Australian Mining October 2013

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VOLUME 105/10 – OCTOBER 2013

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AM1013_003.pdf

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COMMENT

Mining Mining’s view on the election Australian

Cirrus Media Manufacturing & Electronics Group: Associate Publisher – Martin Sinclair Email: martin.sinclair@cirrusmedia.com.au Editor – Cole Latimer Tel: (02) 8484 0652 Email: ozmining@cirrusmedia.com.au Journalists – Vicky Validakis Tel: (02) 8484 0964 Email: vicky.validakis@cirrusmedia.com.au Brent Balinski Tel: (02) 8484 0680 Email: brent.balinski@cirrusmedia.com.au Alex Heber Tel: (02) 8484 0884 Email: alexandra.heber@cirrusmedia.com.au Group Sales Manager – Tim Richards Tel: (02) 8484 0829 Mob: 0420 550 799 Email: tim.richards@cirrusmedia.com.au QLD and SA Sales Manager – Sharon Amos Tel: (07) 3261 8857 Fax: (07) 3261 8347 Mob: 0417 072 625 Email: sharon.amos@cirrusmedia.com.au WA Representative – Jamie Wade Mob: 0435 945 868 Email: jamie@wadebusiness.com.au South Africa – Bob Stephen Stephen Marketing PO Box 75, Tarlton, Gauteng 1749, South Africa Tel: 27(011) 952 1721 Fax: 27(011) 952 1607 USA – Jonathan Sismey Cirrus Media 24th Floor, 125 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Tel: (1) 212 370 7445 Fax: (1) 212 370 7441 Email: jsismey@ix.netcom.com Larry Arthur Cirrus Media Suite 203, 3700 Campus Drive, Newport Beach, CA 92660 Tel: (1) 949 756 1057 Fax: (1) 949 756 2514 Email: lharthur@ix.netcom.com Graphic Designer – Dave Ashley Production Co-ordinator – Tracy Engle Tel: (02) 8484 0707 Fax: (02) 8484 0966 Subscription Rates – Australia (surface mail) $140.00 (incl GST) New Zealand A$148.00 Overseas A$156.00 Reader Services – 1300 360 126

We put out the question on what the election meant for mining to you, and we had some strong views arise.

A

ny election creates a varied and often emo­ tive reaction across the nation.

And the mining industry is no different.

This most recent election, which unsurprisingly saw La­ bor decimated and the Coa­ lition sweep to power, has definitely created a schism in the industry.

On the day following the election we asked our follow­ ers on Facebook what they thought of the change in the leadership, and what effect this would have on the min­ ing industry.

Well we weren’t disap­ pointed.

We were inundated with a number of wildly different responses: pro-Labor, proLiberal, pro-Palmer, and proCirrus Media leaving the country.

Tower 2, Level 3, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, From the people on the NSW 2067 Australia Locked Bag 4700, Chatswood Delivery Centre, ground themselves through NSW 2067, Australia Tel: (02) 8484 0888 Fax: (02) 8484 0633 to the people that represent ABN 80 132 719 861 ISSN 0004-976X those on the ground (predom­ www.cirrusmedia.com.au © Copyright Cirrus Media, 2013 inately the CFMEU’s Stephen All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be Smyth) we were given insight reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written permission of the p ­ ublisher. into how miners believe this new government will impact the industry.

Some believed that it Average Net Distribution would only be good – an ax­ Period ending March 2013 8,038 ing off the mining tax, the Printed by Bluestar Print 83 Derby Street, Silverwater, NSW 2128 shafting of the carbon tax, Tel: (02) 9748 3411 Published 12 issues a year and encouraging the resourc­ es industry into creating Min­ ing Boom 3.0 (as the spike A M 0 6 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ . p d before f P athe g GFC e 1and8the / deliri­ 0 5 / 1 ous highs of the great boom

www.miningaustralia.com.au

Comment Cole Latimer ozmining@cirrusmedia.com.au stood out as the progenitors).

Others, however, were not of the same ilk.

Omens of doom were thrown about quickly and assuredly.

Predictions of the new government handing over the reins of power to China, a revival of WorkChoices and the gross expansion and ease of 457 visas applications were all forecasts from those disap­ pointed with the majority of the nation’s recent election choice.

Quickly arguments be­ tween our users blew up.

Ad hominem attacks of the “you’re a f**king goose mate” variety became more common.

All within the space of an hour and a half mind.

Both sides painted com­ pletely different pictures of our nation’s future under our 28th prime minster Tony Abbott.

Both could be right to a degree.

And this isn’t even in­ cluding the comments on our Twitter feed.

3 , But 1 as 0 :were 4 7 only : 0 3literally AM hours into this new leadership

it demonstrated the clearly emotive nature of this elec­ tion, and the fact that many people felt like they never had a clear choice or party to be­ lieve in to begin with.

As we settle in to the first month of this new govern­ ment, the team here at Australian Mining wait with bated breath to see what happens to this industry, but with the gradual slow down in demand from China and India, as well as the phase shift of min­ ing from an exploration and ramp-up focus to actual mov­ ing the stuff we are likely to

see a new era in our industry.

The simple fact remains that under any government we will face tough times, whether they are restrictive policies, a lack of support (as Ian Plimer elucidated so clearly – no government un­ derstands how to turn rocks into money), and what occa­ sionally feel like direct attacks the industry will survive.

Australia was never really built on the sheep’s back, de­ spite the image many portray of the nation as one of agri­ culture; we are a nation built on the sweat of the brow of the man with the shovel.

We demonstrated it again over these last few years, and mining will remain, as it al­ ways has been, a major part of Australia’s economy and national identity.

We will remain.

FRONT COVER On the front cover of this edition of Australian Mining we’ve featured the newly launched Pantera drill rig from Sandvik. The company launched two new drill rigs, reviving the Pantera line in the process, and released new underground equipment as well, bringing back the Axera family at the same time. This being the technology focused issue we have looked at the latest developments in automation and robotics, communications technology, mining software, and minerals processing, which A EisShelping T to make the mine site a little safer.

AustralianMining

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Contents The future in focus

October 2013 issue

Cat & Bucyrus: The story two years on

How Caterpillar has moved since the acquisitions….p10-14

Security for the future of mining?

Industry leaders gather to debate its direction….p16

A bright light for the industry….p36

Features AIMEX WRAP Women make it in mining The rise of women on mine sites .............p18-20 AUSTRALIAN MINING ON SITE From Start to Finnish The launch of the newest mining drill rigs ..........................................................p22-23 SOFTWARE & HARDWARE Collaborating on mining’s future Software helping to push miners in the right direction .........................................p24-26 Servicing reporting structures Helping juniors get a handle on reporting .... p28 MINERALS PROCESSING High intensity grinding Getting more out of your mills ..................... p30 Slurry pumping power The world’s largest slurry pumps ................. p32 4

October 2013

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URANIUM Yellowcake for QLD uranium party Uranium takes a step forward in the Sunshine State .............................................. p34 COMMUNICATIONS Services on the move in mining Communications advances changing mining .......................................................... p38 Communications for satellite sites Remote communications .............................. p40 AUTOMATION & REMOTE CONTROL Taking mining automation into the next reality The next big step for automation ............p42-43 Computer controlled drilling Wholly autonomous drilling on site ............. p44 The shape of things to come Tele-remote, safer drilling ............................ p46

MAPPING Mapping: Planning to production How mapping has changed mining’s perception .................................................... p48 GOLD AngloGold braces for tougher times Are there bright lights at the end of the tunnel ......................................................p54-56

Regulars NEWS ............................................................ p8 PRODUCT SHOWCASE ..........................p58-61 PROSPECT AWARDS .................................. p62 JOBS ............................................................ p64 EVENTS ....................................................... p66 www.miningaustralia.com.au

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

Young miners must look

BEYOND THE BOOM Chris Morcom, from Hewison Private Wealth, discusses how to deal with the current cycle.

T

he lifestyle of a long across the mining sector is be a smart option if you distance mining or en- expected to slow considerare not sure what your gineering worker pro- ably over the next five years, work status will be beyond vides a strong opportunity to as the industry moves from a your current contract. You save. Most find themselves construction phase to an opcan start with a relatively working long hours in a re- erational phase. small amount, you don’t mote location, have reduced With a high percentage of have to have a bulk of savliving expenses (thanks to workers employed on a conings in order to invest and food and accommodation tract basis, taking a shortyou can easily access your paid for) and are heavily term approach towards your money if you need it – in as compensated. savings plan could see many little as one day.

According to the ABS young workers waste a great 3. Look long term: There is mise tax is not a smart Labour Force Report (2013) financial opportunity to buy no such thing as a “get move. the average mining employ- property or invest in a share rich scheme:” patience 5. Be realistic: Limited conee working full-time earns portfolio for the future. is a virtue. In regard to tract lengths can make it $1900 per week (before tax).

So how can young minshare investments, don’t difficult to plan ahead.

For young people, this ers maximise their income be tempted to buy in Avoid locking in high high earning capacity pre- and set up a long term finanthe boom and sell in the levels of debt in this case, sents an opportunity to take cial plan that sticks? gloom. Shares are a long as there isn’t a guarancontrol of their strong cash 1. Look outside the box: term investment option tee that a contract will flow and establish themWith many working on a (at least 5-10 years): as a be renewed. Instead, you selves financially for the long fly-in-fly out basis, flexyoung investor, you have should set savings and term. ibility in your affairs plenty of time to recover investment goals around Rather than taking admakes sense. Therefore, from short-term dips in contract tenures to avoid vantage of their high level look towards building a the market. having to sell assets quickof disposable income, many diverse portfolio of invest- 4. Don’t invest purely for ly down the track in order have become accustomed ments rather than focustax reasons: Avoid makto repay debt. to the lifestyle, choosing to ing all your efforts on one ing investments purely 6. Consolidate your super splash the extra cash on exsector (i.e.: property). for their tax benefits – funds: If you’ve had mulpensive toys and failing to 2. Consider share investinvestments must have a tiple employers in the past anticipate the slowdown of ments: Share investments purpose in your overall and haven’t been keeping the mining boom. are a clever way to build wealth creation plan and a close eye on your superAEmployment D _ A MA B L O C T _ 1 2 . pwealth d f over P a gtime e and 1 can 1 3 / 0 9simply / 1 2 investing , 1 0 : to 4 4miniAM growth annuation, there is a good

chance you could have multiple super funds.

Make sure you track all lost super to ensure it is kept in one space.

7. Get financial advice: Strategic planning is vitally important to ensure both immediate and long-term savings goals are considered: especially if you don’t expect to be employed in the mining sector for the long-haul. Investment returns can be easily unwound if the strategy doesn’t suit your needs, therefore seeking the advice of an independent financial planner can help you map out a strategy to achieve financial success.

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October 2013

AustralianMining

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HEADLINES

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

BHP prices $US5bn bond Mining powerhouse BHP Billiton has priced a $US5 billion ($AU5.3 billion) four-tranche bond offering.

BHP said it will use the funds from the sale to cover general corporate costs.

The bond offering comprises $US500 million senior floating rate notes due in 2016, paying 25 basis points over the 3-month US dollar Libor rate.

In addition $US500 million worth of senior notes, due in 2018, have been priced at 2.050 per cent.

Another $1.5 billion of senior notes, due in 2023, have been priced at 3.85 per cent, while $2.5 billion worth of senior notes, due in 2043, have been priced at 5 per cent.

Maules Creek mine Injunction dismissed Whitehaven Coal has won the right to continue work at its Maules Creek mine project after an injunction application to stop the development was dismissed in the Federal Court.

The Northern Inland Council for the Environment filed the challenge to appeal the proposed mine in July, challenging the validity of former federal environment minister Tony Burke’s decision to approve the mine.

The group wanted work at the site halted until a decision on the matter had been made, however after a full day hearing in the Federal Court, Justice Griffiths dismissed the injunction.

Whitehaven’s managing director and CEO, Paul Flynn, welcomed the decision, adding that the project was still on target.

“This is obviously a positive result for the company,” Flynn said.

“Coal production is on target for the first quarter of CY2015.”

The court’s decision on whether the project should proceed is not expected until early November.

50 workers lose jobs at Broken Hill mine CBH Resources has slashed a third of its workforce at Rasp Mine in Broken Hill.

Thirty-seven workers and 14 contractors were notified of the cuts.

Managing director of CBH, Stephen Dennis, said the cuts have come on the back of a $17 million loss over the past six months.

“That’s a position that’s clearly not sustainable,” Dennis said.

“It’s become more urgent as we’ve said today that we act and that we act quickly.

“We’ve got to address those problems and that’s resulted in the action that you’ve seen taken today.”

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Rasp Mine is one of the oldest in the region, with the ordebody first discovered in the 1880s.

industry. Speaking to a number of mining representatives earlier this month during the Day of Reflection the Pope called on them to “reflect on the importance of their human and environmental responsibilities.

“In other words, they wish to make a serious examination of conscience on what must be done so that their industry may offer a constant positive contribution to integral human development.”

He stated that “mining, like many other industrial activities, has ecological and social consequences which go well beyond national borders and pass from one generation to the next,” adding that the industry can not repeat the errors of the past.

“Decisions today cannot be taken solely from geological perspectives or the possible economic benefits for investors and for the states in which the companies are based.”

Calls to end lone worker night shifts Unions have renewed calls to end lone worker night shifts, following WA’s first mine site death in two years.

Long running union concerns over Fortescue Metals Group’s safety standards have come to a head after the miner used its step-in rights to take control of its ore processing facility at Christmas Creek, thesite of the death.

Fortescue announced it would be managing and supervising the facility, taking control from contractor Crushing Services International to “ensure the safe and hazard free operation”.

The move comes just a month after 24-yearold electrical engineer Kurt Williams was killed at the operation whilst working alone on night shift.

Electrical Trades Union acting secretary Jim Murie said the union has had concerns about CSI for some time.

“There never should have been an electrician working alone, at night, while the plant was in production mode,” Murie said.

“It’s just too dangerous and we told them that before the accident.”

Peabody cuts 70 Wilkie Creek coal jobs Peabody have cut 70 jobs from Wilkie Creek coal mine as the company continues to dramatically trim its workforce.

Earlier this year the company announced plans to cut to cut 400 positions across its operations in Australia, resulting in 170 job losses, blaming challenging market conditions for the move.

However a spokeswoman for Peabody toldAustralian Mining the most recent cuts were “on top of” the 400 already announced.

“These actions have been taken to ensure we keep pace with current market conditions and meet sales commitments for the rest of 2013,” the company said.

“Peabody will provide support to affected employees and their immediate family members to work though this challenging period.”

In June the miner announced plans to slash more than 400 contractor positions across its coal mines.

The company recently cut 42 jobs from Helensburgh’s Metropolitan coal mine.

Peabody announced its Australian June quarter earning of $US112.5 million, compared with $US240.4 million in the same quarter last year.

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

Cougar fined over chemical leak Cougar Energy has been fined $75,000 for leaking benzene into groundwater at its underground coal gasification project at Kingaroy in Queensland.

The release happened during the trial of its $550 million UCG project which was shut down in January 2011 after the cancer-causing chemical was found in nearby bores.

Fronting the Brisbane Magistrates’ court yesterday, the company pleaded guilty to three charges relating to failure to properly supervise contractors cementing a production well, properly monitoring the release of contaminates, and the release of air containing toluene and benzene.

A Cougar Energy spokesperson said the incident did not result in environmental harm.

“There was no permanent harm done to the groundwater, including its potential to be used for drinking water,” the spokesperson said.

“We pleaded guilty to close the case.”

Pope calls on miners to focus on social licence The newly appointed Pope, Francis I, has called on miners to ensure they fulfill their environmental responsibilities and treat workers fairly.

It was the first time that a number of senior global mining executives from companies such as Anglo American and Rio Tinto gathered together with the Pope to discuss the mining

Governments to fast track enviro approvals The Abbott government has sealed a deal with Queensland aimed at streamlining the process of environmental approvals in a bid to cut green tape.

The two governments signed a memorandum of understanding this week, giving the state more power to conduct environmental assessments and approvals for major projects.

The deal aims to cut the duplications seen in the current system, resulting in fast tracking decisions on projects.

Cutting green tape and regulatory burdens was a key goal for the Coalition, who say the move will provide businesses with more certainty, which will in turn spur investment in Queensland.

Federal Minister for the Environment, Greg Hunt, said the government was aiming for a one-stop shop for environmental approvals.

“The agreement is a significant step for the Australian Government as it puts in place measures to maintain current environmental protection while cutting the duplication and administrative burden which can unnecessarily delay major investments,” Hunt said.

“By setting the environmental bar high, to an agreed standard, businesses in Queensland will not have to jump over the same hurdle multiple times.

“What we will have is one process that gives business certainty and produces great environmental outcomes.”

State Environment Minister Andrew Powell said environmental standards would not fall as a result of the changes.

“The Commonwealth will continue to work with us to ensure those high environmental standards are achieved,” Powell said. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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MANUFACTURING FOR MINING

CAT & BUCYRUS: The story two years on

An insight into how the company has progressed since one of the world’s largest acquisitions. Cole Latimer writes.

E

veryone knows what happens when you buy a house at the top of the market.

You sometimes bite off more than you can chew.

So what happens when you buy another mining machinery manufacturer at the top of the market?

Caterpillar found this out first hand when it acquired Bucyrus for US$8 billion in 2010, and completed it the following year as the mining boom reached its heights.

But unlike a house, integrating 1000s of workers and distributors make the task slightly more difficult – so how has Cat bedded down the Bucyrus buy following the peak of the mining boom and the abrupt downturn?

And importantly how have its Australian distributors incorporated these changes?

The past

The acquisition is well known and was one of the largest mergers of companies in the world.

In fact the Bucyrus acquisition is also the largest acquisition in Caterpillar’s history and is larger than every other one put together.

Speaking to Australian Mining following the move in 2011, the company explained that the timing was right to make a move.

“We had been aiming to dramatically expand our product range to become ‘the single source solution’, and had been looking at the ways in which we could do that, but these plans had been put on hold while we all suffered from the global downturn,” Tony Johnson, Caterpillar Resources Division’s marketing manager, explained.

“As we came out of the global financial crisis, we were better placed than most as we had a recession plan in place, a ‘trough plan’. This allowed us to survive the recession in a fairly healthy position.

“Having looked at Bucyrus before, and not seen it as a viable option then, our new relatively strengthened position in the market allowed us to make the move.”

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Caterpillar bought rival Bucyrus for more than $8 billion two years ago, so how has it bedded down the acquisition since then, and how has this been affected by the mining boom’s slowdown?

Caterpillar’s Resources Group president Steve Wunning stated that “this acquisition was all about growth and new opportunities, broadening our range of surface and underground mining products.

At the time they stressed that a major part of the two companies coming together was effectively sorting out the dealer network, and who would now be selling what.

Caterpillar told Australian Mining that is has increased its focus on the distribution and dealer network.

An early way in which it sought to address this was by expanding its set network regions, growing from five ‘super regions’ up to 15 “to provide greater support for our dealers and to drill down on customers’ demand,” Johnson explained.

Clearly there were big plans ready to be rolled out, and effective returns pegged on the horizon.

But the short, sharp end of the mining boom put an end to all of that.

Suddenly plans that were firm looking into the future were no longer such, and the future looked very uncertain for the world’s mining industry, especially Australia’s.

Dealing with the present

So with the downturn biting and massive layoffs for companies through out mining what did Cat do?

It didn’t take its eye off the ball in bringing the two companies together, and neither did its dealers.

At a recent Caterpillar event in Brisbane, held at the tail-end of AIMEX, Cat explained the current situation, how it weathered the downturn, what is has planned for the future, and how the dealers will be a part of this, with Hastings Deering providing a unique dealer perspective.

Australian dealer Hastings Deering (which is the Caterpillar dealer for Queensland, the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands) was actually the first in the world to get the selling

rights for Bucyrus equipment, with WesTrac, which supplies for NSW, Western Australia, and the ACT signing up in April last year.

The dealer for Victoria and Tasmania, William Adams, and Cavpower, which supplies South Australia are currently in the works, while the major dealer for Indonesia – PT Trakindo Utama, is expected to be on board by the end of the year.

These dealers all now have to communicate to the market that what was Bucyrus is now Caterpillar.

But according to Andrew Ransley, Caterpillar Global Mining’s general manager for Asia Pacific, the brand change was the easy part, and the current major step it is going through is streamlining all the services, categorising the new multitude of parts, and providing the support have been the most challenging.

“Product support has been the most difficult part so far, 1.2 million Continued on page 12 www.miningaustralia.com.au

FOX3845_Aus_Mining_[CLHEP7].pdf

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MANUFACTURING FOR MINING

Continued from page 10

part numbers, standardising warranties,� Ransley explained.

Overall the company has increased parts by 20 per cent, and “changing all the parts numbers is an enormous task, so we have built warehouses to centralise distribution and smooth the problem�.

According to Ransley they have created nine new parts centres globally, doubled the Melbourne distribution centre, and have just broke ground in Queensland for a new distribution centre to deal with the issue. “For instance we need to cross reference 18 000 hoses for equip- The Hastings Deering assembly hangars are heritage listed. ment to provide the levels of support that the customers expect�. ing to reduce the cycle cost for all from its heritage listed site in ArcherAnd it is providing that customer operators.� field, Queensland, where it employs support that has driven the manuaround 500 people, and also acts as facturer, with Ransley stating that On the ground a registered training organisation, “we’ve also had to learn a lot about So how are the aforementioned deal- which it says helps to train an averers adapting to these new challenges? age of 100 people annually to the draglines�.

Hastings Deering had a unique ‘Cat Standard’.

In-house training has been a major part of this learning experience, insight, as one of Cat’s 200 dealers In fact due to the size of the boom with Cat holding “Big Iron Univer­ that cover more than 1000 locations; and the fairly restrictive size of the sity�, which is aimed at getting its it leapt onto the new distribution op- hangers Hastings has bought addistaff up to date with both the new portunity. tional land at Williamsburg for asAdrian Carney, Hastings’ ex- sembly of the larger pieces of capital changes and the new equipment.

This learning, combined with ecutive general manger – mining, ex- equipment and continual operation, the changing demands for more ef- plained “we were already one of the as its current facility is located near ficient machinery, has already shown world’s largest Caterpillar dealers, op- residential housing which restricts opthrough, Cat says, with new technol- erating in 140 centres across ten coun- erating hours. tries, so for us it simply a bigger sandogy being developed as a result.

However despite the growth, the It is now focusing internally on pit to play in with new equipment�. company did accede that the levels Since it purchased the distri- of equipment passing through its more technology integration, safety innovations, and increasing the life- bution rights for the Bucyrus for doors are half of what they were a cycle of machines while reducing the US$350 million it has increased its year ago, even with the heavy level cost and fuel consumption which has scope of work and even put together of capital equipment being assemled to innovations such as fully LNG the pink longwall shearer installed bled and transported for BMA’s at Rio Tinto’s new Kestrel North Caval Ridge coal mine. vehicles on site. “We can even run rope shovels coal mine.

While there Australian Mining M1 0 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ S E I 1 2 0 1 3 - 0 9 - 0 5 T1 5 : 2 2 : 2 4 + 1 0 : 0 0 The business is also expanding saw a number of Cat 793s being preoffAgenerators now; it’s all about try-

pared for the mine, with a fleet of 14 all up expected to pass through its doors.

But it isn’t just large equipment that the facility has focused on.

Hastings SOS testing centre at Archerfield is one of the highest quality in the world – this was highlighted by the fact that out of 17 high level particulate counters available in the world, this facility had four.

On a tour through the facility they explained to Australian Mining that its customers from around the country, and overseas, send their oils, fluids, coolant, diesel, hydraulic oil and the like to be monitored for minute changes in the fluids.

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MANUFACTURING FOR MINING

mining growth in China would continue strengthen.

According to The Wall Street Journal Caterpillar had been losing market share in China, which represents nearly half of world demand for construction equipment.

In 2010 Cat had seven per cent of China’s excavator market, trailling behind rivals Komatsu and Sany, which accounted for 15 and nine per cent respectively.

Prior to the ERA acquisition Caterpillar construction equipment group president Richard Lavin said the company had “undershot” the market in China and needed to catch up.

However unlike the Bucyrus buy, this was not smooth sailing.

Earlier this year Caterpillar carried out a series of internal investigations after claims of misconduct at ERA. The mining machinery manufacturer stated that it “has uncovered deliberate, multi-year, co-ordinated accounting misconduct concealed” at the recently acquired ERA Mining Machinery company’s subsidiary Zhengzhou Siwei Mechanical & Electrical Manufacturing, in China.

“Caterpillar’s investigation determined 1 2 0 1several 3 - 0 9Siwei - 2 0senior T 1 0 man: 1 1 agers engaged in deliberate miscon-

Continued from page 12

“What we’re trying to do is uncover what is going on in the machinery and provide predictive maintenance advice,” Hastings said.

“For instance, 40 to 60 per cent of all engine failure is coolant related, so by testing what the mechanism’s fluids are like we can see what is wearing and how, and are able to pick up very particular types of wear.”

By regularly monitoring “we are able to build up a history of maintenance to get a better idea of what’s ‘normal’ and to understand when failure will occur, as we have that baseline for predictive maintenance”.

The China issue

Not all of the company’s focus has been on making the two Cat and Bucyrus businesses into a streamlined entity.

In late 2011 it also paid US$887 million to get a greater footprint in China’s mining industry, purchasing ERA Mining Machinery.

At the time it was a 33 per cent premium on ERA’s most recent share price.

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AustralianMining

It uses a high level testing facility to monitor customer oils and fluids.

duct beginning several years prior to Caterpillar’s acquisition of Siwei,” it said.

It went on to stress that “the misconduct at issue commenced at Siwei well in advance of Caterpillar’s acquisition. We believe it was perpetrated without the knowledge of any Caterpillar employee who did not come over to Caterpillar as part of the Siwei acquisition”. : 2 9Following + 1 0 : 0 the 0 investigation Cat removed several senior managers at the company, installing its own new leadership team.

“The actions carried out by these individuals are offensive and completely unacceptable,” Caterpillar’s CEO Doug Oberhelman said.

“This conduct does not represent, in any way, shape or form, the way Caterpillar does business or how we expect our employees to work, which is spelled out in Caterpillar’s Worldwide Code of Conduct.

“Once our investigation confirmed that misconduct had taken place at Siwei, we moved quickly and decisively to hold the responsible leaders directly accountable for the wrongdoing. Account­ability is a critical way that we measure leaders at Caterpillar, and it is my expectation that leaders set an example and are accountable for their actions and results.”

Despite the hit of $580 million, or more than 65 per cent of the acquisition cost of ERA, Caterpillar says it has not changed its view on working in China.

This was reiterated during the Cat event, with Andrew Ransley, Caterpillar Global Mining’s general manager for Asia Pacific stating that it has tried to not let the incident affect its desire for the product line.

Added to this is the fact that 70

per cent of the world’s longwall business is in China “so it’s smart to stay there,” Ransley said.

Power play

But it isn’t all about the capital equipment.

Much of Caterpillar’s focus has been on the development of its new technology and stepping more into the remote control and automation space, not only to increase productivity on site, but also to increase safety.

Its MineStar program is one of its main focuses as it develops in the coming years.

The program itself is a five prong­ ed system – Detect; Health; Terrain; Command; and Fleet, which interweave with one another to provide a stable footing for increased auto­ mation, efficiency, and safety on site.

Speaking at the Caterpillar presentation in Brisbane, Carl Hendricks explained that the company is already seeing MineStar “making a cultural change when implemented” and that “this is helping to drive out process waste with efficiency”, a move that is direly needed for the Australian mining industry, which is one of the least productive sectors in Australia.

IBISWorld chairman Phil Ruthven has previously stated that mining “desperately needs transformation as it is one of the most inefficient industries right now”.

Ruthven explained that mining’s productivity has dropped over the last ten years, and seen “a 9.8 per cent dip in productivity from 2001 through to 2011”.

However as technology changes how mining does business it will make a major impact on Australia as “there is a willingness in Australia to buy new technology” that improves productivity. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AM1013_016.pdf

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AIMEX

The future IN FOCUS at AIMEX Industry leaders gathered for a panel on the industry’s direction during AIMEX.

A

s the mining industry gathers to see the latest technological developments and equipment at AIMEX, a group of some of mining’s best-known voices chaired a panel to address the sector’s major issues.

In a panel moderated by Q&A’s Tony Jones, GVK Hancock Coal’s managing director Paul Mulder, Austmine’s Alan Broome, well known geologist and outspoken climate change denier Ian Plimer, and GE Mining’s CEO Geoff Knox were subject to questions from the audience and Jones that covered topics as diverse as industrial relations, mining’s social licence to operate, the carbon and mining taxes, energy efficiency, and Australia’s place in the world.

Jones first asked Broome how automation will change the industry, and whether it will affect workers. Broome explained that automation is one of a number of tools that will help the industry progress, but that there needs to be a focus on efficiency.

“For mining to advance we need to apply more technology and we are really seeing the next stage of the industry, mining is changing and the future is going to be the technology age of mining,” Broome explained.

“Mining in the future is going to be completely different to what we’re used to seeing so far, and we’ll see this technological change really coming over the next five years.”

Plimer explained that currently mining is very inefficient when it comes to energy.

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the world’s electricity is used simply to crush and grind rock right now,” Plimer said.

However new technology is allowing miners to operate at the next level.

However Mulder acknowledged that “automation is not a silver bullet” for all of mining’s problems, and that “new technology should be instead used as a pillar for increased development”.

He explained that mining cannot go it alone and that the government needs to support the industry, and not just in the boom times.

GE Mining’s Geoff Knox summed up the attitude of the room succinctly, stating that while the nation’s position globally has changed the government’s approach to business and keeping it sustainable has not.

“Island Australia is now in competition with the rest of the world, and no matter the effect the [carbon and mining] tax regimes actually have, the way in which they are viewed affect our competitiveness,” Knox said.

“Everything needs to be approached in a pragmatic and more competitive way, without ignoring the social and environmental issues.”

Broome expanded upon the reality of the taxes versus the perception of it internationally.

“We’ve currently got circumstances where the reality of the carbon and mining taxes impact isn’t as high as projected, but it is having a detrimental effect on the perception of Australia as an investment location,” Broome said.

Ian Plimer explained that this will have a damag-

ing impact on the nation as “this country has imported capital for 200 years, and if we scare it away it will go to places like West Africa, and at present West Africa is a place of interest for investment, even though you can count on a sawmiller’s hand the number of a successful projects in West Africa”.

Plimer jumped on these comments stating that this will have a long term economic effect on the industry.

He took a swipe at the nation’s leaders, stating that “the government doesn’t understand the fundamentals of turning rock into money”.

This lack of understanding has led to the increasing strategy of governmental approvals processes in an effort to mine the industry for royalties.

Mulder explained the regulation pains encountered by miners, stating “for an environmental impact statement (EIS) it costs $50 million” as well as the costs of time.

“It just wasn’t efficient,” he said.

“It’s not as if miners don’t want to protect the environment, but the process has to be streamlined.”

A bold question from the audience on the night asked whether the carbon tax was simply a tax on air.

Knox was the first to jump in, stating “if we’re looking to improve the environment then the carbon tax’s intent was to do that, but the design of the current system is faulty” as it harms business and discourages investment.

Instead “it needs to both encourage better environmental processes as well as investment”.

The question Jones opened the panel with was the topic on which it ended: industrial action.

Following court action which now allows fly-infly-out workers to remain on site during strikes, Jones asked whether industrial issues still played a major part in a mine’s profile.

The issue was close to Mulder’s heart, and he proceeded to elaborate on current industrial relation issues across the nation.

He called on unions to become more flexible as the industry itself changes globally.

Mulder regaled the room with anecdotes on over-the-

top union action, citing a strike over a five cent increase in coke in vending machines, and one crew striking after not getting onions with their Christmas BBQ while another did.

Mulder said actions like these take a massive toll on the industry.

“It costs companies, and these costs have to come out of somewhere as mining is not a bottomless pit,” he said.

“Coal is currently doing it very tough, and you can keep putting your hand out but there comes a time when the mine eventually has to shut as it’s not sustainable.

“The way in which these miners can exploit the rules is ridiculous sometimes as legislation isn’t tight enough to stop it.”

He was supported by Broome who said that unions were important, and the spud and onion strike in Broken Hill demonstrated this, but “unions have now done their jobs as what they fought for is now enshrined in legislation, and now they need to work with industry, instead of working against it and causing industrial strife”. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AM1013_018.pdf

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AIMEX

Women making it in mining The rise of women on mine sites.

T

he women in mining panel discussion was a highlight for visitors at this week’s AIMEX, with a cross-section of ladies working in the sector sitting down to share their varied experiences.

Chaired by Lainie Anderson, a director of Mining Family Matters, the panel included Margaret Davies, regional manager supply chain for Anglo American, Elizabeth Watts, operations manager at Xstrata Coal NSW, Gabrielle Horn, apprentice auto-electrician at Anglo America’s Drayton Mine, Natalie Bussau, manager for operational readiness at Improvement Resources and Dr Ana Duarte, solution consultant for the mining industry at GE Intelligent Platforms.

The women spoke about their varied experience in the mining industry, what inspires them and their hope that more women would see the industry for the opportunities it could offer.

Watts says there aren’t many barriers for women wanting to enter the mining sector, and that the most important aspect was to figure out what you wanted to do and just go for it.

Bussau agreed, stating that getting into the industry is about talking to as many people as possible.

“Take every opportunity that comes along,” Bussau said.

“It’s really about having a go.”

Bassau said showing aptitude, and having the right attitude was key to getting a start, adding that

often opportunities would soon present themselves.

“The mining industry is very small, everyone knows everyone,” Bussau said.

“If you get in there and do a good job people will try to find you another job, they love the fact that you’ve had the passion to get in there and have a go.”

While Davies suggested those who want to get into mining should not just look at big mining houses but also consider suppliers and manufacturers’ to widen the scope of opportunities.

Entering the industry

While women are still under-represented in the mining industry, making up only 15 per cent of the nation’s workforce , the panelists were adamant that being a woman in the male-dominated field was not an issue and that there was no difference on the job between genders.

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Watts says there are few barriers for women wanting to enter the mining industry.

Networking and mentors

The woman all agreed that initiatives like mentoring for women, family friendly rosters and affordable childcare were all ways the industry had succeeded in ensuring more women entered and stayed in the sector, agreeing the sector had come a long way in supporting its workers.

Having a strong network of mentors is important for women who wish to succeed in the mining sector Duarte explained.

“They’re not so emotionally involved and are able to drive you and give you tips and suggestions,” Duarte said.

Horn explained working at Anglo’s Drayton mine there is a strong culture of mentoring, with each apprentice assigned one tradesperson.

“That works better for me, I have more time to learn from him and gain one-on-one experience,” Horn said.

Watts explained mentors can come from anywhere.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone who’s high up in the company, it doesn’t have to be the general manager, it can be an operator with 20 years experience who’s seen young engineers come and go who can often give the best advice,” Watts said.

Continued on page 20 www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AM1013_020.pdf

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“Sometimes a mentor will find you just because of the way you go about your work or interact with people,” Watts said.

“My advice would be don’t close yourself off to people just because they’re not the general manager,” Watts said.

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Work/life balance

While the sector can offer women many opportunities with the promise of a great salary, travel, and varied experiences, it can also take its toll with often long periods away from home and tough conditions.

However the panel was quick to point out that issues in creating a work/life balance were not just apparent in the resource industry.

“I don’t think the challenges of being a working mum are any different in the mining industry,” Davies said.

Anderson agreed, stating that family dynamics affected everyone.

“All families struggle from time to time, whether you’re in mining or not,” Anderson said.

Anderson, whose guides for fami-

lies working in the resource sector have sold over a 95,000 copies nation-wide is, says communication is the most important issue for families dealing with difficult rosters.

“FIFO families are usually very functional, work together as a team and are very aware of all the pros and cons,” Anderson said.

Duarte spoke about making the right decision in terms of where women wanted to be based and whether working at a residential mine or undertaking a FIFO role was best fit.

“You need to look at what’s important to you and your family,” Duarte said.

Advice

Passion and getting in there and “having a go” was Bussau’s advice to women looking to get into the mining industry.

While Watts said the most important lesson she had learnt was to treat people “the way you expect to be treated”.

However it was put best by Anderson who stated: “Women in mining are gutsy chicks.”

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AustralianMining

Major decisions such as to go FIFO or residential should be considered, Anderson said. www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_SIE

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AUSTRALIAN MINING ON SITE

From start to

FINNISH Sandvik has released new drill rigs, and revived a number of rig lines in the process.

Cole Latimer reports.

I

t’s not everyday that a new piece of equipment is launched. But when a company does, it’s unusual, even in these times of a downturn, not to do so without some fanfare.

So when a company launches not one, but multiple pieces of equipment it has to make a serious statement.

This is exactly what Sandvik did following the release of not only two new drill rigs, but the world’s largest drifter, new underground drilling equipment, multiple new drilling threads and bits, and the latest developments in its automated and teleremote mining systems.

It brought together more than 300 people from ten countries to demonstrate its new equipment in the flesh during its massive customer day.

The group gathered at its Tampere facility in Finland to see the latest developments.

The facility itself was also on show, as the visitors tramped across the site which Sandvik claims is the largest mining machinery manufacturing facility in Europe.

As we crossed through the gates a little piece of Australiana welcomed the groups, a ‘beware of kangaroos’ sign, greeting visitors.

The facility

Quickly the group was ushered in, where we were given a first hand demonstration of its automine system.

Combined with the appropriate 22

October 2013

AustralianMining

level of Finnish metal music.

Much in the vein of its competitors’ semi-autonomous and remote or tele-operated machinery, Sandvik’s system allows for the real time operation and monitoring of equipment, allowing operators to gain a better understanding and overview of their machinery as it runs.

“This provides maximum fleet utilisation through making maintenance and monitoring an easier task and showing the best way to optimise your fleet’s operation.

“It allows for greater knowledge of your production rates, how to utilise payloads and further up the chain it provides the data for analysis as well as predictive maintenance.”

(To read more about AutoMine, go to page 46.)

Soon after this the group was transferred outside, crossing the facility and taking in its drills being prepared for shipping.

The first stop was a demonstration of its new rockbolting system.

The system provides a reference for operators during rockbolting and roof support.

Using lasers attached to a bending boom, it provides an accurate measurement and distance for the next hole to be drilled automatically.

“A laser reference fan is used to provide greater accuracy in rockbolting, and as the laser is attached to the bending boom it can stay at

the same angle each time, and operators can also easily modify the angle as well,” Sandvik stated.

“This means you can get the coordinates on a USB, plug it in and just start, instead of having a man go into the tunnels onto a work platform and paint the points for the boom to drill.”

The factory floor

The tour soon led into the production facility itself. Sandvik demonstrated how parts were machined on site.

Sandvik explained that it took a modular approach to manufacturing on site, using multiple modules and assembling the machines to a certain point, after which they were moved on to the next module “which allows for a very fast turn around”.

It has two assembly lines as well as ‘hospital bays’ for urgent or modification works.

They stated that with the process it takes only 25 days from the time a machine starts at the first station until it is ready to be driven out.

Interestingly the company takes an inclusive approach for all workers, posting KPIs and current progress rates openly along the floor, which not only shows performance, but also highlights any existing issues in manufacturing and allows for swift appropriate action.

It has also utilised its factory space by using a high picking unit storage system on the site.

The facility also uses lineside storages to buffer the need for small parts “and we always have parts for the next two drills available, which prevents shortages of commonly used parts”.

While the Tampere facility has taken the lead in the company’s assembly process, unsurprisingly it is Australia that is leading the way when it comes to safety.

Sandvik’s APAC operations managed to achieve a full year with no lost time injuries, reaching the milestone in late August.

It has also carried out a hand injury campaign, aimed at cutting the number of injuries across its facilities.

The machinery

The main drawcard for the day was the release of a huge swathe of machinery – drills, jumbos, and drill bits.

The major release was its two new surface drilling rigs – a top hammer and down the hole hammer version of the revived Pantera line.

The new Pantera rigs are known as the DP2000 in the case of the top hammer drill, and the DI6400 in the case of the down the hole rig.

Speaking to Jan Petzold, Sandvik’s vice president for mining, drilling equipment product lines TH and DTH, he told Australian Mining that although it is an old name (they stopped producing the Pantera line in 2006) it is a new family of percussive drilling machines. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AUSTRALIAN MINING ON SITE

The rig is one of the largest currently on the market.

It is a revival of the Pantera family of drill rigs, with the addition of a DTH drill.

“People are missing the names in drills, and lately it is just a list of letters and numbers for drills, so we are going back to what customers prefer,” Petzold explained.

A major change to the release is the inclusion of the down the hole rig, as previously the line was only top hammer drills.

While both are being released by Sandvik at the same time, only the top hammer was on display at the show as the down the hole rig was unveiled at the Euro Mining 2013 event.

Petzold added that these huge drills “have been as the customers are asking for larger and more reliable rigs”.

Both have been built to allow for automation configuration according to a site’s needs, with options such as tele-remote operation for all functions, automatic feed positioning and alignment, data collection, and navigation via GPS. Sandvik says the Pantera DP2000 top hammer drill is designed for vertical and inclined drilling of 152 to 178 mm blastholes up to 36 metres in depth, for wall control, pit development and production drilling applications.

In a similar vein to the revival of the Pantera line, Sandvik has revived its Axera family, dubbing the underground drill the Axera DD422i, stating that it is the next generation of drills.

provides better manoeuverability and precision in boom movements”.

Safety has also been a major factor in the design of the jumbo.

It features a completely redesigned ROPS and FOPS cabin, which has an acid-proof option, a reduced level of noise, improved visibility, and fully adjustable controls.

These controls are standardised throughout Sandvik’s fleet, and allow for operators to easily switch between multiple machines.

The company has broken new ground with the launch of the world’s L a n largest e Wo r hydraulic k S a f e top _ Q hamP. p mer rock drill – the RD2045C.

It was developed for the DP2000 top hammer drill, and the 45kW rock drill is able to drill holes of between 152 to 178 millimetres in diameter.

“Our new RD2045C makes up part of a complete, integrated drilling system in which percussion energy transfer is optimised from piston through tools to rock, allowing the efficiencies of hydraulic top hammer drilling to be applied in large diameter drilling applications,” Jukka Naapuri, the product manager for top hammer production drills, explained. d Australian f P a g e Mining 1 2 9attended / 0 7 / 1 the 3 ,

Customer Day courtesy of Sandvik.

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According to Sandvik these rigs have been developed specifically for ‘intelligent development drilling’ and have new drilling and boom control and features a ‘next generation carrier’.

Speaking at the launch of the machine Sandvik’s vice president for underground development drills, Ulla Korsman-Kopra, said the jumbo will be the most advanced underground rig on the market, and is part of a wider push by the company to help miners face the serious challenges plaguing the industry now, such as ongoing safety issues and the drive for cost efficiency, as well as the push into deeper mining.

Korsman-Kopra told Australian Mining that “after spending years building up the platforms, the subsystems, and making sure the technology works across its various other machines we were able to go from the design to the construction of the rig in a matter of six months”.

Coming in at a height of 3.15 metres high and 2.31 metres wide the machine weighs approximately 2.6 tonnes and has a drilling coverage, using a RD 525 rock drill, of 10274mm by 6590mm.

Sandvik stated that the DD422i’s “high torque drilling control system is designed to minimise the jamming of rods and consumables,” cutting the potential downtimes, adding that the “advanced boom control also

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Sandvik has also revived the Axera family for underground jumbos. www.miningaustralia.com.au

AustralianMining

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SOFTWARE & HARDWARE

COLLABORATING on mining’s future How can software push miners in the right direction out of the slump?

A

s miners take the knife to technology in a spend-thrift envicapex budgets internal fights ronment is the real clincher. for capital are mounting.

“The challenge is when times are Gold prices have plummeted in tight they need to continue to invest the past six months, coal margins are to get the benefits when they move being squeezed, and iron ore prices into the upside of the cycle,” Court are proving to be temperamental, stated. forcing miners to implement tough He said particularly across the spending regimes, squeeze every last larger, diversified miners which have drop out of budgets and go in search a choice about where money is spent of operational efficiencies. there are “a lot more internal battles On the back of uncertain market for that capital” and increased “presconditions, looking for the elusive sure from the market place about ‘game changing’ technology is now whether that capital gets returned to more important than ever. investors rather than invested in fu“Coal is a business that 12 months ture operations”.

PincockMinarco (RPM) chief execuago was in a very good place, but now “That’s been very healthy, what tive Richard Mathews said “producit’s in a very hard place,” Accenture it’s started to drive is great decisions tivity is now the paramount focus natural resources industry lead Nigel about where capital should be de- of the industry – as mines become Court told Australian Mining. ployed for the greatest benefit of their deeper, grades lower and operations “We’ve seen a lot of decisions business,” he said. become more complex”. made by our clients around getting So with miners taking the axe to Mathews explains that there is themselves to a profitable place, or a capex and the internal fight for capi- heightened “focus on day-to-day cash flow positive place. tal increasing, the sector is having to productivity” which requires both He said the move has “also driven prove its business case for investing robust planning and a program capital scarcity” a “constraint which in new technology, rather than in- which can rapidly reflect operational hasAimpacted M 1 0 1 3every _ 0 0commodity”.

0 _ PRO 1 vesting 2 0 1for 3 -investment’s 0 9 - 1 7 Tsake.

1 0 : 0 9 : 1 changes 7 + 1 0 in : the 0 0 daily or weekly plan.

He explained that implementing Mining software provider Runge“This enables production targets

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AustralianMining

to be met with less overall production variability,” he said.

Officially launching its XACT for Enterprise software solution, a fully integrated Operational Productivity Management (OPM) tool last month, the company said the package provides the ability to compare actual against planned movements and integrates both planning and execution in the one environment.

Continued on page 40

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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Continued from page 24

“XACT for Enterprise augments enterprise resource planning systems, such as SAP, with production plans, maintenance schedules and actual operational data,” RPM said.

Mathews explains XACT for Enterprise is designed to secure productivity improvements in the mine.

“It’s about having everyone (planners, schedulers, production, maintenance and finance) looking at the same information at the same time so they can make better productivity decisions which will result in healthier earnings,” he said.

The program gets everyone on the same page in terms of schedules and production.

Mathews said working collaboratively on a mine plan requires an in- rent market conditions the biggest lated desktop products is no more, tegrated planning and execution envi- return on investment available to a Mathews said. ronment which to date hasn’t existed. company will be made by improving “The future of desktop products “In response, we built XACT for the economics of mine plans, includ- is bleak and those that don’t get Enterprise which is designed to give ing utilising capital, equipment and with the program will be assigned to mines a new level of agility in their labour more efficiently. history,” he said. short-term mine planning. The indusBut in order to do this miners “The future winners will need to try now has the ability to respond,” need to fully understand how to stick have an open, robust COTS solution he said. to the plan in both an operational which can be run in an enterprise “Miners want enterprise solutions and economical context, Mathews environment and is integrated seamthat bring together all of the elements warns. lessly with SAP.” of their business into one system.

“XACT for Enterprise provides Mathews went on to explain They want to be able to look right a company with the single source of that enterprise-wide visibility of across and down into their business all truth in their SAP environment – production goals has been difficult using one Commercial Off-the-Shelf the benefits of which are only lim- to achieve in the past.

(COTS) A M 1 system.”

0 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ MI C 1 ited 2 by 0 1your 3 - imagination,” 0 9 - 0 9 T 1 he 0 : said.

3 1 : 4 9 +“Disparate 1 0 : 0 0 planning systems have Mathews said in light of the curThe future of fragmented, iso- encouraged an independent approach

and created operational silos,” he said.

He added that this new offering “ensures a standardised data flow throughout the organisation, breaking down these silos and encouraging a collaborative planning approach”.

“The integration of targets, actuals, maintenance events and production schedules with SAP enables planners from each department to better align their activities and ensure they collaboratively reach their operational goals,” he said.

“Conflicts can now be found and resolved when the plan is being created, not when it’s being executed. “ Mathews added that the software enlists standard SAP production management to connect the mine plan with production execution solutions including fleet management systems.

“Mines will now be able to directly instruct production and retrieve actual mining progress data,” he said.

“This enables plan versus actuals comparison at a machine level, at any planning horizon – shift-byshift, day-by-day.”

Mathews said the solution is a logical productivity extension into operations providing “integrated planning and execution, closing the gap between planning, production and maintenance”.

Pitram Production Reporting Service The world’s leading mine operations management software is now available as a service.

This service is designed for small to medium underground and surface operations seeking to increase productivity with minimal capital outlay.

For a monthly fee clients receive: • • •

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Australia • Brazil • Canada • Chile • China • Indonesia • Kazakhstan • Mongolia • Russia • South Africa • Sweden • Turkey • Ukraine • United Kingdom • USA

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www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_SCH

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1

2013-09-24T10:38:29+10:00

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EcoStruxure architecture guarantees compatibility across major application areas and leverages open standards across both Schneider Electric and third party systems.

Informed and real time decision support Our system drives the standardisation of technology and offers access to rich information from plant device level, through process control systems, to the operations management layer.

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SM

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SOFTWARE & HARDWARE

Servicing reporting structures New software is helping small to medium mines get a handle on their reporting.

I

n this technological focused age, resources software solutions and service offerings are constantly being developed to meet the evolving needs of the exploration and mining sector. One company, Micromine has responded to the growing need for mine operations to reduce costs and improve efficiencies through the release of its new Pitram Production Reporting Service, a managed service and an extension of its existing Mine Operations System, Pitram.

Pitram is a proven system for management and process improvement of mine operations. Pitram can be used to record, manage and process mine site data related to equip- The software allows for more understanding of and control over a miner’s operation. ment, personnel, locations and materials, providing an overall view of the A pre-configured Pitram Micro­ of technologies and services which current mine status and increasing server is installed by Micromine help them to reduce costs and imclients’ control over their operations. onsite. prove efficiencies,” Layng said.

Operations manager, Michael Site personnel connect to the de“We introduced the Pitram ProLayng, explained that “the service vice using their standard Internet Ex- duction Reporting Service to make is ideal for small to medium size un- plorer application to enter data and our Pitram technology more accesderground and open pit operations generate reports. sible to operations from a cost perthat want to introduce Pitram’s adTo minimise interference with the spective so that they can take advanvanced reporting capabilities with- site Micromine’s Remote Operating tage of our leading technology”. out incurring the expense of install- Centre personnel regularly check the “Many medium and small mine ing the entire solution and investing operating status of the site Microserv- sites are dependent on Excel or Acin the resources to manage it”. er, run health checks, schedule system cess to create production reports “The Pitram Production Report- maintenance and provide database from paper based activity reports and ing Service is quick and easy to im- administration support including au- timesheets, resulting in inefficiencies plement, and can be up and running tomated backup of the site’s data. including the unproductive use of in as little as five days. Also, minimal “Given the current economic staff time and data entry errors. Additraining is required due to the simple environment, it is becoming increas- tionally, the long time-gap between an and secure user interface based on ingly critical that mine operations activity taking place and generating a the familiar Internet Explorer web improve their bottom line and in- report doesn’t promote informed and A M1 0 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ MI N 1 2 0 1 3 - 0 9 - 0 5 T1 5 : 2 3 : 2 9 + 1 0 : 0 0 browser”. crease profits through the utilisation effective decision making.”

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The service reduces administration costs and improves efficiencies as multiple and unreliable data sources are replaced by one electronic data depository. All data related to mine events and activities is entered into Pitram by site personnel to generate and access key reports, including production reports, grade control reports and stockpile management reports.

Through the provision of accurate and timely reports, and current and historical mine site data, management are better positioned to make informed decisions and undertake effective analysis.

Management can also monitor key performance indicators including availability and utilisation of equipment, operator performance, production metrics and consumable usage. Knowing how an operation’s assets are performing allows users to identify areas of constraint. Improvement plans can then be implemented which ultimately lead to a reduction in operating costs and increased production.

The Pitram Production Reporting Service is flexible and can be customised to an operation’s specific requirements. For example, data entry forms can be modified and custom reports can be created. Also, additional functions such as ODBC, Excel and CSV connectors can be added to allow the input of data from other systems.

www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_APE

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2013-09-26T15:37:26+10:00

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MINERALS PROCESSING

High intensity GRINDING As grades decline how can miners make the most out of these poorer ores?

I

t is a well recognised fact that global ore grades are declining while commodity demands continueAtoMrise.

1 0 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ PRI Increasingly complex ore bodies

require a finer grind size to ensure maximum mineral recovery which is upping the ante on grinding technology.

1 2 0 1 3 - 0 9 - 1 8 T0 9 : 5 9 High Intensity Grinding (HIG)

SET TING ThE STANDARDS WITh INNOVATIVE SAFE NS STORAGE SOLUTIO EFFECTIVE COMPLIANCE FOR ThE MINING INDUSTRY '.1%#6#$.' $7.- 5614'5 #('6; %#$+0'65 #5 %;.+0&'4 5614'5 7$' 56#6+105 70&+0) #66'4; 5614#)' 7561/ &'5+)0 61 57+6 7561/ &'5+)0 61 57+6 ;174 5+67#6+10 DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED IN AUSTRALIA

protecting the

October 2013

AustralianMining

: 1 8 + 1 0 : 0 0

Saving energy

Energy is one of the most expensive input costs on a mine site, minimising this cost is vital in the current market.

Compared to traditional ball mills, Outotec’s HIGmill uses up to 40 to 50 per cent less energy by using gravity to promote inter-bead contact and even-energy transfer.

With the grinding media evenly distributed, the ore particles remain in constant contact, significantly increasing grinding efficiency.

The disc configuration and the whole chamber geometry have also been optimised for efficient energy transfer to the bead mass, internal circulation and classification.

Bigger industrial units

1300 134 223 1300 307 895 5#.'5u5614'/#56#T%1/T#7 999T5614'/#56#T%1/T#7

30

mills are being designed specifically to manage these types of complex, fine grained ore-bodies.

With installed power up to 5,000kW, the mill is one of the largest fine grinding units available.

This technology comes in various drum diameters and the mill heights can be varied to optimise the media load and power input for specific applications.

Chamber volumes range from 400 to 27,500 litres with corresponding drives from 132 to 5,000kW. Being able to adapt to fluctuating process conditions allows the mill to be implemented across a wide range of grinding applications.

Long maintenance intervals

The drum segments and wear components have been specifically designed to make maintenance simple and quick.

The casing is flanged vertically so that it can be split down the centre into two halves that can be moved apart on a railing system.

After exposing the internals, changing individual discs and liner segments can be performed by two skilled mechanical trade workers.

While wear of the discs is even around the circumference, it is faster in the bottom part of the mill and typically the lowest discs have to be replaced a few times before the entire set is changed.

Wear components can be lined with polyurethane, metal hard facing or natural rubber depending on application.

This innovative and unique grinding technology provides advanced, energy efficient fine and ultra-fine grinding – particularly important for today’s more challenging ore bodies.

Outotec has already commissioned 260 of these mills.

Suitable in either green or brownfield applications with its small footprint and high adaptability to process variations, HIG technology, at up to 5,000kW, delivers the one of the highest installed power in the market place to date. www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_MET

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MT294a Australian Mining Magazine Megaliner Full Page Advertisement June 2013.indd 1

13/05/13 12:11 PM

AM1013_032.pdf

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MINERALS PROCESSING

Slurry pumping power The world’s largest slurry pumps have been launched.

M

ining is a demanding industry. And in the current cost cutting and efficiencies seeking environment companies are looking are getting more out of their equipment.

So the development of a large piece of equipment that can take the harsh daily grind, with minimal maintenance, is now going to be the standard by which miners operate.

Australian pump specialist Global Pumps has launched the new SlurryPro super-duty slurry pump, The pumps are designed for highly abrasive industries. which it calls the world’s largest, toughest slurry pump, at told Australian Mining at the gal pumps are extremely roAIMEX in August this year. launch. bust, and feature super-duty Product Manager Darren Built on years of research reinforced casings and runSeeley described the launch and customer feedback on cool bearing housing. The as a huge success, especially prototypes, the SlurryPro is slurry pump’s high resistance within the Australian mining gearing up for full produc- to abrasion allows it to move sector. tion at its manufacturing mud and mineral slurries.

“These pumps can run plant in Argentina.

SlurryPro slurry pumps longer, and pump rougher Designed for the mining have A M1 0 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ N O R 1 2 0 1 3 - 0 8 - 1 6 T 0 9 an : 3external 0 : 1 1adjustment + 1 0 : 0 0 material,” Global Pumps industry, SlurryPro centrifu- of the impeller to ensure

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maximum efficiency at all times, and come with a range of alternate sealing options.

According to the company the SlurryPro pump series slurry pumps have max flow of 1500 cubic metres per hour (for the standard pump); a discharge of head approximately 150 metres; and have a

max power of 335kW( again for the standard pump).

Global Pumps have built the pumps with a cast iron construction with impeller and an interior lining that is made of high chrome or a specially formulated Unique Elastomeric Compound (known as UEC).

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32NOR_130806_normet_Ad_Product_spraymec_mining_w210xh122_e.indd October 2013 AustralianMining

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AEST

use of Earth’s natural resources Scanalyse is now a part of Outotec Scanalyse, renowned for its technologies in condition monitoring and performance optimisation for grinding mills and gyratory crushers, is now a part of Outotec. MillMapper and CrusherMapper are globally patented technologies and are the first in the world to measure, model and manage liners in grinding mills and crushers.

By combining the expertise of Outotec and Scanalyse, we now offer additional value-added services over the complete lifecycle of the comminution circuit.

To find out more, call us on 1300 Outotec (1300 6886832) or visit www.outotec.com

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URANIUM

YELLOWCAKE for QLD uranium party

The re-establishment of uranium mining in Queensland has just taken a step forward. Vicky Validakis writes.

T

he recommencement of uranium mining in Queensland is a step closer after Mines Minister Andrew Cripps released the government’s uranium strategy action plan.

The plan covers the implementation of best practice regulatory framework for uranium mining in the state, encompassing environmental standards, safety and health, economic and community development, indigenous opportunities and native title.

Cripps said uranium exports had the potential to generate significant revenue for Queensland over the next two decades with uranium deposits in the state worth an estimated $10 billion.

“The government’s focus is to ensure all the uraniumspecific regulatory guidelines and protocols are in place to begin assessing applications from mid-July 2014,” Cripps said.

The Queensland Govern-

ment announced in October that uranium mining would recommence in the state, overturning a ban which has lasted since 1982.

At the time Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said the success of the industry in Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia in terms of jobs and economic benefits was a driving factor in the decision.

While operational mines may be a few years off, the action plan will be supported by a Uranium Mining Oversight Committee which will be established to review and monitor progress against the plan.

“The strategy is designed to deliver a considered framework containing necessary policy guidelines for assessing applications for uranium mining, transport and export,” the report said.

The report stated that “environmental issues arising from uranium mining

Tapp predicts the uranium boom to be “iron ore on steroids”.

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AustralianMining

are similar to other forms of metalliferous mining”, meaning that the majority of existing “principles and basis of the State’s legislative framework applicable to mining can be suitable applied to uranium activities”.

“Queensland’s existing robust system for regulation mining and radiation safety can accommodate uranium across the mining life cycle,” the report said.

“The decision to allow uranium mining in Queensland will contribute to strengthening the mining industry by facilitating an economic development activity that has not occurred in the state for over 30 years.”

While environmental groups have expressed concern over the transportation of yellow cake via ports

near the Great Barrier Reef, the government says this won’t be the case.

“The document that we released makes it very clear that uranium commercially developed in Queensland won’t be exported out of a port in Queensland,” Cripps said.

“It’s most likely to go out of the port at Adelaide or Darwin.

“Any situation where the commercial volumes of uranium developed in Queensland requiring the licensing of an additional port somewhere in Queensland is many years into the future.”

The Australian Conservation Foundation has spoken out against the recommencement of uranium mining in Queensland.

“The Queensland government’s action plan is illconsidered and inadequate,” spokesman Dave Sweeney told AAP. “Uranium mining is an issue of national interest and importance and is rightly a matter for the active consideration of the national government.”

Other anti-nuclear campaigners have also questioned the viability of re-establishing a uranium industry in Queensland at a time when uranium prices remain on a downtrend.

Cripps said commercial demand for uranium would

determine when uranium mining would recommence in the state.

“There are a number of factors that will influence the timing of uranium mining operations and it is ultimately a commercial decision for industry proponents,” he said.

“These factors include the world market price for uranium, supply and demand in that market, and mining costs.”

The spot price for uranium remains sluggish and in early June fell below $40 a pound for the first time since 2009, to $39.87 a pound.

However with 66 nuclear plants under construction around the world, and 266 planned or proposed over the next 15 years, demand is set to outstrip supply.

Predictions are that the market will rebound by 2016-2017 and with no new mines set to come into production before then, Queensland could be wellplaced to supply the expected shortfall.

Chief of uranium explorer Energy and Minerals Australia, Julian Tapp, said when the price does rebound it will be significant.

Tapp said with the impending uranium shortfall predicted, the uranium market is set to become “iron ore on steroids” www.miningaustralia.com.au

A D _ A MMA T O C T _ 1 2 . p a ge 1 6 / 0 9 / 1 2 , 1 : 0 3 PM AM1013_000_MAT -d f1 P 2013-09-27T15:59:12+10:00

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EXPLORATION

SECURITY for the future of mining?

A

look at recent statistics and reports gives a bleak picture of mining junior explorers.

There has been plenty of coverage on the mining giants and how they cope with the failed Mineral Resources Rent Tax, state and federal red-and-green tape and costand job-cuts across the board.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart criticised the government’s dependence on the mining sector earlier this year, saying the industry has been used like “an ATM”.

Rinehart said the mining industry is not a cash-cow and urged the sector to stand up for themselves.

“Without mining and its related industry this country has no hope of repaying our record debt,” she said.

“It needs to keep reminding Australians this – that without mining and its related industries this country has no hope of repaying our record debt without facing the problems Greece and other countries faced with overspending and consequent debt traumas.”

Yet A M the 1 0 1sector 3 _ 0 is 0 0beleaguered _ CON from many sides: investors, environ-

mentalists and the government. They view the sector as a cash cow from the worker on site through to the executive in the boardroom without taking note of the high costs of doing business.

But the fact is mining giants can pick up the pieces and move overseas for better investment opportunities.

For junior mining companies, it is not so easy.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics recently released figures saying South Australian mineral exploration plummeted by $100 million in seasonally adjusted terms in the last financial year.

Figures said $229.2 million was spent for exploration in the state for the 2013 financial year, down from $329.2 million last year.

Exploration slumped $899.2 million year-on-year to $3.06 billion Australia wide.

In the May budget this year, the Federal Government reversed a 2001 decision that let major miners write off the cost of buying smaller companies who carried 1 2 0 1 3 - 0have 9 - 1 2 T 1 out 5 : ex2 4 ploration activity.

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The Coalition’s pledge to mining exploration is a small bright light for the industry. Malavika Santhebennur writes.

It was estimated to result in $1.1 billion worth of savings over four years. A report recently said hundreds of mining juniors and explorers could fold by the year end.

Ernst & Young’s annual report : Business 3 3 + 1 0Risks : 0 0Facing Mining and Metals 2013-14 said juniors and explorers are short of cash and doing it tough in the wake of the mining slowdown. Capital distribution and access to funds are biggest strategic risks a miner has to cope with, the report said.

The report examined 350 small mining companies with a market value of $500 million or less listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and found the combined market value had slid one quarter in the year to March.

Smaller miners worth less than $50 million slumped 43 per cent until May.

An incentive to explore

In a bid to boost exploration in Australia, the Coalition announced it would introduce an Exploration Development Incentive that will allow investors to deduct the expense of mining exploration against their taxable income.

The announcement was made by senator Chris Back at the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) convention in Perth to a delegation of exploration and mining companies on Tuesday.

The South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) is pleased with the incentive program, particularly on the back of the state’s disappointing exploration figures.

SACOME chief executive Jason Kuchel said: “This will provide a strong incentive for shareholders to commit capital to the exploration sector, making investment in these juniors attractive and addressing the severe lack of start-up capital in a competitive and difficult market.”

AMEC has been hopeful the Coalition would pledge to introduce the tax concessions scheme it designed and proposed.

“AMEC has been advocating for a proactive tax reform measure that will allow current eligible losses to be passed back to their Australian share owners in the form of a tax credit through the well known franking system,” AMEC CEO Simon Bennison said.

“The Coalition’s comprehensive policy that will scrap the Carbon Tax, scrap the mining tax and introduce an Exploration Development Incentive is a much needed change to increase investment in the Australian resources sector” Bennison said.

The proposal is a modified version of a flow-through shares design in Canada, and was responsible for boosting exploration and discoveries there. It commissioned KPMG to put together the ‘Impact of Mineral Exploration Tax Credit’ report in July this year, which explains how the incentive would work. Under the scheme, junior minerals exploration companies with no taxable income can pass eligible exploration expenses on to their shareholders.

The Australian Taxation Office will decide on a portion of costs that investors can claim as tax credits. www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AM1013_038.pdf

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October 2013

AustralianMining

ommunication networks are critical to any operation and thanks to the latest advances mine operators and mine project managers now have access to an array of technologies for better information flow and lower operation costs.

As the mining sector moves towards more remotely controlled operations, and with fewer skilled operators onsite, mine operators are rapidly turning to new communications and security technologies, according to Downer Security & Network Services (DSNS) project manager, Gavin Aquino.

“Mining engineers play a critical role in on-site mine planning and operations, but access to skilled staff willing to work in remote locations is often difficult,” he said.

“Not only is the latest communication technology overcoming skills shortages, the emergence of remote operation centres is giving mine operators and project managers more visibility and remote control of equipment on site.

“Demand has been particularly strong for more Closed-Circuit television (CCTV) and high capacity backbone networks.”

Tele-conferencing, tele-presence – video and audio, desktop sharing, visualisation technology to share two and three dimensional mining data, CCTV, online document management, web collaboration and project management software are just some of the applications improving communication between off-site and on-site personnel and reducing operation costs.

One of the biggest trends in communications technology, says Gavin, has been the migration of CCTV, access, security and communications into the Internet Protocol (IP) environment.

“As a key service provider in this space from the beginning, we’ve developed an extensive and intimate knowledge of wireless communications networks – particularly in regards to IP; we were IP savvy from the start as opposed to learning IP from an analogue background,” he said.

One of the main challenges facing mine operators and mine project managers, says Aquino, is finding costeffective and innovative solutions for their communications.

In response to demands from mine operators to monitor plant and equipment in remote locations, Downer Security

How are communications advances changing mining?

and Network Services (DSNS) has developed mobile solar-powered security units for a variety of security, communications and wireless applications.

Several major mining companies have approached DSNS to analyse and develop their current infrastructure to support these technologies.

DSNS has implemented a mobile solar CCTV and wireless project for the Sunrise Dam mine site. This included full wireless Mesh and CCTV mounted to heavy-duty purpose-built trailers.

The units were implemented to monitor the day-to-day operations of the pit and included full commissioning of switchgear, server and storage devices.

“These units are fully self-sufficient and require minimal maintenance,” Aquino said.

“Units can be customised and are mine-site ready with full internal wire loom for security.”

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It is registered for the road with an LED indicator and taillights. It also has forklift tunnels and a central lifting point for easy mobilisation.

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AM1013_040.pdf

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COMMUNICATIONS

Communications for satellite sites New satellites are opening up the Pilbara.

I

ncreased communication demands from Australia’s remote mine sites will see satellite company NewSat launch another satellite later this year.

The company said the launch of satellite Jabiru-2 will improve its ability to service the country’s mining and exploration operations.

The new Ku-band satellite will deliver further enhanced coverage at 216 MHz capacity and is designed specifically for key resource regions including the Pilbara, Kimberley, North West Shelf and Timor Gap. The availability of high-powered The satellite trailers allow miners to tow their comms systems around the site. satellite capacity, which will provide more efficient solutions to support “Jabiru-2 will help to support tion to complex mine site operations. large bandwidth applications over the ongoing operations of the Aus“Never before has the need to comthese hot zones, is essential for the tralian mining sector,” he said. municate in real-time been more imoperational efficiency, employee proThe remoteness of mine sites portant and satellite has evolved with ductivity and future evolution of the makes the delivery of communications the requirements of today’s resources resource industry. and logistics a significant challenge companies,” the company said. PartNewSat senior vice president of companies have to contend with. nering with iron ore producer Atglobal sales, Andrew Matlock said the Matlock explained that satellite las Iron, NewSat is equipping the new satellite launch will provide im- communications have played an im- company’s exploration teams with proved trailers.

A M 1“mobile 0 1 3 _exploration 0 0 0 _ Mand A Dlarger 2 portant 2 0 1role 3 - in 0 remote 9 - 1 9 mine T 1 4site : 5evo0 : 1 satellite 9 + 1 0 : communications 0 0 bandwidth application requirements”. lution; from initial mobile explora- NewSat’s self contained mobile satel-

lite trailers can be deployed almost anywhere with the ability to hook up to broadband internet within minutes, making them a solid option for ensuring business continuity and connectivity in remote or temporary sites.

Having a reliable communications plan is vital for operational efficiency and safety and the satellite trailers give Atlas Iron’s remote teams the freedom to tow their communications infrastructure for immediate connectivity at various stages of mine-site exploration and construction.

The VSAT dish readily deploys and aligns with the relevant satellite, providing instant connectivity including internet connectivity, real-time data transfer, video conferencing and information-sharing, thus maximising efficiencies in iron-ore discovery.

“The recent investment slowdown in the Australian resources market has resulted in significant cuts in exploration spend and mining operations.

The mining industry requires communications that meet their growing demand.”

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AM1013_042.pdf

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AUTOMATION & REMOTE CONTROL

Taking mining automation into the

NEXT REALITY Is the next step for mining automation and tele-remote operations augmented reality?

Cole Latimer reports.

I

t is a universally accepted front of much of this autoThe next great leap, truth that a mine seeking mation, and as Caterpillar’s though, is not exactly known. innovation will in some Carl Hendricks said during We have this existing way implement automation. a recent Brisbane event (see technology, so where to from Whether they are putting pages page 10-14): “Austral- here? tele-remote vehicles on site, ians are often very keen to According to Schneider semi-autonomous loaders, or implement new technology Electric’s solutions vice presgoing completely driverless on site”, but where is auto- ident for mining, minerals for their fleet, automation is mation headed? and metals (MMM) Diego undoubtedly the next step in We already have driver- Areces, the next step is likely mining. less trucks running in the to change the reality of minAnd with the current Pilbara; LHDs roaming un- ing itself. downturn in mining forcing derground tunnels picking up Catching up with Aremany companies to re-evalu- and dumping pre-set tonnages ces at AIMEX earlier this ate what have in time become by themselves within a laser year, he explained to Ausbloated or cost heavy opera- defined area, all the while re- tralian Mining that the next tions, they are now obligated porting back every aspect of great leap will be less on the to be seeking new ways to their operation; we also have capital equipment itself and achieve more cost efficien- the technology to remotely more on the technology procies and better productivity, control vehicles from 1000s of gression side, seeing the full and one of the ways in which kilometres away, as ably dem- integration of Informational they can do so is through au- onstrated by both Rio Tinto Technology and Operational A M 0 8processes.

1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ E A S and - BHP’s 1 2 0 1 3control - 0 7 -op1 1 T 1 5 : 5 3 : 0more 1 + 1 simple 0 : 0 0 tomating remote Technology, Australia is at the fore- erations centres in Perth. plug and play process, and

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most remarkably, augmented reality.

Examining the market

Areces started by explaining that despite the current predictions of a downturn, “the concept of a mining slowdown isn’t 100 per cent correct, and in reality it is the way that companies are investing in mining that has changed, and as they are investing in a different way the levels of investment have changed which is forcing miners to invest in optimisation”.

“In the past miners focused simply on being the biggest of the lot, but now this has changed; they are focusing on being the best, the most efficient, the most optimised,” he told Australian Mining.

Automation will play a major part in this.

“We don’t need to pull back now; we need to invest more into optimisation.”

Going on to describe Schnieder as a company that supports organisations to optimise their operations, he said this is even more important as the scale of the mining has shrunk compared to the previous years and while the longterm fundamentals remain the same, population growth, urbanisation, the push for sustainability, and the scarcity of reserves will force these economics to change.

Automation and the options this offers miners will allow them to be more flexible as “commodity price

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AUTOMATION & REMOTE CONTROL

volatility will become more prevalent�.

The changing factors

Six factors were given by Areces as the new focus for miners in the next technological age, and he explained how automation was to play an either direct or indirect role in them.

He listed off the upcoming IT/OT convergence, which makes automation technology and hardware easier to use and implement in existing processes; the focus on overall process optimi- Teleremote operations are becoming the norm on mine sites. sation and automation’s role in ensuring accuracy in all as one of the bigger game edge it has locally, it has a aspects; workforce manage- changers, and how in auto- huge amount of engineering ment and how automation is mating processes and allow- knowledge and process fachanging job roles and creat- ing for remote control oper- cilitation. ing new ones while reducing ation miners can now access Mining is going to use the need for others; the rising their site, modify or fix is- automation to take it to the importance of ICT for mining sues while off site and have next levels of operation. and its link back to the IT/OT a greater ability to analyse “It will be more pragconvergence and the plug and data from their machines. matic, as it moves to a more play model for miners; reThe opportunity for de- sustainable mining model mote control and the increase veloping mining in Australia and miners use sustainabiliin mobility in mining; the cru- lies thoroughly in optimisa- ty as a yard stick to measure cial aspect of energy manage- tion and in turn automation their operations,� he said. ment; and finally automation “as Australian operations “We can expect more reandA social at mote M 1 0 licence.

1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ R E M aren’t 1 the 2 level 0 1 3they - 0should 9 - 1 8 T 0 9 operations : 4 8 : 2 4and + 1 greater 0 : 0 0 He pointed to mobility be for the levels of knowl- mobility and this is even like-

Automation removes the miner from operational hazards.

ly to spawn augmented reality in mining – where operators are replicating, remotely, the environment of the site for remote control operators so that they can get a better understanding of the conditions they are operating in, not just watching through a screen, but getting more layers on information (potentially through using something such as Google Glass) such as the humidity and temperature of the area, hardness of rocks, GPS, and other aspects that

are currently not recorded or provided but directly affect operations,� he told Australian Mining.

Areces added that in the very near future “people will no longer be in the mine as more processes become automated or tele-operated, and augmented reality will change the way we operate as tele-remote operators will be able to feel everything, with that additional layer of information, but without the safety risks of actually being in the mine�.

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43

AM1013_044.pdf

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AUTOMATION & REMOTE CONTROL

Computer controlled drilling Rio Tinto and Atlas Copco have achieved an automation world first.

A

n automated surface production drill has followed computer-generated instructions to complete an entire drill pattern without human intervention.

The operation was a world-first for the surface mining industry and major milestone in drilling development, according to Rio Tinto and Atlas Copco.

Charles McHugh, manager mining disciplines at Rio Tinto, said a pattern was designed and the drill was directed to begin at the touch of button.

The drill levelled, drilled and moved between rows, automatically completing the task.

Through the partnership with Rio Tinto started in 2008, Atlas Copco was required to develop an automated drill rig that could be integrated with Rio Tinto’s Mine Automation System (MAS), a system which provides the command and control of automated equipment at Rio Tinto’s operations. Rio Tinto further developedAthe M 0MAS 8 1 3to_ remotely 0 0 0 _ Nconnect OR with the drill. These functions were

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AustralianMining

tasks assigned to the drill could be received and carried out in an automated fashion with the drill operator McHugh said. : located 4 8 + 1in0 the : 0office,” 0 “We expect benefits both from a single operator being able to operate multiple drills and from flexible operation which will be possible between operators and potentially between operating sites. Importantly however we are also seeing improved drill utilisation and consistency in drill outcomes, providing more accurate information for mine operation.”

Rio Tinto has a substantial program in place to develop automated systems for its surface mining operations which create safer and more efficient operations.

“The alliance with Atlas Copco will accelerate the development and deployment of autonomous drilling solutions for the surface mining industry,” McHugh said. Benefits resulting from automating drills included improved operator safety, higher precision of the drilling process and improved equipment reliability resulting in superior performance.

“For Rio Tinto, these advances are about achieving competitive advantage through step changes in mining that come from leadership in technology, starting with academic origin and resulting in a commercial outcome.

“Through this approach we’re changing the face of mining.”

Tom Ross, Atlas Copco surface drilling Australia business line man-

ager, said the test site result was a landmark for the industry because it demonstrated the ability of software onboard the D65 crawler-mounted, articulated drill to communicate with the mining giant’s MAS software and complete drilling tasks effectively under instruction from a computer.

“Technology is the future in mining. I would like to think that we’re at the forefront of that, and that’s why the D65 (drill) being able to do this is a big flag being put on top of the hill, saying we’re the first,” Ross said.

“The really clever bit was the ability of the machine to navigate 15 holes – three rows of five holes – without any human involvement, drill the holes, and then return to waiting stance to wait for further instructions.

“The MAS system spoke to our rig, our rig understood the instructions and carried out the commands rather than it being remote controlled.

That is maybe the first time the MAS system has spoken to controlled a rig.

“This is something we have been working on for three years, so this is the accumulation of a lot of work to get to this point.

“It’s been really satisfying that we were able to do it. For us it’s a world first on this class of drill rig, and for the alliance this means that we’ve got the proof of concept completed.

“There are literally thousands of programmer hours that have been put in to get the two systems speaking to each other.” www.miningaustralia.com.au

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AM1013_046.pdf

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AUTOMATION & REMOTE CONTROL

The shape of things to come Increasing safety on site has been the key focus in developing automated surface drilling.

A

s the mine site develops auto­ mation becomes a more inte­ gral part of the operation.

Many manufacturers are now de­ signing their machines to not only be prepared for automation, but to be able to use it from the moment it first turns on.

Sandvik recently released a new family of drill rigs (the Pantera Sys­ tem, read the upcoming November to find out more) and ensured that its rigs were all automation ready for its AutoMine system.

Speaking to Australian Mining, the company stated that its AutoMine surface drilling system, which will soon be available in an underground version, bring “safety and efficiency The operator station provides reliable real-time video and communication. to a new level”, adding that “because it is based on our highly successful lighted an LHD travelling backwards from the operation or minimising Auto­Mine concept, AutoMine Surface at maximum speed in a tunnel, and their need to access hazardous areas, Drilling is a proven solution for auto­ how it was able to do so as there were has been the main impact of the tech­ mated and tele-operated drilling”. no people in the tunnel and less risk nology.

During a demonstration of the tele- of driving the vehicle into the wall as “Removing operators from the remote system, Sandvik showed how it proximity sensors aided its operation. drilling area significantly reduces canA perform at _a 0faster M1 0 1 3 0 0 _rate P I without E 1 The 2 company 0 1 3 - 0 stated 9 - 1 2that T 1increasing 5 : 0 0 : 2 their 7 + 1exposure 0 : 0 0 to risks related to the putting people at risk when it high­ safety on site, by removing the miner drilling operation, including ground

collapses, rock falls, dust, noise and vibrations,” Sandvik said.

“In addition, by offering greatly improved visibility over the entire working area around the rig, unlim­ ited flexibility in where the remote operator’s station is located and reducing fatigue, AutoMine surface drilling delivers significant operator health and safety benefits.

“It also provides a far more com­ fortable operating environment, re­ sulting in better operator motivation and more drilled meters per shift.”

The wireless network connection provides continuous, reliable realtime video and data communication between the drill rig and the operator station. It has been designed to be easily installed on a range of mobile platforms – for example in a van or a trailer – enabling simple and quick relocation from one operational area to another.

The operator’s station consists of two large touchscreen displays, along with drill rig controls identi­ cal to those in the rig itself.

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MAPPING

Mapping: Planning to PRODUCTION How has mapping changed the way we perceive mining?

M

apping of the mine, while track staff to improve risk manageimportant, used to just be ment onsite”. about getting a snapshot “Traditionally operators had a of your operations. number of different programs that It was about getting a picture cover a number of different areas of of your operations at one time, and the mine, and none of these programs then down the track you could map spoke to one another - it was one sysagain and compare the two. tem for one job,but GIS provides a It played its part in planning and solution for operators who can now then you moved on. integrate their diverse systems into a But now mapping is playing an single data stream, bringing in muleven more crucial part in mine de- tiple feeds. velopment.

“You also have the ability to Constant mapping, using the latest take this data mobile, and people satellite and geographic information can convert this data to provide a (GIS) technology, is helping mining to greater analysis of operations where evolve and become more efficient. ever they happen to be,” Lynch said.

Speaking to Willy Lynch and Gardener went on to say that in Tom Gardener from Esri Australia, terms of Australia, the main areas a company which focuses on GIS where GIS is used in mining is land mapping software, they explained management, access and in environto Australian Mining that the new mental and heritage management as wave of GIS technology is being well as exploration. used by mining companies through“Everything you do in mining out the lifecycle of the mine, from requires you to know the location of the planning stage through to pro- your people and your equipment, and duction and even in the mine per- using GIS in this process makes asmitting stages. set management simpler, and in turn “It aids miners in every aspect knowing where your people are in reof the project, as almost everything lation to your equipment also makes in the industry is spatial in nature,” health and safety management easier.”

Lynch stated.

It provides near real time infor“GIS and mapping software is mationfeeds, which Gardener says about providing the information “promote organisational awareness to make decisions, and currently in andunderstanding of your own site” mining there is a serious problem as it operates. with operation silos, and GIS is “Now a miner can follow their helping to bring together these silos operation throughout the life of the into a single environment,” Garden- project, from the moment they are er said, “so that they can now make mapping it out for environmental better decisions and understand the surveys through to drill locations, A M 0 9 1existing 3 _ 0 0 throughout 0 _ J E A the 1 ore2deposits,actual 0 1 3 - 0 8 - mining, 2 8 T 1 and 5 : even2 6 : 0 5 + 1 0 : 0 0 challenges supply chain as well as helping to tually rehabilitation works.”

REMOTE MONITORING & COMMUNICATIONS - Robustel R3000 Available from JEA Technologies, the Robustel GoRugged R3000 is a range of rugged dual SIM 2G/3G/4G industrial routers for GPRS/ EDGE/ UMTS/ HSPA/ LTE networks.

Designed to offer state-of-the-art mobile connectivity for machine to machine (M2M) applications, Robustel GoRugged R3000 router is designed for connectivity to, remote machinery, mine monitoring equipment, solar/wind energy monitoring, automatic meter reading, Mining and Industrial automation, IP video surveillance and remote devices.

Key features of Robustel GoRugged R3000 routers: • Dual SIM redundancy for continuous cellular connections; supports 2G/3G/4G • Two Ethernet ports can be configured as two LANs or one LAN and one WAN • One RS232, one RS485, one console port, two digital inputs, two digital outputs, one high speed USB host up to 480 Mbps • Wide range operating temperature from -25°C to 70°C Jea Technologies Pty Ltd • Remote configuration via SMS • Always online, wakeup via SMS or preset time 44-48 Rocco drive, Scoresby VIC 3179 03 9757 5060 | sales@jeatech.com.au • Firmware upgrade via web interface • Auto reboot via SMS or preset time

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www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM0813_000_GAT

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1

2013-07-16T15:24:23+10:00

TAKE MAPPING TO A NEW LEVEL AND BEYOND The all-new Trimble UX5 Aerial Imaging Solution is setting a new standard for fast and accurate aerial data collection by keeping you productive and safe all day long – no matter what the job.

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© 2013, Trimble Navigation Limited. All rights reserved. Trimble and the Globe & Triangle logo are trademarks of Trimble Navigation Limited, registered in the United States and in other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SUR-217

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PROCESS CONTROL & INSTRUMENTATION

Choosing HARMONIC mitigation solutions How do you know which system is right for you?

M

ore and more users are enjoying the benefits provided by the different variable speed drive technologies available in the market today. These benefits include variable speed control, energy efficiency, in built motor protection and reduced mechanical stress. However all these benefits are not without some trade-offs.

An ideal mains voltage should be a sinusoidal voltage with constant amplitude and frequency. Variable speed drives for AC or DC motors are non-linear loads with the potential to distort the supply waveforms.

These loads create harmonic currents through the distribution system and, coupled with network impedance, result in voltage distortion.

The major consequence of harmonic current is the increase in r.m.s. current through the different circuits and the deterioration of the supply voltage quality. To save cost with regards to power distribution and Proper harmonic mitigation reduces overloading of the electrical system thereby increasing useable capacity. maintenance, it is necessary to compensate for harmonics. Furthermore tion solutions available in the market, drive to reduce the current peaks in for drives above 400 kW, but can also if multiple variable speed drives are but which one is the best for your ap- a circuit. The choke expands the cur- be used for smaller power ratings. A installed on the same network, har- plication? The most common forms rent flow and reduces the amplitude multi-pulse supply requires a dedicated transformer directly supplied monics can either cancel out or more of harmonic mitigation solutions in hence reducing harmonics overall.

Chokes are commonly used up to from the MV network used upstream likely be compounded which can re- variable speed drive applications are: sult in a disaster situation if not miti- • AC-Line Reactor or DC-Link about 500 kW unit power or 1,000 to the drive. The standard is to use kW total drives power. When a large a 3-winding transformer providing gated correctly.

Chokes number of drives are present within a 12-pulse supply for the drive. A Proper harmonic mitigation re- • 12-pulse arrangement an installation, the use of AC-Line or 12-pulse transformer with a star and duces overloading of the electrical • Passive Filter DC-link chokes for each individual delta connected secondary winding system thereby increasing useable • Active Filter capacity. It also reduces system loss- • Low Harmonic Drive/ Active Front drive is recommended. If AC-line or generates a 30° phase shift. By conDC link chokes are not sufficient for necting 6-pulse converter bridges on es, power demands and the risk of End a large drive, a multi-pulse arrange- each output, it will give an overall outages whilst helping to maximise AC-line reactor or DC-link chokes ment is the next step to consider.

12-pulse operation. This limits the the lifespan of equipment. harmonic emission considerably and What are the available harmonic The rectifier in the drive produces A M0 9 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ Q U I 1 high 2 0current 1 3 - 0peaks.

8 - 2A6 choke T 1 1 :can 1 6be: 1 Multi-pulse 4 + 1 0 : 0 arrangement 0 solutions?

Continued on page 52 There are many harmonic mitiga- used at different positions within a Multi-pulse supply is generally used

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www.miningaustralia.com.au

AD_AMKELMAY_13.pdf

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For hazardous applications in potentially explosive gas and dust atmospheres Digital Manometers Intrinsically safe manometers for industrial applications Pressure Transmitters Pressure transmitters with flameproof enclosure Intrinsically safe pressure transmitters for industrial applications and the mining industry www.keller-druck.com

AM

AM1013_052.pdf

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PROCESS CONTROL & INSTRUMENTATION

Complete Monitoring Solutions Flexible, Reliable and for Any Environment

From mining and exploration, to transportation and infrastructure, National Instruments has the expertise and experience to make sure your monitoring solution is as reliable as it is state-of-the-art.

Machine Condition Unmanned Vehicles In-Vehicle and Onboard

Wireless and Remote Structural Health Power Quality

Continued from page 50

usually no further mitigation is necessary. In addition to this, multi-pulse solutions are the most efficient in terms of power loss.

Passive filter

A passive filter consists of reactors and capacitors set up in a resonant circuit configuration, tuned to the frequency of the harmonic order to be eliminated. A system may be composed of a number of filters to eliminate several harmonic orders. A passive filter compared to an active filter has a lower price and only covers one operating point, hence are inefficient at partial loads. Furthermore, due to the internal combination of chokes and capacitors, passive filters pose a risk of causing resonance within the grid as well as low power factor.

ation is necessary, making this solution the easiest to implement.

How to choose the best solution for your application?

It is hard to compare the different solutions in an objective manner. However there are a few key criteria that need to be taken into consideration when selecting the best solution for your application.

• Total Harmonic Mitigation required (THD) • Energy Efficiency • Simplicity • Compactness Total Harmonic mitigation is often the deciding criteria for an application. The graph below shows the Total Harmonic distortion (THDi) provided by each harmonic mitigation solution.

Active filter

Learn more at ni.com/oceania/solutions

1800 300 800

©2011 National Instruments. All rights reserved. National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments.

Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 1629

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An active filter is typically inserted upstream of the inverter in the power network. The active filter can be seen as a generator of harmonics. It produces and inserts the opposite phase harmonics to the measured distortions in the power network which reduces the overall harmonics to almost zero.

Active filters cover a large extent of customer needs. They are available in different supply voltages (three-phase with and without neutral) and can There are many options in reducing harmonic issues. be used for filtering netIf harmonic mitigation was the works (several drives up to 30,000A only criteria then the low harmonic/ with parallel operation). active front end drive solution proLow Harmonic Drive/Active Front vides superior and predictable harEnd monic mitigation. It is also simple to In a low harmonic drive the input implement with no detailed system rectifier is replaced by a bidirectional evaluation, however it may impact active IGBT inverter. This enables the the energy efficiency of your system. drive to consume energy normally and A multi-pulse solution is the avoids distortion of the mains current most energy efficient, but complex waveform, thereby the impact on the to design and install except for green mains due to harmonics and idle pow- field installations. The active filter is er is avoided. a good solution to mitigate the harThe new generation Active Front monics of several drives in parallel End (AFE) solution is a low harmonic operating on one point of coupling. drive with full regeneration capability.

While line chokes offer good valEnergy regeneration with AFE in high ue for money, they have the lowest inertia applications reduces overall en- predictable harmonic mitigation caergy consumption and cost of opera- pability of all the solutions. tion.

Supply network analysis in relaA low harmonic drive is an effi- tion to harmonics is complicated. It is cient solution for harmonic mitiga- often a combination of two or more tion, limiting the THDi (Total Har- harmonic mitigation solutions that monic Distortion current) typically to result in complete harmonic complibelow 5%. No detailed system evalu- ance. www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_LAD - 1 2013-09-16T11:53:39+10:00 Aust Mining Oct V3_Layout 1 12/09/13 3:12 PM Page 1

AUSTRALIAN MADE AUSTRALIAN MATERIALS

SAFETY WORK PLATFORMS

By Australia’s Fall Prevention Specialists

We make your ITY R IO R P A Y T E F SA

admin@ladamax.com.au

www.ladamax.com.au

AM1013_054.pdf

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GOLD

AngloGold braces for TOUGHER TIMES

As gold suffers, one miner still sees a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Alex Heber reports.

W

hile the gold sector adjusts tive Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan (Ven- base for planning and honing in on to deal with a lower com- kat) recently explained that, while the costs and revenues. modity price, taking the group remains positive about gold’s “Our revenue enhancement efknife to jobs, operations and budg- long term prospects, in the short to forts are focused on stripping out ets, AngloGold Ashanti has had a medium term the group expects to en- unprofitable production and bringfew of its own issues to contend with. dure heightened turbulence. ing our Tropicana and Kibali proWith two mines about to come “It is best to be prepared for a jects to production in the coming online and a new chief executive at low gold price environment so you months,” Venkat said. the helm, dealing with the challenges are better positioned to tackle an “These two important new mines a lower gold price affords hasn’t been upside in the gold price,” he said. are expected to contribute approxian Aeasy bearish to 600,000oz of M 1feat 0 1for 3 _the 0 0 0 _ Cproducer.

HA 1 2In 0 order 1 3 - to 0 9do - 0this 9 Tthe 0 9group : 2 0is: 4 mately 4 + 1 0550,000oz : 0 0 AngloGold Ashanti chief execu- using a gold price of $1,100 as its new annual production next year at

below our current average cost, improving the group’s cash cost profile.”

On the cost side, the group has already set its Project 500 initiative in motion, aiming to eliminate roughly $500 million from operating costs within the next 18 months.

AngloGold Ashanti executive vice president Graham Ehm said the company is “well underway” when Continued on page 56

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Challenge Networks has taken the advances in carrier class next generation 4G (LTE) technology and adapted these to the specialised requirements of the mining industry.

We can economically scale a solution from a single site covering a small mine operation to site clusters providing coverage to hundreds of square kilometers.

For further information contact us at info@challengenetworks.com.au Challenge Networks Pty Ltd | 34 Duke Street, Abbotsford, VIC 3067, Australia

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17/09/2013,

4:30

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GOLD

Continued from page 54

it comes to achieving operating and in-direct cost savings, as well as “sustaining capital expenditure over the next 18 months”.

“Although the gold price has tumbled, and has brought about a sense of despair and panic, I see an opportunity for optimism and for the industry to re-adjust to a lower gold price future,” he said.

Ehm conceded that the company “saw this coming”.

“Over the last six months, as the gold price was coming down we stopped recruiting, we fortunately had Tropicana [gold mine] so we could move people around and redeploy,” he said.

AngloGold Ashanti is the world’s third largest gold producer with 21 operations on ten continents.

Producing 3.94 million ounces globally last year, of which Australia contributed 7 per cent, the company is expecting 2013 to be even bigger setting a guidance of between 4 to 4.1 million ounces.

But the miner’s second quarter results have been dragged down by the falling gold price which has dropped by almost a quarter since January.

Taking a $2.4 billion hit, AngloGold Ashanti has plans to cut 40 per cent of its 2,000 management jobs globally and more than halve 2014 corporate costs.

“We’ve taken the decision to prepare our business for a volatile gold price environment,” Venkat said.

“We expect that during the last quarter of this year, after taking into account the notice periods that need to be provided to affected employees, approximately 35-40 per cent of these roles will have been removed,” the company told Mineweb.

The group’s total cash cost remains stubbornly on the higher end of the spectrum, coming in at $898 per ounce for the second quarter, in line with guidance.

Ehm explained the gold price fall is motivating every producer “to examine how they can protect and grow margins and returns to generate safe and sustainable free cash flow”.

The company has flagged potential savings and efficiency improvements could amount to $482 million next year and have anticipated a fall from the $240 million forecast for corporate costs this year, to between $120 million and $140 million in 2014.

Ehm explained capital expenditure is being redirected to higher quality assets, spending is being cut and projects which yield lower returns are being shelved.

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Ehm still sees opportunity, despite the current “despair and panic” in the market.

He said about 70 roles have been cut from Australia but with AngloGold’s newest development, the Tropicana gold mine in Western Australia, coming online redeployment has been a real option, lowering the total number of redundancies to 27 workers.

Going Troppo

Entering into a joint venture with Independence group, AngloGold holds a 70 per cent interest in the Tropicana project which poured first gold this month ahead of schedule and on budget.

“Tropicana is a significant new, low-cost mine in an emerging gold province and will improve the quality of AngloGold Ashanti (and Independence Group’s) portfolio; we continue to make good progress with out partners on a project we’ve taken up the value curve, from discovery to commissioning,” Ehm said.

“To pour gold ahead of schedule and within budget is a rare feat in this industry, and it’s a significant milestone for us and Independence Group, our partner.”

Located 300 kilometres northeast of Kalgoorlie, the operation was originally forecast to begin production in December this year, but with commis-

sioning already underway ramp-up was brought forward.

“First gold is obviously a significant milestone, but achieving a smooth ramp up and steady state production is just as significant,” Ehm said.

“We’ve modelled Tropicana against other similar operations to generate a ramp-up profile and expect to be at 91 per cent availability within four to five months.”

Despite moving ahead of schedule the estimated capital expenditure for the project is unchanged at between $820 and $845 million.

The company is aiming to achieve a production rate of between 470 000 to 490 000 ounces in the first three years.

Tropicana has been on the radar of many analysts for some time now, after the joint venture partners announced in December last year that they had upped the total estimated resource to 7.89 million ounces of gold.

At the recent Diggers and Dealers conference Ehm said the successful development of “new lower cost operations” is critical for growing margins.

It is estimated cash costs for Tropi­cana will be between $590 and $630 per ounce.

The joint venture Tropicana project is looking highly prospective.

Building the operation from scratch has allowed the joint venture partners to re-engineer grade control at the site, reducing manual handling and thus lowing injury risk and improving accuracy.

“Now samples come off the rig onto a rack mounted on a light vehicle which then transfers them to the laboratory where they enter an automated sample preparation process,” Ehm explained.

During this process the company also generates infrared spectral data which shows which samples hold gold and which are waste.

The process change has reduced the number of people needed from nine to two, sped up turnaround and reduced assay costs, Ehm explained.

“It also provides us with additional data to feed into our integrated planning system,” he said.

Innovating Tropicana’s integrated planning system has also enabled AngloGold to more accurately predict process plant performance enabling it to be “proactive rather than reactive” when it comes to the mill circuit and maintenance schedules, Ehm explained.

Exploration takes a hit

AngloGold is also adding its name to the long list of miners who are shying away from committing to exploration programs, halving exploration spending for 2013.

“We don’t want to cut back fully on exploration programs; we’ve invested for a good five years in building a good global greenfields exploration platforms,” Ehm said.

“Although we’re going to pull back we’re not going to decimate it.”

Reducing its exploration focus to Colombia, Australia and Guinea the company will, for the time being, withdraw from 13 other jurisdictions.

For the rest of 2013, the group expects to spend $327 million, compared to the previous guidance of $377 million. And, in 2014, it plans to reduce this spend even further to between $150 million and $175 million, Mineweb reports.

“We are looking to suspend speculative exploration, where the goal is the discovery of the world’s ext gold belt. The junior explorers are also struggling for financing in this market so, to put in money in order to trade that market doesn’t make logical sense in the current environment,” Venkat said.

Venkat took on the top job in May when former CEO Mark Cutifani left the company to head up global miner Anglo American. www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_HOU

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The easiest way to find the right products and services

MANUFACTURING | MINING | INDUSTRIAL

8

www.ferret.com.au

(

1300 156 836

AM1013_058.pdf

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Down the hole magnets Retriever magnets available from Serpent & Dove are specifically designed to recover various steel items left down a hole following drilling.

Designed to retrieve items left down drill holes.

When drills, drill casings and other hole-boring apparatus break off and are left down a hole, the best way to recover such steel items is using magnets designed for the task.

Serpent & Dove’s range of retriever magnets is designed for magnetic recovery, and available ex-stock in various sizes for purchase or rental.

Known as recovery magnets or ‘fishing’ magnets, selecting a specific magnetic retriever depends on the size, shape and depth of the steel item to be recovered, and may involve a specifically designed retriever that provides a shaped magnetic field suitable for the job.

Recovery magnets for underwater work are usually sealed in a robust, epoxy resin or reinforced stainless steel housing and use neodymium (rare earth) magnetic elements to form patterns of very strong North/ South/North/South magnetic fields across the working face.

Serpent & Dove – Applied Magnetics has supplied many such magnetic retrievers, some for deep sea use and often for emergencies.

• Serpent & Dove 1300 698 776 www.serpent-dove.com.au A M0 6 1 3 _ 0 0 0 _ S P L 1 2 0 1 3 - 0 5 - 2 8 T1 4 : 3 9 : 2 5 + 1 0 : 0 0

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Remote controlled dingoes The Remote Controlled Dingo is the solution to those clean up jobs where conditions are too dangerous for an operator.

These machines are used in many mining and industrial applications in Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa to remove debris from hard to reach places and anywhere conditions are not suitable for an operator.

The machine is fitted with a remote control unit that controls the two drive levers, the Bucket Lift and Bucket Tilt levers.

The Remote Controlled Dingo performs like a regular Dingo with the added safety of being operated from a safe distance away from the hazard.

These machines have been formed to meet the requirements of mining and industrial applications which are tough on machinery and present many safety challenges not normally present on the average ‘landscaping’ site.

We have met these challenges by developing a special range of attachments and safety options.

The Remote Controlled Dingo has many standard operating features including an Alternator, Catalytic Converter, Reversing Beeper, Work Light, Rotating Beacon, Lockable Battery, Isolation Switch, Horn, Fire Extinguisher and also Reflective tape around the sides, rear and front of machine.

Dingo Australia can produce a Remote Controlled Dingo to meet specific requirements for each situation.

With many options available on the engine, wheel types and electrical.

• Dingo Australia 1300 434 646 www.dingo.com.au

www.miningaustralia.com.au

AM1013_000_HIT2

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// B E C A U S E Y O U D O N ’ T D O T H I N G S B Y H A LV E S

Hitachi AC Drive dump trucks. Built to match Hitachi excavators.

Our trucks and excavators are brothers. They’re designed by the same engineers, assembled in the same factories, and built to the same quality. If you’re running a Hitachi excavator, then you’ve already experienced half of the Hitachi advantage.

Now it’s time to see what a fleet can do.

AM1013_060.pdf

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Heavy equipment stabilising

Made from recycled plastic and high density polyethylene.

Global tool and equipment manufacturer AME International recently added ‘The Slab’ to its product line.

A new cribbing item used to stabilise machinery during repair or maintenance, The Slab is a 55-pound piece of recycled plastic and high density polyethylene measuring six inches thick, 12 inches wide and 24 inches long, designed as a sturdy alternative in jobs that would splinter, crack, split and/or break wood cribbing.

AME’s President, Keith Jarman explains that the triangle patterned surface of The Slab provides interlock traction at various angles and connects with smaller cribs, making it easy to stack multiple pieces to create large platforms four to six feet high.

The Slab also comes with a lanyard at either end, allowing users to easily manoeuvre the piece of cribbing with little effort.

Since its launch, The Slab has made an impact worldwide with over 300 units in use at Caterpillar dealers worldwide.

• AME International www.ameintl.net

Mine planning software

Haul truck LNG conversion

Runge Pincock Minarco (RPM) launched their latest commodity based solution, the Open Pit Metal Solution at the Exposibram 2013.

The Open Pit Metal XPAC Solution (OPMS) is an evolution in mine planning software focused on scheduling open pit metal mines. A Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) product based on configuration and not customisation, the OPMS follows on from the release earlier this year of mine planning solutions for open cut and underground coal mines.

Commenting on the release, Alun Philips, Product Manager – Mine Planning said OPMS delivers a streamlined process driven user interface that guides users through the scheduling process from end to end. This approach of standardisation and simplification has been built on top of the underlying power of the industry-leading XPAC scheduling engine, allowing users to master the application quickly.

According to Philips, scheduling solutions in the past have relied on inputs from a number of different data sources, meaning more time was required to prepare the underlying data than reviewing the outputs. However, with OPMS, the entire process is managed by a single solution from start to finish. Data is entered into its relevant entry point once, including automatically updating adjustment changes to the underlying geological model.

RPM’s CEO and Managing Director, Richard Mathews comments that the OPMS allows a full schedule to be scoped and implemented in days rather than weeks meaning users can be generating, evaluating and delivering results up to 75% faster than previously possible.

OPMS includes RPM’s new Material Flow Interface, a simple, easy-to-use graphical representation of the material flow modelled through a mine.

• RungePincockMinarco 02 8248 1500 www.rpmglobal.com MA 0 8 1 3 _ 0 4 2 _ F E R 1 2 0 1 3 - 0 7 - 1 8 T1 5 : 1 6 : 0 9

GFS Corp, a natural gas conversion technology specialist and the first to market conversion packs for large mine haul trucks has announced two new additions. It has unveiled GFS two product linesto its NG+D brand of natural gas plus diesel conversion systems.

The newproduct models are the EVO-MT 8300 for the Komatsu 830 model haul truck and the EVO-MT 9300 for the Komatsu 930 model haul truck.

These new additions add to GFS Corp’s current product line-up of conversion systems for the Caterpillar 777 and 793 mechanical drive trucks.

GFS is the first company to offer a fully integrated LNG conversion solution for large mine haul trucks and has had its EVO-MT 7930 systems operating on Cat 793 Bmodel haul trucks for over a year at Alpha Natural Resource’s Belle Ayr mine in Gillette, Wyoming.

The two new NG+D systems represent the company’s first offering for electrical drive trucks. The company says that its EVO-MT 8300 System for the Komatsu 830 truck will be operating at a launch customer’s mine in the fourth quarter of this year.

Additional Komatsu trucks with both the EVO-MT 8300 and EVO-MT 9300 Systems installed will be operating at other locations shortly thereafter.

The EVO-MT 8300 and 9300 systems are fully integrated solutions that include a proprietary onboard LNG fuel storage system, LNG vaporisation and gas control, electronic control unit and NG+D engine controls and safety systems. The EVO-MT 8300/9300 systems are offered with either 300 or 600 gal of onboard LNG capacity depending on configuration.

The new systems are designed for in field retrofit and will require about two days to install and commission.

• GFS Corp +www.gfs-corp.com 1 0 : 0 0

P Find

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Evaluate

Select

www.miningaustralia.com.au

MA 0 8 1

cks

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Idler tracking and management

The excavator has a 45 cubic metre bucket.

New backhoe excavators Hitachi is commissioning its first EX8000-6BH backhoe excavators at Stanwell Corporation’s Meandu coal mine.

It released the machines on the 17th of September.

Hitachi explained that while there are a number of EX8000’s operating globally, this machine is the first one with a backhoe configuration.

The mine needed 28 semi-trailers to move the excavator from Brisbane to Meandu, where three cranes, a 220 tonne, 100 tonne, and 80 tonne machine, assembled the EX8000-6BH. Stanwell Corp’s CEO Richard Van Breda said”the new excavator is the largest in our fleet and we welcome it to the Stanwell family”.

“The excavator will support the Tarong Power Stations in becoming more competitive in the National Electricity Marketby reducing the cost of coal from Meandu Mine,” Andrew Walker, the mining operations manager at Meandu, said “It is expected to run for approximately 5700 hours per year for the next three years, predominately removing overburden.”

HCA managing director David Harvey added that “the EX8000 was assembled in record time, and more importantly put together safely without incident by Stanwell, Downer EDI and our employees”.

Weighing more than 800 tonnes, the excavator has a 45 cubic metre bucket capacity and is able to more 75 tonnes of dirt per bucket.

• Hitachi M A 0 8 1 3www.hitachi.com.au _ 0 4 3 _ FER 2 2 0 1 3 - 0 7 - 1 8 T1 5 : 1 6 : 4 6 + 1 0 : 0 0

The conveyor idler is one of the highest consistent downtime causes on conveyors.

While it is impossible to prevent idler failures, it is possible to control their impact on the business and manage the consequences of the failure.

According to PDS, the new CcMS offers a complete solution to predicting and managing the consequences of idler failure.

The information is captured on ruggedised, handheld devices and relayed via 3G from even the harshest of environments.

This eliminates the need for time-consuming and inconvenient paperwork and minimises inspection and administration costs.

In order to have a comprehensive condition-managementsolution, multiple failure detection methods are required.

CcMS is an invaluable solution that ties all this information together into a single point of reference with the capacity to identify trends that need to be targeted with engineering solutions.

Interpreting belt thickness measurements and a moreaccurate belt life prediction Challenges formanaging conveyor belt thickness can be summarised as follows: Realtime forecasting of predicted belt life and planning for the scheduled belt replacementswith a five year horizon; and graphic reporting for the whole business, individual sites or specific belts.

PDS states that “CcMS offers dynamic forecasting that may be lacking from the individual reports usually provided”.

It integrates factors such as scheduling across multiple shutdown windows, coordinating resources, and managing belt stocks with lengthy lead times, creating a synergy of belt stock management across multiple sites in the same organisation.

Recent advances have added innovative KPI measures such as percentage of remaining cover and tonnes based life prediction.

With their new web-hosted solution they look to extend their capability even further, as it eliminates the problems associated with deploying software across a large organisation.

It also allows PDS to provide more timely support and the ability to tailor the software to individual customer requirements.

• PDS Online 0419 490 828 www.pdsonline.com.au

The easiest way to find products and suppliers

Manufacturing | Mining | Industrial

askferret on 1300 156 836

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AustralianMining

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10th Annual Australian Mining Prospect Awards In this issue we have a brief word from some of the sponsors about their companies and why they choose to sponsor the Prospect Awards.

SEW-EURODRIVE

Boom Logistics

SEW-EURODRIVE is proud to be sponsoring the coal mine of the year award at the 2013 Australian Mining Prospect Awards.

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

Supplying a range of industrial gear units, motors and drives for especially large movements, we deliver more than just products to heavy industry. A team of talented engineers develop effective and timely solutions based on customers’ motion requirements, which are backed by after-sales commissioning & product support that is second to none.

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

The coal mining industry is one of Australia’s strongest assets – as the world’s greatest exporter of coal, we can be thankful for an industry that has given us global recognition. SEW-EURODRIVE takes great pride in sponsoring the coal mine of the year award, which we hope in turn encourages the organisations in an industry which has greatly supported our company over time.

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

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

Safety Always is a core value at BOOM; caring for the health and safety of our customers, people, environment and community drives all of our activities and decisions.

BOOM recognises the Australian Mining Prospect Awards as a prestigious event in the mining industry, and we are proud to sponsor the Excellence in Mine OH&S Award again in 2013, and to support businesses in this sector that reflect the same safety values held by BOOM. As Australia’s leading provider of innovative lifting solutions, BOOM combines expertise and experience with the largest fleet of cranes, including travel towers, access equipment and specialty engineering resources, to help solve your lifting challenges.

BOOM serves a diverse customer base, including the mining and resources sector, and is relied upon by some of Australia’s largest blue-chip companies. We help our customers to develop and execute the right lifting solution with a focus on safety, productivity, efficiency and customer service. BOOM seeks to be recognised as the safest and leading lifting solutions company in Australia.

Atlas Copco For over 130 years Atlas Copco has supplied the world with mining equipment, making it one of the most experienced suppliers in the industry. Since setting up shop in Kalgoorlie in the 1950s, Atlas Copco has learned from the very specific and in many ways original Australian mining methods, which differ from the rest of the world.

On top of higher demands on people and equipment, conditions faced in Australia (especially water) are very often tougher than most. One of Atlas Copco’s highest priorities is reducing people’s exposure to the drilling process and to the hostile environment often found in underground mines.

With our first experience in automation over a quarter of a century ago, and having spent the past 12 years refining our common rig automation platform RCS, the performance of Atlas Copco’s production drill rigs, RCS control system, rock drills, Cable bolting rigs and innovative braking system (SAHR) have set the standard in the industry for productivity and safety.

The Prospect Awards recognise personal and company achievements, and they recognise the new benchmarks these create within the industry.

As a company and as individuals, Atlas Copco and its staff are pleased to support this event the Contract Miner of the Year and Hard Rock Mine of the Year awards because we appreciate how hard it is to be at the frontier of mining.

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Siemens Central to any new or existing project, technology is essential to the modern, efficient and productive mine site. Driven by the power of technology, the mining industry is able to achieve greater production levels, detect new deposits and accomplish things that were seemingly unattainable many years ago.

Siemens is proud to be a long term partner of Australia’s mining community and a provider of technologies for a sustainable future.

Every year, we invest billions of dollars into research, development and improvements, providing leading solutions for our customers to remain at the forefront.

Our latest investment into the Central Queensland Service Centre provides specialist services and spare parts to help Queensland’s mining industry achieve greater reliability, productivity and efficiency.

The lifecycle management of our equipment goes hand-in-hand with that of a mine. Making the right decisions at the onset is just as important as continuous maintenance and optimisation. With this in mind we’re honoured to be supporting the award for the 2013 Explorer of the Year.

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

www.miningaustralia.com.au

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Tickets include, admission, pre-drinks, three course dinner and beverages

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To advertise a new job contact Hussein Azzan at 02 8484 0852

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

Program Manager MMG is currently recruiting for the newly created role of Program Manager for our Sepon operation.

Our Sepon operation is an open pit copper and gold mining operation in south Laos. This position will be responsible for developing a program execution strategy and execution of nominated projects for the Sepon operation. Some of these include an acid plant, water treatment plant, lime kiln, new accommodation and an airport. The Program Manager will be responsible for the efficient and successful execution of these projects for our operation and more.

We are seeking a professional with tertiary qualification in mining, engineering or project management with a successful career in mining projects. You have a proven track record in project delivery of hard rock underground developments and solid exposure to field and office project management in the construction and commissioning of a range of large scale mining, industrial and process plant facilities.

To be considered, we are seeking a person who has management experience on the Owner’s side, mining project experience and practical expertise managing a multidiscipline project team on complex large scale projects.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work on a large high profile project within our organisation with a variety of challenges.

This position is a fixed term role for 3-6 months and is based in our Melbourne office. Regular travel to Sepon for periods of 1 to 2 weeks duration will be required for the success of this position.

This role will operate on a 8/6 roster, FIFO from Mount Isa, Cairns or Townsville.

To start your career journey with MMG, submit your application online in either Word (.doc) or Adobe (.pdf) format by clicking on the ‘Apply’ button or visiting the job search page of our website – http:// careers.mmg.com/jobSearch.asp?stp=AW&sLanguage=en Site Nurse MMG is now recruiting a Registered Nurse on limited tenure for 12 months to join our Safety and Health Team on-site at Lawn Hill, Century Mine. Reporting to the Health & Hygiene Coordinator, you will provide support to all employees at Century mine in relation to first aid, emergency care and health and wellbeing issues. You will be proactive in the promotion of a healthy lifestyle and fitness for work program encompassing – health surveillance, bio monitoring, fatigue awareness, workplace rehabilitation and drug and alcohol testing.

This role operates as a sole practitioner and requires exceptional skills in first aid, emergency response, workplace rehabilitation programs and medical procedures including: intravenous cannulation, cardiac monitoring, audiometry, spirometry and suturing.

You’ll be familiar with a patient information management system such as Medical Director and be literate in the MS Office Suite. Qualifications as a Workplace Rehabilitation Coordinator, Remote Area Nurse and Immunisation Endorsement will be highly regarded.

Onsite accommodation at Century’s Darimah Village is fully air-conditioned and includes room cleaning service. Village features include meal services and access to a site personal trainer, gym facilities communal computer/media facilities including 3G coverage, onsite convenience store, onsite Medical Centre, state of the art sporting and gym facilities, and 25 metre swimming pool. The remuneration package includes an attractive base salary, site allowance and a range of salary sacrifice options.

To join the next generations’ global mining company, please submit your application online in either Word (.doc) or Adobe (.pdf) format by clicking on the ‘Apply’ button or visiting the job search page of our website – http://careers.mmg.com/jobSearch.asp?stp=AW&sLanguage=en.

All applicants must apply directly to MMG to be considered – in this instance, we will not be accepting any submissions from recruitment agencies.

Mine Surveyor Minerals and Metals Group (MMG) is one of the world’s largest producers of zinc as well as a substantial producer of copper, lead, gold and silver. MMG’s Century operation, located in North-west Queensland, is Australia’s largest open pit zinc mine. In production since 2000, Century comprises an open pit mine and concentrator at Lawn Hill, connected by a pipeline to the Karumba dewatering and shipping facilities.

A number of projects are currently underway to extend the life of the Century assets beyond the current completion of large open pit production in 2016.

MMG’s Century’s Mine Technical Services Department is now seeking an experienced and professional Mine Surveyor to join their team at Century Mine, Lawn Hill. Reporting to the Senior Mine Surveyor, you will be primarily responsible for recognising and developing surveying techniques to assist in operations optimisation and advising the Senior Surveyor of any technical or administrative matters of note.

Acoustic Engineer Further responsibilities will include assistance in the following: Hushpak Engineering is seeking an acoustic engineer with strong technical skills and practical experience • Collection of survey data for use in geological modelling and monitoring, mine planning, grade control, in noise attenuation and design who wants to develop their career within a small but rapidly growing production reconciliation and environmental management; organisation. The successful candidate will work with our strong and diverse client portfolio and capitalise • End of month survey pickup and reporting volumes; on new business opportunities in mining, manufacturing and other industries. This role will suit someone • Provision of drafting and cartographic services; who is keen to move into a senior role and pursue a potential management opportunity.

• Set-up and checking of high precision GPS Guidance systems, and; The role will involve the following key activities: • Charting and recording of land use in terms of the overall lease and mining requirements.

• Noise measurements and reporting As the successful incumbent you will have both well-developed technical skills and personal attributes, a • Developing solutions to challenging noise and vibration problems in an industrial or mining context certificate qualification or aVrelated • Interacting to assess and understand their needs, resulting in successful project delivery AM 1 0 1 3 in_Surveying 0 0 0 _ H G field, - MS1Office2and 0 SAP 1 3knowledge, - 0 9 - experience 1 7 T 0 in8Surpac : 5 1 : 3 3 + 1 0with : 0customers 0 mining software, RiscanPRO, Softrock Solutions and report writing skills.

• Practical, hands on involvement in design and application • Proactively seeking new business opportunities • Management of acoustic projects • Preparation of high quality tenders and technical reports To be successful, you will possess the following: • 5 years of experience, preferably in practical attenuation design and application • Degree in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent discipline together with experience as an Acoustic Consultant or post graduate education in Acoustics • Solid skills in engineering investigation and problem resolution • Demonstrated practical background in engineering • Demonstrated experience in management of design budgets • Excellent oral and written communication skills.

• Ability to develop new business and manage customer relationships • Current drivers licence The position will be a permanent full time reportin to the technical director.

For more information call Michael Neville on 02 4924 5400, or submit your application to • Mining Applications recruitment@advitech.com.au

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Training Advisor MMG’s inaugural mine development project, Dugald River, is a world-class zinc-lead-silver deposit located in north-west Queensland. With a development capital expenditure in excess of AUD1,400M, the scope of the project includes a two million tonne per year underground mine with twin decline access and conventional long hole and bench stoping; fine grinding and flotation circuits and a combination of existing and developed rail, storage and ship loading facilities.

A unique opportunity exists for an experienced Training Advisor – Surface Operations based at our Dugald River Mine. Reporting to the Human Resources Superintendent, you will be responsible for the development of the training strategy which will be the foundation of a training function for the Dugald River Mine. The strategy will include the development of site wide training and skills matrices, and the training processes necessary to support a world class mine.

As a successful incumbent, you will have had previous experience in the development of training strategies and systems associated with the set up of a new business entity, preferrable in the mining industry. You will also be experienced in the provision of training and assessement services, to ensure business and legislative needs continue to be met for the Dugald River Mine. A key responsibility will be the supervision of the assessment and training undertaken by consultants used by MMG on the mine site.

Important to the role you will be your strong demonstrated experience within a similar role and have a Diploma in Management to enable delivery of Supervisory and Frontline management courses. To further your success to the role, you will have a high level communication, interpersonal, influencing and presenting skills, successfully managing cross cultural relationships, driving performance with a strong consultative approach.

This role will operate on an 8/6 FIFO roster from Townsville, Cairns, Brisbane or Mount Isa. To start your career journey with MMG, submit your application online in either Word (.doc) or Adobe (.pdf) format by clicking on the ‘Apply’ button or visiting the job search page of our websitehttp://careers.mmg.com/jobSearch.asp?stp=AW&sLanguage=en www.miningaustralia.com.au

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Conferences, seminars & workshops Event submissions can be emailed to editor@miningaustralia.com.au The Australian National Conference on Resources and Energy (ANCRE) 2013 3-4 October Canberra The Australian National Conference on Resources and Energy (ANCRE) 2013, is the pre-eminent conference for policy makers, industry leaders, academics and international experts to canvass the issues facing this important sector. Hosted by the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), the leading agency providing economic analysis on the resources and energy sectors to Government, attendance at the conference is a must for those that want to help shape the resources and energy agenda now and into the future. ANCRE 2013, held at the Canberra Theatre Centre, is the only national conference that provides independent and impartial analysis on the global and Australian perspective on resources and energy.

AM 0 6 1 3 Solutions _ 0 0 0 _ FL • Key Conference

Gold Investment Symposium 2013 16 October Luna Park, Sydney No other event in Australia attracts the high-calibre speakers, companies and investors like those that attend the symposium.

This year, bullion experts, miners, investors, brokers and advisers have already started registering for the event.

Not only do they attend to gain a greater insight into the current market and its potential opportunities, but also to meet with these experts, and network with industry leaders and other likeminded people.

It will provide outstanding line-up of international and local keynote speakers; audience interactive panel discussion with industry experts; and mining companies highlighting their investment opportunities • Gold Symposium E 02 -9299143502 0 1 3 - 0 5 - 2 7

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Resources RTO Association 2nd Annual Conference 23-25 October Sunshine Coast, Queensland Queensland’s premier resource training sector symposium, the Resources RTO Association 2nd Annual Conference, will be held at Palmer Coolum Resort and will focus on promoting safety practices through the use of effective training methods.

The 2013 conference looks set to capitalise on the success of last years’ event with interest from industry representatives within the resources sector including coal, coal seam gas initiatives, metals, civil, drilling and quarrying, cementing the Resources RTO Association Conference as the peak industry meeting for the setting of new benchmarks for training and safety in the resources field.

The Resources RTO Association T 1 : 1 2Tony : 2Mapp 7 + said 1 0the : 0 0 Inc.1 President conference will provide training

practitioners from industry and RTO’s with an opportunity to influence leading practice and progress the quality of training in the Queensland and Australian resources sector, align the site training standards and RTO delivery, and improve the consistency and transportability of skills within the resource sectors.

The theme of the conference will be ‘influencing leading practice’ and provide training practitioners with an opportunity to hear the latest on the state of the Queensland resource sector, industry leading training practices, and solutions to common training implementation issues.

• Resources RTO www.resourcesrto.org/conference

Mining World Moscow 9-11 April, 2014 Moscow MiningWorld Russia 2014 is the 18th international exhibition and conference for mining and processing metals and minerals in Russia.

Last year more then 430 companies

from 32 countries, including Australia, exhibited at the event, with the Australian ambassador speaking at the opening.

Russia is currently one of the world’s largest emerging markets, and represents a significant opportunity for Australian mining equipment and services companies to garner new work as the Australian market slows down. According to Austrade there are a number of opportunties for Australian METS companies that include mining software and systems development;investment, including joint ventures; integrated project management; contract mining; supply (including leasing and acquisition) of mining plant and equipment; technology transfer and consultancy expertise; business process consulting; general engineering and business procedures; and a range of other services including training.

A delegation to the event will be lead

by Austmine.

• MiningWorld Russia www.miningworld-russia. primexpo.ru/en/

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Resourcefulness. Just one of the attributes BOC provides to the Australian mining industry At BOC, we understand the knowledge, expertise and process needed to succeed in the mining industry, and we realise how important it is to have a supplier you can rely on. If we can help you increase productivity while keeping costs down, then we’re doing our job.

As a leading supplier of gases in the South Pacific, BOC can supply bulk, onsite or compressed Oxygen, Nitrogen, specialist gases, LPG or LNG to your site; and we have patented gas processes that are designed not only to enhance extraction and production, but they also enable a reduction in the use of reagents.

Additionally, we have a comprehensive welding and industrial equipment range, and can tailor a complete safety and PPE solution for your site and workers.

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BOC Limited

Riverside Corporate Park, 10 Julius Avenue, North Ryde, NSW 2113 Australia contact@boc.com | boc.com.au | 131 262 BOC is a trading name of BOC Limited, a Member of The Linde Group. © BOC Limited 2013. MP12-0874-6|ML|AM|1013

A Member of The Linde Group