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MINING SERVICES MATERIALS HANDLING VOLUME 112/9 | OCTOBER 2020

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COMMENT

A PRIME TIME TO DEVELOP MINING PROJECTS BEN CREAGH

Ben.Creagh@primecreative.com.au

EXPLORATION ACTIVITY IS RISING ACROSS AUSTRALIA, JUST AS THE COUNTRY NEEDS A BOOST IN DEVELOPMENT FROM THE MINING INDUSTRY IN THE COMING YEARS.

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n opportunity has arrived for the Australian mining industry.

As governments around Australia look to spark an economic recovery, mining is set to be a key platform that will help the country achieve this.

The early signs are that these moves are already in motion at a grassroots level, with exploration spending increasing in key mining regions this year.

Victoria, hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, has returned the most notable rise in exploration spending.

The state hit a record high of almost $40 million in exploration spending in the June quarter, taking its total to $136.5 million for the 2020 financial year.

While spending in Victoria was still some way behind the investments that were made in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, it provides much needed positivity for the industry’s future in the state.

As you will read in this issue, there is more to Victorian mining than just gold projects; the state also has highly promising minerals sands and base metals prospects that are progressing towards development.

Kirkland Lake Gold’s Fosterville gold mine may have put Victorian mining back on the map in recent years, but the pipeline of future mines also looks strong.

Victoria expects to have multiple new mines operating by the end of this decade in gold, base metals and mineral sands, as long as the developers can gain the approval of local communities and the government.

The increase in exploration activity promises to be the start of something bigger for the industry across Australia in the wake of COVID-19.

State governments are enticing exploration companies to ramp up activity to drive future economic development and job creation.

They are easing the burden of the approvals process and providing muchneeded funding to junior explorers.

Importantly, a continued increase in exploration will also be a major boost for the thousands of geologists around the country that have faced a deterioration in work opportunities since the commodities downturn early last decade.

Operational and construction job seekers have enjoyed better conditions in the mining industry over the past five years, but the same can’t be said for geologists. Now could be the time for their fate to turn too.

Ben Creagh Managing Editor

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MANAGING EDITOR BEN CREAGH Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: ben.creagh@primecreative.com.au JOURNALISTS VANESSA ZHOU Email: vanessa.zhou@primecreative.com.au SALOMAE HASELGROVE Email: salomae.haselgrove@primecreative.com.au NICKOLAS ZAKHARIA Email: nickolas.zakharia@primecreative.com.au

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FRONT COVER

In this edition, we include a special feature on the materials handling sector, with in-depth coverage of the latest achievements by mining and METS (mining equipment, technology and services) companies.

Australian Mining highlights a growing relationship between MacKellar Mining and Liebherr at coal operations in Queensland.

We look at the Victorian mining sector and the opportunities for the industry to grow beyond its strong history as a gold producer.

This edition also takes a look at the key risks facing the Australian mining industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Cover image: MacKellar Mining / Liebherr.

PRINTED BY MANARK PRINTING 28 Dingley Ave Dandenong VIC 3175 Ph: (03) 9794 8337 Published 12 issues a year

IN INTHIS THISISSUE ISSUE 56

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MINING SERVICES

Rolling out equipment at Queensland mines MacKellar Mining turns to Liebherr to expand fleet

12 REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

A new era for Victorian mining Victoria’s future in gold, base metals and mineral sands

16 FUTURE OF MINING

Preparing mining for tomorrow’s challenges What the industry needs to do to overcome future risks

20 MINERALS PROCESSING

Breathing new life into Mount Morgan Heritage Minerals uses GreenGold Technology to restart historic mine

22 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

WA’s leading miners stand out in a crowd Deloitte weighs in on Western Australia’s top resources companies

25 MINING EQUIPMENT

52 TRAINING & EDUCATION

71 WATER MANAGEMENT

56 TYRE MANAGEMENT

72 MINING SERVICES

Upskilling workers for the jobs of tomorrow . B estech and Sandvik showcase their training and education programs Saving off-the-road tyres from landfill How a Kal Tire technology is

extending the life of tyres

58 INDUSTRY COMMENT

Choosing autonomous technology for future mine sites Accenture discusses the approaches to take for automation

60 ENGINEERING

Remote monitoring during the pandemic . CBC Engineering sensors for remote monitoring of mines

62 CRUSHING & SCREENING

The benefits of hiring equipment

National Group supplies Liebherr R 9200 excavator to gold mine

Stronger outcomes with the latest products and services Astec Australia and Derrick’s powerful machinery for mining

27 REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

65 MEASUREMENT & MONITORING

Highlighting up-and-coming NSW regions The opportunities of the future in the East Lachlan and Gunnedah

32 MINING EQUIPMENT

Dump trucks designed for Australian mining BELAZ equips its machines to meet Australian standards

A Brazilian mine without trucks?

How LASE is complementing Vale’s truckless mine design

67 MINERALS PROCESSING

Getting value out of mining equipment thyssenkrupp’s digital solutions and services drive mining operations

34 MATERIALS HANDLING

69 DRILL & BLAST

50 UNDERGROUND MINING

70 SUSTAINABILITY

Innovation while moving materials

Key companies unveil products and services that help mines improve efficiency

Extending underground truck service life

Red 5 updates the Darlot underground fleet with Drivetrain machine

Accurate and impactful blasting

Blast-proof sensors provide more accurate blasting

Delivering sustainable tyre outcomes

Decreasing the number of mining tyres that become waste AUSTRALIANMINING

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Keeping high pressure water systems flowing Steel Mains high-quality pipelines keep remote mines connected

Guiding Australia’s supply chain Makuri and LINX Cargo Care Group keep mining moving

74 MAINTENANCE

Powering mining equipment Flender, TOTAL keep machines healthy with predictive maintenance

77 PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

Maintenance tips from the experts Perkins highlights importance of timely maintenance

78 PROSPECT AWARDS

Celebrating mining’s best and brightest National Group on the value of the 2020 Prospect Awards

79 EVENT SPOTLIGHT

Exploring the preconcentration process

AusIMM sheds light on Preconcetration Digital Conference

REGULARS 3 COMMENT 6 NEWS 80 PRODUCTS 82 EVENTS

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NEWS

THE LATEST MINING AND SAFETY NEWS AUSTRALIAN MINING PRESENTS THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE BOARDROOM TO THE MINE AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN. VISIT WWW.AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING. FORTESCUE SET FOR DECEMBER START AT ELIWANA Fortescue Metals Group is on track to deliver first ore from the Eliwana mine and rail project in Western Australia during December.

The company invested $US771 million ($1.08 billion) in capital expenditure, including at Eliwana and Iron Bridge, in the 2020 financial year.

This is set to be ramped up to $US1.9–$US2.3 billion in spending for major projects this financial year.

It will also support the company’s development at the Iron Bridge magnetite project in the Pilbara, with first ore planned for shipment in the first half of 2022.

The company completed first earthworks on the Iron Bridge ore processing facility and the mine access road during the June quarter.

Fortescue chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said the company was developing Australia’s largest, publicly disclosed magnetite mineral resource at Iron Bridge.

Its mineral resource stands at 5.45 billion tonnes and ore reserves at 716 million tonnes as of June.

The Greater Solomon Hub mineral resources, meanwhile, increased by 102 million tonnes to 2.68 billion tonnes this year.

The Greater Western Hub mineral

resources also increased by 39 million tonnes to 2.09 billion tonnes.

“It is pleasing to see the continued growth in mineral resources at our development properties,” Gaines said.

“With the increase in mineral resources at the Greater Solomon Hub, Greater Western Hub and Nyidinghu, our total development mineral resources now exceeds eight billion tonnes.”

Fortescue also achieved record revenue ($US12.8 billion) and net profit after tax ($US4.7 billion) after posting record shipments in the 2020 financial year.

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

SUPER PIT FUTURE SECURED BY MAJOR EXTENSION The iconic Super Pit mine in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia is set to continue producing gold for at least another 15 years.

Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) completed a review of the Super Pit’s future and identified a mineral resource of 19 million ounces.

The resource includes a 2.2 million-ounce resource below the Super Pit, which is the first underground resource in the modern era.

Joint owners Northern Star Resources and Saracen Mineral Holdings said they would undertake a major expansion that would see production increase to almost 675,000 ounces a year over the next eight years.

Northern Star and Saracen set their 2021 financial year guidances at 940,000 to 1.06 million ounces and 600,000 to 640,000 ounces, respectively, following the update.

Northern Star’s production is forecast to rise to 1.15 million ounces in the 2022 financial year and 1.25 million ounces in the 2023 financial year.

“KCGM will play a key role in driving Northern Star’s annual production

THE SUPER PIT GOLD MINE AT KALGOORLIE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

rate to 1.25 million ounces and beyond over the next few years,” Northern Star executive chair Bill Beament said.

“The review shows the outlook for KCGM is excellent on every level.

The project is set to generate strong production growth underpinned by an extensive inventory in a Tier 1 location.”

Saracen managing director Raleigh Finlayson said the update put the company on track to continue growing production and expanding

AUSTRALIANMINING

its inventory.

“As in the past, our next round of substantial growth will come totally from within Western Australia, ensuring our future-proofing strategy continues to benefit from the certainty which comes from operating solely in a Tier 1 location,” Finlayson said.

“We are in a superb position given the strong gold price, our growing production profile (and) our outstanding working relationship with Northern Star Resources at the

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world-class KCGM project.”

KCGM general manager, operations Kous Kirsten said the results were also great news for the township of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and wider Western Australian community.

“The review shows that after 125 years of mining, Kalgoorlie’s worldrenowned Golden Mile and the Super Pit project it houses are still worldclass,” Kirsten said.

At gold prices of $2700 per ounce, the Super Pit has an in-the-ground market value of $54 billion.

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NEWS

AUSTRALIA REMAINS WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST GOLD PRODUCER Australian gold production recovered during the June 2020 quarter, with output totalling 85 tonnes, more than 10 per cent above the March quarter.

Gold mining consultant Surbiton Associates outlined this rise in its latest report, which also showed a record 328 tonnes of gold production in the 2019-2020 financial year.

This is a record for any 12-month period and is worth nearly $25 billion at the average gold price for the period.

Surbiton Associates director Sandra Close said due to global uncertainty and unrest, the interest in the precious metal had never been higher.

“I cannot recall so much interest in gold since the modern boom began

almost 40 years ago,” Close said.

“There is a high level of activity overall, from investment, increased capital raisings and initial public offerings, to greater exploration and drilling and a scramble to peg new ground.”

Close said despite this continued period of disruption and uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian gold production had not been affected, with exploration minimally affected by travel restrictions.

According to the United States Geological Survey, Australia remains the world’s second largest gold producer behind China, with Russia third.

Australia’s largest gold producing mines for the 2019-2020 financial

year were Newcrest Mining’s Cadia operation with 843,338 ounces; Newmont’s Boddington mine with 673,000 ounces; Kirkland Lake Gold’s Fosterville mine with 664,191 ounces; and Newmont’s Tanami mine with 495,000 ounces; while AngloGold Ashanti and IGO’s Tropicana joint venture rounded out the top five with 463,556 ounces.

“The Australian gold sector, like the larger iron ore mining industry is producing record export quantities and doing its best to boost our balance of payments,” Close explained.

“With production and employment in the mining industry strong, the various resultant taxes are a real boost for Australia in these difficult economic times and Western

Australia is receiving record royalty payments too.”

Spot gold prices reached $US2067 ($2837) per ounce on August 6 and Australian gold prices also reached an all-time high of $2868 per ounce on the same day.

Volatility remained, as less than a week later gold prices fell by more than $US100 per ounce in one day.

“As usual, whenever gold prices rise appreciably, forecasts begin to appear and recently prices of $US3000 or even $US4000 per ounce have been bandied about,” Close said.

“These ‘forecasts’ are no more than guesses or perhaps, hopes.

I have said it often and shall say it again – no one can really predict the future.”

INDIA BORE DISCOVERS RARE PURPLE DIAMONDS AT ELLENDALE THE RARE PURPLE DIAMONDS COULD BE LINKED TO A NEW SOURCE OF GEMS.

Australian junior India Bore Diamond Holdings has unearthed extremely rare purple diamonds at the Ellendale diamond field in Western Australia.

India Bore identified a large alluvial deposit that contained fancy yellow diamonds at the East

Kimberley site near Derby.

Follow-up scientific tests to the fancy yellow diamonds revealed that many featured a highly rare and attractive purple fluorescence under ultraviolet light.

Natural fluorescence occurs in AUSTRALIANMINING

about 30 per cent of diamonds, and more than 95 per cent of these fluoresce blue, with yellow and green representing just a few per cent.

India Bore spokesperson Patrick Stringer said the lucky find was completely unexpected

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for the company.

“The purple colour came as a complete surprise and may indicate that a new primary source of diamonds is nearby,” Stringer said.

“So far, we know that these special diamonds are contained within a specific area known as the L-Channel.

“We have a very detailed understanding of the L-Channel deposit, but we never expected to discover that fancy yellow diamonds would fluoresce purple.”

Perth-based Delta Diamond Laboratory has been appointed to investigate the nature of the purple fluorescence and the signature pure yellow colour of the diamonds discovered by India Bore.

“Violent or purple fluorescence is normally associated with blue diamonds, so the fluorescence of these Ellendale fancy yellow diamonds is quite rare,” Delta diamond scientist John Chapman said.

The L-Channel of the Ellendale diamond field is estimated to contain at least 1.3 million carats of gem quality diamonds.

The diamonds are contained within a previously unknown, buried river system flowing southward through the Ellendale field.

Ellendale’s fancy yellow diamonds command a premium in the global diamond market, with many diamantaires rating them as “among the highest quality fancy yellow diamond production in the world”.

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MINING SERVICES

MACKELLAR DIVERSIFIES LIEBHERR FLEET TO DRIVE GROWTH IN THE HUNT FOR CONTRACTS IN QUEENSLAND’S COAL SECTOR, MACKELLAR MINING HAS TURNED TO LIEBHERR FOR THE SUPPLY OF EQUIPMENT THAT OFFERS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

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acKellar Mining wanted a new fleet of haul trucks that would give it a point of difference when bidding for a contract with Anglo American in 2019.

The Queensland-based mining services company was aiming to secure an agreement to supply the trucks to Anglo American’s Dawson metallurgical coal mine in the Bowen Basin.

Successful with its bid, MacKellar Mining won a two-year contract to supply and commission five new Liebherr T 264 electric drive mining trucks at the site.

The agreement not only diversified MacKellar Mining’s 350-machine fleet with the Liebherr trucks, but also expanded its partnership with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

MacKellar Mining’s relationship with Liebherr started in 2016 when it

acquired the first ultra-class excavator in the company’s 54-year history through the OEM. Up until that point, the company had focussed on dump trucks and other mining equipment. Its fleet of dump trucks had mainly been the popular Caterpillar machines.

For Dawson, however, MacKellar Mining recognised a competitive advantage that the T 264 trucks offered after they were updated by Liebherr in 2019.

Liebherr increased the payload capacity of the T 264 trucks from 220 tonnes to 240 tonnes, an upgrade that captured the attention of MacKellar Mining managing director Duncan MacKellar.

“The extra payload, to get a true 240-tonne machine compared with other trucks in that class is a massive advantage – the customers love that about the T 264,” Duncan MacKellar tells Australian Mining.

“They are physically a large truck

AUSTRALIANMINING

and we look at them as a mini T 284, which has been a market leader for Liebherr.

“The operators at Dawson have loved the trucks. They are carrying the loads well; they are fast and they have generally been well received.”

Liebherr has designed the upgraded T 264 to provide a unique combination of a high horsepower engine (2013 kW / 2700 hp), a Litronic Plus AC drive system and electric wheel motors (3300 kW / 4425 hp) to deliver faster cycle times.

The upgraded wheel motors and rear gear ratio boosts torque and acceleration to provide similar cycle times alongside the payload increase.

“We wanted to go down the electric path and we saw that Liebherr would be at the forefront of the technology for trucks that size,” Duncan MacKellar says.

“Given the relationship we have with Liebherr, we were willing to take a risk on a new product knowing we would

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be well supported by Liebherr not only in Australia, but also their factory in the United States.”

Liebherr-Australia sales and marketing executive general manager, Tom Juric, says the payload increase is just one aspect of the competitive advantages that the T 264 offers.

He says the cost profile of the machines and the OEM’s aftersales service are other factors.

MacKellar Mining’s contract win at Dawson also represents a major breakthrough for Liebherr in its quest to roll out the T 264 at more Australian mines.

“Liebherr hasn’t had a presence at Dawson, indirectly or directly for many years,” Juric says. “As I understand it, these trucks are the first Liebherr units at Dawson in a very long time.

“They are brand new and the only ones of their kind on that site – they are pioneers from a Liebherr perspective.”

And the trucks not only diversify

MINING SERVICES

FIVE LIEBHERR T 264 TRUCKS ARE OPERATING AT THE DAWSON MINE.

by four high-voltage (HV) technicians on a 24/7 basis, as well as two mechanical technicians.

The Middlemount project is directly supported on an around-the-clock basis by four site-based technicians, who are integrated into the MacKellar Mining maintenance team.

Liebherr conducts safety and familiarisation training for site operators and technical training for maintenance crews at both sites.

Wayne Maher, Liebherr-Australia regional manager in Queensland, says the OEM’s process begins by understanding the needs of a customer like MacKellar Mining, as well as the client the mining services company serves.

“Liebherr draws upon significant experience in mining services to tailor a package that meets or exceeds those needs,” Maher says.

“Liebherr, throughout its history has instilled a philosophy to put its best

THE INCREASED PAYLOAD OF THE T 264 TRUCKS STOOD OUT FOR MACKELLAR MINING.

offer forward, even if the client hasn’t specifically asked for it.

“Ultimately, Liebherr aims to offer value and dependability, which is why successful businesses like MacKellar continue to work and grow with us.”

The relationship between MacKellar Mining and Liebherr is strengthened by these shared values, many of which stem from the family-owned nature of both companies.

As Duncan MacKellar reinforces, Liebherr’s support during the bidding process for the contracts never gave MacKellar Mining the impression it was working with a global OEM. “Despite being a smaller business, we are also a family-run business and then we are also dealing with a family business in Liebherr. There’s value in that – you feel like you have a genuine collaborative working relationship rather than dealing with a massive conglomerate,” Duncan MacKellar concludes. AM

IMAGE CREDIT: MACKELLAR MINING / LIEBHERR.

knew that we had a good opportunity there,” Duncan MacKellar says.

“It was certainly nice to wrap up that contract – Liebherr has been very patient and good to work with during that process.

“They understood the requirements to get the equipment on site and built.

Liebherr was willing to be flexible and nimble – they didn’t act like a large OEM.” The Liebherr excavators on this site are MacKellar Mining’s biggest one-off investment in ultra-class diggers.

Duncan Mackellar says the agreement reflects the reputation of Liebherr excavators, as well as the aftersales support that MacKellar Mining has received since 2016.

“My father (company founder Alastair MacKellar) steered clear of excavators due to the cost of moving them and the amount of attention they get because they are the main production machine – they need to perform,” Duncan MacKellar says.

“The R 996B excavator has such a strong market acceptance and they really are the excavator of choice in that 600-tonne class. They have been very reliable and cost-effective machine; they have added a lot of value to our business.”

Liebherr provides service for MacKellar Mining’s fleet from its Mackay base and on site for both mines.

At Dawson, the trucks are supported

IMAGE CREDIT: MACKELLAR MINING / LIEBHERR.

MacKellar Mining’s fleet of haulers, but also Liebherr’s market presence in Australia.

Juric says the trucks strengthen the relationship between the two companies, building off the increasing number of Liebherr excavators that MacKellar Mining owns.

“It adds to the depth of the relationship and it shows yet again that Liebherr is not a one trick pony – we are more than an excavator provider.

We have a capable product and a more than capable support offering to deliver results to our clients when it matters most,” Juric says.

While Liebherr and MacKellar Mining may have now diversified their partnership into dump trucks, their excavator relationship has also grown this year.

MacKellar Mining followed up the Dawson agreement by expanding its fleet of Liebherr excavators as part of a five-year, $500 million contract it won with Middlemount Coal in the Bowen Basin.

Five Liebherr excavators, including three R 996B and two R 9400 machines, will join more than 30 dump trucks at the coal mine.

MacKellar Mining’s previous experience with Liebherr excavators set the foundation to include the OEM’s diggers in this bid, which has become its largest contract.

“We had been chipping away on this contract for two to three years – we

MACKELLAR MINING HAS INTRODUCED THREE R 996B EXCAVATORS AT MIDDLEMOUNT.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

VICTORIA’S MINING CHARM TAKES A NEW TURN IT IS WELL ESTABLISHED THAT VICTORIA’S MINING PROSPECTS ARE RECEIVING A SURGE IN INTEREST, WITH A NUMBER OF PROJECTS IN THE PIPELINE THAT ARE READY TO MOVE THE STATE INTO NEW POSSIBILITIES AS ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S VITAL MINING JURISDICTIONS. NICKOLAS ZAKHARIA WRITES.

I

n 1851, Victoria’s first major gold discovery was made in the town of Ballarat.

The find set off what became Victoria’s gold rush that continued late into the 1860s, pushing the state to new economic heights and shaping its future with an explosion of wealth and migration.

More than 150 years later, a new wave of mining activity is beginning to sprout across the state.

Historically, gold has remained Victoria’s most attractive mineral resource – and often receives the most attention.

And that’s justified, with assets such as Kirkland Lake Gold’s Fosterville mine in Bendigo producing 619,366 ounces of gold last year alone.

Victoria’s northern and western goldfields have remained an attractive venture for a number of keen-eyed investors looking to create their own Fosterville.

What often goes unnoticed, however, is the state’s plentiful mineral sands resources (zircon, rutile and ilmenite), which are used for a variety of end products, including ceramics, electric vehicles, wind turbines and mobile phones.

The state’s mineral sands endowment consists of an estimated 350 million tonnes of coarse grained, strandline deposits plus an additional

three billion tonnes of fine grained, WIM style deposits.

Regardless of what the commodity is, the state’s mining sector has well and truly revived itself. Employment in the state’s industry rose by 41 per cent in 2018-19, providing a total of 16,000 jobs.

That number could grow even higher thanks to a new wave of exploration projects and mining aspirants that are preparing for the future.

On the radar

Victoria’s Earth Resources Regulation has worked hard to enhance the state’s mining sector, with a number of new projects in the pipeline.

Two years ago, the state government announced its fiveyear state plan for mining, the State of Discovery: Mineral Resources Strategy 2018–2023.

Earth Resources Regulation head of resources John KrbaleskI says the plan has been a resounding success so far.

“It’s been going gangbusters,” he tells Australian Mining. “It’s great to see Victoria being noticed and back on the radar, and guided by a strategy with a clear vision – growing a responsible sector that’s valued by the community.

“I think what we’re seeing is a great set of numbers that are delivering on the back of that vision.”

KALBAR RESOURCES PERSONNEL DEMONSTRATE THE MINERAL CONTENT OF THE SANDY SOILS.

The plan lists five key action areas, including confident communities and responsible explorers; advancing geoscience and encouraging mineral exploration and development; Victoria as a global mining hub; improve regulation practice and industry compliance; and deliver modern, fitfor-purpose laws.

“We’re seeing investment, jobs, wealth and opportunities and importantly all of that is being delivered to regional Victoria and its building that social licence,” Krbaleski says.

A record $36 million was spent on

KALBAR EXPECTS THE FINGERBOARDS PROJECT TO BECOME A MAJOR SUPPLIER OF ZIRCON IN VICTORIA. AUSTRALIANMINING

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exploration in Victoria during the March 2020 quarter.

The regulator is currently processing more than 400 applications for new minerals licenses, renewals, transfers and variations.

“We have a $220 million dollars exploration investment target in our five-year strategy and we’re well on our way to deliver that,” Krbaleski says.

“We’re seeing there are plenty of reasons for the sector to be interested in Victoria: that high prospect for gold, those new opportunities in copper, our world-class geoscience program, our established infrastructure, our

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

skilled workforce and our stable investment environment.”

Victoria’s mining sector features a mostly local workforce, which has proven to be COVID-19 resilient, according to Krbaleski.

“We’re different to other jurisdictions where mining involves a lot more FIFO (fly-in, fly out). For us, it’s communities that see that benefit locally.

“Today it’s in the order of 16,000 people employed by the sector in Victoria. Given that strong pipeline, the future is very bright.”

As for the interest in gold resources, Krbaleski says surging prices for the precious metal are a welcome addition.

“We couldn’t have foreseen the drilling results that have come through in Stavely, and also Fosterville’s continued success,” he says.

“Gold and copper have got the attention, but I think the unsung potential hero here is also mineral sands.”

World-class mineral sands

Kalbar Operations is one of the state’s mining hopefuls that is aiming to open a new chapter in Victorian mineral sands mining.

Its Fingerboards project, which is currently seeking government approval, has the potential to become a major supplier of mineral sands

for the state.

The project is situated within the Glenaladale deposit, located 20 kilometres northwest of Bairnsdale in the East Gippsland region. The site is considered one of the most valuable mineral sands deposits, globally.

The Glenaladale deposit, discovered

by Rio Tinto in 2004, was the first significant mineral sands discovery in East Gippsland.

Kalbar acquired the tenements from Rio Tinto in 2013 and has been advancing the site towards production ever since.

The company proposes to extract 170 million tonnes of ore from the Fingerboards project to produce an estimated eight million tonnes of heavy mineral concentrate during the project’s 15-20 years of operation.

The Fingerboards project is, however, just a small part of the much larger Glenaladale deposit.

Not only will the project provide jobs for Victorians, but it will also help strengthen Australia’s position as a major supplier of mineral sands.

Mineral sands are mostly used in ceramics but are increasingly being used in new technologies, such as electronic vehicles, wind power generators and mobile phones.

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AUSTRALIANMINING

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OCTOBER 2020

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

STAVELY IS EXPLORING FOR A PORPHYRYRELATED COPPER-GOLD-SILVER SYSTEM.

the world,” Kalbar Operations chief executive officer Jozsef Patarica tells Australian Mining.

“The project has the potential to supply about 10 per cent of the world’s zircon requirements over the 15-20 year life of the mine.”

Kalbar’s mineral sands resource is made up of zircon and titanium dioxide. It also features a number of rare earth minerals such as monazite and xenotime.

Rather than being held down by a single major product type, mineral sands are used in a variety of different products, such as toothpaste, tiles, medical equipment, wind power generators and cosmetics.

Patarica also anticipates that demand for rare earths minerals will continue to increase with the uptake of new technologies, such as electric vehicles and other developments in green energy.

“There’s already a strong demand for a lot of the rare earth elements that

we have in our Fingerboards deposit and that will only increase over the period of time that this mine will be operating,” he says Iluka Resources’ Jacinth-Ambrosia mine in South Australia, which first started producing in 2009, is currently the largest zircon operation in Australia.

For Patarica, the Fingerboards project could potentially carry the baton from the Jacinth-Ambrosia mine as Australia’s leading supplier of zircon.

He expects approvals for the project to be in place by early 2021 before operations commence midway through 2022, starting a new era in mineral sands for Victorian mining.

A unique discovery

The Stavely project in western Victoria represents the state’s potential in the gold-copper space.

Just over a year ago, Stavely Minerals discovered a shallow,

high-grade copper-gold-silver mineralisation, now known as the Cayley lode, at the project’s Thursday’s Gossan prospect.

Stavely made the discovery after its first diamond hole drilled targeted mineralisation in an area known as the Ultramafic Contact Fault, resulting in grades of up to 40 per cent copper within a 32-metre wide highgrade zone.

The Cayley Lode is named after Geological Survey of Victoria senior geologist Ross Cayley, who was part of a previous collaborative Stavely project undertaken by Geoscience Australia and the Geological Survey of Victoria between 2013 and 2017.

Still early into its exploration lifecycle, the Stavely project will receive a JORC mineral resource estimate this year, but the early results are indicating a promising find.

Stavely Minerals executive chairman and managing director Chris Cairns says the project’s tenements have a

unique geological composition.

“It’s unusual in the context that most of the mining projects in Victoria are mineral sands or gold whereas the this is a porphyry-related copper-gold silver system,” he tells Australian Mining.

“They’re quite large systems mineralised on multiple structures and one of the key attributes is that they’re driven by porphyry at depth.

“The key difference for this type of system is that it is very large relative to the other mineral systems in Victoria.”

Porphyry is a type of igneous rock, and the find at the Cayley Lode resembles the Magma mine in Arizona, United States, which is located above the Resolution porphyry copper deposit. That deposit has an inferred resolution of almost two billion tonnes at 1.5 per cent copper.

Stavely credits the initial findings by the Geological Survey of Victoria for their interest in the area and has maintained a strong relationship with the Victorian Government.

A total of $1.5 million in co-funding grants, along with two retention licenses have so far been provided to the company by the state government.

“That just gives us the security of tenure to do the sorts of detailed drilling programs and metallurgy geotechnical work that we must do to take the projects and demonstrate the viability towards applying for a mining lease,” Cairns says.

Cairns believes that if the project is developed, hundreds of local jobs could be created in Victoria.

“If we were able to demonstrate that this project was viable, we’re looking at jobs within the hundreds of widescale and highly paid jobs. It would be our intention to hire locally so we’re not doing any fly-in, fly-out type workforce,” he says.

“It would be a very, very significant contribution to the local economy and a good way to encourage families to stay in regional.

“Our objective is to demonstrate a multi-decade underground operation that really creates long-term values for the district and for shareholders.” AM

FINGERBOARDS IS 20 KILOMETRES NORTHWEST OF BAIRNSDALE IN EAST GIPPSLAND, VICTORIA

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OCTOBER 2020

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FUTURE OF MINING

AUSTRALIA’S MINING SECTOR IS VITAL TO ITS COVID-19 ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

MOVING FORWARD IN A RISKY ENVIRONMENT THE MINING SECTOR IS AN ECONOMIC BEHEMOTH FOR AUSTRALIA, BUT THE INDUSTRY MUST BE PREPARED FOR A NUMBER OF EMERGING RISKS. NICKOLAS ZAKHARIA WRITES.

I

t would be an understatement to say that Australia’s mining sector has faced numerous challenges in 2020.

From natural disasters, to COVID-19 and economic strain, the nation’s battle-hardened mining sector has continued to operate.

When mining’s risk trajectory is considered, COVID-19 is the obvious elephant in the room.

A multitude of risks and challenges – both related and unrelated to the pandemic – are on the minds of the industry’s executives and the bodies that represent it.

In February, multinational firm KPMG highlighted several risks that industry was facing in its survey, KPMG Global Risks and Opportunities in Mining – 2020 Outlook.

The survey was released months before the impact of COVID-19 was realised.

An Australian version of the survey, KPMG’s Australian Mining Risk Forecast for 2020-2021, was released in July and included survey results from January, along with commentary on the more recent risks associated with COVID-19.

The survey asked the country’s mining executives to identify their top five leading risks for the sector in the 2021 financial year.

Climate change and natural disasters

(46 per cent) and Commodity price risk (46 per cent) charted the highest among the Australia’s mining risk concerns and showed an upward trend.

Global trade war (35 per cent), fuelled by ongoing tensions between the United States and China, along with Economic downturn and uncertainty (35 per cent) also had an upward trend in results.

While COVID-19 has taken centre stage, KPMG stressed that these risks will continue to persist in the background.

“COVID-19 rightly demanded immediate risk management priority.

However, we emphasise that other risks will continue to persist and even amplify in the medium to long term,” KPMG states in the Australian Mining Risk Forecast for 2020-2021.

Risky business

Commodity price risk is an area that is likely to stay due to the uncertain nature surrounding COVID-19’s ongoing impact on the market, which has caused a number of big-name mining companies to revise their production targets.

Further to this, Australia’s nightmare bushfire season for summer 2019-2020 appears as a significant factor in why executives have listed this as a major risk.

KPMG’s survey says the bushfires AUSTRALIANMINING

impacted a number of New South Wales mines, along with weeks of poor air quality that led to temporary suspension of operations.

KPMG Mining risk partner Caron Sugars says the risk associated with climate change for the mining sector links back to increased operational costs.

“As with many sectors of industry, it’s a fact that the impacts of climate change will drive costs up in mining and require changes to the way that miners operate,” she tells Australian Mining.

“As an example, climate change will have impacts on how assets operate and their longevity. Water shortages will impact availability and potentially regulations regarding water usage.”

While ‘risks’ are generally associated with negative connotations, Sugars explains this also presents a positive opportunity for an increase in commodity demand for products that are aimed towards a greener future.

“Carbon emissions and their abatement are increasingly demanded by investors and other stakeholders as ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance) continues its importance to miners,” she says.

“It links implicitly to social value.

The risk manifests in attracting capital, gaining approvals and securing talent.

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OCTOBER 2020

“Climate events impact operational continuity and government regulatory risk will inevitably impact costs. The opportunity rests with the global energy transition and the change in consumer trends to minimise carbon emissions.

“In turn, this leads to increased global demand for the minerals and commodities that go to facilitating these shifts.”

Sugars says mining companies certainly have not lost their focus on climate change amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Reducing emissions is now a part of mining sector ‘business as usual’.

Furthermore, given increased investor and community pressure, mining companies must seriously address climate change action,” she says.

“With an increased community focus on how COVID-19 has helped awareness of environmental issues, it is likely higher and mining companies will continue on their drive forward to provide innovative ways to operate more sustainably.”

Mining giant BHP has this year accelerated its response to climate change and natural disasters by encouraged mining lobbyists to increase their climate action in August, a move supported by industry bodies such as the Minerals Council of Australia.

FUTURE OF MINING

Fortescue Metals Group also continues to highlight the steps that need to be taken in this space, as it strives for net zero emissions and acknowledges how temperature increases in the Pilbara region could worsen, increasing the number of bushfires this mining hotspot could face.

The three major risks for mining for the past three years (including 2020) have been permitting and operational risks, climate change and price volatility.

“It’s worthy of note that, ultimately, price volatility comes with the territory of mining and miners, on the whole, are good at managing the impacts,” Sugars says.

“KPMG’s view is that some of the best protection can be to drive efficiency and cost reduction into the business. This can help to preserve cash and improve resiliency against downside price movements.”

Sugars believes the rapidly changing COVID-19 environment makes it difficult to make a surefire prediction of next year’s mining forecast.

However, certain aspects are already standing out, such as workforce skills and supply chain risk.

“A key risk in not having the right people with the right skill set is likely to be in the top 10 in 2021. We also anticipate another important entrant to the top 10 will be supply chain risk,” Sugars says.

“Looking ahead, KPMG Australia also notes the increased interconnected nature of risk with examples being price volatility, global supply interruption, ongoing COVID-19 impacts, geopolitical and changes to demand patterns from both recession or stimulus.”

GOLD PRICES HAVE BEEN BOOSTED BY THE UNCERTAINTY CREATED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

An industry perspective

Outside of the Australian Capital Territory, mining is prevalent in all Australian jurisdictions.

With each state having its unique advantages and traits, the country has an abundance of resources-related opportunities.

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable says Australia cannot take its global leadership in mining and minerals processing for granted.

“Overseas competition will continue

to intensify and inconsistent border restrictions imposed by some states and regulatory constraints domestically may endanger the nation’s ability to attract international investment,” she tells Australian Mining.

Constable says COVID-19 will incite the need for further skills and training for the industry.

“The skills and training needs of both the industry and the future minerals workforce needs will require attention, including retraining and reskilling entrants from other

CLIMATE CHANGE AND COMMODITY PRICE RISK ARE TWO KEY CONCERNS SHARED BY AUSTRALIAN MINING EXECUTIVES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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OCTOBER 2020

industries affected by COVID-19,” she says.

“Increasingly some skills required in mining are the same as in agriculture, manufacturing, construction and defence industry. There is much scope for a shared approach in this new environment.”

As countries across the globe strategise their economic recoveries from COVID-19, Constable says that Australia’s company tax rate should be reviewed.

“Australia’s competitors will waste no time in attempting to increase their share of the recovery,” she says.

“In this context, Australia’s company tax rate of 30 per cent is too high and not internationally competitive. Canada, a major mining country, has a company tax rate four percentage points lower than Australia. In addition, Canada recently introduced accelerated depreciation write off in response to the USA company tax rate reduction and accelerated write off rules.

“The Treasurer has emphasised that economic recovery will be led by the private sector and that low taxation is a critical policy setting. Future mining investment should not be put at risk by any move to increase the already high burden on the sector.”

Constable also emphasises the importance of Australia’s mining sector in advancing new technologies, and that will also continue to be a worldleader in the adoption of new industry technologies.

FUTURE OF MINING

MINING IN AUSTRALIA HAS REMAINED RESILIENT DURING COVID-19.

She says it is clear that the scale of the technology-led transformation required will not occur without the minerals and raw materials provided by the Australian mining sector.

“The industry sees great opportunities for minerals such as lithium, cobalt and copper in all forms of transport infrastructure, communications and energy systems,” Constable says.

“For many years the Australian mining industry has been a global leader in the development and deployment of new technology and techniques, including data analytics, automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. This leadership will continue in the post-pandemic era.”

It is expected that Australia’s mining industry will strengthen its supply of materials for a clean energy future.

Constable says the Australian mining industry has further enhanced its reputation as a reliable supplier of mineral and energy commodities through its ability to continue operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, while still implementing the highest standards of health and safety to keep workers and communities safe.

“When the world economy begins to recover Australia will again be a key supplier of the materials the world needs to transition to a clean energy future, build modern infrastructure and manufacture the hi-tech consumer goods that are improving people’s lives everywhere,” Constable says.

A number of uncertainties regarding COVID-19 have also impacted the sector’s future outlook.

A Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) spokesperson

anticipates there will be “considerable uncertainty” for commodity prices during the 2021 financial year.

The spokesperson says iron ore prices are expected to be impacted by the resumption of supply from Brazil and an expected global recovery that should boost demand.

“Gold prices will continue to be affected by a combination of factors including COVID-19 related economic uncertainty, low interest rates, poor economic growth and geopolitical tensions,” the spokesperson adds.

“The prices of other commodities such as alumina, nickel, lithium, and

base metals, are expected to continue to be impacted by COVID-19 related supply chain disruptions and shutdowns stagnating economic activity and demand.”

Western Australia remains well positioned to deal with shortterm price volatility as a result of COVID-19, the DMIRS forecasts.

“An advantage for Western Australia is that it is highly competitive in the production of key commodities such as iron ore and gold. This ensures that short-term price volatility is unlikely to have a significant impact on overall levels of production,” the

spokesperson says Australia’s key source of export revenue is iron ore, which was worth $102 billion in the 2019-20 fiscal year.

“The state’s minerals diversity and significance as a global producer has Western Australia well positioned to weather economic challenges in 202021 and to benefit when economic activity returns to normal levels,” the spokesperson says.

In Victoria, an influx in exploration projects has brought the industry’s attention towards the state’s gold and mineral sands resources.

Responding to KPMG’s survey results, Victoria’s Earth Resources Regulation head of resources John Krbaleski says many of the state’s mines still consider natural disasters, such as bushfires, a significant factor.

“As far as climate change, I know from a risk perspective that the industry is very attuned to intensity and frequency of extreme weather events and their impact on mining operations” he says.

Krbaleski says dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic remains the primary risk the state’s mining industry is dealing with. While the industry is largely resilient, Krbaleski believes ensuring investments maintain that resilience is important.

“The key one is just staying competitive. We’re competing against every other jurisdiction in the world.

I think we’ve got a good (value proposition) today, but it’s on us to make sure that it remains attractive going forward,” he concludes. AM

AUSTRALIA’S MINING SECTOR WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPLY THE RAW MATERIALS NEEDED FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT FUTURE.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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OCTOBER 2020

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MINERALS PROCESSING

HERITAGE MINERALS DEVELOPS HISTORIC MOUNT MORGAN GOLD MINE RAISING THE VIABILITY OF A PROJECT BADGED WITH IMPORTANT HERITAGE STATUS HAS BEEN A FEAT FOR HERITAGE MINERALS. THE COMPANY TELLS AUSTRALIAN MINING HOW IT WILL BECOME THE FIRST COMPANY TO PRODUCE GOLD AT MOUNT MORGAN IN 30 YEARS.

S

everal companies have come in intending to recover what gold is left at the mothballed Mount Morgan mine site in Central Queensland over the years.

Once the world’s largest gold mine, Mount Morgan produced around a century’s worth of commodities, including copper and silver.

Mount Morgan has yielded around 262 tonnes of gold, 37 tonnes of silver, and 387,000 tonnes of copper over its lifespan.

Today, the abandoned mine has left engineers scratching their heads for how to sustainably recover gold and copper from the tailings stockpiles.

The presence of high levels of cyanide soluble copper in the tailings increased the operating costs so high that any conventional gold recovery process became uneconomical.

The cost issue is exacerbated with acidic water from the old open-cut mine, which requires a great deal of lime so it can be processed and used.

Heritage Minerals, the fifth company in the last 30 years that has tried to resume production at Mount Morgan, is on track to be successful.

Heritage has completed a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for processing tailings at Mount Morgan using GreenGold Technology (GGT) expertise.

Following the DFS, the Mount Morgan project has shown to be bankable with a capital payback period of just one year.

Heritage anticipates that Mount Morgan will produce 50,000 ounces of gold a year over a six-year lifespan,

with the potential for life extensions.

“The specific technology from GreenGold that we’re applying, called ReCYN, allows for the economic recycling of cyanide and recovery of the copper, along with its associated cyanide,” Heritage chief executive Malcolm Roy Paterson tells Australian Mining.

“The ReCYN Process uses a specific resin that absorbs the active cyanide and metal cyanide complexes so we can recycle the cyanide and recover the metal complexes.”

Paterson says the ReCYN technology has turned around five beleaguered projects internationally, including one in Western Australia and now the Mount Morgan project.

“It’s the main contributor to getting the project across the line,” he says.

Partnering with GGT has provided Heritage not only with the benefit of exclusive technology, but also with an innovative approach to project development that reduces capital and operating costs.

The GGT company carries a broad range of talent composed of in-house engineers, metallurgists, process engineers, design engineers, project executioners and procurement professionals.

“We have a full spectrum of project development capabilities, from exploration to operations, but at the same time we operate in a very narrow specialist field mainly focussing on gold and copper,” Paterson says.

“We kept ourselves to a small team of specialists who take an integrated approach to problem-solving, and that gives you a really powerful group.

“We don’t need to go outside to

HERITAGE MINERALS CHIEF EXECUTIVE MALCOLM PATERSON (LEFT) WITH COMPANY TECHNICAL DIRECTOR PETER PAPA.

a myriad of consultants when doing feasibility studies, which gives us tremendous benefits in terms of communication and collaboration.”

Heritage intends to start construction at the Mount Morgan site next year, targeting commercial production by the end of 2021 and employing about 70 people in a region that is plagued with high unemployment rates.

Given the immense historical interest Mount Morgan carries, Heritage recognises the significance of the mine site for regional tourism opportunities.

The Mount Morgan site includes fireclay caverns containing dinosaur footprints in the sandstone roof.

Paterson says the Rockhampton Regional Council is interested in reviving the location as a tourist destination.

“The caverns were excavated between 1906 and 1927 for clay to supply local brick making, including the

bricks that were used to build Mount Morgan’s administration building in 1905, which is still in use today,” he says.

“We’ll restrict our operation to a small area so we can avoid crossing paths with those areas that might be future tourist spots.”

To Paterson, Mount Morgan is fascinating not only because of its rich history and prevailing technical issues, but also because of its environmental and heritage challenges.

“Getting the tourism back up and running will help improve the social situation of the communities that are suffering from one of the highest unemployment rates in Australia, and environmental clean up of the historical tailings will make a significant contribution to improving water quality in the downstream catchment,” he concludes. AM

THE MOUNT MORGAN PROJECT IN QUEENSLAND IS RICH IN HERITAGE VALUE.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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OCTOBER 2020

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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

RESOURCES THE JEWEL IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S CROWN THE STRENGTH OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S RESOURCES SECTOR HAS LED IT THROUGH CRISES AND IS NOW SET TO USHER IN A NEW ERA OF CRITICAL MINERALS.

W

estern Australia continues to be considered one of the world’s dominant mining jurisdictions, with this exclusive status gifted by the enormous resources sector in the state.

The state’s concentration has caused more and more mining corporations to gravitate towards the Western Australian market, and others such as banking and consumer goods to drift to the east coast.

Through all these ebbs and flows, energy and resources companies dominate the 20th Deloitte WA index and emerged as the state’s biggest.

“I went back and reflected on the past 20 years. And it’s fascinating to think back of what’s happened.

We had Facebook, iPhone, the global financial crisis (GFC), Brexit, the Australian bushfires and now COVID-19,” Deloitte Western Australia audit & assurance partner, Dave Andrews says.

From the resources sector’s domination at 50 per cent in mid2000, the industry has flourished to be the state’s biggest movers, shakers and winners through the decades.

The top 10 companies by market capitalisation at the start of WA Index tracking included Iluka Resources, Wesfarmers, Woodside, Homestake Mining, Bank of Western Australia, Foodland Associated, Franked Income Fund, Videlli Corporation, Seven West Media and Orbital Corporation.

Twenty years on, only Iluka Resources, Wesfarmers and Woodside have tightly held their seats on the WA Index board.

Wesfarmers becomes the only non-energy and resources focussed company holding a top 10 position in both the 2000 and 2020 charts.

The latest index has welcomed an influx of energy and resources companies, such as Fortescue Metals Group, Northern Star Resources, South32, Saracen Mineral Holdings, Mineral Resources, IGO and Regis Resources.

But the notable theme is the rise of Western Australian-based gold companies, according to Andrews.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP IRON ORE SUPPLIERS.

“The top six and high growth awards are in the gold sector this year. The yellow metal has been absolutely critical in the WA Index and shielding us from the impact of COVID-19,” Andrews says.

The fact that we’re so exposed to gold has provided an element of shelter: people moved from a high-risk investment to safe haven investment such as gold.”

As gold has acted as a counterbalance while other commodity prices fall, the latter may pick up the spotlight when the world returns to a “less dynamic and complex place”.

Andrews points to the potential of nickel, just as Tesla co-founder Elon Musk highlights its future necessity in the development of battery technology and electric vehicles.

The Deloitte partner counts Western Australia as fortunate to be a host of various future commodities such as nickel, graphite, lithium and rare earths.

“They’re becoming more and more important as we transition to techled lifestyles. And Western Australia is well placed to supply those commodities to the world,” he says.

AUSTRALIANMINING

Mining’s place in the GFC

Western Australia is cemented on the map as a resources powerhouse of Australia in terms of exports generation.

Resources companies have been able to outperform the market while others are trending in line with the broader market.

The resources sector is buoyed by favourable commodity prices.

As prices remain high and deliver positive returns, resources companies grow in value against non-resource companies in Western Australia.

“That has given us reason to be proud that our recovery (from the COVID-19 pandemic) has been really quick,” Andrews says.

“We dropped $150 billion in a twomonth period, but three months after that, we had a very sharp correction.

Other broader markets haven’t achieved quite the same response.”

The price environment even set the period between 2006 and up to the GFC apart as an “unprecedented” moment.

“We had record iron ore prices and China going from strength to strength in industry production and growth,” Andrews says.

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“Western Australia was fortunate to have its share of quality iron ore.

We took advantage of the state’s geographic location and became the closest shipping counterparty to China.”

But if there was one period in the 20-year history that proved the resilience of the resources sector, that would be the GFC. Although not completely immune to the crash, Andrews believes that Western Australia was still relatively well sheltered on its recovery as commodity strength remained.

On the flip side, the GFC demonstrates what over-reliance on the resources sector can do to the state economy.

“The GFC had a profound impact on world markets, and the shocks were exacerbated locally,” Andrews says.

“While the WA Index had enjoyed outperformance in the lead-up to the GFC, it took a much sharper fall as commodity prices tanked. We can’t ignore our over-reliance on resources.

The data shows that.

“But it’s a pretty well-known goal of Western Australia to not be completely leveraged to one or two main sectors.” AM

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MINING EQUIPMENT

NATIONAL GROUP SUPPLIES LIEBHERR R 9200 EXCAVATOR TO NSW GOLD MINE NATIONAL GROUP, THROUGH NATIONAL PLANT & EQUIPMENT, CONTINUES TO BE A KEY SUPPLIER OF THE LATEST HEAVY EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT TO THE MINING INDUSTRY, INCLUDING A LIEBHERR R 9200 EXCAVATOR TO AN OPEN-CUT GOLD MINE IN WESTERN NEW SOUTH WALES.

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he Liebherr R 9200 excavator offers the biggest payload in its class with a 12.5-cubicmetre bucket capacity, enabling sustainable performance and peak fuel burn efficiency in the most challenging conditions.

Featuring Liebherr’s outstanding reliability and easy serviceability, this allows maximum uptime for mining operations, leading to more sustainable and costeffective operations.

Boasting the Cummins QSK38 engine, with a rating of 810kW at 1800 revolutions per minute, the powerful R 9200 is available powered by both diesel and electric motors.

The R 9200 can also be fitted with backhoe and face shovel attachments, giving it a bucket capacity and shovel capacity of 12.5 cubic metres at 1.8 tonnes per cubic metres.

So far, both the National Group and Liebherr have received positive feedback on the R 9200 from users, which are impressed by its operator friendly features.

National Group managing director Mark Ackroyd says the arrival of the Liebherr R 9200 has further diversified the company’s already impressive fleet of equipment.

“The feedback from site is that the Liebherr R 9200 has been very well received,” Ackroyd tells Australian Mining.

“Our customers have been impressed with the performance of the Liebherr R 9200, it’s a very good machine and is competitive with other machines of a similar size and type.”

In addition to the quality Liebherr features, National Group is known across Australia for its dry hire of heavy earthmoving equipment, helping mining companies improve their on-site efficiencies without putting undue stress on their operating budget.

This is currently particularly relevant as the coronavirus pandemic

THE R 9200 EXCAVATOR HAS BEEN PRAISED AS A USER FRIENDLY MACHINE BY OPERATORS.

has led to economic uncertainty around the globe, meaning some companies have needed to be mindful of how much capital they allocate to certain projects.

“National Plant & Equipment, part of the National Group specialises in the dry hire of heavy earthmoving equipment,” Ackroyd says.

“We continue to be a key supplier of mining equipment to the industry and through our expansive fleet of heavy mining equipment, we can offer industry-leading availability.

“Renting equipment enables a company to increase their efficiency, and improve the productivity of their mining operations in reaction to fluctuating commodity prices.

“Giving mining companies the option to rent versus buying equipment means they can remain agile and nimble, regardless of the environment we are in.”

With gold prices reaching all-time highs of more than $US2000 ($2763) per ounce, iron ore prices soaring to almost $US110 per tonne and copper prices rebounding to highs of $US6362 per tonne as Chinese demand has recovered, the mining industry continues to be as strong as ever.

“The price of metals such as iron ore and gold are soaring at the AUSTRALIANMINING

moment,” Ackroyd explains.

“We have developed strong strategic partnerships with clients who operate across both commodities and it has been great to see them experiencing exponential growth.”

Working alongside Liebherr, National Group selected the R 9200

excavator for site, applying the joint understanding of the mine, the work being completed there and previous success using the OEM’s equipment.

“Liebherr’s relationship with National Group and understanding of the gold mine site requirements allowed us to put forward the appropriately sized excavator and tailored bucket size to suit both National Group’s and site’s requirements,” Liebherr-Australia major account manager Ben Kerr explains.

“The addition of this R 9200 to National Group’s fleet further expands their range of mining equipment, building on the strong relationship and ease of doing business between the two companies.”

National Plant & Equipment continues to be a key supplier of heavy earthmoving equipment to the mining industry, providing the industry with a reliable equipment solution, without overstretching its budget. AM

NATIONAL GROUP SPECIALISES IN THE DRY HIRE OF MINING EQUIPMENT SUCH AS THE R 9200.

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OCTOBER 2020

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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

ALICE QUEEN DURING ITS DRILLING PROGRAM IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

COULD EAST LACHLAN KICK START A NSW GOLD RUSH? SINCE ALKANE RESOURCES UNEARTHED THE BODA PROSPECT IN THE EAST LACHLAN REGION IN NEW SOUTH WALES LAST YEAR, PROSPECTIVE GOLD MINERS HAVE FLOCKED TO THE AREA IN THE HOPE OF MAKING ANOTHER DISCOVERY OF THE SAME QUALITY. SALOMAE HASELGROVE EXPLORES THE EAST LACHLAN’S PROMISE.

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hen Alkane discovered the significant porphyry gold-copper mineralisation at Boda, it was comparable with Newcrest Mining’s Cadia Valley site, the largest mine in the East Lachlan region and one of Australia’s most successful operations.

During the 2020 financial year, Cadia Valley produced 843,000 ounces of gold and 96,000 tonnes of copper at industry-leading production costs.

Alice Queen, a junior company active in the region, has the unique and lucky advantage of having former Newcrest chief geoscientist John Holliday as its chief technical advisor.

Holliday’s claim to fame during his 30-year career with Newcrest was being the geoscientist that discovered the Cadia Valley porphyry gold resource.

Having someone with Holliday’s expertise and knowledge gives Alice Queen managing director Andrew Buxton confidence in the company’s quest of unearthing another prospect with the chemical makeup of Cadia.

“As Alice Queen works to find the

next Cadia, the best place to start is to have the person who discovered the first one working for you,” Buxton tells Australian Mining.

“It certainly gives us the confidence to talk to the analysts in a way other companies can’t, we can’t be smarter or do any less work but having Holliday certainly gives our message credibility.”

With Holliday at the helm of a team of smart and dedicated geologists, Alice Queen is well positioned to continue exploration along the Molong volcanic belt, a unique piece of geology playing a part in the quality minerals found in the area.

Hosting porphyry copper-gold, the Molong belt holds a different type of mineral occurrence to most Australian gold projects, with it representing similar mineralisation to the Chilean Andean belt in South America and the Indo Pacific belt that stretches from Papua New Guinea to Indonesia.

This unique geology is part of what makes Cadia Valley such a successful mine.

“When Cadia was discovered, everyone came to explore the rest of the exposed portion of the Molong volcanic belt to find the AUSTRALIANMINING

next prospect,” Buxton says.

“They all stopped at Wellington as the rocks go under a sedimentary cover sequence then goes deeper north.

“Holliday’s theory is simple; we have explored the southern part of the prospect and found no Cadia lookalike, so if you are prepared to drill through the cover there is no reason there won’t be another Cadia in the northern part of the belt.”

The company started its maiden diamond drilling program at the Boda East target area, which is just over 1.5 kilometres north of Alkane’s Boda prospect, in July and has received approval to increase the program by up to 14 holes.

Alice Queen has already returned promising results from the zone, such as including visible disseminated sulphides in a zone from 415 metres to 451 metres and visual chalcopyrite

ALICE QUEEN’S EXPLORATION TEAM IS LED BY GEOSCIENTIST JOHN HOLLIDAY, A 30-YEAR VETERAN WITH NEWCREST.

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IMAGE CREDIT: SAN ANTONIO-ROSWELL, MITCHELL SERVICES

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

ALKANE RESOURCES DRILLING AT THE BODA PROSPECT.

from 423 metres to 438 metres.

Drilling has confirmed that the Boda host rocks also extend into Boda East and the company is determined to keep drilling, due to Holliday’s confidence that there is more to be discovered.

“Holliday’s theory was taking the Indo Pacific and Chilean Andean belts by way of an example when looking at the Molong volcanic belt,” Buxton explains.

“These belts have at least 12 giant world-class copper-gold porphyry mines that run for about 1000 kilometres along the belt.

“So far, there has only been one on the Molong belt and Holliday is almost certain there is another one and as others around the world have 12 each, his theory remains strong to us.”

Similarly, to the Indo Pacific and Chilean Andean belts, the Cadia Ridgeway deposit has a cluster of five deposits quite close to one another, further solidifying Holliday’s hope for Alice Queen’s exploration prospects in the East Lachlan.

Not only is Alice Queen focussed on an extremely promising region with a leader at its helm that has proven success in the East Lachlan, it is also operating at a time of record-high gold prices.

“It’s probably the best time to be a junior in the gold space right now, it’s running very hot,” Buxton says.

“The analysts and advisors say this is a long-term market for gold and with other companies operating in the region like Alkane and Magmatic (Resources) there is the potential to create a little hub, and any capital deployed in the region is great.

“The momentum being created could be the start of a mini gold rush in New South Wales to last a number of years.”

Since the Boda discovery, Alkane has continued to record impressive results at the site, including Hole 7 in March.

Hole 7 returned a large intersect of more than a kilometre at 0.55 grams of gold and 0.25 grams of copper, including nearly 100 metres of 4 grams gold and 1.5 per cent copper.

This created further excitement in the area, which was slightly quietened as the coronavirus pandemic impacted the world and the industry.

Despite these circumstances, Alkane maintained its momentum.

“Those results from January through to April have continued to reinforce people’s faith in the region,

particularly Hole 7,” Alkane managing director Nic Earner says.

“Alkane is now into quite a substantial drilling program at an eight-kilometre-long corridor in and around the Boda discovery.”

This work comprises a 30,000-metre drilling campaign throughout the Boda Kaiser complex of five deliberately targeted zones.

Like Alice Queen, Alkane is confident in the strong market conditions for gold; this and the company’s previous success in the region at Boda being the recipe for long-term success in the region.

“Our success with Boda has certainly kindled a lot of interest in

SINCE UNEARTHING THE BODA PROSPECT, ALKANE RESOURCES HAS BEEN INTENSELY EXPLORING THE EAST LACHLAN REGION.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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OCTOBER 2020

the small explorer space, and the high gold prices are absolutely a factor too,” Earner says.

“Nothing kindles more exploration like the combination of exploration success and a good commodity price.

“If others in the area have exploration success as well, that will really set a delight because the region is broadly supportive of mining and it’s really clear that we are in an environment where if you get a decentsized deposit, it’s very profitable.”

In addition to all-time high gold prices, copper prices have also been strong, making for a reliable byproduct from East Lachlan projects with the copper-gold porphyry makeup of their geology.

With fellow East Lachlan mine, CMOC Northparkes, producing copper as its main product and gold as its secondary product, the possibilities are endless for robust copper-gold operations in the region.

Earner says post COVID-19 will be a perfect climate for development, with the state and federal governments keen to have new projects approved to create jobs and boost the economy.

“These types of deposits typically have a modest to high copper content and it’s a large part of the profitability of the area hosting both of these elements,” Earner says.

“Australia’s lack of sovereign risk compared with regions like South America, and New South Wales being an incredibly stable and reliable jurisdiction are just some of the things that are wonderful about operating in the East Lachlan region.” AM

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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

WORK OPPORTUNITIES EMERGE IN GUNNEDAH RELOCATING TO A TOWN THAT IS MORE THAN JUST LIVEABLE COULD OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES THAT ACCOMPANY FLY-IN, FLY-OUT ROSTERS. AUSTRALIAN MINING LOOKS AT THE BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS IN GUNNEDAH, NEW SOUTH WALES. ULTRA FLEET HAS GROWN FROM FOUR TO OVER 120 VEHICLES WITHIN NINE YEARS.

J

ob opportunities abound in the Gunnedah region of New South Wales.

In February 2018, Coal Services registered a record number of 2420 people working in the Gunnedah region’s coal mines.

This is a hike of 136 jobs from December 2017, and an increase of 2000 local mining jobs since February 2010.

In 2018, Whitehaven Coal managing director and chief executive Paul Flynn revealed company plans to recruit more than 1500 men and women to its existing local workforce over the next decade.

Crawford Boots founder Penny Crawford says the two predominant industries of mining and agriculture allowed Gunnedah to ride through one the worst droughts it has ever experienced last year.

“From what I gather, most of the people who work in mining feel very fortunate to be in that industry and appreciate the opportunities that are given to them,” she tells Australian Mining.

“They’re able to live in a smaller town with great schools, facilities and a sense of community. Housing and schooling are also affordable. There

is a very good work life balance too.

For those who want to move to a rural town, this is a fantastic opportunity for them.”

A business owner herself, Crawford saw an opening during her 30-year career as a podiatrist. More and more mine workers in the region had come to her with a common issue that motivated her to sell her business and found Crawford Boots 18 months ago.

“The patients that I used to see were underground workers who were

wearing old gumboots,” Crawford says.

“These gumboots are likely to cause them injuries. Imagine walking 12 hours in the dark in the water or on uneven ground in old gumboots.

So, I’ve built waterproof boots or gumboots that fit like leather boots.”

While Crawford’s waterproof boots are described as the Nike of gumboots for their ability to provide ankle support and stability, she credits mining as the “star” of her business.

“Mining has enabled a continual boom in the economy of Gunnedah.

It’s been a good thing for the region, and it has also moved with the time,” Crawford says.

“They’re looking at gender diversity, local suppliers and how they can contribute to the local communities. There are also now more females who are employed in the open cut mines and operating machineries.

“We are very fortunate to be in a beautiful part of New South Wales.

There are lots of industries here that are looking to fill mechanical and engineering roles, as well as those who are young and middle aged who want to relocate with their families.”

Crawford, who moved to Gunnedah from Tamworth, is not the only local in the NSW town that has seen her living standard improve since relocating.

Although the agricultural sector has been known to be a source of vitality in the region, mining operations have proven to attract plenty of business

MINING ACTIVITIES HAVE IMPROVED BUSINESS PROSPERITY IN GUNNEDAH.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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investment indicative of rising job demands.

Jacinta Mannion, founder of Gunnedah fleet vehicle rental Ultra Fleet, says her family relocated to the region almost a decade ago.

She moved with four mine spec vehicles nine years ago and has since grown her fleet to over 120 vehicles.

Similarly, the vibrancy of mining activities in Gunnedah has caused her husband’s local business, Mannion Drilling, to soar.

A provider of exploration holes and water drilling services, his business has grown from a one-rig operation to be 14 rigs strong.

This supports findings in the NSW Minerals Council’s 2016-17 expenditure survey, which found that its member companies had spent $106.3 million in the Gunnedah local government area, including $46.1 million in purchases with 164 local businesses.

“Mining activities in the region have given numerous people opportunities that they otherwise would not have,” Mannion says.

“This includes lower income earners who have the opportunity to earn bigger income and further their career, and those who live within a 150-kilometre radius of the Gunnedah Basin.

“With the growth that we’ve seen, there are still plenty of work opportunities in Gunnedah.” AM

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MINING EQUIPMENT

BELAZ DUMP TRUCKS EQUIPPED WITH ISO AND AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS BELAZ, A SERIOUS CONTENDER IN THE DUMP TRUCK SPACE, DESIGNS ITS EQUIPMENT TO MEET AUSTRALIAN MINE SPECIFICATIONS. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH BELAZ TO GRASP THE SCOPE OF DESIGN BEHIND ITS MACHINES. BELAZ DUMP TRUCKS FEATURE ADVANCED ANALYTICS AND DATA RECOVERY SYSTEMS.

B

elarus-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM), BELAZ, has stood up to the challenge of meeting Australia’s strict mining requirements.

Its line up of 90- to 450-tonne trucks help mining operators ensure that no one is hurt at work – a big feat given the advancement and data focus of Australia’s mining sector compared with the rest of the world.

“BELAZ understands that the Australia’s mining industry is a world leader in safety protocols,” BELAZ Australia national sales manager Shane Dinsdale, who has 25 years’ mining experience, says.

“It has the highest standard when it comes to lost time injuries and tracking the precursor events that may lead to an injury.”

Australian mining operators are heavily reliant on data to calculate near-miss incidents – their recurrence

means that one day an actual lost time injury will be realised.

Given BELAZ’s specific understanding of the Australian market, the company includes advanced analytics and data recovery systems in its range of dump trucks to serve as a useful indicator for senior executives and HSE personnel.

They capture all data from the operating dump truck, which can be displayed in an array of interfaces used by a mining operator.

“A lot of top mining players are shifting their operations to centralised operational hubs. These hubs are in metropolitan cities and have dedicated teams who look after the health of the equipment,” Dinsdale says.

“They monitor the trucks in real time as they’re being driven to ensure haulage targets and safety targets are complied with.”

BELAZ dump trucks are also AUSTRALIANMINING

equipped with a diagonal staircase, hydraulic or electronic access ladder and a third emergency egress ladder, in view of Australia’s ISO standards.

According to Dinsdale, BELAZ has been working to incorporate Australian standards in its equipment.

“A lot of these specifications are merely options for the rest of the world, but Australia is very reactive to accidents,” Dinsdale says.

“If someone has a serious accident, it would stimulate change in the company and/or industry.”

Many up-and-coming international suppliers are having a problem trying to understand the Australian mine standards set up by the sector’s biggest players, but its seriousness is why BELAZ completed these modifications on its equipment, Dinsdale says.

With safety at the core of BELAZ dump trucks, the equipment is fitted with ISO and AS compliant features.

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BELAZ has also developed a cost-effective model that reduces operational and upfront costs for mining companies, while offering dump trucks that are comparable with, if not better than, what mining operators currently have on mine sites.

“We offer more affordable dump trucks with the same features you’d expect on a modern dump truck,” Dinsdale says.

“The haulage needs of Australian mining companies centre around the availability and reliability of dump trucks, and we are serious contenders in those two areas.”

Despite being an emerging player in the Australian market, BELAZ is competing in the same haul truck space as the country’s dominant OEMs. BELAZ is able to supply the same engine options and componentry that one would expect in an electric dump truck developed by a major OEM. The company also developed the world’s biggest twin-engine electric-drive mining dump trucks, the BELAZ 75710, which is capable of hauling 450 tonnes of materials in one load.

BELAZ now intends to unveil its 90-tonne electric dump truck and autonomous haulage system in October, demonstrating that it’s at the forefront of autonomous technology.

In fact, a fleet of BELAZ 136-tonne autonomous dump trucks are up and running at SUEKKhakassia’s Chernogorsky open pit coal mine in Russia.

But the small details don’t evade BELAZ – the company incorporates full suspension seats and modern ergonomics to sustain the 12-hour shifts that are common for nonautonomous mining operators.

Its dashboard layout also displays all of the instruments within the cabin to ensure operator comfort.

“We fill a gap in the industry thanks to our understanding of how important technology and safety are to Australia’s mining sector. We improve our design by meeting those Australian-specific and mine site requirements,” Dinsdale concludes. AM

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MATERIALS HANDLING

A FLEXIBLE FEEDING SOLUTION FLSMIDTH’S HYBRID APRON BELT (HAB) IS A PLUG-AND-PLAY FEEDER THAT COMBINES BOTH BELT AND APRON FEEDER TECHNOLOGIES. AUSTRALIAN MINING WRITES.

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or mines dealing with hard rock, highly abrasive or corrosive material, FLSmidth’s Hybrid Apron Belt (HAB) feeder provides an affordable solution for adjustablerate feeding.

FLSmidth global product line manager for feeders and feeder breakers, Leon Kemp, says the HAB feeder was introduced to the market in late 2019 to address the need for a flexible feeding solution for materials such as iron ore and magnesium.

As a leading brand in the global market for material handling, FLSmidth has a range of feeders in its product portfolio, including chain reclaim feeders, reclaim feeder breakers, apron feeders, belt feeders and reclaim dozer trap feeders. What sets this new product apart, according to Kemp, is its flexible and modular design.

“In designing the HAB feeder, we have eliminated the static deck and chain arrangement used in chain feeders and replaced this with a solid deck, on top of which the conveyor belt is bolted. This flexible arrangement makes it easy to adapt the conveyor belt for different types of material and different applications

THE LOW-PROFILE HORIZONTAL LOADING DECK MAKES IT EASY TO LOAD MATERIAL INTO THE HAB FEEDER.

to achieve maximum feeder durability,” Kemp tells Australian Mining.

“A key feature of the HAB feeder is the low-profile horizontal loading deck, which makes it easy to load material into the feeder through either direct truck tipping, side tipping, front-end loading, dozing or run of mine (ROM) bypass tips. The modular decks are pre-manufactured and can be assembled on site to offer the client an array of deck lengths and discharge heights by simply adding neck modules.”

Ease of installation is another major

benefit with the HAB feeder, Kemp explains.

“The HAB feeder can be installed anywhere close to a stockpile, with minimal site preparation required.

Doing civil construction works to install feeders can be very costly and time-consuming,” Kemp says.

“The HAB feeder is very mobile and it can be simply bolted to a flat concrete slab or even just a compacted area of the stockyard. You can also add wheels to the modular segments and use the standard stockyard equipment to drag and reposition the feeder on the site.”

DEPENDING ON THE APPLICATION, MULTIPLE UNITS OF THE HAB FEEDER CAN BE SET UP AS A SERIES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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For mines looking for additional loading capacity to maintain a constant feed rate, Kemp says FLSmidth offers customised loading configurations for the HAB feeder with the addition of a hopper or even a hopper grizzly combination.

“The flat deck is just one of the many possible configurations. We can add a hop instead of the deck to increase the feeder’s capacity,” Kemp says.

“The HAB feeder is suitable for any application from 300 tonnes an hour to 3000 tonnes an hour, so the tonnage is quite versatile.

MATERIALS HANDLING

Depending on your application, you can also install multiple units of the HAB feeder in a series for larger operations.”

The engineering design behind the HAB feeder affirms FLSmidth’s reputation for safety and efficiency, as Kemp elaborates.

“The apron flights in the HAB feeder are bolted to an outer roller chain using double mounting flanges for effective load distribution over each chain link,” Kemp says.

“The combination of the roller chain assembly and the belt sealing arrangement ensures that the feed material remains isolated from the rest of the assembly. The hybrid belt and apron design make the HAB feeder very power-efficient.

“The HAB feeder is also designed as a direct drive unit, which means the gearbox and the motors are directly connected to the drive shafts, without any chain drives in between. We have also introduced shearing couplings so that if anything gets stuck, it shears off the shearing pins and therefore the drive remains protected.”

Feeders are often standalone equipment on a mine site. Kemp says the HAB feeder can also be equipped with a range of customisable auxiliary equipment to assist the maintenance personnel.

WHAT SETS THE HAB FEEDER APART FROM OTHER FEEDERS IS ITS FLEXIBLE AND MODULAR DESIGN.

“We can incorporate area illumination on the machine, as well as a stepdown transformer so that if your plant has a high voltage coming in, the transformer can step it down to operational voltage.

“While the feeder is equipped with all conventional power sockets, we have also added welding plugs to enable easy servicing of the machine during maintenance work.”

AUSTRALIANMINING

Kemp, who oversees FLSmidth’s global market for feeders, says the HAB feeder has already received interest from major mines in Australia.

“Since we launched the HAB feeder in late 2019, miners, particularly in the iron ore sector, realised the benefits of the feeder for their operations and the orders started coming in almost immediately. This is because the market has never had

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access to such a flexible feeding solution that is so easy to set up and operate,” he adds.

“The entire feeder can be fitted into a single container and shipped to the site, where the FLSmidth service team can assemble and set it up for the client. If requested by the client, we can also provide a full range of critical spares for the feeder.

Our service team can also take care of the monthly machine services and reporting.”

Kemp says the HAB feeder, like many other FLSmidth products, is fitted with the ‘Blue Box’ control system – a universal telemetric system adopted by the company to help monitor the health of the equipment.

“Using the ‘Blue Box’ system, the FLSmidth service team can monitor any abnormal behaviour of the machine, such as excessive bearing heat or vibration, and inform the client to replace the parts before any major failure occurs,” Kemp says.

“Using the existing FLSmidth aftermarket capabilities and infrastructure, the trained FLSmidth service team can support customers with any servicing requirements.

“For any additional information requirements, we recommend contacting the technical support team at FLSmidth Australia.” AM

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MATERIALS HANDLING

FLOW DYNAMICS: PREVENTING ACCUMULATION IN HOPPERS AND CHUTES MARTIN ENGINEERING DISCUSSES HOW A HIGH STANDARD OF MATERIAL FLOW CAN BE ENSURED IN WET MINING PROCESSES, REDUCING THE RISK OF DOWNTIME AT MINE SITES. INDUSTRIAL VIBRATORS FOR BIN AND CHUTE APPLICATIONS CAN REDUCE OR EVEN ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR CLEANING.

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fficient material flow is a critical element of wet mining processes such as stoping, hydraulic mining and wet dredging.

Accumulation or blockages in storage systems and build-up in process vessels can impede material movement, causing bottlenecks that interfere with equipment performance, reduce process efficiency and put a choke hold on an operation’s profitability.

Poor material flow also raises maintenance expenses, diverting manpower from core activities and in some cases introducing safety risks for personnel.

Most systems suffer from some amount of accumulation on vessel walls, which can rob plant owners of the storage systems they’ve invested in.

These build-ups reduce material flow, decreasing the ‘live’ capacity of the vessel and the efficiency of the bulk handling system overall.

The accumulations tend to take one of several forms: arches, plugs, buildups or ‘rat holes.’

If they become severe enough, flow problems can bring production to a complete stop. Although many plants still use manual techniques to remove build-up, the cost of labour and periodic shutdowns have led some producers to investigate more effective methods for dealing with this common production issue.

Build-up v throughput

Even well-designed processes can experience accumulations, which have a significant impact on output and profitability.

AUSTRALIANMINING

Changes in process conditions, raw materials or weather can all have an effect on material flow, and even small amounts of accumulation can grow into a serious blockage.

Beyond moisture content, there are many causes of raw material buildup on vessel walls. Some metals contain naturally occurring magnetic properties.

Since nearly 90 per cent of the earth’s crust contains silica, the sharp crystalline structure can contribute to build-up.

Other factors can include the surface friction of the silo walls, the shape of the vessel, the angle of the slope and the size of the material being loaded.

Lost production is probably the most conspicuous cost of these flow problems, but the expense can become apparent in a variety of other ways.

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Shutdowns to clear the restricted flow cost valuable process time and maintenance hours, while wasting energy during re-start.

Refractory walls can be worn or damaged by tools or cleaning techniques. When access is difficult, removing material blockages may also introduce safety risks for personnel.

Scaffolds or ladders might be needed to reach access points, and staff can risk exposure to hot debris, dust or gases when chunks of material are released.

Many of the most common problem areas for accumulation are classified as confined spaces, requiring a special permit for workers to enter and perform work.

The consequences of untrained or inexperienced staff entering a silo or hopper can be disastrous, including physical injury, burial and asphyxiation.

Disrupted material adhered to the sides of the vessel can suddenly break loose and fall on a worker.

If the discharge door is in the open position, cargo can suddenly evacuate, causing unsecured workers to get caught in the flow.

Cleaning vessels containing combustible dust – without proper testing, ventilation and safety measures – could even result in a deadly explosion.

Getting professional help

While some large facilities choose to make the capital investment to purchase their own cleaning gear to clear process equipment and storage vessels – as well as train personnel – others are finding it more sensible to schedule regular cleanings by specially-trained contractors.

Given the costs of labour, lost time and potential risk to employees, this can often be accomplished for less than the total investment of inhouse cleanouts.

At one location, for example, the blockage was so severe in one silo that it had been out of use for years.

While it took the outside contractor almost two weeks to fully evacuate the

MATERIALS HANDLING

whip,’ rotating a set of flails against the material in the vessel.

This approach eliminates the need for confined space entry and hazardous cleaning techniques, typically allowing the material to be recaptured and returned to the process stream.

The whip can be set up quickly outside the vessel, and it’s portable enough to move easily around various bin sizes and shapes.

Typically lowered into the vessel from the top and then working from the bottom up to safely dislodge accumulation, the pneumatic cutting head delivers powerful cleaning action to remove build-up from walls and chutes without damaging the refractory.

Technicians lower the device all the way down through the topside opening, then start at the bottom of the build-up and work their way up, undercutting the wall accumulation as it falls by its own weight.

In extreme cases, a ‘bin drill’ can be used to clear a 12-inch (30.5-centimetre) pathway as deep as 150 feet (45 metres) to start the process.

CLEANING REQUIRES TOOLS THAT WORK INSIDE THE SILO FROM THE TOP, CONTROLLED BY PERSONNEL OUTSIDE.

vessel, the process restored 3500 tons (3175 tonnes) of ‘live’ storage capacity.

At another facility, the crew was able to remove enough ‘lost’ product that the value of the recovered material actually paid for the cost of the cleaning.

In short, regular cleaning of storage vessels can quickly turn into an economic benefit – not an expense, but rather an investment with a measurable return on investment (ROI).

The costs of cleaning

There are a few types of equipment used for this purpose. One operates like an industrial-strength ‘weed

A PNEUMATIC WHIP ROTATES A SET OF FLAILS TO DISLODGE MATERIAL.

Flow aids

Regular cleaning is one approach to keeping materials flowing freely by removing build-ups from silo walls, but there are other flow aids which may reduce the need for cleaning or even eliminate it. One method is through industrial vibrators designed for bin and chute applications.

Electric vibrators are generally the most efficient, delivering the longest life, low maintenance and low noise.

The initial cost for an electric vibrator is higher than for pneumatic designs, but the operating cost is lower.

Turbine vibrators are the most efficient and quietest of the pneumatic designs, making them well suited to applications in which low noise, high efficiency and low

AUSTRALIANMINING

initial cost are desired.

Air cannons are another approach to maintaining good material flow, particularly in larger vessels.

Also known as an air blaster, the air cannon is a flow aid device that can be found in mining, coal handling and many other industries.

Applications vary widely, from emptying bulk material storage vessels to purging boiler ash to cleaning hightemperature gas ducts.

In the mining industry, air cannons are frequently specified to eliminate build-ups in hoppers, storage vessels, transfer chutes, bins and other

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production bottlenecks.

They can also be found in mineral processing plants where metals are extracted using processes creating slurries and other wet, tacky tailings.

Air cannon technology has been used in mining for many years, helping to improve material flow and reduce maintenance.

The timed discharge of a directed air blast can prevent accumulation or blockages that reduce process efficiency and raise maintenance expenses.

In underground mines with potentially explosive dust, manual firing of cannons without the use of electrical solenoids is an option.

By facilitating flow and minimising build-up, air cannons help bulk material handlers minimise the need for process interruptions and manual labour.

The two basic components of an air cannon are a fast-acting, high-flow valve and a pressure vessel (tank).

The device performs work when compressed air (or some other inert gas) in the tank is suddenly released by the valve and directed through a nozzle, which is strategically positioned in the tower, duct, cyclone or other location.

Often installed in a series and precisely sequenced for maximum effect, the network can be timed to best suit individual process conditions or material characteristics. AM

WE CAN RECOVER MORE THAN ORE Last year TyreStewardship Australia identified the need to better understand Off The Road (OTR) tyre consumption and fate given the estimated recovery rate of used mining tyres in 2018/19 was just 11%.

MINING INDUSTRY Off The Road Used Tyre Analysis FINAL REPORT

January 2020 Prepared for Tyre Stewardship Australia

by Randell Environmental Consulting in association with Brock Baker Environmental Consulting

NOW IS THE TIME TO INCREASE RESOURCE RECOVERY IN THE OTR SECTOR

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Use this QR Code to apply for your TSA accredition.

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MATERIALS HANDLING

GEARLESS CONVEYOR DRIVES PROVEN FOR LARGE-SCALE MATERIALS HANDLING HOW CAN LARGE MINES ACHIEVE THEIR AMBITIOUS EMISSION TARGETS WHILE KEEPING MATERIALS HANDLING OPERATIONS EFFICIENT? GEARLESS CONVEYOR DRIVES BY ABB MIGHT PROVIDE THE ANSWER.

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eduction of greenhouse gas emissions from mining activities has increasingly become an important topic for discussion over the past decade.

According to McKinsey & Company’s Climate Risk and Decarbonisation report published in January 2020, the current targets published by mining companies in Australia range from 0 to 30 per cent by 2030, far below the Paris Agreement goals.

In August this year, BHP called on its industry lobbyists – including the Minerals Council of Australia, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association – asking them to advocate for Paris Agreementaligned emissions reductions.

Among the company’s expectations are advocacy for targets that increase over time and aim towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Industry expert Nik Gresshoff says one of the ways by which mines can inch closer to their emission reduction targets is through adoption of new technologies for materials handling.

“If you want to achieve emissions reductions, you need to look at what technology are you going to use to get there? How are you going to increase efficiency in your existing material handling infrastructure to help you achieve that?” says Gresshoff, national sales manager with ABB Australia.

One of ABB’s latest innovations in this area is a gearless conveyor drive system, or GCD for short, which uses permanent magnet motors or conventional synchronous machines to replace the traditional gearbox conveyor motor system.

Gresshoff says the solution helps address many historic issues with the maintenance of gearboxes, while offering considerable energy savings over the lifespan of the mine.

“The gearbox is a main part of the drive system and if it fails, the system will be down for a long time. ABB has addressed this issue by eliminating the

ABB’S GEARLESS CONVEYOR DRIVE FOR MEDIUM POWER IS BASED ON PERMANENT MAGNET MOTOR TECHNOLOGY.

gearbox altogether, replacing it with robust, reliable control from variable speed drives running accurately performing, low speed motors,” explains Holger Rhoenisch, ABB’s system expert for material handling.

“Because the permanent magnet motors can produce the same torque power with 20-25 per cent less current than a traditional motor, you can reduce the number of motors needed on the drive system by combining the power demand in one permanent magnet motor – this would lower your maintenance and energy consumption considerably.”

A successful installation is at the Chuquicamata copper mine in northern Chile where they operate the world’s most powerful belt conveyor system. Gearless conveyor drives from ABB are used to operate a belt conveyor system with a design capacity of 11,000 tonnes per hour.

Eleven 5MW GCDs are used to drive three conveyors at Chuquicamata; two with four motors each and one with three motors. Two 20MW conveyors are used to transport the ore to the surface, overcoming a AUSTRALIANMINING

significant elevation change of about 1000 metres.

The second conveyor feeds into a slightly smaller, 15MW overland conveyor. According to Gresshoff, conveyor designs with such high power are only made possible with gearless drives.

In Australia, Gresshoff says more and more mines are starting to embrace the total-cost-of-ownership concept, where the CAPEX cost is justified by the lifetime cost savings generated with the GCD. “The savings on electricity consumption over the mine life are quite considerable and can easily outrun to CAPEX cost. On top of that, when you take into consideration the reduction in maintenance cost, that is where the GCD starts to become an even more attractive solution,” he continues.

Gresshoff says switching to the gearless drive system is something that mines with traditional drive infrastructure can also consider.

“If a customer wants to achieve higher energy efficiency and they are in the process of upgrading or

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repairing their existing geared drive train, why not look at upgrading to the GCD technology? It’s smaller, it uses less electricity and it’s easier to maintain.”

With strong support from ABB’s service department, Gresshoff says customers can also consider a wide range of preventive and predictive maintenance solutions to further optimise their maintenance schedules.

“Our service departments and field service engineers can support customers through the lifecycle of the GCD technology, from installation commissioning, preventive maintenance, service contracts, digital connectivity, optimisation approaches and also to help with modernisation and consulting services,” he adds.

“ABB has been servicing multiple industries in Australia since 1906 with over 800 employees across different industries. We also have spare parts available through our service departments and we can also hold spares on site for customers. There is also the option to work out specific financial and leasing arrangements to interested customers.” AM

MATERIALS HANDLING

FIXING A COMMON HINDERANCE WITH A ‘FLICK OF THE SWITCH’ RESOURCE INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS HAS LENT A HAND TO SOME OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST MINING CONGLOMERATES THROUGH ITS RANGE OF HIGH-QUALITY INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICAL AND CONVEYOR MONITORING SOLUTIONS.

A

ny successful mining operation has usually faced some degree of trial and error.

With a number of different machines, vehicles and workers operating all at once, it is often a journey in itself to get everything to run optimally.

For the conveyor and industrial electrical side of a mine site, Resource Industry Solutions provides an extensive list of highquality products from trusted and field-proven brands that can solve a number of common issues, such as false trips from conveyors.

Resource Industry Solutions owner Vic Kairys has a decorated history in providing products from brands such as Kiepe to some of Western Australia’s mining giants, including Rio Tinto, BHP and Alcoa.

Originally an electrician for BHP in Victoria, Kairys changed career paths in 1994, and began supplying industrial electrical and mechanical equipment to the mining industry.

“My wife wasn’t happy with me coming home smelling of grease and grime,” Kairys tells Australian Mining. “And I used to like to see the technical reps coming around talking to the supervisors and I thought ‘now that’s the sort of job I could do.’”

By 2003, Kairys founded Resource Industry Solutions, which he has operated in Western Australia for more than 15 years.

Things took a positive turn in 2007-2008 when a major iron ore operator in the Pilbara enlisted Kairys to fix false trips at an overland conveyor system.

The iron ore company was reporting constant false trips from the conveyor safety switches it used, which operated through a bobbin mechanism.

A major flaw with these types of switches is they do not give the pull rope much play, and as a result, a dramatic change in temperature can cause a small change in size to the metal.

“And of course, when you have heat and coolness, metal expands and contracts,” Kairys says.

Kairys provided the company with

the German-made Kiepe HEN002 safety pull rope switch, which prevented false trips through its cam mechanism, and was the only switch the miner tested that worked the majority of the time.

“It’s based on a cam system and has a very high-power spring inside. It’s the cam that actuates

the switches rather than a bobbin mechanism,” Kairys says.

The Kiepe switch offers huge gains in reliability and prevents the common issue of false trips through its unique design. This easy-toinstall switch prevents production hinderances and maintains smoother operations.

THE KIEPE HEN002 PULL WIRE SWITCH INSTALLED IN THE PILBARA.

RESOURCE INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS PROVIDES TO SEVERAL OF AUSTRALIA’S LEADING COMPANIES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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OCTOBER 2020

The iron ore company trialled the switches for 18 months, and then replaced all switches on the conveyor with the Kiepe switches that Resource Industry Solutions supplied.

“We ended up suppling 240-odd switches and they replaced all the switches along the conveyor and then from that day on, the Kiepe range has become the standard for all the company’s projects,” Kairys says.

“That was the initial tipping point, or the initial start of the popularity and the appreciation of the features of the switch.”

Since the iron ore company first adopted the Kiepe switch, Kairys has sold between 3000-4000 Kiepe switches to various mining operations in Australia.

He continues to see strong demand from some of the country’s biggest mining projects, including new mega iron ore developments in Western Australia.

Kairys has become one of the industry’s local gurus in conveyor monitoring solutions, through his method of working through a concept, design and supply approach.

“I try and find a solution to problems that the end users and the consultants for those end users are facing,” Kairys says.

“I find out what it is they need, try and find a solution, make sure that solution is viable and then spec it into their project. It’s got to a point where I don’t have to actively market and annoy them.

“They’ve got me in their email address book. They know that when a project is happening and when they have a requirement for one of my products that they will give me a call or drop me an email.”

Kairys is now the Australian vendor for all Kiepe products and provides bespoke configurations of the solutions that Resource Industry Solutions offers.

“Whether it’s a small two-man electrical contracting company or a multi-billion-dollar mining company, they all get the same level of assistance. I try and help them out; no job is too small or too big,” Kairys concludes. AM

EXPECT MORE PRODUCTIVITY At a time when achieving targets is more important than ever, our tyre specialists are here to help you choose the right tyres for your environment and your goals.

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MATERIALS HANDLING

REAL TIME INSTRUMENTS ALLOWS MINING OPERATIONS TO ANALYSE PRECISE TRANSPORTABLE MOISTURE LIMITS.

ANALYSING TRANSPORTABLE MOISTURE LIMITS IN REAL TIME MANUALLY ANALYSING PRECISE TRANSPORTABLE MOISTURE LIMITS (TML) IN ORE STOCKS CAN BE A TIME-CONSUMING AND FIDDLY PROCESS. WITH ITS ELEMENTAL ANALYSERS, REAL TIME INSTRUMENTS IS COMPLEMENTING LABORATORY RESULTS WITH ACCURATE, LIVE ANALYSIS.

C

ompletely eliminating water in the shipment of commodities like iron ore and coal is impossible.

Having the ability to analyse exactly how much moisture is in the ore prior to shipping will, however, help mines to add the most value to their exports and improves safety.

Real Time Instruments has been working alongside loading ports across Australia to develop moisture analysers to tighten the accuracy surrounding the results.

As Real Time Instruments chief sales officer Will Robinson explains, this increased accuracy allows for accurate communication of expectations between mining operations and their customers of the expected TML in the products they are shipping.

“First and foremost, when you’re

purchasing any product, be it coal or iron ore, you don’t want to be paying for water,” Robinson tells Australian Mining.

“As moisture is always present, a maximum limit will be set as part of the custody transfer of the material and customers are expecting a certain ore grade without the moisture limit exceeded.”

While eliminating all moisture content from a shipment isn’t achievable, Real Time Instruments’ analysers are helping mining operations and their customers forecast exactly how much moisture to expect within the shipment in their contracts.

This not only helps to manage expectations and adhere to contracts, but is also a safety benefit, as shipments exceeding TML can cause cargo liquefaction and have disastrous consequences.

“If there is water in the ore it can AUSTRALIANMINING

accumulate on one side of the vessel as the ship rolls and pitches in the ocean,” Robinson explains.

“It doesn’t freely move through the ore like water would in a tank, particularly with coal and iron ore and at worst, this can cause ships to roll and capsize.

“If a ship does roll over there are millions of dollars tied to losing the ship and losing to cargo, so it is essential to have accurate analysers to get accurate TML measurements.”

Traditionally, TML has been determined manually in a laboratory, taking samples from the ore stockpile.

For large ore piles, this method makes it extremely difficult to calculate an accurate estimate, regardless of how many samples are collected.

“If you have a massive stockpile of say 100,000 tonnes, no matter how

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many samples the laboratory team grabs they will never get a perfect representation of that 100,000 tonnes as the moisture will vary throughout,” Robinson says.

“The results can take anywhere from six to 12 hours and sometimes days to analyse depending on how busy the laboratory is, and during that time if it sits on the stockpile it could rain or the moisture could drain out.

“Using Real Time Instruments’ elemental analyser, the ore is analysed as it flows on the conveyor belt on its way to port, so our analyser sees 100 per cent of the material processed, giving a truer average.”

While this is a continuous form of measurement compared to manual laboratory testing, Real Time Instruments’ analysers do not replace the need for laboratory workers.

The human workers are still a

MATERIALS HANDLING

requirement to have the traceable standards and calibration of a laboratory when investigating TML. As Robinson explains, Real Time Instruments’ analysers complement the existing work of laboratories, making their job easier without making the human role in detecting TML redundant.

“In the Pilbara, for example, five mines send samples to a single laboratory and due to the workload, results took approximately 12 hours to turn around, which severely impeded on operational decision making,” he says.

“Once the analysers were introduced, they were able to do the bulk of the work to take pressure off the laboratory. In addition, it provides another point of reference supporting the lab data in the event that a dispute arises between the mine and their customer.”

In addition to offering a more accurate TML reading, Real Time Instruments’ analysers can be used for selective processing, identifying higher or poorer grades of ore, to determine whether the ore has the quality to send straight to the stockpile or whether it needs to be cleaned or combined with higher ore grades.

This saves millions of dollars in water, electricity and retention time every year from the processing stage of the bulk handling procedure.

Real Time Instruments’ analysers are also used to gather and save data which is sent to the mining control system or uploaded to the cloud for later access.

“Our machine can measure up to 78 elements of the periodic table within the ore characteristic,” Robinson explains.

“This gets translated to an

THE ANALYSERS COMPLEMENT LABORATORY RESULTS WITH ACCURATE ANALYSIS.

of other elements from specific production regimes.

“Moreover, the data is used by the industrial control system (PLC/DCS) where better control decisions can be made in real time as the ore grade

electronic format and sent to the mine control system or uploaded to the cloud where it is backed up and stored for months, enabling operators to go through the records to see the grade of ore and content

varies and it has its own histogram that stores data for the long term.”

Real Time Instruments has ambitious aspirations for the future of its analysers, as it is working to develop a neutron generator with a longer life span than existing options on the market.

“Neutron generators are an extremely expensive piece of equipment and existing technology only has a life span of about one year or so when being run at a 24/7 operating mine,” Robinson says.

“Our unit is in the final stages of commercialisation and has been tested and designed for a lifespan of 10-plus years.

“Having a piece of machinery that can run for 10 years without a worry is really exciting in this space and it will really open up our market in Europe too.” AM

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MATERIALS HANDLING

NEW GENERATION DUGLESS 903 PROVIDES MORE EFFICIENCY, LESS HASSLE THE MINPROVISE DUGLESS 903 MINI LOADER DRAWS ON THE MERITS OF THE PREVIOUS AWARD-WINNING MODEL, WHILE IMPROVING ITS EFFICIENCY, RELIABILITY AND OVERALL DESIGN.

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inprovise designed and manufactured the first Dugless 900 mini loader in Australia more than 10 years ago.

It eliminated manual handling of a mini loader through its remotecontrolled operation, which could clean up large volumes of spilt material, with the operator at a safe distance away.

Based in Perth, the mining equipment manufacturer has continued to strive for both improvement and innovation in its products – the Dugless machine is no exception.

The new generation upgraded Dugless sets a high standard, with an enhanced air intake system that delivers more uptime between air filter changes.

Since the first Dugless 903 model was delivered in November 2018, more than 15 of the machines have been enlisted to some of Australia’s major mining companies, including Rio Tinto, South32, BHP Olympic Dam and BHP South Flank.

Minprovise general manager Tony Sutton says the Dugless 903 has superior levels of reliability compared with its predecessor.

“The previous unit’s filter arrangement meant that if you were working in a dusty environment, you were regularly changing the filter cartridges,” Sutton tells Australian Mining. “With the new filter arrangement, very little dust ends up in the filter cartridge.”

THE DUGLESS 903 IS JUST 56 CENTIMETRES TALL.

Dust is a major concern for any mining operation, especially in dry and windy areas, which means it plays a significant factor in the life of any mining machine.

The Dugless 903 includes a multi-cyclone block that Minprovise managed to fit into a 56-centimetre tall footprint.

Advantages of a cyclone-style air intake system include a major reduction in the amount of filter changes, along with improved maintenance access to filter cartridges.

The first prototype of the mini loader featured a single cyclone assembly, which was too tall for the machine.

As a result, Minprovise went with a multi-block setup that includes eight cyclone units.

The benefit of a dust cyclone is that it removes dust particles prior to air going through a dual filter, which means that filters don’t need to be changed anywhere near as often.

“We’ve been able to get a multicyclone block into a very, very small space,” Sutton says.

“Everything has to be compact and there’s nothing off the shelf that you can buy able to achieve that.”

The upgraded Dugless uses vortex cyclones that provide an enhanced level of particle extraction.

“We could clearly see that the cyclone system pulled dust particles out much more effectively,” Sutton says.

According to the Minprovise AUSTRALIANMINING

general manager, the design is very similar to cyclone-style vacuum cleaners.

“Imagine you were using a vacuum cleaner at home and everything was going into a filter bag that you didn’t only have to clean but you also had to shake to get the dust out,” he says.

“With a cyclone style vacuum cleaner, all of the particles fall into a tray that you simply empty, so it’s a very quick and easy process to deal with the dust that’s collected.”

This has resulted in a huge reduction in filter replacements compared to the previous Dugless machine.

“Therefore, the cartridge is obviously replaced less often, and as operators try to run a machine for as long as they can, changing a cartridge once or twice a shift is not something they jump for joy about,” Sutton says. “Now operators only need to change a cartridge once a week and the long-term benefit is much better protection for the engine.

“You can also expect to be around 14 per cent more efficient every day because you don’t need to change those filters every day.”

The new generation Dugless also features an air blowback system that expels the ingress of water from the machine after it’s washed.

Operated with a simple remote control from up to 50 metres away, another major area of the machine is its ability to prevent workers from being close to the mini loader while it’s in operation.

Sutton says the Dugless has a significant advantage of reaching places that conventional frontend loaders cannot when cleaning spillages, underneath conveyors in particular.

“The Dugless performs extremely well cleaning up under conveyor systems because typically the legs of conveyor systems have braces on them and there’s not a lot of height from the ground to the base which causes limited access,” he explains.

“The major advantage of the Dugless is that you can clean up while the conveyor is still running. This allows you to keep the operator 40 to 50 metres away from the conveyor while it’s operational. You’re putting the individual out of harm’s way without halting any process.” AM

THE NEW GENERATION DUGLESS 903 SPECIALISES IN CLEANING SPILLAGES IN AREAS OF A MINE SITE SUCH AS UNDERNEATH A CONVEYOR.

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UNDERGROUND MINING

DRIVING CHANGE UNDERGROUND AT DARLOT DRIVETRAIN AUSTRALIA, AN ENGENCO COMPANY, HAS PLEDGED ITS SUPPORT IN ENSURING RED 5 UNLOCKS THE MAXIMUM POTENTIAL OF TWO BRAND-NEW KOVATERA UT99 UNDERGROUND UTILITY VEHICLES THAT WERE DELIVERED TO THE DARLOT MINE IN NOVEMBER LAST YEAR.

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he Darlot mine has been a producing gold operation in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia for more than 30 years.

Owned by Australian gold mining company Red 5, Darlot features a strong and proud heritage within the state’s mining history.

That heritage has often led to its operators ‘sticking to their roots’ with a number of on-site methods and solutions.

Until recently, alternate heavy duty light vehicles had been part of the mine’s underground light vehicle fleet.

Many of these conventional brands have been affiliated with miners for decades due to their ability to withstand the harsh, hot and barren conditions of the state’s regional areas.

But these vehicles have remained relatively unchanged for the better half of the last 40 years.

And while the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ moniker rings true, longer lasting and more fuel-efficient options have emerged.

Red 5 maintenance superintendent for the Darlot mine, Geoff Hart, set out to find a more cost-effective and dependent alternative for the site’s underground operations.

“Red 5 is a company that likes to look at alternative options,” Hart tells Australian Mining.

“One of the things that we looked at was in regards to underground light

RED 5 PURCHASED TWO KOVATERA UT99 TRUCKS FOR THE DARLOT MINE.

vehicles. The use of alternate heavy duty light vehicles is not something that I see as a sustainable option going forward.

“They are expensive, and the service life of them is somewhat limited.”

The Kovatera UT99 utility vehicle first struck Hart as a replacement for the site’s ageing light vehicle fleet.

“In the underground environment, we need something a bit stronger and a bit beefier and the Kovatera certainly jumped out when I initially saw them,” Hart says.

The UT99 in particular features a reliable and fuel-efficient diesel engine. Due to its 10-year service life, and potential savings of almost half a million dollars over the life of the vehicle compared with the previous light vehicle models used, Red 5 purchased two UT99 trucks from Drivetrain Australia in November last year.

“The underground environment is extremely hard on light vehicles and they cost a lot of money to keep going.

You need them and you simply cannot operate without them,” Hart says.

“So, to find a solution that ticked all the boxes that we were looking for, we think we found it with the Kovatera.”

The UT99 is a relatively new product in Australia. As is the case with most new products, it needed to be adapted to Australia’s conditions – particularly the underground conditions at Darlot.

AUSTRALIANMINING

As a result, some initial overheating and axle issues had to be addressed.

Dedicated to looking after its customers, Drivetrain Australia and Kovatera came to the aid of Red 5 and Hart, with each party showing persistence to get the machine into its optimal state.

“Kovatera and Drivetrain have been absolutely fantastic in working with us to get all these solved,” Hart says.

“Any issues we’ve had, they’ve been straight on it and we’ve pretty much nailed all of the issues.”

After the combined efforts of Drivetrain, Kovatera and Red 5, the two UT99s were up and running at the site.

Drivetrain has provided an extensive amount of support towards Red 5, including a training program for the vehicles and continued over-thephone and on-site services as required.

“It shows me that Drivetrain well and truly stands behind their

DRIVETRAIN AUSTRALIA AND KOVATERA WORKED WITH RED 5 TO MAXIMISE THE MACHINE’S CAPABILITIES.

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product,” Hart says.

“You can’t fault the way it was rolled out and you can’t fault the service that we’ve got from the guys. It’s been really good.”

Hart, who will consider purchasing more UT99 trucks next year, has also recommended the machines to another mine site.

Drivetrain Australian national mining business development manager Joel Mathews helped achieve the positive outcome with the UT99.

“We’re very fortunate that we hit the nail on the head,” Mathews says.

“Some companies dig their heels in when obstacles present, Drivetrain do the opposite; we dive headfirst into these problems. It was a process of elimination where we identified where we thought the issues were coming from.”

“We’re really appreciative of the effort and support we received from Red 5 at Darlot.” AM

TRAINING & EDUCATION

PUTTING MACHINE-OPERATING SKILLS TO THE TEST MANY JOB SEEKERS IN THE MINING INDUSTRY WILL PUT THEIR HANDS UP FOR A MACHINE-OPERATING ROLE. NOW, THERE IS A WAY THEY CAN PROVE THEIR SKILLS WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK.

M

achine operating skills are key for safety and productivity in the mining industry.

A machine operator that operates a 300-tonne haul truck on site poses a significant hazard to themself and everyone in their vicinity if they aren’t properly trained and don’t possess adequate technical aptitude.

Putting their skills to the test by operating the real equipment is costly and presents a significant hazard to themselves.

According to Bestech Australia teaching equipment specialist Graeme Nicholls, the mining industry is still struggling to find suitable applicants who will be trained as equipment operators.

“Everybody will say they can operate a machine, but some are more technically adept than others,” he says.

“Industrial psychologists have identified three natural abilities that are important for operating heavy equipment: psychomotor, perceptual and cognitive ability. Following this guideline to sort out who’s a good candidate to train is a headache.”

It is also challenging for candidates to find a real-life opportunity of driving heavy equipment without prior experience.

This is comparable to the chicken or the egg situation, says Nicholls, as many companies are reluctant to give real-life experience to someone with no prior experience.

By sitting in a heavy equipment simulator, however, a candidate can build and prove their hours of training and skills.

“As part of the study conducted by Simlog, new machine operators whose technical aptitude has been proven and was trained in a simulator-based preparation over the training period of six weeks double their productivity compared with those who weren’t,” Nicholls says.

“When a company trains new staff on a heavy vehicle simulator prior to joining the workforce, they are set to enjoy 44 per cent more productivity and success in training the employee.

“That’s a good cost saving for companies as simulators are an easy

THE SIMLOG SIMULATOR IS NOT SPECIFIC TO ONE OEM, THEREFORE IS APPLICABLE TO ALL GENERAL EQUIPMENT BRANDS.

THE SIMULATOR IS A COST-EFFECTIVE WAY TO TEST OPERATOR SKILLS.

and cost-effective way of assessing candidates and their capabilities without putting real equipment at risk and be charged for fuel and instructor costs.”

Bestech Australia endorses the heavy equipment training simulator from Simlog, which is specifically designed for vocational training institution and industry to maximise the training efficiency of operators.

The simulator measures the accuracy of a person’s input down to millimetres. When operating a hydraulic excavator, for example, the simulator will closely measure a AUSTRALIANMINING

controller’s placement of the bucket.

It will also record the time taken by a trainee to complete the task.

This sharpens the spatial awareness of a beginner, as well as that of an experienced operator, who may have developed poor operating habits over years of operation.

The simulator will also progress a trainee to more complex tasks until they meet a set of metrics that qualify them for a seat in the real machine.

“Trucks are much, much bigger than a person. Drivers can’t always see everything from where they’re sitting, so the simulator helps to train them on how to orient themselves,” Nicholls says.

Mining companies across Australia, Canada and the United States have put the Simlog simulator to use.

The simulator is also available in correctional facilities, TAFE institutions and universities in Australia so that students are trained to take a hands-on approach to controlling equipment.

The Simlog simulator is also not limited to a specific original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and therefore applies all the universal principles in operating a machine.

“The skills that you learn on a simulator will apply no matter which brand of truck you get into,” Nicholls says.

The Simlog simulator is designed to

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run on a PC with an operator chair and up to three screens set up in front of a trainee – a far more cost-effective set up for mining companies.

The heavy equipment simulator is also a cost effective alternative for new operators training to real-life machinery, according to Nicholls.

“When a dump truck costs over $1 million, investment in a simulator is a fairly small amount of money,” he says.

The Simlog simulator also incorporates the latest technology, such as a vibration feedback in the driver’s seat.

When a trainee runs into something, they will be able to feel it through their body, giving them an experience closer to real life.

The simulator is also portable, which allows the company to conduct mass training and assessment on hundreds of employees on site.

The relevance of a simulator also includes the onset of autonomous haulage systems (AHS) in the mining industry.

“A person who monitors the dump truck needs to know how to operate it themselves to know if the AHS is doing the right thing,” Nicholls says.

“No matter how good the AHS drive systems are, when something goes wrong or when the network is down, someone should be able to get in and control the equipment manually.” AM

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YOHANES PATINTINGAN, GLENN COULTHARD, TOMMI RAUTIO AND TY OSBORNE ARE COMPLETING THE DIPLOMA OF APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES.

SANDVIK UPSKILLS WORKFORCE TO PREPARE FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 WITH TECHNOLOGY RAPIDLY EVOLVING, KEEPING WORKERS UP TO DATE WITH THEIR TRAINING CAN BE CHALLENGING, AS THE INDUSTRY OFTEN CHANGES QUICKER THAN WHAT HAS BEEN TAUGHT. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH SANDVIK TO SEE HOW THE OEM KEEPS ITS TRAINING IN TUNE WITH INDUSTRY TRENDS.

M

ore than 20 Sandvik employees are being trained in skills relevant to Industry 4.0 as smart technologies continue to transform common practices within the mining industry.

As part of the Diploma of Applied Technologies course, Sandvik’s employees will be trained in emerging areas, including cyberphysical systems, digital control systems and digital networks, helping them to improve their skills for mine automation, technical support and services.

Sandvik technical support manager for automation Ty Osborne is one employee that is taking the Diploma of Applied Technologies.

Osborne is in charge of ensuring the smooth running of Sandvik’s autonomous underground loaders, trucks and drills across Australian mine sites.

He says the diploma is helping to upskill and improve the confidence of existing frontline workers across the organisation.

“The equipment at Sandvik is forever changing,” Osborne tells Australian Mining. “So, the idea of the diploma is that Sandvik gets employees back into the workforce with more relevant and updated skills.

“Sandvik has engineers and software developers with this knowledge but until now, the frontline workers haven’t been equipped to work in this space. But now with the diploma these people will gain the skills to use with the new technology and have a better understanding of technology moving forward.”

The evolution in how the mining industry is being operated through automation and new technologies contrasts with the diesel engine revolution, which didn’t change for 50 to 60 years.

With modern technologies, sensors AUSTRALIANMINING

THE INDUSTRY 4.0 REVOLUTION IS RAPIDLY GROWING, AND THE ONLY GUARANTEE IS THAT WHAT WE DO TODAY WON’T BE WHAT WE DO THIS TIME NEXT YEAR.” and new ways of working frequently emerging, Osborne says Sandvik has identified the need to build a workforce with the ability to adapt to and embrace the changes and updates as they occur.

“The Industry 4.0 revolution is rapidly growing, and the only guarantee is that what we do today won’t be what we do this time next year,” he says.

“Of the skills Sandvik identified for the training, one of the big ones was

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data, as Industry 4.0 requires people to know how to gather, read and use cloud-based data.

“Sandvik also works with data analytics, using that big data to identify problems before they become a problem, understanding what is going on behind the curtain.”

One of Sandvik’s key intentions of putting its workers through the Diploma of Applied Technologies is to give its existing traditional tradespeople, like diesel fitters and auto electricians the required skills to enable them to delve into the world of data.

With this, Sandvik is preparing its workers for long-term careers in an ever-evolving industry, rather than ending their education when their trade is complete.

“One of the big things that comes out of the Diploma of Applied Technologies is that Sandvik is upskilling its traditional tradespeople to be able to understand data enough to make data driven decisions, as well

TRAINING & EDUCATION

as the way autonomous machinery and robots work,” Osborne says.

“This gives employees a career path and understanding of how autonomous mining works. Sandvik’s traditional tradespeople have that existing fundamental knowledge of understanding the way the machine works to start with.

“It’s okay to understand the technology at the top end but if you don’t understand the machine’s fundamentals, you won’t know whether it’s working or not. So, for that reason, it is more beneficial to upskill our existing tradespeople.”

Sandvik field service technician Ben Tonna, a tradesperson turned Diploma of Applied Technologies student, has completed two trade apprenticeships through Sandvik.

The OEM is now helping Tonna to refine his existing knowledge in heavy vehicle mechanics and auto electricity to apply Industry 4.0 relevant information in the space of technology and automation.

“Studying the Diploma of Applied Technologies through Sandvik is a good way of getting ready for emerging technology quite quickly,” Tonna says.

“When I first started in my auto electrician trade, the whispers you generally heard were that a trade would be relevant for 10 to 15 years before needing upskilling, but by starting this diploma, things have changed and now a trade only lasts about five years before requiring upskilling.”

Coming from a trade background,

Tonna found the content in the Diploma of Applied Technologies different from his previous study to begin with, but is quickly grasping the technical side of his existing knowledge.

“It’s great to have the chance to delve into the technology side more heavily than when I was studying my auto electrician trade,” Tonna says.

“At first I was a bit sceptical on how I would go having a more mechanical background as the layout was quite full on but now it makes a lot more sense and I can see that the information is stuff I will definitely need going ahead in my role.”

This not only helps Tonna in his role, but as a leader it allows him to bring expertise back to his own team for colleagues who have not received

Industry 4.0 training or do not come from a technical background.

He notes Sandvik’s future-minded approach to upskilling its workers in this space and how the modules help him to refine his research skills in a data and technology setting.

“I’ve been very lucky that Sandvik is always up to date with the training and experience I have had,” he says.

“It makes me feel a lot better going ahead in this space being equipped with knowledge about automation and technology, rather than watching it evolve from a distance.”

Under the pilot Industry 4.0 program, Sandvik will re-skill and upskill 20 current employees, enabling them to take advantage of new technologies and opportunities that Industry 4.0 provides. AM

koyo-AD-f.pdf 1 2020/02/27 20:18:32

QUEENSLAND MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND SMALL BUSINESS AND MINISTER FOR TRAINING AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT SHANNON FENTIMAN (RIGHT) WITH TY OSBORNE AND OTHERS.

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TYRE MANAGEMENT

KAL TIRE ULTRA REPAIR SLASHES MINING’S ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT

THOMAS GABRIEL OF KAL TIRE UNDERTAKING TYRE REPAIRS.

REPAIRING DAMAGED OFF-THE-ROAD TYRES FROM MINING VEHICLES HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN LIMITED TO TRADITIONAL REPAIR METHODS WITH MANY REPAIRABLE TYRES OFTEN DISCARDED TO LANDFILL. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH KAL TIRE ABOUT THE STEPS IT IS TAKING TO SAVE HUNDREDS OF TYRES FROM GOING TO WASTE.

E

very year, Australian mining companies wheel hundreds of damaged tyres out to the scrap pile, which they then need to report and discard of as per the rules of their local jurisdiction.

Only a small number of these tyres are designated for reuse in other applications, so the tyres are typically buried for landfill either on site or at an external, private location.

This requires an approval process as per local government regulations and as tyres generally don’t break down, Kal Tire has developed the Ultra Repair technology to try and keep tyres operating for as long as possible.

Kal Tire Australia tyre repair manager Steve Lally says Ultra Repair allows the company to complete more large-scale complicated repairs on and around tyres.

“Ultra Repair technology allows us to repair far greater damage on and around the tyre, which would normally be disposed of due to its super strength and flexibility,” Lally tells Australian Mining.

“Using the Ultra Repair tyre repair method, we can replace the steel cords which are removed from the damaged area on the tyre.

“This gives the tyre back its strength, enabling it to return back into service to achieve more tyre hours and not be put into landfill.”

To complete repairs using the AUSTRALIANMINING

THERE ARE HUGE SAVINGS WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE COSTS INVOLVED AROUND MINE TYRES THAT WOULD GENERALLY END UP IN THE SCRAP HEAP, IT’S UNREAL.” Ultra Repair technology, the technicians remove the rubber from the damaged area of the tyre and remove the damaged cords.

On conventional tyres, technicians would simply fill a patch on the inside of the tyre, vulcanise it and

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the strength from the patch and rubber would suffice to get the tyre back into service.

Off-the-road tyres with extensive belt damage, however, are different and require the steel belt to be replaced to give the tyre greater strength and flexibility before it can be used again.

Lally says by using Ultra Repair, Kal Tire has helped one company to reduce its carbon footprint by 390,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, determined by the output required to manufacture a new tyre.

“We repaired 64 46/90R57 tyres at a gold mine which operates 30 240-tonne haul trucks in 2018 and into 2019,” Lally says.

“This gave them a return of 96,000 extra operating hours. This is

TYRE MANAGEMENT

the equivalent to purchasing 22 new tyres of the same size.

“It also reduced the company’s carbon footprint by 4.2 per cent, gave a $570,000 net return and a 315 per cent return on investment.”

This carbon footprint saving equates to the output of an average car driving 70,000 kilometres or powering 780 average Australian households.

In addition to helping mining companies reduce their carbon footprint, giving tyres a longer lifespan is significantly slashing the capital expenses involved with replacing damaged tyres.

“There are huge savings when you look at the costs involved around mine tyres that would generally end up in the scrap heap, it’s unreal,” Lally says.

“The value that the Ultra Repair tyre repair method helps to return back to Kal Tire’s mining partners varies, but typically we see between 300 and 500 per cent for the ultra class (57- to 63-inch) tyres.”

While Kal Tire is making an enormous difference to the way Australian mining companies deal with their damaged tyres using Ultra Repair technology, there is still a significant gap in the way Australia disposes of tyres once they have reached the end of their life.

Kal Tire has experience in this space on an international scale, being involved in progressive tyre recycling schemes, including a recycling plant based in South America.

Most Australian state governments and environmental protection authorities are stringent on controlling the number of discarded tyres put into the ground, ensuring they are logged.

This means if Australia was to

introduce a facility in future, the relevant government departments are aware of the location of tyres to be pulled out of the ground and transported to the facility.

“One of the problems with recycling tyres is they don’t break down,” Lally explains.

“A lot of mining companies have looked towards tyre recycling as an option, but the current cost involved with this type of technology is a deterrent when compared to current disposal methods, which is one of the reasons it hasn’t happened in Australia.”

While this could eventually be a long-term outcome for Australia, the nation faces difficulties due to cheaper and legislated alternatives to more environmentally sustainable solutions, such as Kal Tire’s tyre recycling technology.

This, added with the cost of establishing and maintaining a tyre recycling facility, as well as Australia’s expanse between large mining centres that are required to provide the volume of tyres needed, creates a challenging environment to develop a dedicated recycling facility.

For now, Kal Tire is working to keep Australian off-the-road tyres functional for as long as possible before disposal, with Ultra Repair making this positive difference a reality for mine sites around the country.

“Kal Tire has invested a lot in tyre recycling in South America and we hope down the track we can look at putting the same investment in Australia,” Lally says.

“The invention of Ultra Repair has been a big turnaround not just for Kal Tire, but the entire industry.” AM

KAL TIRE AUSTRALIA TYRE REPAIR MANAGER STEVE LALLY IN ACTION. KAL TIRE’S ULTRA REPAIR TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS FOR REPAIRS ON TYRES THAT WOULD NORMALLY BE DESTINED FOR LANDFILL.

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

ACCENTURE INDUSTRY Q&A: AUTONOMOUS OPERATIONS IN MINING AUSTMINE SPEAKS WITH ACCENTURE ABOUT THE APPROACH MINING COMPANIES SHOULD TAKE IN EVALUATING THE NEEDS AND BENEFITS OF AUTOMATION IN THEIR PROJECTS.

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utonomous operations in mining have the potential to significantly improve efficiency and productivity, while increasing safety and sustainability.

Today, a number of companies have fleets of autonomous trucks, trains and loaders at mine sites, or are piloting the use of these vehicles.

These efforts are a great leap forward from traditional practices, but they are just scratching the surface of how autonomous systems can be used in mining.

In Accenture’s view, autonomous mine operations can and will go much further. As Austmine’s industry leader for digital transformation in mining, Accenture is working closely with Austmine to develop the understanding of the impacts of emerging technologies on the mining industry.

Austmine sat down with Accenture applied intelligence mining lead, Liv Carroll, and Accenture mining industry lead for Australia and New Zealand, Dean Felton to explore the business case and driving forces of

ACCENTURE APPLIED INTELLIGENCE MINING LEAD, LIV CARROLL.

automation for mining.

The key message from Carroll and Felton in this interview is that organisations must take a broader view of autonomy, creating a clear and concise roadmap to harness future opportunities of the technology to take full advantage of the autonomous evolution.

Autonomy journey

Before embarking on the autonomous journey, we must first assess where

ACCENTURE MINING INDUSTRY LEAD FOR AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, DEAN FELTON.

the industry stands.

If you think autonomous operations just mean driverless trucks and unmanned drills – think again.

“The development of autonomous application and systems in mining is varied, but overall mining is not where – for example – manufacturing is already,” Carroll states.

“As an industry, mining has traditionally focussed on equipment, rather than process, so is not reaping the benefits. However, the

opportunities are becoming more real and substantial as time goes on.”

Felton adds, “There’s been a significant change in the past 12–24 months in terms of attitudes to data, shifting from capturing all the data and creating a data lake, to asking, what is it in our operations that we need to address in terms of efficiencies, delays, risk and capturing lost value – and what can be automated.”

In Felton’s view, there are point solutions happening, but businesses are still working in silos – sometimes with different data lakes and analytics teams working independently.

“We need to be more integrated and focus on the two to three areas across the business that represent the biggest opportunity in terms of risk and value,” he says.

Critical success factors

Accenture places this risk and value opportunity at the forefront of the critical success factors for automation.

There is a view from the industry that organisations must digitise and capture the opportunities presented by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

MINING COMPANIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO ASSESS THEIR NEEDS OF AUTOMATION BASED ON TRIPLE ZERO: ZERO HARM, ZERO LOSS, ZERO WASTE. AUSTRALIANMINING

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

However, without a documented and measurable outcome in mind, the intended benefits of the automation journey can be quickly lost in business complexity.

When assessing the needs and benefits of automation, Accenture urges companies to begin with the critical success factors of triple zero, meaning zero harm, zero loss, zero waste.

Carroll deliberates on what these concepts mean for mining businesses.

“Safeguarding human health and wellbeing must be central to the automation journey. But zero harm runs well beyond this as well,” she says.

“The project environment must also be considered, including the protection of machines, assets and critical infrastructure, especially with the intensifying challenge of cyberattacks.

“Furthermore, zero harm should be considered through the lens of your operations’ community. Digital transformation can also be central to sustaining community and social trust.”

Of course, the benefits of automation in mining are often viewed through a productivity and efficiency lens. But Accenture reiterates that true value from automation comes from taking a holistic view of the organisation.

“Success can be measured when mining business (has) endto-end visualisation of losses and optimisation. Return on investment from capital projects and digital investment can then be measured and a continuous improvement process put in place to drive value,” Carroll says.

Finally, zero waste must be a focus for any strategic initiatives moving forward.

ACCENTURE BELIEVES SAFEGUARDING HUMAN HEALTH MUST BE CENTRAL TO THE AUTOMATION JOURNEY.

“We are moving towards a future of circular economies and marketplaces where users actively participate,” Carroll says.

“Mining must assess technology implementation against its benefits for climate, sustainability and energy and water efficiency, along with the opportunity to re-use waste for productive purposes.”

The best approach to automation

With success factors in place, the best approach for autonomy implementation within the mining system must be found.

Felton believes mines should be designed with a balanced approach to maximum productivity and profitability. In his view, the mining industry must embrace a manufacturing mindset.

“Manufacturers operate on waferthin margins and spend time finding losses and delays in their systems and processes, then continuously work to remove them,” he says.

“Mining companies should be searching for their biggest and most

costly losses and then work to push them out, which will help the move to maximum profitability.”

Carroll adds that these organisational processes must be reviewed and rethought before automation takes place.

“If you simply automate what you have now, you’re just doing the same thing faster,” she says.

“There are degrees of autonomous operations, and you don’t need end-to-end automation across the entire operation to realise value.

Start by understanding your process framework. Identify where automating a process can delay downtime or accelerate access to insights.

“Autonomous operations don’t have to be all or nothing. It can start with one process, then another, and so on – with each step adding value along the way to support your broader performance goals.”

The future face of automation

There is still a fear that surrounds automation. But the next generation of leaders who are graduating from our universities and developing technology

skills will embed digitisation in the mining system.

Carroll notes, “The new skills that are making their way into mining include data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics.

“But there is also an anticipated increase in the need for those skills that machines cannot provide, such as leadership, creativity, innovation, complex problem solving, critical thinking, communication and emotional intelligence.”

According to Felton, to accelerate this pace of change, mining must change the narrative.

“To win interest and enthusiasm from young people – and those from other industries – miners will need to rebrand as modern, digital and responsible businesses,” he says.

Embracing the autonomous evolution represents a giant leap to achieving this outcome. AM Find more information about Accenture’s Future of Autonomous mining at https://www.accenture.com/au-en/ insights/natural-resources/autonomousoperations-mining

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ENGINEERING

REMOTE MONITORING OPENS NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR MINERS CBC ENGINEERING MANAGER MARK SLAUGHTER DISCUSSES THE ONGOING IMPACT OF COVID-19 AND MOVE TOWARDS REMOTE OPERATIONS, WITH FOCUS ON CONDITION MONITORING.

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he COVID-19 crisis has forced businesses to change how they operate, and according to condition monitoring specialist Mark Slaughter, it could be the beginning of a larger transformation in the condition monitoring world – particularly in the context of remote monitoring options for customers in the mines and quarries segment.

“We’ve always had the technology but maybe not the reason to change, but now with what’s happening globally with the pandemic, there’s a reason to change,” says Slaughter, who is the engineering manager for CBC in both South Australia and the Northern Territory.

“Remote monitoring may not be the answer to every problem, but it can help resolve a lot of the blocks that we’ve experienced during COVID-19, where we haven’t had access to customer sites.

I truly think this is the start of a big shift in how we perform and provide condition monitoring services.”

While remote monitoring has traditionally been too expensive for

smaller companies to adopt, Slaughter says the technology has become more affordable now.

“Remote monitoring has been around for a number of years but because it has traditionally been a very expensive form of monitoring, it’s mostly been adopted by large mining companies. Recent developments in the technology have meant it’s now much more affordable and can lend itself to smaller mining companies and quarries,” he says.

Mines located in outback regions or operating very critical machines can be the biggest gainers of remote monitoring, Slaughter believes.

“In effect, what we’re talking about is a system where we can monitor parameters such as vibration, speed, pressure or temperature at a frequency that’s as close as possible to live monitoring,” he explains.

“If you compare this with the traditional frequency-based monitoring system where data is collected by an individual every month or every quarter, there’s much more scope with live monitoring to pick out

REMOTE MONITORING MAY NOT BE THE ANSWER TO EVERY PROBLEM, BUT IT CAN HELP RESOLVE A LOT OF THE BLOCKS THAT WE’VE EXPERIENCED DURING COVID-19” subtle changes in the system to avoid catastrophic results.

“Particularly, if the asset is in an unsafe environment for personnel to enter or if it’s located in a hard-toreach place, remote wireless sensors can help overcome those barriers for asset monitoring. Of course, there are still some limitations, for example in terms of the maximum temperature the sensors can tolerate, but overall, the technology gives asset owners much more flexibility.”

The CBC Engineering Solutions team recently implemented a remote

CBC ENGINEERING’S TEAM INSTALLED VIBRATION MONITORING SENSORS FOR A MINING CUSTOMER.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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monitoring solution that uses a vibration monitoring system to track the health of bearings on a critical piece of equipment for its mining customer.

As Slaughter explains, the solution enables the CBC customer to collect vibration data from the equipment on a cloud-based platform and access it from anywhere by simply logging in to a smartphone application.

“Instead of a person having to drive five hours to the site, spending an hour to collect the data, staying overnight and then returning the next day, we can now get a live snapshot of what’s happening with the asset by monitoring the data every six hours,” he says.

“The data could also be collected more frequently, but there would be a trade-off with the battery life. The wireless sensors are battery-powered and the more data you collect, the quicker the battery runs out. At the current rate of data collection, the battery is predicted to last between two to four years.”

The monitoring systems’ wireless

ENGINEERING

THE SENSORS CHECK THE SYSTEM EVERY 30 SECONDS.

sensors collect vibration data from the bearings and send them to a cloud-based database that the CBC engineers then monitor to identify if there’s an issue with the equipment, Slaughter explains.

“The biggest advantage with this system is that you don’t necessarily need to look at massive amounts of data coming through. The monitoring system has alarm-based thresholds built

monitoring system is that the sensors’ data can integrate with a smartphone application and be made available to the person analysing the data.

The application offers a summary of the overall health of the machine, including vibration trend, speed and so on. In this way, the asset owner can get an overall picture of what’s going on with their machine.”

Slaughter says that customers can

into the sensors which are based on the ISO standard for vibration,” he says.

“The sensors check the system every 30 seconds and send an alert only if a threshold has exceeded.

Over time, these thresholds can be calibrated based on the normal behaviour of the machine so that you only receive alarms when there’s a genuine problem.

“Another key benefit of the

Electronic safety solutions for vehicles.

choose to either monitor the data themselves or appoint a third-party analyser, like CBC Engineering Solutions, to monitor the information and offer technical advice on the potential causes of abnormal behaviour in the machine.

“Depending on the skillset of our customers, they might prefer to monitor the data themselves or alternatively we can provide that as an additional service to our customers.

There can also be combinations wherein, for example, the in-house condition monitoring teams monitor some critical assets and we can help them with some other assets.”

With the COVID-19 causing travel restrictions across Australia in recent months, Slaughter says the CBC Engineering team has been able to continue to support its customers.

“With so many customers across different states, we’ve been doing our best to support our customers’ requirements, organising online meetings to clearly understand their situation and to design the best solution for them,” he says.

“Each solution is unique and depends on the site conditions that the customer has, as well as on what they are hoping to achieve with remote monitoring. The most important thing about having a successful program is understanding the customers’ expectations right from the beginning and being very upfront about what wireless monitoring can and can’t do.

“There are always advantages and limitations with different types of condition monitoring. So, understanding their expectations and providing a solution that is the best fit for them is the way we go about it.” AM

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CRUSHING & SCREENING

ASTEC AUSTRALIA DELIVERS A CRUSHING WORKHORSE THE KODIAK CONE CRUSHER IS NOW A KEY PART OF 50 INDUSTRIAL OPERATIONS IN AUSTRALIA. ASTEC AUSTRALIA REVEALS WHAT THESE MACHINES ARE MADE OF.

A

move by Astec Industries to expand beyond its market presence in the asphalt sector has turned the company into a fully integrated business.

Back in 1997, the company made an early move to acquire crushing, screening, material handling and washing and classifying equipment providers, Kolberg-Pioneer Inc (KPI) and Performance Engineered Products (PEP) series of Vari-Vibe and Duo-Vibe high-frequency screens to support its core market.

This expansion was followed by an acquisition of Johnson Crushers International (JCI) the next year, bringing the foremost Kodiak cone crusher under the Astec Industries group of companies.

Today, Astec supplies a wide array of mining, bulk materials handling and aggregate equipment, ranging from materials processing equipment, fixed rockbreakers, apron feeders, conveyors, material handling equipment to underground

mining equipment. The company also provides service, maintenance and training to support users of its equipment.

Through all of this, the Kodiak cone crusher continues to build on its original manufacturing standard.

To this day, all Kodiak cones are produced in state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Oregon, the United States, which were acquired from JCI in 1998.

“What stands out about the Kodiak crushers is that they’re heaviest in class, thus applying greater pounds per horsepower into its crushing function,” Astec Australia account manager, materials solutions – northern regions, Shaun Quinn says.

“Today, Astec Australia has over 50 successful Kodiak cone installations in various different applications around Australia, ranging from hard rock through to recycling.”

The Kodiak cone crushers are applicable as a replacement of older cone crushers in brownfield operations and can be integrated into modern programmable

THE KODIAK CONE CRUSHER IS THE HEAVIEST IN ITS CLASS, SIGNIFYING ITS HORSEPOWER.

AUSTRALIANMINING

THE KODIAK CONES ARE PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES.

logic controllers (PLCs) in new applications.

They meet coarse and fine crushing application requirements with ease of operation.

Kodiak crushers are noted for their compact size, user-friendliness and production capabilities. They are able to produce a superior-shaped product.

The chamber profile has helped to reduce operational loads within the machine.

“The Kodiak Plus Series cone crushers patented innovations provide the efficiency needed to achieve the company’s financial goals and worry-free operation demanded of rugged machinery,” Quinn says.

“Internal counterweights provide a vibration-free operation and never require replacement or rebalancing as they maintain true balance through the life of the machine.

“This precision balanced ‘revolving wedge’ fully supports the cone head like a cam.”

The cone crusher has been developed with operators and maintenance staff in mind. It features an anti-spin cone brake that reduces manganese wear costs and minimises projectiles for improved safety.

It also provides an additional layer

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of comfort against overload events, thanks to the replaceable brass seat liners.

Liner changes are also quick and easy due to the split coupler, which quickly unfastens the upper section of the crusher.

The pivot cylinder bases, too, help absorb misalignment that may occur while passing non-crushable materials.

A machine that triumphs with such ease of use, the Kodiak cone crusher also provides tramp iron relief, eliminating maintenance costs associated with accumulators.

“Pressure relief valves act as latches, generating minimum back pressure build-up during an overload event,” Quinn says.

“These valves prevent violent, rapid release of stored hydraulic pressure prevalent with accumulators, while reducing maintenance and stress on the machine should an overload event occur.”

Astec takes an extra step to keep the machine low maintenance by adding a thread locking ring that replaces individual cylinders and acts as a single piston to provide unparalleled locking pressure, reduced maintenance and leak-free operation.

CRUSHING & SCREENING

“Left hand threat enables the crusher to open up in the event of locking pressure loss,” Quinn says.

“Field replaceable brass threads inserts resist seizing, and metal transfer between thread faces.”

Kodiak crushers also produce higher efficiencies and reduce operating expense by as much as 50 per cent compared with bushingstyle crushers, thanks to the precision design in roller bearings.

Quinn says roller bearings generate less friction, resulting in more crushing power, and are far more tolerable of ambient temperature fluctuations.

All these features are packed in a robust base frame characterising the Kodiak cone crushers.

The Kodiak Plus base frame features a revolutionary hybrid base frame design optimised to balance strength and weight, according to Quinn.

Since being acquired more than two decades ago, the Kodiak crushers have continued to receive significant improvements.

They have evolved from the original Louis Johnson Eljaydesigned cone crusher formed in 1947. The Kodiak itself has improved over the years to cater for increasing production demands and targets.

WHAT STANDS OUT ABOUT THE KODIAK CRUSHERS IS THAT THEY’RE HEAVIEST IN CLASS, THUS APPLYING GREATER POUNDS PER HORSEPOWER INTO ITS CRUSHING FUNCTION.” Astec Australia – JCI has, in fact, expanded its Kodiak Plus cone crusher series with the new midrange model K350+, offering higher production with a smaller footprint.

“In comparison with the K300+, the K350+ features an increase in drive train, stroke, horsepower, weight, head diameters and hold-down force, resulting in an up to 10 per cent capacity increase,” Quinn says.

“It can be either operated with the recommended 350 horsepower motor or use the existing K300+ or Eljay 54-inch power of 300 horsepower. We have observed as much as a 25 per cent increase in production over the Eljay 54-inch cones.

“The K350+ is certainly something worth considering when you’re looking at modernising and

ASTEC’S KODIAK CONE CRUSHERS ARE SUITABLE IN BOTH COARSE AND FINE CRUSHING APPLICATIONS.

improving your operation.”

The K350+ can be mounted in current K300+ applications and with external envelope dimensions that are very similar to the Eljay 54inch cone makes it a machine worth considering.

In line with mining’s shift to autonomous operations, the crushers are equipped with the Kodiak control

system (KCS) that continuously monitors operation parameters.

It also issues warnings and shuts the crusher down when a major event occurs.

The control system can be operated as either a standalone system, or integrated into a plant PLC, proving its flexibility to adapt to current plant configurations. AM

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CRUSHING & SCREENING

G-VAULT INTERSTAGE SCREENS PROCESS GOLDEN RESULTS OPERATIONAL INEFFICIENCIES ARE A COMMON OCCURRENCE IN DRY AND WET PROCESSING. JIM COLGROVE REVEALS WHAT TRULY SETS DERRICK’S G-VAULT INTERSTAGE SCREEN APART WHEN IT COMES TO AVOIDING THESE ISSUES.

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THE STRENGTH OF DERRICK’S G-VAULT INTERSTAGE SCREEN LIES IN ITS POLYURETHANE SCREEN SURFACE TECHNOLOGY.

he development of Derrick’s G-Vault interstage screens in the gold processing sector has challenged the perception of what was previously too difficult or even impossible to screen.

The G-Vault addresses the shortcomings presented by stainless steel wedge wire screens in carbon-in leach (CIL)/carbon-in-pulp (CIP) and resin-in-leach processes.

The secret to overcoming these shortcomings lies in the development of Derrick’s polyurethane screen surface technology that has been refined incrementally over the past 35 years.

This refinement has resulted in a screening technology that addresses the common issues of blinding and pegging in processing plant screens.

As Derrick senior vice president and director of new business development Jim Colgrove puts it, angular materials are “very prone” to blinding or pegging when using woven wire mesh or wedge wire screens.

“Blinding and pegging are different concepts,” he says. “Blinding occurs when particles become trapped in the ‘hourglass’ shape of a square wire mesh screen aperture (see figure 1).

“Pegging occurs mainly in a slotted wire mesh or wedge wire screen surface, whereby a particle wedges in a slot that becomes unstable along its length, or the particle is wedged or pegged in a worn and rounded wedge wire slot opening.”

While the relief angle of a wire mesh and wedge wire opening can be adjusted to help reduce material blinding, the result from a small amount of wear is eventually a blinded screen. This reduces the available screening area, therefore lowering its capacity and efficiency.

“Derrick has been designing and manufacturing polyurethane screens since 1984,” Colgrove says.

“We are the world leader in the technology of urethane screen surfaces.

We manufacture them from six millimetres down to 38 micrometres – all with superior performing open area and cut points.

“While all urethane screen panels are well known for their abrasion resistance, only Derrick screens combine long life with high open area, capacity and performance rivalling that of conventional woven wire screens.”

Derrick was committed to developing proprietary technology in designing and building the intricate moulds needed for producing these novel screens, while its research and development department focussed on their application.

“There have been many long weeks at customer sites developing the right type of screen surface for a particular application,” Colgrove reveals.

These screens were developed without the Derrick team taking its eyes off of the equipment they would be used on.

According to Colgrove, the urethane surfaces and equipment AUSTRALIANMINING

have a symbiotic relationship. In 2003, Derrick developed its Stack Sizer – a “revolutionary design” for the mining industry – specifically to complement the company’s urethane screen technology.

“The next evolution in Derrick’s development occurred when we made the jump to thermoplastics,” Colgrove says.

“It gave us the ability to make small screens via an intricate moulding process. This lets us build screens of smaller sizes to achieve fine openings and high open areas.

“These smaller screens can be attached to one another via a support structure to achieve the size and shape of a larger screen.”

This technology led to many new developments in the company, one of which is a modular screening surface for use as an interstage screen in gold leaching circuits, called G-Vault. It is a bolt in replacement to existing interstage screening units.

The result of that collaboration is a long-life, high open area (G-Vault) interstage screen, which can last for six to 12 months – 10 to 15 times longer than some conventional wedge wire panels. Due of its high open area, it offers higher capacity (see figure 2).

The G-Vault interstage screen utilises urethane screens, with a very sharp flat surface opening with excellent abrasion, cut resistance and a high relief angle (see figure 1).

By making the screens in a

replaceable cartridge format, users can easily replace an individual section when it is worn or damaged instead of the entire interstage basket.

They are lightweight and easy to install, removing many barriers and safety hazards involved in screen maintenance.

This commitment sees its value in the more consistent processing and less interruption enjoyed by many companies as a result of the flexibility, long-life and high open area characteristics (35–45 per cent).

“Traditionally, Derrick has only made urethane surfaces for use on its own equipment,” Colgrove says.

“But these principles affect the bottom line of any operation. Better screening efficiencies make a more efficient operation which lowers costs.

So now we have branched out to other markets and equipment that can benefit from our technology.”

Colgrove says that nowadays, Derrick is able to make custom sizes with custom materials easily using its technology.

“Derrick engineers enjoy working closely with each application to determine the appropriate technology and to address all customer process issues,” he says.

The growth in G-Vault technology and applications demonstrates Derrick’s commitment to exploring new opportunities to improve and increase the company’s value to the mining industry. AM

FIGURE 1: PARTICLES ARE TRAPPED IN A SQUARE WIRE MESH SCREEN APERTURE, VERSUS HIGH OPEN AREA CHARACTERISING G-VAULT (FIGURE 2).

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MEASUREMENT & MONITORING

LASE BULKSCAN SYSTEMS TO GUIDE TRUCKLESS OPERATION VALE’S TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED S11D IRON ORE MINE IN BRAZIL HAS CALLED ON THE LIKES OF GERMAN SENSING EXPERT LASE TO COMPLEMENT THE TRUCKLESS MINE DESIGN.

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ale has set the bar high at its $US14.3 billion ($19.4 million) S11D iron ore project in Pará, Brazil, when it comes to innovation.

Not only is it the largest mining complex in the company’s history – capable of increasing the Brazilian state’s production to 230 million tonnes a year – it is also set up to be a truckless mine.

The autonomous system integrates sensing solutions with process automation, replacing traditional offhighway trucks with mobile conveyor belts.

Instead of the 100 off-highway trucks that would be required, Vale has designed a structure comprising of shovels and movable crushers, which will extract the iron ore and feed about 30 kilometres of conveyor belts towards the processing plant.

The S11D mine’s technologies will reduce the amount of waste coming from tyres, filters and lubricants, as well as diesel consumption by around 70 per cent.

It will also cut water consumption by 93 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent.

Vale’s ambitious achievement has involved a working partnership between sensing solutions experts, LASE and C + Tecnologia Group.

LASE provided Bulkscan systems (LaseBVC) that were designed to measure Vale’s transported iron ore on conveyor belts remotely, accurately and in real time.

The Bulkscan systems, installed and commissioned between 2016 and 2017, are based on a 2D laser scanner mounted above the conveyor belt.

They are able to generate a profile out of the transported iron ore without any interference to accuracy from moisture and rain.

“Conveyor belts normally have belt scales on which they measure the weight of the material. But the weight of material can change due to rain or weather. You can’t really trust the weight,” LASE group sales director Lars Mohr says.

“Instead, volume measurement is much more reliable as it is unaffected by wetness or other factors.”

The LASE technology is also unfazed by the high speeds on the conveyor belt. The high resolution 2D laser scanner has a scanning rate of up to 100 measurements per second, meaning it can ensure a high degree of accuracy even on high speeds.

Its benefits extend beyond material measurement as information about the usage rate of conveyor belts is captured, allowing monitoring of material overload and generating greater efficiency in load distribution.

“The Bulkscan has a belt and material alignment measurement system that determines whether the material on the belt is still properly aligned,” Mohr says.

“It means the point of measurement for the material is balanced towards the middle of the belt, and not too far off to the left or right which could cause belt misalignment.”

Mining operators can also remotely access the measured data via their mobile or tablet via a local area network (LAN) or WiFi connection, and virtually from

anywhere in the world.

“You can track your belt remotely when you have low availability of employees, such that the COVID-19 situation can present,” Mohr says.

“You can also keep track of mining processes in your central room 2000 kilometres away. The Bulkscan system gives end users piece of mind.”

Volume measurement data is transferred to an existing programmable logic controller system where operators can monitor processes and material movement.

The Bulkscan software is responsible for data processing obtained from the scanner, filtering and evaluating process to show how it compares with benchmark levels.

While belt scales may fail, require regular servicing and are labour intensive, Mohr says the Bulkscan system is the exact opposite as it has no direct contact with the conveyor belts.

The low maintenance technology measures volume via a laser light, which virtually requires no maintenance, the Germany-based

LASE LASERSCANNER AT WORK DURING A STACKING AND RECLAIMING PROCESS.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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director explains.

To further optimise the process of automation, Vale uses the LASE laserscanner measurement systems for its stackers and reclaimers at the S11D mine.

There are six machines operating in the regularisation yard (in stackers and reclaimers), and another eight in the product yard (stackers and bucket wheel reclaimers).

They were designed to scan the existing stacks in each yard during the stacking and reclaiming process.

A 3D laser scanner is installed on top of each reclaimer machine in the product yard to measure and generate a 3D profile of the stacked material.

When asked about LASE’s measurement capability, Mohr says: “We turned 30 this year, so that’s 30 years of measurement experience, particularly in the mining and steel industry. A lot of companies had requested us to make laser measurement systems, so we made the best version of those and made it available to global users.” AM

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MINERALS PROCESSING

THYSSENKRUPP’S PRODUCTS PUSH THE ENVELOPE FORWARD IN THE MINING INDUSTRY.

A BESPOKE VALUE PROPOSITION FOR MINING THYSSENKRUPP’S WIDE RANGE OF MINING INDUSTRY OFFERINGS ENSURE WORLD-CLASS GERMAN AND AUSTRALIAN ENGINEERED DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE, ALONG WITH A COMPLETE PORTFOLIO OF DIGITAL SOLUTIONS AND SERVICES.

A

t a mining operation, it’s always a goal to get the most ‘bang for your buck’.

This is particularly important when investing in high-cost machinery, which is vital to keep production flowing.

To maximise the productivity of an operation, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions offers a range of benefits to extract every bit of performance from a new purchase.

The components for its wide range of mining products, including crushers, stackers and bucket wheels are field tested to ensure they remain reliable and are of optimum quality for a long period of time.

And as the industry evolves, so does its solutions, with thyssenkrupp providing innovative digital mining products for both support and services.

“As these machines are multimillion-dollar purchases, there’s no room for a standby machine,” a thyssenkrupp spokesperson tells Australian Mining. “thyssenkrupp offers confidence in asset performance, and integrity through our local engineers, service crews and spare parts. Our machines offer world-class design and performance, with digital solutions for support and services.”

With its headquarters in Germany, thyssenkrupp has support services across the world, including in

Australia, to offer local support and delivery of its solutions.

“As our local team has intimate knowledge of the machines, we can easily assess the requirements, offer recommendations and provide parts on site before a shutdown,” the thyssenkrupp spokesperson says.

“We have invested into building up our local engineering team, service centres and spare parts holdings to ensure top notch service and the ability to sustain our client’s need for competitive pricing.”

The company is constantly releasing innovative products to tackle all facets of a mining operation, including its newest designed stackers and reclaimers, which are the largest in the world.

Manufactured in Australia and designed for the country’s harsh conditions, these machines represent huge value with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes per hour.

“Manufacturing and preassembly took place in Henderson, Western Australia,” the spokesperson says.

“The design of the machines incorporates the latest Australian design standard requirements and technology improvements centred on safe construction, operation and maintenance activities.”

Another offering in the thyssenkrupp range is the KB 63-130 gyratory crusher, which is new to Australia this year. It features a stateof-the-art design with throughput of AUSTRALIANMINING

up to 14,000 tonnes per hour and a drive rating of 1500 kilowatts. thyssenkrupp believes its mineral processing solutions benefit from efficiency, cost savings and planned maintenance.

“It boils down to operating cost and emissions,” the spokesperson says.

“Our system is driven to operate at an optimum operating point which is most efficient for power consumption, wear and crushability of material.

“When developing machines, we keep servicing in mind to ensure they are robust enough to satisfy clients’ service upgrades.”

For mining planning services, thyssenkrupp offers a range of semimobile and fully-mobile crushing plants, conveyor systems and spreading systems, with its planning team mapping out the full life cycle mining process, ensuring the best value and lowest cost per tonne.

The company keeps competitive pricing in mind and ensures its machines live up to their value as a high-performance investment that also represents efficiency and reliability.

With a dedication towards pushing the boundary forward, thyssenkrupp’s automate and optimise portfolio offers a full suite of mining solutions.

This includes fully automated storage systems, remote-controlled ship unloaders, bucket wheel excavators, digital inventory management, and more.

“Our solutions are aimed at

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ensuring more control in clients’ production processes while reducing downtime, effectively allowing our client’s systems to be sustainably future-proof,” the spokesperson says.

The company has been developing automated stockyard machines in Australia for a number of years and has implemented laser and radar detection systems for stockyard management, as well as ore classification.

Among thyssenkrupp’s offerings is a digital conveyor belt twin, which uses digital twin technology to create a digital representation the physical installed belt conveyor to provide real-time feedback, increasing operational efficiency even when operators and maintenance personnel are not on site. thyssenkrupp also offers continuous truck loading automation and transfer point alignment technologies to increase productivity using the latest in Industry 4.0 technologies.

Another area of automation the company is focussed on is digitalised monitoring and maintenance.

“Digitalisation is bringing specific benefits to the monitoring and maintenance of mining equipment,” the spokesperson says.

“We work to keep the machines working with high reliability and availability through tailored chutes, wear materials, liner profile designs and new technology further contributing to cost savings.” AM

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DRILL & BLAST

BLASTING EXPERT A TITLE-HOLDER IN THE EXPORTS HALL OF FAME BLAST MOVEMENT TECHNOLOGIES HAS DEVELOPED A BLAST-PROOF SENSOR THAT CAN ACCURATELY MEASURE THE IMPACT OF A BLAST MOVEMENT. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH CHIEF EXECUTIVE JACQUES JANSE ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY. BMT USES A UNIQUE ALGORITHM THAT DETECTS THE POSITION OF THE OREBODY BEFORE AND AFTER A BLAST.

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he minimisation of ore dilution and maximisation of fragmentation in a blasting operation are two of the keys to unlocking value in a gold mine.

When a company has the right intel around a mine blast, it can ultimately and easily yield millions of dollars in value.

When the largest open cut mine in South Africa deployed a monitoring solution from Blast Movement Technologies (BMT) – a Hexagon group company – it generated $US2 million ($2.7 million) in value for the mining company.

Another open cut copper mine in Peru produced the highest yield (i.e. $US2.8 million) it had ever seen in a blast thanks to the BMT solution.

Altogether BMT has generated $US5.5 billion in value for mining companies around the world, working across commodities such as gold, copper, nickel, silver, zinc, platinum and lithium.

This monitoring system had a humble beginning, being developed out of a research project in the University

of Queensland (UQ) in 2005.

The project was commissioned by Placer Dome (before it was acquired by Barrick Gold) to develop software that could model blast movement.

“In a narrow vein gold mine, for instance, an ore deposit could be two metres wide and it is normally hosted in very hard rock. But once you create a situation where you move the whole ore mass 10 metres away – as is the case with blasting – you wouldn’t know where the deposit had gone to and you could lose it all,” Blast Movement Technologies chief executive Jacques Janse says.

But after a few months of study, the UQ team came back with nothing.

Janse says there’s no formula in any textbook that can measure blast movement.

“Every blast is so variable, taking into account so many factors. One blast isn’t going to be exactly the same as the next. There is no model that would be accurate enough to measure this,” Janse says.

The persistence of the problem led to the idea of using technology that’s capable of measuring the blast movement itself.

AUSTRALIANMINING

Today, the BMT blast movement monitor takes the size of a soft ball that can go 20 metres deep in an open cut mine. It is placed on the waste ore boundaries and has the ability to survive a blast.

“We use a unique algorithm to take its position before the blast and use the detector to move across the pile and get a coordinate of where the orebody has moved to,” Janse says.

“We export that data to the software, helping mining companies unearth the orebody in the right spot and minimise ore dilution and loss.”

Today, BMT has developed version six of that sensor, which delivers great results in terms of discoverability and detectability, as high as around 90 per cent.

In the iron ore space, the BMT solution has been useful to help miners avoid ore grade misclassification from a blast.

Janse says mining companies selling a type of iron ore blend consisting of a specific grade cannot afford making the mistake of putting the high-grade ore in the medium grade stockpile.

“In an iron ore mine, everywhere you dig is ore. But the same deposit

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can contain both high value and low value iron ore. This is where the BMT solution comes in,” Janse says.

BMT’s technology caught the attention of a mining technology company, Hexagon Mining, which acquired the drill and blast specialist in January.

The unique value blast chain fits right in Hexagon’s blast planning and grade control software.

These software and hardware solutions together create a feedback loop that helps miners understand how to best design a blast and how it affects ore loss, dilution and fragmentation.

“Measuring is knowing. Modelling is guessing. In an environment as chaotic as a blasting operation, do you really want to guess where your orebody has moved?” Janse asks, rhetorically.

The solution has today become the standard across open cut gold mines, taking BMT to the Australian export hall of fame in November 2018, and helping deliver year-on-year revenue growth of 40 per cent.

Still, the company has continued to reinvest around 15 per cent of its revenue over the past three years to research and develop more robust and accurate detectors.

“We’ve got 130 customers in 42 countries, and we have a very close relationship with our customer base.

We continually ask them to give feedback to us – we only develop and design things that they want and find useful,” Janse concludes. AM THE BMT SOLUTION HELPS TO MINIMISE ORE LOSS AND DILUTION.

SUSTAINABILITY

TYRE STEWARDSHIP AUSTRALIA WORKS WITH INDUSTRY TO GIVE OLD TYRES NEW LIFE DURING THE 2018-19 FINANCIAL YEAR, 120,000 TONNES OF USED TYRES IN THE OFF-THE-ROAD TYRE SECTOR WERE LANDFILLED, BURIED OR STOCKPILED. TYRE STEWARDSHIP EXPLAINS HOW ITS TYRE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP SCHEME AIMS TO IMPROVE THE RECOVERY RATE OF USED TYRES.

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n consultation with Randell Environmental Consulting and Brock Baker Environmental Consulting, Tyre Stewardship has analysed the consumption and eventual fate of off-the-road (OTR) tyres in the mining industry.

The analysis, which can be found on Tyre Stewardship’s website, identified that the estimated recovery rate during 2018-19 was only 11 per cent, with the remaining 89 per cent not recovered and an assumed 81 per cent disposed on the mine site or at farming or other similar sites.

The mining industry accounted for 61 per cent of consumption of OTR tyres, compared with 27 per cent in agriculture, 7 per cent in construction, 2 per cent in manufacturing and trade, and 3 per cent in aviation.

Tyre Stewardship acknowledges the challenges mining and other sectors that use OTR tyres face, including the remote locations that sites are based.

In addition, the size of OTR tyres makes disposal difficult and a limited number of recyclers have the capacity to safely recycle heavy earth moving tyres.

From its research, the company’s tyre product stewardship scheme was born with the aim to develop an achievable solution for end-of-life tyres.

Projects under the scheme include the crumb rubber capacity expansion for Spray Seal in Queensland and manufacturing reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) from crumbed tyres that would have otherwise been destined for landfill.

Tyre Stewardship chief executive officer Lina Goodman says the organisation will be working with a group of Western Australian mining organisations to gain a better understanding of what is required to

achieve better recovery rates of OTR tyres in the industry.

“The purpose of this preliminary research working with this cluster of enthusiastic organisations is to understand what is available from a recycling perspective immediately and what is on the horizon in the medium term,” Goodman tells Australian Mining.

“This research will see the consolidation of relevant waste data and working in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Water and Environment Regulation, mining corporations and the sector, Tyre Stewardship believes will provide a start to better understand how to increase recovery rates.”

With so few options for recycling used tyres from the OTR sector in Australia, Tyre Stewardship plans to consolidate this research and waste data to help provide mining companies with a clear pathway to recycling these problematic waste tyres.

This requires not only the assistance of the mining industry in addressing the problem, but also the earth moving tyre companies themselves to participate in actively reducing the waste within the industry.

“Whilst the mining companies are keen to understand what can be done to help them address this problem, we really need to see earth moving tyre companies participate in the Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme and contribute as their passenger tyre counterparts have been doing,” Goodman explains.

“This will provide the necessary funds to assist the sector to find viable markets for large earth moving tyres and conveyor belts.”

Similarly with OTR tyres, Australia has limited recycling options for used conveyor belts, for which there is less information of how many reach their end of life and

AUSTRALIANMINING

TYRE STEWARDSHIP AUSTRALIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER LINA GOODMAN.

are discarded of annually.

Mining companies are then forced to find storage solutions for tyres and conveyors on site until they can be safely disposed of.

“What we are yet to capture is the volume of used conveyor belts that reach end of life each year, it is estimated that this could be just as high as end-of-life OTR tyres,” Goodman says.

“There are currently limited options available in Australia for recycling used tyres and conveyor belts from the OTR sector and in many cases, when they are recovered, they are snipped into manageable pieces and sent overseas for reprocessing.

“Tyre Stewardship is attempting to, with the sector and recycling industry, help navigate through options that will provide mining companies with a pathway to recycling this problematic

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waste issue.”

Recently, Tyre Stewardship’s key focus has been on the passenger and tyre truck sector, due to passenger and tyre truck importers contributing to a levy to find a solution for the tyres.

Now that there is interest, investment and solutions in place in this space, Tyre Stewardship believes it is time to apply the same pressure within the OTR sector.

“For many years Tyre Stewardship has focussed on the passenger and truck tyre sector, driving solutions for used passenger and truck tyres, providing optimal outcome through market development activities and local investment by recyclers,” Goodman adds.

“It is now time for Tyre Stewardship to focus on the OTR sector and generate the same level of interest, support and sustainable outcomes.” AM

WATER MANAGEMENT

ROBUST PIPING SOLUTIONS FOR SERIOUS MINING OPERATIONS

AFTER MORE THAN 130 YEARS AS AN AUSTRALIAN-MADE MANUFACTURER, STEEL MAINS IS THE LARGEST SUPPLIER OF HIGH PRESSURE WATER PIPELINE SYSTEMS IN THE COUNTRY.

H

igh quality and low maintenance water infrastructure is crucial to mining assets, with many operations still running for several

decades.

While it is obvious that operators want to continue digging for valuable minerals – they certainly do not want to be wasting time digging up faulty water pipeline systems.

There are a number of pipeline products on the market, including imported products from overseas countries, which are often considered to be cheaper alternatives.

Steel Mains steel pipeline system is backed by an extensive track record of delivering high-quality steel pipes to some of the country’s major mining operations.

Founded in 1878, Steel Mains has earned an enviable reputation for its steel pipeline and mild steel pipe jointing solutions. Over more than a century, steel pipeline design, manufacturing processes and technology have evolved into the Sintakote steel pipeline system.

Steel Mains business development manager mining, Amir Vahdani, says materials and labour required to manufacture the company’s products are sourced locally, ensuring they enjoy greater than 98 per cent local content.

Steel Mains’ operation has remained up and running due to its reputation for high-quality and innovative solutions that are on offer.

“Having strategically positioned our manufacturing plants in Victoria and WA, from each corner of the

country we are able to supply the whole Australian market, all through local manufacturing and local labour,” Vahdani says.

“Steel Mains is not a supplier who manufactures off-the-shelf-products.

What we do is to provide a full bespoke custom-designed solution that is aligned with our customer’s project specific requirements.”

Incorporating a national and international footprint, Steel Mains serves both the mining and water industry, which primarily demand that assets have a long operational life, hence the meticulous design and acceptance criteria.

“In terms of mining, it is intertwined with the water industry. The commonality between these industries, is the supply of water,” Vahdani says.

“When it comes to mine sites, water can serve different purposes.

“It may be needed for the supply of water through high pressure water mains. This is often from sources located far away from the mine site (desalination plants or bores), port operation and stock yard. Whether it is for a potable use, processing use, or dust suppression applications – they all require water, and Steel Mains is equipped to provide a unique solution to meet each project-specific requirement.”

Wastewater transferred from mine sites tends to have high levels of acidity, which Vahdani says Steel Mains’ pipes can withstand – and often outlive the life of a mine.

“We have immersed ourselves in major projects like BHP Olympic Dam, where we have forged a longAUSTRALIANMINING

standing relationship since 1998.

Proudly we have worked with many major mining companies, as we are attentive to their needs and, as a result, have developed unique solutions, which are used as the foundation for future deployments” he says.

“Mining environments tend to exhibit harsh conditions such as corrosive soils, acidic water, high temperatures and high pressures.

These hostile conditions require the ultimate strength and toughness of Steel Mains’ steel solution.”

Vahdani stresses Steel Mains steel pipeline solutions often outlive the life of the mine due to their pipes specifically being designed to last more than 100 years.

“Our steel pipe offers a lifetime solution as they are designed to tolerate these harsh conditions,” he says.

“Steel Mains’ unique world-class coating and lining solutions are applied to the full pipeline to provide superior protection against corrosion in various environments. Protecting the external surface of our products, Steel Mains applies our proprietary Sintakote medium-density-polyethylene coating on the pipe using a fusion-

bonding process. This coating is also incorporated on the joints.

“Our Sintakote pipeline eliminates additional costs associated with possibly requiring further maintenance.

We encourage our customers to conduct a cost-benefit analysis based on the total cost of ownership over the lifetime of the pipeline.

“If a customer decides to select cheaper alternatives, in the longterm they may encounter increased maintenance costs. This may result in unprecedented shutdowns which defeats the objective of providing a continuously operating mine site.

“These crucial factors are sometimes overlooked when project teams tend to look at the smaller picture. Project teams often try to minimise their projects’ capital expenditure, however, they unwittingly increase their costs over the asset’s lifetime.”

“Our company’s mission focusses on the broader goal of providing long-lasting water infrastructure that builds communities. We continuously promote growth and survival because water is the most essential part of life – and that obviously applies to the life of mine sites as well.” AM

STEEL MAINS HAS OFFERED ITS SOLUTIONS FOR MORE THAN 130 YEARS.

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MINING SERVICES

MAKURI LEADS IN OPTIMISING PROCESS FRONT END PERFORMANCE MAKURI TECHNOLOGY IS RAPIDLY GAINING A REPUTATION AS THE RIGHT TEAM TO PARTNER WITH IN THE SUPPLY OF HIGHPERFORMANCE WEAR PARTS.

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btaining and maintaining the lowest operating cost is an ongoing challenge for mining companies, and Makuri Technology specialises in the development of exceptional highperformance wear parts that also come with a world-class three level guarantee system.

Makuri founder and chief executive Ian J. Wilson says that after working in mining equipment and process plant engineering and maintenance at some of the world’s largest and toughest sites for about 30 years, he saw both the need and opportunity to create higher value-adding parts.

These are needed to perform better than the often sub-optimal original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components and other aftermarket price-based offerings that come up short in hard rock and highly abrasive mining and processing operations.

“To achieve this, we hired several industry experts across a range of fields encompassing maintenance, engineering, manufacturing, process metallurgy and condition MAKURI INSTALLS BIMETALLIC CHUTE LINERS ON A LARGE STOCKPILE DRAWDOWN CHUTE.

monitoring,” Wilson says.

“In particular, in the new Perth office we have Malcolm Sligo, who is internationally recognised for his site service and support; and Brett Holmes, who is often regarded as a world leader in crusher liner design and process simulation.

“They are supported by long standing and well known sale administrator Sandra Kahl and our engineering and logistics staff in our head office in Singapore and regional office in Indonesia.

“So, after many years of supplying high-performance wear parts to overseas markets, Makuri Technology has opened the doors in Western Australia.”

Makuri’s Australian general manager, Holmes, adds that the company’s goal isn’t to become the biggest in the market, but rather to make sure it services a key group of customers properly and to the level that provides maximum value.

“We aim to assist customers in identifying what can be optimised and how to meet extended operating scenarios,” Holmes says.

Sligo, who holds the company role of global sales director and has spent nearly 40 years in manufacturing and machine servicing and rebuilding, says, “I like the fact that we specialise in ‘the forgotten front end of the process plant’.

“This area typically gets less attention and it has become our core business and we excel in it. Our solutions range from crusher wear liners, chute liners, apron feeder pans, SAG mill feed chutes and general machine maintenance and components, and providing all the engineering and support around that.

“Recently, the company worked with an overseas mining company to improve the reliability of its pebble crushing circuit, following repeated failures by all other suppliers that had serviced the site, including the OEM. “This was achieved by optimising the crusher liners, producing an overall life improvement of around 54 per cent.”

Makuri is committed to not only supplying wear components but also introducing improvements or changes AUSTRALIANMINING

INSPECTION OF AN OPTIMISED CRUSHER LINER ON SITE.

relating to condition monitoring, processing, engineering and design to get the best value out of mining assets.

The company also uses in-house simulation and laser scanning methods to evaluate wear on liners to help provide better outcomes, including life and performance.

Holmes believes that if the company fixes all the root causes, a machine will perform much better than name plate suggests it can.

“We don’t concentrate on selling copies of standard OEM components, instead we customise them for endusers to work according to their unique applications,” he says.

“Our approach is to optimise component materials and design to take the problem away.

“Successful minerals extraction and processing now, and increasingly in the future, will be determined by the best availability and utilisation of assets. Makuri has extended its capability into completing advanced root cause analysis on many machines and associated component failures, and has utilised this approach to address MP1000 crusher

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head failures.

“After extensive investigations and design reviews, Makuri redesigned the head based on eliminating the current design flaws to create a greatly-improved machine part.”

This capability stems from the company founder, Wilson, who believes there are growing and pressing needs for the mining industry to address its lack of innovation and technology adoption in some areas, and its growing carbon footprint.

“We step in to show the world that we understand and care about such things and can work with customers to achieve them,” Wilson says.

Makuri started in Asia and has gone global before circling back now to Perth, Western Australia.

“We are excited about working with those companies in Australia that want sustainable improved machine performance, guaranteed lowest costs to operate and a reduced carbon footprint as both our wear and machine parts are proven to last that much longer than the current standard offerings,” Holmes concludes. AM

MINING SERVICES

LINX CARGO CARE GROUP KEEPS MINING EXPORT SUPPLY CHAIN ROLLING GETTING PRODUCTS FROM MINE TO PORT FOR EXPORT IS A KEY STEP IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH LINX CARGO CARE GROUP ABOUT ITS FLEXIBILITY IN HELPING MINING COMPANIES MOVE THEIR PRODUCT TO PORT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. LINX HAS KEPT THE MINING SUPPLY CHAIN MOVING BY TAKING A FLEXIBLE APPROACH.

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ith numerous industries scaling back operations as a result of the pandemic, mining has remained one of the most important industries in keeping the Australian economy afloat by providing end markets with essential commodities.

With businesses across port, forestry, road and rail transport, as well as the automotive sector, LINX Cargo Care Group is a key link between the mines and the products reaching their customers.

The pandemic has interrupted interstate and particularly international supply chains and deliveries, further underpinning the importance of reliable and local logistical companies like LINX Cargo Care Group.

Carlo Cutinelli, executive general manager for customer and business development at LINX Cargo Care Group, says the key to the group’s success in supporting its mining customers in unprecedented times is being flexible to their needs and expectations.

“It is a really opportunistic time

to offer interchangeable options regarding which modes we are using for our customers,” Cutinelli tells Australian Mining.

“For example, rail works really well from a cost effectiveness and environmental point of view and is beneficial for transporting product long distances, but a lot of the time it is very difficult for mining operations to have dedicated rail facilities.

“Working together with our customers, we can help to reduce their supply chain costs and leverage LINX’s abilities in both the trucking and rail space to develop a boutique solution, allowing them to export at a more cost-effective rate.”

LINX Cargo Care Group prides itself on having valuable knowledge not only in the logistics space, but also of the industries and markets it is supporting, such as mining. The group is able to apply this expertise when developing a port, rail or road solution.

This includes knowledge of the commodities mining companies are transporting, including the market conditions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this has impacted their exports.

AUSTRALIANMINING

“Some commodities are holding their ground, but the mining operations like battery metals that were waiting on market movement to make their mines feasible for production require additional support trying to reinvigorate those activities,” Cutinelli says.

“LINX Cargo Care Group is working alongside them to look at unique opportunities to encourage their operations and developing a broader suite of service offerings.”

For example, LINX Cargo Care Group has overcome border closures impacting exports across state lines by putting customers’ products that are usually transported by rail to be trucked by road and vice-versa to maintain continuity of supply.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit we ran a substantial fleet and when the state borders were shut, we were flexible and made changes to assist our customers, putting rail exports onto the road or vice versa,” Cutinelli says.

“Our role in the supply chain didn’t skip a beat, even with the initial stage three lockdown in Victoria, we helped keep the export supply chain moving.”

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Being versatile to change according to customers’ needs is an important part of LINX Cargo Care Group’s business model, to support its customers throughout the range of industries the group’s businesses service.

As well as being flexible with its options for customers, LINX Cargo Care Group attributes its success to keeping its part in Australia’s supply chain rolling to its quick reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic to adhere to government restrictions and put the appropriate safety and protective measures in place.

Cutinelli says this extended from LINX Cargo Care Group’s efforts, with the logistics industry as a whole working together to ensure safe continued operations for its people and customers.

“LINX Cargo Care Group reacted very quickly to enact our pandemic business continuity plans across all of our sectors of business,” he says.

“This is testament to the logistics industry as a whole. The industry already had robust work plans in place with regard to managing fatigue and safety.

“From here, our businesses could flex very quickly to put forward COVID response management plans, such as additional safety measures and managing recruitment, to ensure we had enough drivers for the additional road operations.”

Cutinelli says the mining industry’s preparedness and focus on safety was also paramount to quickly adapting to the situation and keeping exports moving despite border and travel restrictions.

“The mining industry has led the safety charge and culture we’ve seen across many industries,” he says.

“Dealing with various companies over the last five to seven years I have seen those robust plans they have in place.

“Their safety plans and requirements are very stringent and uncompromised, it’s a testament to mining companies and their industry.”

MAINTENANCE

MAINTAINING A RELIABLE, EFFICIENT MINE REMOTELY FROM THE LARGEST BUCKET WHEEL DRIVE OR CRUSHER GEARBOX TO THE SMALLEST CONVEYOR DRIVE, KEEPING YOUR MINING EQUIPMENT IN TOP CONDITION IS IMPORTANT FOR ANY OPERATION. FLENDER AUSTRALIA HAS RECOGNISED THIS WITH ITS PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE SOLUTION FOR INDUSTRIAL GEAR UNITS.

I

f there’s a word to describe 2020, it would be uncertainty.

Such unprecedented times have brought a number of new challenges to people and businesses alike. The mining industry is no exception.

Operating remotely or with travel flexibility has become the new norm in this space.

If a mining business has not set up an automated or remote-operated condition monitoring system, the lack of access to remote sites for specialist technicians can spell disaster for mining machinery and operations.

To throw some certainty back into the equation, mechanical drive technology company Flender offers a number of remote condition monitoring solutions to enhance the reliability of industrial gearboxes.

Flender has provided its reliable and field-tested components and services for mining operations across the world for decades.

Flender’s presence in Australia is also rapidly growing – the company has more than 1200 drives installed at

Western Australian mines alone.

It recently announced a new 3500-square-metre service facility in the Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate in Perth to be closer to some of the country’s biggest mining operations.

On the technological front, Flender’s DX500, part of the Diagnostex range, is one of company’s latest innovations, providing a virtual link to mining machinery without personnel having to be present on site – all in a low cost, plug-andplay package that uses Industry 4.0 technology.

“We’ve got a couple of new initiatives besides the traditional condition monitoring offerings that we’ve had in the past,” Flender’s service operations manager in Australia, Steve Stratton, tells Australian Mining. “We’ve now got a new cost-effective DX500 system that is best suited for our standard gear units like on conveyors.

“The DX500 has complete digital capability to tell us what exactly is going on with a gearbox out in the field.

“If we can see that the gearbox is doing something it’s not designed to do, we can forewarn the customer and make recommendations using the data from the digital equipment installed on the side of the gearbox.

“Flender’s condition monitoring systems, including the DX500, allow for remote monitoring from an app directly on a smartphone or tablet, along with the signal being sent to one of the company’s service centres.”

Stratton says a signal can even be sent from a remote gearbox thousands of miles away.

“If anything happens to the gearbox it will give us a signal telling us there’s something wrong, and we contact the customer telling them that they need to pay particular attention to that asset as it could fail imminently,” he says.

Flender also offers an industrial circuit service for on-site workers, who may not be gearbox specialists. This service sends a live high definition video feed via a smartphone or tablet to the company’s experts.

“We can see what’s going on, and we can send customers sketches

FLENDER AUSTRALIA’S CONDITION MONITORING SYSTEMS ENABLE USERS TO MONITOR THEIR GEARBOXES REMOTELY.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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FLENDER AUSTRALIA HAS BEEN PROVIDING RELIABLE COMPONENTS TO THE MINING INDUSTRY FOR DECADES.

and drawings, while we’re talking to them, to point out specific parts of the gearbox that they need to pay close attention to,” Stratton says.

This is particularly useful during an era of limited travel where specialists may not be available on site.

“We’ve got the biggest installed base in Australia for industrial gearboxes so we thought it would be a complementary value add to offer customers the ability to look after the life cycle of their machines,” Stratton adds.

Flender’s bread and butter are its gear units and couplings, which are available for a number of industries, including mining.

The company load tests its gearboxes to provide added reassurance and maintain the optimum reliability of its products.

For Stratton, this is vital for mining applications.

“The mining industry is seeing the big benefit to load testing the gearboxes,” he says.

“We try and simulate as best as possible the running conditions that the gearbox will see when it goes to site.

“Once we’re satisfied that it’s reached a certain criteria, which is partially driven by the customer and Flender’s quality standards, then we’re happy to release the gearbox to the customer.” AM

MAINTENANCE

MEETING API SPECIFICATIONS IN MINING AND CONSTRUCTION SEGMENTS TOTAL HAS PROVEN ITS COMMITMENT TO SERVE CUSTOMERS BY DESIGNING THE TOTAL RUBIA WORKS TO MEET AND EXCEED AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE STANDARDS.

T

he American Petroleum Institute (API) has been continuously publishing standards for the petroleum industry and these include performance requirements of automotive lubricants.

The service classifications of API are updated and have evolved with time, based on prevailing and latest equipment design technologies and regulatory requirements.

The commonly referenced API lubricant categories are the gasoline engine ‘S’ (spark-ignition), diesel engine ‘C’ (compression-ignition) and gear ‘GL’ lubricant service classifications.

The nature and severity of the machine component operation and its lubricant application condition

are usually first described, and then the associated performance tests are built around these.

In Europe, the counterpart of API for engine oils is ACEA, while in Japan, it is JASO – both the latter standards are following similar evaluation principles as API, but require other test methods and acceptance criteria on some specification parameters.

On May 1, the new API SP service classification came into effect. This classification specifically pertains to the latest spark-ignited internal combustion engines focussing on low viscosity lubricants (fuel economy), avoidance of low-speed-pre-ignition (LSPI) and higher protection against timing chain wear.

For diesel engines, API CK-4 classification describes oils for use in

high-speed four-stroke cycle diesel engines.

API CK-4 oils are designed to provide enhanced protection against oil oxidation, viscosity loss due to shear, oil aeration, as well as protection against degradation of low- and high-temperature properties, catalyst poisoning, particulate filter blocking, engine wear, piston deposits and sootrelated viscosity increase.

API FA-4 is the low-HTHSviscosity version of API CK-4, but majority of mining and construction equipment manufacturers recommend the use of API CK-4 or the earlier version (and disallow API FA-4) oils to ensure adequate oil film thickness during high temperature operation in off-road application.

Meeting a specified API service

THE TOTAL RUBIA WORKS RANGE OF OFF-ROAD ENGINE OILS HAS MET OEM REQUIREMENTS, INCLUDING CATERPILLAR, CUMMINS AND MTU.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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category means subjecting the candidate engine oil in several laboratory and fired engine tests under controlled conditions in order to determine the performance of said lubricant against a set criteria.

In addition, many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) take these industry specifications as a reference starting point and often require additional performance testing to address their own design requirements.

Following testing and associated engine strip downs, the candidate fluid must earn enough merit points to pass the prescribed tests to qualify for said API classification.

Further, the evaluation can only be conducted in recognised engine test laboratories; meaning that an engine oil meeting an API service classification, provides the end users with the confidence that the lubricant is able to do the job for which the engine oil has been designed, especially when considering standard service intervals and normal operating conditions.

The TOTAL RUBIA WORKS range of off-road engine oils are specifically designed to meet and exceed API requirements, while also meeting the European ACEA ‘E’ and Asian JASO ‘DH’ diesel engine oil standards, as well as having obtained OEM approvals from various OEMs and meeting their requirements, such as Caterpillar, Cummins, MTU, Detroit Diesel, Deutz, Volvo and others.

This means that the TOTAL RUBIA WORKS range of engine oils are robustly formulated and able to perform at extended drain intervals, while maintaining engine durability and efficiency even when operating in severe conditions.

The use of lower SAE viscosity grade, fuel efficient (FE) lubricants such as the TOTAL RUBIA WORKS range of engine oils can also further reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), an added benefit for end-users. AM

2020

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

A PERKINS EXPERT STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF TIMELY ENGINE MAINTENANCE.

EXPERT ENGINE MAINTENANCE TIPS PERKINS HAS BEEN PROVIDING RELIABLE DIESEL ENGINES TO POWER MACHINERY USED IN THE MINING, CONSTRUCTION, AGRICULTURE AND UTILITIES INDUSTRIES SINCE 1932. WITH ALLIGHTSYKES AS THE COMPANY’S AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR SINCE 2007, PERKINS HAS A STRONG PRESENCE IN MINING OPERATIONS DOWN UNDER.

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ith off-grid mines often relying on generator sets to run a multitude of power-dependant operations, Perkins’ global training manager Andrew Miller says the importance of timely engine maintenance cannot be overstated.

Perkins offers engines ranging in capacity from 0.5 litres to 61 litres in electric power – making it one of the largest ranges of diesel engines from a single supplier.

“Perkins engines are tough and dependable – but they, as with all engines, benefit from regular care and attention and it’s important to ensure your equipment is maintained,” Miller tells Australian Mining.

“Straightforward daily checks are recommended, plus in-depth weekly and monthly engine inspections which help flag up potential problems before they lead to major repairs.

Maintenance schedules vary from engine to engine, and specific guidance is given in your engine’s operation and maintenance manual, which is available on the Perkins My Engine App. “Maintaining your Perkins engine is the key to its optimum performance.

Slight changes in performance can

easily go unnoticed, often a drop of 20 percent in performance can happen before the operator notices. Missing service intervals can lead to reduction in performance, let alone the worst case of a vital part failing.”

Noting that the performance checks required will vary by engine type and operating conditions, Miller recommends ensuring the checks and frequency are right for your engine.

“All Perkins engines come with a detailed list of checks to carry out at set intervals,” he says. “The regular checks that you need to carry out fall into daily and weekly categories, along with regular servicing at specified intervals. They all have the same aim of helping your engine run as long as possible at maximum efficiency. No two schedules are exactly the same, so you should always check the schedule for your particular engine.”

“It’s also worth noting that the checks either relate to the calendar time or the hours your engine has been running. Checks should take place far more often on an engine in almost constant use than for one used occasionally. So, for example, changing the engine coolant is recommended every two years – but it will need attention sooner if your engine runs for 3000 hours, which is the equivalent of running 24/7 for just over AUSTRALIANMINING

four months,” he adds.

The daily checks are just as important as the regular servicing, Miller explains. “Regular maintenance is especially important on standby generators. Standby generators play a very important role providing uninterrupted power in missioncritical operations,” he says.

“It’s also important to consider what happens when your engine is not started for some time. Engines are designed to be used and need to be kept in good condition while not in use. For many of us, that means those moments where our machines will be parked for extended periods.

“When a machine is left unused, problems can start to develop that will prevent it from working properly when the time comes to start it up again.”

A collaborative approach

In Australia, Miller says collaboration between Perkins and its national distributor, AllightSykes, creates a two-way channel for the company to remain connected with its customers.

“The relationship that AllightSykes has established with the mining industry end users ensures that strong support is available for our customers through AllightSykes’ personnel. On the other hand, AllightSykes’ close engagement with Australian mines

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enables us to take feedback from customers or, at times, test some preproduction stage engines in the rugged working environments to validate new products,” he adds.

David Whincup, product line manager – engines at AllightSykes, says Allightsykes offers comprehensive local access and support to the complete range of Perkins engines and Perkins genuine parts across Australia.

“Through our network of branches and dealers, we are able to offer a wide range of service options for our customers from standard servicing through to full customer service contracts,” Whincup says.

“Our technicians are certified

by Perkins and trained in the latest engines available in Australia, including the Tier 4 ranges coming in from the US and Europe. Our service branches are also able to offer technical support and advice.”

For any additional information regarding engine operation or maintenance, Whincup encourages customers to get in touch with their local AllightSykes branch or dealer.

“They are experts on all Perkins engines and happy to answer any question you may have. Give them a call today if you have any concerns about your engine or machine’s readiness,” he concludes. AM

PROSPECT AWARDS

NATIONAL GROUP HONOURS AUSTRALIA’S TOP MINE AT PROSPECT AWARDS IN WHAT HAS BEEN A CHALLENGING YEAR FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY, AN EVENT LIKE THE PROSPECT AWARDS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS WITH NATIONAL GROUP ABOUT ITS INVOLVEMENT.

NATIONAL GROUP MD MARK ACKROYD (LEFT) PRESENTS THE 2019 MINE OF THE YEAR AWARD TO GLENCORE’S CHRIS MARCH AND SCOTT BANNERMAN.

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ational Group is the sponsor of the Australian Mine of the Year award, an honour the company supported for the first time in 2019.

The coveted mine of the year title was last year taken out by Glencore’s Mangoola coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP).

Magoola CHPP, which also won the Coal Mine of the Year award, edged out Hard Rock Mine of the Year winner New Century Resources for the top gong.

Australian Mining and National Group are excited to unite the industry to safely celebrate the awards despite the restrictions the industry has faced in 2020.

The 2020 awards have moved to a print campaign due to COVID-19 restrictions, a move that has been supported by its partners and sponsors.

National Group managing director Mark Ackroyd says recognising

outstanding achievements across the industry is important during both the good times and the challenging ones.

“It is important to recognise the outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations during the best of times and through challenging times,” Ackroyd tells Australian Mining.

“The industry has faced a situation not yet seen in our generation so it is important to consider what work has been done to overcome the current conditions in order to understand the lessons learnt that could be carried forward into the future.

“The Australian Mining Prospect Awards recognises the efforts beyond the call of duty, which could benefit the industry as a whole and help prepare the industry for the next pandemic.”

Mines across Australia have worked through 2020 under altered fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) rosters, stringent hygiene measures, AUSTRALIANMINING

implementing airport and site testing and being flexible in changing its operations according to government regulations.

With so many mining companies striving for successful operations to support the economy while ensuring the health and safety of their workers, families and communities in which they operate, this year’s decision on which site to win Mine of the Year could prove to be one of the most difficult yet.

This, along with the existing criteria for the Hard Rock Mine of the Year and Coal Mine of the Year categories, will be considered, including an uptrend in performance within the last three years from January 1 2017, new projects or initiatives undertaken from January 2019 onward and examples of success of these initiatives.

To account for the unprecedented conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nominations exclude the time period from January 1 2020.

Ackroyd says National Group is proud to sponsor the Mine of the Year award in 2020 to recognise the Australian operation that stands out in its achievements during a year that has presented obstacles included the COVID-19 pandemic and the Australian bushfires.

“We decided to sponsor the Australian Mine of the Year award again this year to recognise the best hard rock and coal mines of the year,” he says.

“This year has posed unique challenges so it seems fitting that we should honour the mine that has stood out from the rest and displayed the most outstanding achievements throughout 2020.”

Much like mining companies across Australia, National Group has also faced challenges to its operations during 2020.

Ackroyd reflects on how the company has handled the unique conditions and continued to achieve growth in what has been a difficult time for all industries across the nation.

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“With social distancing and extra precautionary measures required due to the current situation, the National Group has had to react accordingly and implement risk mitigation strategies in order to protect employees and continue business as usual,” Ackroyd says.

“Our semi-autonomous equipment has enabled us to continue to operate with minimal disruptions, so we have been less affected in some instances.

“We are very happy with where we stand in the industry and continue to experience exponential growth, even during the unprecedented challenges faced this year.”

Nominations for the awards have been extended to Tuesday October 6 to allow for the changes. AM The 14 categories and their confirmed sponsors for the 2020 Australian Mining Prospect Awards are: • Contract Miner of the Year, sponsored by Epiroc • Contribution to Mining • Safety Advocate of the Year, sponsored by Flexco • Indigenous Engagement Award • E xcellence in Internet of Things Application, sponsored by ifm efector • Hard Rock Mine of the Year, sponsored by Epiroc • Coal Mine of the Year, sponsored by SEW-Eurodrive • E xcellence in Environmental Management, sponsored by Metso Outotec • E xcellence in Mine Safety, Occupational Health & Safety, sponsored by Schenck Process • Minerals Processing of the Year, sponsored by CDE • Innovative Mining Solution, sponsored by Austmine • Mine Manager of the Year, sponsored by CRC • Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Liebherr • Australian Mine of the Year, sponsored by National Group

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

AUSIMM PRECONCENTRATION CONFERENCE EXPLORES EVOLUTION OF PROCESSING PRECONCENTRATION, OR THE EARLY REJECTION OF NON-VALUABLE MATERIAL PRIOR TO PROCESSING, HAS LONG BEEN AN ESSENTIAL PROCESS IN IMPROVING VALUE FOR MINING COMPANIES. THE CRC ORE HAS BEEN UNDERTAKING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THIS AREA FOR A DECADE AND NOW IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE AUSIMM WILL EXPLORE THE CONCEPT FURTHER AT THE INAUGURAL PRECONCENTRATION DIGITAL CONFERENCE 2020.

PRECONCENTRATION DIGITAL CONFERENCE CHAIR GAVIN YEATES.

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reconcentration has evolved drastically from its humble beginnings as a handpicking process into a modern, sensor-based method to separate the most valuable materials unearthed in the mining process.

In collaboration with the Cooperative Research Centre for Optimising Resource Extraction (CRC ORE), the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) will highlight the importance of preconcentration and address some of the operational, environmental and corporate social responsibility (CSR) challenges in this space with the first-ever Preconcentration Digital Conference.

CRC ORE chief executive Ben Adair is pleased to be working with AusIMM, saying, “This event will build on the work we have been doing with our participants globally. The benefits that smarter preconcentration provides to miners, the economy and the environment are huge. This conference will help bring people and ideas together from around the globe for the benefit of all.”

Conference chair and principal of Gavin Yeates Consulting, Gavin

Yeates, says the conference will highlight the positive economic and environmental changes that preconcentration brings using major technological advances.

“The science and application of preconcentration has matured significantly over the last decade, particularly in areas of orebody characterisation and prediction of upgrade potential and in sensors for bulk ore sorting,” Yeates tells Australian Mining.

“All of these approaches are supported by the development of integrated simulation tools that can now accurately model the valuechain of operations under different configurations.

“These advances are making significant positive economic and environmental impacts through higher grade being processed, less waste and gangue being processed resulting in less tailings and lower water and power consumption.”

Preconcentration Digital Conference 2020 will bring various industry experts and stakeholders together to discuss new developments in the preconcentration space.

This includes a range of keynote speakers, some of whom have written case studies on preconcentration in a modern mining era.

“I’m keen to understand more from these people who have real case studies that have both worked and delivered value, but also from those who have struck difficulties and have learnings to share,” Yeates says.

As a fully digital event, people from around the globe will be able to attend the event, interact and share their knowledge from all from the comfort of their home or office.

The keynote sessions will also be recorded and placed on demand for six months after the event, allowing attendees to tune in at a time that suits them.

Some of the topics outlined in the AUSTRALIANMINING

THE PRECONCENTRATION DIGITAL CONFERENCE WILL FOCUS ON THE EARLY REJECTION OF NON-VALUABLE MATERIAL PRIOR TO PROCESSING ORE.

keynote sessions will include the challenges and risks associated with modernised preconcentration and how to overcome them.

“Nobody likes to be first or be an early adopter,” Yeates explains.

“There is a risk when adopting something new, even when the payoff is high.

“Hearing the stories from others of what worked and what didn’t, how others managed the risk as well as gaining understanding of who has already applied pre-concentration will give confidence mine operators to trial some of the new approaches themselves.

“Learnings from full scale trials carried out at mine sites globally will demonstrate what is possible.”

According to Yeates, implementing innovative new technology into preconcentration efforts has progressed to the point that investors should be insisting its evaluation for mine development.

He says one of the key points explored in the conference will not only be the importance of

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using technology to advance preconcentration, but how to use technology to advance it for the best possible business outcomes.

“It is always easy to focus on the new technology, but it is always important to remind ourselves that the technology is there to achieve a business outcome,” Yeates says.

“It is important to understand why we are focussing on preconcentration and how did it deliver benefits to the business. The conference will showcase how ground-breaking research (is) being taken rapidly from a concept into a commercial outcome applied at scale in mines.

“It will also offer the opportunity to connect with researchers, mining equipment, technology and services (METS) companies and miners who have been collaborating to apply these new technologies.”

The Preconcentration Digital Conference will be delivered online in four half-day sessions on November 10-11 and 17-18. AM For more information or to sign up to the event, visit precon.ausimm.com.

PRODUCTS

TRU-FLO UNDERGROUND DEWATERING PUMPS

KEECH SHIPS NEXT GEN CAST LIP

Tru-Flo is a proud manufacturer of its own range of helical rotor pumps for mine dewatering. These Tru-Flo pumps are known as ‘Heli-Flo pumps’ and are manufactured, assembled and tested in Australia.

Heli-Flo pumps are heavy-duty positive displacement pumps exclusively designed for the harsh hypersaline water in the underground mining environment. The Heli-Flo pump packages have been designed to offer exacting footprint specifications.

They also offer parts interchangeability with increased wear resistance to previously installed helical rotor pump brands.

Heli-Flo pumps offer a range of pumping solutions.

Keech Australia has shipped its next generation cast lip, the first to be released under the Keech KOBRA brand. The KOBRA 660 cast lip is off to one of the Hunter Valley’s major coal mines for use on a 350-tonne excavator.

KOBRA is a showcase of Keech’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and the research and development Keech has been engaged in during the past few years. The cast lip is a one-piece casting using Keech’s own proprietary steel, improving stress distribution across the lip. It is lighter and stronger than other comparable products.

The streamlined profile means clients will benefit from more efficient machine operation and greater bucket filling rates. The KOBRA cast lip system uses Keech’s patented KEELOCK retention system, allowing for faster changeouts with less downtime.

The six-station lip can be fitted with the full suite of KOBRA GET (ground engaging tools), giving better coverage across the lip, an improved casting design that protects the shrouds from backblading and allows for smoother bucket operation and reduced cost of ownership.

• truflopumps.com.au

• keech.com.au

COLLECT AND MONITOR DATA WITH IFM’S SENSOR2CLOUD

CRC’S SAFE AND POWERFUL BRAKLEEN WATER BASED CRC Industries has introduced a waterbased brake and parts cleaner to its Brakleen range of heavy-duty mechanical maintenance products. The Brakleen Water Based is strong on grime and easy on the planet, offering next-generation high performance cleaning technology. It is pH neutral, safe on surfaces, users and the environment.

The product is biodegradable, non-toxic, non-hazardous, non-flammable and water soluble, and its advanced formula is powerful but non-abrasive, non-corrosive and solvent free.

The Brakleen formula is designed to penetrate and dissolve tough grease, oil brake fluid, transmission fluid, hardened deposits and other containments without needing to disassemble the machine. The Brakleen Water Based range is available in a 500-millilitre aerosol and can safely be rinsed in oil water separators.

ifm efector’s Sensor2Cloud technology allows the collection of process data from the sensor, which is sent directly to the cloud without requiring any connection to a controller, PC or company network.

The IO-Link sensor data is sent directly via a mobile network to the cloud and can be viewed on a web-based dashboard for visualisation and analysis of cloud data.

The Sensor2Cloud can be used to monitor and evaluate remote locations, such as machinery or processes that are not connected to company infrastructure or assets that have no power.

• ifm.com/au

• crcindustries.com

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PRODUCTS

HAVER & BOECKER NIAGARA’S FINE SCREEN MEDIA OPTIONS

FLEXIBLADDER TANKS FOR SAFE LIQUID STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION

Haver & Boecker Niagara has a wide range of fine screen media options, giving versatility across applications such as frac and silica sand, salt, perlite, potash, roofing granules and steelmaking coal.

Its screens range presents options for cut sizes as small as 120 mesh to temperatures as high as 315 degrees Celsius. Haver & Boecker Niagara’s fine screening portfolio includes Ty-Ger wire, which contains high tensile spring steel for durability and is ideal for fine applications requiring less corrosion resistance but higher wearability.

Ton-Cap is for high tonnage applications needing increased open area, while producers in heavy screening applications with a small opening will benefit from profile wire. Tyler mineral processing screens fit separators with automatic tensioning for sharp sensations, and high efficiency and multi-layer screens are best for fine screening that requires additional strength.

Flexibladder tanks are used across a range of industries, including mining to transport, and to store liquid fertiliser and water for firefighting purposes. With combined strength and flexibility, Flexibladder tanks are tough enough to withstand harsh mine site conditions while being flexible enough to be easily transported.

Specialising in large sized tanks up to two million litres, Flexibladder tanks can give mine sites the capability to start fighting fires as soon as they break out, without needing to wait for the arrival of emergency services.

Once emergency services arrive they can also connect to the tanks, giving them a large supply of on-site water, meaning the trucks do not have to make as many trips to and from the site to collect more water when battling larger blazes.

• haveraustralia.com.au

• flexibladder.com.au

NU SCIENTIFIC GUARDS UNDERGROUND MINES FROM DANGEROUS GAS

RPM GLOBAL’S XECUTE FOR OPTIMISED MINE PLANNING

Nu Scientific is safe proofing Australia's underground mines with its Smart Radon Sensor, which monitors the presence of dangerous gases. Radon is a naturally occurring gas that comes from the radioactive decay of uranium, and if inhaled, can cause serious long-term health issues for underground mine workers.

To mitigate this risk, Nu Scientific has developed the Radon Scouts range of monitors, allowing mine operators and employees to monitor radon levels to ensure workers are not exposed to unsafe levels of the gas.

The Radon Scout range can also sense temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and carbon dioxide levels. At around the size of a mobile phone, Nu Scientific’s monitors are user friendly and innovative, sending data information through to a central point for mine operators and managers to monitor.

RPM Global is helping mining companies transition into the digital environment with its XECUTE mine planning technology.

The company’s short-term scheduling solution XECUTE takes data from a mine site’s devices, equipment and other software products and displays it visually.

With XECUTE, all planning and production data is displayed in one place, so everyone around a mine site knows what the plan is and how the mine is progressing with the plan. Users can view the mine’s activities in real time, allowing them to make informed, timely decisions, from the site or remotely from thousands of kilometres away.

• rpmglobal.com

• nuscientific.com.au

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EVENTS

CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS EVENT SUBMISSIONS CAN BE EMAILED TO EDITOR@AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU Australian Mining Prospect Awards 2020 The Australian mining industry’s biggest awards celebration returns for the 17th straight year in 2020.

Since 2004, the Australian Mining Prospect Awards have been the only national awards program to stop, take a look at what the mining industry is doing, and reward those who are excelling and going above and beyond, particularly through innovation. This trend is set to continue in 2020, with 14 awards on offer for mining’s highest achievers, including two new awards. Visit the Australian Mining Prospect Awards website for information about nominating for the 2020 awards.

• prospectawards.com.au Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum, Kalgoorlie, October 12-14 This annual conference brings mining and exploration companies, brokers, bankers, investors, financiers and mining services companies together in Australia’s unofficial gold mining capital, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

The event, which has been moved from August to October following the impact of the coronavirus, combines presentations by listed companies with a large display area, housing a range of exhibitors from within the sector.

Diggers and Dealers also features a world-class entertainment program and high-quality speakers, including an opening adress by WA Premier, Mark McGowan in 2020.

It is also possible to visit sites within the

Kalgoorlie-Goldfields region during the conference by contacting companies directly.

• diggersndealers.com.au The Preconcentration Digital Conference, online, November 10-11 and 17-18 AusIMM’s Preconcentration Digital Conference will explore the value of preconcentration, the early rejection of non-valuable material prior to mineral processing. The concept has a significant amount of value attached to it, which AusIMM will shed light upon at the conference, focussing on some of the operational, environmental and corporate social responsibility (CSR) challenges of preconcentration. The event will allow various industry experts and stakeholders to discuss new developments in the preconcentration space, and will include keynote speakers, some who have written case studies on preconcentration in mining. The event will be presented digitally, enabling people from around the globe to tune in and expand their knowledge, with the four live keynote sessions set to be recorded and placed on demand for six months after the event.

• precon.ausimm.com IMARC Online, November 24-27 The International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) 2020 event has been postponed due to COVID-19 and has launched as an online event starting November 24 as a replacement.

IMARC Online will offer a global platform for the industry’s leaders to

AUSTRALIANMINING

come together and discuss hot topics that shape the future of the mining industry, which will stand centre stage in reshaping the global economy post COVID-19.

The interactive program includes all the components attendees expect of the in-person event, including workshops, keynote presentations, networking, meetings and a virtual expo hall showcasing the latest mining projects, technology and innovations.

Additionally, IMARC Online is welcoming a series of co-located events, like IMARC METS Arena #LIVE, Mines and Money 5@5 and Mines and Money Online Connect. Attendees will be able to create their own personalised program of content, meetings and networking events based on their interests, both within longer opening hours and on demand.

• imarconline.com Underground Operators Conference 2021, Perth, March 15-17 2021 Underground Operators is back in 2021, bringing together underground mining engineers, mine operators, technical service managers and consultants to share operational experiences and practices.

For the first time, Underground Operators will merge to form a hybrid event in 2021, with the in-person event in Perth running subsequently with an online digital event, to allow for any travel restrictions or event limitations that may still be in place by next March.

In 2021, Underground Operators will feature internationally recognised keynote speakers: BHP Olympic Dam

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asset president and chief geoscientist Laura Tyler, CommChain executive chairman Gary Zamel and Swedish rock engineering consultant Knut Garshol.

These speakers will cover discussion topics, including process transformation, innovative mining methods and practices, health and safety, revolutionising traditional mines and more.

• undergroundoperators.ausimm.com Life of Mine Conference 2021, Brisbane, April 28-30 2021 Building on the four previous Life of Mine conferences, the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the University of Queensland will host the fifth event of the series next April.

The Life of Mine conference will explore the full lifecycle of a mine, from the exploration to rehabilitation stages.

The conference program will address current and future challenges on the mining value chain and showcase leading examples of sustainability in the industry.

Some of the challenges that will be addressed include increasing cost and production pressures, technical factors and increasing societal and community expectations.

The three-day event will explore themes including achieving better environmental performance, using innovation to enhance sustainable outcomes, incorporating societal and community dimensions into mine design, operation and rehabilitation and strategies and planning for improving rehabilitation and mine closures.

• lifeofmine.ausimm.com

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