Wherever they go in Australia, workers will be able to access records that track complete dose histories to ensure their good health into the future.

Brown calls for seabed mining investigation

Australian Mining gets the latest news every day, providing mining professionals with the up to the minute information on safety, news and technology for the Australian mining and resources industry.

This is determined by a company’s assets as of 2 May last year when asset worth is frozen for depreciation purposes.

From the outset, it has been argued that the MRRT will affect each company differently, based on their size and revenue.

Xstrata ships first magnetite concentrate Xstrata Copper has shipped its first magnetite concentrate making the miner Queensland first magnetite exporter.

“This milestone strengthens our north Queensland copper operations,” Xstrata Copper NQ chief operating officer Steve de Kruijff said.

“The Ernest Henry Mine (EHM) will produce about 1.2 million tonnes of magnetite concentrate per year, which will be used to fuel Asia’s steel industry and also used as a washing agent in domestic coal operations,” he said.

Government improves uranium mining safety The Federal Government has created a central database to track radiation dose histories of miners.

Approximately 6000 miners in the uranium mining and processing industries will be tracked in the new ‘Australian

Greens leader Bob Brown has called for an investigation into Pacific seabed and ocean floor mining.

“The Australian Greens are calling for scrutiny of what deep seabed mining means for the health of our oceans and our own country's natural marine resources and fisheries into the future," Brown said.

This statement comes on the back of seabed mining experiments in Papua New Guinea, and Japan changing its resources laws to allow for mining of the seabed.

“Nautilus Minerals, based in Singapore, which has the world's first seabed mining operation controlled by robots, in the ocean south of New Ireland, plans to extract minerals that are going to make somebody somewhere very wealthy and dump tailings straight into that marine ecosystem. The threats of that form of process are global," Brown said.

PM signs first mining lease deal In an Australian first, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has signed a lease agreement between a mining company and traditional land owners.

Despite claims yesterday from some Aboriginal residents in the area that they had not been consulted on the lease and would be boycotting the ceremonial signing, it went ahead without incident.

The agreement allows the company to mine bauxite on more than 22 000 hectares of land surrounding the town of Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory for forty two years.

Since the 1960’s bauxite mining has been occurring in the region without permission from indigenous land owners, which was a major contributor to the lands right movement in the country. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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QLD SPOTLIGHT

Hanging Queensland

OUT TO DRY

Six months on, the damage caused to Queensland mines by the summer floods is not yet resolved, as Jessica Burke reports in this follow-up.

T

he mining industry is slowly getting back on its feet following the floods that brought widespread devastation across Queensland and inundated coal mines in the state.

Miners in Queensland went into part and full force majeure during the ‘once in a lifetime’ floods, releasing them from production and delivery obligations.

While Mother Nature definitely had a nasty streak throughout the beginning of the year in the state, the wrath has diminished and miners are reporting positive production rates and expectations.

Greg Germon from Cockatoo Coal told Australian Mining the company is expecting to be back on track with production estimates next quarter.

“The inundation on 29th of December definitely wasn’t good, but it is a one in 100 year event,” he said.

“We spent our first quarter de-watering the pit and preparing for new production and the positive news is that we should do as much production from the eastern syncline as expected.

“We are recovering, and weather permitting, our September quarter will be our first return to normal output.”

A special report on the impact of the floods by IbisWorld earlier in the year predicted the potential loss of revenue for the mining industry to be $2.5 billion.

IbisWorld senior analyst Ian MacGowan told Australian Mining it is still unclear whether that figure was correct, and it will be some time before the true impact is known.

“We don’t have dollar figures at moment,” he said.

“But in terms of output, it is certainly down, and black coal alone is down 36 per cent in the 1st quarter.

10 July 2011

AustralianMining

“Lead is down 27.6 per cent, silver 34.8 per cent and zinc 17.7 per cent.”

While companies say they are getting back on their feet following the floods and the Queensland government agrees, the state’s leading industry body said the Bligh government may have been overly hopeful in its estimates.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche said the 2011-12 budget is based on a rebound in coal production and exports, despite the lasting production impacts of extensive flooding that began in September 2010.

“We can only hope that Treasury’s forecasts are proved correct because as recently as last month, export data confirmed the coal industry is operating at around 75 percent capacity as a result of flooded pits and restrictions on water discharges,” Roche said.

“We must assume that the Treasurer has won assurances from environment and resource management minister Kate Jones that the procedures governing water discharges from mines will be overhauled in the next month. We’re heading towards another wet

Queensland coal mines were brought to a halt when the floods hit the state.

season with the equivalent of a Sydney Harbour worth of rainwater sitting in our coal mines,” Roche said.

He told Australian Mining there is still progress to be made at mines in Queensland and the focus for many is now moving excess water around their operations.

“We should not lose sight of fact that mines themselves will still be carrying large quantities of water.

“We shouldn’t hide the fact that there will be a challenge to manage following the wet season.”

Federal treasurer Wayne Swan explained that the National Accounts had been impacted by these unprecedented weather conditions.

Mines are still focused on pumping water out of the pits.

“GDP fell 1.2 per cent in the quarter to be 1.0 per cent higher through the year,” the National Accounts said.

“Floods and cyclones are estimated to have reduced real GDP growth by 1.7 percentage points in the quarter, mainly through lower coal and agricultural production.

“The impact of the natural disasters is most evident in the large falls in coal and iron ore exports.

“Overall, the floods and cyclones are estimated to reduce real production by around $12 billion, of which $6.7 billion occurred in the March quarter.

“The impact of the floods and cyclones was most pronounced in export volumes,

which fell 8.7 per cent – the largest quarterly fall in 37 years.”

While Queensland cops its fair share of unsavory weather at times, Germon told Australian Mining that “not in living memory [has there been] anything of this order.”

MacGowan said the state had never experienced devastation of such an extent because never before has the mining industry been so prosperous and pivotal to the economy.

“The scale of this seems bigger than ever before and that’s because of the boom in mining, meaning more production is happening so more has been impacted,” he said.

At the recent MCA conference, Federal minister for resources and energy Martin Ferguson said the impact of the floods was not yet over.

“While the outlook for the economy remains very strong we took a major hit earlier this year as a result of one of the worst natural disasters this country has ever seen.”

He said the Balance of Payments for the March quarter indicated the impact will be substantial.

“The floods shut down over half the coal mines in QLD. Pumping out these mines and returning to production has required enormous efforts and industry is to be commended on the speed at which it has resumed operations.”" www.miningaustralia.com.au

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QLD SPOTLIGHT

Many QLD mines use FIFO miners as their main workforce.

Remote mining camps have drawn the ire of nearby communities.

The ‘Centre’ of the FIFO debate The FIFO debate in Central Queensland is taking off, with little sign of abating, Australian Mining reports.

Y

ou simply can not talk about Central Queensland and its coal fields without running head on into the contensious issue of fly in fly out (FIFO) mining.

The ongoing saga of local residents battling against an influx of transient workers brought in by the major coal miners has dominated headlines in the region.

Moves by miners such as the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) to source 100% of its workforce via fly in fly out workers for its Caval Ridge and Daunia coal mines, instead of a previously agreed workforce quota of a minimum 30% from the local region, enraged the nearby community of Moranbah.

Anglo American has also announced plans to construct 50 houses and units to accommodate the additional miners

12 July 2011

AustralianMining

needed for its two new under- there is a supply of family Moura and Dysart have also ground coal mines. friendly accommodation’. formed community groups, Community organisations The council sought a 30% such as the Dysart Commusuch as the Moranbah Action cap for both village style rooms nity Action Association, to Group have vocally protested and medium to high density give their citizens a voice in the existing levels, and planned unit development. the FIFO fight. increases, of fly in fly out It also asked the QueensOne of the most recent miners in Queensland’s Isaac land Urban Land Develop- developments in representaregion, drawing attention to ment Authority that there be tion is the formation of the the issue. a minimum of 40% detached Queensland Mining CommuWith the local communi- residential housing built. nities, which united Central ties such as Moranbah, CollinsBut it is not just the coun- Queensland towns and these ville, Dysart and disparate groups, Blackwater comand focuses on Stanmore Coal has taken a unique ing to a head with “developing a miners such as Rio approach to FIFO issues in Queensland. better approach Tinto and BMA, to a more sustainwhat is being done to fix this cils taking steps to limit the able development of mining massive rift? levels of FIFO workers in communities,” it claims.

The Isaac Regional Council Central Queensland.

However not all miners has made some major moves Citizens in Moranbah have and mining communities are to restrict the numbers of FIFO formed the Moranbah Action butting heads. miners by limiting the amount Group, headed by Kelly Vea One miner, Stanmore Coal, of new accommodation being Vea, which has been one of is actively promoting greater built to service this group. the most vocal community interaction of its staff with It called for a cap on all representative groups speak- the community. mining camp construction, ing out against FIFO. Towns Unlike other mining firms like Buffel Park, to ‘ensure such as Blackwater, Collinsville, it is offering incentives for

miners who choose to relocate and live in towns near its mines in Central Queensland and New South Wales.

Speaking to Australian Mining, Stanmore Coal managing director Nick Jorss said “(Stanmore) is interested in doing what is right in the long term, and what’s in the best interest of the company and the community.

“We are going to do what we can to co-exist. This issue of FIFO is still resonating in the communities, and it should be about taking a balanced approach. We are looking at a number of options and encouraging people to live locally, but not everyone can live in the towns,” Jorss said.

While Stanmore has taken a unique approach to the FIFO issue, with mining only set to grow in the region, it is a problem that is unlikely to go away any time soon.

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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QLD SPOTLIGHT

Emerging from the storm The resurgence of Queensland miner Cockatoo Coal following the inundation of its mine has typified the industry bouncing back from cyclones and floods.

F

ollowing the inundation of Cockatoo Coal’s Baralaba Mine on 29 December, 2010, the company’s one consolation was that the flooding resulted only in production delays and that none of its miners were injured.

Footage of water gushing into the open pit, dwarfing the massive haul trucks and loaders showcased the devastation of the floods on the mining industry.

As soon as flood waters subsided sufficiently, a geotechnical assessment for the main pit concluded that there were no major instability issues and, working with the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM), Cockatoo was able to quickly and safely pump the majority of the water out of the mine.

No time was wasted in ascertaining the extent of the damage and making plans to get the mine back into full swing, as explained by Cockatoo Coal director and chief financial officer, Peter Nightingale, in a statement made to the public.

“Once flood waters recede, a detailed pit dewatering program will be initiated to get the mine back into production as soon as possible.”

Mine management have confirmed that production is back on schedule.

Furthermore feasibility studies to expand the mine to 3.5Mtpa in line with increased port capacity at Gladstone continue, and planning indicates that the mine is set to become one of Australia’s top PCI producer from the Rangal Coal Masures.

14 July 2011

AustralianMining

During the Queensland floods in February, Cockatoo Coal saw its Baralaba coal mine inundated with water.

In addition to restoration Baralaba provides a central “Our people are driven carried out on site, the entire meeting place for landown- and determined,” chief operCockatoo workforce took an ers and for the community at ating officer, Peter Doyle, active role in the local commu- large. explained that “the faith we nity, aiding farmers with rehaIn recognition of this ser- have in our workforce, and bilitation and assisting in the vice, the miner presented Land- the simple fact that they have resurrection of infrastructure care with a cheque for $20,000. easy access to senior managethroughout several towns.

This donation supported ment, means our people are The involvement able to make tangiof Cockatoo in the Despite the floods, Cockatoo is still ble contributions community followwhich add to the ing the disaster was planning to expand its operations to growth of our businot completely out 3.5 million tonnes of coal annually. ness.” of the ordinary.

Since their ASX The miner has a strong the group’s ongoing opera- listing in 2005, Cockatoo association with Landcare, a tions in the area.

Coal have remained focused nation-wide grassroots moveCockatoo is a rapidly on becoming a mid-tier indement dedicated to managing growing coking and thermal pendent coal company, suited environmental issues in local coal producer, who attributed to servicing the ongoing communities. much of their success to a flat growth in the global demand The Landcare Group in management structure. for coal. In line with a focus

The miner is already carrying out plans to expand its coal production levels.

on expansion, and with a view to develop Baralaba from producing 600,000 tonnes of coal to 3.5 million tonnes, the company is now undertaking a major recruitment campaign to ensure continued growth on site.

In excess of forty positions, in varied roles such as of f i ce- based support t o geological and environmental sustainability roles, have been created.

The miner is also looking to ways of overcoming the forecast skills shortage.

To date, it has undergone preliminary work into developing a graduate program for operations both in Queensland and New South Wales.

Doyle also sees the locations of Cockatoo Coal’s mines as a significant factor.

Unlike many mining operations in Australia, Cockatoo’s sites are fairly close to metropolitan centres.

The Baralaba coal mine in Queensland, for example, is within easy driving distance of Rockhampton, with their Bylong and Hume mines being similarly close to Newcastle and Sydney.

Cockatoo stated that it is well on its way to achieving its objective of transforming seven current exploration projects into producing mines. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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QLD SPOTLIGHT

Underneath it all The coal seam gas industry is continuing to attract widespread attention, as Jessica Burke reports.

A

s the spotlight on coal seam gas continues to flood the industry and the fear around the extraction process continues to grow, the world is questioning how necessary it is and how much damage is being caused.

Earlier this year, farmers and graziers in Queensland voiced their frustration over gas companies exploring for and installing gas wells on their properties, saying landowners felt powerless against the major gas companies who were able to gain approvals to install wells close to homes and feed lots, in some cases the installation of up to 500 wells.

Senator Bill Heffernan, who is chairing a senate inquiry into the coal seam gas extraction industry beginning in July, told Australian Mining that gas companies are using “cowboy regulation” in the ‘David and Goliath’ battle against individual farmers.

“The present regulation of coal seam gas mining is wild western regulation,” Heffernan told Australian Mining.

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AustralianMining

Supporters of coal seam gas mining say the process is no more dangerous than other practices involving chemicals.

“If one farmer is against it, they go around them and surround them

rather than taking them to court, so they have no choice but to surrender.

“These companies are multi billion dollar companies with a global agenda and act as if they have the right to overpower the individual farmer,” he explained.

Concerns surround the possible contamination of the groundwater and aquifers, and Marrian LloydSmith, a government advisor on the coal seam gas issue, told the ABC she has grave concerns about the process.

“Of the 23 most commonly used compounds in fracking fluids, the national regulator, NICNAS, has only assessed two of those 23 and of the two that have been assessed, they weren’t assessed for their use as fracking fluids,” she said.

“So you can basically say of the 23 major chemicals used in this process, they have not been assessed by any national regulator.”

In May, Australian senator and Greens leader Bob Brown accused Liberal and Labor senators of standing in the way of the party’s proposed senate enquiry into the coal seam gas (CSG) industry.

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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QLD SPOTLIGHT

He also said senators from the National party split with their coalition partners and refused to vote.

“Australia’s tired old political parties blocked a move by the Greens for a stand-alone Senate inquiry into the coal seam gas industry,” Brown said in a statement.

“The prospect of coal seam gas mines across the country – from the Kimberley to Queensland to Tasmania, encroaching on Sydney and broader NSW, as well as in South Australia – is truly appalling.

“There is a new urgency to assess the health impacts of the toxic materials used in the fracking process.”

Queensland minister for employment, skills and mining Stirling Hinchliffe has defended how the coal seam gas mining industry is regulated within his state.

“This Government's position on the Coal Seam Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas industry is clear,” he told Australian Mining.

“It is a very important industry to Queensland is forecast to bring up to $65 billion in investment and create 18,000 jobs.

“It will also help meet soaring worldwide demand for lower emission energy sources like gas-fired power,” Hinchliffe said.

“We have introduced strict rules and regulations for the coal seam gas industry to balance development of the industry with agriculture, the environment, landholder considerations and social impacts.”

Chair of the Basin Sustainability Alliance, Ian Hayllor says the community feels there may be a conflict of interest as the inquiry is being run by the same government who benefit from coal seam gas mining.

“We have to keep pressure up on them, there’s a lot of concern out there and overall experience is not good,” he told Australian Mining.

He says while regulations are getting better at controlling the industry, more needs to be done to ensure the safety of residents, aquifers and the environment.

“The coal seam gas industry has to get out there and prove to the community what they’re doing is different and problems won’t happen.”

Hinchliffe has dismissed the accusations and maintains the state government is committed to safety of Queenslanders.

“The Queensland Government both regulates and collects taxes from many industries,” he said.

“Just like we collect revenue through things like liquor licensing permits, we also shut down operators who flout the rules. www.miningaustralia.com.au

The Basin Sustainability Alliance has provided a gas well calculator on its website to help landowners get a better understanding of their potential gas well footprint. Photo courtesy of Basin Sustainability Alliance.

“The same applies to operators in the CSG industry who don’t meet strict operational standards set by this Government.

“The truth is, the vast majority of CSG companies stick to the rules and many, many landholders are bene-

“You can’t eat dividends and you can’t live on fuel.

“By 2050, what’s in your fridge will be far more important than what is in your garage.

“The garage has options, what we do for food doesn’t.”

Of the 23 major chemicals used in CSG fracking, none have been assessed by any national regulator. fitting from payments for having CSG wells located on their land.”

The senate inquiry into the coal seam gas industry being led by Senator Heffernan will examine how coal seam gas fracking is damaging aquifers and potentially leading to long-term issues.

Heffernan told Australian Mining that as the world population grows the need for food and water is being overshadowed by the need for energy.

“There is a serious focus globally on the energy task and less focus on the food task,” he said.

“The prediction for 2050 is that barring a catastrophe, there will be nine billion people and 50 percent will be poor for water, as defined by water that will be high risk.”

“The world is obsessed with the global energy task and coal seam gas is part of that obsession; and we all take the food task for granted.

“The global energy task will be alright, science says we are looked after with the amount of coal, and solar and other sources.

An Origin Energy spokesperson told Australian Mining the company is aware of the senate inquiry and will be participating in the hearings.

Anglo Coal and Arrow Energy did not respond to questions but the representative body for the industry, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA)

told Australian Mining the hysteria surrounding coal seam gas extraction is not entirely justified.

APPEA CSG Director Ross Dunn said the chemicals used in the fracking process are no more dangerous than those found in most Australian households.

“It’s very easy to bring up an unfounded fear campaign and instil fear in people,” he said.

“If you want a story in the media, everyone knows you scare them with a toxic chemical story.

“Any chemical is safe, as long as used for proper purposes.

“Of the 2719 wells tested by the Queensland government five had leaks at a level to sustain a flame, and while that’s a small percentage it is still five too many,” he said.

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MAPPING & SURVEYING

SOFTWARE for hard rock Maptek’s latest I-Site release is built off the back of user demand.

M

aptek is set to release the I-Site Studio 3.5 geotechnical modelling software.

The laser scan modelling software now comes with a completely new module.

But this latest release has been part of a constant work in progress.

Open pit model update, contour and label elevations, automatic toe and crest detection, and measuring volume displacement are some of tools which I-Site Studio users see as a standard.

The I-Site Studio 3.5 includes general enhancements in performance and usability.

Filtering can now be done based on point selection, rather than the entire scan dataset.

When used in conjunction with the new freehand or polygonal lasso selection tools it reduces the time required to remove stray points caused by dust or other transient objects.

Many of Studio’s existing tools have been tweaked with even more options for quickly comparing as-builts against design models to highlight variations or non-conformance at sites.

In addition, a new module has become available, with specific tools that will stream-

18 July 2011

AustralianMining

line geotechnical analysis on laser scan data.

Basic I-Site Studio 3.5 allows users to query dip and strike, but the latest software allows geo-technical users to easily monitor changes in surfaces such as walls, batters and faces.

Stereonet plots allow users to plot slope and slope direction (dip and strike) onto a two-dimensional graph, helping to identify discontinuity sets and analyse the stability of rock slopes.

Contours can also be added for pinpointing specific data of interest.

Rose diagrams reveal the Contours can be added for pinpointing specific data of interest, Maptek says. frequency of data versus the direction of the data for iden- based on changes from a previ- shared with decision makers “When we take the softtifying directional trends. ous surface and data can be at all levels. ware out to our users for a Colouring surfaces by the exported to measure distances Maptek I-Site laser scan- dry run it will often prompt dip or strike values of the indi- from previous and base surface ning solutions manager Athy them to tell us what other vidual facets helps to high- measurements.

Kalatzis explained that “even tools they could really use. light discontinuities and planar The ability to quickly cre- before we released our own Early feedback on the geotech areas, making ate a 3D PDF I-Site 4400 laser scanner in module has been brilliant,” it easy to see Allows users to query means that 2004, we realised that under- he said. fractures. rotatable mo- standing site survey needs was In the 10 years since its Overlap- dip and strike. dels can be the key.” release, I-Site Studio has evolved ping surfaces shared with Kalatzis went on to say from a cruncher of massive that have been scanned at people who don’t have that it saw the integration of point cloud datasets to a different times can be compared specialised viewing software. scanner hardware as a major feature-rich product. to reveal extent and rate of I-Site Studio 3.5 users can development focus. movement, for example to also export to a Universal 3D I-Site Studio software also • Maptek identify a slow moving failure file of the current view. benefited from taking customer 08 8338 9222 in an open pit mine.

This means that the valu- feedback on board and a rigor- info@maptek.com.au Surfaces can be coloured able information can now be ous approach to field testing. www.maptek.com.au

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MAPPING & SURVEYING

Setting the benchmark high Tasmania is proving itself an unlikely world leader in 3D mapping, Cole Latimer reports.

H

Tasmania has created an entire 3D model of its geography with the online TASGO program.

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AustralianMining

ow much easier would mining be if you could just hop on your computer and check out an entire area’s geography in three dimensions?

You could see the varying kind of rock strata, the geological makeup of the area, what minerals it hosted and its depth.

Miners would have the ability to see a potential seam as well as known deposits from multiple angles; building a full understanding of an area’s geological makeup.

This would be a pretty amazing tool for the resources industry and completely change the way exploration is carried out.

What is even more amazing is the fact that this tool already exists.

Interactive 3D mapping already exists for Western Australia’s Bremer Sub-basin,

Paterson and Leonora-Laverton region as well as South Australia’s Gawler Craton: Olympic copper gold province.

But it is the little state of Tasmania that is really setting global benchmarks.

In 2002/03, the Tasmanian Government decided that the best way to encourage development of its mining industry was to create an entire 3D interactive map of the state.

Since then it has mapped in detail the land mass from one coast to the other.

It has created an interactive VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) model of the State, which allows users to view multiple layers of data, turn these layers on and off at will, as well as manipulate the model by rotating, zooming and panning across any desired area of Tasmania.

Speaking to Mineral Resources Tasmania’s manager

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MAPPING & SURVEYING

of geoscience information, Bob Richardson, he told Australian Mining it went with the development of a 3D model of its entire jurisdiction – known as the TASGO model – as it “would allow explorers to see areas, that from the surface, normally wouldn’t warrant further investment and exploration.�

The model contains interpretations of the seismic reflection data and reflection and refraction paths from a number of surveys, as well as elevation, bathymetry, satellite imagery, geology maps, geophysical images, major geological structures, mineral deposits, geochronology sites and crosssections and fault planes.

Richardson explained that they made a geological cross section every ten kilometres from east to west, and then did an occasional north to south cross section to tie it in. “After all the information was gathered it was then compiled by Fractal Technologies (which is now FracSIS and subsidiary of Runge). “This was first done in 2003 and since then we’ve been adding more and more

detailed data,� Richardson told Australian Mining.

In 2006, the 3D model for North East Tasmania was upgraded and remapped on a 1:25 000 scale. “This new mapping showed faults and breakdowns much better than before,� he told Australian Mining.

However, certain regions of the jurisdiction mapping are now “completely scaleless, so you can request a model from the size of an entire region right down to the size of a drill hole in a mine,� Richardson said.

Heavy mapping has also been carried out over Tasmania’s main goldbelt. “We’ve related known deposits to the geographical features, so now users can see the relativity in lithography. “Relating it to these known deposits is the first stage, now that is has been carried out we’ll be progressively working to upgrade the data for all of Tasmania.�

The State’s minister for energy and resources, Bryan Green, recently outlined the sheer scale of the project, which is the world’s first 3D geolog-

ical model of an entire jurisdiction; and its ability to promote Tasmania’s potential.

However, Richardson did say that “because our state is smaller than other in Australia, it was much easier.�

He went on to tell Australian Mining that the development of a mining jurisdiction wide map is “driving exploration, as companies are really using the model as one of their main exploration tools.�

Richardson said that companies already operating in Tasmania have been using the 3D model to expand their existing data sets and look for new deposits near their mines.

It has also attracted mining companies not yet operating in the State, sparking interest in potential deposits.

Currently, the focus is on rebuilding the 3D interactive model in GOCAD, as well as “adding new types of information to get a greater control of geological interpretation data,� Richardson said.

He added that this technology “is definitely making exploration here a lot easier, and a lot more interesting.

TASGO has intensively mapped the State’s main gold belt.

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www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AustralianMining

July 2011

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MAPPING & SURVEYING

Getting a ‘bird’s eye’ view Unmanned aerial technology is making minesite mapping quicker and easier.

W

ith the massive size of many mining projects in Australia, getting an overview of it all is difficult to say the least.

Hiring a plane or helicopter to map your site gets the job done, but is an exercise in both time and money.

Using an unmanned aerial vehicle however, can solve this.

Unmanned aerial technology in mapping has come forward in leaps and bounds in the last ten years, and with Position Partners introduction of the new Gatewing X100 unmanned aerial system (UAS) mapping technology it is moving forward again.

Gatewing’s X100 UAS system provides automated aerial photography and digital terrain mapping for a wide range of spatial and mapping applications.

“It is a viable alternative to traditional ground-based

surveying or costly aerial photogrammetry,” Martin Nix, chief executive of Position Partners said.

The X100 has a removable “black box” unit, which includes the GPS navigation system and radio modem.

Pre-programmed take-off, flight path and landing are all managed via a hand-held field computer.

Its payload bay holds a high capacity battery that allows for a 45-minute flight, as well as a 10Mp digital camera.

The flying and image acqui-

sition process is extremely straightforward and highly automated with manual fail-safe routines, Nix explained.

“Its combination of carbon fibre frame, one metre wingspan and propeller tail make the X100 a portable, yet stable UAS, able to produce maps to a 5 cm level even in 60 km/h winds,” he added.

Images are processed via image photogrammetry software for conversion to orthophotos or 3D digital terrain models and GIS or CAD files.

Uses 3D software.

Complementary spatial systems from Position Partners include EnsoMosaic UAS image processing and 3D viewing software.

Maarten Vandenbroucke, managing director of Gatewing, said Position Partners was an ideal distributor for his company’s products “because the Gatewing X100 can be used in such a diverse range

of applications, from topographic surveying, to infrastructure mapping and mine site updates, it was important to find an Australia-wide partner that caters for the needs of these customers.”

Position Partners and Gatewing launched the Gatewing X100 via a series of roadshows around the country in late May, this year.

• Position Partners 1300 867 266 info@positionpartners.com.au www.positionpartners.com.au

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For more information on the new Fluke 28-II Industrial Multimeter go to www.fluke.com.au www.miningaustralia.com.au

AustralianMining

July 2011

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MINESITE VEHICLES

This hybrid is

A PURE BLOOD

In an Australian first, Komatsu unveiled its Hybrid Excavators at Cessnock during the Boots On event, Cole Latimer reports.

O

n a crisp Hunter Valley morning, Komatsu unveiled an Australian first that is set to change mining.

On a site crowded with some of the newest machines in construction and mining, Komatsu launched the country’s first Hybrid Excavator to an impressed crowd of journalists and customers, demonstrating this new technology at its recent Boots On event at Cessnock in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

These two new earthmovers, the HB 205 and HB 215 (Long Carriage) “are pretty much the exact same machines (as regular diesel excavators), but are powered slightly differently,” Komatsu managing director Sean Taylor told Australian Mining.

And it is the way they are powered that makes them so unique in the market.

Featuring a four cylinder engine, instead of the standard six cylinders, the new hybrid excavators have managed to “reduce carbon emissions by around 25% over the PC200,” Australian Mining was told.

This equates to approximately a 10 kilogram per hour reduction in carbon dioxide emissions as compared to diesel only excavators.

On top of this, it provides fuel savings of around 25% to 41%, Taylor said.

The key factor in these new vehicles are the diesel electric drive.

The new hybrid earthmovers swing function is driven by an electric motor, and feature an inverter and a solid state capacitor.

These work on the principle of swing energy regeneration and energy storage.

The energy used in the swing braking phase of the excavators’ operating cycle is converted to electricity, which is sent through the inverter 24 July 2011

AustralianMining

and then stored in the Ultra Capacitor, which in turn uses the energy to power the excavators’ electric swing motors next rotation.

The HB 205 and HB 215 use Ultra Capacitors instead of the nickel metal batteries found in hybrid cars, for faster energy storage and transmission back to the motor.

The hybrids contain two motors – a slew motor, and a generator motor which assists the engine.

These excavators use 550 Volts AC between the swing motors and motor generators, while the capacitors store energy at 300 Volts DC. The hybrid electrical system itself is fully insulated “so there is no chance of a high voltage accident,” Komatsu Australia national business manager construction and excavation Chris Moroz told Australian Mining.

In the case of any voltage surges, the hybrid system automatically shuts down when problems are detected.

Despite replacing the six cylinder diesel engine with a four cylinder engine power has not been sacrificed.

According to Komatsu managing director Sean Taylor, the Hybrids have fuel savings of up to 41%.

According to Moroz, these hybrid excavators “run the same hydraulic breakout as normal excavators and the lifting capacity is the same as the PC200.

“When running a digging application, the hydraulics are assisted by the electric motor.”

This makes operation much quieter.

Operators in the cabin only have to deal with noise levels of around 68 decibels.

Due to its electric motor, the hybrid excavators also have a much lower rpm, with a super low idle of only 700 rpm as opposed to the higher idle speed of 1400 rpm for the PC200.

This has also made the noise of the hybrid recognis-

The excavators have the same hydraulic breakout as the PC200.

able as “diesel engines sound different at super low idle rates”.

Speaking to Oliver Diprose the CEO of Tasmanian civil and mining contractor Gradco, which bought the first hybrid in Australia, he told Australian Mining they purchased the excavator as “our company is always on the lookout for innovative products, as there are a lot of similarities between contractors, and having a greener machine such as this is really a point of difference for us.

“We’ve already seen a positive response to purchasing them. On top of this are the diesel savings, as owning 180 pieces of plant equipment, we go through two to two and half million litres of diesel fuel every year,” Diprose added.

While the excavators showcased at the Boots On event were the first in Australia, there are currently 700 machines globally, with approximately 500 of the hybrid earthmovers operating in Japan.

Despite the differing power system, users can learn to operate the machine in a single hour long handover.

Extra training is not needed.

However, training the next generation of mechanics and diesel fitters is something on which Komatsu has heavily focused.

Managing director Sean Taylor said its training scheme, the Apprentice Development System (ADS), has been a key issue for the company.

“It’s our responsibility to train plant and heavy machinery technicians for our industry,” Taylor said.

As reported in Australian Mining in February, Komatsu has been working in a partnership with TAFE to give apprentices skills in plant maintenance and repair.

To date there are more than 120 apprentices in the program, “with 140 expected in the next round,” he said.

“We are aiming to constantly increase apprentice numbers,” Taylor added.

He went on to say that Komatsu is working on building capacity to support the upcoming mining boom, and being a technology leader in the industry. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MINESITE VEHICLES

Confining contaminants A mechanical truck wash is making sure that contaminated dust does not escape off site.

D

ust. It’s a major issue on all Australian mine sites, as vehicles tramping back and forth across the dry barren earth kick it up into the air, covering their vehicles and everything surrounding it in thick layers of dust.

This dust can cling to vehicles and be transported hundreds of kilometres off site, and if this dust is contaminated with hazardous chemicals such as arsenic it can create a major environmental issue.

Reynolds Soil Technologies (RST) was recently tasked to provide a mechanical truck wash for a Tanami Desert gold mine that wanted to prevent this very problem from arising.

It was asked to develop a solution to the mine’s truck cleaning operations after it found that gold was still to be found in the vicinity of an arsenicfilled tailings dam.

Mine directors had decided to utilise the old tailings dam for a new paste plant for their underground operation, allowing further exploration of the immediate area.

www.miningaustralia.com.au

Contaminated soil can easily be carried off site by dust covered trucks.

The two developed a dual purpose system that washes the trucks and then sprays the trailer’s payloads to prevent dust lift off, which may contain arsenic, from affecting the environment.

RST technical and development director David Handel said they had also implemented the Teksmart IT application, which captures air contaminant data on-site and feeds it back to the dust monitoring website.

“For the wheel wash project, we enlisted the expertise and support of Fleet Wash and the result is a whole new market for us. It’s a more holistic approach to total solutions management on mine sites.

“The control of dust and sediment is a huge industry and one that spans many sectors. Our products were designed for specific use in the mining industry, in coal transport and on haul roads,” Handel added.

Partnering with Fleet Wash, RST designed a recycling wash system that would safely remove the arsenic residue and dirt from the seven trailer road

• Reynolds Soil Technologies 07 5522 0244 info@rstsolutions.com.au www.rstsolutions.com.au

trains used to transport the tailings from the dam site to the new paste plant, preventing the arsenic from being transported off site.

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MINESITE VEHICLES

Fully loaded New underground loaders are easing demand for compact, capable vehicles on site.

U

nderground mines and technology combined with Z- seating position; increased tunnels don’t exactly linkage for fast working cycles. visibility for the operator; as have a lot of room to Powered by a Cummins well as certified FOPS and manoeuvre about.

QSM 11 engine with a rating ROPS roof and failsafe POSISo having an underground of 250 kW, it is a heavy duty STOP brakes as standard. loader that can take heavy Load Haul Dump vehicle for Vehicle maintenance has loads while still being capable use in stope production, ramp also been a development focus, of working in relatively tight development and as a team with the loader’s centre oscilconditions is vital. mate for 40 tonne and larger lation resulting in more space On top of this, a skyrock- size dump trucks, according than previously for mainteneting demand for mining to Schopf. ance and repair work. vehicles has seen the Simplification of the market tighten con- The loader has an operational SFL 140 underground siderably, to the point loader’s hydraulic and where waiting lists can payload of 14 000 kilograms. electric circuits aim to spiral into months and increase user experience nearly up to a year.

It comes with a total and ease of training on the In line with the growing payload of 14 000 kilograms, vehicle. demand for these compact, and an operating weight of Schopf’s product range of high capacity underground 39 000 kilograms. mining vehicles consists of loaders, German firm Schopf The loader has a bucket underground loaders from six Maschinebau GmbH have volume heap of approximately tonne to 18 tonne payload for launched its SFL 140 to ease seven metres cubed. hard and soft rock mining, as market constrictions.

In the development of this well as dump trucks.

Known for its underground latest underground loader, mining and tunneling prod- Schopf has focused on safety • Schopf Maschinebau ucts, their latest mine loader and ergonomics, providing schopfsale@schopf-gse.com uses the latest step three engine greater cabin space; a car-like www.schopf-gse.com

26 July 2011

AustralianMining

The loader is designed for compact underground work.

The bucket has a volume heap of seven metres cubed.

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MINESITE VEHICLES

A tyre-d mine vehicle issue Manufacturers are filling the need for a more ‘solid’ and reliable tyre on site.

Y

ou always hear that tyres aren’t Bearcat has also released 13.00tyres. And this is especially true 24 tyres within the newly launched in the mining industry.

SolidAir TLH tyre range; which have Sharp pointed rocks, uneven sur- similar dimensions to existing pneufaces, corrosive and slippery substances matic 12.00-24 tyres which have a – these are an every day part of life height of 1290mm. for tyres on mine site vehicles and This conversion is easily achievequipment. able on most machines and will help On top of this, underground vehi- to carry the extremely heavy front end cles face additional rough conditions loads of some of the large jumbos. that are rarely seen on the surface.

This tyre size is also fairly common If a tyre isn’t up to the job, a miner on most mine site telescopic handlers is bound to find this out much sooner and EWPs. than later.

The minesite tyre Because of these The puncture proof tyres company said that specific needs, there years we have have a lifespan ratio of 4 “over is a high demand for had many mine sites tyres that are up to to 1 over standard tyres. asking us to build this intensive job. these Solideal tyres To fill this demand for mine site to remedy ongoing problems with levels of quality and quantity, Bearcat pneumatic tyres on their vehicles.” is releasing Camoplast Solideal’s latest According to Bearcat, the Solideal tyres, the SolidAir TLH, which was TLH puncture proof tyre (with the recently launched by the company at latest aperture design technology) may Con Expo in the USA. increase tyre lifespan at a ratio of 4 These “tyres were designed to to 1 over a standard pneumatic tyre provide maximum life with zero down- with essentially a zero chance of a tyre times,” Bearcat stated. blowout of puncture.

The SolidAir TLH can be retro It will also mitigate the load strain fitted to standard 14.00-24 of heavily laden jumbo’s (8.50-24) wheels – as used front axles. on many large jumbos.

• Bearcat Tyres There is also the 02 9688 8888 option of using the sales@bearcat.com.au “quick base” tyre by www.bearcat.com.au purchasing a single piece wheel.

Wheels can be supplied manufactured-to-suit by Bearcat or manufactured locally in Australia at its wheel division in Girraween, NSW. By using a single piece max duty wheel, it eliminates all the various components typically required for a multi piece wheel, which provides benefits in a reduction of maintenance costs, any comZero chance of blow outs, ponent replacement and Bearcat says. increases safety. www.miningaustralia.com.au

AustralianMining

July 2011

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MINESITE VEHICLES

Serious safety standards The introduction of an audit sheet is set to increase mine bus safety levels, Cole Latimer reports.

F

atigue. It’s a killer. After working up to 16 hours on site, many miners then have to travel a few hours just to get home.

The two – long hours and a long drive – make a potentially fatal mix.

A fact recently confirmed by the Central Queensland coroner Annette Hennessy.

Hennessy stated that driver fatigue was a potential factor in two fatal incidents, one at Yeppoon in 2005 and the other in Dysart, 2007, where tired miners were driving home following work and crashed.

She recommended increased measures to identify fatigue both on site and on the road, and that safety guidelines should take lengthy commuting time into mine fatigue management.

One way miners can avoid drive in drive out (DIDO) fatigue is by bussing it to site, but not every bus service is providing the highest safety levels for miners, Greyhound Commercial general manager Osman Bahemia told Australian Mining.

He said that there has been a growth of bussing in the mining industry lately, particularly in the Central Queensland coalfields, in South

28 July 2011

AustralianMining

Many mines are now providing buses to and from the site.

Miners should carry out bus ‘health checks’, Bahemia says.

Australia and Western Australia as “having your crew on a bus is seen as an employee benefit as you no longer have miners driving to and from work themselves.”

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche has stated that many coal mines in the state are now providing buses to take miners to and from work to avoid the issue of fatigue whilst commuting home.

“It really takes the risk out of fatigue on site, and increases safety,” Bahemia said.

But not all buses are made the same.

dards of buses and has developed an audit sheet to aid the industry in developing across the board safety levels.

Bahemia explained that the audit acts as “a check sheet which provides incident tracking, driver history tracking, repair and maintenance logs and the like.”

An audit sheet that covers the wide breadth of safety and maintenance on buses has not existed before as there has previously not been such a high demand for buses within the resources industry.

He told Australian Mining that Greyhound is releasing

The mining industry has a poor understanding of what makes a good bus company.

“Mining companies tend to know very little about bussing; you can’t just buy any old bus. If you are planning to put all of your crew onto a single bus you need to know they’ll get there safe and sound.

“Essentially any one could buy a bus; there are no regulations as such, no requirement for safety standards other than that the bus is maintained and runs.”

Greyhound is currently focused on raising the stan-

the audit sheet now, and while it does not necessarily need to be part of a tender process, it could be used by mining companies as a ‘health check’ for their buses.

“The release of this audit for miners is about getting them to engage more with their bus companies and transport providers – as it should be about ensuring safety, not just a means to an end,” Bahemia said.

• Greyhound Commercial 1800 801 294 info@greyhoundcommercial.com www.greyhoundcommercial.com

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MINESITE VEHICLES

In the hot seat Changeovers are still dangerous, Jessica Burke reports.

H

ot seat changeovers are commonplace in the mining industry, where downtime needs to be limited and production stoppages prevented.

A hot seat changeover, where the driver of a vehicle vacates at the end of a shift inside the mine and is replaced immediately with another worker, are a necessary but risky part of the mining industry, according to Central Queensland acting regional inspector of mines, Mike Walker.

“They are necessary, you’ve got to change drivers at some point, it’s just a matter of organising it within the procedures at the mine,” he told Australian Mining.

“In the past it has been a bit more ad-hoc, whereas now it is small vehicles and big vehicles and sometimes things go wrong.

“However mines have made major improvements in recent times.”

A recent safety alert distributed to mines detailed a couple of incidents that occured during hot seat changeovers.

In the first incident, while conducting a hot seat changeover on a rear dump truck at the ROM pad, the oncoming operator drove his light vehicle up to the truck and parked in its line of sight, in violation of the nogo zone for light vehicles.

The hot seat change was completed and the truck then drove right over the light vehicle.

Fortunately, the off-going operator exited the light vehicle before impact.

A constant alarm from a detective proximity device on nearby plant contributed to the incident because the noise interfered with the truck’s proximity warning device.

In the second incident, during a hot-seat changeover on a rear dump

30 July 2011

AustralianMining

truck at the go-line, the ongoing operator, unaware that the vehicle was also being refuelled, drove off with the fuelling line still attached but thankfully the service truck operator was not injured in the incident.

The causes of the incidents were identified as operator inattention, conducting a hot-seat change in an active working area – and supervisors not recognising this as an obvious hazard, leading to the practice becoming commonplace, failure to repair a deflective alarm, poor or absent risk management and standard operating procedure (SOP) not including management of hot-seat changeovers.

Investigators found safety and health management risk systems at each mine had not adequately considered hot-seat changeovers and consequently risk was not being managed to ‘ as low as reasonably achievable.’

The incident highlights the risk in conducting hot-seat changeovers at an active work area rather than in the less complicated, more easily managed confines of an organised go-line or hard-stand area.

The mine’s SOP has been amended to prohibit hot-seat change on all rubber-tyred plant other than at a goline or hard-stand area and to manage that process, and also to manage the process for all other plant that cannot be feasibly removed to a go-line.

Investigators also advised that refuelling at the same time as conducting hot-seat changeover might appear convenient but should be recognised as a hazard.

The second incident illustrated poor risk management and lack of understanding of the purpose and scope of a no-go zone. This lack of understanding permitted an inappro-

Despite increasing tough safety regulations,hazardous incidents at mining operations continue to occur.

priate activity and put a person at risk, defeating the whole purpose of the go-line.

The recommendations said all potential hazards related to hot-seat changeovers, and their implications, be fully conveyed to operators through the mine’s safety and health management system and that the use of golines be optimised.

It also recommended that the conduct of other activities nearby during a hot-seat changeover, particularly during activities involving pedestrians, be recognised as having an unacceptable level of risk and that supervisors be trained, competent and accountable.

Walker told Australian Mining he has heard of some disastrous incidents during hot seat changeovers.

“I can remember a few years ago one guy jumped out of a ute, got into the truck and reversed straight over the ute!

“You wouldn’t like to think stuff like that happens often but I think it would happen a lot.”

He said that while “people are crazy and at the end of the day they do crazy things,” not all incidents can be blamed on human error. “No, you can’t always say that it’s the opera-

tor’s fault,” Walker explained to Australian Mining.

“Clearly sometimes it is, but at other times it is a violation of what should be done.

“Supervisors continue to not discipline people and it becomes the norm, and if that happens then is that the bloke’s fault?”

While Walker would not respond specifically on whether the long hours of mine workers, combined with flyin fly-out (FIFO) contribute to the incidents with hot seat changeovers, he did say “clearly people get more tired the longer they work, but in saying that, we also get incidents when a bloke is fresh.”

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Michael Roche told Australian Mining he is encouraged by the steps the state’s industry is making towards safety, but there is always room for improvement.

“The last set of pub figures were reassuring in terms of performance of individual mines, but no-one is resting on their laurels, it’s very much a case of learning from sometimes fatal accidents, learning from disasters like Pike River and ensuring thy don’t occur,” he said. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MINESITE VEHICLES

Better braking: safer vehicles Improvements are being made to braking systems to reduce the risk of uncontrolled movements in light vehicles.

F

ollowing consultation with its customers, ABT has developed an upgraded version of what it says is well proven SIBS braking system.

The company says the main aim of the upgrade is to further enhance safety benefits with an end goal of reducing uncontrolled vehicle movements.

The core technology of the braking system is the single rotor enclosed wet brake, manufactured in Thailand.

The products are sold worldwide and the company says its focus is now on mining products, with current major customers including BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata.

The Sealed Integrated Brake System (SIBS) features brake rotor pads enclosed in a sealed housing and breaking elements operated in a fluid that dissipates heat.

The system also has low wear rates due to reduced heat

ABT’s new brakes offer a safer solution for mining operations

at the braking interface and balanced break pad force and uniform pad wear delivered by the floating rotor.

The four features of the brake functions are the automatic fail-safe brake; opera-

tor applied emergency brake; reliable park brake and reliable service brake.

ABT says the implementation of the system Xstrata’s George Fisher mine increased the focus on uncontrolled vehicle

movements of all underground vehicles, sparking a review of the overall effectiveness of SIBS in meeting the increasing requirements of harsh underground conditions for light vehicles.

ABT says it worked with Xstrata to create a “wish list” based on the needs identified, and began a program to upgrade existing products.

The development team was employed to perform existing SIBS brake design for Landcruisers. Enhancements were developed from the wish list and a prototype unit was developed and tested.

An order for 96 sets was completed and staff installed brake sets on vehicles.

The end result was a rear brake module now featuring inner housing studs, upgraded wheel bearing seal arrangements, external brake pad wear indicator, increased diameter SIBS fill and level plug,

ABT worked with Xstrata on its “wish list”

plus a stainless steel hex head housing bolts.

The emergency brake pump module has marine grade EMMA pump standard and a stainless steel reservoir while the control box module now has a new warning light scheme with audible alarm.

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32 July 2011

AustralianMining

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MINESITE VEHICLES

Moving into the 21st century The haul truck has undergone a completely new re-design, from top to bottom.

I

f a miner from the 60s or changed out in 15 minutes In regards to operator visi70s strolled on to a site while entire axles are replaced bility, the new trucks feature now, they wouldn’t notice within 45 minutes. two mirror cameras, one fortoo many changes to the design The components are also ward camera, a reversing of rigid haul trucks. tested before going back onto camera, and dual range radar While their capabilities, the haul trucks, allowing for for operator assistance. safety, and mechanics have repair mistakes to be corrected The operator is provided changed immensely, the basic without any extra downtimes. with a 180 degree line of sight, shape of these trucks really The axles themselves, apart with a natural view one metre hasn’t differed too much over from the quick change ability, from the cabin. the last fifty years. also have another rather unique The cabin itself is fully Until now. feature. pressurised, has insulated German firm ETF Mining ETF states that the MT glazing and comes with both Trucks is looking to completely range of haul trucks have an a left and right entrance. re-design the rigid haul truck automatic axle lift, which alterIt provides safe operator for the 21st century. nates the axles touching the training during production as It has named these new ground and lifts tyres when it allows for an extra steering concept trucks the MT range, unloaded to the reduce energy wheel and brake handle for and they are built to have consumption for unused axles. a trainer, giving new drivers payloads of between 80, 125, When the trucks suffer real first hand experience.

155, and 218 tonnes. from flat tyres, the entire axle Driving is also safer due ETF’s main focus is its is able to automatically lift to a sleep deterrent system; MT-240, of which it has al- from the ground, reducing proximity alerts and collision ready created an early proto- drag on the vehicle and further warning systems; electronic type model. damage to the tyres. stability control; enhanced In creating a new mine The company claims that vehicle lights, and a factory truck, the firm looked at a num- these developments mean tyre fitted fire suppression system ber of aspects, mainly: increased wastage is nearly halved. as standard. product haulage; reA completely left duced haulage costs; These new trucks have up to 25% of field aspect of these improved safety; high trucks that isn’t stanenvironmental stan- fewer carbon emissions than dard on other mining dards, as well as at standard mining rigid haul trucks. haul trucks is its self innovation. loading ability.

One unusual aspect of the On top of this, it also has Once arranged in a haul new trucks is the maintenance the advantage of oscillating train, where up to four of the and repair system, which can axles, which provides equal MT range can be attached to allow for the fast change of tyre loading and greater stabil- one another and operated by major components. ity over rough and uneven a single driver, these trucks According to ETF, the MT terrains – like those typically are capable of moving large range features integrated pre- found on mine site haul roads. payloads of between 397 to dictive maintenance programs This increased stability 794 tonnes. and an “F-1 pit stop approach” reduces vehicle swaying, which These trucks are able to to repair. in turn reduces spillage. operate simultaneously, with Firstly, it informs the operIt also eliminates frame all dumping at the same time. ator and workshop of any racking.

That’s nearly 800 tonnes faults, allowing the truck to With all-wheel steering dumped in the space of three return to the vehicle mainte- across the 20 tyres of the ETF and half minutes. nance yard, which is already MT-240, as opposed to a Cat ETF also claims that the aware of the issue and are 793D’s six tyres, it provides MT range is more environprepared to solve it. a greater wheel load spread, mentally friendly than other Importantly, “components improves maneuvoerability haul trucks currently availare able to be exchanged and and provides a reduction in able on the market. taken to the workshop, allow- tyre scrubbing.

It states that the trucks ing the truck to return to However, its not just the have between 15 to 25% fewer production within 15 to 45 undercarriage of the truck carbon emissions, due in part minutes of maintenance begin- that has been changed, the to its lower fuel consumption. ning,” the company says. driver’s cabin has also been However, ETF will not be This allows all of the main- completely re-designed. selling these trucks any time tenance and repair work to The ROPS and FOPS three soon; instead it has announced be carried out in a workshop, seat cabin now provides greater the MT range will be availwithout the truck. Wheels, visibility as well as a unique able for rent on 83 000 hour engines and cabins can be approach to training. contracts.

34 July 2011

AustralianMining

It is driven by a 20 tyre, all-wheel drive.

ETF has completely re-designed the driver’s cabin.

Axles can be changed out in as little 45 minutes.

The trucks feature a self-loading ability. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MINESITE CONSTRUCTION

Camp CONSTRUCTION Australian conditions push camp construction to the limit.

R

emote site construction is an art. Miners often look to pre-engineered tensile fabric structures as a flexible and practical alternative to conventional permanent structures.

These structures need to be designed for quick installation, dismantling and easily relocating from site to site.

Australian company Universal Fabric Structure (UFS) have been working in this space for some time.

It recently completed two projects that required a unique approach to mining camp construction.

Oil Search needed a series of tensioned membrane structures to completely envelop its isolated camp at a remote mining encampment located in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.

The covers had to create a dry and mold free environment over accommodation

and recreational areas for the mining personnel.

Importantly, they had to be transportable for use in remote areas as shipping methods and logistics had to encompass its movement from Papua New Guinean ports to the highlands via helicopter.

It designed and supplied multiple Rapid-Span container mounted structures and an Alu-Span-AH for fast installation, with the camp containers providing a foundation without modification.

In Australia, UFS was also tasked to design shelters for Australian Portable Camps (APC) who required a weatherproof shelter for a vehicle quarantine and fumigation area for a WA mine.

UFS developed it with the use of pre-engineered â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;RapidSpanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; container mounted structures. Using a double stacked container option and acces-

sories to include a partial endwall and weather curtains, a 10m wide by 60m long structure was designed.

Open gaps of 12 and six meters were allowed for on the right hand wall of the structure to enable vehicle entry and exit access.

Weather curtain systems enclosed all internal and open sections so that it could be closed for fumigation.

Using fabric structures that can be moved and reused helps companies when it comes to environmental bond retirement as structures can be removed easily and quickly at the end of the mineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life, allowing the biological system to be returned to a sustainable and resilient state. â&#x20AC;˘ Universal Fabric Structures 02 6674 4466 info@fabricstructures.com.au www.fabricstructures.com.au

The construction needed to be airlifted to the PNG Highlands.

The design allowed for vehicle quarantine and fumigation.

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MINESITE CONSTRUCTION

Laying the right foundations Six massive grinding mills concrete foundations needed a concrete solution.

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onstruction of a minesite is always a herculean task, no matter where in Australia.

Building anything in the Pilbara presents even more own difficulties.

The remoteness and harshness of the region throws up a number of issues.

At CITIC Pacific’s Sino iron ore project at Cape Preston, around 100 kilometres south-west of Karratha, BGC Contracting faced an entirely new problem on top of these.

As the main contractor at the largest magnetite mining and processing operation currently under construction in the country, BGC was required to build the foundations for six trains of AG mills and pebble crushers.

The scope of this work also included preparing the site, formwork and concrete pour as part of a contract

valued at around eighty millions dollars.

The main problem the contractor faced centered on the site’s autogenous grinding mills.

According to CITIC Pacific, these giant grinding mills are some of the most powerful in the world with each using 44 megawatts of power and standing more than 17 metres high.

Each of these mills weigh in at around 1300 tonnes and required extremely large and strong concrete foundations.

Six foundations measuring thirty metres by twenty two metres were needed.

Two major issues arose with laying the foundations – firstly: the cost of the solid concrete foundations; and secondly: the resultant heat generated from concrete curing.

Contractor BGC identified two possible alternatives – the use of gabion cages of rock or the placement of

expanded polystyrene blocks held within the gabion cages inside of the concrete.

It approached RMAX and together they developed the ‘Expanded Polystyrene’ method to fit their requirements and adhere to the overall project’s objectives timelines.

Expanded polystyrene is an environmentally friendly non-toxic and non-biodegradable material with a high compressive strength, is lightweight, as well as easy to use and durable.

The gabion cages were manufactured in Perth after which RMAX expanded polystyrene was inserted inside.

After this, the completed units were shipped to CITIC Pacific’s magnetite mine site, approximately 1500 kilometres away.

In total, the concrete poured was around only 30 000 cubic metres with about 7500

The mills are some of the most powerful in the world, CITIC say.

cubic metres of RMAX environmental expanded polystyrene used.

Once up and running, the

project will mine 140 million tonnes with 80 million tonnes of material moving through processing plants.

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MINESITE CONSTRUCTION

Opening the door on workshops Massive minesite workshops need massive mine vehicle doors.

C

onstructing a vehicle workshop building is pretty easy for most industrial needs.

Just a fairly large shed with a larger than average door.

However, this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the case with the mining industry.

Apart from the sheer gargantuan size, you are also dealing with much rougher and harsher conditions then are generally found in most Australian industrial areas.

Workers typically find more dust, oil, grease and corrosive substances then they would normally face.

These arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the easiest of working conditions.

On mine sites, when building a vehicle workshop one of the main challenges is to provide doors that can quickly open and close dozens of times each day â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at the same time they also have to withstand corrosive, dirty environments, high-wind conditions and extreme temperatures.

In addition, doors must fulfill a range of other important expectations such as design and function; energy;

Safety levels on workshops doors need to be high to prevent accidents.

and most important a high level of safety and efficiency.

When constructing a workshop, it needs to fit within existing building structures and be able to accommodate consistently the larger and

larger mining vehicles now built.

The building also needs to minimise heat gain and provide a viable working environment for demanding tasks, despite high winds, heavy dusts and extreme temperatures.

Typically, the choice of a translucent door fabric helps minimise the carbon footprint and provide natural ambient light in the indoor working environment.

The key objective it to ensure safe operating conditions and minimal maintenance demands.

The safety level needs to be high â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with built-in safety monitoring systems and door arrestors to automatically prevent free-fall.

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SQUEEZES. WON’T CRUSH. Now you can gently squeeze off large polyethylene pipe without fear of damage.

At 6mm per minute the new Hy-Ram SOU 400 Controlled Release unit closes pipe at pressures <7 bar and diametres <400mm. Detachable cylinders allow up to four squeeze points.

Unsqueezed, pipe wall integrity remains*.

Compare the cost and practicality of specifying this system over traditional methods – the advantages are compelling.

This unit is part of a range of value-add products and services now offered by Clare Industries – including the highly competitive supply of electrofusion fittings for pipe <710mm.

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DRILL & BLAST

The

HOLE truth

Drilling down to a solution in blast hole preparation.

A

ccuracy is everything in drilling.

If you are drilling a few centimetres off the mark you can ruin an entire’s day work; put the set grid out or even miss mineralisation completely.

Accuracy is even more important when drilling blast holes.

Drilling in this case is literally a science, where an out of place blast hole is able to completely ruin a well planned blast pattern.

It may also cause shelf collapse, an uneven brim or unexpected fly rock to rain down on the site.

But it is not just accuracy that is needed in drilling blast holes, but speed as well.

If the holes are not drilled within the allotted time, then operations have to be rescheduled to fit in the new blasting period.

Shuffling an entire mine or quarry’s schedule because of poorly drilled holes is a hassle that doesn’t need to occur. At a quarry in Germany, the operator has utilised a drilling control

system to ensure accuracy in blast hole drilling.

According to Antonio Polizzi, the quarry/mining foreman at the Schaefer Kalk limestone quarry, they used the MOBA Mobile Automation AG MDS-2000 drilling system to control drilling devices on a Hausherr HSB 2000.

“It really increases the efficiency of our quarrying work processes,” Polizzi explained.

When drilling the blast holes, exact parallelism of the holes is essential for creating a smooth brim and preventing any uncontrolled rock fall or unexpected fly rock during blasting.

The MDS-2000 controls the drilling rig with penetration accuracy to a degree that even 15 to 20 metre deep blast holes are all drilled at the exact same angle.

This precise control also allows for drilling in tight spaces.

Where there is limited space and no way to turn the drill rig, the MDS2000 system still allows drill holes

Drilling is a science, especially when drilling a planned grid for blasting.

to be bored in the required location as the program can control the drill head exactly even if the machine is diagonal to the drill hole, MOBA Mobile Automation claim.

“With the system, we can drill about five percent more holes than before, in the same amount of time,” Polizzi said.

Utilising slope sensors and rotary sensors, the system records all drilling data such as drill hole depth, angle and drilling time.

This information is then displayed to the rig driver on a graphic display and then saved there, or can be sent directly to the office or even to a mobile end device via telemetry.

It also displays the average infeed during drilling.

Originally, MDS-2000 was used as a test version parallel to the Jäger

IS-22 drilling system, Polizzi saying that its robustness and operational simplicity had cemented its position as the main drilling system at the limestone quarry.

MOBA stated that the MDS-2000 has been built to withstand the conditions typically found on mine sites and in the quarrying industry, with all electronic parts protected from dust, moisture and vibrations by a completely sealed plastic casing.

Due to its modular design based on CAN-open, the system is also open for other customer requirements, and to allow for future developments to be easily incorporated.

• MOBA Mobile Automation Burkhard Mayer bmayer@moba.de www.moba.de

Drilling information – such as depth and angle – are displayed in the cabin.

40 July 2011

AustralianMining

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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DRILL & BLAST

The future of safer blasting The development of new blasting guidelines are set to make shot firing safer, Cole Latimer reports.

I

n a profession which is known as being potentially dangerous, one job – blasting, is known as being the most dangerous of all.

And for a good reason.

In March and April this year, at two of BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance’s Queensland coal mines – Saraji and Peak Downs – shot firing went wrong.

Recent heavy rains and flooding had drenched the ground, leaving it particularly wet.

So when the miners came to fire the shots, most likely an ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO) mix, it reacted badly, causing a cloud of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to rise into the air.

An occurrence which is more commonly known as a blast fume event.

The miners, despite being outside of the exclusion zone, were reportedly still too near to the blast plume and were exposed to this toxic gas, which turns into acid in the lungs of humans.

This can in turn cause pulmonary problems in workers, requiring them to be immediately hospitalised, following the exposure, for 24 hour observation which is the current standard for exposure events.

However, while there was little time between these two BMA incidents, blasting accidents such as these aren’t exactly common. The exact causes of these events are yet to be established,”

a Mines spokesman for the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) said.

“Normally a 1km exclusion zone is more than adequate to protect personnel from fume events during blasting operations; for example, in the Saraji incident personnel were 4.2km from the blast zone,” he said.

On average there are between 120 and 150 shots fired per week during blasting operations in Queensland, and typically less than two per cent of these result in a fume event.

But these two events back-to-back forced the government and the industry to react.

“The Government took swift action and suspended operations at those mines until management could demonstrate that risk to workers was at an acceptable level,” the Queensland mines minister Stirling Hinchliffe said.

It also created a steering group to produce a new set of blasting guidelines to ensure safe shot firing in the future.

“We established a tri-partite steering group of government, industry and the union movement to develop new shot firing guidelines to better manage fume events during blasting operations,” Hinchliffe explained.

He went on to say that all explosions generate gases, and it is accepted that post-blast fume events will never

The new guidelines are designed to prevent blast plume events.

42 July 2011

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www.miningaustralia.com.au

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DRILL & BLAST

be eliminated, but that the new guidelines should make it safer.

Speaking to Stewart Bell, Queensland’s first mine safety and health commissioner, he told Australian Mining that the steering group has put forth a number of recommendations.

It includes new guidance for the preparation of blasting operations and “making the exclusion zones larger, with a focus on taking the existing weather conditions into consideration when actually carrying out the shot firing.”

They also call for new standardised investigation procedures into blast fume events.

According to Bell, “the mining industry has never really been able to accurately and quickly measure nitrous dioxide gas after the fume event, although levels measured so far at the BMA incidents indicate levels below the exposure standard.

“We are now standardising the investigation protocols, and are putting in place a much more stringent and scientific set of procedures,” Bell told Australian Mining.

Queensland mines minister Stirling Hinchliffe added that “we will now ensure consistent recording of data from fume event.

“The Safety in Mines Testing and Research Station (Sitmars) will have

www.miningaustralia.com.au

a role to play in this. It is seeking a grant under the Australian Coal Association Research Project to study the use of ‘differential optical absorption spectroscopy’ for plume analysis.”

This technique uses natural light to accurately measure pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, which is the main toxic gas in blast plumes.

“The monitoring system is portable and able to measure mine gas plumes remotely as well as measure a moving target plume,” Hinchliffe added.

However, it is not just a series of new blasting guidelines that are being released to assist the industry in safer shot firing.

Bell explained that fume event awareness seminars are also set to be held in central Queensland in the coming months to further educate miners.

“The main aim in all this is to prevent blast plume events in the first place. It is about ensuring that shot firers know how to correctly mix the shot in regards to the prevailing conditions such as wet soil; that it is placed in the hole properly; that the exclusion zone is adjusted according to the weather, and that they know what to do and how to react to a potential blast plume if it occurs,” he told Australian Mining.

The steering group will continue to monitor plume events until 2012.

The prevailing weather conditions need to be taken into account when shot firing.

AustralianMining

July 2011

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DRILL & BLAST

Mine site solutions Integrating operations from site to smelting aids production, Australian Mining writes.

F

rom the inception of the drilling plan to the moment the charges are ignited, a serious level of preparation is undertaken.

Then when the minerals are processed, miners are looking to get the most out of the minerals.

It’s a constant process.

Unfortunately, these two chains often work independent of one another, as functional silos, which means that mine sites are potentially missing out on higher production.

Speaking to Mincom, they explained that mining operations must deal with highly variable raw materials inputs, usually with limited data, and then have to try and predict and then plan these operations.

However, with each successive stage operating essentially independent of one another, maximising the ore produced is difficult.

Mincom vice president of mining John Jessop and chief strategy officer Jennifer Tejada told Australian Mining that “mining engineers want to maximise tonnes of ore mined while metallurgists want to maximise recovery.

“Both are looking to minimise costs in their area, with engineers looking to cut costs by minimising blasting, but this in turn increases costs at the processing plant,” Jessop said.

“But by looking at blast optimisation, and working across cost centres, operations can seriously increase output.

“When you control how you blast to a much higher detail you can improve on throughput by 15% to a mill,” he told Australian Mining.

“Right now, a lot of guys are just focused on making the rocks smaller, not mill throughput, it’s completely different, and not correlating with the mill engineers.

“For example, in zinc the metallurgist will know what is the best grade and quality or blend and what would be the best feed, but they aren’t exactly feeding this information back to the blasters, as there is a disconnect.”

According to Tejada the key to increasing throughput and blasting process is integration.

“A complete mine to mill optimisation – the incentive is to get greater control of the blast, it may cost more money and requires a higher level of expertise, but it means that there will be higher grade of ore provided,” Jessop told Australian Mining. However, this has been a challenge in the mines as

44 July 2011

AustralianMining

Designing the blasting pattern in line with processing plans increases throughput.

while they have invested heavily in technology, the software they often use has traditionally turned a blind eye to this problem.

“It can act as barrier as it doesn’t support end to end optimisation of business processes,” Tejada told Australian Mining.

“There is a need for cross functional integration,” she added.

Mincom explained that in the case of blasting and processing what is needed to bridge these functional silos is software that can encompass the whole of mining operations, and streamlines activities end to end while at the same time providing information for improved decision making.

She said that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are a critical part of achieving this integration across

large, complex mining operations, but these systems alone are not sufficient as they weren’t designed to handle the high level of detail needed to make key decisions across the ‘silos’.

“Intelligent mining software suites, which can integrate different silos such as blasting and smelting/processing, can allow the users to gain a greater perspective across their entire chain,” Tejada said.

She went on to say that Mincom has made significant steps towards bringing together these disparate silos to optimise the end to end mining operations process.

The recent merger between ABB and Mincom is set to push this integration further she added, with greater opportunities for SCADA and control systems, she added.

“A complete mine to mill optimisation should be a key focus,” Tejada said. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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DRILL & BLAST

Robust threads BOART Longyear has unveiled its expanded line of underground rock drills and blast rods and bits with the new Robust Standard Thread (RST). These RST series drills, rods bits are designed for improved impact, faster penetration rates, increased resistance to rod tip-off events, and less hole deviation.

According to Boart Longyear product manager Has less hole deviation.

Jay Klinko, “this series has been rigorously tested, with results showing the new products to be much stronger and durable than conventional rods and bits.

“The penetration rates and its durability have proven to be superior in competitive testing.” During this field testing, the RST series drill string was apparently more than 20 percent faster than a standard string, and averaged around 30 percent more metres drilled than the conventional bit and rod designs.

The rods themselves incorporate a larger cross-sectional transition area for close to a 45 percent increase in total bending strength, and the bit skirt has been extended for an improved interface, which reduces the likelihood of rod tip-off events and aids in reducing any unscheduled downtimes.

According to Boart, the design of the Robust Standard Thread series results in generally straighter and truer holes with a higher potential for increased penetration rates and greater productivity onsite.

This new RST series also has the additional benefit of interchangeability.

The driller says that unlike other unique thread designs, the RST allows for interchangeability with standard threaded rods and bits for improved flexibility in the field.

This RST series also offers an optional retract or straight track bit design that provides a cleaner and straighter hole as well as easier bit removal in varied ground conditions.

• Boart Longyear www.boartlongyear.com

Quick change lightning rod series DRILLING products company Boart Longyear has expanded its line of rods with the ‘Lightning Rod’ series. This new line of rods is specifically designed for surface drilling, and features a quick change male Has a high wear resistance. and female rod that is engineered for high durability and air flushing. According to Boart, the lightning series incorporates some new, specific features and has been designed to work in several different types of surface drilling and blasting applications.

“It simplifies drilling and blasting projects and delivers optimal rod compliance for a full range of ground conditions,” the company stated.

Coming with a diameter range of between 33 and 60 millimetres, and lengths ranging from eight to 14 feet, these rods have been designed to cover multiple project specific needs with a wide range of sizes and thread forms.

The male and female ends have been treated for high wear resistance and they eliminate conventional coupling to allow for quick, automated subtraction and additions to the drill string. The end result is a higher productivity and increased efficiency.

A premium mid-body steel design gives the rod a strong foundation with efficient energy transfer and has been optimised for air flushing.

• Boart Longyear www.boartlongyear.com

46 July 2011

AustralianMining

Explosion proof pressure transmitters AMERICAN Sensor Technologies (AST) has enhanced its explosion proof pressure Ideal for deep hole drilling, AST says. transmitters for deeper drilling.

The extended pressure now ranges from 0-2.5 PSI up to 20,000PSI. Because of its use of very thick diaphragms and silicon strain gauges, AST produces high pressure, high cycle pressure transmitters with repeatable results. These are ideal for use in deep well drilling. The addition of a vented gauge reference allows for low pressure ranges.

Optional F250C female process ports are also available for robust highpressure process connections. Built with Class 1, Div 1, groups A, B, C, D approvals for the AST46HA make the transmitter suitable for use in acetylene and hydrogen environments, while sealed gauge versions are approved for Class 2, Div 1 Groups A,B,C,D for mining applications and installations. A failure mode indicator option of the AST64H allows a user to choose an output signal that rails or drops during a fault condition. Conditions such as electrical overload or extreme pressure transients cause pressure transmitters to fail, in events such as these, the operator can now control how their systems react to failures.Waspalloy, a new wetted material option, is also available for both pressure transmitters in addition to Inconel 718, 174 PH & 316 L SS. Waspalloy is a cobalt-based alloy material offering excellent corrosion resistance to H2 & H2S. This combination of gases produces a corrosive by-product that causes lesser pressure sensor technologies to embrittle and fail during the refining process of oil and gas. Using Waspalloy gives the explosion proof pressure transmitters better resistance in petroleum applications. Both explosion-proof pressure sensors series are available with the CSA explosion-proof and Single Seal markings.

• American Sensor Technologies info@astsensors.com www.astsensors.com

Underground head assembly BOART Longyear has debuted its new underground head assembly featuring Roller Latch technology. According to the drilling firm, this new technology allows for greater pump-in speed and productivity while using large ball bearings for latching and holdback braking to retain inner tube assemblies in the drill string to increase safety.

Matt Baird, Boart Longyear product manager stated that Roller Latch is expected to become the new standard latching mechanism.

Roller Latches deploy and retract radially, without swinging around like conventional pinned latch mechanisms, and fit tightly onto the outer tube, eliminating excessive wear on the couplings; landing shoulder; and landing ring.

Also, conventional latch mechanisms have a tendency to be difficult to retract against a jamming ‘core block’, whereas Roller Latches simply drop back in upon wireline retraction.

“Traditional pinned latches wear fast. Since the Roller Latch rolls, rather than drags onto the rod string, product life is increased the load capacity is equal to or better than Boart’s ‘link latch’ mechanism,” Baird said.

“These Roller Latches ensure smooth performance as the head assemblies are optimised for fluid flow and utilise corrosion and wear-resistant components.”

The newly designed Roller Latch locking coupling connects the drill string directly to the outer tube, locking the Roller Latches and rotating the head assembly with the rod strong, which eliminates the need of an adapter coupling, drive key, or tang feature.

Locking couplings for the Roller Latch head assembly are available in both full-hole or stabilised carbide style.

The Roller Latch head assembly also features variable lip pump-in seals that are compatible with Boart’s V-Wall drill rod, allowing for the use of V-Wall rods in underground drilling applications for the first time.

• Boart Longyear www.boartlongyear.com www.miningaustralia.com.au

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PRODUCT FOCUS: MOTORS & DRIVES

Greasing the

WHEELS OF POWER

Ensuring electric motor lubrication ensures its reliability.

R

eliability is what everyone looks excess grease still remaining from being applied and contaminating the for in an electric motor. And getting into the motor internals when motor internals, and the problems of proper lubrication ensures this the motor is re-started. the wrong grease being used; foreign engine reliability and increases the life Typically the re-greasing may be matter contamination from dirty grease of the motors while preventing prema- done on a down-day so that the motor nipples; or lubrication being missed ture motor failure due to bearing is cold. are eliminated. breakdown.

In these conditions older, or colder GreaseMax single point automatic However, lubrication has a set life, grease in the grease relief may make lubricators provide a continuous so constant re-lubrication is essential, the relief less functional and an excess controlled grease output and are but it can introduce complications such grease input may not exit via the grease ideal for motor lubrication. as the application of the wrong GreaseMax overcomes grease, too much grease, or even How a motor is lubricated has a motor lubrication problems missing the lubrication window. and works reliably in all condiThe way in which a motor is significant outcome on its lifespan. tions – hot, cold, wet, vibratre-lubricated has a significant ing, and without influence on the outcome. relief as it will do if greasing is done any maintenance or Re-greasing the motor while it has while the motor is operating and the adjustment. been stopped (as is mostly the case to temperatures stabilised, in this condiThis adds up comply with OH&S requirements) tion the grease relief functioning more to less maintenance may result in a temporary excess of effectively carried out. downtime and grease and this excess then being forced Continuous lubrication provides therefore increased into the motor internals when the the best lubrication results for improved productivity and motor is re-started, even if the motor bearing life.

ROI. has a grease relief.

Re-greasing the motor when it is Grease purging from the relief running allows a more effective, • Delta Distribution 03 9723 8600 when a stopped motor is greased indi- controlled result. cates an over-filled bearing but this Bearing life is improved; there is sales@dis.com.au Greasing an operating motor improves bearing life. purging may not be enough to prevent a reduced possibility of excess grease www.dis.com.au

For power to keep your plant running reliably . . . at any location

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AustralianMining

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ORESOME EFFICIENCY • SAVINGS • QUALITY

HD DRIVES are assembled locally by experienced technicians, providing TRULY AWESOME EFFICIENCIES & SAVINGS Our solutions orientated engineers are constantly endeavouring to seek out innovative gearmotor

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designs within our specialised Drive Service Centre. As you well know perseverance pays off.

We are proud to present the HDO and its modular combinations, from the customised HD Drive Power Packs, to our NEW smarter HD Alignment Free Drives (which are capable of further reducing your drive costs) are more than perfect for your tough, demanding industrial mining needs.

With extensive warehoused stock levels and the fastest deliveries in Australasia we also have a highly qualified team of technicians, safe-guarding assembly and quality control. All is united to provide second-to-none, quick deliveries, service and 24/7 support.

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PRODUCT FOCUS: MOTORS & DRIVES

Serious cylinders Transudcers and PLCs solves cylinder issues.

R

eliability is the name of the game in mining. Especially in Australia; where the every day harsh operating conditions found here push mining machinery and equipment to its very limits.

In response to one of these operating reliability issues within a key area of their business, a miner approached Parks Industries to help solve their cylinder problems within their ore dumping system.

The wheel gripping cylinders within the system mechanism were unreliable, and were causing considerable system downtimes.

These unscheduled downtimes impacted upon production levels.

Through the application of modern manufacturing methods, higher grade materials, and the introduction of new technology, Parks provided a completely redesigned cylinder which eliminated the key failure modes of the ore dumping system’s existing cylinders.

According to Parks, it also gave the operator the ability to monitor the cylinder’s actual position in real time.

50 July 2011

AustralianMining

A control interface allowed for pre-set minimum and maximum limits.

An inability to monitor cylinder position was also a factor in the original ore dumping unit’s unscheduled downtimes.

To attain actual cylinder position Parks fitted a transducer internally, which enabled the operator to read the absolute position of the cylinder.

The output signal from the trans-

ducer is directly fed into a programmable logic controller (PLC) and then converted into the actual position of the cylinder.

In this application, the transducer was used to monitor the actual position of the cylinder.

Using the control interface in the PLC, the real time monitoring can be

further enhanced to trigger alarms whenever pre-set minimum or maximum limits are achieved.

On top of this, it can also be a key component within a closed loop feedback system by moving the cylinder to pre-determined stroke positions for specific applications.

According to Parks, the necessary electronics interface to provide the real time position monitoring can also be fitted remotely.

The addition of this technology is not limited to an ore dumping system and can be employed across a number of applications.

Parks stated that the implementation of transducers and PLCs also provides long term benefits in regards to cylinder lifespan, through the ability to control and understand what your cylinder is doing, how, as well as allowing an operator to schedule preventative maintenance.

• Parks Industries 08 9353 3660 www.parksindustries.com.au

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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PRODUCT FOCUS: MOTORS & DRIVES Gearmotors \ Industrial Gear Units \ Drive Electronics \ Services

Positioning accuracy

Supplier of the Year )\SR /HUKSPUN (^HYKZ

AEROTECH has introduced a series of rotary air-bearing stages designed for high precision angular positioning and velocity stability. The stages use a slotless, brushless motor that is zero-cogging and torque ripple-free to maximise positioning accuracy.

According to the company, the low-profile design reduces Torque ripple free. effective working height, minimising stack-up errors. The ABRS stages meet motion control requirements of semiconductor wafer inspection, high precision metrology, x-ray diffraction, optical inspection and fabrication, and MEMS/nanotechnology device fabrication.

• Lastek 08 8443 8668 sales@lastek.com.au www.aerotech.com

Off the shelf HAYDON Kerk Motion Solutions has launched a new website with enhanced features such as tabbed navigation, access to 24 hour prototype ordering, configurable 2D drawings, and 3D CAD model downloads. It is for the quick prototyping of a concept while users are still deciding what customisations will be necessary for the final component or subassembly design. The Haydon Kerk 2D/3D download feature allows users to configure a part using multiple parameters including stroke length, screw lead, motor step angle, and operating voltage. The files can be downloaded in 3D file formats or 2D dimensioned outline drawing.

• Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions 1800 243 2715 info@haydonkerk.com www.HaydonKerk.com

Big gear units Industrial gear units made by SEW-EURODRIVE

Whether it’s coal, iron ore, gold or raw minerals, mining is a big job that requires a powerful partner. Industrial gear units from SEW-EURODRIVE combine power, quality and sturdy design into one standard product range. Available as a stand-alone gear unit or integrated into a complete drive package, the SEW industrial gear range can be operated under the most difficult conditions. Extremely high output torques of up to 475kNm are achieved with our range of bevel helical and planetary units. If that’s not impressive enough, talk to us about our custom gear units, designed to suit your power requirements. Power & reliability – industrial gear units made by SEW-EURODRIVE.

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AustralianMining

July 2011

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PRODUCT FOCUS: MOTORS & DRIVES

Electrical current arrest ZERO-MAX’S CD couplings have been designed with composite flex elements that are reportedly non-conductive in addition to their primary function. The couplings provide Torque ranges of 40 to 1436Nm. electrical insulation while protecting mechanical components. In addition, the CD couplings protect generators in a system from transferring lower reaction loads to the generator bearings. The coupling’s composite discs withstand harsh environments, including temperatures from -40 to +70°C. Additional features include: zero backlash, excellent for reversing loads, smooth operation at high speeds, and compact size with a clamping system. The torque capacities range from 40Nm to 1436Nm and beyond with speed ratings from 4400 RPM to 17,000 RPM. • Naismith Engineering & Mfg Co. 03 9489 9811 marketing@naismith.com.au www.zero-max.com

Washdown gearboxes NORD Drivesystems has previewed a new line of Suited for use in conveyors. two-stage helical bevel gear units with torques between 90 and 660 Nm at the Hannover exhibition this year. The units are able in five different sizes with torques between 90 and 660 Nm. All units feature a high-strength die-cast aluminum gearcase. Since the gearcase requires neither an inspection cover nor a screw-on input cover, NORD says the units are especially small and light-weight. This facilitates handling, and helps reduce energy consumption particularly in applications where drives are moved, the company says. Designed as washdown gearboxes, all external surfaces have been designed with wide radii and without indentations or dead spaces. The gearboxes are suited for use in conveyor technology.

• NORD Drivesystems (Aust) 03 9394 0500 au-sales@nord.com www.nord.com

52 July 2011

AustralianMining

Linear sensors TURCK has developed LI-Q17, a miniature linear displacement sensor for a measuring range from 50 to 200mm.

According to the company, the LI-Q17 doesn’t work with a magnetic locator but with the resonant circuit measuring principle, where an object’s position is detected via an inductive oscillating system, consisting of a condenser as well as a coil.

Miniature sensors.

As the only sensor of its kind, the LI-Q17 is able to work reliably where the functionality of a magnetic position device is massively affected by electromagnetic fields–caused by large motors or welding plants, the company says. The LI-Q17 in an IP67-rated housing is available in four different sizes with the measuring ranges 50, 100, 150 and 200mm for a temperature range from -40 to +70 °C. The first models have an analogue output (0…10 V, 4…20 mA, 0,5…4,5 V), and a high-resolution SSI model is going to follow.

• TURCK Australia 1300 132566 www.turck.com.au

Angular position transducers THE ELTRA single turn angular position transducer provides an analog output proportional to shaft Has no sliding contact. positoion. The sensing device is an 8 or 12 bit absolute magnetic encoder and integrated electronics converts the reading into an analog signal, being 0-5V, 0-10V, 0-20mA or 4-20mA. Analog signals are easy to test and interface to a wide variety of process instruments unlike absolute encoders which have multiple outputs. Unlike a potentiometer, there is no sliding contact so the operational life is limited only by bearings and seals. The non linearity is also greatly improved over potentiometric devices. Measuring ranges include 90, 180, 270 and 360 degrees. The transducers are enclosed in a rugged enclosure with sealing upto IP67. Models with flange mounting or hollow shafts are available for a variety of shaft sizes. Power supply can be 5V or 12 to 28 VDC. An optional RESET input is also available on some models. Operating temperature is upto 85 C. • Automated Motions Systems www.automotsys.com.au

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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Got to keep it regulated Air-motor speed regulators are providing consistent mineral consistencies.

A

motor needs to be powerIf the viscosity of the mixture The speed regulator is used ful while still being small or its volume changes in the con- with the stainless steel air-motor and robust. tainer, an undesirable speed change model 67-028R. When compared with an equiv- occurs.

The nominal speed of this alent electric motor, an air-motor The need to retain a constant 1,200-Watt strong motor is 1,250 has only one-third of the size and speed in the agitator, resulted into rpm, the no-load speed is 2,500 one-fifth of the mass. the development of a speed regu- rpm and the nominal torque is This advantage is a key factor lator by Deprag, 9.2 Nm. in the use of air-motors in handThis speed regulator has a The technical specifications held machines and stationary simple and reliable operation. are based on an operating presequipment over electric motors.

The non-contacting speed sure of 6-bar.

However until now, there was sensor is integrated directly into The â&#x20AC;&#x153;controlledâ&#x20AC;? air-motor a deficiency â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the air motorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speed the air-motor, between the actual operates the agitator for a mixture regulation. vane-air-motor and the gearing. in the viscosity range of 1-300 Tackling this, Deprag Schulz The sensor acquires the motorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mPas and retains its speed within has developed a new standard â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;currentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; speed. the required tolerance range â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with an innovative speed reguindependent from any fluclator for their air motors; with The regulator compares actual tuations of the viscosity or thought-out sensor technolthe mixture volume within ogy, air-motors can now and nominal speed in the motor. the receptacle. always hold the preset speed.

The Deprag speed-reguDeprag product manager The data of this IS-value is lator system proves its accuracy Dagmar DĂźbbelde explained that now transferred in form of a digital within the most varying speeds. â&#x20AC;&#x153;it is characteristic for an air- signal to the regulator.

A vane-motor with a very low motor to operate in a wide field The regulator â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;acknowledgesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; speed can now also be reliably of changing loads. When oper- the nominal-value, which can easily regulated. ated without load, the motor runs be input over a LC-display on the The speed is evaluated from at its rated no-load-speed. controller. a full rotation to a 1/32 of a rotaâ&#x20AC;&#x153;If the load increases, the speed The regulator then compares tion and regulated to correspond of the motor decreases. the two values. with the nominal value. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So, an air-motor can be operIf there is a variation between Even very high speeds up to ated at approximately 15% up to the IS and nominal-speed, a special 80,000 rpm can be corrected by 100% of its nominal speed, depend- valve is then actuated, which regu- the Deprag speed-regulator to ing on its load requirement.â&#x20AC;? lates the airflow for the motor keep a constant speed.

This can cause problems. and its speed.

Particularly in an agitator or Result: The air-motor oper- â&#x20AC;˘ Deprag Schulz mixer, where a constant speed is ates consistently within the required d.duebbelde@degrag.de www.deprag.com critical for processing. speed range.

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Changes in mixture viscosity affect the motor output.

AustralianMining

July 2011

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Want to win a trip to Hawaii?

Simply tell us want you want to read about by taking our survey at miningaustralia.com.au/hawaii.aspx and you are in the draw*!

Prize includes: • Return economy flights for two adults from your nearest capital city to Honolulu, Hawaii*

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MINING PERSONALITY PROFILE

Movers and Shakers: Peter Ross The Managing Director of LD Operations sat down with Australian Mining’s Jessica Burke to talk about some of the issues in the mining industry and how he has seen it change over 30 years.

JESSICA BURKE: What was your progression through the mining industry to where you are now?

PETER ROSS: I started as an operator in the mines down in Wollongong and decided to do some study, and studied and managed to get through to the manager level and travelled through Queensland and New South Wales working at different operations until we started LD Operations in 2005.

JB: How have you seen the industry

change throughout that time? What’s the single biggest change you would say you’ve seen in the industry?

PR: Probably the single biggest change is the commitment to safety, and I think that’s the biggest focus and the biggest change.

JB: And is that your biggest focus here

at LDO, Peter?

PR: Absolutely. People and safety is the

biggest focus.

JB: And what are the biggest things you’ve implemented, say in the last five years that’s really focused on that?

PR: Probably the main focus we have

in regards to safety is trying to give power to the people. We tell everyone working with us that they do have authority and they do have authority over their workplace and they can stop work at any time.

If people can’t tell them why something is safe, then it’s not safe.

but from outside the industry there’s no doubt that people don’t look at coal mines the way they used to and that’s a shame.

JB: Do you think people have gotten a

bit caught up in the hysteria of climate change and how coal is contributing to that?

PR: I think there’s certainly some of that, I think it’s also much the same as everything else in the world, we have to learn to work together and coal is still a critical component throughout the world, and it can co-exist in my opinion and can work in harmony with the environment.

JB: So what do you think is the biggest problem that’s currently facing the mining industry?

PR: Perception. Perception of the mining industry is certainly the biggest issue at the moment. Well, people in the media, throughout newspapers and in the electronic media have got a view that the coal is dirty, that it’s not a commodity that they want, and it’s certainly my opinion that coal is still a critical component throughout the world and I think that’s one of the biggest factors we have to learn to be able to work with people.

JB: Obviously the skills shortage is continually getting more and more dire for the mining industry, how do you think that the industry can overcome that?

PR: Well we have to continue to train

JB: During your 30 years in the indus-

try, how have you seen the attitude to coal mining specifically change, both inside the industry and from outside the industry?

and that’s something that we just need to keep growing and invest in education and training.

JB: How about the new moratorium

on all new coal mining in New South PR: Well certainly I think inside the

industry it’s still very much the same, www.miningaustralia.com.au

Continued on page 56 AustralianMining

July 2011

55

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MINING PERSONALITY PROFILE

Continued from page 55 Wales that was announced recently?

What do you think of those kinds of moves?

PR: Well, I support any investigation

into what has to happen.

You know, we do have to ensure that we fit in and we do have to ensure that we do look after the environment and we do have to make sure we look after the employment needs of Australia.

If there iare investigations to be carried out on how we carry out on how we can co-exist, I support those.

JB: Speaking of some of the co-exist-

ing, can you just tell us what the latest is with your projects in the Margaret River region?

PR: Yeah, we’ve lodged an appeal, against the EPA report and that’s sitting now with the Appeals Convenor.

Peter Ross says the biggest change he has seen during his 30 years in the mining industry is the commitment to safety.

Swift by name swift by nature

JB: So what is your appeal based on?

JB: Is that part of the problem, people

don’t completely understand the mining processes?

PR: Well we don’t believe that

the information that’s before the Minister at the moment, or before the EPA supported their decision on the report.

They sought information from nine government departments and every government department stated that they needed more information.

We believe that that’s the case, we need more information and the only way to do that is through a full PER process, including a social impact assessment to see whether or not the project can be a benefit to Western Australia’s south-west region.

PR: I think the process isn’t fully under-

stood in WA at this stage, and the process changed halfway through the application.

So there are a lot of things that are new, in the way the process is being run and I think there’s no doubt that a lot of people don’t realise that we don’t actually have an application for a coal mine. We’re a long way from having all information required for that.

JB: Colin Barnett, the WA Premier

said recently that even if the official approvals are given, he will never allow any mining in the Margaret River. What do you think of those kinds of comments?

JB: Some of the anti-coal people

in that region have accused LDO of ignoring its environmental restrictions. What’s your reaction to those kinds of comments?

PR: Well we haven’t at all.

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AustralianMining

We’ve never ignored any environmental restriction. We’ve certainly always said that we’ll work within the boundaries and we don’t have an actual appeal. Sorry, we don’t have an application for a coal mine at this stage.

Under WA regulations, you go to a referral document to set the level of assessment. And that is the stage that we’re at.

PR: I’m not sure that’s exactly what

he said. I think what he said was that he’s have to have a very good reason, to put Margaret River at risk, and we support that.

We have asked to do studies to see whether or not the mine can coexist, and we support that.

JB: So, what’s next for LDO? What’s

next on the big agenda?

PR: Well certainly we’re wanting to continue to grow. We’ve got an ownership stake in Chain Valley Bay Colliery and we certainly enjoy working within our own coal mines and it’s something that will continue to grow. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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8th Annual Australian Mining Prospect Awards, Co-hosted by AIMEX In this issue we have a brief word from some of the sponsors about their companies and why they choose to sponsor the Prospect Awards.

Schenck Process Australia Schenck Process is a global market leader in measuring and process technologies.

Through our world-wide network of operating companies we provide our customers with unrivalled industrial weighing, feeding, screening and automation solutions.

Sponsoring the ‘Minerals Processing Plant of the Year’ category in Australian Mining’s Prospect Awards for the second year running is one of the ways that we contribute to and celebrate the success of an industry that is critically important to the economy of our country and of course to our business.

The mining and mineral processing industry is responsible for around 48% of Australia's exports and represents 8% of the country's total GDP. This industry is one of the reasons that, as a nation, we have been able to weather the recent global financial crisis and emerge in much better shape than many other developed nations.

Together with our clients in the mining and mineral processing industry, we are always challenging current practices and breaking new ground by combining cutting edge technology with world class engineering know-how.

Yet the men and women that work so hard to make Australia's mineral processing plants and mining operations amongst the most technically advanced and efficient in the world often remain unrecognised.

At Schenck Process, we consider that the Prospect Awards are a great way of identifying and recognising the talented professionals that make this possible.

We wish all participants in the awards the best of luck and look forward to meeting the finalists at the award presentation evening on the second night of AIMEX in September.

MMD Mining Machinery Developments (MMD) designs and manufactures mineral sizing (crushing) equipment and services to the mining, metallurgical, industrial minerals, alumina and other industries.

The core products; Mineral Sizers (crushers) and Feeders offer a solution to problems such as variable ore properties, product requirements, site conditions and environmental issues.

Founded in 1978, to design and manufacture equipment for the UK underground coal mining industry, today MMD size over 60 different minerals world wide, in many varied process industries.

MMD Sizing equipment is available for surface or underground installations, stationary or mobile, and for climatic conditions ranging from arctic to tropical.

The MMD Sizer range now includes, primary, secondary and tertiary Sizers for wet and dry processing of metallic and non-metallic minerals for mining, industrial minerals and quarrying industries.

To complement the robust Twin Shaft Mineral Sizer, MMD has designed and developed a range of heavy duty Apron Plate Feeders, which convey unbroken material to the crushing plant.

Standard widths available are 1500, 2000, 3000 and 4000mm on D4, D7, D9 and D11 Caterpillar sealed and lubricated tractor chain.

The mobile and semi-mobile sizer systems developed by MMD are both high in capacity and compact in size when compared to the traditional technology in this field.

The latest range of MMD Mobile Sizers have the ability to offer mine operators unprecedented levels of productivity, and therefore very low operating costs per tonne.

These energy efficient electrically driven “Green Mining Solutions” are all designed to assist mining companies to achieve the double bottom line of being both economic and environmentally friendly.

MMD is proud to be the long running sponsor of the Australian Mine of the Year award.

SEW-Eurodrive SEW-Eurodrive is proud to be sponsoring the coal mine of the year award at the 2011 Australian Mining Prospect Awards.

As a key supplier to the coal mining industry, we believe in quality and efficiency when it comes to drive technology.

Supplying a range of industrial gear units, motors and drives in sizes in excess of 1MW, we deliver more than just products to heavy industry.

A team of talented engineers develop effective and timely solutions based on customers' motion requirements, which are backed by after-sales commissioning and product support that is second to none.

We also understand that time is money, so units are delivered within a matter of weeks from our local assembly plants, rather than waiting months for items to be shipped from overseas.

The coal mining industry is one of Australia's strongest assets – as the world's greatest exporter of coal, we can be thankful for an industry that has given us global recognition.

SEW-Eurodrive takes great pride in sponsoring the coal mine of the year award, which we hope in turn, encourages the organization in and industry which has greatly supported our company over time.

We hope that this award goes to a fitting recipient to provide them with the acknowledgment they deserve for making such a strong contribution to Australian industry.

SEW-Eurodrive looks forward to further ongoing partnerships with all forms of mining, now and into the future.

58 July 2011

AustralianMining

Be a leader in Australia’s mining industry and nominate today

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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At the 2011 8th annual

AUSTRALIAN MINING PROSPECT AWARDS 7th September Doltone House Sydney, Co - hosted by AIMEX

DON’T MISS MINING’S NIGHT OF NIGHTS! 7TH SEPTEMBER, SYDNEY For the 8th year, Australian mining professionals will come together to recognise and celebrate innovation and outstanding performance in the industry.

Held on the second night of AIMEX, the event showcases the best that mining has to offer.

NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES ● ● ● ●

Mine of the Year Mine Manager of the Year Contract Miner of the Year Minerals Processing Plant of the Year ● Excellence in Mine OH&S ● Excellence in Environmental Management ● Innovative Mining Solutions

● ● ● ●

Explorer of the Year Coal Mine of the Year Outstanding Contribution to Mining Employer of Choice Award

AND NEW FOR 2011 ● Mining’s Female of the Year ● Young Achiever of the Year ● Community Interaction Award ● Hard Rock Mine of the Year

WHY NOMINATE?

NOMINATION DEADLINE 11 JULY HURRY SPONSORS:

6-9 Sept 2011

NOMINATIONS CLOSE SOON

>> EXPOSURE AND PUBLICITY >> RECOGNITION FOR YOUR HARD-WORKING TEAM MEMBERS >> VALUABLE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES WITH KEY INDUSTRY LEADERS

DOWNLOAD THE NOMINATION KIT AT WWW.MININGAUSTRALIA.COM.AU/AWARDS For further information contact Margaret Tra on (02) 9422 2759 or email margaret.tra@reedbusiness.com.au To book a table at the awards contact Alex Evans on (02) 9422 2890 or email alex.evans@reedbusiness.com.au

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MINING JOBS To advertise a new job contact Hussein Azzan at 02 9422 2851

To see the latest jobs available visit www.miningaustralia.com.au, which is updated daily.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE – CONSTRUCTION RUBBER TRACKS & TYRES LOCATION – MELBOURNE Company – Bearcat Tyres Pty Ltd Bearcat Tyres has been established in Australian since 1973 as an industrial & construction tyre, track and wheel distributor. A recent merger by our parent company has created an expansion of our rubber track range suitable for construction equipment (excavators, track loaders etc).

This new position will be based in Melbourne, working with National Major Accounts Manager and the candidate will be charged to specifically develop new business within specific Market Segments.

Applications in other state outside Victoria with a strong knowledge of "rubber tracks" are also welcome to apply.

This newly created national position requires the research and development of key target customers both existing and new in order to create a strong future for an expanding product line. The position will require the representative to manage theses sales long term and provide support at a state level.

The successful candidate must have experience with rubber tracked construction equipment and knowledge of track fitments (sizes and types) is preferred however not essential.

An excellent support network will be provided to help develop an specific understanding for the product types and customer market.

Parts managers or field technicians’ in the construction equipment industry may apply however the role requires a professional approach to major customer development, management of presentations and achieving long term sales targets. Some local travel is also required on a monthly basis.

This is a unique opportunity for a motivated individual to utilise their owns skills and work in a professional group to achieve a strong sense of achievement.

To apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs MECHANICAL ENGINEER – UG OPERATION LOCATION – KALGOORLIE, GOLDFIELDS & ESPERANCE, WA Company – EMS Pty Ltd Our client is in need of a driven and dynamic Mechanical Engineer looking to consolidate their operational experience and establish themselves as part a top notch engineering team. This role is sure to tick all the boxes, providing you with fantastic professional opportunities as well a challenging role that will keep you engaged and loving what you do.

Dedicated to providing their staff with the best opportunities for professional development, this leading producer is well established in the industry and continues to go from strength to strength. Join a company where innovation is not only encouraged but rewarded! An excellent salary topped with some serious benefits and allowances are on offer here. If that is not enough, the company will cover your full relocation for this residential role.

To apply Please contact Nikki on 08 9443 0400 or nikki@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs MINE SURVEYOR FIFO LOCATION – PERTH Company – EMS Pty Ltd These guys are experiencing some seriously exciting times and are really establishing themselves within the industry! They are currently looking for Surveyor to join them and be part of their future successes.

With an attractive FIFO roster and the opportunity to be involved in a cutting edge Open Pit operation, this Surveyor position offers an attractive career path with a world class mining house that values their people and rewards them well for outstanding effort.

This role will require you to have relevant survey tertiary qualifications and a grade 2 Mine Surveyors authorisation. We envisage the ideal candidate as having at least 3-5 years surveying experience as well as the relevant software exposure.

If you are a pro-active and team oriented Surveyor with good planning and organisational skills, super interpersonal, communication and software skills we want to hear from you!

A very competitive salary package is on offer as this successful mining house recognises the importance of developing its staff, providing opportunities for training and career progression To apply – Please contact Nikki on 08 9443 0400 or nikki@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs MANAGER – WATER IN MINING LOCATION – BRISBANE Company – GHD Make a move to GHD and transform your job into a rewarding career.

Established in 1928, GHD employs more than 6000 people across five continents and serves clients in the global markets of water, energy and resources, environment, property and buildings, and transportation.

More than a professional services firm, GHD has much to offer, combining service excellence and innovation in everything we do. We provide a supportive, diverse and highly collaborative environment, as well as national and international work opportunities and professional development through the GHD Business School.

GHD is currently seeking professionals with mine-site experience to lead the expansion of its water consulting services provision to the mining sector. The role will have both business development and project delivery responsibilities.

As a company, GHD has more than 80 years of history in delivering marquee water projects in Australia. The current buoyancy in the Australian mining sector and the pivotal role of water in the ongoing growth of the mining sector offers

60 July 2011

AustralianMining

significant opportunities for expansion of our water associated services.

The ideal candidate will have more than 15 years post-graduate experience spent in both a mine site/minerals processing environment and with provision of consulting services associated with water management in the mining sector.

You will have well developed leadership and management skills that will allow you to leverage the large, existing skill base within GHD to successfully deliver services and projects. Developing a deep understanding of our client's needs and business drivers will be the basis for establishing long term business relationships.

GHD offers a role that will be capital city based in Brisbane, although a base in Gladstone, Mackay or Townsville will also be considered. Travel to our client's mine sites in Queensland and other Australia States will be an ongoing requirement of the role.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join a large, established organisation with a wealth of exciting projects and successful history that drives a culture promoting teamwork, integrity and respect. As a valued member of the business, you will have the opportunity to work with industry leaders within a supportive environment.

To apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs

socially responsible manner. Achieving our vision depends on having the best employees in the world.

A choice of career with Barrick is to join a friendly, diverse and high achieving team of people. To have the flexibility to grow and go wherever your ambition takes you, both within Barrick's structure and throughout the world. We have a culture that encourages continuous improvement, giving you the opportunities to train and develop and learn something new every day.

Darlot Gold Mine is seeking to employ a highly motivated team player who will participate within the geology team while conducting day to day underground/ core yard duties. You will be required to give geological input into mine design to maximise recovery, whilst providing an effective production reporting system and reconciliations.

Darlot Gold Mine operation is fly in/fly out from Perth on 8 days on/6 days off roster. On-site accommodation, including all messing facilities, is provided.

Recreational activities include internet café, Foxtel television, swimming pool, tennis and squash courts, gymnasium and golf driving net.

Our competitive salary package includes 9% superannuation, health insurance and income protection. Salary sacrificing options are also available.

To apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs

ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN LOCATION – WA Company – EMS Pty Ltd Gain some excellent experience here as part of this top notch operation. You can rest assured that you will be rewarded accordingly for the skills and experience you bring to the table here.

Here you and your team will be responsible for maintaining electrical related equipment in accordance with company procedures on the processing plant.

Here you can expect an excellent base salary combined with very good super and medical benefits. A very nice extended residential roster is available as well as great advancement opportunities.

To apply – Please contact Nikki on 08 9443 0400 or nikki@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs

MINE ENGINEERING SUPERINTENDENT LOCATION – CAIRNS & FAR NORTH, QLD Company – EMS Pty Ltd The Operation is complex and would hold a challenge for even the most experienced of Mining Engineers, but that said, the operation requires this position to have a Mining Engineer with extremely robust planning/scheduling/design capabilities as well as rounded operating practices to combat the complexity of the mine and more so great communication skills as there will be a high level of interaction between the technical and operating teams.

This job opportunity with an established operation, will ensure dynamic professional future with an option to step-up into Manager Mining if that is the direction you want your career development to take.

We can offer you the job of the moment , where you will be working with the cream of the crop and a great GM highly respected within the realm of the "big boys" of mining. A company who values your experience and commitment and who make sure that they pay you well for your skills & work.

So, why not take a short amount of your day to guarantee your skills and expertise are being utilized in the best possible way (and most importantly that you are getting the best possible $$$$ & professional advancement)!

To apply – Please contact Diane on 08 9443 0400 or diane@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs

GRADER OPERATOR LOCATION – WA Company – Barrick (Australia Pacific) Barrick is the world leader in gold production with the industry's largest unhedged gold production and reserves. With over 20,000 employees around the globe, our vision is to be the world's best gold mining company by finding, acquiring, developing and producing quality reserves in a safe, profitable and socially responsible manner. Achieving our vision depends on having the best employees in the world.

A choice of career with Barrick is to join a friendly, diverse and high achieving team of people. To have the flexibility to grow and go wherever your ambition takes you, both within Barrick's structure and throughout the world. We have a culture that encourages continuous improvement, giving you the opportunities to train and develop and learn something new every day.

Grader Operator Barrick (Granny Smith) Pty Ltd is located 950kms north east of Perth and 23kms south of Laverton and has been one of Australia’s leading gold producers for the last 15 years. With continued growth in our underground mining operations and an exciting exploration portfolio, the projected mine life is 8 years based on the current reserves.

Position Overview: We are seeking experienced Underground Grader Operators. You will be responsible for grading of varying surfaces, both underground and surface, and will perform other mining tasks as directed by the Underground Shift Supervisor.

The Company is committed to high quality safety, environmental and continuous improvement practices and applicants should be able to demonstrate shared values in this area.

The operation is a fly-in/fly-out 8/6, 7/7 roster from Perth. Excellent on-site accommodation is provided. Recreational facilities include internet café, Foxtel, swimming pool, tennis and squash courts and gymnasium. Telstra mobile access available.

This position offers a competitive salary package in line with qualifications and experience. Standard benefits premium private health cover for the whole family, salary continuance and salary packaging options.

To apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs MINE ENGINEERING SUPERINTENDENT LOCATION – KALGOORLIE, GOLDFIELDS & ESPERANCE, WA Company – EMS Pty Ltd This is a unique opportunity with some exciting projects that will really push your potential ...giving you mining exposure you never dreamed of.

If you like a challenge and are looking for a role to expand your expertise and probably gain more experience this is defiantly for you!

Its expected that you will be creative thinking with the insight to challenge established ideas.

We value your ability to take ownership of this position and be pro-active and not scared to “take the bull by the horns”.

To apply – Please contact Diane on 08 9443 0400 or diane@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs MINE GEOLOGIST LOCATION – WA Company – Barrick (Australia Pacific) Barrick is the world leader in gold production with the industry's largest unhedged gold production and reserves. With over 20,000 employees around the globe, our vision is to be the world's best gold mining company by finding, acquiring, developing and producing quality reserves in a safe, profitable and

MINE PLANNING ENGINEER LOCATION – KALGOORLIE, GOLDFIELDS & ESPERANCE, WA Company – EMS Pty Ltd Come on board with this dynamic Mining house with some exciting options and get that START UP experience...what are you waiting for?

The role: Reporting to the Mine Planning Superintendent you will be a key member of the team, providing long to medium term mine design, mining methods, mine plans and schedules to achieve objectives. Key responsibilities will be continuous planning , mine design plans, production forecasting, contributing to budgets, participating in feasibility studies and improvement projects.

Requirements: You will need to be a degree qualified Mining Engineer who has at least 3+ years experience with your underground time out the way Mine software experience is essential. Hopefully you have held a similar role.

This is one of the few companies that is still forging ahead with some great expansions. So, if you have a good team ethos and are looking to join a dedicated, top performer with an exceptional company culture, this is for you.

To apply – Please contact Diane on 08 9443 0400 or diane@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs UNDERGROUND MANAGER LOCATION – KALGOORLIE, GOLDFIELDS & ESPERANCE, WA Company – EMS Pty Ltd Some Companies just make you smile & it makes you realise there are still a few gems out there worthy of your exceptional talent in this Underground Mine Managers role.

We are looking for a highly motivated Underground Manager with the initiative and drive to lead this operation push through boundaries and hold the reigns.

It’s a FIFO role with an employer of choice, they are big players in the market, who have a proven record for rewarding hard work and a work ethic that fits the sites profile.

Whilst this role is autonomous you will be surrounded by the best in the business to give you the support when you need it.

As the Underground Manager the principal function of the role is operational Leadership to the underground mine by ensuring that the Mining team meet production targets on time and in budget while adhering to safety guidelines.

This role will suit an experienced engineer who has held the role as an alt or UGM for a few years. As such to be considered for this position you will have a Bachelor of Engineering in mining, a proven background in the mining industry (minimum of 8 – 10 years relevant experience). You will also possess a First Class Mine Manager’s ticket and exhibit exemplary personal skills such as the ability to lead people, build teams, good communication skills and the capability to generate improvement ideas across the site To apply – Please contact Diane on 08 9443 0400 or diane@emsjobs.com.au in strict confidence or to apply for this role, please visit www.miningaustralia.com.au/jobs

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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Your perfect partner in mining

With years of experience in water supply and water treatment, Grundfos can provide you with a wide range of quality, value for money pumping solutions for mining applications.

Grundfos NBG/NKG End Suction pumps are the perfect fit for water supply in mining operations and mineral processing. There is a wide range of NBG/NKG pumps to suit your particular application, so visit www.grundfos.com/mining to seek out a perfect fit.

Backed by a National Service Support Network, Grundfos is your perfect partner in mining.

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EVENTS

Conferences, seminars & workshops Event submissions can be emailed to ozmining@reedbusiness.com.au M&E WA 5-7 July Perth Convention Centre, WA M&E WA is a new mining industry exhibition and conference that focuses on the unique needs, challenges and opportunities facing WA's mining industry. Based in Perth, M&E WA will create an exciting new mining marketplace where miners, and the companies who supply them, can come together to network, source products & services, and do business.

• Reed Exhibitions Luke Griffin 02 9422 2339 luke.griffin@reedexhibitions.com. au www.miningandengineeringwa. com.au

Queensland Gas Conference and Exhibition (QGCE) 16-17 August Brisbane The two-day conference and exhibition will be held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, and is expected to attract up to 100 exhibitors, from the major exploration companies to major engineering firms and contractors, through to suppliers of specialised products and services.

The conference element is expected to see senior Queensland government representatives – both at a ministerial and departmental level – along with representatives of the major CSG extraction companies, as well as other industry specialists, scientists, academics and commentators.

• Reed Exhibitions David McCarthy 02 9422 2354 david.mccarthy@reedexhibitions. com.au

continuous automatic lubrication • less downtime • better productivity

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62 July 2011

AustralianMining

www.queenslandgasexhibition. com.au

NSW Mineral Exploration & Investment 2011 18-19 August Sofitel Hotel, Sydney New South Wales is a major Australian producer of coal, gold, base metals and other minerals and mineral products.

This major biennial two day conference presented by the NSW Department of Resources and Energy will feature the latest information on exploration initiatives; coal seam methane gas development; project development; and investment opportunities into the State.

The first day will focus on exploration in NSW and its geological features, while the second day looks at specific projects and how to invest in NSW as well as infrastructure expansions and development.

• The Meetings Manager 02 9810 7320 meetings@tmm.com.au www.industry.nsw.gov.au

AusIMM New Zealand Branch 2011 Annual Conference 27-30 August Millennium Hotel, Queenstown, New Zealand The conference is to celebrate New Zealand mining and the contribution this important industry makes to the future of the community through science, engineering and economic development.

While attending the Conference, take the opportunity to visit some of New Zealand’s mineral deposits and mining operations, and participate in a short course. Sample the unique scenery and adventure tourism that has made Queenstown one of the most desired (and affordable) tourism destinations in the world.

The NZ Branch of the AusIMM invites papers and posters for the 2011 NZ Branch Conference in Queenstown.

Presentations for the AusIMM conference are sought on any aspect of the minerals and mining industry on topics both within and outside New Zealand, particularly on: geosciences, exploration potential and case histories; mining – gold, coal, iron ore, base metals and

industrial minerals; finance, corporate and government relations for our mining industry; geotechnical, geophysical and related aspects; metallurgy and mineral processing; environmental management; and legal and commercial issues.

• AusImm NZ www.ausimm.co.nz

2011 Queensland Supply Chain & Logistics Conference 1-2 September Sofitel Hotel, Brisbane The Queensland Supply Chain & Logistics Conference is the largest event of its kind in the state and is ideally suited for Supply Chain, Logistics, Transport and Procurement professionals and practitioners.

A uniquely-styled educational event, the conference is designed for both professional and personal development in a most-relaxed environment. With a theme of 'Solving the Supply Chain Puzzle', the 2011 Queensland Supply Chain & Logistics Conference is an event not-to-be-missed.

• QLD SCC Nerida Kelton 07 3278 6461 nerida@qldscc.com www.qldscc.com

AIMEX 6-9 September Homebush, Sydney Held once every four years and firmly established on the international mining calendar, AIMEX is the flagship event within the portfolio of established industrial trade fairs staged by Reed Exhibitions. AIMEX is where Australian and international suppliers of mining technology, equipment and services come together with mining industry buyers and specifiers from throughout the Asia-Pacific region to network and explore business opportunities, and exchange technical information.

• Reed Exhibitions Peter Thompson 02 9422 2472 peter.thompson@reedexhibitions. com.au www.aimex.com.au

New South Wales Mine Rescue Challenge 9-11 September Ward Oval, Cobar, NSW The NSW Mines Rescue Challenge is

an opportunity for all Mines to send members of their mines rescue teams to participate in team scenarios, designed to test the knowledge, skills, leadership and teamwork ability of the teams’ members.

During a rescue scenario on a mine site, teams may be called from many areas – meaning that squad members must all work as a team for the one common purpose.

Opening as a “Challenge” also allows for greater flexibility in the scenarios; more opportunities for teamwork; mines to send “rookie” teams to the event; increased opportunity for learning and sharing of knowledge and experience between rescue teams.

The NSW Mines Rescue Challenge is unique in this respect – in no other Australian Mines Rescue event are teams from different sites encouraged to coach and assist each other to successfully complete scenarios. The NSW Mines Rescue challenge was the first of its kind in Australia with the committee being the founder of this type of challenge, where teams act as they would in a true Mines Rescue situation, sharing equipment, experience, and providing support for each other.

The Challenge is unique in Australian Mine’s Rescue events in that the most highly valued achievement is the “esprit de corps”, or the “Spirit” of the team during the Challenge.

As a privately run event, the Rescue Challenge is fully funded by sponsorship . With organisations support, we provide an event which is unique, accessible, and fun.

Organisational support provides valuable resources for the running of the Challenge, and offers great opportunities for organisations to raise awareness of their brands, values and ideals to the NSW Mines Rescue community – volunteers who have taken up the spirit of the Mines Rescue Challenge to provide a service to the mining community.

• NSW Mines Rescue Pat Willcocks 02 6836 9408 willcocksp@endavor.com.au www.nswmr.com.au

4th International Contaminated Site Remediation Conference 11-15 September Hilton Hotel, Adelaide

It is expected that more than 500 scientists, engineers, regulators and other environmental professionals representing universities, government (site management and regulatory agencies) and R&D and manufacturing firms from more than 20 countries will gather in Adelaide for this event.

The contaminated site remediation conference will build on the highly successful contamination CleanUp07 and CleanUp09 conferences.

Pre-conference short courses and workshops will again be held on the Sunday prior to the commencement of the technical conference program.

The 2011 technical conference program has been extended to four days and will again cover themes relating to the assessment and remediation of contaminants.

Themes include innovative site characterisation, assessment and monitoring; minimising uncertainty in risk management; best practice policy: putting guidance in place; cleaning up: making remediation effective; waste management: adding value to waste, value out of waste.

There will be an emphasis on current and emerging environmental issues facing the Asia-Pacific region.

The diverse program will feature 200 speakers and 50 poster presentations, an INdustry Summit, trade exhibition, poster sessions and field tours.

The conference is run by CRC CARE and the Australian Remediation Industry Cluster (ARIC).

• Clean Up Conference www.cleanupconference.com.au

DrillFest 2011 28-29 September Rockhampton, QLD DrillFest 2011 will provide an opportuntiy for suppliers to showcase the latest products and services, and the opporuntity to learn from leading specialists on a wide range of both technical and business issues.

This year's theme is “Valuing Our Resources”, and focuses on the need for all sectors to afford better protection for all the resources they may encounter during drilling.

• The Australian Drilling Industry Association Malcolm Minnis 07 3358 6832 mimassessor@bigpond.com www.miningaustralia.com.au

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If what you do depends on Lime, talk to us.

Mining operations depend on Lime. Which is why industry leaders get their Lime from Sibelco. Because while we might’ve changed our name from Unimin, we haven’t changed the quality of lime you’ve come to expect from us.

Whether it’s Quicklime, Hydrated Lime or one of many other limestone products you may require, Limil is a brand synonymous with quality. Choose Limil from one of the seven Sibelco plants around Australia and you can look forward to 135 years of Lime manufacturing expertise, the security of long-term supplies and a level of quality and consistency that our ISO9001:2008 Quality Program delivers.

To find out more about Limil, Sibelco and our industry-leading products, visit www.sibelco.com.au

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