AM March 2019

TECHNOLOGY MATERIALS HANDLING VOLUME 111/2 | MARCH 2019

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TECHNOLOGY MATERIALS HANDLING VOLUME 111/2 | MARCH 2019

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COMMENT

STAKING A CLAIM ON FUTURE GROWTH environmentally conscious company, perhaps one that chooses to mine ingredients for electric vehicles instead of coal.

But that is generally not the case – it will always be in a shareholder’s nature to search for the highest returns, just as the legacy of the mining industry pushes for companies to deliver the highest production results.

This will often conflict with what is required to keep local communities, governments and the general public happy.

With mining poised for growth, companies are figuring out how to complement each of these stakeholders.

Deloitte tackles the situation in its latest Tracking the Trends report for 2019. In our first article on the report, Deloitte reveals how mining companies can capitalise on or find better ways to use data when making key decisions to appease stakeholders.

The technology and information is now there for most mining companies to achieve this. It is just a matter of finding the answers amongst these tools.

In this edition of Australian Mining, we visit Port Kembla in New South Wales to explore Nepean’s materials handling operations.

This issue profiles Fitzroy Australia Resources’ Ironbark No. 1 coal project in Queensland, including the method the company is using for recruitment.

We explore BGC Contracting’s partnership approach at Boggabri in NSW and the Whyalla operations in South Australia.

This edition looks at Liebherr’s latest excavators, which build on the success of a predecessor that has pleased Australian operators.

And as usual, we review the latest mining equipment and technology in our regular products section.

Ben Creagh Editor

Cover image: BGC Contracting.

BEN CREAGH

Ben.Creagh@primecreative.com.au

WITH SO MANY PEOPLE TO PLEASE, HOW DO MINING AND METS COMPANIES APPROACH THE MODERN STAKEHOLDER BALANCING ACT?

I

t wasn’t that long ago that many mining companies had tunnel vision when it came to stakeholder engagement.

First and foremost, it was about keeping shareholders happy, and then perhaps the governments in the jurisdictions in which they operated.

And rightfully so (it may have been said). It is after all these primary and secondary stakeholders that provide the path to prosperity.

Much has changed, and again, rightfully so. The accountability of a mining company (and METS for that matter) has multiplied to include a series of vocal, demanding stakeholders.

Shareholders and governments may still hold the same level of importance, but they now increasingly share a mining company’s attention with a new breed of stakeholder, including local communities, customers, suppliers, environmental groups and the general public.

It is a balancing act that companies are grappling with and something that offers no uniform approach across the industry.

In some instances, these stakeholders are asking for similar values from a modern-day mining company.

For example, most governments look beyond taxes and join local communities in urging companies to give back at a grassroots level.

Investors are also more likely to back an

MANAGING DIRECTOR JOHN MURPHY MANAGING EDITOR BEN CREAGH Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: ben.creagh@primecreative.com.au JOURNALISTS EWEN HOSIE Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: ewen.hosie@primecreative.com.au VANESSA ZHOU Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: vanessa.zhou@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER JANINE CLEMENTS Tel: (02) 9439 7227 Email: janine.clements@primecreative.com.au

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FRONT COVER

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CONTENTS DRILL AND BLAST

TRACKING THE TRENDS

42-43 MINING’S VOLATILE FUTURE Deloitte’s response to the trend of disruption and volatility in the industry

THE POTENTIAL OF PLASMA Is plasma the future of drilling technology?

12-13 MATERIALS HANDLING

MAINTENANCE

44-45

THE MODULAR CONVEYOR A site visit to view Nepean’s latest launch for materials handling

DON’T GET CAUGHT The engineering of Spiralock and how it benefits maintenance practices

14-16 WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

MATERIALS HANDLING

FITZROY’S RECRUITMENT DRIVE Addressing skills shortages with a unique training and recruitment method

TAKING A LOAD OFF CRS and Fenner Dunlop talk their latest bulk materials handling developments

18-20 GOLD MINING

46-47

MINING MERGERS Barrick and Newmont raise the bar with gold’s latest mega mergers

METS IGNITED AND AUSIMM Two of Australia’s leading industry bodies discuss new initiatives

23-24

CONTRACT MINING BOGGABRI AND WHYALLA BGC Contracting brings two operations together

DIGITAL MINING

INDUSTRY COMMENT

49-50 26-28

INTERNET OF THINGS THE ROLL OUT INTO MINING Vega and Intov8 outline their use of the IoT technology

30-31 HASTINGS DEERING TAKES ON TECH The company dives into a digital world with some high profile inspiration

52-53 PROSPECT AWARDS

MINING EQUIPMENT

COMMUNITY SPIRIT How Morris Corporation’s mining exploits caught Sodexo’s eye

32-34 A SPECIAL DELIVERY Liebherr’s latest excavators drive productivity

54

PRODUCT FOCUS

REHABILITATION

38-40

ON A HOSE CRUSADE A reel solution for mine dewatering makes an impact in the Pilbara

LEAVING A LEGACY The evolution of mining rehab and the growing importance to get it right

55 REGULARS

NEWS 8-10

PRODUCTS 56-57

AUSTRALIANMINING

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EVENTS 58

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NEWS

THE LATEST MINING AND SAFETY NEWS AUSTRALIAN MINING AND SAFE TO WORK PRESENT THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE BOARDROOM TO THE MINE AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN. VISIT WWW.AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU AND WWW.SAFETOWORK.COM.AU TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING. NATIONAL GROUP DELIVERS TWO EXCAVATORS TO BHP COAL MINES

AUSTRALIAN MINING GETS THE LATEST NEWS EVERY DAY, PROVIDING MINING PROFESSIONALS WITH UP TO THE MINUTE INFORMATION ON SAFETY, NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MINING AND RESOURCES INDUSTRY.

THE HITACHI EXCAVATOR DELIVERED TO BHP.

National Group has started 2019 in the same way it finished a recordbreaking 2018 for the company by delivering a pair of excavators into Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) added the first of these excavators, a Hitachi EX5600, to the Peak Downs mine.

National Group also delivered five Liebherr ultra-class T 282C trucks to Peak Downs last September.

The second excavator, a Liebherr R 996B, was delivered to the Poitrel mine, part of the BHP Mitsui Coal (BMC) joint venture. It is the first piece of equipment National Group has supplied to Poitrel.

National Group founder and managing director Mark Ackroyd said the delivery of the excavators contributed to an already strong relationship with BHP. “We have been working with BHP for some time now, especially at

Peak Downs, so to be adding more equipment there is a testament to the machines we currently have operating for them and speaks volumes of our team on-site who do a great job with maintenance when needed,” Ackroyd said.

“Poitrel on the other hand, we are very excited to be adding our first piece of equipment there and for it to be the ever reliable Liebherr 996 digger.

We’re confident they are going to love

this machine and hope it is just the beginning of things to come.”

National Group used its unique capabilities to handle all transport – assembly and delivery – to overcome the complex process of bringing the equipment to Australia.

Ackroyd said National Group knew how difficult it could be to get the bigger gear to Australia first of all, let alone having to worry about everything else once it arrived.

“That is why we have worked very hard to build brands that complement each other in the entire journey of port-topit,” Ackroyd said.

National Group, coming off one of its best years to date, has set future plans to invest in technology and enter the automation space.

OZ MINERALS STRIKES GREENFIELDS DISCOVERY DEAL WITH RED METAL OZ Minerals and Red Metal have formed a joint venture agreement aimed at fast tracking the search for greenfields discoveries at projects in Western Australia and Queensland.

The greenfields discovery alliance provides OZ Minerals with a two-year option to fund a series of mutually agreed, proof of concept work programs on six of Red Metal’s early stage projects.

In Western Australia, the companies will explore for copper-gold and

copper-cobalt prospects at the Yarrie project, and for copper-gold and copper-nickel prospects at the Nullabor project.

The JV will target four opportunities in Queensland, including copper-gold at the Gulf project, zinc-lead-silver at the Three Ways project, zinc-lead-silver at the Lawn Hill project, and zinc-leadsilver at the Mount Skipper project.

Red Metal’s board believes the alliance sets a new standard for collaboration between a leading

AUSTRALIANMINING

mining group with an expert junior exploration company.

The OZ Minerals-Red Metal alliance planned to start exploration work, including high-resolution gravity surveys, at the Nullabor and Lawn Hill projects in early 2019. Other work programs are pending the grant of certain tenements.

OZ Minerals has committed to spend a minimum amount on each project within the two-year period, with the total commitment to be $8.05 million.

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After reaching the minimum spend, OZ Minerals has the option to form a joint venture at any particular project and can earn 51 per cent by spending an earn-in amount during a certain period.

Once OZ Minerals has earned 51 per cent of a particular project, Red Metal can decide to contribute pro-rata to future exploration and development costs to retain its 49 per cent interest, or elect not to contribute and have its stake reduced to 30 per cent.

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NEWS

NORTHPARKES MINES EXPANSION TO CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES IN NSW REGION

UNDERGROUND ACTIVITY AT NORTHPARKES.

Northparkes Mines has approved a new block cave mine for its successful copper operation in the Parkes region of Central West New South Wales.

The $220 million investment will be over a three-and-a-half year period.

Construction started on the project in January 2019.

The project will deliver 11 kilometres of underground development, an underground primary crusher,

conveying systems and associated infrastructure. At the peak of construction the project will employ up to 180 additional people, which will largely be a mixture of Northparkes Mines employees and Central West contractors who will be filling roles for engineers, tradespeople, underground development operators and more.

Full production is expected in mid2022 when the new block cave

known as E26 Lift 1 North (E26L1N) is complete, producing approximately 40 million tonnes of ore over a 10year period.

E26L1N will be designed to use automation and digitisation, helping to deliver a safer and more productive mine.

Northparkes Mines managing director Hubert Lehman said, “This is a major investment in the future of our business and a very exciting time

for Northparkes. We look forward to continuing to contribute to the local community in which we live and work for years to come.”

“The opportunities for lifestyle, families and career development are pretty impressive here, especially with many new positions opening up every day,” said Lehman. “We encourage staff progression and this is a place where you can really make your mark.”

GRUYERE GOLD JV MOVES CLOSER TO PRODUCTION LAUNCH

QUEENSLAND EXPLORERS HUNT FOR NEXT MAJOR DISCOVERY

First ore has been mined on schedule at the Gruyere gold project in Western Australia.

Joint venture partners Gold Fields and Gold Road moved construction of the Eastern Goldfields project to 91 per cent complete during January.

With this progress, Gruyere remains on track for first gold production in the June 2019 quarter.

Mining services contractor Downer started double-shift operations at the site as part of the production ramp up.

To de-risk the project start-up a significant amount of ore is forecast to be stockpiled in advance of first gold production, according to the Gruyere partners.

“Construction works in the primary crusher area are substantially complete, with ore commissioning of the primary crusher to coarse ore stockpile circuit in progress,” the JV stated in January.

“The remaining process plant construction works are concentrated in the milling, CIL (carbon in leach) and elution areas and include piping, electrical and instrumentation installations and progressive commissioning of systems and equipment through these areas.”

The JV is also on course to complete development of the project within its forecasted costs, estimated to be $621 million.

Gold Fields and Gold Road, in an update in the second half of 2018, forecast Gruyere to annually produce an average of 300,000 ounces over a 12-year mine life.

The Queensland Government has unlocked more land for exploration companies to identify the next generation of resources projects.

Mines Minister Anthony Lynham announced the successful tenderers for minerals and coal tenders in the state’s North West Minerals Province and the Bowen and Surat basins in January.

Junior explorer Red Metal will be able to explore for zinc, lead, copper and silver deposits across 400 square kilometres of land around 250 kilometres north of Mount Isa. Four other companies – Denham Coal, Queensland Coal Investments, Enex Togara and Wandoan Holdings – will be able to launch exploration over 369 square kilometres of land in the Bowen and Surat basins.

These areas are near Moranbah, Blackwater and west of Maryborough close to existing mines or mining leases.

Lynham said unlocking land for resource exploration – whether it is to uncover coal, gas or minerals – was vital to continuing resource development to help create mining jobs or deliver royalties to fund our hospitals and schools.

“Exploration is essential for Queensland to keep up with the world’s thirst for tech minerals and our own manufacturing sector’s ongoing need for high-quality base metals,” Lynham said.

The tenders follow release of a geological report that shows Queensland is sitting on almost double the amount of coal than was last known.

According to the report, Queensland has 63 billion tonnes of raw coal in-situ, an increase of around 29 billion tonnes on the previous estimate.

Lynham said this included more than 14 billion tonnes of coking coal.

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MARCH 2019

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TRACKING THE TRENDS

THE ANSWERS TO A DISRUPTIVE MINING FUTURE DELOITTE’S LATEST MINING TRENDS SHARE SIMILAR THEMES TO THE INDUSTRY’S HISTORIC CHALLENGES THAT THEN BECOME MORE COMPLICATED UNDER THE SURFACE. BEN CREAGH EXPLAINS.

V

olatility and disruption have always posed threats to mining.

However, the risks they present to the industry have evolved as the pace of change in mining has accelerated.

Volatility has historically risen from fluctuations in commodity prices, and how this movement affects operational strategies and financial performance.

Disruption, in recent times, has stemmed primarily from the technology that is transforming sites, including their equipment and

HOW MINING COMPANIES JOIN UP ALL OF THOSE STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT BECAUSE SOMETIMES THOSE EXPECTATIONS DON’T ALIGN WITH EVERYTHING THEY HAVE PLANNED.” operations centres that run the mines.

Nothing has changed in this regard – if anything, the microscope on these factors has only intensified.

But mining now also increasingly contends with changing community standards and the complex attitudes towards the industry.

The spotlight on the industry has expanded and the expectations of a broader range of stakeholders have become critical.

This combination of factors makes it imperative for mining companies to clarify how they drive value into the future, Deloitte points out in its 2019

Tracking the Trends report.

Deloitte urges mining companies to more clearly demonstrate to these stakeholders how they plan to respond when prices inevitably fall again.

Producing at the lowest costs possible remains a vital measure of operational performance.

According to Deloitte, however, others measures include a focus on the role of individual assets in portfolios, re-imaging the path to value creation, finding balance between risk and return, and understanding how a company can differentiate itself.

COPYRIGHT © 2018 RIO TINTO

RIO TINTO’S OYU TOLGOI PROJECT IN MONGOLIA IS ONE OF ITS MAJOR COPPER PROJECTS.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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MARCH 2019

TRACKING THE TRENDS

IMAGE: SANDVIK

Technology, predictably, will be a key part of building the value foundation, Deloitte Australia national mining leader Ian Sanders tells Australian Mining.

“It is going to continue to cause disruption as companies join up to the digital supply chain, that’s where we are not just looking in isolation at autonomous drilling or trucks, or at robotic process automation,” Sanders says.

“How will all of that come together? And how will that collection of data and data-related assets get used within an organisation?”

Sanders sees a technological divide potentially forming in the industry, where some companies will have a fully integrated digital supply network set up, while others will only have small pieces of the supply chain in place.

He says the new insights that are being driven by data are forcing companies to re-assess their digital ecosystems and collaborative partners.

“That has become really important … the companies that don’t leverage that intangible asset of data are going to miss out.”

The disruption being caused by changing community and social standards is not limited to the mining sector, but the broad spectrum of industries.

For example, the Royal Commission into banking in Australia brought attention to the role of large corporations in the financial sector.

In mining, however, Sanders says there has been a major shift in what companies need to do to satisfy a vast range of stakeholders.

He refers to communities, customers, suppliers and governments as the key stakeholders that now sit alongside company shareholders as groups companies must aim to appease.

“How mining companies join up all of those stakeholder expectations is becoming increasingly difficult because sometimes those expectations don’t align with everything they have planned in their strategic objectives,” Sanders says.

“Getting that balance right, reporting transparently around what you are doing in terms of social licence or social outcomes is really important in terms of that communication.”

Deloitte’s opening trend in 2019, ‘Rethinking mining strategies’, outlines its first set of recommendations that help companies prepare for the accelerating rate of change.

Despite the problematic no-so-

DATA AND TECHNOLOGIES LIKE AUTOMATION CONTINUE TO CHANGE MINING.

distant approach of the past to base strategic planning around producing the highest volumes of ore at the lowest possible costs, Deloitte believes companies are still grappling with their transition from this legacy.

Deloitte states that companies have not yet sufficiently broadened their strategic outlook to take a range of critical industry shifts into account.

But as Sanders indicates, this outlook can be transformed through a mindset switch that will allow companies to better use the opportunities now available to them.

“Now we have better information and data than we’ve ever had before so organisations are really able to evaluate, and evaluate on a regular basis, not just annually, their portfolio of choices,” he says.

“So it’s really critical that we have got that ability to do that on a regular basis. In that portfolio of choices we need to consider all stakeholders.”

Sanders points to Rio Tinto’s exit from the coal industry and increasing focus on building its copper portfolio over the past two years as an example of how this approach has been put into practice.

Rio Tinto completed the $2.69 billion sale of its Hunter Valleyfocused thermal coal business Coal & Allied to Yancoal in September 2017.

In 2018, the mining company divested several coal assets in Queensland to multiple buyers, including Glencore and EMR Capital.

At the same time, Rio Tinto has

AUSTRALIANMINING

GETTING THAT BALANCE RIGHT, REPORTING TRANSPARENTLY AROUND WHAT YOU ARE DOING IN TERMS OF SOCIAL LICENCE OR SOCIAL OUTCOMES IS REALLY IMPORTANT IN TERMS OF THAT COMMUNICATION.” increased its exposure to future supply of copper, a crucial ingredient found in electric vehicles, with exploration activity in Western Australia and a joint venture in Peru.

“That translates to taking out potential future earnings to appeal to environmentally friendly stakeholders, including investors,” Sanders says.

“That was good messaging put out by Rio in that regard – a really strategic portfolio choice by them.”

Sanders is convinced mining companies can start to rethink their strategies on a regular basis to support changing stakeholder demands instead of taking the common periodical approach that has become archaic.

“It is no longer good enough to look at your portfolio over a tenure of the chief executive officer or the current executive leadership team. It needs to be done on a regular basis with much richer information and intelligence than we’ve had before,” Sanders concludes.

Deloitte’s recommendations for ‘Rethinking mining strategies’:

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Use data to drive strategy Mining companies must rely on data to mitigate unanticipated risks and overcome longstanding biases. From a strategic planning perspective, this means using data to answer casual questions designed to align management on the issues it must tackle.

Put strategy to the stress test Mining companies that fail to expose weakness in their strategy will be at particular risk. To close strategic gaps, companies should stress test their strategy by clarifying their understanding of customer segments, their stakeholder value proposition, their key performance metrics, and their risk tolerances.

Consider a range of scenarios Scenario planning, enhanced with AI, can give executives a structured way to consider a range of unpredictable futures, equipping them with information they can use to make flexible strategic choices.

This makes it useful to companies eager to test their portfolio strategy using AI to monitor multiple market signals.

AM

MATERIALS HANDLING

STACKED UP: HOW NEPEAN IS BUILDING A CONVEYOR REVOLUTION NEPEAN CONVEYORS IS PLANNING TO CHANGE THE GAME FOR MATERIALS HANDLING IN 2019 BY INTRODUCING ITS AGILE RELOCATABLE CONVEYOR SYSTEM. NSW GENERAL MANAGER BILL MUNDAY TELLS EWEN HOSIE ABOUT THE SYSTEM DURING A SITE VISIT AT PORT KEMBLA.

O

verland conveyors are a vital piece of mining equipment, but they are not known for their mobility. Once in place, sites generally expect conveyors to remain put for several years.

Privately-owned original equipment manufacturer (OEM) Nepean Conveyors plans to disrupt this tradition with its latest project, a relocatable conveyor designed for ease of transportation, assembly and (eventually) dismantling.

The Nepean Relocatable Conveyor system — which will be officially named following an internal competition — has taken over two years of research and design to develop.

It promises to upend the traditional approach to conveyor design on account of its improved mobility, operational flexibility, ease of transport and speed of installation.

Instead of building conveyor parts to meet the needs of freight shipping container dimensions, the Australian and international patents pending Nepean Relocatable Conveyor is a half-height high cube portal frame configuration that is certified for standard freight shipping.

This means the conveyor is transportable anywhere in the world as a fully assembled unit.

Not only does this approach allow the conveyor modules to be stacked and loaded for direct transport via sea, rail or road, it also makes the system easier to move, remove, assemble and eventually disassemble as the site requires.

The units can, therefore, be stacked on ships, unloaded directly onto trucks or trains and transported to a site’s lay down area for direct assembly.

The frames are 12 metres long, with the unit inside supporting belt widths of up to 1800 millimetres on straight conveyors and 1600 millimetres on curved conveyors.

Roof-mounted wind guards are also available for each module in a single curve or straight two-piece

THE BEAUTY OF HAVING A HALF-HEIGHT HI CUBE SHIPPING CONTAINER FORMAT IS THAT THEY CAN BE MULTI-STACKED ON SHIPS, TRAINS OR TRUCKS.”

THE HEAD END OF THE CONVEYOR.

configuration.

The modules can be triple stacked on a prime mover and unloaded in one bundle using standard container handling equipment, such as fork lift trucks, reach stackers, frannas and cranes, which can then place each module in line for final connection.

This approach vastly reduces the total install cost per lineal metre by minimising both time and staff requirements during setup.

AUSTRALIANMINING

“One of the areas we really wanted to target was logistics,” Nepean general manager, New South Wales, Bill Munday tells Australian Mining during a site visit to Port Kembla.

“It can turn into a real logistical exercise moving all this equipment from one site to the next and doing so efficiently. The beauty of having a half-height hi cube shipping container format is that they can be multistacked on ships, trains or trucks.

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“You can potentially get nine modules per road train at a length of 12 metres per module.”

The unit also minimises ground works. The frame’s integral legs can be set in place by removing a pin, folding them out and replacing the pin to lock the legs in position.

The foot plates also have holes in them for additional stakes to be inserted, which adds stability and security in cyclone-rated zones.

While the exposed design of the frame means the unit lacks the surface area to be blown over, it can potentially slide sideways, so the stakes help to eliminate these issues.

Once the modules are aligned to an installation jig on the ground, which is adjustable for idler spacing and roller configurations, the structure can be super elevated by up to seven degrees and banked around corners.

Alternatively, ground screws are also available for added stability and flexibility. Trestles with independent walkways can also be assembled using these ground screw bases to build the conveyor over water courses or cattle crossings.

These options allow for the conveyor pathway to be roughly graded within 100 millimetres.

“All the equipment is pre-designed for a fully functioning conveyor and the container module is just part of the system,” Munday says.

“We have also designed a unique one-piece head end that incorporates a drive system up to approximately 4000 kilowatts, a loop take-up and delivery jib that can be put on a 200-tonne float to transport around

MATERIALS HANDLING

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MATERIALS HANDLING

mine sites. It is held in place by large ground anchors — there’s minimal concreting or civil works — you just dig a couple of holes and bury the ground anchor.”

Interestingly, the conveyor is not classified as fixed plant due to the unique way it has been designed.

In addition to significantly lowering civil works and installation costs, the Nepean Relocatable Conveyor’s mobility allows it to be adaptable to changes in mining operations, positioning it as a true alternative to mine trucks when it is time to move the conveyor on site.

“If you put in a traditional system over a five-year period, that’s classed as fixed plant and depreciates over those five years,” Munday explains.

“With this type of equipment, because it’s modular and reusable, it’s got a 20-year lifespan, so you can depreciate it over a much longer period. It’s not classed as fixed plant for that reason.”

Nepean’s system is primarily designed for use at satellite mine sites that will benefit from the improved portability of the system, while at the same time providing substantial cost savings and reducing downtime.

“From the testing we are doing

WITH THIS TYPE OF EQUIPMENT, BECAUSE IT’S MODULAR AND REUSABLE, IT’S GOT A 20-YEAR LIFESPAN, SO YOU CAN DEPRECIATE IT OVER A MUCH LONGER PERIOD. IT’S NOT CLASSED AS FIXED PLANT FOR THAT REASON.” out here [in Unanderra], we can ideally install 1200 metres of ROM conveyor in a 10-hour shift,” explains Munday.

“Realistically though, we would probably install about 600 metres in that time. It pretty much works out at a metre a minute.”

The system can be hired (though this is open to negotiation with the client) and since its design cuts down on the need for concreting, digging and other civil works associated with traditional conveyor installation, this leads to the significant cost and time savings.

THE MODULES CAN BE ADJUSTED FOR DIFFERENT IDLER SPACING AND ROLLER CONFIGURATIONS.

“We have had a number of subcontractors come onsite who have mentioned that other companies that use dump trucks can just slot one of these in place being so versatile, however many they want, whether going straight or round a curve,” Kyle Napoleoni, a project engineer testing a three-roll offset, two-roll return Nepean Relocatable Conveyor unit at

THE CONVEYORS MAKE USE OF A HALF-HEIGHT FRAME CONFIGURATION CERTIFIED FOR STANDARD FREIGHT SHIPPING.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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MARCH 2019

a BlueScope site in Wollongong, says.

“The versatility of the design and the handling and adjustment of the legs are majorly beneficial, as is the lateral adjustment in the internal conveyor frames. Everything has been thought about.”

The innovation doesn’t end with the conveyor configuration, however.

The head and tail end of the conveyor have also been designed with an eye to improved setup and transport speeds.

The all-in-one relocatable head end used for the conveyor trial (compete with jib, drive head and loop take up) at the BlueScope site is powered by Nepean’s in-house Nifty Drive, a rapid deployment conveyor drive system that evolved from the company’s standard underground conveyor equipment range.

The Nepean Relocatable Conveyor system, set for launch in the first quarter of 2019, holds strong potential for international expansion.

Nepean is already in the early stages of adding a fully automated idler change system to the Nepean Relocatable Conveyor through discussions with a Perth startup, delivering possibilities for even more productivity and safety benefits to the relocatable system.

With the Nepean Relocatable Conveyor, Nepean is starting 2019 in a promising way.

“The mining industry has gone through some tough times in the last few years, but we’re starting to come out of that now. We’re seeing much more positive attitudes and can see our business ramping up over the next 12–18 months. We’ve come out of the downturn in an extremely strong position,” Munday concludes. AM

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WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT

FITZROY AUSTRALIA AVOIDS A CULTURE CLASH AT IRONBARK NO. 1 FITZROY AUSTRALIA RESOURCES IS USING A DIFFERENT METHOD FOR SOURCING THE RIGHT WORKERS AT ITS COAL PROJECTS IN QUEENSLAND. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

O

vercoming skills shortages demands a unique approach in Australian mining at the moment.

Not only are shortages increasing across the country, but they also threaten to derail the ambitions of mining companies focused on expansion in a growing marketplace.

They even pose a risk to companies that want to create a certain culture that drives a consistent level of performance across multiple operations.

Coal miner Fitzroy Australia Resources has set out to lower the impact of these concerns at its Bowen Basin operations in Queensland by introducing an innovative approach to recruitment and training.

The company, which acquired a group of metallurgical coal assets from Brazilian miner Vale in 2016, has established a presence over the past three years at the Carborough

Downs mine, employing 340 employees and contractors.

It plans to build off this start at its next coal project, Ironbark No.1, where it will require 350 workers for an underground mine expected to produce 6 million tonnes of coking coal a year.

The company has launched a unique recruitment and training program to fill half of the jobs it is creating at Ironbark No. 1 with workers who are new to the mining industry.

Fitzroy Australia chief executive officer Grant Polwarth says the company factored in the skills shortages facing mining and how it can overcome the challenge.

“Skills shortages in the underground coal mining industry are very real – from statutory officials, to trades, to operators,” Polwarth tells Australian Mining.

“We must innovate and bring new people into the industry who share our values. This is the only way we

WE MUST INNOVATE AND BRING NEW PEOPLE INTO THE INDUSTRY WHO SHARE OUR VALUES. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE WILL ATTRACT A UNIQUELY TALENTED TEAM TO HELP US BUILD OUR BUSINESS.” will attract a uniquely talented team to help us build our business.”

Fitzroy has formed a partnership with SES Labour Services to provide the training, development and recruitment solutions at Ironbark No. 1, the first asset from the Vale package it will develop into a mine.

Ironbark No. 1, scheduled to reach production in first quarter 2020, will be an underground longwall, and bord and pillar site operated

by Fitzroy. The project is designed to share major infrastructure with Carborough Downs.

SES will deliver the cultural assessment, training requirements and recruitment activities needed

for all 350 positions Fitzroy expects it will need.

During this process, Fitzroy will collaborate with SES to establish a culture that is consistent across Ironbark No. 1, as well as its other operations.

SES executive general manager Nathan Sharpe says the recruitment and training company has worked closely with Fitzroy to understand the mining company’s values and culture since forming the partnership.

“We are putting a series of assessment tools together – if the candidates score well in the areas that are aligned to the Fitzroy

INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE CARBOROUGH DOWNS COAL MINE.

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MARCH 2019

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FITZROY WORKERS AT THE CARBOROUGH DOWNS MINE.

way then they will be the type of candidates that Fitzroy wants to bring into Ironbark No 1, both green skins and experienced operators,” Sharpe, a former Australian Wallabies rugby union player, tells Australian Mining.

“It is going to be a long process; the initial screening process is going to take a couple of months to get the right people lined up.

“Fitzroy is taking a truly unique approach. They are very proud of what their culture is (at Carborough Downs) and they want to extend that into another mine site.”

Fitzroy and SES will officially start recruitment for the underground roles in in the fourth quarter of 2019, but candidates have already been showing interest in the opportunity.

Polwarth says the partnership with SES is an important part of how Fitzroy will de-risk the development.

“This partnership will leverage off SES Labour Services’ specialist skills and experience in recruitment and training, but most importantly will look outside of our industry to focus on culture and leadership training – which is often overlooked with a singular focus on hard skills,” Polwarth says.

“We want pulling on a Fitzroy shirt to mean you are part of a team, part

WE ARE CURRENTLY INVESTING IN VIRTUAL REALITY PLATFORMS FOR PRINCIPLE HAZARD AWARENESS TRAINING TO SYNTHESISE THE WORK ENVIRONMENT AND TAKE TRAINING OUTCOMES AND PREPAREDNESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL.” of something special.”

Sharpe, who played 116 matches for the Wallabies over a decade, draws parallels with his experience as a professional sportsman to what Fitzroy Australia wants to achieve at Ironbark No.1.

“I just think it’s the importance of how teams interact; I have been in some good teams and some ordinary teams,” Sharpe says.

“That translates into mining, in the business and all other facets of team work as well. Getting the right people on the bus to start with is always a key.

“Fitzroy Australia are clearly passionate, they are such a highly driven and motivated company – it’s really quite easy to see this as a direction to take.”

Fitzroy’s plan to hire a workforce that is half made up of people new to mining represents one of the top risks it faces at Ironbark No. 1.

Polwarth says there will be a focus AUSTRALIANMINING

on mentoring, incorporating the experienced workers that Fitzroy and SES identify as suitable candidates.

The experienced miners will be required to work closely with the new workers to help them become comfortable in an underground environment.

“We are currently investing in virtual reality platforms for principle hazard awareness training to synthesise the work environment and take training outcomes and preparedness to the next level,” Polwarth adds.

“We will be working to further our culture where we embrace accountability and celebrate our successes. We are proud and hungry to cut coal, and believe strongly in a mature safety culture where we are all one team.”

Fitzroy has also taken a partnership approach in other parts of Ironbark No. 1’s development, including with Nepean Mining,

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which will design and deliver key equipment and infrastructure.

Nepean’s scope at Ironbark No. 1 covers conveyors, electrical systems, electrical reticulation, the mine ventilation system and the longwall system.

Beyond Carboroough Downs, Ironbark No. 1 and its Broadlea project, Fitzroy has more than 98,000 hectares of tenements in the Bowen Basin.

The company has a pipeline of organic growth opportunities including the 12-mile Moranbah Measures Underground, 12-mile Rengal Measure Open Cut and Broadlea Central.

Each of these prospects will have unique characteristics, but if there is one thing that Fitzroy hopes to control, it will be establishing a consistent culture across all operations that feeds off the strategy taken at Ironbark No. 1.

“To build a world-class mine, we have entered into strategic partnerships with companies where there is great alignment in values and culture that will be companybuilding for both parties and deliver results. We believe that on-time, on-budget and world-class need not be mutually exclusive,” Polwarth concludes. AM

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GOLD MINING

GOLDEN DEALS GRIP MINING FOR MORE MERGER ACTIVITY AFTER TWO MAJOR DEALS THAT WILL CREATE THE WORLD’S LARGEST GOLD MINERS, WILL THE AUSTRALIAN SECTOR BE NEXT TO EXPERIENCE CONSOLIDATION? BEN CREAGH WRITES.

F

our of the world’s major gold companies are set to become the two biggest miners of the precious metal by the middle of this year following two separate deals.

Barrick Gold delivered the first shake-up of the industry in September 2018 by announcing it would acquire Randgold Resources to create what it thought would be the world’s largest gold miner.

Newmont, however, outdid its Kalgoorlie Super Pit joint venture partner in January by securing a $US10 billion ($14 billion) acquisition of Goldcorp to steal the mantle of what will be the world’s largest.

Regardless of who becomes the biggest, both mega-deals create gold companies with some of world’s standout operations across at least four continents.

They also potentially have ramifications for the Australian gold industry, particular at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit, the long-standing KCGM joint venture between Barrick and Newmont.

Barrick has, for several years, been rumoured to be considering a divestment of its share at the Super Pit, a conversation that has ramped up again since the deal with Randgold was announced.

Newmont, which also owns the Boddington (Western Australia) and Tanami (Northern Territory) gold sites in Australia, may also be considering its options at the Super Pit as it rationalises the combined portfolio it will have with Goldcorp.

The United States company has, however, focused on the strength of its alliance with Goldcorp to this point.

“Combining forces will give us the sector’s best project pipeline and exploration portfolio,” Newmont chief executive Gary Goldberg said when the deal was announced.

“These prospects translate to the gold sector’s largest reserve and resource base.”

As the two mega deals edge closer to completion, they have also

THE GLOBAL GOAL INDUSTRY IS UNDERGOING AN OVERHAUL.

raised discussion around if they will instigate the start of a fresh round of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the Australian and international gold market.

The two deals may have caused a peak in this discussion, but they in fact continue consistent merger activity in the gold sector in recent years, according to Ernst & Young partner Paul Murphy.

“It’s all about rationalisation, head office costs, increasing the project pipeline, extending reserve life and upgrading the portfolio,” Murphy tells Australian Mining.

“That is the way of mergers in the mining sector but what both of these proposed mergers indicate to me is really a rationalisation of portfolios.”

The plans of both merged entities to eventually divest some non-core AUSTRALIANMINING

assets will increase the focus on the Super Pit, Murphy continues.

“They will go through their portfolio of assets and then use the criteria for what will make the cut in terms of their portfolio,” he says.

“It may well be that they don’t see a lot of growth in the Super Pit going forward. It is a high cost operation so the rumour might turn out to be realised.”

Despite the consistent flow of M&A activity, Murphy is not so sure that it will extend to the Australian gold sector, which comprises a wealth of mid-tier players, such as Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources.

Evolution Mining chairman Jake Klein agrees, and questions whether there is a need for companies of their size to get bigger at the moment.

Klein, speaking during a

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conference call, says he hasn’t met an Evolution shareholder that views the company’s size as a limitation.

“I’m not sure that the thesis of bigger is better is necessarily borne out in the history of the gold sector when mid-tiers have generated better returns for shareholders over a long period of time,” Klein says.

Murphy also believes there may not be a lot of benefit for the mid-tier gold sector in Australia to look for tie ups.

“Yes, they might be able to rationalise some front office costs but would it add to their portfolios,” Murphy says. “Because it is generally the same jurisdiction and similar types of mines they often can’t see value in a merger between a couple of mid tiers.

“If they are looking for a miner

GOLD MINING

that has a significant reserve life and they are challenged by the reserve life in their portfolio then they would be more obliged to do it.”

The anticipation for M&A activity is also being fuelled by improving prices for the precious metal, which have climbed above $US1300 ($1814) an ounce this year.

While $US1300 an ounce was previously regarded as a psychological barrier for gold, that mark’s resistance now looks to be a concept of the past, according to John Feeney, ABC Bullion business development manager.

Feeney, who looks back on the $US1300 an ounce mark as a “short-term hurdle” for gold, believes a more challenging price barrier lies ahead.

“I think a more important

IF THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A MINER THAT HAS A SIGNIFICANT RESERVE LIFE AND THEY WERE CHALLENGED BY THE RESERVE LIFE IN THEIR PORTFOLIO THEN THEY WOULD BE MORE OBLIGED TO DO IT.” resistance zone for gold sits around the highs of the past few years in the $US1350 to $US1375 range,” Feeney says.

“If we see gold successfully break north of this range we could see sentiment turn very bullish amongst investors, as it will appear confirmed that gold is in a new long-term uptrend.”

Murphy sees potential for the gold price to increase further because of the volatility and global geopolitical

instability that exists.

He points to the trade wars between the United States and China, as well as European concerns like Brexit, as factors that could destabilise certain currencies, moving gold into its traditional role as a safe haven for investors.

“If there is a derailment along the way for whatever reason and the Aussie dollar devalues at five to 10 per cent, it may just well be the catalysts for acquisitions of

THE FAMOUS KALGOORLIE SUPER PIT, ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S TOP PRODUCING GOLD MINES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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Australian gold miners or predatortype activity,” Murphy says.

From ABC Bullion’s perspective, Feeney would not be surprised if demand for gold softens slightly from India, but remains strong in China if prices continue to trend upwards.

However, he doesn’t expect the two Asian markets to be the main influencers of gold price fluctuation.

“I think the new driver for prices will come from the west, as investors see higher levels of risk and uncertainty developing as Central Banks start tightening monetary policy and removing stimulus,”Feeney said.

“We expect financial market instability to increase European and US investor appetite for gold in a big way moving forward.” AM

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CONTRACT MINING BGC CONTRACTING IT IS NOW THE SINGLE SUPPLIER OF MINING SERVICES AT WHYALLA.

BGC CONTRACTING BRINGS BOGGABRI AND WHYALLA TOGETHER THE MINING CONTRACTOR HAS MADE TWO MAJOR AUSTRALIAN MINING OPERATIONS THAT HAVE LITTLE IN COMMON MORE ALIKE THAN THEY SEEM. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

T

he Boggabri and Whyalla mining operations may not appear to have many similarities on the surface.

Boggabri, in New South Wales, is a leading coal operation in the Gunnedah region, whereas Whyalla is a multi-site iron ore complex that supplies the South Australian town’s steelworks.

There are also contrasts in the development of the operations in recent years as they have overcome different industry challenges.

Idemitsu Australia Resources’ Boggabri mine, a thermal and coking coal operation since 2006, is forecast to produce 7 million tonnes of saleable coal through to 2033 under its current plan.

Whyalla iron ore operations, on the other hand, have experienced a longawaited resurgence in the past year since being acquired by GFG Alliance during 2017 under the SIMEC Mining and OneSteel operations.

But Boggabri and Whyalla have some similarities, a major one being that they share the same mining services provider, BGC Contracting.

The Perth-headquartered contractor won a five-year, $700 million contract

from Idemitsu to deliver mining and equipment maintenance services at Boggabri in late 2017.

BGC has been contracted at Whyalla since 2012 and has received a series of extensions in the years since, including a $720 million, five-year agreement less than two years ago.

Add to this, SIMEC Mining last year appointed BGC Contracting as Whyalla’s single supplier of mining services, a role that had previously been shared between multiple companies.

Since May last year BGC Contracting has also delivered a series of new equipment investments to both operations, driving yet another thing in common for two sites in different geographic locations.

The contractor has invested more than $45 million in equipment between the sites over the past five months as part of its contractual commitments to bolster mining operations.

BGC Contracting’s investment is led by the $20 million acquisition and commissioning of a Liebherr R 9800 excavator at Boggabri.

The 800-tonne machine was delivered to the Boggabri operation AUSTRALIANMINING

BGC CONTRACTING HAS PROVIDED SERVICES AT THE WHYALLA IRON ORE OPERATIONS SINCE 2012.

last December, becoming the largest excavator in the company’s fleet.

BGC Contracting’s mining chief operations officer Andrew Taplin says the two clients have shown great confidence in the company to introduce its unique contracting model, which has included the upgrading of machinery fleets in its project delivery.

“The operations have a different scale of equipment and geographical

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spread of mining operations, but the similarity is in our project delivery and contracting model,” Taplin tells Australian Mining.

“We have got the BGC Contracting model working extremely effectively at Whyalla and we have been working to replicate that at Boggabri.

“For example, we’re deploying tech enabled fleets that deliver BGC Contracting and our clients with a step up in technology to provide

HASTINGS DEERING ENGAGES NMX, PART OF THE NATIONAL GROUP FOR THEIR EXCLUSIVE TENDER In late 2018, Cat® Dealer, Hastings Deering appointed National Machinery Xchange (NMX) as the exclusive agency to manage the sale and remarketing of their surplus parts.

This open market tender received a high level of applications from some of the biggest names in the industry. However NMX, part of a larger group of companies known as the National Group, secured this tender over strong competition.

“We are very happy to be working with Hastings Deering on this tender, it is a testament to the flexibility of our approach – we don’t just offer services, we work with our clients to devise dynamic and appropriate solutions” explained Simon Brown, NMX General Manager.

“NMX worked with Hastings Deering to develop an appropriate sales and remarketing strategy that included traditional and digital marketing approaches. After evaluating Hastings Deering’s needs, we recommended the sale of assets on an ‘as is where is’ basis with the utilisation of the National Group’s wider industry network and communication vehicles.”

“With NMX being part of the National Group of companies, we were also able to offer Hastings Deering various benefits, efficiencies and therefore cost savings through complementary entities such as National Heavy Haulage and International Global Logistics.”

National Plant & Equipment (NPE), a well-established company also part of the National Group, already works with Hastings Deering on a weekly or often daily basis.

“Our approach is not just to offer ‘exactly what it says on the tin’ but to work with clients to offer flexible solutions, something that our competitors are often unable to offer” suggests Mark Ackroyd, National Group Managing Director.

“We take this approach for all of our entities such as NPE, NMX or any company that forms part of the National Group, which has been a key factor for the substantial growth the National Group has experienced in recent times.”

“We currently have a strong ongoing relationship with the National Group of companies, so appointing NMX was a logical choice for us” said Scott Theuerkauf, Hastings Deering Supply Chain and Logistics Planning Manager.”

“We engaged NMX as our exclusive agency to manage the sale and remarketing of our surplus parts, due to the fact they have a wide network of companies that offers various benefits to us. We look forward to working together with NMX and the National Group team and we have confidence our dealings with them will result in great outcomes for all parties involved.”

Invitations will soon be distributed to potential buyers in a competitive Tender Sales Contract process.

NATIONAL-GROUP.CO About NMX NMX, part of the National Group is a leading valuation and auction house for the mining, energy, construction, transport and agricultural industries.

NMX regularly holds auctions that caters for buyer and sellers, offering valuation services and finance options.

The next Live Auction is scheduled for Wednesday 20th March 2019 in Yatala, Gold Coast QLD. Subscribe to receive further information on Hastings Deering parts or other NMX Auctions via www.nmxchange.com.

CONTRACT MINING

BGC CONTRACTING’S LIEBHERR R 9800 EXCAVATOR GETS TO WORK WITH A KOMATSU 930E AT BOGGABRI.

in-field data management and much improved reporting on machine health, while aiding maintenance scheduling requirements and operational efficiencies.”

BGC Contracting has matched the increased digging power of the Liebherr excavator with two new Komatsu 930E haul trucks, taking the recent investment in equipment at Boggabri to $30 million.

At Whyalla, meanwhile, BGC Contracting has invested $15 million on larger trucks and auxiliary gear to boost its presence at the iron ore sites.

Taplin believes the investments reflect the health of BGC

Contracting’s mining business, the industry and the partnership approach the company takes with its clients.

“We have been able to systematically deliver for our clients. In particular, with our safety performance and the ability to look after our people and delivering on our clients’ operational plans,” Taplin continues.

The machinery investments have also grown BGC’s relationships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), especially from a technology perspective.

BGC Contracting has been working with its OEMs over the past two

BGC CONTRACTING HAS STRENGTHENED ITS FLEET AT THE WHYALLA IRON ORE SITES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

years to adopt and deliver their proven technologies to the mines it is contracted at.

Its relationships include a longstanding alliance with Komatsu that provides opportunities to source new mining equipment and incorporate advanced technologies.

Taplin says the technology will allow the contractor to make real-time decisions in the field, and forward plan its capital equipment and maintenance requirements across Australia.

“We are putting in place technology with Komatsu to tap into the Komatsu products, such as diggers, dozers and trucks to extract data in real time and feed this into our data warehouse for analysis,” Taplin says.

“We will have smart algorithms in place, so we can process millions of data points and identify whether we have got any parameters sitting outside of normal control, which allows us to do further predictive maintenance.

“If we can have temperature and pressure data readings using the technology collated and monitored, then this provides the early warning signs that the equipment is operating outside of its parameters.”

The combination of BGC’s partnerships with mining companies and OEMs has developed what Taplin describes as a tri-party relationship.

Boggabri, again, will provide the leading example for how this has

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emerged for the company.

“Our client on site, Idemitsu, and the Boggabri coal team are additionally, very progressive with technology,” Taplin says.

“They are very supportive of us going down these paths, which provides good cost improvement returns especially for their organisation. We have a strong triparty relationship between OEMs, client and BGC Contracting which creates this environment.”

BGC Contracting is hopeful the success at these operations and its development as a technologyprogressive contractor will leave the company well placed to grow its order book in 2019.

Despite having Western Australian origins, BGC Contracting has become a truly national mining contractor in recent years with its wins in diversified commodities and regions.

Taplin says BGC Contracting plans to continue on this path in 2019 while pursuing a broad range of opportunities on both sides of the country.

“The strategy remains aligned with our focus for the past 12-18 months.

We are still working towards growing our national footprint with a presence on the east and west coast, with good commodity diversification between iron ore, gold and coal in particular,” Taplin concludes. AM

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DIGITAL MINING THE CUSTOMER PORTAL IS BEING ROLLED OUT ACROSS QUEENSLAND.

HASTINGS DEERING FINDS DIGITAL INSPIRATION WHAT ARE THE STANDARDS THAT HASTINGS DEERING HAS SET FOR THE COMPANY AS IT EVOLVES INTO A DIGITAL ORGANISATION? BEN CREAGH FINDS OUT.

T

echnology leaders like Google, Uber and Amazon are standout examples of what can be achieved in the digital age.

Mining may not have reached the technological heights of these global behemoths, but the disrupters are serving as inspiration to push the industry to another level.

Hastings Deering is feeding off their lead by introducing similar technologies across its business.

The Cat equipment dealer has identified opportunities where the initiatives of these technology companies benefit both its customers and workforce.

Hastings Deering realised that its industry peers are not the only standard that its digital capabilities should be compared to, according to chief executive officer Dean Mehmet.

“We needed to start benchmarking ourselves not only against our

traditional competitors but also the likes of Amazon, Google and Uber,” Mehmet tells Australian Mining.

“Customer experience is a key pillar of our five-year strategy, we therefore see the delivery of a seamless digital experience being core to our customer engagement model.

“The implementation of an integrated digital platform will deliver a seamless entry point to Hastings Deering and enables us to capture, consolidate, analyse and deliver to customers equipment, parts, service and financial data from multiple digital platforms and connected assets.

“If you look at Amazon they make purchasing easy. We want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to benchmark ourselves in this space.”

As Queensland and the Northern Territory’s largest provider of equipment, parts, services, fleet management and productivity solutions, the parallels Hastings AUSTRALIANMINING

Deering can draw with these companies are considerable.

From a service perspective, Hastings Deering regards the tracking ability of Uber as a technology it can replicate.

“When you’ve called an Uber, you know when they are getting close, you get those alerts and messages,” Mehmet says.

“When you look at that from our field service perspective we can provide similar automated alerts to our customers by saying your service technician is on the way, giving us a more personalised approach and an improved customer experience.”

Each of these technologies and services are delivering greater access to data, an integral part of Hastings Deering’s digital focus and customer value proposition.

Hastings Deering is generating and collecting large volumes of equipment data, and plans to ensure that this information is taken advantage of.

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MARCH 2019

“When you look at where we can deliver additional value to our customers beyond the traditional dealer model it is through the transformation of equipment data into rich insights to increase their assets productivity,” Mehmet says.

Hastings Deering has already made noticeable progress on its aim to deliver the integrated digital ecosystem.

Working with the technology and digital arm of parent group Sime Darby, the company has already introduced a number of initiatives and has more set for launch and development in 2019.

The foundation of the digital transformation is an ‘enterprise portal’, which provides both customers and employees with a view of the data Hastings Deering has generated from an assets, operations and financial perspective.

The new portal has been focused on delivering excellent customer

DIGITAL MINING

WE NEEDED TO START BENCHMARKING OURSELVES NOT ONLY AGAINST OUR TRADITIONAL COMPETITORS BUT ALSO THE LIKES OF AMAZON, GOOGLE AND UBER.” experience as a priority and enables improved customer productivity and reduced costs. Hastings Deering customers can now track assets, fleet performance, parts orders and much more from their smart phone, tablet or desktop.

Hastings Deering has also introduced the first version of an asset tracking app across Far North and Central Queensland, and will do the same in South East Queensland and the Northern Territory this quarter.

This app allows Hastings Deering to leverage QR Code technology to track the location and status of any piece of equipment that comes into these business centres, explains Alastair Sharman, Hasting Deering’s digital program manager.

With a QR Code scanner, Hastings Deering monitors if the equipment is in the workshop, has been stored or has left the centre.

Hastings Deering plans to add further functionality to the asset tracker app, continues Sharman.

“The next version that will roll out

this financial year will have a GPS connection to specific assets such as key components we either swap with our customers or rental equipment,” Sharman explains.

Hastings Deering has unveiled a digital parts app that streamlines the delivery process by allowing clients to sign off delivery of assets on a tablet instead of paper.

It is combining this parts app with the enterprise portal, to provide notifications for deliveries that can be referenced in real time.

The company has also explored and implemented robotic process automation technologies to strengthen each of the digital initiatives. It is now leveraging these technologies to improve customer service by removing previously manual tasks – such as invoice processing.

“We are looking at any opportunities that we think are going to deliver improved communications and service delivery for our customers,” Mehmet says.

HASTINGS DEERING ENTERPRISE PORTALS BENEFIT CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES.

“We are committed to improving the quality of our service delivery and are arming our employees with the latest technology to achieve this.

Digital improves the way we work, increases our efficiency and enables our employees to focus on high value engagement with our customers.”

It’s a widespread transformation for Hastings Deering’s customers, but also the company’s workforce.

Hastings Deering’s management is determined to bring welcome changes to the work lives of the company’s employees, establishing a culture that embraces digital technology and leads

to improved customer experience.

Mehmet says a volatile industry like mining requires Hastings Deering leverage these digital opportunities to build a resilient workforce that is ready for change.

“For us to succeed in the digital space we need a culture that has the ability to move and be agile and to support our staff to see themselves as digital workers. It’s not about seeing digital as a threat but instead as an enabler for them to have a greater experience coming to work,” Mehmet concludes. AM

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MARCH 2019

MINING EQUIPMENT THE LIEBHERR R 9100 B EXCAVATOR IN ACTION.

LIEBHERR LOADS PRODUCTIVITY INTO LATEST EXCAVATORS THE MINING EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER IS PROMISING A NEW LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITY WITH ITS LATEST EXCAVATORS. AUSTRALIAN MINING WRITES.

L

iebherr is ready to strengthen the reputation of the R 9100/R 9150 excavators when its B versions of the machines arrive at Australian mines this year.

As the R 9100 has proved to be a worthy successor to the R 984 C excavators over the past seven years, Liebherr is convinced the B versions will add further benefits.

Liebherr delivered widespread improvements on the R 984 C with the R 9100 and R 9150, and set similar expectations during development of the new models.

The original versions have, however, provided a strong foundation for Liebherr to build on.

Liebherr launched the R 9100 in 2010 and the R 9150 two years

later. Since 2012, the OEM has sold machines for operation in 21 countries over six continents.

The excavators have operated for more than one million hours at the mines, with a third of the machines recording more than 15,000 hours each.

They are used across operations for numerous commodities, including gold, coal, iron ore, copper, nickel and manganese.

Australian miners and contractors are amongst the users of the machines, including Blue Cap Mining, which operates two R 9150 excavators at gold sites in Western Australia and Queensland.

Blue Cap general manager Paul Allen says the R 9150 has many notable qualities that have made it suitable for the small hard rock operations where they are in use.

AUSTRALIANMINING

“We have seen both excavators perform well at different sites with different challenges,” Allen tells Australian Mining.

“Part of the reason we went for the 9150 was the specification and capacity of the machine, its hydraulic system and the additional power you are pulling in that unit – it has 565kW.” Blue Cap pairs the excavators with haul trucks in the 100-tonne class, a match that been a strong fit for the designs of the pits at the gold sites.

Another key factor that helped the R 9150 stand out for Blue Cap was the technology Liebherr included on the machines, Allen continues.

“It was (at the time) more about some of the newer technology that Liebherr embedded around productivity and fuel efficiency,” he says.

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MARCH 2019

“We are seeing around 15-20 per cent more efficiency out of this digger compared to some competition.”

With the success of Blue Cap’s R 9150 excavators, Allen has taken a keen interest in the updates incorporated on Liebherr’s updated models.

The B-version excavators were launched in January and the first machine in Australia will be received this month.

Liebherr senior product manager – mining excavators George Barturen backs the new excavators to drive productivity at mining operations, whatever the environment.

“Such systems are robustly designed and will be very well suited to the Australian mining environment from our extensive experience over the last five decades,” Barturen says.

“The B series machines, as was the

MINING EQUIPMENT

THE B SERIES MACHINES, AS WAS THE R 9100 ARE SUITED TO ALL MINING AND QUARRYING OPERATORS AS THE MACHINE BRINGS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE REGARDLESS OF THE MINED COMMODITY WITH A REDUCED COST PER TONNE.” R 9100 are suited to all mining and quarrying operators as the machine brings a competitive advantage regardless of the mined commodity with a reduced cost per tonne.”

Stepping up operations

Liebherr’s updated hydraulic excavators have been developed to provide a step forward in performance and reliability, while lowering the cost per tonne.

Both models have received upgrades across the machine, including the latest generation of Liebherr’s D9512 engine, which offers an increased lifetime target of 15,000 hours, and other features that support maintenance efficiency.

The B versions include the exclusive EVO Bucket Solution, maximising loading capacity and ensuring optimal penetration efficiency.

With contoured sidewalls and augmented depth, the EVO Bucket has a 7.5m3 capacity on the R 9100 B and 8.8m3 and 9.6m3 on the R 9150 B, the latter being available on machines configured with a shorter boom.

The buckets match the excavators with the Liebherr T 236 truck, as well as other articulated and rigid trucks in the 50–100-tonne class.

Liebherr has positioned the R 9150 B directly between the 100-tonne and 200-tonne class machines with its bucket capacities. The R 9150 B begins to challenge the productivity of larger machines in the 200-tonne class with 12m3 buckets.

Barturen says incorporating the patented EVO Bucket design to the new machines is the most significant advance that increases productivity.

“This has brought about an increase in bucket payload with a reduction in bucket weight, whilst maintaining the same fast cycle time,” Barturen says.

“Additionally, the EVO Bucket for backhoe machines Liebherr is introducing several patented innovations together with machine functional control systems to provide the operator with semi-automatic functions increasing the overall efficiency and productivity of both machines.”

Barturen, a Liebherr employee since 1991, has worked closely with the company’s mining excavator team

on the development of the B versions.

Alongside fellow Liebherr product manager Michel Runser, Barturen has guided the excavators through their final stages of development before launch.

“The main drivers in the development process were to improve the machine as a whole, enhancing machine safety, improving reliability and productivity KPIs and introduce operator comfort options, both active and passive.” Barturen says.

“The Australian mining industry drives continuous improvement of the machines through the different standards, guidelines and mining industry associations.

“Additionally, Liebherr has an internal global reporting system, which brings feedback directly into the factory from the field, speeding up the implementation and introduction of suggested improvements to suit the market, which is continuously driving improvement.”

Updated Liebherr engine

This series of Liebherr excavator was the first to introduce the OEM’s own diesel engines, a milestone reflected in the B versions. The R 9100 B and R 9150 B are equipped with Liebherr’s latest D9512 V12 diesel engine, which exists in Tier 2 and USA/EPA Tier 4 final version.

Liebherr Australia executive general manager, customer service, Tony Johnstone says the company’s service team has updated its skillset to support the new engine since its introduction.

Johnstone believes this has led to a new approach for the team, which has previously serviced and maintained engines from other OEMs. “For us the challenge has been the development of our service technicians to be ready to work on the machines, understand the systems and be able to provide the best services that are required for customers,” Johnstone says.

“We’ve also had the challenge of upskilling our technical trainers so that we could train all of our service technicians in the Liebherr engine.”

Liebherr’s Australian-based technicians completed training on the engines in the company’s Switzerland AUSTRALIANMINING

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MARCH 2019

MINING EQUIPMENT

engine factory certified training centre, with focus on control systems, maintenance and diagnostics.

In addition, customer training will be provided by Liebherr certified trainers at the new technical training centre at the Para Hills West facility in Adelaide.

The company has also ensured it has widespread availability of the unique service and maintenance parts for the engine.

“We had to stock appropriately for parts and for the future which we are working on now; we are enabling our remanufacturing centre to rebuild and run the D95 series engine,” Johnstone says.

“It has been a ground up approach because it was the first Liebherr engine in a Liebherr mining excavator.”

Liebherr’s preparation for the change of engine has the services team well placed to support the B versions once they arrive in Australia.

The R 9150 B will also be available in electric drive.

Comfort and safety first

The B-version machines feature an upper structure that is accessible via a robust fixed ladder or 45-degree access stair in option. It integrates one large central platform equipped with slip resistant surfaces.

Liebherr has designed the new arrangement with wide catwalks to facilitate maintenance and to ensure comfort during operations.

“Included in the upgrade was the integration of hard safety

THE KEY FEATURES OF THE B VERSION MACHINES.

systems – an improved catwalk on the left side of the machine, together with a handrail installation on the counterweight for added safety during machine and engine maintenance tasks,” Barturen says.

“Integration of HEPA filtration of the operator cabin is available should the requirement be needed.”

The cab, updated with improved ergonomics and operator attenuation, provides the ideal working platform and optimal comfort for operators.

Liebherr’s resiliently mounted cabin on ISO mounts reduces vibration, while a new cabin interior liner provides a two decibel decrease in noise levels in the cabin for the operator.

Technology advances

Liebherr has shown its awareness of modern connectivity needs, equipping the B version machines with GSM data transmission, together with the ability to transmit on customer site networks to provide operating parameters, error codes and machine faults.

Machine end users can access the data through the Liebherr Mining Data (LMD) platform, and generate custom reports to track and analyse machine data.

Barturen says the excavator product team focused on Liebherr’s six pillars of mining: safety and environment, productivity, efficiency, reliability, customer service, safety, and environment when enhancing the

machines with technology.

“Improvements to the machines’ operating systems provides enhanced machine operational efficiency.

Together with the integration of machine data management and analytics, the B series will enable customers to increase the effective utilisation of the machine in lowering the cost per tonne,” Barturen says.

“Customer service is enhanced by on board systems for the management of the machines’ maintenance and reliability interfacing with the Liebherr developed Troubleshoot Advisor.”

The data collected by the connectivity kit is recorded in a worldwide database for processing and assessment by Liebherr. AM

BLUE CAP’S LIEBHERR R 9150 EXCAVATOR AT THE RED DOG SITE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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“You’d never know all this used to be a mine.”

Australian miners and farmers are working together towards a common goal.

Mining land is being rehabilitated to graze cattle and grow crops. When the mining is gone, the rehabilitated land will be here to stay – preserving it for future generations.

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ining rehabilitation is a hot topic in the modern mining industry, one that state and federal governments, mining companies and the communities they work with all take seriously.

Ensuring the correct measures are implemented following the closure of a mine can be a time-consuming process, but it is also essential to the successful completion of an operation.

Energy Resources of Australia’s (ERA) Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory’s Kakadu National Park is a high-profile case of this. The mine is scheduled to cease operations

by January 2021 and complete its rehabilitation by January 2026.

The Rio Tinto subsidiary’s closure plan for the mine — released in June last year — is ambitious, with plans to rehabilitate the entire project area to the extent that it can blend in with the surrounding landscape.

“We would to be proud of the legacy of comprehensive

rehabilitation that enables the Ranger Project Area (RPA) to be returned to an ecosystem which is consistent with the surrounding Kakadu National Park for our traditional owners, the community and future generations to utilise freely,” ERA tells Australian Mining in a statement.

“After comprehensive rehabilitation, the aim is to generate a final landform and self-sustaining ecosystem consistent with the world heritage listed Kakadu National Park.”

The closure plan’s feasibility study received a $296 million lift in costs to $808 million in January 2019, a 57 per cent increase. The factors contributing to the increase (which ERA calls “expected”) include the transfer of tailings to the mine’s third pit, additional water treatment and related infrastructure, and revegetation requirements.

“Part of the increase can also be attributed to the higher forecast costs of site services and owners’ costs with an increase in contingency,” the statement continues.

AUSTRALIANMINING

Interestingly, the Ranger closure plan was developed from a combination of Rio Tinto’s own internal requirements and Western Australian Government guidelines — where miners contribute to an annual levy through the Mining Rehabilitation Fund (MRF) — as the Northern Territory lacks mine closure guidelines of its own.

But what of other state governments in Australia? The Queensland and New South Wales governments are both actively pursuing reforms surrounding mine rehabilitation.

The Queensland Government introduced important reforms to state mining rehabilitation rules last November to increase accountability in the industry.

The passing of the Mineral and Energy Resources (Financial Provisioning) Act 2018 in parliament has been met with positivity from both the resources sector and the public.

A survey released by research group ReachTel for the Labor Party

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MARCH 2019

two days before the bill passed suggested that upwards of four in five Queenslanders were in agreement that the mining industry should cover its own rehabilitation costs.

The act will bring the rules around rehabilitation closer in line with existing Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to deliver better management of residual risks at disused and abandoned mine sites.

This means mining companies that hold environmental authority (EA) will be compelled to pool funds into a financial provisioning scheme to provide financial surety for rehabilitation should an operation fail, as opposed to the previous site-by-site approach.

The act also revises the EPA rules around EA applications, with companies now requested to provide rehabilitation and closure plans to receive approval.

Under the new rules, companies establishing new mines will be asked to contribute a risk assessment-based percentage split into very low risk, low risk and moderate risk categories,

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REHABILITATION

translating to a 0.5 per cent, 1 per cent, and 2.75 per cent contribution of estimated rehabilitation costs, respectively.

Companies which fall under the high-risk category will need to provide further security, such as bank guarantees, insurance bonds or even cash payments, to ensure compliance with the act.

“This legislation is intended to provide the public more confidence in the already world-leading mine rehabilitation and general environment management processes of Queensland miners,” says Tom Reid, head of policy and public affairs at the Australian Resources and Energy Group (AMMA).

“The industry will always support legislation that strikes the right balance between providing a safeguard for taxpayers, and ensuring mine employers can each manage their unique environmental obligations as they’ve proven exceptionally effective at doing so.”

The Queensland Government, led by Annastacia Palaszczuk and Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad, elected not to apply the act retrospectively as originally planned, meaning that current, dormant and defunct operations established before the passing of the act aren’t involved.

Trad says the reforms will compel mining companies to “foot the bill” for the rehabilitation of stranded or failed mines, while also acknowledging the resource sector’s contribution to the economy.

“The new laws will compel mining companies to progressively rehabilitate mined land so we don’t leave a legacy of abandoned mines for future generations,” Trad says.

The amendment to remove the retrospective element of the act has been met with mixed response from environmentalists (Greens MP Michael Berkman referred to it as a “loophole”), but positively by Queensland mining industry bodies such as the Queensland Resources Council (QRC).

“If the laws were applied retrospectively, it would have breached a fundamental legislative principle to protect the rights of existing operations,” QRC chief executive Ian Macfarlane tells Australian Mining.

“This would have had devastating consequences for existing jobs and future investment with negative flow on effects to the state’s economy, exports and royalty tax income.”

Reid also agrees that retrospective introduction of the laws will not have worked out in Queensland’s favour.

“Retrospective legislation is rarely a good idea in any scenario,” he says.

THE ABANDONED MARY KATHLEEN URANIUM OPEN PIT IN QUEENSLAND CLOSED IN 1982.

“That this legislation was amended to remove retrospectively is sensible and avoids significant detrimental consequences for the state’s critically important resources sector and all within which it employs.”

Now the act is in operation, time will determine how effective the new policy is in protecting the environment and the Queensland taxpayer while improving the accountability of the state’s thriving mining sector.

A Central Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Group (CQMRG) spokesperson says the act will apply equally to all operations, including older operations.

“The retrospectivity issues raised by the mining industry related to the scope of admissibility of earlier approval and planning decisions already made,” the spokesperson tells Australian Mining.

“It’s not unusual to see state governments regularly assess their legislation against current practice in other states, as well as internationally, so we may see other jurisdictions adopt some of the elements of the new legislation over time.”

The New South Wales Government, meanwhile, released a discussion paper in November 2017 entitled Improving Mine Rehabilitation in NSW. The paper aims to provide an overview of the state’s regulations surrounding AUSTRALIANMINING

rehabilitation, while also seeking feedback on proposed reforms.

These reforms primarily focus on improvements in best practice integration and management of final voids (i.e. the voids and pits remaining once an operation has completed).

Under state regulations, mining operators are allowed to leave final voids after rehabilitation — subject to certain conditions — but this is a topic that has become increasingly concerning to local communities, according to a NSW Department of Planning and Environment spokesperson.

“The NSW Government recognises community concerns around mine rehabilitation, particularly in relation to long-term impacts on land that may not be appropriately rehabilitated,” the spokesperson says.

“In response to these concerns, the government has already implemented a reform program to ensure NSW continues to model leading practice.

A further review is currently being undertaken to ensure the reforms are successful.”

These reforms includes new mining lease conditions that propose separate rehabilitation management plans and annual rehabilitation reports for large mines and small mines, with large mines in this case defined as mines that require an environment protection licence from

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MARCH 2019

the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

The NSW Government intends to apply these rules to mining leases granted, renewed or transferred from an as-yet unspecified date in early 2019.

The reforms are also to be doled out in three phases, with the first phase to focus on “larger scale operations such as coal and metalliferous mines” in the first three months after the implementation of the reforms. The second phase will focus on all other large mines in the first six months after implementation, and the third phase will focus on small mines within the first 12 months.

The spokesperson says that feedback to the discussion paper has been mixed.

“The mining industry [said] reforms were unnecessary or too restrictive,” the spokesperson says.

“Environmental groups and local councils said the discussion paper was a step in the right direction, though should go further in many respects.”

Depending on who you talk to, the rules around mining rehabilitation are becoming either more stringent as mining companies rise to meet their social licence to operate or more permissible as Australia continues to attract minerals investment.

Whichever the case may be, they are definitely becoming more visible. AM

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PLASMA POWER WITH POTENTIAL BENEFITS INCLUDING TIME AND COST SAVINGS, THE USE OF PLASMA IN DRILLING MIGHT BE ABOUT TO HEAT UP. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH SPECIALISTS IN THIS NASCENT FIELD.

P

lasma is considered one of the four states of matter in physics alongside solids, liquids and gas.

It occurs when a gas becomes ionised and its atoms split into independent electrons and positively charged nuclei.

Plasma is primarily used in an industrial capacity on plasma torches for cutting and welding metals, as well as for etching on microelectronic components such as processors.

It is also used for thermal spraying and fluorescent lighting. However, it has the capacity to offer a lot more, and since engineers have already discovered the potential for plasma in metal cutting tools, it stands to reason this could extend to rocks and other materials as well.

Plasma drilling is a fairly recent concept that has yet to be properly commercialised for large-scale mining use, but the technology is proven and it is developing.

Clint Patzack, managing partner

and general manager at Victoriabased drilling technology specialist Geothermal Industries, says that while he hasn’t come across plasma drilling in his work, it is something he will look into.

“I would definitely be interested to learn a little bit more about it,” he tells Australian Mining.

“In the geothermal space in Australia for renewable energy cooling systems we’re using multiple drilling technologies, one of which allows us to install casing to deeper depths using dual rotary technology, which is contributing to the success of more and more geothermal boreholes.”

Slovakian company GA Drilling, formerly called Geothermal Anywhere and founded in the capital Bratislava in 2008, is a company emerging in the plasma drilling and milling sector that has attracted attention.

The company is the inventor of the Plasmabit, a plasma drill that ejects superheated plasma capable of cutting through steel, rock and cement. The drill requires between

100–500 kilowatts of input energy to operate effectively, depending on the application, rock type and borehole diameter involved.

The company already has joint industry projects in place in the United Arab Emirates, United States and United Kingdom and is looking at the Australian market as well.

“As part of our commercialisation process as an international integrated service provider, we would naturally like to have a global footprint,” says Kocis.

“We are already in dialogue with mining and oil and gas companies who currently operate within the Australia region. So, if it makes commercial sense to establish an operational presence with Australia in the future, we would certainly welcome the opportunity.”

The initial goal of GA Drilling’s chief executive officer Igor Kocis and co-founders Ivan Kocis (Igor’s father), Dusan Kocis (Igor’s brother) and Tomas Kristofic (Igor’s longtime friend) was to explore new drilling

GA DRILLING HAS RECEIVED RESEARCH GRANTS FROM THE EU.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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MARCH 2019

GA DRILLING CEO IGOR KOCIS.

methods, having found conventional techniques to be uneconomical, particularly for deep well drilling in the oil and gas industry.

The company also wanted to explore the potential of geothermal energy using reserves from depths

DRILL & BLAST

beneath the Earth’s surface too deep for regular drills to go.

“We wanted to make geothermal energy accessible anywhere, not just in volcanic countries like Iceland; even in places, where reserves of energy are very deep below the earth’s surface,” Igor Kocis tells Australian Mining.

“Along with Technische Universität Wien we conducted a benchmark study for us to identify which of the unconventional drilling technologies was the most suitable.

“Electrical plasma passed the test with flying colours, compared to jet rock cutting, laser and chemical plasma.”

Because Plasmabit’s drill bit doesn’t need to make contact with the ground and has no moving parts, it can eliminate issues of wear and tear associated with traditional reverse circulation (RC) drilling.

The drill is also technologically advanced in other ways, including real-time data analysis using GA Drilling’s Plasmabit RTDA software.

Kocis adds that the technology could bring many benefits to tunnelling applications in mining when compared with traditional cutting, including potentially lower costs resulting from reduced waste rock management, improvement in penetration rates and the benefits of real-time analysis.

“The cost efficiency of Plasmabit technology is directly related to its contactless principle, which represents the essential disruption for the drilling industry,” Kocis explains.

“Costs per metre with plasma drilling are nearly linear, while conventional mechanical drilling methods costs grow exponentially with every single metre.”

In the United States, senior

research engineer Paul Woskov is also exploring the benefits of plasma drilling at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Plasma Science and Fusion Centre (PSFC).

The purpose of the PSFC is to research and develop cutting-edge fusion energy technologies and Woskov (a founding member) is something of a plasma purveyor in this regard. His research is based on full-bore drilling using a proprietary millimetre-wave ‘gyrotron’ beam that could increase drilling rates by an order of magnitude in hard crystalline rock.

“Rock hardness and temperature would no longer be an impediment to drilling,” Woskov explains. “The borehole could be self-cased as it is opened by the vitrified ceramic liner that is produced as a consequence of the energy-matter interaction. This alone would save at least 50 per cent of the cost of a traditional borehole.”

This method also produces safety benefits for drilling since the borehole can be shaped to meet the needs of the underground environment.

The millimetre-wave beam’s ability to heat rocks such as granite into a crumbling mass at temperatures of around 1000 degrees Celsius (just below melting point) could be useful for situations where explosives can’t be used or vibrations need to be minimised.

“The millimetre-wave beam does not rotate so the shape of the beam will determine the shape of the borehole cross section,” explains Woskov.

“By using circular or elliptical shaped launch waveguides we have produced circular and elliptical holes in basalt in the laboratory.

“Using an elliptical-shaped bore

GA DRILING’S PLASMABIT IN USE AT AN OIL WELL.

hole aligned with the asymmetric subsurface stresses will increase the collapse strength of a borehole by factors of 10 or more.”

While MIT’s technology is not yet as developed as GA Drilling’s commercially, Woskov is working with a start-up company on 100-kilowatt gyrotron tests at the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Kirtland, New Mexico.

This follows on from the extensive laboratory testing already carried out

by MIT using a smaller 10-kilowatt gyrotron beam. Eventually, Woskov hopes to follow up the 100-kilowatt tests with one-megawatt pilot testing.

“Though the millimetre-wave gyrotron sources are commercially available, the small research market keeps the prices high and the lead times for delivery long,” Woskov explains. “Also a college educated electrical engineer with high voltage/ microwave experience would be needed to operate one.”

Plasma drilling in the mining industry may seem some way off, but people thought the same thing about electric vehicles only a decade ago.

With continued effort, companies such as GA Drilling and institutions like MIT could be at the crest of a new wave of drilling technology. AM

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MAINTENANCE

HOW INFASTECH IS PREVENTING SCREW-UPS WITH SPIRALOCK NUT THREADS ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE FROM MACHINE VIBRATION AND OTHER STRESSORS THAT LEAD TO DANGER AND DOWNTIME. INFASTECH ENGINEERED FASTENING FOCUSES ON FINDING THE ANSWER.

M

ine sites are hazardous work environments, especially when it comes to machinery.

Poorly designed or incorrectly fitted bolted joints are sometimes an overlooked problem area of mine site machinery. Vibratory impacts, heat and other stressors caused by the machines can loosen these joints over time, resulting in downtime (whether scheduled or unscheduled) for repair or replacement to take place.

A lack of confidence in these fasteners can lead to torque checks and other tests to ensure they have not become loose or worn over time. The loss of torque in fasteners is a primary concern of machine maintenance, as the effect of vibration in the long-term can cause (in particular) the end threads of nuts to become misshapen and loosen the bolt.

Damaged, broken or loose nuts and bolts don’t just affect the company’s bottom line in the lost time it takes to repair them; they can

be dangerous too. This includes not just the danger to those working in the vicinity of the machine should they fail, but the potential dangers faced by repair staff, who often work at heights or in tight spaces to rectify the damage.

It is important therefore that workers seek a reliable lock nut to help maintain confidence in operating machinery.

Traditional bolt locking mechanisms can encounter issues over time. Solutions such as nylon lock nuts, washers and adhesives — both used for holding threads in place — can warp or melt when introduced to high heats and are not expected to last a long time.

Adhesives also require cleaning and reapplication, which can increase maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, potentially problemsolving design elements such as adjusted clamp lengths or increased bolt tensioning are generally not on the cards due to the structural and technical difficulties of their implementation.

Infastech Engineered Fastening has introduced the speciallyAUSTRALIANMINING

engineered Spiralock nut to the market to counter these durability problems. Spiralock is compatible with standard bolts, and possesses a superficially similar design to other types of screw nuts. It distinguishes itself through the design of its threading, however, which uses a wedge profile outside of standard ISO profiling.

Spiralock includes a wedge in the root of the thread flank angled at 30 degrees. This introduces a mechanical ramping effect that imparts proportional resistive torque against the bolt in an even distribution across the length of the thread. This leads to massive resistance improvements against external factors such as vibration and heat.

This 30-degree wedge allows the male fastener to spin freely relative to the female nut when compared with the standard 60-degree internal thread profile.

This means the thread self-locks when the wedge ramp pushes against the male thread, creating a tight fit and eliminating the radial clearance issues typical of standard threading.

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A DIAGRAM SHOWS HOW SPIRALOCK’S UNIQUE WEDGE RAMP ANGLE INTERACTS WITH A STANDARD MALE THREAD.

Research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) measured a load of 24 per cent on the Spiralock’s first engaged thread, 40 per cent lower than on a

MAINTENANCE

THE REASON SPIRALOCK IS SO REUSABLE IS THAT YOU GET ELASTIC RECOVERY IN THE MATING THREADS, AS OPPOSED TO NYLOC, WHICH HAS A STRICT DECAY IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY ARE ABLE TO DO ON MULTIPLE REUSE.”

SPIRALOCK IS DESIGNED FOR DURABILITY AND VIBRATION RESISTANCE.

standard 60-degree thread.

Once a certain degree of load is placed on the thread flank that is slightly adjusted from the standard 60-degree profile, a mechanical advantage works against the further rotation of the bolt. This results in a geometry effect that comes into play as a slight interference push against the thread flanks, which resist further rotation.

“There’s a space around the thread flanks and that interface on initial assembly, and you only have to pick one up out of a box and you can run them on finger spin onto a mating thread,” explains Matt Wood, engineering and quality manager at Infastech Australia.

“The proof is in the pudding and there’s certainly no excess effort to get them started unlike a crimp lock or nylon lock nut. They run as a free running machine thread up until the point where you start to see preload.”

Spiralock nuts are applicable to many mining applications such as grinding mills, shaker screens, conveyors and other bulk handling applications, all of which can produce high heat and strong vibration during operation.

Alternative vibration-resistance methods for nuts such as nyloninsert nuts, known colloquially by the brand name Nyloc, help but come with several downsides. The nylon insert in Nyloc nuts improves resistance to turning, but they are also prone to decay and wear over time, and it is not recommended that such nuts are reused.

Heat can also cause issues, Wood explains.

“Nylocs can be problematic at

temperatures of around 120–130 degrees Celsius,” he says.

“The reason Spiralock is so reusable is that you get elastic recovery in the mating threads, as opposed to Nyloc, which has a strict decay in terms of what they are able to do on multiple reuse.

“You can’t use Nylocs in any areas where there’s any serious heat because the nylon will melt and you’ll lose your lock. Spiralock looks like a normal nut but they don’t come loose like one.”

Other posited vibration-resistant alternatives, such as crimp lock nuts and cone lock nuts, can cause damage to the male thread during insertion. If a crimp lock is overly aggressive for the surface hardness condition of the mating thread (i.e. if the crimp lock is harder than the bolt it is fastening to), the ensuing pressure and friction can lead to galling, causing the nut to seize up.

Thread galling can be made worse by attaching nuts to fasteners made from alloys such as stainless steel, aluminium and titanium, which are covered in a corrosionresistant oxide film that can shave off during insertion and jam the thread. Spiralock was borne from an industry need for an easy-to-use nut that wouldn’t be loosened by heavy vibration.

The nylon on Nyloc nuts can likewise catch these small particles, clogging the nut. In the worst cases, this results in workers having to cut the bolt or split the nut in order to separate the two for replacement.

Nyloc nuts and crimp lock nuts are both susceptible to these galling issues, particularly when they are installed too quickly or with

AUSTRALIANMINING

too much pressure.

“Spiralock starts with a Property Class 10 rating which means that on conventional high tensile bolts, which are generally around Class 8.8, they will be inherently stronger than the bolt onto which they are assembled,” says Infastech national sales manager Ashley Gorman.

“You won’t have seizures or gall that will require you to cut products off if they fuse together over time with some of your more aggressive crimping mechanisms, especially if you’ve got really aggressive crimps compared to slightly softer bulk materials.”

Testing of Spiralock fasteners with standard bolts has shown that Spiralock can enhance fatigue life by 300 per cent when compared with other fasteners. This is due to Spiralock’s uniform load distribution contributing to a reduction in stress points.

“When you’re comparing metal

• • • • •

270 tonne floating plant Capacity 260 t/hr @ 65% passing 12mm 11 m x 2.7 m (9 ft) rotating screen 8 primary & 2 secondary jigs 3 x streaming down tables & Knudsen Bowls

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MARCH 2019

crimp lock nuts to Spiralock, the former are extremely aggressive in some case to the mating threads in the male thread element,” says Wood.

“As such, they rely on a fairly high-end, robust surface hardness (and finish criteria) to avoid excessive galling even before the part has been run up correctly.”

Spiralock’s uniform thread geometry has tightly controlled thicknesses in the plating that helps to improve the consistency of the relationship between torque and tension.

This provides a controlled increase in friction as load increases, saving energy during the run up. This also helps to ensure that the parts are easily removable.

“Those are two major benefits of Spiralock: consistency of torque tension from a mechanical point of view and reliability of removal for servicing,” concludes Gorman. AM

• •

30 metre stacker 500 kVA generator with hydraulic drives

Now available for viewing in operation in Southland, New Zealand. Available from May 2019

Enquiries: admin@waikaiagold.co.nz Mobile +64 27 2294575

MATERIALS HANDLING

VIVA LA REVOLUTION: A BETTER BET FOR PIT TO PORT CONTAINER ROTATOR SOLUTIONS HAS CUT DOWNTIME FOR CONCENTRATE SHIPPING WITH ITS SUITE OF ROTATABLE CONVEYORS FOR NEARLY A DECADE. AUSTRALIAN MINING EXPLORES THE COMPANY’S LATEST DEVELOPMENTS.

R

PROMINENT HILL HAS BEEN SHIPPING CONCENTRATE FROM FLINDERS PORT FOR SOME YEARS NOW, AND THAT HAS BEEN QUITE SUCCESSFUL FOR THEM.”

otatable containers are now a well-established materials handling solution at pits and ports across the globe, but this wasn’t

always the case.

Sydney-based company Container Rotator Systems (CRS) was among the first wave of companies to double down on the technology with the introduction of its Rotainer system, one of the first devices capable of 360-degree container rotation and automated lid lifting.

CRS will celebrate 10 years since receiving the first inquiries for its rotating container systems in April as the range continues to expand.

In the first quarter of 2019, the company will grow its offering with the launch of the Rotainer Eurospec 38 (i.e. 38-tonne capacity) system, designed for handling of coal and scrap metal in the European market.

In the second quarter, the company will introduce the Tiltainer system, which allows for 90-degree end tipping of general-purpose bulk handling shipping containers for top filling and vertical unloading.

Later this year, CRS plans to release a 40-foot full height (2900 millimetre) open-top container for transporting biomass material, wood chips and waste that is compatible with the

CRS’ ROTAINERS IN CANADA HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED TO WITHSTAND THE COLD WORKING CONDITIONS.

Rotainer 32 and Rotainer 38 systems.

In mining, the company has serviced companies in countries such as Australia, Russia (with its Coaltainer delivery to the Port of Ust Luga west of Saint Petersburg), Canada, Eritrea and Turkey.

The company’s early mining project with OZ Minerals and Flinders Ports on copper and gold concentrate shipping from the Prominent Hill project in South Australia helped cement its reputation.

“Prominent Hill has been shipping concentrate from Flinders Port for some years now, and that has been quite successful for them,” a CRS

CRS’ ROTAINER EUROSPEC 38 SYSTEM WITH ATTACHED ROTORCON CONTAINER FOR COAL HANDLING.

AUSTRALIANMINING

spokesperson says.

“From all that time ago it’s led to us sealing a deal in Townsville for Townsville Marine Logistics this year, which is putting on a complete container handling system in Townsville port — it’s quite an exciting project for us.”

Townsville Marine Logistics’ operation involves the handling of zinc concentrate from the nearby Sun Metals’ zinc refinery — currently undergoing a $300 million expansion — and is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2019.

It has been a logistically complex project for CRS’s staff, who were tasked with modifying nearly 1000 generic half-height shipping containers for compatibility with the Rotainer Eurospec 38 system.

“We came up with a solution to minimise capital expenditure by modifying the lock system to cater for automatic lid removal and replacement on the containers. We patented that lock system as it allows up to 10 container lids to be stacked on top of each other — it saves a lot of time and space,” the spokesperson adds.

The adaptations are not new for the team, however. CRS supplied a Rotainer Eurospec 32 (with a fleet of in-house Rotorcon containers) to Rio Tinto Alcon at an aluminium fines operation in Quebec, Canada, for example.

The system included an engine modified with a warming system to

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withstand the harsh Canadian cold.

CRS also focuses on durability.

The company delivered a product to the Port of Ventanas in Chile, the Container Tippler, which has achieved more than 32,000 rotations without a lost time incident since its implementation. Adaptability and durability, the spokesperson says, are key to the company’s success.

“We were looking to put in two container rotators but due to the reliability of our equipment the port decided to take the risk and put one in to reduce their capital costs, which has worked quite well for them,” he says.

The company has implemented a rental service for its Rotainer systems in Australia to deliver overflow services. The Rotainer Rentals service is set up for 1450 millimetres and 1800 millimetres half-height containers, providing Rotainers, reach stackers, container fleets and container spreaders. This short-term rental solution for the domestic market is designed to meet a growing need for the Australian industry.

“The initial project this was used at was the new Crown Casino in Barangaroo, where it was used to handle contaminated waste from underground digging,” the spokesperson explains. ‘It also caters for city work, tunnels, digging and things like that but is also well suited for mining applications.

“For example, if a mine has a breakdown and needs to hire container handling systems quite quickly we can mobilise at short notice, whereas a port may have a surplus that goes to a different port.

That’s what it is set up for, so we can mobilise quickly.” AM

MATERIALS HANDLING XXX

FENNER DUNLOP WA SALES & ENGINEERING MANAGER SHAILENDRA BORADE.

FIVE TIMES THE STRENGTH-TO-WEIGHT RATIO OF STEEL CORD BELTING IN SEARCH OF THE BEST BELTING SOLUTIONS, FENNER DUNLOP WELCOMES THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH CLIENTS TO IDENTIFY CUSTOMER SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS TO OPTIMISE THEIR CONVEYOR PERFORMANCE.

I

n responding to a problem faced by an iron ore company in the Pilbara, Western Australia, Fenner Dunlop has developed a solution to reduce the overall belt weight and deliver increased cover thicknesses in a high abrasion environment.

Fenner Dunlop increased the belt’s top cover from 28 to 32 millimetres, and its bottom cover from seven to eight millimetres.

The four millimetre increase in the top cover and one millimetre increase in the bottom provide the opportunity to increase the belt life by up to 15 per cent. Thus, the development of KordFlex conveyor belting was initiated specifically to solve a common problem in the industry.

The KordFlex difference lies in its aramid reinforcement – a low-stretch, high-tensile fibre that replaces the traditional steel cord in the belt’s carcass production. With aramid,

KordFlex ends up with a lighter build so its cover thickness can be increased.

As an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of belting products, Fenner Dunlop’s in-house engineering has ownership of all design and product development decisions.

“It’s a Fenner Dunlop product, it’s Fenner Dunlop-designed and it’s Fenner Dunlop-manufactured. One of the benefits of being manufactured by a company with a global footprint is that we leveraged global knowhow and expertise within our business to deliver Kordflex to the Australian mining industry,” Fenner Dunlop general manager of sales and marketing Trevor Svenson tells Australian Mining.

“Since we’ve gone from a traditional steel cord belt to an aramid carcass, the most common questions are how’s that conveyor going to track and what about the integrity of the carcass? And on both accounts KordFlex has been proven very successful.”

AUSTRALIANMINING

Fenner Dunlop is in the unique position of being able to weave its own carcasses for fabric belts for all mining environments to ensure the manufacturing process is owned and controlled from start to finish to produce a premium product.

As the only Australian belting manufacturer that produces the complete range of conveyor belts for all mining applications, Fenner Dunlop’s recent development in belt cover compounds for high-abrasion applications, and low-rolling resistance belting to reduce power draw on a conveyor system.

“At Fenner Dunlop we don’t develop cookie-cut, one-size-fits-all solutions. We are about customising a solution for that individual client’s needs,” Svenson says.

“KordFlex is a specific solution for specific applications, and that’s the approach Fenner Dunlop takes with all customer requirements – it’s

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a customised solution.”

With 18 service branches around Australia, Fenner Dunlop is locally based where its clients are. Its sales support and field service teams work closely with users on-site, identifying potential value-adding opportunities for the relevant site.

Prior to the construction of the belt, Fenner Dunlop invites its mining partners to witness the complexity of the belt manufacture at Kwinana, the largest steel cord belting facility in the southern hemisphere.

“Fenner Dunlop takes pride in being a company that welcomes customer feedback to continuously improve the products we introduce into the market,” Svenson says.

“When you’re in close proximity to your manufacturing plant, it gives you a higher level of autonomy to make changes and work closely with your clients to deliver engineered conveyor solutions.” AM

SAVE THE DATE

1ST - 3RD APRIL 2020

MELBOURNE CONVENTION & EXHIBITION CENTRE AUSTRALIANMINING

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE METS IGNITED IS RESPONDING TO MINING’S MANY CHALLENGES THROUGH CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

C

yclical by nature, the mining industry has survived economic downturns, ecological reform and, occasionally, public opprobrium, to maintain its status as a pillar of Australian growth.

Mining is in a good place right now; of the $400 billion of goods and services exports recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2017-18, around 55 per cent ($220 billion) were from the resources industry, a record of its own.

Coal exports were particularly strong, posting a record high of $60.1 billion, an 11 per cent rise on the previous year.

But as the industry evolves, so too does its challenges.

The availability of skilled workers is decreasing, for example, with fewer young graduates entering the industry than during the boom times. This conundrum is forcing the industry to diversify its recruitment strategies and highlight mining’s focus on emerging technology and digital transformation.

Community expectations of the industry — including communities in the developing world — have also never been higher, with miners privy to increasingly strict regulations surrounding the social licence to operate.

And on a production level, new ore body discoveries of decent size and quality are becoming more difficult to find, while existing mines are getting deeper but returning lower yields.

“The issue of being able to get better productivity and more value out of existing mines continues to be a challenge that is being addressed through some of the work that is being done in data analysis, artificial intelligence and machine learning,” METS Ignited industry engagement general manager Peter Clarke says.

“They’re the real, major challenges that we see facing mining.”

Australia’s mining equipment, technology and services (METS) sector is an important part of the industry’s growth and contributes $86 billion to the Australian economy.

The government-backed METS Ignited has identified several key growth areas to deal with mining’s challenges heading into the 2020s.

METS Ignited works with companies and mining industry bodies across Australia to develop technologies and programs addressing automation, data analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and several other research areas.

It also works to make METS jobs more attractive, and increase student awareness of the sector’s opportunities. According to Clarke, there is a wealth of opportunity for skilled graduates in the aforementioned tech sectors as the mining industry attempts to meet the needs of the so-called fourth industrial revolution, otherwise known as Industry 4.0.

“What happens with automation is it’s not necessarily jobs that get replaced but tasks; that has been happening for a long time and will continue to happen,” Clarke says.

“We think that overall Australia is a leader in mining technologies and we can create more jobs in the combined mining and METS sector if we take advantage of the opportunities in the global mining industry.”

WHAT HAPPENS WITH AUTOMATION IS IT’S NOT NECESSARILY JOBS THAT GET REPLACED BUT TASKS; THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING FOR A LONG TIME AND WILL CONTINUE TO HAPPEN.” Exploration technology is a strong area of interest for the organisation, which entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC) in late 2017 that eventually evolved into the $218 million Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre (MinEx CRC) in October 2018.

The CRC has been established to help unlock the value of mineral deposits that lie beneath deep rock cover, and has already received $50 million in government funding.

METS Ignited’s other recent collaborations in this space include Qteq’s subsurface drilling measurement technology; Imdex, which delivers real-time geological information to provide companies more accurate information about blastholes; data analytics company Manufacturing Intelligence.

These and five other companies received funding from METS

THE AUSTRALIAN METS SECTOR IS ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF YOUNG GRADUATES BY FOCUSING ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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Ignited last year.

“Mining has lagged behind manufacturing significantly, but part of the reason for that is that manufacturing is a far bigger industry globally than mining, and a lot of the equipment and processes for process control that are used in mining have essentially been built for the manufacturing industry,” says Clarke.

“They have done a lot more in terms of making their equipment and process interoperable, and that’s going to have to come across to the mining industry if we are to take advantage of a lot of the developments and progress being made.”

METS Ignited is also addressing the challenge of securing a social licence to operate for companies.

This includes reducing (or even eliminating) water use at mines, avoiding the need for tailings storage beyond the life of the mine, and improved remediation and rehabilitation of mine sites.

Research into cheaper, safer and more efficient rehabilitation can then go back into improving local communities.

“Mining companies in the METS sector are becoming much more responsive to social licence issues and so technology can in fact play a big part in this,” says Clarke.

“Mining companies are much more aware of community expectations, community responses to what they’re doing, so there is certainly some opportunity for METS companies to develop products and technologies that support that.”

With a stacked calendar for 2019, featuring everything from business accelerator programs to international ‘innovation exchanges’ in Chile, METS Ignited plans to continue delivering opportunities for collaboration until the project closes next year. AM

INDUSTRY COMMENT

KEEPING MINES ACCOUNTABLE AUSIMM BOARD DIRECTOR RENÉ STERK DISCUSSES THE IMPACT OF THE JORC CODE, CLEARS UP SOME OF ITS MISCONCEPTIONS AND DETAILS THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN THIS SPACE.

T

he Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) has been an integral part of the Australian mining industry since its inception in 1971.

JORC was originally made up of members from parent organisations, the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) and the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM).

It was created out of a need for improved accuracy and accountability by miners in response to the Poseidon NL stock market bubble of 1969.

Poseidon’s discovery of the Windarra nickel deposit near Laverton, Western Australia, sparked an investor frenzy that saw the company’s share price rise from $1 in September 1969 to $280 in February 1970. When results from the deposit proved to be disappointing, a ripple effect ensued across the mining market.

“It was quite a catastrophe and this was how the code came into being,” says René Sterk, founder of RSC Consulting and AusIMM board director.

“It basically created a system of control and accountability so that announcements for investors and potential investors would have all the facts and information. It forced miners to be transparent.”

Poseidon’s mishap is included as a case study in an online course developed by AusIMM designed to teach people about JORC. The Online professional certificate in JORC Code reporting incorporates six modules over eight weeks. The course discusses not only the importance of the code within the context of the minerals industry and how best to interpret its results, but also clears up some of the misconceptions surrounding its use.

Primarily, the code is designed to provide a mandatory system for the classification of exploration results, resources and reserves through the lens of transparency, materiality and competence.

AusIMM is also developing a

AUSIMM’S ONLINE JORC TRAINING HAS RECEIVED EXTREMELY POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS SO FAR.

second shorter iteration of the course for company directors, investors and executives to understand the basics of the code in the context of appropriate public reporting.

Given the code’s ubiquitous nature, some misconceptions surrounding its aims have arisen over time. Sterk says the code is sometimes misinterpreted as a stamp of quality for operations, which can lead to potential misunderstandings. It is often used for reporting on international operations outside Australasia, such is the renown of the code.

“People talk about things such as JORC resources or JORC drilling — evoking the ‘JORC brand’ if you like — to lend some of the technical work that was done with more credibility,” he explains. “It’s a way to report your findings, not a way to describe the quality of your work.”

In this vein, the course examines how to maintain quality control standards when publicly reporting AUSTRALIANMINING

competent persons’ findings.

Competent persons are defined in clause 11 of the latest JORC Code (2012) as members or fellows of the AIG, AusIMM or other recognised professional organisations with a “minimum of five years’ relevant experience in the style of mineralisation or type of deposit under consideration and in the activity which that person is undertaking”.

Sterk identifies an industry issue wherein competent persons’ statements, whether they be managing exploration or mineral resource results, are reinterpreted in company investor releases and marketing documents by managing directors or PR, often without the input of the competent persons involved.

“There’s a difference between a public announcement and a technical document in that we need to be very careful that the competent persons

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are included in that process of making a public announcement,” Sterk says.

“It can lead to awkward situations where the competent person is simply not aware that their name has been included in a public announcement. Things come off the rails pretty quickly if some slightly non-transparent comments are made and the competent persons gets into trouble.”

The first intake of the course — angled primarily towards technical resources professionals — took place in October last year. The next course is scheduled for next month.

Response to the course has so far been overwhelmingly positive, according to Sterk.

“We had an incredible 98.4 per cent completion rate and a 9.8 out of 10 course satisfaction rate so that’s pretty staggering,” says Sterk.

“We have really been able to identify where upskilling needs to happen.” AM

2019

AUSTRALIAN MINING PROSPECT AWARDS

N E P O W O N

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INTERNET OF THINGS

RAISING THE BAR IN PRESSURE MEASUREMENT VEGA AUSTRALIA IS PUTTING ITS LATEST MEASUREMENT TOOL IN THE HANDS OF PEOPLE IN THE MINING INDUSTRY THROUGH THE CAPABILITY OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

T

he appeal of Vega’s newest differential pressure transmitter can be equated to getting the newest television in town, according to managing director John Leadbetter.

Everybody talks about a $4000 television, but it gives a picture and a sound just like the previous television model.

Except the $4000 television comes with better quality and more features than the other.

Similarly, universal transmitter Vegadif 85 uses more advanced technology compared to its predecessor to measure differential and static pressure of liquid, gas and vapour.

This makes user experience better, easier and safer by minimising potentially high risks to people and the environment.

Vegadif 85 has become a device of the Internet of Things (IoT). And according to Leadbetter, the IoT is all about information.

“Everything is about communication,” Leadbetter tells Australian Mining. “Everything is about implementation. And to do that, we’ve allowed [Vegadif 85] to go into wireless communication for accessing parameters and fault finding by adding Bluetooth technology.

“This way, users can communicate wirelessly instead of going via cable.”

With Bluetooth, Vegadif 85 is able to generate information (i.e. measured values) that can be conveniently communicated to a smart phone, tablet or PC. This information is then uploaded to the cloud, and those who have access to the cloud gain access to that information, maximising transparency in wideranging applications.

“People are looking at ways of communicating and fault-finding with their devices, making Bluetooth a bit of a thing now,” Leadbetter says.

“We’ve had Bluetooth on the market since 2016. But for want of a better word, what we’ve done here is modernised Vegadif 85 with

electronic communication.”

Users can download a Vega app from the app stores for free and talk to other devices in the field, accessing their performance and setup when fault-finding.

In fact, the Vegadif 85 is purely a technology advancement that incorporates new updates, features and benefits on the back of a previous model.

It adds to all other elementary principals provided by Vegadif 65 while being protected with encryption modes and access codes to protect the sensor from unauthorised access.

“Nothing has changed as far as the basic fundamental technology goes,” Leadbetter says. “The basic principle of the differential pressure transmitter remains the same.

“What’s different is all the added features that we have given – its outputs, its features and its accessibility.”

With a second piezoresistive detector, Vegadif 85 not only gives the actual, dynamic pressure level inside a vessel (i.e. differential pressure), but also measures the superimposed static pressure (i.e. the pressure above the liquid).

Such dual reading has previously required two pressure transmitters, making Vegadif 85 the first transmitter of its kind to be equipped with this innovation.

Users can immediately detect when a pressure level exceeds a certain amount, thus avoiding errors associated with the pressure change. They can also minimise their response time during a potential tank burst or flame.

“Workers will get better monitoring, better feedback and better understanding of how their plant is operating,” Leadbetter says.

“They will be in more control of what’s happening inside the plant, and they will be more prepared in dealing with a situation that may or may not arise. This is because Vegadif 85 works based on predictive maintenance with an accuracy of up to 0.0075 per cent.

The information is available to AUSTRALIANMINING

VEGADIF 85 IS THE BETTER, MORE ADVANCED VERSION OF ITS PREDECESSOR VEGADIF 65.

AS FAR AS SAFETY GOES, YOU ARE IN MORE CONTROL OF WHAT’S HAPPENING INSIDE YOUR PLANT ITSELF.” you now, not after the incident.”

In fact, this development is part of Vega’s strategy in keeping up with technological changes. Vega is looking to cater to the almostautonomous plants that are run with a minimum amount of staff, with a minimum amount of problems, “due to the fact that technology has got better and better.”

“Everybody wants better

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accuracy,” Leadbetter says.

“Everybody wants better response time.

“So now we’re making Vegadif 85 more user-friendly, more accessible, more accurate and faster-responding, because what you’ve got to do is keep ahead of technology.

“You’ve got to be developing the next generation of technology now.” AM

INTERNET OF THINGS INTOV8’S CORVUS SUITE CONSOLIDATES MINE DATA INTO A SINGLE SOURCE FOR OPERATORS.

INTOV8 TAKES TECH TO THE CORE OF THE MINE SITE SOFTWARE COMPANY INTOV8 IS SET TO KEEP PACE WITH THE INDUSTRY’S CONTINUED AUTOMATION PUSH IN 2019 WITH ITS FLAGSHIP CORVUS SOFTWARE. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

D

ata is everywhere and mining is no exception. From haul truck performance to staff schedules and everything in between, there’s an overwhelming amount of information available.

Harnessing that data to improve productivity and efficiency is a concept that has become increasingly prominent given the industry trend towards cost reductions.

Brisbane-based Intov8 has started on the ground level of the continued digitisation of mining in this regard.

The company, which was founded in 2006, has a Tier 1 client base including the likes of BHP, Yancoal and Glencore.

Intov8’s Corvus product suite adds a variety of connectivity options through Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)style networking options.

Corvus validates and verifies data into a single trusted source of information.

The company’s technology has been developed “by miners, for miners,” according to Intov8 partner development manager Matthew Whyatt.

“Our developers are all from the mining industry — they’re industry insiders,” he explains. “Even when we do a full site implementation our average rollout time, including user acceptance testing, training and going live, is six weeks — it’s because we know what we’re doing.”

Corvus is made up of several distinct

modules, including Axiom, Live Monitor, Wall, Dashboards, Organiser and Warehouse. These modules can be used together or in isolation to meet the needs of a particular site. This runs the gamut from coal handling, warehousing and end-ofmonth reporting duties, through to machine maintenance and time saving implementations.

Due to the improved integrity borne from the cycle of control and management of centralised data, there has been a transformation in the end-of-month reporting cycle with all critical production figures typically signed off at midday on day one.

“We have been personally thanked for the improvement in this space – as downstream processing is now able to begin much earlier in the cycle which relieves a lot of pressure,” says Intov8 partner development manager Matthew Whyatt.

Axiom is the core product in the Corvus suite, representing a management solution for mine data that connects with fleet and plant monitoring systems to collate data from various sources. Intov8 refers to it as Corvus’ “engine room”.

Live Monitor is a mobile and desktop app that allows users to access real-time tracking information.

Production and maintenance teams can use Live Monitor to identify what trucks are in production and what they’re doing.

Corvus Wall allows information to be captured and pushed directly to a remote operations centre to help build AUSTRALIANMINING

a shift log on the fly and compare actual and planned productivity rates.

Information is then available to all mobile app and desktop users.

Dashboards allow sites to view realtime data from various sources on a single monitor. Intov8 has built over 400 dashboards for mining companies to gain greater insights on the data so far.

Organiser deals with staff rosters, leave applications and similar tasks to maintain documentation across the entire mine crew.

Corvus’s latest addition, Warehouse, is designed so mine sites can drop the requirement for physical files and Excel spreadsheets, streamlining management processes and improving accountability.

“We invest a significant amount of our own money into research and development,” says Whyatt.

“One misconception of a product like Corvus is that it’s simply a reporting tool. Our customers use Corvus as a trusted, validated and verified source of data — it’s the core of the mine site.

“BMA is currently utilising the Corvus suite across all of its assets with thousands of users logging in daily. Outside of Microsoft there is no application used more.”

Yancoal has implemented the Corvus Warehouse Goods Out module across all 11 sites Following implementation of Warehouse, the site reported time savings equivalent to two-to-three full-time employees, freeing up staff to

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attend to more pressing matters rather than chase up ghost items (i.e. items not logged in the system).

According to a Yancoal site controller, the roll out was “very smooth”, and “all sites are very impressed with the system and can see the value add it has on their day-to-day activities.”.

Corvus is also designed to excel at short interval control (SIC), a wellknown productivity improvement technique that split work shifts into units (short intervals) of time.

As such, integration of Intov8’s technology also helps to reduce reporting time associated with problem solutions by allowing instant decisionmaking via updates from mobile and desktop integrated applications such as Corvus Wall.

“Because we plug into every single data system and we know the business rules and we know the numbers, from when a person walks onsite to when the coal is leaving via train, we can actually do short interval control better than anybody else through our mobile applications and dashboards,” says Whyatt.

“One observation from our years of experience is to always maintain focus on what your core skills are in order to ensure best use of time and money.

“Intov8’s key strength lies in its own unique IP, which is used in delivering mining software solutions that work, and this key focus is what allows our productive partners to focus on their core skills of actually getting on with running the mines.” AM

PROSPECT AWARDS

CARRYING THE TORCH AUSTRALIAN MINING FINDS OUT HOW LEADING FACILITIES MANAGEMENT PROVIDER SODEXO HAS CARRIED ON THE LEGACY OF MORRIS CORPORATION OVER THE PAST YEAR.

M

orris Corporation was Australia’s largest privatelyowned company in the world of hospitality and facilities management until it was purchased by Sodexo Corporation in November 2017.

Though the Morris name no longer lives on, its legacy subsisted after the acquisition, as Sodexo maintained the vast majority of the company’s contracts, as well as all 1200 employees.

Morris’s quality-of-life services in the Australian mining and oil and gas industries were well known, particularly in eastern Australia.

The company delivered employeefocused solutions to the mining sector, including the implementation of a respected pre-employment work readiness program for Indigenous workers that returned full-time roles for 90 per cent of participants.

It was the work in this area that netted Morris the 2017 Australian Mining Prospect Award for Community Interaction, won just prior to the company’s merger with Sodexo in November 2017.

Another achievement for the company pre-acquisition was the development of the Collinsville workers’ accommodation village on the outskirts of Collinsville, Queensland, which included facilities such as a bar and gym.

The work programs and the Collinsville Village survived the transition to Sodexo, which regarded Morris as a good fit for its culture and values, according to Sodexo chief executive officer of mining, Asia Pacific, Paul Cooper.

“There’s a lot of activity in Asia and Australia and the business was looking for opportunities to expand the footprint when Morris came across the desk,” Cooper tells Australian Mining.

“It was a company that was very closely aligned to our culture and our values, and although it was a smaller company focusing more on the Tier 2 clients, they did have a couple of Tier 1 clients as well, which showed that they were able to operate at the next level above where the business had evolved from.”

There was a lot of overlap between the two companies despite their differing sizes. Both companies were founded as family-run catering companies in 1966, for example, and both possessed a commitment to Indigenous communities and the development of sustainable local business.

Due to the prevalence Morris had amongst Tier 2 companies, Sodexo identified an opportunity to buy in on the expertise in this area. The acquisition also allowed Sodexo to consolidate its status as a facilities management leader in the mining industry, putting space between its competitors and opening up investment opportunities.

“Quite frankly, it’s proved to be very successful. The business case has played itself out in textbook fashion; we’ve retained all the client contracts that were up for tender over the transition period, we’ve integrated the business, taken a comprehensive review of systems and processes, and chosen a best fit for business,” Cooper explains.

“We didn’t take the approach that Sodexo’s systems and processes were superior. Where it made sense we adopted what Morris had.”

Sodexo’s adoption of the preemployment work readiness program is a good example of this complementary approach. Since the acquisition, Sodexo has integrated initiatives from the program into its own to create two bespoke initiatives.

The Morris work readiness program developed into Sodexo’s Ready to Go program, which focuses on people who already have previous work history and demonstrated skills and abilities that are therefore able to move into the workplace in a shorter period of time.

Sodexo’s second program is tailored more towards people without the necessary experience and skills who are put through an intensive fiveweek program.

“Morris was very much punching above its weight to roll out a program like it did. We’ve benefited from implementing that into Sodexo’s business,” says Cooper. “We haven’t taken anything out, we’ve just expanded on it.”

AUSTRALIANMINING

SODEXO CEO OF MINING APAC PAUL COOPER.

WE DIDN’T TAKE THE APPROACH THAT SODEXO’S SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES WERE SUPERIOR. WHERE IT MADE SENSE WE ADOPTED WHAT MORRIS HAD.” Looking to the future, Sodexo is focused on developing innovations for facilities management in the mining sector, particularly in the automation space.

This includes developing a bespoke, integrated facilities management IT system with Microsoft, as well as Internet of Things (IoT) solutions across the existing client base.

Sodexo plans to pull ahead of the curve to meet the needs of its increasingly autonomy-minded Tier 1 client base. Automation is after all an industry with key applications not just for the mining bottom line, but also

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for the kind of quality-of-life services in which Sodexo specialises.

“Digital technology and innovation is only going to improve quality of life for our own people working in remote environments but also for our clients and the residents of the camps, villages and towns that we actually look after,” says Cooper.

“We’re really trying to make a remote mining and oil and gas experience as close as home to possible.” AM The 2019 Australian Mining Prospect Awards will be held in Brisbane on Thursday October 10. Nomination are now open.

PRODUCT FOCUS

REELING EASY DURING LARGE-SCALE DEWATERING WHEN SOME HEAVY-DUTY MINE DEWATERING WAS REQUIRED, A SET OF WINDER UNITS EMERGED AS A WINNING SOLUTION TO RIO TINTO’S FIRST AGRICULTURAL PROJECT AT THE MARANDOO MINE IN THE PILBARA. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

T

he start of Rio Tinto’s agriculture project was instigated by a need to extend the life of an iron ore mine in the Pilbara, Western Australia by another 16 years.

The 17 million tonnes per year Marandoo operation on Rio Tinto’s Hamersley pastoral station is adjacent to Western Australia’s Karijini National Park.

This extension marked Rio Tinto’s first agriculture project, which attracted an investment of $US933 million (over $1.3 billion at February US-Australia exchange rates) in 2011.

Not only would the project extend the life of Marandoo to 2030, it would also sustain Rio Tinto’s annual capacity rate in the Pilbara.

Marandoo’s location below the water table added to the difficulty of the project – the mine extension was only possible if reserves were being developed adjacent to the groundwater table.

This project required the dewatering of the mine and water management strategy to deliver water to Marandoo’s mine operations and the Tom Price township 35 kilometres east of the mine.

The water would also be reinjected into the Southern Fortescue bore field lying within the Hamersley Station pastoral lease.

As Rio Tinto’s dewatering supervisor at Marandoo searched for efficient ways to assist with the mine dewatering, a layflat hose system was procured from Crusader Hose in Melbourne.

This system of choice included 100- and 200-metre lengths of eight- and 12-inch Waterlord mine dewatering hose attached to customdesigned couplings, plus some shorter lengths as required, to assist with water pumping up the open cut mine to a tank once groundwater has reached the surface.

Crusader Hose managing director Francois Steverlynck, who has visited one of Rio Tinto’s sites, says deployment and retrieval of long lengths of layflat hose is not an easy task, especially when moving large

WATERLORD MINE DEWATERING HOSE WITH HAMERSLEY HYDRAULIC WINDER AT A MINE SITE.

volumes of water across the distance.

The previously used heavy sixmetre poly pipe was rigid and had to be cut, welded and transported across Marandoo to connect to continually relocated bore outlets.

To address this time-consuming process, the Marandoo team procured a custom-designed Hamersley winder drive unit from Crusader Hose for the deployment and retrieval of the layflat hose as required.

The Hamersley 2.0 drive unit negates the need for an operator to come down from his or her forklift. It is automated with two hydraulic drive systems, so one can simply stay put and switch over the hydraulic control, and the lever will open itself up and drop the hose reel.

As the Hamersley 2.0 was attached to a telehandler or a forklift, the driver had to simply go to the area which required dewatering and deployed the hose at walking pace.

There was no plastic welding AUSTRALIANMINING

and lifting of six-metre lengths of polypipe required, as each reel of Hamersley 2.0 could carry up to 200 metres of the hose.

Steverlynck, who spoke to one of the dewatering supervisors, confirms the positive feedback on Hamersley’s performance. With Hamersley 2.0, one kilometre of hose could easily be connected by only two operators within three hours.

When necessary, heavy mining vehicles were also able to drive across the Waterlord hose, when it was without water and laid flat on the ground, without any damage.

This represented a considerable improvement in efficiency and safety compared to the polypipe option.

“Because we are a layflat hose specialist and manufacturer, we have developed our own reels and winders to manage and store our hoses,” Steverlynck tells Australian Mining.

“End-users’ feedback and requests push us to further develop and

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enhance custom-designed hose reels and hydraulic winder drive units that are specific to our customers’ needs.

“To date, we have over 10 models of hydraulic winders made for different applications.”

Crusader Hose also has a winder system called RD12, which is operated by manually unhooking the safety catches.

The heavy-duty hose winders boast a strong grip on the reel, proven by their ability to handle a hose up to 12 inches.

Both Hamersley 2.0 and RD12 are designed to retrofit with various telehandlers and forklifts.

When asked about Crusader Hose’s key to supporting efficient mining outputs, Steverlynck points to safety, durability and customisation underlying its product solutions.

The company is in the process of designing a truck-mounted winder system for use in a Western Australian diamond mine. AM

PRODUCTS

DURAM KIMAX MASK

HEXAGON MINEOPERATE ASSET HEALTH

Mining plays host to a number of possible respiratory hazards including cyanide, ammonia, chlorine, chemical fumes, gas leaks, fire and coal dust particles.

Polymeric chemicals, such as those used during the tailings process, are of particular concern.

The new Kimax Escape Hood is designed to quickly afford the wearer a high degree of respiratory protection. It is compact enough to fit in a pocket and can be unsheathed and worn in seconds.

Its filtering system meets Class III PPE (personal protective equipment) requirements and the mask provides immediate respiratory protection in incidents involving high concentrations of chemical agents, allowing users to evacuate quickly and individually if required.

Kimax is certified to protect against organic gases with boiling points above 65 degrees Celsius, as well as ammonia, acidic and sulphuric gases. The mask also comes with a carry pouch for storage.

The HxGN MineOperate asset health is a software platform of servers and data-loggers that tackles machine failure before it happens, extending equipment life. It can identify machine health trends in real-time, which helps improve efficiencies and minimise equipment down-time.

The platform addresses issues including unplanned equipment failures and visibility of equipment health, which helps increase production via equipment uptime and lower maintenance costs.

It can be integrated with fleet management systems on a common hardware platform that uses networking and server resources to provide solutions for the life of mine.

Asset health can be used to connect original equipment manufactureragnostic platforms for onboard data logging, telemetry and messaging.

On-board alerts can be synchronised with the office, dispatch, reliability engineering, and maintenance centres.

• safetyanddefence.com

• hexagon.com

TE CONNECTIVITY SNAP-ON MARKERS

BODYGUARD I-TAG PROXIMITY WARNING

TE’s STD snap-on markers are a reliable tool to identify wires and small cables. Manufactured with a zero halogen polyoxymethylene compound, the expanding profile markets are side-entry installed using an applicator wand. This enables them to accommodate to a wide range of wire and small cable sizes.

Markers are supplied with a “chevron” cut to ensure the legend remains aligned. TE’s STD snap-on wire markers are designed to stand the test of time, preventing costly re-work before the life of the equipment ends.

Its high resistance to burning and zero halogen allow for identification before and after termination and installation in harsh environments.

Polyoxymethylene also guarantees strength, dimensional stability, low moisture absorption and good resistance to chemicals.

With their UL94 rating and durability, the markers can operate in temperatures from -40 to 106 degrees Celsius.

BodyGuard’s i-Tag warning system can reduce the risk of collision-related accidents on work sites. It helps stop vehicle operators and pedestrian staff from colliding into each other.

The system is made of three components: a personal tag worn by pedestrians (or attached to objects or places), a sensor unit attached to the vehicle and a cab alert unit that speaks to the driver. It is easy to install and remove.

When a pedestrian wearing a personal tag gets too close to a vehicle, the vehicle’s sensor unit will pick it up and inform the driver via the cab alert unit even through solid objects. The cab unit will then warn the driver in human voice so brakes can be hit before an accident happens.

The proximity warning system avoids vehicle and plant repairs, equipment and personnel downtime, workplace incident investigations, increased insurance premiums and accidents that result in workers’ injury and fatality.

• te.com

AUSTRALIANMINING

• bodyguardsafety.com.au

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PRODUCTS

BLUTIP SMARTRVIEW PLATFORM

MICROMINE MACHINE LEARNING FOR PITRAM

SmartRView is a site-wide analytics platform and dashboard that collects fuel data from on-board fuel meters and sensors on a fleet. It is designed for mobile mining equipment and consists of ruggedised, high precision fuel meters and a measurement controller that connects to the cloud and on-vehicle network.

The fuel meters and controller are installed on each vehicle, providing fuel consumption accuracy of 99 per cent.

Cloud-based SmartRView connects to a diesel equipment to the control centre. It captures data at key moments within the mining cycle, including every load, dump and alarm, or every five minutes.

The data is turned into insights for more effective operations – it is data that is unavailable in conventional fleet management or site reporting systems.

Data includes haul cycle efficiency metrics, operating hours, haul cycles, fuel burn versus vertical travel, idle time and gear selection.

MICROMINE is releasing new underground performance software to refine loading and haulage processes in 2019.

The solution, released as part of MICROMINE’s fleet management and mine control solution Pitram, uses the processes of computer vision, deep machine learning and on-board cameras placed on loaders to track critical variables.

They include loading time, hauling time, dumping time and travelling empty time.

The video feed is processed on the Pitram vehicle computer edge device, where the extracted information is transferred to Pitram servers for processing.

The software will help pinpoint areas of potential improvement and bolster machinery efficiency and safety.

Mine managers will have increased business knowledge and more control over loading and hauling processes via more informed decisions.

• blutipdata.com

• micromine.com

SANDVIK XSERIES ROTARY AND DRILLS FACTORYTALK INNOVATIONSUITE FactoryTalk InnovationSuite is a software collaboration between Rockwell Automation and PTC designed to improve connectivity and functionality for mining and industrial businesses.

This product provides improved connectivity for operational technology (OT) devices on the site floor, improving day-to-day communications through data optimisation from a variety of different sources.

This data, combined with information technology (IT) applications and systems, allows decision makers to gain a complete digital representation of their site.

Data can be checked for anomalies and cross-referenced from different sites across the globe in order to aid decision-making.

FactoryTalk InnovationSuite gives workers the ability to contextualise data, orchestrate processes and deliver powerful user experiences.

The InnovationSuite incorporates FactoryTalk Analytics and manufacturing operations management (MOM) platforms, as well as PTC’s ThingWorx Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform, which includes industrial connectivity from Kepware, and the Vuforia augmented reality solution.

Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology has added new diesel-powered rotary blast hole drills to its xSeries family.

The drills feature added intelligence and improved operator ergonomics, providing operators with reliability and technology to drill the hole safely.

Highlights of the xSeries include touch screen graphic unit interface (GUI) featuring the Sandvik automation module.

This module offers health monitoring system which replaces old style shut down switches; same hardware and software components as the i-series machine, including a seven-inch mobile grade rugged touch screen; and improved user experience via familiar Sandvik “look and feel” GUI interface.

The xSeries also boasts compressor management system lite electronic controlled compressor system, oversize driller’s window, bolt-on mast locks and swivel-enabled operators seat.

• rocktechnology.sandvik/

• rockwellautomation.com

AUSTRALIANMINING

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EVENTS

CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS EVENT SUBMISSIONS CAN BE EMAILED TO EDITOR@AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU

BAUMA 2019, MUNICH, GERMANY, APRIL 8–14 The world’s leading trade fair for construction and mining vehicles and machines, Bauma is set for its biggest year yet in 2019 with an expanded exhibition space of 614,000 square metres. To get an idea of the scale of bauma, the 2016 event saw 583,736 visitors from over 219 countries and 3425 exhibitors from 58 countries.

While not exclusively a mining event, the industry is a key focus of Bauma, which will showcase the latest in haul trucks, conveyors, crushers and everything between.

• bauma.de 2019 NSW MINERALS COUNCIL EXPLORATION FORUM, VENUE TBC, MAY 6 The annual New South Wales Mining Exploration Forum offers an opportunity for NSW’s explorers to convene. The

breadth of the mining exploration sector is represented at the event, from aspirants and mining juniors through to Tier 1 mining companies. Attendees ranging from upper management and executives through to onsite staff will join to discuss policy framework and exploration case studies. The forum also incorporates the NSW Mining Explorer of the Year Awards.

• nswmining.com.au AUSTMINE 2019: MINING INNOVATION, BRISBANE, MAY 21–23 Austmine returns in 2019 with its focus on mining innovation. The biennial event, to be held in Brisbane this year, includes workshops, presentations, case studies, networking and Austmine’s mining industry awards across three packed days. The latest mining technology and services will be on display and a cohort of Australian and international speakers are scheduled to attend.

• austmineconference.com.au

AUSTRALIANMINING

MINEX 2019, MOUNT ISA, QUEENSLAND, MAY 30–JUNE 1 Referred to by organisers as “outback Queensland’s premier mining exhibition”, as well as one of the largest mining expositions in eastern Australia, MineX 2019 takes place at Mt Isa’s Buchanan Park Events Complex this year. Founded in 1996, the event places a spotlight on mining talent in North West Queensland and the Carpentaria. Over 100 exhibitors are expected to attend to showcase their products and meet potential buyers. The event includes a gala function, concert and networking opportunities.

• minexqld.com DIGGERS & DEALERS MINING FORUM, KALGOORLIE, AUGUST 5–7 Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum is back with its unique combination of mining presentations and a large exhibition area, with a delegation made up of mining and exploration companies, mining

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services companies, investors, bankers and financiers, among others. Highly respected experts will be in attendance to provide insightful commentary to delegates. A world-class entertainment program also ensures that delegates experience the best of the style and hospitality of Kalgoorlie.

• diggersndealers.com.au 2019 AUSTRALIAN MINING PROSPECT AWARDS, BRISBANE, OCTOBER 10 The Australian mining industry’s biggest awards celebration is heading to the Sunshine State for the first time this year.

With coal tipped becoming the nation’s biggest mining export this year, the timing couldn’t be better to celebrate the industry’s contribution in Queensland. The 2019 Australian Mining Prospect Awards will take place at Moda Events in Brisbane on October 10, honouring the best and brightest of an industry that prides itself as a cultural and economic cornerstone.

• prospectawards.com.au

MINING INNOVATION: THE NEXT HORIZON

Connect and learn from world-class mining and METS thought leaders Network and develop collaborative partnerships with key industry players

Taking place in Brisbane from 21-23 May, Austmine 2019 will provide an opportunity for mining and METS leaders from around the world to come together and explore the future of our industry.

Be part of engaging conversations that pioneer new thinking, technologies, processes and people

The must attend biennial conference will showcase the best mining innovation from around the world, focusing on cutting edge technologies, innovative business practices, disruptive industry challenges and more.

Explore and discover future technologies and innovations through 40+ thought provoking presentations and interactive workshops

RAFAEL ESTRADA

BARRY FITZGERALD

CIO & Manager of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Process Control, Antamina Mining

CEO, Roy Hill Holdings Pty Ltd

RUSSELL POTAPINSKI

STAFFAN SANDSTRÖM

Technology Director, Boliden Minerals

Head of Intelligent and Autonomous Systems Technology, Woodside Energy

MARCO ORELLANA

IVAN MULLANY

CIO, Codelco

Senior Vice President of Technical Services, Goldcorp

MIKE WUNDENBERG

FRANS KNOX

VP Operational Technology and Innovation, Newmont

Head of Production, BMA Coal, BHP

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