SEPTEMBER 2017
Environmental success The line-up of winners at this year’s Mimico Environmental Awards shows that quarries of all sizes are doing good things.
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Contents »
September, 2017
Contents
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6 New man for MinEx New MinEx CEO Wayne Scott has some big ideas about how to improve the industry’s health and safety record. 10 Conquering the North Wall OceanaGold is well underway with work to stabilise the North Wall of its Martha Open Pit Mine at Waihi following last year’s massive rockfall. 16 Celebrating environmental efforts The line-up of winners at the 2017 Mimico Environmental Awards shows that quarries of all sizes are doing good things.
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News »
Seabed ironsand ruling ‘a victory’ for science Hugh de Lacy It’s been a tortuous passage but the recent granting of a marine resource consent to Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for seabed ironsand mining off the west coast of the North Island has brought a sense of both relief and reality to the New Zealand extractives industry. It has endorsed the extensive research that went into the TTR project and forced anti-mining interests throughout the country to realise that their opposition needs to be backed up by science, and that polemics and protest are not in themselves justification for denying a mining application. That’s the view of Chris Castle, the principal of Chatham Rock Phosphate (CRP) which, like TTR, has had a maritime mining application declined in the recent past by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). “You’ve actually got to back up those opinions with facts, which is what the EPA concentrated on,” CRP’s Castle told Mining NZ. Castle said opponents of mining projects would have to “concentrate less on noise and more on substance” if they were to successfully challenge such applications in the future. In early August the EPA announced that it had given the green light to TTR’s application - with the EPA chairman delivering the casting vote - to extract 50 million tonnes of ironsand a year off the seabed 20 kilometres off the Taranaki coast, and to export up to five million tonnes of recovered concentrate. The application to vacuum up the sand, extract the roughly 10 percent of iron from it and return the rest to the seabed, was initially declined by the EPA which handed out a subsequent and similar decision against CRP’s proposal to extract rock phosphate nodules for fertiliser from the bed of the Chatham Rise off the east coast of Canterbury. TTR took its second application to the EPA in a hearing that extended from February to May this year, and it was successful in the face of opposition from environmental and local Maori interests. No fewer than 13,733 submissions on the application were received by the EPA, all but 156 of them opposed to it. Media coverage of the application trumpeted opposition claims that TTR’s operation would destroy the seabed environment, threaten the recovery of the blue whales that pass through the
Progress made on silica plan Peter Owens
Trans Tasman Resources plans to extract 50 million tonnes of ironsand a year off the seabed 20km off the Taranaki coast.
area on annual migrations, and be an affront to Maori values. Almost excluded from the coverage was that TTR would be investing nearly $600 million to get the project up and running, with a further $250m in annual operating and servicing costs, that it would create 300 jobs locally and a further 1600 nationwide, and bring annual export revenues of $400m into the country. The lack of balance in mainstream media coverage meant that it came as a surprise to the wider public when TTR’s application was granted, though the company itself was always confident it could prove the environmental safety no less than the economic sustainability of the scheme. TTR chief executive Alan Eggers expressed his delight at the EPA decision though it relied on the casting vote of the hearing committee chairman after two of the five committee members refused to support it. Eggers said the company was untroubled by the raft of conditions the EPA imposed on the scheme, noting that most of them had been suggested by the company itself. CRP’s Castle, who attended much of the hearing, said it was apparent that TTR’s second and successful hearing reflected the presence of “better qualified people” on the decision-making committee. Castle said he was unfazed by the need for the chairman to deliver the casting vote that got the scheme across the line, and believed that
the two dissidents did not reflect deep-seated unease about it within the EPA. He said that the seeming closeness of the decision was more a factor of the hearings being held under the old Exclusive Economic Zone Act, which had inherent difficulties in attracting qualified staff, than it did with the science behind the application. Under the revised Act, which came into effect on June 1, boards of inquiry appointed by the Minister of Mines will replace the decision-making committee, with members’ remuneration levels being determined along state services guidelines limiting them to about $800 a day. CRP intended lodging its second application to mine phosphate from the seabed within 15 months, though Castle thought that time-scale might be shortened by the hike in CRP’s share value making fund-raising much easier. The chief executive of extractives industry lobbying group Straterra, Chris Baker, told MiningNZ that it would be wrong to view the EPA’s decision as a win for one side or the other. Instead he says it was “a victory of process and science over confusion and ignorance” which showed that, while it would never be easy to gain consents for such projects in this country, it could still be done if the applicant got “all its scientific and environmental ducks in a row beforehand”. Baker dismissed the opposition’s highlighting of the chairman’s casting vote as “a questionmark in the minds of only the people who didn’t want the application to succeed”.
A New Zealand company with a strong Western Australian backing is moving forward with capital and possible listing plans after detailed testing of geothermal power plants to recover silica which is currently lost. Environmetals Ltd, which is rebranding itself as Geo40 Ltd, is reportedly close to commercial development for patented technology to economically extract silica and other specialty minerals, such as lithium and boron, from the hot fluids harnessed by geothermal stations in New Zealand that produce electricity. According to “The West Australian” if successful, the venture would open up export income for Geo40 but could also be a “gamechanger for the fast-growing global geothermal industry where silica is a corrosive and costly headache”. Driving this operation are two of the most highly regarded people in the international mining world. They are Bill Turner, who formed a close relationship at Anvil with Geo40’s founder, New Zealander, Michael O’Sullivan, an expert in geothermal mining. The other is Perthbased Independence Group NL chief executive Peter Bradford. The Independence Group is one of Australia’s leading gold and base metal miners. According to the newspaper, Geo40 has raised more than $A10 million from 65 private investors, including clients of Perth broker Euroz. It now appears these funds, along with a $US4.9m Japanese grant, have financed proof of concept work and trials of the company’s technology at on-site pilot plants at Contact Energy’s Wairakei power plant and Japanese utility Tohoku Electric Power’s Kakkonda plant. The report said said Geo40 was considering its options, including a partial sale of the business and an IPO, to fund the startup of its first $NZ10-$NZ19m commercial silica extraction plant in New Zealand next year. The company’s managing director, John Lea, is a former executive with NZ dairy giant Fonterra, who says the company is working to finalise contract talks with two major utilities.
Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 5
News »
New MinEx head eyes health and safety Karen Phelps He’s been living in Australia for most of his life but don’t hold that against him. Kiwi born Wayne Scott is the new CEO for MinEx and he has some big ideas about how to improve the industry’s health and safety record. One of the big draw cards for Wayne Scott to take on his new role was simply a desire to return to the country of his birth. He and his wife had been visiting New Zealand regularly for the past decade with an eye to returning one day. So when the MinEx job became available it was a no brainer for him to apply. And he hasn’t let the grass grow under his feet since taking on his new role on 3 July spending most of his time to date on the road talking to quarry owners around the country. So what has he found out? Smaller operators are struggling to meet new health and safety regulations. “There are a number of issues – lack of time, not being aware of the regulations and what they have to do and probably, in some cases, thinking it doesn’t matter or they can avoid it. “But the bottom line is the whole industry has an issue with non-compliant sites that we have to address,” he says. He points to one small site he visited recently down south that had not had a visit from WorkSafe for 30 years. Not that he’s pointing the finger but it does indicate a lack of communication in the industry with smaller owners, he says. He points to the fact that three of the four sites where fatalities occurred in 2015 were not on any industry data base. “When a farmer, for example, who wants to dig up gravel on his farm, applies to council no one probably tells him about health and safety or industry bodies they can join. That’s why I’ve been getting out there on the road – to find out why these people are struggling.” Already Wayne has instigated a mentoring scheme to help deal with the industry’s poor pass rate for Certificate of Compliance (CoC) B Grade oral examinations. It’s an informal process where those who are worried about their oral examination are paired up with someone in their area who has already passed and is keen to help someone else. “We know that the pass rate is very high for
Wayne Scott speaks at this year’s QuarryNZ conference: “The whole industry has an issue with non-compliant sites that we have to address”. those that re-sit this exam. This is because they know what to expect and indicates it’s not a lack of knowledge so much that has resulted in them failing the first time,” says Wayne. Another focus is the current MITO review of some extractive unit standards alongside WorkSafe’s current review of requirements for Extractives’ CoCs. The unit standards under review cover a range of health and safety, technical, and management skills and knowledge across the extractives sector. The unit standard changes were prompted by
Wayne’s World.... Wayne Scott’s qualifications include being a chartered accountant and certified practicing quarry manager together with a number of industry-based qualifications extending to an advanced diploma in extractive industries, advanced risk management from the University of Queensland. Wayne has clocked up experience of 20 years in various management roles for Holcim Australia (previously Readymix), including managing quarry transport operations in Sydney, and quarrying and concrete operations in NSW’s Mid-North Coast and in North Queensland.
6 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
Before becoming the new CEO for MinEx Wayne’s previous role was Inspector of Mines (Small Mines Strategy) for Queensland’s Department of Natural Resources and Mines for the past 8½ years. In this role, he was responsible for assisting small mine operators to meet their safety and health obligations under state mining legislation. He thinks this experience will give him a good understanding of how governments work particularly in terms of health and safety. He has also served on the IOQ Australia board for 9 years and was president in 2012 / 2013.
After Pike River the government acted quickly and brought out new regulations but the time frame for smaller operators, who don’t have the resources to comply, is short.”
feedback from the NZ Mining Board of Examiners as part of WorkSafe’s CoC review. MITO convened a group of subject matter experts from across the extractives industries to prepare consultation drafts of the unit standards. Wayne says he would favour role specific qualifications rather than the broad sweeping requirements at present. Other initiatives Wayne has already rolled out include a health and safety template, which was released at the recent QuarryNZ conference to provide a resource for small operators to manage their health and safety. Wayne also has a number of examples other templates up his sleeve from his time in Australia he is keen to make available in New Zealand. MinEx will also take a greater role in publicising and distributing a worker health guidance document being developed by WorkSafe. The other major focus is on generally improving the industry’s image after the spate of fatalities in 2015 and, of course, Pike River. Wayne says the industry in Australia and New
Zealand is very similar, although acknowledges that Australia is probably further ahead in terms of health and safety largely as it experienced large scale mining disasters earlier than New Zealand did. He says health and safety legislation is generally written with the larger players in mind which can cause problems for smaller operators who struggle to comply. “After Pike River the government acted quickly and brought out new regulations but the time frame for smaller operators, who don’t have the resources to comply, is short. It’s about working in small increments [for smaller operators]. “We have to show we are a good industry to work in and can get our health and safety to a level society expects – firstly by lifting our compliance and secondly with increased community engagement. I’d like to see a greater industry driven level of compliance. The industry needs to stand up and ensure people who aren’t compliant are helped to get there. There has to be improvement.”
• QuarryNZ conference page 18
News »
Quarry sector looks to raise its profile Karen Phelps
Quarrying is a big and
The quarrying sector is being virtually ignored by government and Aggregate and Quarry Association of New Zealand (AQA) chair Brian Roche is backing a united approach by industry to change the status quo. He points to the industry’s failed attempt to put together a panel discussion of political leaders at this QuarryNZ annual conference in Auckland recently with economic development spokespeople invited from various parties. Only economic development spokesperson for Labour, Stuart Nash, spoke at the conference. “Quarrying is a big and important industry. But outside the quarry gates you’d hardly know it. We just don’t get the attention we deserve,” says Roche. Roche says that it was in 2008 that the then AQA Board commissioned a document called Foundations for our Future. The document called for a national strategy on developing aggregate supplies, a formal mechanism for industry liaison with Government, and for national and local government to provide for local aggregate resources in their long-term infrastructure, transport and resource management plans. He noted there has been virtually no progress on the issues since current Government took office nine years ago. Echoing a comment made by National MP Stephen Joyce about public perception of infrastructure Roche says: “If building is sexy and infrastructure is unsexy quarrying must seem hideous [to the public]. We need to change that perception. We need to make the public aware that what we do affects so many aspects of their lives and that quarries are necessary for houses, buildings, roads, infrastructure. We do good work and add to our communities and the economy in so many ways.” It’s been a call backed by several key industry figures for some time with Stevensons Group speaking out on the need for a single industry body rather than the disparate approach that presently exists to gain a unified approach with government on key issues. At present AQA, Straterra, Mining Health and Safety Council and Coal Association represent the sector. A proposal to eliminate industry organisations and combine them into one was tabled at a strategic review of the Mining/Extractives Health and Safety Council (MinEx) in mid-February by Stevenson Group which stated after a 12 month transition period it would only provide funds to a single extractive sector organisation.
important industry. But outside the quarry gates you’d hardly know it.” Mark Franklin, managing director of Stevenson Group thinks politicians are not so much ignoring the industry as misunderstanding the importance of it, something he hopes a single industry body could address: “A lot of politicians do catch up with the major [industry] players but I’m not sure the understanding of the industry as a whole is significant. A single face that the extractives industry can project to the whole marketplace would bring a targeted approach as to the message of the industry and its importance,” he says. Roche says with the amount of building and infrastructure projects needed to accommodate the growing population quarrying will play a key part but that presently the quarry industry is being held back by complicated resource consent procedures and changing public and government perception of the industry could go a long way to alleviating issues. “If you think we’ve left the stone age behind you’d be wrong. The world has a massive appetite for stone and aggregate. “It’s nice that Stephen Joyce increased the infrastructure spend but it won’t go very far without stone to put into it. There needs to be a requirement for councils to make a plan for quarries to expand and new ones to open as we are going to need more aggregate and without it infrastructure and housing will come to a grinding halt.” Roche says he is backing the creation of a single extractive sector so long as it serves the quarrying sector as well as mining. “We need to go with the times and consolidate so we can get a profile and get in front of the politicians with one voice. At the moment we have smaller under funded groups doing good things but it’s challenging.” Mark Franklin says that a number of major industry players representing some of the largest companies working in the sector are funding an independent review of the current industry structure, which is currently underway. He expects the results to be ready in September. “There is a genuine understanding that a review of the whole structure and how things work at the moment needs to happen. We need to find out what we really need and how to get there.”
Eels on the move.... Hendrick Metz, Fulton Hogan's Bay of Plenty environmental advisor, and Daniel Beeler, graduate engineer, shifting fish and eels at the company’s Poplar Lane Quarry in Te Puke. The project saw Fulton Hogan pick up a silver award in this year’s Mimico Environmental Awards. The opening up of a new section of the Poplar Lane Quarry required Fulton Hogan to decommission a clean water storage pond, translocate eels and other fish from the pond, develop new storage and an additional fish friendly diversion system through the quarry. The project came through two major rain events with only moderate damage. • 2017 Mimico Awards rundown - page 16
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Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 7
Gold » Industry News
Comprehensive book on New Zealand gold
Hugh de Lacy The antics of US President Donald Trump should have investors world-wide scrambling for the safety of gold but the price, at around $US1290/oz ($NZ1686/oz), suggests they’re largely unfazed by his behaviour. Indeed, having risen little and retired quickly in response to the posturing of Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Il Jong earlier in the month, gold went almost comatose for a while in late August. The precious metal had a 120-day volatility rate of barely 10 percent, the lowest in 15 years, compared to a flighty 18% earlier in the year as the twin bombs of Trump’s election and the British vote to quit the European union pushed the price up nearly 10% in the first quarter. Those gains, which hiked the precious metal to around $US1260/oz ($NZ1765/ oz), have since consolidated, and the next
Peter Owens A comprehensive coverage of all the settings for gold mineralisation in New Zealand has been provided in Monograph 31 now being released by the AusIMM. The new book takes in all other minerals being sought in New Zealand, but gold obviously dominates the coverage. Author of the work is Dr Tony Christie of GNS Science who has trekked the length and breadth of New Zealand in recent decades to record and sample all types of mineralisation. Called “Mineral Deposits of New Zealand: Exploration and Research” this new publication is available in book and PDF format. It takes in more than 500 pages, with section contributions from more than 100 of the country’s leading mineral experts. It contains a large number of maps, figures and photos in full colour. An acknowledgement in the forward is given by Christie to Bob Brathwaite, “as his colleague, mentor and friend for more than 35 years”. Together they produced some of the definitive scientific papers on NZ minerals. Many industry people supported the production of Monograph 31 and a key publishing sponsor was OceanaGold Corporation. Among the subject matters covered are orogenic gold deposits, with other authors including Geoff Price, Doug McKenzie, Dave Craw and Simon Cox; epithermal gold, with other contributors including Richard Barker, Simon Henderson and Peter Grieve; and placer gold, with other contributors including John Youngson, Richard Cotton and Warren Batt.
Gold plots its own course breakthrough mark will be $US1300/oz ($NZ1700/oz). Gold’s uncharacteristic imperviousness to the almost daily raft of Trump-inspired potential panics seemed to suggest it’s in no hurry to break through that level. A part of this resistance to panic driving a general flight into gold may be the market’s taking into account the generally positive outlook for the US economy, signalled by a strengthening greenback, and in part it may reflect Trump’s steady descent into political insignificance. That gold hasn’t gone through the roof - or at least sailed through the $US1300/oz mark - on the back of the American political turmoil suggests that Trump and his administration are already becoming irrelevant to this bellwether of the American and global economies. Gold being gold, that could all change in a heartbeat, but, as we enter the southern spring, gold’s heart seems to be beating at an unusually steady and measured pace.
Tony Christie
Coverage of submarine hydrothermal systems takes in Cornel de Ronde. There are sections on non-gold deposits including ironsand, with contributors including Peter Vidanovich and Jeff Mauk; while nickel-copper, platinum group metals include contributions by Rob Brathwaite and Nick Mortimer. The AusIMM is marketing the book through its services website Ausmm.com.au/publications. It is also available through the NZ branch of the AusIMM.
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8 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
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Gold » Industry News
New Talisman buoyed by resource Hugh de Lacy From penny dreadful to potentially wonderful – that’s the trajectory that long-time basementdwelling minnow New Talisman Gold Mines (NTL on NZX and ASX) has taken since declaring a doubling of the resource in one part of its historic Karangahake Valley underground mine near Waihi. The dual-listed company called a trading halt on July 12 to announce that the JORC 2012-measured gold resource in its Dubbo nodule, the first of four currently being reassessed, had come in at double its 2004 assessment. With grades up to a dizzying 146.2 grams per tonne at a lip-smacking average of 21.98g/t, the resource now amounts to 312,800oz, 102% more than previously thought. NTL chief executive Matthew Hill told Mining NZ that New Talisman could be “one of the five richest underground mines in the world”. The company has a resource consent from the Hauraki District Council to extract 20,000 cubic metres of ore a year, and underground development work has begun even as assessment work on the three other Talisman Deep nodules continues. Hill said he was confident these too would show considerable increases in the resource over earlier estimates. NTL is fully funded until 2020 to complete its prospecting and bulk supply work in preparation for going into production, while an upgrade to the existing feasibility study is under way. The announcement to the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges sparked a surge in the NTL share price which, after sitting for most of the past 30 years in the penny-dreadful drawer at well
New Talisman has declared a doubling of the resource in its historic Karangahake Valley underground mine near Waihi.
under a cent a share, was by late August this year trading at 2.3c – 2.7c. NTL had tickled the interest of investors in November last year when it had 50 tonnes of ore from the Dubbo area of the mine processed at Newmont’s (now OceanaGold’s) Waihi complex, from which it returned 64.5oz of gold and
Fire protection crucial for expensive mine equipment Protecting mining equipment from fire could save companies millions of dollars, says Steve Benseman from Fire Suppression Systems. “If companies have a complete burn-out of one of their key pieces of equipment, it could be out of action for up to a year which would cost them an awful lot of money.” Benseman says the lead time to replace highly specialised mining and construction equipment is currently around 50 weeks from when an order is placed to when it arrives in New Zealand. “That’s why it is imperative companies protect their existing machinery as the combination of large amounts of fuel, hydraulic oil, extremely hot surfaces and electrical components create an operating environment with an inherently high fire risk.” Benseman has 13 years experience in advising, installing and maintaining fire suppression systems at New Zealand mine sites. He says it is important companies deal with a specialist such as Fire Suppression Systems to ensure their systems meet the testing and certified standards required of the industry. “Some of our competitors dabble in fire suppression work outside their core business, but I believe we’re the only company in New Zealand to focus solely on mobile equipment fire suppression.” Fire Suppression Systems offers a full range of systems for the mining, construction, drilling, forestry and mobile equipment industries. Benseman is based in Auckland and employs three mobile technicians who operate from other parts of the country. Between them they visit clients’ often remote sites in fully set-up vehicles that enable them to
“We pride ourselves
227.3oz of silver at respective recovery rates of 52.56g/t and 150.01g/t. This ore had been sitting outside near the mine entrance for years awaiting an agreement with the district council to haul it out over the council road. Road access permission has since been granted for the full mining scheme which,
consent-wise, is closing in on a start to full-scale production. Meanwhile, another goldmining minnow, Aorere Resources, has missed out on the Nevada goldmine it was stalking, and is looking at other potential buys, according to chief executive Chris Castle.
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on delivering reliable, proven products that give our customers peace of mind ....” provide complete equipment install, maintenance and servicing on-site. The expert team can also provide clients with advice on preventative measures and maintenance practices they can undertake to further reduce fire risk. Benseman is the New Zealand agent for foam fire suppression system Sandvik NFP 1000. Around 18,000 Sandvik systems are now being used worldwide, he says. The system is fully compliant with the new Australian standard AS5062. A key feature is that it is completely self-contained so even if there is no electricity or person to operate the system it will still activate in the event of an emergency. Benseman says Fire Suppression Systems recently installed fire suppression systems to 115 machines for the Downer/Solid Energy Stockton Alliance on the West Coast, its biggest single install to date. “We continue to look after every other major mine in the country. “We pride ourselves on delivering reliable, proven products that give our customers peace of mind that their equipment and staff will be protected should a fire incident occur.”
Fire Suppression Systems P.O. Box 334081 Sunnynook, Auckland Steve Benseman Ph: 021 918 900, E-mail: sbenseman@clear.net.nz
Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 9
Gold » OceanaGold
North Wall project well on track Karen Phelps Undertaking a project on unstable ground in a mine located in an urban area with strict environmental requirements while keeping the public happy may sound pretty difficult. But that’s exactly the type of project that has been taking place at OceanaGold’s Waihi open cast mine. Martha Mine had a well-documented large slip on April 26, 2016, which saw two million tonnes of rock fall. This large rock fall follows a smaller rock fall on 2 April 2015 after which mining in the open pit ceased. The current project, the North Wall Interim Remediation Cutback, is to remove unstable material in the north wall and stabilise it. Kevin Storer, site services manager at OceanaGold Waihi, says that due to the dynamic nature of the north wall failure and its response to mining, the stability designs and subsequent remedial works have had to be modified ‘on-therun’ and as a result have had to change as work progressed. Any significant changes to design have been peer reviewed and provided to stakeholders by OceanaGold as necessary. Kevin says that the west was the highest risk area in terms of operation with long vertical drops and unstable working conditions. “The plan has been to continue to unload this area of the wall by way of excavation above and behind on stable ground out towards the unstable areas. This left a safe area for operators to retreat if sudden movement were to occur while drilling or excavating. “The current design to lower the west is designed to achieve 60 degree batter angles with five metre wide benches, depending on ground conditions and levels of safety assessments as we progress.” Kevin says that the west area will join in with the central area via a ramp and will open safe access to the existing south perimeter road. The central area of the failure has continued to fret away slowly and the remedial works undertaken to-date have shown a significant reduction in movement.
“Existing and new prisms have been installed on the crest and have showed very little movement before excavations got under way which indicated this area to be relatively stable. “As excavations have progressed, very hard competent ground has been reached which is very difficult to scale. Currently the bench is at final design with a single bench cut which ranges from 15-20 metres wide as recommended by the lead design consultant.” He says to the east area of the failure a large block has been showing creep into the failure area. To help stabilise this block and prevent further regression it needs to be unloaded, also from the top. “Currently the working bench will allow access to the bottom level, however this has needed to be redesigned as the ground conditions in the far east are poor (saturated clay materials). “Batters angles are 60 degrees immediately around the eastern block, but are angled shallower to 30-45 degrees in the east due to the weaker rock mass. The width of each bench is five metres,” explains Kevin. Glenn Kiernan, general manager of Inline Drilling, the company that is undertaking the drill and blast component of the project, says that the project has been particularly challenging as blasts need to take place as close as 80 metres to the boundary wall. Major risk assessments were undertaken prior to the project getting underway and several innovative methods of tackling the project devised. He says that the fact that Inline Drilling had experience working on the site for over 17 years stood the company in good stead to come up with the best solutions in conjunction with OceanaGold. Two standard top hammer drilling rigs were
fitted with rotary drill heads to make the drilling operations significantly quieter so only engine noise was emitted. Local explosive companies were used to gain the best cost effective and supply delivery options to suit the varied challenges for each part of the project. Global Seismic Solutions provided the Daveytronic electronic detonators which provide extremely accurate inter-hole delay timing for bettercontrolled blast induced vibration levels to ensure the project adhered to mine consent conditions for the project. Because smaller charge weights were necessary when operating close to boundaries Glenn says blast hole loading needed extreme accuracy. The Orica Mining Services underground mini loader emulsion pumping system provided charge weight accuracies in 250 gram strokes. While normally these units are used underground, Glenn says that Orica Mining Services got these certified for use on an open cast mine. The Orica bulk emulsion product is also non-fuming making the blasting on site more environmentally friendly. On the lower benches where higher charge weights were not a problem, local supplier Prime Explosives supplied product pumped from a 4WD bulk delivery truck. Inline Drilling was the overall drill and blast manager therefore streamlining the supplier client management process allowing the client to negotiate their own explosive pricing direct from suppliers of their choice. Inline Drilling then provided overall expertise and advice specific to implementation of these tasks which has required significant degrees of discipline and accuracy due to the compliance sensitive nature of the tasks. “We have to be extremely accurate in what we do working so close to the boundary and unstable
Currently the bench is at final design with a single bench cut which ranges from 15-20 metres wide as recommended by the lead design consultant.”
areas on a project such as this. There is no room for mistakes,” says Glenn. Health and safety was a major focus and included specialised procedures for anchoring the drill rigs to the bulldozer such as escape plans, how attachments were to be completed, daily geotechnical assessments, spotters etc. OceanaGold has been monitoring the north wall using a radar system and other devices. The radar provides important accurate information at every stage of the project. In addition prisms monitored the site along with a human ‘spotter’ observing and searching for areas of movement. A number of prisms were damaged as a result of the North Wall slip and construction of the Western Ramp and as a result OceanaGold has progressively re-established a more robust prism monitoring network. Precise levelling and monitoring of ground conditions is another control measure in and around the slip area, this as well as the prism and radar monitoring of the slip area, will continue to be carried out. Although OceanaGold spokesperson Kit Wilson says that mining within the pit will not be undertaken in the coming years, the obligations and procedures associated with an active mine site remain in place and OceanaGold continues to be responsible for the site. The company has constructed a noise bund using reconstituted topsoil material (approximately 12,000m3), which is currently located above the slip to the north east where it will remain until it is required for rehabilitation purposes. The topsoil stockpile and base surface has been surveyed to ensure minimum loss of material and grassed for stability and visual effects. The North Wall Interim Remediation Cutback project is scheduled to be completed by the end of August. The volume of the stockpile material during the project has been estimated at approximately 130,000 cubic metres. Kit says that with the complex nature of the north wall failure, the company will continue to monitor and further stabilise the wall if required to mitigate any potential further regression to the north.
OceanaGold has constructed a noise bund using reconstituted topsoil material, which is currently located above the slip to the north east where it will remain until it is required for rehabilitation purposes.
10 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
Gold » OceanaGold
The large slip at OceanaGold’s Martha Mine at Waihi in 2016 saw two million tonnes of rock fall into the open pit. Mining had ceased in the open pit in 2015.
www.inlinedrilling.co.nz Inline Drilling Limited (Inline) provide Drilling, Blasting and Geotechnical services nationwide servicing the Mining, Construction and Quarrying sectors.
Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 11
Coal » Industry News
BT Mining new driver for Coast coal Hugh de Lacy The public perception may be that the New Zealand coal industry, and especially the bituminous export sector on the West Coast of the South Island, have faded into history along with former state-owned collier and liquidated dominant player Solid Energy (SE). Certainly SE has all but disappeared from the industry to which it briefly gave so much hope and investment, but a new company, privately owned, has emerged to take its place not only on the West Coast but in the sub-bituminous mines of the Waikato in the North Island. BT Mining is the new driver of West Coast coal production and its arrival on the scene has signalled that the New Zealand coal industry is indeed alive and, if not altogether well, it’s at least climbing out of the hole into which it and SE were consigned by
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the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis. BT Mining is an association of recently de-listed Australian collier Bathurst Resources and the Nelson-based Talleys food company, with Bathurst holding 65% and Talleys the rest. The new company has been part of a reemerging optimism in the sector on the West Coast, says E Tu union organiser and national mining advocate Garth Elliott. “Coal-mining on the West Coast has certainly retracted a fair bit,” he told MiningNZ. “We bounced along the bottom for a while but things are looking promising. “BT Mining has been buying a lot of SE assets, coal prices have come back a little bit, and there’s a bit of confidence out there actually.” The underlying cause of the new optimism is the recovering - though still wildly volatile - price of high-grade coking coal, a vital ingredient of the steel industry, of which there is a constant world-wide
We’re really excited to be taking over such a fantastic asset as Stockton, and also to be able to cement our place in the domestic thermal coal industry.”
shortage. That price has been as low as $US47 a tonne and as high as $US308/t in the past few years, against a broadly recognised benchmark average of $US150/t as the level at which New Zealand coking coal mines are economically viable. Of course coking coals make up only half of New Zealand’s total production of about four million tonnes a year, the rest being thermal coals, mostly produced in the North Island, which are used by domestic industries. The price local businesses pay for thermal coals
sets itself just below the cost of imports, and, like demand, is low-margin but stable. It’s the West Coast coking coals, which are subject to the global spot price driven largely by Australian producers in cahoots with Japanese steelmakers, that make the export dollars for New Zealand, and which have suffered most in the volatility of the past few years. That price is currently bouncing around the $US200/t mark, making it attractive to New Zealand exporters.
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Coal » Industry News In the interim most of the old SE assets were mothballed and it was always going to take an angelic investor to get them back into production again. That angel has materialised in the form of BT Mining, an association of the recently de-listed Australian collier Bathurst Resources and the Nelson-based Talleys food company, a major user of thermal coals. The coking coal price-crash had severely hurt Australian-owned Bathurst which had finally triumphed in a long-running consenting battle to get a major West Coast bituminous resource into production when the project was knee-capped by the downturn. Bathurst, under chief executive Richard Tacon, went to Talleys with a scheme to jointly purchase not only the parts of SE that provided most of the food company’s thermal coals – the big Waikato opencast mines Rotowaru and Maramarua - but also the main West Coast bituminous export mine, Stockton. Stockton had continued to operate throughout the downturn, albeit at a production level of less than a million tonnes a year, down a third from its heyday. Talleys, which uses about 50,000t of thermal coals a year, liked the idea, and BTMining was formed with Bathurst holding 65% and Talleys the rest. The extra attraction of Stockton to Bathurst is that it’s adjacent to the as-yet-untouched Escarpment field over which it won its Environment Court consenting battles. That a company was prepared to step into the vacuum left by SE was probably just as important to the resurgence of the West Coast coal industry as was the recovery in the coking coal price - it was an expression of confidence in the industry that was not lost on other potential players. SE’s assets started flying off the shelf, with local family company Birchfield Coals snapping up the old Liverpool and Strongman opencast mines, and quickly getting Strongman back into production. The revival of Liverpool is “waiting for the market to come right,” director Alan Birchfield told
Richard Tacon MiningNZ, adding that coal generally, and that on the Coast in particular, “has a good future – there are no alternatives”. Birchfield noted also that BT Mining’s play in the domestic market has heightened competition in local thermal coal production. In Southland, the site of its brave scheme to make New Zealand self-sufficient in transport fuels by opening up the region’s vast lignite deposits, SE has sold off its Ohai and New Vale opencast mines to Greenbriar, a subsidiary of the Palmer MH Group. Now that BT Mining has taken over the effective leadership role in the industry from SE, chief executive Richard Tacon is delighted with the outlook for both the coking and thermal coal markets, and for the West Coast in particular. “We’re really excited to be taking over such a fantastic asset as Stockton, and also to be able to cement our place in the domestic thermal coal industry,” he told MiningNZ. And far from the West Coast coal industry going down the same gurgler as SE, Tacon – no less than the likes of Elliott and Birchfield – is certain it has turned a corner and is on the way to resuming its role as a vital local employer, supplier and exporter.
The underlying cause of the new optimism is the recovering price of high-grade coking coal.
Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 13
Environment »
Contamination cleared from old sites Peter Owens Two historic New Zealand gold mine sites that were claimed to be among the most contaminated in the world have now been remediated. In a joint statement, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith and Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said work has been completed on the elimination of contamination from the Prohibition Mine site at Waiuta and the Alexander Mine, also in the Reefton goldfield. Several years ago the old mine sites were designated as among the most contaminated sites in the world. Dr Smith said the sites were cleaned up in the past 18 months in projects jointly funded by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the Ministry for the Environment’s contaminated sites remediation fund. The two projects cost around $3.6 million to complete. Ms Barry said the Prohibition and Alexander mine sites were acutely toxic. “The levels of arsenic were among the highest recorded anywhere in the world at 400,000 parts per million on land, or 500 times the safe level, and in water at 300 parts per million, or 33,000 times the safe limit for drinking water,” Ms Barry said. “The Prohibition Mine site was contaminated from the operation of a roasting plant from 1935 to 1951, when arsenic bearing ore was roasted to release gold,” she said. “The Alexander processing plant that produced the high levels of arsenic operated between 1934 and 1936. The mine closed in 1943. “The sites also had high levels of mercury and cyanide.” DOC took over the mining site in 1987 and had immediately fenced it off to prevent further public access. It then prepared a remediation plan which was accepted by the Government but this was put on hold for a couple of years. Ms Barry said that DOC engaged nine of its workers in ensuring the two mines were made safe for people to visit the mines for about an hour at a time. Ms Barry said that at all stages of the operation, workers would be clothed in appropriate protective clothing and wear positivepressure respirators. The work was specialised and included the demolition and disposal of the existing condensing tower which was a major area of contamination. The DOC crew also ensured the material in the mines, which was the most highly contaminated, was removed, treated and disposed of at a specialist treatment site near Christchurch. The crew also removed the entire surface of the site to a nearby low-lying area where it
14 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
The old Prohibition Mine site at Waiuta, above, and below treatment systems for arsenic in water downstream.
The Prohibition Mine site was contaminated from the operation of a roasting plant from 1935 to 1951, when arsenic bearing ore was roasted to release gold.” was lined and capped with mullock from the old workings of the mines. When this had been completed the entire mine site was also be capped with mullock. The high level of arsenic in the abandoned mines was and first recorded in 2005 by Laura Haffert, a doctoral student at the University of Otago and this resulted in worldwide publicity. Nick Smith says he believes the contamination arose through poor oversight of operations when the mines were operating.
RedBull Powder Company is building on a 20-year legacy of innovation Twenty years ago, Peter Shapiro and Mike Henderson had a vision to create a full-service blasting company. Today, RedBull is New Zealand’s premier explosives company, one of only three manufacturers of packaged explosives in Australasia. As well as manufacturing a full range of explosives, RedBull is the leading specialist drilling and blasting contractor, with 65% of the commercial explosives market. They service over 120 North Island quarries, and supply large volumes to OceanaGold’s Macraes Mine in the South Island. RedBull recently completed a significant upgrade of its explosives manufacturing plant at Kopako, where they produce export grade RedPak packaged explosives. Managing Director Peter Shapiro says the future is exciting, with the upgraded, state-of-the-art plant enabling the manufacture of higher export-quality volumes. “We now have the latest equipment and technology. Along with our investment in highly skilled senior people, we are well positioned to export our products to mines and quarries throughout Australasia.” Quality Manager James Woodgate joined the RedBull team in February to implement Operational Excellence projects at the plant. With a wealth of experience in Lean and Six Sigma methodologies, he also brings tremendous insights into the needs of mining clients. James spent 11 years with explosives company Dyno Nobel in Australia in operational, commercial and business improvement roles. Before that he worked in
underground and open cut gold and iron ore mines. He has already had a significant impact on the plant’s processes, and the quality and consistency of the team’s outputs. “We’re producing in one week what used to take us three,” he says. “Every team member has embraced the principles of Operational Excellence, and is empowered to find and implement improvements. They have an inclusive culture that many big companies would envy.” General Manager Chris Pilmer is particularly proud of RedBull’s safety culture. “The safety of our team and customers comes first. We have had over 1,150 days without a single Lost Time Injury – a credit to everyone in our team, and our culture of ownership of safety,” he says. Chris believes the plant has the potential to be vitally important to the mining industry across Australasia and the Pacific. “A focus on quality and excellence makes RedBull stand out in the explosives market. But even more so, they are willing to adapt and bring ideas that are genuinely helpful to customers. We never stop innovating.”
Right (top): Managing Director Peter Shapiro thanks customers, suppliers and staff at RedBull’s recent 20th anniversary celebrations. Right (bottom): The upgraded RedBull manufacturing facility at Kopako produces export quality packaged explosives. Above: James Woodgate, RedBull Quality Manager.
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Alton Drilling are proud to be associated with Oceana Gold Ltd in Waihi & Macraes and will look forward to the continued partnership with them in the future. Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 15
Environment » Mimico Awards
Thumbs up for environmental efforts Karen Phelps The recent line up of winners of the 2017 Mimico Environmental Awards shows that quarries of all sizes are doing good things, says Aggregate and Quarry Association of New Zealand (AQA) chair Brian Roche. Winners included big players but also a smaller quarry with a bronze award going to new entrant Simcox Construction for its Barracks Road quarry in Marlborough for beyond the quarry engagement. Dr Morgan Williams, a former Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment who was judging his 10th Mimico Awards, told the awards dinner attended by 400 people in Auckland that pursuing environmental outcomes often provides very valuable links with communities and develops trust. He also highlighted the link between looking after the environment and the positive effect this can have on people - “such as people on corrective detention doing planting for Isaacs, young teenagers engaging with nature for the first time in the gecko recovery programme at GBC Winstone’s Belmont quarry, and a whole local community engaged by Simcox Construction in Marlborough”. “The people restoration components of quarry restorations are often a core result of the whole effort - and a part that really makes a difference in wider society’s impressions of the industry and thus its social licence to operate,” he said. This year GBC Winstone Aggregates Belmont Quarry near Lower Hutt won a gold award for its gecko population restoration and relationship building with iwi, community and DOC. Silver went to Isaac Construction at McLeans Island, Christchurch, for a restoration programme which saw 47,000 native plants put in the ground to create a community asset, mostly planted by people from Corrections which he said helped restore them as well.
GBC Winstone’s Belmont Quarry manager, Shane Hagai, left, receiving the award from Mimico’s Rex Davis. Fulton Hogan’s Poplar Lane quarry, Te Puke, also won Silver for managing water flows in decommissioning a clean water pond and developing another, while ensuring healthy fish in challenging conditions. Brian Roche says that he would like to see a
larger number of entries to the competition next year, particularly from smaller operations. “I get to talk to a lot of people in my role and to see what they are doing and there is lots of good stuff happening out there. “But being a humble bunch of ‘behind the
scenes’ practical people I think people don’t often like to be seen as blowing their own trumpet,” says Brian. “There is excellence being achieved out there so we encourage people to showcase that and put themselves forward next year.”
2017 Mimico Award winners GOLD - GBC Winstone Belmont The GBC Winstone Belmont project saw the transfer of Ngahere geckos from its quarry to Mana Island off the Wellington coast. Around 40 geckos to date have been recovered from an area to be quarried and a population re-established on predator-free Mana island. There was very active and early involvement of Ngati Toa and Taranaki Whanui, Friends of Mana Island and DOC in the transfer and ongoing monitoring.
Plenty to smile about: from left, Kyla Kamana of Wainuiomata (Taranaki Whanui), DOC Director General Lou Sanson, Mark McKenzie GBC Winstone, and Brian Bell Friends of Mana Island with one of the geckos transplanted from Belmont Quarry to Mana Island.
SILVER – Isaac Construction McLeans Island The Isaac Construction project saw a river corridor of indigenous vegetation restored along the Otukaikino River within the Isaac Conservation park. About 47,000 endemic natives were planted into land mostly cleared
by people sourced from Corrections. This represents people restoration as part of the ecological outcome with some having brought family and friends back to see the ‘fruits of their labours’ once released. SILVER – Fulton Hogan Poplar Lane The opening up of a new section of Poplar Lane Quarry in Te Puke, required Fulton Hogan to decommission a clean water storage pond, translocate eels and other fish from the pond, develop new storage and an additional fish friendly diversion system through the quarry. The project came through two major rain events with only moderate damage. BRONZE – Simcox Construction Community engagement (see story page 17).
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Environment » Mimico Awards
Community engagement good for all It’s about working
Karen Phelps Simcox Construction general manager, Antony Clark, admits they weren’t sure they were doing anything particularly different when they decided to enter the Mimico Environmental Awards. “We never thought we were doing anything special or clever. We were just quietly getting on with things, we didn’t want to shout about it, but thought we’d see where we sat in the industry,” says Antony. Based in Marlborough, Simcox Construction is a family-owned and operated business that has been working in the local region for over 30 years. The company has been operating a quarry for over a decade. It is the efforts of the company to engage with the local community and improve the social environment of the area that has seen it named an award winner. Antony says the company’s efforts started as they noticed a safety issue with young children biking to school along busy roads and offered to donate safety high viz vests to local schools. This led to the company also providing vests for school road patrols and metal for a cycle track at one of the local schools in partnership with local council so kids can practice their bike skills in safety and helped with an adventure playground area. They have also been involved with the Marlborough Kids Duathalon providing road cones and other safety items to mark out the course. Other initiatives include sealing the last four kilometres of road to the quarry to mitigate dust. As Antony is involved in the local cycling group he was happy to see the road quickly enjoyed by cyclists and it is regularly used for cycling events at weekends when there are no truck movements. Trail bike events take place within the quarry, creating a secure site for such activities with little noise impact.
together as a community on issues rather than being at loggerheads. It’s recognising we can all get along.”
Mimico Awards judge, Dr Morgan Williams, left, discusses the entry from Simcox Construction in Marlborough with general manager Antony Clark and Simcox board chair Russell Hopkins. He says engaging more closely with the community is a policy that has paid dividends and has benefitted both Simcox and residents. “We’ve been able to demonstrate responsible corporate behaviour and by reaching out to them we’re not just a faceless entity,” says Antony. “By fronting up and being ‘known’ we can dispel some of the myths and misunderstandings and take on their concerns and amend our behaviour before anything becomes a problem. “For example when we went for our last resource consent some residents didn’t want us carting on a certain link road. But the effect was that we had to cart on a route that took us back past this area anyway when the consent was
granted. It didn’t make sense for either of us and created an issue neither of us had anticipated so by engaging with each other next time we go to resource consent we can both get as close to what we both want without conflict,” he says. “A lot of problems disappear when you are talking about them and it’s already created better feeling.” He says the quarry has also been able to support residents on issues specifically affecting residents but nothing to do with the quarry. For example when farmers appealed against a council stock droving policy the company was able to support farmers in saying that Simcox, who also regularly use the same road, had not found stock to
be a problem and did not consider tighter controls necessary. “We’ve really tried hard to engage with the residents. It’s about working together as a community on issues rather than being at loggerheads. It’s recognising we can all get along.” Antony says that quarrying is vital to the region. For example wineries scream out for aggregate during wet weather and he feels by entering the Mimico awards it has further raised the profile of the business. “It’s recognition of our industry and practices. We recognise that quarries are not seen as the rock stars but we are a crucial infrastructural asset for the district.” He says winning has given the business confirmation it is on the right track and been a good boost for staff. It has also given business partners confidence in Simcox. “We’re incredibly proud of the award. It’s conviction that what we are doing is right. Being recognised by our industry and peers adds verification to the local community that we are doing good things. It’s important as a little player in the market to show we can do good things. We are operating as responsibly as the big boys are.”
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www.redbullpowder.co.nz Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 17
Quarrying » QuarryNZ Conference
2017 Conference hits the right notes Karen Phelps The recent QuarryNZ conference attracted over 700 attendees making it one of the largest conferences ever, says Aggregate and Quarry Association of New Zealand (AQA) chair Brian Roche. Held at Auckland’s ANZ Events Centre on Viaduct Harbour in July the conference was aptly titled ‘from eruption to construction’ to reflect Auckland’s volcanic history. This year for the first time the conference offered a range of two-hour Continuing Professional Development workshops, which Roche says proved popular. Attendees also received CPD hours for attending the conference and the AGMs of the AQA and IOQNZ. By attending all CPD opportunities delegates could obtain up to 12 CPD hours allowing attendees to clock up a large portion of their CPD hours required each year. Representatives from WorkSafe NZ spoke on legislative issues including ground stability and geotechnical topics, guarding requirements in quarries and lesser-known health and safety issues. Kirk Hardy from Drug Detection Agency took a workshop on the emerging trends in drugs and how they effect and impact workplace safety. He highlighted the increasing percentages of positive meth tests and the developing problems with cannabis as well as the misuse of prescribed medication and gave tips on early identification of potential problems. Other workshops were held by Charles Dawson from AutoSense Driving Safety and a representative from NZTA. The general speaker programme also offered good opportunities for delegates to get up to date on the latest in the industry. Roche says that economic development spokesperson for Labour, Stuart Nash, gave a well-received talk on a wide range of issues and how he saw the quarrying sector fitted into the New Zealand economy. Other speakers included Nick Thomas from Total Oil, Asia Pacific who presented on the topic of specialised lubricants for the quarry and mining industry, product rationalisations and managing site lubrication effectively to assist profitable mining. John Ashby from Ashby Consultants Ltd, spoke about quarry development planning techniques to produce a road map of the most economic, safe, environmentally sensitive and sustainable quarry layout. Dr Natalie Deligne from GNS Science spoke about the fact that Auckland is built on top of the Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF), which has had over 50 eruptions in the past 190 thousand years, mostly recently 600 years
Aggregate and Quarry Association of New Zealand (AQA) chair Brian Roche addresses this year’s QuarryNZ conference.
ago. She presented the results of a detailed study that developed a credible scenario for an AVF eruption and then examined what the consequences would be for the provision of critical infrastructure services, including power, transportation, water, and fuel. Key industry figures – Chief Inspector WorkSafe Mark Pizey and Janet Lane, CEO Mito and Wayne Scott, MinEx CEO - also updated the industry on specific matters of importance. The conference also included a field trip to Stevenson’s Drury quarry where delegates saw the new chip processing plant and took a trip down into the pit. There was a sizeable trade show with over 70 exhibitors this year. With the 50th conference due to be held in 2018 in Hamilton next year will mark a milestone for the event. “It will be a big deal,” says Roche, “and we will certainly be looking to have an extra special line up of speakers and events to mark the occasion.” xxxxxx
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18 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
Rocktec delivers yet again A new procurement strategy has seen Rocktec complete two major contracts for Stevenson Construction Materials (SCM) at its Drury and Huntly plants simultaneously. Rocktec partnered with an overseas supplier for the contracts to offer the client significant benefits in terms of quality, timing and value, says Rocktec sales and marketing manager for materials, process and handling Jason Tapper. Both the Drury and Huntly plants were conceptualised to provide additional and new products to the SCM Quarry capabilities. Both these plants followed on from the successful asphalt aggregate plant at Drury completed by Rocktec in 2014. Jason says that Rocktec engaged with key stakeholders from SCM for the recent projects to specify the correct equipment and layout to both optimise the current demand for products, and future-proof what might be expected as aggregate markets develop. Given both plants required a large quantity of conveyors and screen structures timeliness was a key consideration. This led Rocktec to utilise the services of one of its manufacturing partners in Europe to fabricate a lot of the steel works required. “This fabrication was to the Rocktec design to ensure continuity between items fabricated off shore and those right here in Matamata. This meant that our customers could benefit from a New Zealand designed, installed and commissioned plant with key bespoke items manufactured in New Zealand supplemented by items – when multiples of the same item were required manufactured to our specific specifications off shore. This gave us a lean approach to both design, fabrication and installation as we were able to concentrate our local design and fabrication resources on the chutes and transitions – the key to a successful plant,” he explains. Jason says that this resulted in products of the same high quality Rocktec is renown for but saved the client considerably in terms of time and offering good value for
money. The longevity of the plant was considered right down to the final finish with all items where possible hot dip galvanised. Wear linings consisted of chromium carbide clad plate to standardised sizes and patterns with replacement stock held by Rocktec. All other large chutes and hoppers were completely shot blasted and painted to a high standard. At the heart of both plants is the Rocktec BTM-96R VSI Crusher, the Huntly plant installed with 300kw while the Drury plant boasts 520kw. “This is the second and third BTM-96R crushers installed for SCM. The crushers simplicity, reliability and robustness has proven to meet the expectations of the quarry,” explains Jason. The Huntly plant was a green field installation, designed to produce multiple graded aggregates. Included in the plant is a METSO cone crusher which Rocktec designed and manufactured the supporting structures and walkways. The Drury plant was constructed in the location of the old block plant. The main feed hopper was refurbished with a new Rocktec Vibrating Feeder as the starting point of the new build. In addition to the BTM-96R VSI Crusher, Rocktec have installed a TEREX 20x8 Triple Deck Horizontal Screen. This provides the large capacity to efficiently screen the main PAP product. All crushed aggregate is then washed and screened to deliver up to five different graded products. Safe access was a key consideration in the design phase with all walkways and platforms designed to make it easier for staff to move around the plant for routine inspections and works necessary. Stairway access is provided throughout the plants. Based in Matamata, Rocktec is an engineering company founded in 1991 that is a wholly owned investment of the Southern Cross Engineering Group. Rocktec specialises in the manufacture of quarrying and mining equipment, materials handling machinery and environmental waste solution products.
Stevenson Construction Materials, Huntly Quarry Products supplied and installed: 16 conveyors 4 Rocktec 16x5 Avalanche Screens 1 Rocktec BTM96-R VSI Crusher (300kw) 1 Metso Cone Crusher • Modular type design, all skid mounted. • Greenfield project. • Predominantly galvanised finish. • Common wear parts throughout plant to reduce spares stock holding. • All screens feature roll-away front chute for additional accessibility.
Stevenson Construction Materials, Drury Quarry, Sealing Chip Plant Products supplied and installed: 12 conveyors 2 Rocktec 16x5 Avalanche Screens 1 Rocktec BTM96-R VSI Crusher (520kw) 1 TEREX 20x8 Cedarapids Horizontal Triple Deck Screen • Produces five graded chip products and one PAP product. • Optional TNZ production mode. • Modular type design, all skid mounted. • Semi brown-field project - integrated with an existing hopper from an existing decommissioned block plant on site. • Utilised existing concrete levels and benches to provide stockpile areas. • Predominantly galvanised finish. • Common wear parts throughout plant to reduce spares stock holding. • All screens feature roll away front chute for additional accessibility.
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11 Waihou Street | Private Bag 4072, Matamata 3440 New Zealand | P. +64 7 881 9188 or 0800 735 305 | Fax +64 7 888 6856 | sales@rocktec.co.nz | www .rocktec.co.nz
Southern Cross Engineering, Christchurch | P. +64 3 384 2019 128 Maces Rd, Bromley | PO Box 24114, Christchurch, New Zealand 8642
Southern Cross Engineering, Queensland, Australia | P. +61 7 326 02275 Unit 11, 50 Parker Court, Pinkenba | PO Box 176 Pinkenba, Queensland 4008
Southern Cross Engineering, Victoria, Australia | P. +61 3 930 51799 Unit 3, 850 Cooper Street, Somerton | Private Bag 35, Campbellfield, Victoria 3061
Quarrying » Industry News
Health and safety template launched Workers are directly
Karen Phelps MinEx has released a new template designed to make it easier for small quarries to meet their health and safety obligations. The template, which was officially launched at the QuarryNZ conference in July, provides the outline of a health and safety management system. “It allows users to follow the guidelines and develop and document a management system to assist them to safely manage their quarry,” explains MinEx CEO Wayne Scott. “For quarries which already have a system in place the template can be used to allow them to identify and fill any gaps,” he says. The template has a section for each part of the quarry management system and each section includes three parts: guidelines that explain what is needed in each part of the management system and background information, followed by specific directions for developing each part of a system. Secondly it includes recommended actions that are needed to develop each part of the management system and thirdly template forms including sample forms and checklists are included, which can be adapt to suit the needs of the particular quarry. These are available as a separate Word file and can be used in either soft or hard copy. The template sections cover legal requirements quarry operations must comply with, development of a health and safety policy, a guide to health and safety responsibilities and roles, involvement of workers in the policy, health and safety training, hazards and controlling risks, planned safety projects and improvements, managing contractors, checks and inspections, incidents, emergencies and controlling documents. The template has been designed to work alongside the Health and Safety at Opencast
20 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
affected by any risks created by operations and are often in the best position to know how a job is done and how it affects them.” Wayne says MinEx will work with quarries over the coming months so the template can continue to be improved with feedback. The template is available for anyone to download on the MinEx website. The new template has a section for each part of the quarry management system. Mines, Alluvial Mines and Quarries Good Practice Guidelines (2015) prepared by WorkSafe. Wayne says that it is important that the template is used only as a starting point. “The template is intended to help people develop a system, so that they can be confident that their risk controls are being identified, implemented, followed and reviewed. People need to ensure that the template is carefully adapted to their quarry.” He stresses the importance of having worker involvement in the development of an effective health and safety policy: “Workplaces are safer when workers have a say about health and safety matters. Workers are
directly affected by any risks created by operations and are often in the best position to know how a job is done and how it affects them,” says Wayne. “They can provide practical solutions to improving work health and safety. Quarries should develop a culture that supports workers who raise health and safety concerns. This requires building trust with workers,” he advises. Although structure, organisation and paperwork are often not high on the agenda of industry, they are needed to reduce health and safety risks at a quarry, says Wayne. “A health and safety management system helps with decisions about what risk controls are used.”
MinEx tips for managing a quarry safely: • Talk to, and listen to your workers, particularly for managing your hazards and risks and developing your management system. • Make sure that you identify your hazards have robust controls for their risks, and that these are regularly reviewed. • Supervise your operations, including contractors. • Regularly check plant and equipment to ensure it can operate safely. • Make sure everyone (including yourself) gets the right training, and is competent for their job.
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Spring 2017 » Mining NZ 21
News »
Waihi mining community remembers lost workmates Karen Phelps Workmates, whanau and members of the community gathered at the Miners’ Reflective Area at Gilmour Reserve in Waihi on July 30 to remember Tipiwai Stainton. The underground loader operator died a year ago when his machine overturned at OceanaGold’s underground Correnso mine. The memorial also remembered Jim Murray, Nick Moncur and Doug Pourau who also lost their lives
since modern mining returned to Waihi. “We needed to do something permanent to remember Tip,” says OceanaGold Waihi senior community advisor Kit Wilson. “And as we talked about what to do, we realised that we hadn’t recognised the other three men who had lost their lives since 1976. “When you go on to a marae you always recognise those who have gone before and we knew we needed to remember the others too. This seemed like the time to make things right.” Four hundred people, including families of each
of the men, attended the dedication ceremony, which was followed by a hangi at the Waihi Community Marae. During the ceremony OceanaGold Waihi general manager Bernard O’Leary acknowledged the Mines Rescue team who came to Tipiwai’s aid. Tipiwai was also a member of that team and chairman of the OceanaGold Waihi health and safety committee. “When tragedy strikes, we rely on our colleagues to come to our aid. In recent times those colleagues have been Mines Rescue Team members,” said Bernie.
“I would like to publicly commend the character, bravery, and professionalism displayed by these men in very difficult circumstances.” The miners’ families gave their permission for plaques to be placed in their loved ones memory at the reserve. The plaques are located near the avenue of 29 plaques created to remember those who lost their lives at Pike River. It is in the same area of the reserve near the World War One Tunnelling Company memorial, which remembers those who served underground.
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22 Mining NZ » Spring 2017
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IMG looks to increase mining profile Integrated Maintenance Group (IMG) has expanded into the mining and quarry sectors after taking over Stevenson Group’s engineering division, SEL, in early February. IMG is already working closely with Stevenson Mining, providing engineering support as a subcontractor at the Rotowaro mine near Huntly and aims to generally become a big player in the quarry and mining engineering support market, says managing director of IMG, Bruce Bonner. "Stevenson Group wanted to divest their engineering services division as it was not a core business function and IMG are in active growth and diversification mode. I see this as combining two good companies to make one great company. IMG has earned a reputation for innovative thinking and quality work for our maintenance services to the steel sector. We have since diversified into the forestry industry, and now the acquisition of Stevenson Engineering launches us into the mining and aggregates sector,” he explains. Bruce says the business is dealing in a very competitive market with lean margins and
says the takeover bring economies of scale. Consolidation of premises, including IMG’s exit from its Wiri workshop with its high overheads, has created further efficiencies in the business. “There are economies of scale and in that light the acquisition of SEL presents further opportunities for growth,” says Bruce, who has come full circle as he started his career at Stevenson Engineering in Auckland as an apprentice and grew through the ranks until he became general manager in the late 1990s. The Stevenson Group now becomes an anchor client of IMG, which will continue to maintain and service the Stevenson Group's mining and quarrying heavy equipment. Bruce says there are still some ‘old faces’ at SEL that he knew back in his younger days while working there. It is yet another synergy between the two businesses which are both family owned: “The long serving staff are a testament to the family and business ethos that Stevenson Engineering and IMG have in common. We remain a privately-owned family business, and we're growing
rapidly because our philosophy is relationship based in the way that we treat our clients and our staff,” he says. IMG general manager Andy Skelton says Bruce has always had a very strong passion for heavy diesel and quarrying and mining and you can tell this when you are in his company. “Bruce is not a conventional business owner, he’s very entrepreneurial about opportunities, and driving those opportunities to provide customer service and quality service to the market so the acquisition of SEL was a good fit for the business model and future growth,” he says. Because IMG is totally independent it can supply an independent service to the market, without being aligned to any particular brand or supplier, says Andy who considers this a key advantage for clients. He believes the enhanced engineering facility now offered will give the company yet another angle where it believes it can provide a better service to the market. With an eye to long-term growth IMG is already investing in its people.
“We got some great people we’ve inherited from SEL with good skills in engineering maintenance. It has been a market that has been neglected over the past few years in terms of apprentices and recruitment of young people and we have invested in apprentices already. We recognise, while we need some short term strategies we also need a long term strategy and for us that’s about apprentices.” Based in Auckland, IMG is a privately owned family business with more than 20 years’ experience in the heavy industrial sector. IMG provides maintenance, capital projects, fabrication and specialist services to leading manufacturing, commercial, industrial and utility providers. The company has grown instantly by 30 percent with the acquisition of SEL and the intention is for IMG to be the foremost company in the heavy industry maintenance and project space. “By all accounts this growth phase is not going to end tomorrow,” says Andy, “and we see opportunities both large and small.”
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