For the love of rock Auckland's quarries – past and present
Access to under sea mineral wealth Ironsand mining in South Taranaki Bight
NEW ZEALAND QUARRYING & MINING
AusIMM Conference coverage News, opinions and photos from the event
Volume 14 - No 5 | October - November 2017 | $8.95
Versatile and efficient the CAT 323FL at Ruakuri Contracting INCORPORATING
Aggregate News
C O N T E N T S
NEW ZEALAND QUARRYING & MINING
18
Volume 14 - No 5 | October - November 2017
INSIDE UPFRONT
4 6
Editorial. Upfront.
ON THE COVER
14
16
ersatile and efficient – the Cat 323F L excavator V on the job for Ruakuri Contracting at Ravensdown.
22
FEATURES
Profile 16 On the path to success – Jessie Sutton
Quarrying
18 For the love of rock. – Andy Loader reviews past and present quarries.
QuarryNZ Conference
22 Learn it and understand it – health and safety
24
legislation presentation from WorkSafe's David Bellett.
Mining
24 Access to undersea mineral wealth.
Technology
26 Industry 4.0 and aggregates. 30 A case for LiDAR in extraction.
AusIMM
32 A rise in confidence. Latest South Island data released. Gold radar discussion. Neutralising acidity with bioreactors.
Aggregate & Quarry Association of NZ
36
Aggregate News.
AT THE BACK 42 Innovations and products. 42 Advertisers’ Index.
30 ON THE COVER: Warren Holden from Te Kuitibased Ruakuri Contracting thought he might need a bigger excavator for his quarry operation at Ravensdown, but says the Cat 323FL excavator has proved very versatile and efficient.
See story page 16
Q&M October - November 2017 3
E D I T O R I A L
NEW ZEALAND QUARRYING & MINING
Q&M covers news, views and trends from the extractive industries, along with features on projects and people in the industry. www.contrafed.co.nz PUBLISHER
Civil Defence needs you I have a fascination with the unending war between man and nature, because we usually lose each battle – painfully! For some reason the loss always comes as a complete and unpleasant surprise. And, despite a well recorded history of being on the receiving end of adverse weather and ‘natural disasters’, each lost battle and its casualty list is treated by media as a ‘WTF’ occurrence. In the past we might have put it down to the mood of the gods and beg for appeasement with a scarifice. Now we blame any bad weather on ourselves – anthropogenic climate change, as opposed to climate being a natural long-term phenomenon based on the Earth’s orbit and the sun. The climate has never been static, so strange how we have decided that any change can only be bad. You would think, through the law of averages, some change has to be positive? Anyway, we now appease the weather gods with carbon taxes and cries of our own doom as the planet is predicted to heat up by tiny percentages. Interesting how the secular and biblical armageddon of our own making both involve ‘heat’. Anyway, I was thinking of this ‘war with nature’ over the conference season where there were an unusual number of ‘disaster’ scenario presentations that ranged from the inevitable volcanic eruption in Auckland that will smother the city in ash for years (the industry will be commissioned for the clean up because you guys have the machinery), to the violent storm that hits us every 25 years (due – as the last one was Cyclone Bola in 1988), and the next tsunami. Apparently in 1868 a tidal wave, as they were known back then, rushed up Queen Street as high as Wellesley Street. In past editorials I have mentioned Lake Taupo as a ticking volcanic caldera bomb that has a habit of exploding about every 1000 years (also due). But, arguably, the biggest threat to the country is the pressured Alpine Fault snapping and the resulting Richter scale eight-plus earthquake flattening a lot of the country. This is why, if you haven’t already, you should be working with Civil Defence, along with the civil construction industry, to form the frontline in an emergency where materials need to be shifted quickly in a disaster. Your machines can clear landslips and blockages, clear building rubble to locate trapped persons, and your staff can pass on information about unsafe locations. So, for the sake of all of us – in the shaky isles, please have your business sign up with your local Civil Defence Emergency Management office as a volunteer. Read on please. Two articles in this issue that are ‘must reads’ are veteran Andy Loader’s look at Auckland quarries past and present and the problem the city faces for future growth, and David Billet’s (WorkSafe New Zealand’s deputy chief inspector, Extractives) explanation of the current health and safety regulations. Both articles are based on presentations at the 2017 AQA/IOQ conference. Meantime, keep on extracting for a better future. Alan Titchall, Editor
Contrafed Publishing Co Ltd Suite 2.1, 93 Dominion Road, Mt Eden 1024 PO Box 112357, Penrose, Auckland 1642 Phone: 09 636 5715 Fax: 09 636 5716 EDITOR
Alan Titchall DDI: 09 636 5712 Mobile: 027 405 0338 Email: alan@contrafed.co.nz GENERAL MANAGER
David Penny DDI: 09 636 5710 Mobile: 021 190 4078 Email: david@contrafed.co.nz ADVERTISING
Charles Fairbairn DDI: 09 636 5724 Mobile: 021 411 890 Email: charles@contrafed.co.nz REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS
Hugh de Lacy, Neil Ritchie, Mary Searle Bell Richard Silcock and Peter Owens ADMINISTRATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS
Email: admin@contrafed.co.nz DDI: 09 636 5715 PRODUCTION
Design: Tracey Asher, TMA Design Printing: PMP MAXUM Contributions welcomed. Please contact the editor before sending them in. Articles in NZ Quarrying & Mining are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission of the publisher. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the shareholding organisations or the publisher. The views expressed in the Aggregate News section of NZ Quarrying & Mining may not represent the views of Contrafed Publishing or its shareholding organisations. VISIT THESE WEBSITES Aggregate & Quarry Association www.quarrying.org.nz Institute of Quarrying (NZ) Inc www.ioqnz.co.nz New Zealand Minerals Industry Association www.straterra.co.nz Extractive Industries Training Organisation www.mito.org.nz Civil Contractors NZ www.civilcontractors.co.nz NZ Ready Mixed Concrete Association www.nzrmca.org.nz Connexis www.connexis.org.nz ISSN 2463-509X (Print)
4 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
ISSN 2463-5103 (Online)
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YOUR GOUGH CAT MACHINE SALES TEAM - BY REGION Northland Jimmy Brewin 021 860 074
Taranaki & Manawatu Carl Southee 021 981 850
Auckland North Raymond Beetge 027 559 0820
East Cape & Hawkes Bay Heath Stewart 029 247 3929
Auckland Central & West Greg Vaughan 027 559 0346
Kapiti Coast, Wairarapa & Wellington Dean Gough 027 438 1850
Auckland South Bryce Mason 021 682 403
Nelson, Marlborough & West Coast Scott Bonnington 029 200 8382
Waikato James West 029 299 8909
Canterbury Matt Holloway 029 208 0423
Rotorua & Bay of Plenty Shayne Kennedy 029 200 7270
Otago Brent Duncan 029 222 4682
Central North Island Paul Roche 021 954 376
Southland Pete Shaw 021 277 6597
Branches Nationwide | Phone 0800 93 39 39 | GoughCat.co.nz |
U P F R O N T
Looking for Dutch war hero… Dear Ed
One up for Kiwi mining
My interest is in a man of Dutch descent who, as I understand, worked at
Straterra sees an important victory in the
the Pozzolan Plant at Ngakuru, near Rotorua in the early 1970s.
Environmental Protection Agency granting the
I don’t know in what capacity, but if someone can tell me a little about
marine and discharge consents for TTR to recover
him, I will be eternally grateful. I have only recently read about his war
and export iron sands from the South Taranaki
service during which he was awarded the Dutch Gold Cross for exceptional
Bight. “This sends a strong signal to those looking
bravery during the invasion of the Dutch East Indies.
to invest in the extractive sector that New Zealand
At that time, Gus Winckel, 18 Squadron Netherlands East Indies Air
is open for business,” says Straterra chief executive
Force, was engaged flying Dutch refugees from Java to Australia. Stopping in Broome to refuel, his aircraft was among 22 others caught by a surprise
Chris Baker. “Proposals must be supported by data and
attack by nine Japanese Zeros, which started their attack on Broome’s
analysis that meets the high standards we expect,
Roebuck Bay. Gus had time to get his passengers to safety on the adjoining
and the Decision Making Committee’s rigorous and
airfield, and then he removed one of the mounted machineguns and
exhaustive process and subsequent decision is a
positioned himself in the long grass beside the runway and waited for the
very positive outcome for TTR, for the Taranaki
Japanese pilots to turn their attention to the airfield.
region and for New Zealand.”
When visiting Broome for the 60th anniversary of the attack in 2002,
The EEZ Act, under which the decision is made, is
Gus said, “And luckily one came very close to me, and I gave him a long
particularly cautious when it comes to uncertainty,
burst. I shot him down. I wish I had shot a few more down. I hit another one
Chris adds.
which fell into the sea.”
“The committee had to satisfy itself, on best
Following that air raid he flew one more mission to Java and returned
available information, that effects can be well
with 14 important refugees, and then was based out of Moruya, NSW, from
managed. Over 100 conditions have been imposed
where he flew patrols of eastern Australia. It was on one of these missions
including a two-year monitoring plan before mining
that Gus is credited with sinking a Japanese submarine. Today a statue of
can take place.”
Gus stands in Moruya to remember the bravery of Gus and other airmen
Straterra notes that TTR was granted a Mining
who flew in WW2.
Permit in 2014 under the Crown Minerals Act
Gus Winckel died on August 17th, 2013 from complications following a broken hip from a fall six weeks earlier, aged almost 101.
1991, and a key driver of that is to maximise the economic extraction of minerals for the benefit of
My reason for trying to find out about his time in Rotorua is because I
the country.
knew him as a member of the local Air Force Association, but he never
“Granting the marine consent aligns with this
spoke about his wartime activities.
goal while managing effects on the environment
Now a book is to be written in conjunction with the RSA about the war
and existing interests as required by the relevant
exploits of residents, and I think Gus’ story is well worth telling.
environmental legislation.
All I need is some details of his work at Ngakuru and I am hoping one of your readers can help, please?
“This decision shows that independent decision makers consider seabed mining, as proposed by
Sincerely,
TTR, can be managed safely and in a manner that
Reg Wellington
meets acceptable environmental standards,” he says.
07 346 2922, email Poneke@ihug.co.nz.
Story on page 24.
National coal assets finally flogged off What do the Australians know about our coal resources that
operation creates some great opportunities to share
our own government doesn’t appreciate?
knowledge and resources."
A good question as Bathurst Resources completed the
Richard adds that employment levels will remain the same
purchase of Solid Energy’s Stockton and Waikato mining
and almost all operational staff have transferred to the new
operations at Rotowaro and Maramarua last month.
company.
Richard Tacon, the chief executive of what is now our
“We’ve got a great team of experienced professional
largest specialist mining company, says it is an “exciting
people and we look forward to working with them to grow and
time” for his company.
develop the business."
“The combination of assets and the size of the new
6 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
Hillhead’s mechanical puppet Hillhead 2018 is gearing up for a special appearance from the largest mechanical puppet ever constructed in Britain. The Man Engine, powered by Volvo, was voted the UK’s Best Arts Project and presented with a National Lottery Awards trophy. The 10 metre high ‘miner’ mechanical puppet is powered by a Volvo L220 wheel loader, will also be in residence for the duration of the 2018 event taking place at
One of the demos that will be taking place in the newly extended area at Hillhead 2018.
Hillhead Quarry, near Buxton, from June 26-28 next year. The Man Engine (www.themanengine.
EvoQuip, a new brand launched in the UK from Terex Mineral Processing.
with the newly extended area nearly full. “We are very excited by the changes
The EvoQuip brand brings a simplified
we have made at the top end of the site
redeveloped Registration Area, which has
range of equipment to the crushing and
to accommodate more exciting working
been expanded to meet strong demand for
screening sector, offering a comprehensive
demonstrations which are synonymous
exhibition space at the show.
portfolio of products to address the needs
with Hillhead, and the Man Engine will
of the compact crushing and screening
provide a spectacular focal point to
markets.
the area.”
co.uk) will be located in the newly
The area around the demonstration area at the top of the showground has been redesigned to accommodate additional stands showcasing working plant, including
Event director Richard Bradbury says outdoor space is already 90 percent sold
Further event details are available on the show website at: www.hillhead.com
Q&M October - November 2017 7
U P F R O N T
Chinese iron demand improves Predictions of a slowdown in China's steel industry proved wrong
operations. Rio says it will spend up to A$125 million on
as steel-making iron ore prices have rallied since mid-June on
replacements for depleted operations, and consider approval for a
rising Chinese imports, and Aussie’s large iron ore producers
further A$1.25 billion over the next three years. It is expected to
intend increasing production as a result.
spend around A$380 million boosting annual capacity in Australia
Steel demand in China has proven stronger than mills and
to 290 million tonnes.
traders had expected, with a rebound in machinery sales and growth in the automobile sector, according to the presentation. Led by Rio Tinto Group (the world's second-largest iron ore exporter after Brazil's Vale), the nation's top three exporters
After reporting a jump in profit in August, BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said the miner was more optimistic about China's efforts to reform the economy, which are aiding demand.
reportedly plan to add about 170 million tonnes of new capacity. The Australian government says it will account for about 56 percent of the global export market by 2019, up from 54
His company was "...investing in future production by putting replacement mines in place well ahead of when we need them, and maintaining about 20 years of production inventory."
percent last year. Rio Tinto opened its $468 million Silvergrass mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region as the first of a wave of replacement
Fortescue Metals Group chief executive Nev Power recently said. The company expects to spend as much as A$1.9 billion on a replacement for its outgoing Firetail operation.
Komatsu training academy Komatsu Australia has moved into the vocational educational field, offering a range of high-level technical, operator and management courses throughout New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia. Its new business unit, Komatsu Training Academy (KTA), offers vocational educational courses through what it says is one of the most advanced technical training facilities in the region. Komatsu Training Academy’s national business manager is Janine Temple, who has more than 17 years’ experience in training and management development roles at leading industry associations, including the Australian Mines and Metals Association, the Civil Contractors Federation, and the Housing Industry Association. KTA is headquartered at the Komatsu Technical Education Centre (KTEC) in Brisbane, which over the past few years has become the company’s primary training centre for operators and technicians in the region. Located on over three hectares of land, KTEC has more than 2600 square metres of dedicated training facilities, including seven classrooms, seven technical/ electrical laboratories and a large machine operator’s workshop. It also incorporates a number of simulators, providing the ability for both novice and experienced operators to safely learn on a range of machines, from construction and utility size up to ultra-class mining equipment. Through this equipment it provides training for mining, earthmoving and utility products, and other industries, such as transport. Customised training includes training online, on-site, at customers’ premises or at the KTA. Courses cover a variety of mining, construction and utility machine types, including backhoe/loaders, dozers, crushers, dump trucks, excavators (conventional and hybrid), graders and wheel loaders, as well as general systems and technologies. In the field of operator and technical training, Temple says a major focus of KTA’s courses would be moving beyond basic competency training, and into more advanced proficiency development. “There is a major difference between a key technician or operator who is merely competent, compared with one who is truly proficient at their job – and these differences can translate into significant benefits to a company’s bottom line.” 8 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
Saddle Hill update The High Court has upheld an earlier court ruling that limits quarrying on Saddle Hill in Dunedin but that doesn’t end the long-running legal saga as the quarry owners look at appealing. The High Court decision upheld an earlier Environment Court decision limiting production to 38,000 cubic metres of extraction back in 1960 to build Momona airport outside of Dunedin. Earlier this year that decision was appealed by quarry operators Saddle Views Estate and now the High Court has ruled against key parts of the appeal. “This finding on the 1960 consent is the most critical aspect of the decision,” says council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose. “It means the original consent volume and purpose has been spent or used up. “This supports the position we have always taken that any ongoing quarrying would rely on existing use rights, which would not in our view allow extending the current footprint.” Saddle Views Estate's Calvin Fisher told media sources the company was disappointed by the decision. “We think it's a very closed mind decision,” he says, adding that they had 20 days to appeal to the Court of Appeal. He iterated that the site had been a quarry for over 100 years and it will “continue to be a quarry”, under existing use rights.
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To find out more, contact us today or visit goughcat.co.nz/m-series YOUR GOUGH CAT MACHINE SALES TEAM - BY REGION Northland Jimmy Brewin 021 860 074
Taranaki & Manawatu Carl Southee 021 981 850
Auckland North Raymond Beetge 027 559 0820
East Cape & Hawkes Bay Heath Stewart 029 247 3929
Auckland Central & West Greg Vaughan 027 559 0346
Kapiti Coast, Wairarapa & Wellington Dean Gough 027 438 1850
Auckland South Bryce Mason 021 682 403
Nelson, Marlborough & West Coast Scott Bonnington 029 200 8382
Waikato James West 029 299 8909
Canterbury Matt Holloway 029 208 0423
Rotorua & Bay of Plenty Shayne Kennedy 029 200 7270
Otago Brent Duncan 029 222 4682
Central North Island Paul Roche 021 954 376
Southland Pete Shaw 021 277 6597
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U P F R O N T
150,000 businesses that manufacture, use,
added to the WorkSafe and EPA websites,
New rules for quarries in forests
handle and store hazardous substances in the
while WorkSafe’s Hazardous Substances
A new nationwide set of
workplace; and those that transport them.
Toolbox provides information under the
environmental rules for managing
current law including practical tools and
the country’s 1.7 million hectares of
and set of regulations to another with changes
guidance. It has been updated for the new
plantation forestry affects quarries in
under new responsibilities for WorkSafe and
regulations.
these areas.
New hazardous substances regulations The Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations affect an estimated
These regulations are moving from one Act
the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). Broadly, the EPA will continue to have
currently require approved handlers. Information on what’s changing has been
One of the biggest changes affecting all
The National Environmental
businesses is the requirement to have an
Standard for Plantation Forestry
responsibility for approving and classifying
inventory of all their hazardous substances
covers eight core plantation forestry
hazardous substances; while WorkSafe
and with the correct labeling.
activities: afforestation, pruning
will administer and enforce workplace requirements provided in the Regulations.
Safety data sheets (SDS) provide
and thinning to waste, earthworks,
important information about your hazardous
river crossings, forestry quarrying,
substances. Under the Hazardous
harvesting, mechanical land
affected: The Hazardous Substances and New
Substances Regulations it will be mandatory
preparation and replanting.
Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO) and regulations
to have a current SDS for each of the
will change; and the Health and Safety at Work
hazardous substances in your workplace
in special circumstances where local
(Hazardous Substances) Regulations that will
regardless of the quantity you hold.
conditions require a more restrictive
There are two main pieces of legislation
be introduced. Currently, under HSNO, certified
From December there will be new requirements for all laboratories. However,
Councils may apply stricter rules
approach. The standard, which comes
handlers are called approved handlers.
those involved in research and development,
into force in May next year, was
Under the new Hazardous Substances
teaching and analytical testing will have a
developed jointly by the Ministry for
Regulations there will be fewer substances
different set of requirements to laboratories
Primary Industries and the Ministry
that require certified handlers than
not involved in these areas.
for the Environment.
Q&M magazine online
www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz
Our Q&M website provides you with an excellent archive of content from the magazine, current and past, and we encourage you view it regularly. We also publish a full digital copy of the latest magazine out there online so you can catch up on any past issues you might have missed. Popular articles accessible online include the story on Websters Burnt Lime in Havelock North called ‘Bruce’s legacy – three generations in lime’. Matt and his brother Nick are gradually taking over this valuable quarry that their grandfather established after WW2. Another popular archived story on our website is a profile on Collin Walsh, a long-time quarry veteran who has spent over 50 years in the industry and knows a thing or two about what make a quarry profitable. He was interviewed on the eve of his
Ben Hopkins (left), Matt Webster, and Zara Clifton.
retirement. And for those who missed out reading coverage in the August September issue, we highlight online the Q&M Magazine Editor’s
Rocktec; and Matt Webster from Webster’s Burnt Lime. We also publish content feeds through @NZContractormag
Award that recognise three of tomorrow’s leaders coming up
Twitter and Facebook audience, and we have a YouTube channel
through the industry’s ranks. The 2017 recipreants were recognised
with several hundred slideshows of images published over the
at the TransDiesel Awards Dinner at the AQA/IOQ Conference in
past 12 years.
Auckland. They were Ben Hopkins from Mimico, Zara Clifton, from 10 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
So get online and enjoy!
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U P F R O N T
Proud legacy – bright future RedBull Powder Company celebrates its 20th birthday this year. THE REDBULL TEAM gathered 130 staff, customers and suppliers
together at Bracu Pavilion in Bombay to celebrate the company’s 20th birthday. In 1997, founders Peter Shapiro and Mike Henderson set out to offer something unique to the extraction industry: A fully integrated blasting service, including drilling, manufacture, blasting and technical support. They also wanted to create a values-based company, with a strong identity and, in Peter’s words “build good relationships, and create a sense of belonging”. RedBull is now a leading specialist drilling and blasting contractor that claims 65 percent of the local commercial explosives market. “RedBull’s explosives produce most of the aggregate used on New Zealand roads, all the cement produced in the country, and about half of our gold production,” it says. “We service over 120 North Island quarries, firing about 80 blasts throughout the North Island every month.” North Island operations include manufacturing, drilling, blasting and technical support for over 120 quarry customers. The North Island emulsion explosives facility is at Kopako, near Auckland. The South Island operation is based at Macraes Mine, where RedBull supplies the Open Pit and Frasers Underground mines with all explosive products. Bulk Emulsion (named RedStar Bulk Emulsion) is manufactured on the mine site. RedBull manufactures Packaged Emulsion Explosives (named RedPak) from 25mm to 65mm diameter and varying lengths to suit applications. RedBull recently signed a single supply contract to provide blast services for all nine GBC Winstone quarries across the North Island over the next three years. Moving to a single supplier is a significant change for GBC Winstone (the country’s largest supplier of sand and aggregates). “We selected RedBull as sole supplier based on their demonstrated savings, using their high-quality bulk emulsion, excellent service and their aligned safety, quality and risk management values,” says Mark McKenzie, general manager of GBC Winstone. In terms of innovation, RedBull was among the first in the world to master the use of digital technology to control blast vibration in a mining environment, which is now an industry standard in high sensitivity blasting worldwide. RedBull is also one of only three manufacturers of packaged explosives in Australasia, and the only supplier here operating two bulk emulsion plants. In 2013 the company secured global investment partner Yahua International of Chengdu, China. Over the past two years, Yahua entered the Australian explosives market under Peter’s leadership, acquiring three companies to become a significant participant in the Australian quarry industry. RedBull says two outstanding features of its 20-year legacy are the fact that 30 percent of the RedBull team have more than 10 years of service, and their safety record shows over 1100 days without a single lost time injury. “The safety of the RedBull team and customers naturally comes first,” says Peter. “Our record is a credit to everyone in our team, and our systems and the culture of ownership of safety.” Q&M 12 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
Mike Henderson thanks the clients, partners and friends gathered for the birthday celebration for being part of the RedBull success story. To his right is MC Steve Davis, leading livestock auctioneer.
RedBull founders Mike Henderson (left) and Peter Shapiro (right) with Yahua International’s board chairman, William Meng.
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O N
T H E
C O V E R
CAT
323FL
versatile and efficient Warren Holden from Te Kuiti-based Ruakuri Contracting thought he might need a bigger excavator for his quarry operation at Ravensdown, but says the Cat 323FL excavator has proved very versatile and efficient. WARREN SAYS HIS company sits in the sweet spot; a good-sized team
operating at near-capacity across two busy sites that are just a short four kilometres from one another. “We’re not a big company, but we are big on delivering results,” he says. “And actually, that’s a pretty good scenario for me and my team.” Looking after two separate quarry operations for Omya New Zealand and Ravensdown, he and his team of eight process a mix of highgrade industrial limestone at Omya New Zealand (a site the company has operated from for the past 15 years), and agricultural limestone at Ravensdown, the contract for which Ruakuri Contracting won earlier this year. Stripping operations are also carried out at both quarries. That particular contract win led Warren to make the decision to invest in a new 26-ton Cat 323FL excavator. But this latest acquisition certainly isn’t the first Cat on his fleet. On the contrary, Ruakuri Contracting’s combined yards have a certain yellow hue to them. “We’ve got four Cat excavators now and I think we’ll be looking for a fifth soon,” he says. “We currently run two Cat 320Ds, a 56-ton Cat 349EL and the new Cat 323FL. One of the 320’s feeds the crusher at Omya New Zealand, while the other operates with a rock-breaker attachment on it most of the time. The larger 349E and our bulldozer generally float between the two quarries. “All-in-all we’re pretty well kitted out for a company of our size. We also run four ADT dumpers, with another two available from Holden Earthmoving and an on-highway nine-axle Cat CT630, which is an awesome truck too.” Warren says that, when it came to assessing his options around a new excavator to work the Ravensdown site, he could have potentially gone to a bigger machine. But in practice, he and his team have found the Cat 323FL to be a very efficient and capable digger. “I’ve been very impressed with the through-put capacity the 323 provides for. Initially I wondered whether we would be better with a 14 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
bit of extra weight, given what we need the machine for, but it feeds rock through consistently at Ravensdown and ensures material is always flowing through well, providing a consistent feed to the crusher.” Ruakuri Contracting processes 120,000 ton of rock at each of the two sites, although Warren also contracts out plant to Holden earthmoving for operations at the iron sands mine at Taharoa on the Kawhia Harbour, so he needs his machinery to offer plenty of flexibility. He reckons the Cat 323FL is the most versatile machine he owns, with new Cat technology, such as the Cat Grade Control functionality, making daily operating life that much easier. “I reckon they’ve really nailed it with this particular model. The technology available onboard is really impressive and Cat’s Grade Control system in particular is one of those modern machine features that becomes integral to the way we use the machine almost immediately. I knew we would benefit from it as soon as I tried it out, so that was definitely an optional extra I went for when spec-ing up the digger.” A feature available on Cat’s F-Series excavators, Cat Grade Control
“We’ll definitely go for another Cat 323FL. It’s such a great machine; when we pull one of the 320s back from the front line, it will be replaced with a 323; no question. Caterpillar has definitely hit the sweet spot with this machine.”
Depth and Slope provides accurate bucket guidance during digging and slope cutting, which advances both cycle times and digging precision. This in turn has knock-on effects as far as improved machine fuel efficiency, as well as allowing contractors such as Warren and his team to meet project benchmarks that much faster. Warren has spent plenty of time in the Cat 323FL already; he’s actually one of Gough Cat’s demonstration drivers for the recently-launched F-Series machines, while his brother Lawrence Holden bought one of the very first Cat 323FLs for his own operation when they arrived in the country. “There is a bit of a connection between us and Gough Cat, but I honestly have to say I’ve been impressed with them as both a sales agent and as a back-up service provider since long before I was approached to do some demonstration operating for them. “We’ve run machines supplied by other distributor groups in the past, but the technology and power the Cat diggers possess, combined with a class act in the background like Goughs, who really know their gear
inside and out, is the ideal situation in my mind. “Goughs has been outstanding to deal with, that’s for sure. We’re based in Te Kuiti, which is still a fair way south of the nearest Goughs service centre in Hamilton. But actually, that’s no barrier to great service. We know we would get the helping hand we require from them regardless of where our machines are, if it came to it.” Warren says he doesn’t need to up-spec the Cat excavators too heavily, as for the most part they arrive fit-for-purpose, with all the required quarry-work specification taken care of already. In fact, he knows exactly what his next machine purchase will look like. “We’ll definitely go for another Cat 323FL. It’s such a great machine; when we pull one of the 320s back from the front line, it will be replaced with a 323; no question. Caterpillar has definitely hit the sweet spot with this machine.” Coming from an operator with such a well-balanced operation as Warren has with Ruakuri Contracting, that’s probably high praise indeed. • Q&M October - November 2017 15
P R O F I L E
Providing a helping hand Jessie Sutton is a young woman on a path to success in the quarrying industry. Her career recently received a boost thanks to the IOQ’s youth programme. BY MARY SEARLE BELL TO IDENTIFY AND support young, up-and-
coming leaders in the extractive industry, the Institute of Quarrying NZ set up a youth programme. This year, four young adults were selected by the IOQ executive as part of the programme; they were Luke Balsillie, Chris Marshall, Dylan Kelcher and Jessie Sutton. With support from the BR Webster Educational Scholarship Fund, they attended this year’s QuarryNZ Conference in Auckland. Jessie Sutton thoroughly enjoyed the conference, saying the technical presentations were very interesting. However, the networking opportunities proved highly valuable too. As part of the youth programme, she was paired with a mentor at the conference, Dean Torstonson of Orica, who guided her throughout the conference and ensured she met all the right people. “He has been really great – we’re still in contact. At the conference Dean and his wife Petrina, who’s the secretary/treasurer of the IOQ, introduced me to a lot of people,” she says. One of those people was Paul Sutton, CEO of IOQ Australia. Paul subsequently invited Jessie to attend the IQA’s Women in Quarrying event in Sydney in August. WIQ aims to promote networking amongst women within the extractive industry and to encourage and create opportunities for personal and professional development. Orica generously sponsored Jessie on the trip, providing flights and accommodation. Dean also arranged for her to visit Oricia’s Sydney operation. “They took me round their technical sites – to their lab – and then out to a blasting site. It was neat to see their set up and to see how things work on the blasting side,” she says. “They let me help run out wires and then I got to push the button on a blast – that was a real highlight of the trip.” At the WIQ conference Jessie was thrilled to meet so many women working in the industry. “Most of the women at the Auckland 16 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
conference were partners of men in the industry, so it was great to see successful women in the industry and to hear their stories. “It was much more relaxed too. And very inspiring.” Jessie has been working at Rodney Aggregates, just north of Warkworth, for nearly four years. She was working in hospitality when her mother, a truck driver who regularly goes into its Whangaripo Quarry, heard they had a vacancy and encouraged her to apply. “I started as an office administrator, but after about six months my boss said to me, “you seem pretty competent, want to have a go?” “He let me have a jam on all the gear. Now I’m an operator, and drive everything from the water cart and dump trucks to the loaders, excavators and the rock breaker. “The loader is definitely my favourite – it keeps me nice and busy.” She quickly got her Wheels, Tracks and Rollers endorsement, First Aid Certificate, and achieved a Certificate in Extractive Industries Level 3. Jessie was also recently selected to be the company’s health and safety representative with a unanimous vote from the team. She is still studying, and is currently about halfway through a B Grade quarry manager’s certificate of competence. “I’m busy learning about the legislation and requirements for running a quarry. “I love the fact I’m constantly learning. I missed this in the hospitality industry – the opportunity to improve.” More than that, Jessie simply loves the industry. “I love how it’s on such a large scale – it really is a giant sandpit. And they’re really nice people,” she says. “Helpful, knowledgeable and always willing to teach. “They put a lot into their people, and if you’re willing to work they’ll support you all the way.” Looking to the future, Jessie wants to get her A Grade quarry manager’s certificate of competence, and suspects
Jessie Sutton really enjoys the training and people side of the quarrying industry and thinks she may like to get into recruiting in the future.
she’ll eventually find a job behind a desk. “I really enjoy the training and people side,” she says, thinking she may like to get into recruiting for the industry. “However it plays out, I think it’s important to understand all aspects of the operation,” she says. She is certainly passionate about the industry. “I think quarrying has a bad rap, which it doesn’t deserve,” she says. “Communities will complain, saying that we’re environmentally unfriendly without realising that the people working there are part of the community, and that the quarry has a lot of positive impact in the workers’ lives. “The role a quarry plays in a community is unappreciated. “Quarries have also come a long way when it comes to caring for the environment. A lot of my current B Grade quarry manager’s training focuses on environmental mitigation.” As for the predominately male workforce, that hasn’t fazed her one bit. “It’s been a lot better than I expected – the guys have been really great and very supportive,” she says. “They’re quite happy with me, and I’m quite happy with them.” Q&M
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Q U A R R Y I N G
Rock climbing faces at Mount Eden Quarry today.
For the
love of rock ANDY LOADER reviews past and present
quarries in the Queen City as it goes through a massive development stage, and asks – where is the rock coming from? Based on a presentation at the 2017 AQA/IOQ Conference.
18 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
TO SUPPLY THE demand for quarry products Auckland has had many quarries developed around the region over the years, and a large percentage of those are now just a memory covered in urban developments. When I sat down to write this paper I thought about all of the quarries in the Auckland region that have ceased to operate in the fairly recent past and came up with 37 of them. Between them they took out about 10 million tonnes of product from within the close confines of Auckland city. Today as a city we devour anywhere from 12 million to 30 million tonnes of quarry products in any given year, depending on the economic situation. Although there are 24 quarries still operating in the greater Auckland city, most aggregate for the city is sourced from as far away as Whangarei in the north and Huntly in the south.
The earliest operations The site of the city’s first quarry is now the Auckland Wintergardens and the second quarry was created in what is now Albert Park, the site of Albert Barracks, one of Auckland’s earliest military fortifications which was built on the previous site of Te Horotiu pa. The diminutive scoria cone was substantially quarried away and was the only road building material during the establishment of the city. There’s a slight rise in Kitchener Street, which is about the only part of it left. In the 1920s Mount Eden was probably the second centre of quarrying in Auckland. The quarry was established near Mount Eden prison and the Colonial Ammunition Company (CAC) premises next door. Quarrying continued until the 1940s, by which time the shape of the mountain had been substantially altered. This old quarry was turned into a garden in 1985 by a group of volunteers. Another early quarry was less obvious and was on Rangitoto Island in the Hauraki Gulf visible from most parts of Auckland city. Rangitoto last erupted only around 550 years ago, building most of the island we see today with around 2.3 cubic kilometres of material, including the main scoria cone at the apex. The quarry took up around 80 acres and was built in the 1880s by the
Auckland Harbour Board. One of the last quarries to stop operating was the Three Kings Quarry started by Winstones in 1922 when it purchased 27.5 acres on the Three Kings scoria hill in Mount Roskill (it was extended to nearly 40 acres in 1938). Gordon Hunter Ltd also quarried scoria at a quarry next door. Two notable quarries that left a legacy were the Mt Smart quarries, initially run by three different quarrying companies till eventually they were all taken over by W Stevenson and Sons, and Lunn Avenue. Winstone set up the basalt quarry in Lunn Avenue, Mount Wellington in 1936 and it became the country’s largest quarry with an annual output in excess of two million tonnes at its highest levels. When the 110-hectare quarry site was re-developed (into Stonefields) Q&M magazine did a story on the final crush of ‘ugly hard’ basalt boulders that had been disregarded in the past as too hard and big. The article was published in the October-November 2008 issue and the boulders were crushed by Adams Landscaping to supply 60,000 cubic metres of aggregate for Stonefields’ foundation and drainage. The Stonefields development now houses 6500 people (and a school for 500 children) and was completed in 2012. Who would have thought that nowadays people would be paying over a million dollars to buy an apartment in the old Lunn Avenue quarry? Puketutu Island Quarry opened in the 1950s and hit a peak back when the local airport and treatment plants were being built. It was owned by Wilkins and Davies. When they went broke they were bought out by Winstones in 1988. Cleanfilling commenced about the end of the 1980s and a fill management plan was developed in 1993 to ensure management of incoming fill quality. Puketutu Island closed its doors to both aggregate sales and tipping in 2012. The NZ Railways Wiri Quarry on Wiri Station Road was used by Railways from the middle of the last century to provide ballast for rail tracks. This quarry is currently being rehabilitated using the excavated material from the Waterview Tunnel project on State Highway 20. The quarry area (nearly 40 hectares) will be fully rehabilitated and eventually developed into industrial property in five to 20 hectare lots. Another old quarry turned into a garden is Wrights Watergardens. After the Second World War, the site was turned into a rock quarry that provided much of the hard metal for the roads leading out to the local Glenbrook steel mill. After the quarry was abandoned, noxious weeds and rubbish covered the area for several decades before it was transformed into a four-acre garden, beautiful in all seasons.
What’s left? The largest quarries left in the region are Drury Quarry and Hunua Quarry. Drury, owned by Stevenson, opened around 1939 and is now one of the largest and most technically advanced quarries in this country. It also incorporates a quarry based pugmill for producing modified aggregates. With its greywacke resource, Drury Quarry ranks amongst the biggest producers of aggregate in the Auckland region, employing 35 staff and supplying a large part of Auckland’s requirements (currently approximately 2.5 million tonnes per year). As such, Drury Quarry is vital to the Auckland region’s economy
From top to bottom: Mount Eden Prison complex; Rangitoto Island Quarry; Three Kings Quarry; Old quarry cartage. Q&M October - November 2017 19
Q U A R R Y I N G
and its expanding infrastructure, providing an estimated economic benefit of around $40–$50 million per annum according to independent experts. Hunua Quarry began in the 1920s as a small business sourcing stone and aggregate from a rocky outcrop in the Hunua gorge. Winstone Aggregates recognised the quarry’s potential to supply the rapidly growing South Auckland area and purchased the main Hunua block in 1955. The quarry is situated within a high quality greywacke rock resource. To provide for development, neighbouring property was purchased in 1958. This secured the Symonds Hill area for future extraction, and then in 1988 and 1990 adjoining rural land was acquired to ‘buffer’ the quarry zone from developments that may be sensitive to the effects of quarrying. Small holdings neighbouring or in the vicinity of the quarry have also been acquired from time to time. Over time the quarry process equipment has been updated and improved several times. In 1962 the ageing ‘Ma’s Hotel’ plant was upgraded with one based on the “Singapore” primary jaw crusher. The name was synonymous with the fact that the crusher had been “rescued” from Singapore in the 1940s during WW2. The machinery was originally installed in Winstone’s quarry at Lunn Avenue (Mt Wellington, Auckland), and after being re-located to Hunua it continued to manufacture road base and general purpose quarry products. In the mid-1980s a chip manufacturing plant was added to enable production of a full range of concrete and asphalt aggregates, road surfacing sealing chip, as well as the base courses it had previously produced. The ‘Singapore Crusher’ was decommissioned in late 2000 when a new state of the art processing plant was built. The quarry currently produces about 1.5 million tonnes per annum.
The future
From top to bottom: Early days, Lunn Avenue Quarry; Stonefields (previously Lunn Avenue Quarry; Wrights Watergardens (Mauku Quarry).
20 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
The government’s 30 Year Infrastructure Plan released in August 2015 predicts that Auckland city’s population will grow by another 716,000, which will require another 400,000 homes. These figures tell us that we need to find, using a conservative estimate, an extra 5,728,000 tonnes of aggregates per year to develop and maintain the infrastructure for that extra population increase. Overall the Auckland region will be using approximately 17,728,000 tonnes of aggregates per year (2,216,000 people times eight tonnes using a conservative estimate) by the year 2043. The majority of this product is going to be sourced from outside of the central Auckland city area either from Franklin district and south of there or from north of the Whangaparaoa Peninsula. Those 17,728,000 tonnes will equate to approximately 886,400 (20 tonnes payload) truck and trailer movements per year to transport this product to the end users. This is a conservative figure for truck movements as we know that a percentage of the product (20 percent maybe) will not be carted on trucks and trailers, but will need to be carted on smaller vehicles due to customer job requirements, thereby increasing the number of truck movements to somewhere in the region of one million truck movements or more. Think about that and the fact the nation’s future infrastructure plan doesn’t even mention quarries. Q&M
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Q U A R R Y N Z
C O N F E R E N C E
Learn it and understand it WorkSafe New Zealand’s deputy chief inspector, 'Extractives', David Bellett, made a presentation about health and safety legislation at the 2017 QuarryNZ conference in Auckland. ALAN TITCHALL was there. TALKING TO DELEGATES at a special
WorkSafe presentation on health and safety, David Bellett acknowledged that leading quarrying companies, familiar with risk management and risk assessments, places them ahead of other industries still coming to terms with the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 2015, which came into force in April 2016. David began his working life as a 15-year-old apprentice fitter turner and worked in construction here and overseas for 15 years. He has worked as an inspector and manager for 23 years, first with the Department of Labour and now WorkSafe, where he reports to chief inspector Mark Pizey. “I spent 18 months as a lead investigator on the Pike River inquiry. It’s pleasing to see safety improvements coming from industry and the work that the quarrying industry is doing to lift its own standards.“ David’s conference presentation provided an overview of health and safety legislation that applies to quarries and he acknowledged the challenge faced by quarry companies and the amount of information they have to understand and comply with. However, there is still some confusion and misunderstanding about the legislation in terms of how it all works; definitions and how legislation links into risk assessments; and the cost of applying risk controls and what’s practicable for each business. Legislation that predominately relates to quarrying is built into HSWA, which is performance-based. It’s important to understand HSWA, its definitions and the definition of a ‘quarry’ is specific in the Act, he says. “It defines what is ‘not’ a mining operation. This is important because some regulations that sit under HSWA particularly focus on mining operations. “’Activity’ is an important definition. Some people say that since they extract only twice a year, that’s the only time their site is a quarry, even when the property gate advises a quarry is within. 22 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
Because not all the legislation has been tested in court, quarry operators need to look at what each word actually means, and whether ‘activity’ should be ‘all’, or ‘some’. “Other important words include ‘or’ and ‘and’ in a quarry site definition and could include ‘any’ place where material is extracted or crushed and screened. The old Quarries and Tunnels Act was more defined and placed measures depending on how technical or complex the quarry is.” The new legislation has been expanded to cover any extraction place, rather than targeting high risk activities, David says. “The Health and Safety at Work (Mining Operations and Quarrying Operations) Regulations 2016 provides guidance, notifications and Certificate of Competence (COC) requirements. "There are many pieces of health and safety legislation which apply to quarries, including the Electricity Safety Regulations which came back under the regulator’s umbrella in 2010. It has a schedule directly aimed at quarrying operations.” If you are currently a quarrying operation and are unfamiliar with these regulations, you need to improve your knowledge, he stresses. WorkSafe inspectors regularly report non-compliant electrical installations.
General risk The Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 have also come about following HSWA coming into force. These regulations spell out legal obligations/duties around facilities; first aid; and emergency management plans. Operators must practise these plans onsite annually, he says, acknowledging that this is harder for smaller operators. “Operators should use the mining regulations for guidance on emergency management. The likes of New Zealand Mines Rescue can provide quarrying industry services to help operators
develop emergency management plans. “Other relevant regulations include the Worker Engagement, Participation and Representation Regulations, particularly relevant for larger companies. It determines how and when worker representation is required. Businesses of a certain size must have worker representatives on a site-by-site basis, calculated on staff numbers and risk factors.” Many operators will be familiar with the previous Health and Safety in Employment regulations, which weren’t entirely repealed when HSWA came into force, says David. This means there are parts of the 1995 regulations which still apply and overlap with general risk regulations. “The 1955 regulations are still on the Government Legislation website and clearly show which parts were removed and which parts remain. “Quarrying is excluded from the definitions of construction work but there are other parts of the 1995 regulations that remain. For example, if you’re doing some tree felling in your site as part of stripping. “The Health and Safety at Work Hazardous Substances Regulations 2017 will be the new kid on the block, replacing the old HSNO Act.” It was decided that HSWA was broad enough to absorb hazardous substances management. “Its coverage is extensive and covers things like approved shot firing handlers and diesel storage. “It is an important new piece of legislation. Note also the regulations around asbestos, which could apply to older sites with asbestos cladding and pipe work. There’s a COC for this so it’s important if you have asbestos at your site. “Finally, the Health and Safety and Employment Pressure Equipment, Cranes and Passenger Ropeways is a legacy piece of legislation originally replacing the Ministry of Transport’s Boilers, Lifts and Cranes Act.”
David Bellett, WorkSafe New Zealand’s deputy chief inspector, presenting at the 2017 QuarryNZ conference in Auckland.
Understanding ‘reasonably practicable’ Some people are misinterpreting the word ‘practicable’ and replacing it with the word ‘practical’, says David. They mean two different things. “What really matters is what the law says ‘practicable’ means. It’s important when reading legislation not to apply your own definitions of what the legislation might mean. “‘Practicable’ (in the common meaning) means it’s achievable, capable of being done and attainable. Remember that the definition for ‘practicable’ is not practical. One of the key foundations of HSWA is the term ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ and that is all about how you manage risk. “The regulations also talk about a particular time, so it’s totally ‘situational’. What might be practicable in one situation may not necessarily be practicable in another. Everything reasonably practicable must be taken into account and you must weigh up how far you go with this. “We’re not asking you to examine how the world works, just relevant matters relating to that particular activity.” David says this is a commonly failed compliance area as the person concerned has to ‘reasonably’ know about a particular risk and how to fix it.
“What an operator might view as low risk or ‘unlikely’ to happen, might be viewed as ‘likely’ by an inspector because it has happened before.” The expression ‘ought to have reasonably known’ has already been defined and tested under previous legislation, he adds. “It means ‘might not have known, but ought to have’. When WorkSafe investigators investigate a fatality, they don’t just look at what was in the operator’s mind then. They also look at what should been in their mind as someone in that position who ought to have known. “Knowledge is key. You must know about hazard or risk, how to eliminate or minimise, and consider availability and suitability of how to do this.”
Costs of compliance Legislation asks operators at the front end to look at ways to protect against risk first, and then secondly, the availability and suitability of those ways, says David. “It’s a greenfields type approach to look at ways of eliminating and minimising risk, the availability and suitability, and what you ought to know about it. Only then do you think about costs. The legislation is clear that you must consider the risks first and ways of managing them before considering costs.” David proposed that some people might rule out some risk controls because the cost is disproportionate to potential
harm, but that doesn’t mean the controls shouldn’t have been considered in the first instance. “It’s only after assessing the risk’s extent and available mitigations that the associated costs and available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk are considered. This includes whether or not the cost is grossly disproportionate.” The message from WorkSafe’s high hazards team is, says David, that when you have principal hazards, putting health and safety at risk, you must look at whether control costs are grossly disproportionate to potential harm “How much value do you put on a life?” While legislation can be dry, he adds, it’s necessary to know it because you need to make sure your compliance protects both your business and individuals. “For businesses that refuse to accept their responsibilities under the act and don’t respond to the other enforcement mechanisms – a jail term is a possibility, so it’s serious stuff.” David's homework for conference attendees was to download the regulations and look at guidance on WorkSafe’s website on risk and workplace management regulations. “WorkSafe wants open dialogue with the sector as improving health and safety performance is best achieved by industry and regulator working together,” he says. Q&M Q&M October - November 2017 23
M I N I N G
Access to under sea mineral wealth TTTR’s proposed underwater crawler will extract and then pump raw seabed sediment to the integrated mining vessel above for processing into valuable iron sands, primarily for export, before returning the raw sediment to the sea floor in a controlled manner into an adjacent previously mined area.
Trans-Tasman Resources chairman Alan Eggers says Environmental Protection Agency approval of the marine and discharge consents necessary for the company to recover and export iron sands from the South Taranaki Bight will unlock a vast previously untapped world-class resource. By NEIL RITCHIE. “THE APPROVAL IS the right result, good science and common sense,” he told Q&M, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in August granting authority for Trans-Tasman Resources (TTR) to proceed with its controversial plan to extract and process up to five million tonnes per year of iron sands, primarily for export, for 20 years. Perennial protestors – such as Greenpeace, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM) and various other groups, including some Taranaki Maori – have already filed High Court appeals against the EPA approval of TTR’s second application (the EPA declined TTR’s first application in 2014). However, this does not faze Eggers. “We know these High Court appeals have been filed and we hope they will be resolved by late 2017 and will not impact on our monitoring programme … unfortunately we will always have detractors and opponents.” Commercial operations to extract the ore will not start until late 2019-early 2020, he adds. The EPA decision making committee (DMC) 24 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
recommendations include more than 100 conditions to the marine and discharge consents, with one requiring TTR to carry out environmental monitoring for two years before, during and after mining. Eggers says TTR agrees with the many checks and balances imposed by the EPA to ensure the company’s transparency and with the constant monitoring of its operations. “Yes, there are so many conditions, but the monitoring conditions are comprehensive and, with trigger levels set, will ensure TTR meets the highest standard of environmental compliance whilst operating in the STB. “The STB is now the most researched and surveyed area of ocean environment around New Zealand … this is as a direct result of TTR’s significant investment in extensive environmental assessment by New Zealand and international marine ecology experts on the environment and the impact on that environment of our iron ore recovery operation.” TTR also welcomes the setting up of an independent technical review group made up of representatives from the
"TTR agrees with the many checks and balances imposed by the EPA to ensure the company’s transparency and with the constant monitoring of its operations." Trans-Tasman Resources chairman Alan Eggers.
Taranaki Regional Council (TRC), Maori tribes, fisheries, an oil and gas company (likely to be Australian listed Origin Energy that operates the nearby offshore Kupe gas field), and the Department of Conservation, to oversee mining activity, including the design of the monitoring programme. Information gathered during the pre-mining monitoring phase will be used to set a baseline and be compared against results during the actual mining process. The monitoring will look at the effects of underwater noise, suspended sediment and fish life on the seabed ecosystem. TTR says its extensive environmental studies show the overall environmental effects of the proposed mining will be “negligible to minor”, with little effect on sea food, beaches, fishing, diving or any activities within the proposed mining area. The most affected areas will be those directly impacted by the underwater crawler, moving about 400 metres per hour and working in ‘lanes’ that will average about five metres depth, extracting and then pumping sediment as a slurry to TTR’s integrated mining vessel on the surface of the sea. The company’s mining permit covers just a little more than 65 square kilometres, equating to only about a fifth of one percent (0.21 percent) of the entire STB. And TTR’s operations at any one time will amount to just under one tenth of 1000th of a percent (0.00009 percent) of the STB by area. Also, TTR says its system to extract and then deposit the processed sediment is designed to minimise any plume effects. The EPA notes that the annual amount of sediment being added to the STB by rivers and streams exceeds, by more than 15 times, TTR’s proposed sediment stream. “Local marine life is already well adapted to such a sediment laden environment,” the authority says. And any plumes generated by TTR’s operation are unlikely to add any additional sediment deposition or suspension in near-shore areas, which are outside TTR’s mining permit, it adds. TTR’s approval to mine iron sands off the coast of Taranaki is a first for the region and for the country. But there have been many previous attempts to mine the material found along the Taranaki coastline since the late 1840s, with the last being a small onshore mining operation at Waipipi, near the South Taranaki town of Waverley. This operation ran from 1971 and produced about 15.7 million tonnes of concentrate, mainly for export, until it closed in 1987. And other onshore sites, such as those at Taharoa and Waikato
North, already supply the needs of the country's comparatively small steel industry, as well as being exported to international markets such as Japan, South Korea and China. Iron sands contain some important and valuable components – principally magnetite, an iron oxide that is a key component in steel making; titanium oxide, which is required for making titanium alloys that are used in high-tech applications such as aviation, defence and medical equipment; and vanadium oxide, which is used to increase the strength, heat and corrosion resistance of steel, particularly in high-grade reinforcing steel for earthquake strengthening in building and construction. “The environmental monitoring programme, as consented by EPA, commences when we start construction of the vessels and runs for two years before we commence mining activities and, obviously, throughout the mining operation for 20 years, and then for a further five or so years post-mining to ensure there are no adverse affects or remedial action required by TTR,” Eggers says. “And a bankable feasibility study is commencing now and will take around 18 months; largely finalising the detailed design of the integrated mining vessel and arranging finance to build the vessels and infrastructure required,” adds Eggers, a fifth generation Kiwi with decades of international mining experience. “The EPA now has a set of monitoring conditions that TTR must meet [as part of the marine consent grant] and if we fail to meet these we have to cease operations until we can demonstrate we can meet the limits set … and the EPA is again on full cost recovery from TTR to undertake the monitoring and compliance activities associated with our iron ore recovery operation,” he says. The EPA consents are the first for seabed mining in our Exclusive Economic Zone that extends from 12 to 200 nautical miles offshore. Coastal waters 12 nautical miles or closer to land are the responsibility of the TRC. And Eggers is still confident TTR’s project “will unlock the economic potential of a vast previously untapped world-class resource”. The country will benefit from increased royalty revenues of about $20 million per year on annual export revenues, giving a total of about $400 million based on full production at current prices over the scheduled 20-year economic life of the project, he says. Q&M Q&M October - November 2017 25
T E C H N O L O G Y
When technology used across the quarry is linked, operators have a historical perspective and analysis of data from multiple sources.
Industry 4.0 and aggregates The Industrial Internet of Things is being hailed as the next ‘industrial revolution’. SOREN SCHRAMM, regional product application manager for aggregates at Trimble, discusses the possibilities for aggregate operations. WHILE THERE IS some debate about where we are in a new
‘industrial revolution’, it’s clear that the era of the digital enterprise – also known as Industry 4.0 – is upon us. Policy makers and technology providers have embraced the philosophy as the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for its promise to converge information and communication technologies to transform the way producers run operations. With our national leaders’ energetic support of Industry 4.0, and investments made by the likes of GE, Cisco and others, the digital enterprise will be a driving force for years to come. In fact, US digital and technology provider Accenture estimates that the IIoT could add US$14.2 trillion to the world economy in the next 15 years.1 In an Industry 4.0 ecosystem, all devices or ‘things’ in a factory or manufacturing process have sensors that are connected to the internet. These sensors then stream massive amounts of data back to the manufacturer, which can then use software and analytics to interpret data to support real-time decision-making. Connecting digital technologies with industrial products and logistics is not an entirely new concept, of course. The mining industry, for example, has applied this approach for years. 26 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
Today, pressure on aggregate product margins due to competition and the rising costs of production are just some of the factors pushing aggregates producers to rethink the way they work as well.
Rise of Industry 4.0 in Aggregates Improvements in cloud technology and cloud-based applications are also helping to advance the concept of IIoT and universal data exchange in the aggregates industry. Before the era of enterprise cloud computing, collecting and storing a vast amount of data was nearly an impossible task for most small and mid-size manufacturers, including quarries. Managers could once be overwhelmed at the prospect of managing data centres and IT systems, in addition to running day-to-day aggregate operations. But now, technology is getting simpler, faster, easier to use and less costly than ever before. This makes technology adoption and deployment possible for small and mid-size aggregate operators. Industry 4.0 concepts and the seamless transfer of data between quarry productivity applications − such as machine control, wheel loader scales, measurement tools, planning and load-out applications and fleet management systems − is changing the aggregates business now and for the future.
By connecting data between production equipment and systems, managers get a more holistic view of site operations, with the ability to create valuable production and performance reports for extraction, processing and load-out operations. The Industry 4.0 ecosystem enables a streamlined quarry workflow in five main areas:
• Extraction Excavator scales, wheel loader scales and haul truck management systems let managers track pit loading and haulage targets and estimates automatically. Data can then be analysed and reports created that allow for continuous improvement; this eliminates the guesswork or ‘gut feel’ that used to govern much of the extraction operations.
• Processing In a quarry environment that ties weighing systems like belt scales with mobile production management applications, the need to manually track throughput and final tonnage is eliminated. For instance, measurement tools on the belt accurately capture data and show how machines are running, including tonnes per hour, total tonnage, downtime reasons, empty run times and more. In turn, this level of detail about throughput gives quarry operators the ability to monitor and improve the crushing and screening process. Better analysis enables more proactive decision-making when it comes to plant performance. This includes the ability to look deeper into any bottlenecks and the ability to track every product. By measuring weight, downtime and performance of multiple belts automatically, quarry operators can decide the optimal mode mix when planning production to meet sales forecasts.
• Load-out Delivering the right product, to the right customer, at the right time is a critical component of any operation. In a quarry operation that has embraced Industry 4.0 principles, accurate loader scales seamlessly exchange data
with load-out management applications. This optimises the load-out process and helps ensure each truck is loaded safely and quickly and to the optimal capacity. These connected scales also generate billable information and generate tickets straight from the loader scale. By exchanging information freely, these solutions can feed data into load-out management tools that provide real time customer job lists. Load accuracy and better analysis capabilities help with machine utilisation and customer satisfaction.
• Inventory Using conventional methods to conduct a ground survey of an active pit or quarry can be time-consuming, not to mention potentially dangerous. Measuring inventory with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) keeps quarry personnel out of harm’s way and help operators improve data collection accuracy and efficiency. This helps with forecasting and avoids costly write-offs at the end of the year if stockpile estimates are inaccurate.
• Transportation and distribution Data automatically collected about vehicle location condition and driver behaviour minimises the need for manual load sheets and reduces driver frustration. Asset and fleet management tools that exchange data let operators know when and where machines are working compared to targets, so operators can make the right decision at the right time.
Adoption strategies Although quarry productivity technology is becoming easier to use, operators should never underestimate the importance of selecting the right supplier and choosing a good local partner. Whether the quarry is a major producer with many sites or a single site operation, having the right partners in place that can troubleshoot problems and have a grasp on the complete aggregate workflow is critical. Other best practice adoption strategies include:
Aggregate operators that apply best practices and next generation technology now will experience the long-term benefits of production efficiency, machine productivity and personal safety. Q&M October - November 2017 27
T E C H N O L O G Y
A long-term plan will ensure each technology component (eg, machine control, scales and load-out applications) as well as the supporting infrastructure, is interoperable.
• Keep it simple
• Have a long-term plan
To start with, focus on a specific area of the quarry that needs optimisation and work from there out. For instance, if extraction estimates are always in question, consider a solution such as a haul truck management system. Sophisticated monitors provide in-cab displays and sensor systems that collect production figures and payload data, without the need for manual tally sheets. A next step would be connecting these sensors to the internet and using a production management application with cloud reporting tools to highlight material movement issues. From there, reports show haul truck activity, loading time and waiting time. Better data in one area allows operators to make key adjustments to variables like cycle time and product ratios, which together have a big impact on meeting plant demands.
While it’s important to start small, having a long-term plan will ensure each technology component (ie, machine control, scales and load-out applications) as well as the supporting infrastructure, is interoperable. The seamless, universal exchange of data is the foundation that will support the operation’s long-term goals for connectivity and optimised production.
• Focus on run of infrastructure Similarly, start on the area with the biggest opportunity for ROI. For instance, running the pit loading operation at capacity can eliminate the cost of additional machines and trucks to support the excavator. Even small tweaks in the pit-loading operation can eliminate load adjustment, dumping excess or turn-arounds during haulage, which can save significant money and time. When ROI is high, quarries can make additional investments incrementally, building the technology infrastructure methodically while mitigating risks.
Connected worksites While it may take several years to fully realise the benefits of Industry 4.0, many quarry operators are acting now to improve their operations. The vision for a more connected aggregates production process and real time data sharing, is no doubt driving quarry operators forward. By syncing data captured across the entire aggregates workflow, from pit, to processing and then load-out, quarry managers will continue to benefit. Those aggregate operators that apply best practices and next generation technology today will experience increased visibility across the production site, improvements to production efficiency, machine productivity and personal safety. Q&M
• Originally published in Quarry, the official publication of the Institute of Quarrying Australia.
Visit quarrymagazine.com.
• Establish manageable benchmarks
REFERENCE
Set benchmarks during the adoption period to monitor progress. When technology used across the quarry is linked, operators have a historical perspective and analysis of data from multiple sources. This insight allows teams to better benchmark operational performance and then compare time periods, operator performance, product inventories and sites to identify cost drivers and opportunities.
1. Accenture Technology. Winning with the Industrial Internet of Things – How to accelerate the journey from production to growth. Visit https://accntu.re/2xhvPww
28 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
FURTHER READING Google Trends. Industry 4.0 (search term). trends.google.com/ trends/explore?q=industry%204.0
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A case for LiDAR in Automation is one of the key trends breaking ground in almost all business sectors across the globe but extraction is often an industry behind in terms of the adoption of this technology. By DANIEL SCULLY, pre-sales engineer-monitoring, 3D Laser Mapping. AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDS to make processes more efficient and
conditions safer for workers in some of the most hazardous jobs. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is one such technology helping to drive change in commercial and domestic environments. LiDAR uses the pulsed light from a laser to collect measurements, with calculations made based on the amount of time it takes for the laser to reach an object and reflect back to the scanner. Many LiDAR sensors are capable of collecting over 1,000,000 measurements per second, meaning that stockpiles and highways can be scanned and mapped in minutes. LiDAR is already being used to improve safety records in notoriously dangerous industries such as agriculture which experienced 111 workplace fatalities here between 2011 and 2016. Tasks that would previously have seen workers exposed to either heavy machinery or hazardous environments are now completed using automated vehicles and processes, which use LiDAR for navigation or calculations.
Automated inventory management Laser scanning is well suited to the mining and quarrying environment thanks in part to the level of accuracy and detail that can be gained from a single scan. Yet, the true benefits are really revealed when the technology is used as part of a continual monitoring strategy for scanning and monitoring slopes, tunnels and stockpiles. Using time-series scans from static or mobile scanners, the software can automatically warn of structural change, deformation and even stockpile shortages without the need for visual inspections.
30 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
extraction In 2015, this country produced 39 million tonnes of aggregates, with over half of it used on the nation’s roads. The logistics surrounding this level of output can mean hundreds of man hours spent climbing up stockpiles and using GPS data to generate largely inaccurate measurements. Some operators report that it used to take up to five days to recover stockpile data, which is costly, time consuming and inconvenient for any business that has a high level of stock turnover.
Improving Any task that poses a risk to workers should be automated where possible and remote sensors are capable of monitoring faces and slopes to give prior warning of a potential event. Strategically placed LiDAR sensors carry out time-series scans which are compared automatically to reveal increased rock-fall or structural weaknesses where work is being carried out. Sensors can also be set up to detect surface movements or moisture leakage, allowing for critical decisions to be made in advance of an incident. Data is sent directly to a central computer which can then be easily shared with external stakeholders and mining or quarrying operatives on the ground.
Drone's eye view Commercial drones and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provide a birds-eye perspective for many industrial sectors, from surveying to security. However, a downside with standard drones is the need to rely on standard photography equipment to calculate measurements via photogrammetry. This method is limited in that it requires images to be taken in good light. LiDAR sensors can work in more unstable weather conditions and in areas prone to dust. So, the combination of UAVs and lightweight LiDAR sensors has meant that surveyors and business operators now have the best of both worlds – remote access to hazardous areas, with the ability to acquire accurate data on a regular basis.
Conclusion A report in 2008 estimated this country has unexploited resources (of just seven core minerals including gold, copper, iron and molybdenum) worth in the region of $140 billion, signifying that the sector still has the potential for significant growth. There’s also the figure for aggregates to consider; the revenue from 39 million tonnes produced in 2015 was a staggering $502 million. So it’s imperative that the extractives sector adopts automation technology to help improve production performance and safety. Okay, technology such as LiDAR doesn’t totally replace human intervention but it goes a long way towards streamlining processes and improving working conditions. Q&M Q&M October - November 2017 31
A u s I M M
A rise in confidence The gloom that has hung over the extractives industries in the near-decade since the global financial crisis seemed finally to have lifted at September's conference in Christchurch of the New Zealand branch of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Mineralogy (AusIMM). By HUGH DE LACY. THERE WAS NO DANCING in the streets by the 220 delegates at AusIMM 2017, but the atmosphere at the conference was distinctly more confident than last year’s subdued event. The overarching positives seemed to be the steady strengthening of the global high-grade coking coal market, the firming trend for gold as the Donald Trump administration in the United States generates increasing uncertainty, the positive post-Solid Energy outlook for domestic and export coals, and the consenting of Trans-Tasman Resources’ seabed mining project. Coking coal is bouncing around the US$200/tonne (NZ$260/t), prompting local exporters with mothballed or non-producing mines to start thinking of cranking them up again, and at around US$1300/ounce (NZ$1700/oz) the gold price is likewise encouraging. The local coal industry, both thermal and coking, has consolidated around the joint venture between listed Australian collier Bathurst Resources and the diversified New Zealand food producer and marketer Talleys. It seemed like an odd association
when the two got together to step into the liquidated shoes of Solid Energy, but Bathurst Talley Mining (BTM) has filled the role of the former stateowned collier as the dominant player in the local game. It means continuity of production at the Stockton export mine on the West Coast, no less than at the main thermal sites of Rotowaru and Maramarua in the Waikato. Other former Solid Energy assets, the Liverpool and Strongman mines, have been sold to West Coast miner Birchfield Coals, while the Ohai and New Vale opencast mines in Southland have been snapped up by Greenbriar, a subsidiary of the Palmer MH Group. Bathurst chief executive Richard Tacon told Q&M that it was Talleys principal Peter Talley’s idea to form the coal-mining joint venture, as much because Tacon saw potential in the sector as for the family company’s own need for about 100,000 tonnes of thermal coal a year to fire the boilers of its various processing plants. While prospecting was the recurrent theme of the gold papers presented at the conference, the recent emergence
The team at the Straterra booth at the AusIMM conference, from left, chief executive Chris Baker, events manager Tracy Lloyd, financial accountant Fiona Hatzilamprou, policy manager Joshua O’Rourke, and the chief executive of MinEx, Wayne Scott.
32 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
of New Talisman Gold as a market darling was also a hot topic, following its release of new prospecting data that puts its historic underground mine near Waihi among the top five percent of the richest fields in the world. New Talisman will always be a minnow, but any mining company whose share price trebles in a week adds excitement to the local industry. And then there was TTR’s successful second application to the Environmental Protection Agency to mine iron sand from the seabed floor off the coast of Taranaki. The chief executive of mining lobbyist Straterra, Chris Baker, told Q&M that while the decision gave confidence to the domestic mining industry that science, not emotion, will continue to govern resource consent decisions, the greater impact was on “the externals”, the perception of the industry by overseas companies contemplating mining here. “The TTR decision, in the face of the protests against the scheme, will reassure foreign companies that New Zealand’s open for business,” Baker said.
Jono Weir of New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals speaking on government-funded geophysical and geochemical data acquisition.
A u s I M M
Latest South Island data released A stroke of clever programming saw the public release of NZ Petroleum and Mineral’s (NZPM’s) latest
South Island aeromagnetic and
geochemical data at the same time as GNS Science’s Mark Rattenbury was introducing it to the AusIMM conference.
NZPM RELEASED the data, covering
Murchison, Otago and northern Southland, at noon on the first day of the conference as Rattenbury was speaking in Christchurch. The aim is to encourage exploration and mining of our mineral resources. The government agency used $8 million from the 2014 Budget to fund the extension of the aeromagnetic data to more than 30 percent of the country. Regional aeromagnetic surveying, now 75 percent complete, has accumulated more than 140,000 kilometres of data. The latest soil geochemical survey gathered samples from 909 sites between the three regions. Grid spacings of eight kilometres were applied for most of the area, narrowed to four kilometres and two kilometres over selected areas. The first of two papers Rattenbury presented explored the new aeromagnetic dataset for eastern Nelson and Marlborough,
which reveals areas of anomalous magnetism “that can mostly be related to known magnetic-rich igneous and volcanogenic sedimentary rocks. “Some of the prospective host rocks are inferred to lie at shallow depths beneath rock and sediment.” The number of tectnostratigraphic basement terranes compressed across barely 130 kilometres of Buller-east and Nelson-Marlborough was an outstanding feature of the geology. The magnetic and radiometric data was acquired by helicopter at a 200-metre line spacing with a target ground clearance of 35 metres, oriented at 110-290 degrees. The most prominent NelsonMarlborough feature was a zone of strong positive anomalies extending from Red Hill north-east to Croisilles Harbour. The new aeromagnetic data covered parts of Southland and, combined with existing data from the Longwood Range, provides highresolution coverage across several major basement tectonic units. “Exploration potential of the region has been raised through affirmation of geological mapping, identification of new structures and nearsurface occurrences of potentially mineralised host rocks,” Rattenbury’s second paper, co-produced by SC Cox, AP Martin and N Mortimer, said.
The basement Southland-Otago region’s geology is defined by five terranes ranging south-east to northwest, is Permian to Early Cretaceous, and is dominated by schist and semischist. “The exploration potential of these new aeromagnetic datasets for locating new mineral deposits in the region lies more in identifying prospective host rocks and threedimensional geometry than imaging mineralisation signatures directly,” the paper says. “Mineral prospectivity in the surveyed area ultimately lies with the Brook Street volcanics terrane and median batholith rocks, and the survey has revealed new places where these rocks are likely to occur at shallow depths below covering strata or sediment.” The two South Island surveys complement those produced over Northland in 2011 and the West Coast in 2013, and take to 35 percent the coverage of the country’s land area by high-quality geophysical data. The geophysical information provided by these programmes, which are ongoing, offers the industry highresolution data, supplemented by geochemical data, that is free to use and reduces the risk of minerals exploration. By Hugh De Lacy.
Gold radar discussion On its own, ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a useful tool for locating
placer gold deposits, but the data it produces is at its most useful
when part of a “coherent exploration programme”, Mike Finnemore, of Christchurch-based consultancy Southern Geophysical, told the conference. SURVEYS CAN quickly and cost-effectively characterise the architecture of the near-surface substrate in both two and three dimensions,” his paper said. “GPR Mike Finnemore of Southern Geophysical discusses the effectiveness of ground penetrating radar.
GPR has the highest resolution of any geophysical method of imaging near-surface features, creating a nearly continuous image of the subsurface. In the field, an antenna and control unit, which looks like an orange box with a trailing odometer wheel, is towed over the ground by a quadbike. The antenna transmits pulses of electromagnetic signals at set frequencies, and gets a reflected signal back from whatever is below the surface, with the strength of the reflected signal largely dependent Q&M October - November 2017 33
A u s I M M
on the contrast in dielectric permittivity between the materials it bounces off. The higher the frequency, the higher the resolution of the images produced, but also the less the depth to which it can penetrate. A frequency of 200MHz was found to give a balance between resolution and penetration, though up to 400MHz could be used to improve near-surface resolution, while 100MHz allowed penetration to a depth of as much as 25 metres. Finnemore, presenting data coauthored by C Ruegg and C Watson, said their GPR tests were carried out at two secret locations chosen with the consent of the permit-holders from a number of commercial and hobby placer gold mining sites. At the first site, the aim was to trace a channel on a site of otherwise littleknown geology, which the imaging showed to be a large paleochannel structure infilled with boulders and coarse gravelly material. There were two objectives in the GPR survey of the second site, the first being to delineate the boundaries of a permit area by identifying the extent of extractable gravels. The second was to locate paleochannels and plot their orientation. The exercise showed that the main drawback of GPR, which has been around for about three decades, “has been the lack of systematic and robust geological ground-truthing”, the paper said. “Correlation information that has been provided by clients is often approximate, without geological naming conventions and accurate positions. “The value of GPR to clients could be increased dramatically at a very low cost simply by engaging a geologist to accurately record and log test pit information.” That said, the paper concluded that GPR is a useful tool for placer gold exploration on the West Coast, with depth penetration ranging between seven and 15 metres. “The level of detail obtainable with the GPR system is excellent, with pockets of boulders, paleochannels and sedimentary horizons clearly imaged,” it concluded. 34 www.quarryingandminingmag.co.nz Q&M
Neutralising acidity with bioreactors The effectiveness of mussel shell bioreactors to treat acidity and dissolved metal loads in the water from the Escarpment mine on the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau was demonstrated in a paper presented by Bathurst
Resources’ C Robertson, and O’Kane Consultants’ P Weber and W Olds. THE ESCARPMENT MINE was the
subject of Bathurst’s long-running battle to win resource consent for an opencast mine, but by the time it gained approval the global financial crisis had crashed high-grade coking coal prices, and the mine has been in care and maintenance ever since. This presented the researchers with a golden opportunity to measure acidity loads from a waste rock dump built in two-metre lifts, as well as the acidity generated by highwalls, and that in a pit lake and the Barren Valley Engineered Landform (ELF) formed as part of the construction phase, subsequently suspended. The ELF was required under the resource consent to provide low net percolation with an active water treatment plant during operations and a passive treatment system at closure. The planned mine is now in the joint ownership of Bathurst and Nelson-based food producer Talleys, and is expected to come into production once the global coking coal market stabilises. Extensive historic underground mining that began on the plateau about a century ago and continued until the mid-1980s has left a legacy of acid mine drainage (AMD). There are many discharge points from old workings within the Brunner Coal Measures, some of them within the Escarpment mine footprint. Most of the waterways on the plateau are naturally acidic because of the pakihi soils, and the rain runoff over exposed pyrite-bearing rock associated with the sandstone surface. After rainfall this results in a rapid drop in pH in, for example, the Conglomerate Stream which
is not impacted by any historical mining and is therefore regarded as representative of the natural receiving environment. The opencast mining of large areas of historic workings, and treating the water from them at the same time as the discharges from the planned mine, was expected to greatly improve the water leaving the plateau. The trial treatment system was built “with limited machinery and personnel, minimal cost, and an expectation of minor ongoing maintenance input”, the authors told the conference. “Modelling was undertaken which determined that a passive treatment system of mussel shell bioreactor would be the most cost-effective and practical solution to treat the acidity and dissolved metal loads prior to discharge.” The results were described as “convincing, with median pH from the engineered landform increasing from 3.5 to 7.9, and dissolved metals decreasing by two orders of magnitude after the waters passed through”. The results demonstrated that the excess alkalinity produced by the bioreactor was sufficient to neutralise the acidity in the pit lake as well as the ongoing acidity emanating from the highwalls. “It appears that, based on the data available, the approach of a wellconstructed engineered landform and down-gradient passive treatment can manage the acidity and metal loads generated by the operation,” the authors said. They added that this boded well for the Escarpment opencast operation once it got under way, and it also served as a template for other large-scale opencast prospects. Q&M
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Aggregate News AGGREGATE & QUARRY ASSOCIATION OF NZ
Earning our place in the sun I was delighted to be re-elected at the AQA AQM at the QuarryNZ conference in July. There is so much happening in the extractive sector and I wanted to continue contributing, so the industry’s support is truly appreciated. Not least, I made clear at the AGM that I was supporting a mooted change to a peak extractive sector body, so long as quarrying was front and centre in the new organisation. If you are interested, have a look at my well-received speech on the AQA website. Around the conference, as we mixed and mingled (see Conference photos on page 39 ) I was hearing considerable support for change. Among them and featured in this issue on page 37, the new MinEx CEO Wayne Scott who has brought a brisk professionalism to the role in just a matter of weeks in the role. One of his first tasks has been to respond to WorkSafe’s new proposed Site Specific CoC unveiled at conference. I share Wayne’s concerns and those voice at a series of WorkSafe regional forums (see coverage of Nelson forum on page 37) that this looks like a very bureaucratic response to CoC failure rates; we hope WorkSafe sees through its pledge to take on board the feedback. I do need to caution people that if we are going to develop an organisation that fronts Government on such 36 www.aqa.org.nz
issues, as well as councils, media and the public about quarrying and wider sector challenges, then it will need to be well-resourced. We even heard that in the only speeches from politicians to the conference – Auckland’s Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore and Labour’s Stuart Nash. Bill praised quarries for our vital role in Auckland’s growth and Stuart said we were the unsung heroes of New Zealand. You cannot get our industry’s issues across without resources to do so. One example is Respirable Crystalline Silica; we cannot meet the challenges it presents without good science, industry engagement and communication. The RCS issue has sparked a rare Letter to the Editor (and our response). See that on page 38 Finally, a warm welcome to new AQA Board member Jared Johnston, who replaced the redoubtable Bruce Taylor. Jared comes from a quarrying background and headed into our industry armed with both a law and commerce degree. He is part of a new generation of quarrying leaders. We are going to need to attract more of them if quarrying is to earn its rightful place in the sun as the industry which delivers the foundations for New Zealand. Brian Roche
Chair, AQA
Mark Pizey at the Nelson forum
WorkSafe quizzed at Nelson meeting WorkSafe got some quizzing at the second to last of seven regional forums run by WorkSafe/MITO to promote the proposed Site Specific CoC and revised unit standards. The Nelson meeting attracted barely 20 people, about half the total for a similar forum last year. WorkSafe’s Chief Inspector (High Hazards) Mark Pizey said was one of the reasons for high failure rates in quarry CoC oral exams was poorly prepared candidates, with an ‘amazing’ number still quoting the Health and Safety in Employment Act, rather than the Health and Safety at Work Act which came into force last year. Site specific qualifications were already allowed under regulation but the required technical and experiential standards were not yet defined. He said that feedback from the quarry sector had been received stating what was also wanted were “plant specific” CoCs but different sites presented different risks creating difficulties in meeting this request. Nelson quarrying identity Snow Edgar told the meeting that CoCs requirements were putting a rope around industry's neck. He said 29 units were required, some taking three days. "You are just chasing people away. This doesn't help." Mr Pizey said he did not have power to change laws and the law says a B grade can manage any quarry if explosives are not used, so they needed the required unit standards. He acknowledged the difference between A and B CoCs was growing smaller. WorkSafe was also looking
at a Quarry Manager’s COC and a Quarry supervisor’s qualification. He said CoCs should not be the pinnacle of achievement. "Any other industry has an expectation of its leaders that they will continue to train." Mr Pizey said changing laws was “a helluva job;” nothing could happen for 18 months at a minimum. Matters dealt with by the Board of Examiners under the provisions of Gazettal Notices were however easier to amend AQA Board member Mike Higgins who attended several of the regional forums, said the law was an ass in putting no limit on B grade managed numbers. He also said that at Wellington’s major highway project, Transmission Gully, contractors were cutting rock faces and applying extracted material as in a quarry, but no CoC was required. Mr Higgins condemned quarry industry apathy that allowed such things to continue. Another Nelson quarry operator asked if WorkSafe was going to take the big stick out against unregistered quarries. Mark Pizey said two prohibition notices has been issued to date and improvement notices were being used more widely. "As these Improvement Notices expire and if things haven't improved it could be a different story. I expect we will need to kick some pretty hard." www.aqa.org.nz October - November 2017 37
Aggregate News LETTER TO THE EDITOR In July, we received a Letter to the Editor about two articles. Dear Sir, In the April- May issue of AQA Aggregate News you printed an article entitled "Rain, dust and BANANAS" written by Brian Roche, and another entitled "Dust ban would dust bin much economic activity.” The first article is full of errors, which I have attempted to correct in the attached piece. You are welcome to circulate or publish my attached document (in fact, in view of the egregious errors made in the article I think you are bound by journalistic ethics to publish it). The second article is alarmist as other countries have profitable quarries even when observing strict rules regarding dust. In addition, the other industries mentioned, such as farming, do not emit continuous clouds of invisible respirable crystalline silica as do many greywacke quarries, so would not be affected by ECAN's rules. Importantly, Mr Roche would be advised to come up to speed with current NZ regulations and with WHO's and NZ's EPA's best practice guidelines. Sincerely, Kelvin W Duncan, PhD At 1800+ words Dr Duncan’s document is too big to publish but it’s on our website. The AQA responds to some key points.
• European quarry colleagues did advise there is usually minimal if any risk of any health effects on neighbours. It is accepted there may be differences on setback requirements between NZ and elsewhere. Dr Duncan’s reference material included one Indian scientists’ review of studies on RCS impacting neighbours and a nearly 20year old WHO report on airborne dust control in the work environment. Dr Duncan says greywacke as quarried at Yaldhurst contains between 30% and 40% silica dioxide, which becomes very dangerous when quarried, forming minute, sharp-edged, refractive crystals which air currents can lift into the air and carry between 500 m to 1.5 km. • The AQA notes that Environment Canterbury after some comprehensive monitoring was in August “awaiting a final report as to the dust … and if there is any respirable crystalline silica (RCS) component.” • The AQA is not dismissing the risks of RCS. A later Aggregate News carried further two articles on RCS, noting the seriousness it posed for workers. Comment was sought from WorkSafe Chief Inspector Extractives Mark Pizey who advised: “…a quarry operator aware of any risk to the health of anyone at their site or in the vicinity from a hazard created by a quarry, must eliminate or reduce the risk to acceptable levels so far as is reasonable practicable.”
PHOTO SUPPLIED BY KEVIN DUNCAN.
•F irst, the articles began noting that the ban on any dust from Yaldhurst quarries was “sparked by concerns around Respirable Crystalline Silica dust – and that’s a valid concern we take seriously in our industry on behalf of our workers.” AQA chair Brian Roche said: “If there is any evidence of (the RCS level) being exceeded or a quarry worker or neighbour being exposed, we’d expect authorities to respond. However, for Environment Canterbury to announce a ‘no tolerance’ approach for any dust just beggars belief.” That was our key point; a ban on dust containing RCS is wholly supported; but not a total ban on any dust.
Dr Duncan says we quoted European quarry colleague reporting no cases of respirable silica in sufficient volumes to cause any neighbour any issues. “Setting aside the fact that, unlike the Yaldhurst quarries, all the European quarries I have seen are set back well away from public spaces, even a cursory review of the literature would reveal that high doses of RCS result in classical silicosis in both workers and residents whereas low levels of exposure tend to result in heart or other non-respiratory organ failure. “
Yaldhurst quarry dust taken from a resident's home. The average size of the particles is between 2.5 and 5.0µm, which makes them invisible to the naked eye.
38 www.aqa.org.nz
Aggregate News
The QuarryNZ conference The QuarryNZ conference in Auckland in late July provided every opportunity to learn – and celebrate.
Steve Ellis and the Stevenson’s team from Drury and Huntly took out the Chief Inspector’s Safety Award.
AQA CEO Roger Parton with Rex Davis and Mimico Environmental Awards judge Dr Morgan Williams.
John Quayle and Gordon Laing formed a two-man rock unit to do most of the conference preparation work.
Mimico MD Rex Davis hands over the Mimico Gold Award for Environmental Excellence to GBC Winstone’s Belmont quarry manager Shane Hagai.
Matt Freeman and Cameron Massey from Inside Resources let their hair down at the Real Steel Hard Rock Club Happy Hour.
Outgoing IOQNZ president Les Ward at the Awards evening with Zara Clifton from Southern Cross Engineering, who was presented with a Q&M Editors Young Leader Award.
The scale of Stevenson’s Drury quarry operation impressed many on the field trip. www.aqa.org.nz
October - November 2017 39
Aggregate News
Mentors and more from new MinEx CEO New MinEx CEO Wayne Scott arrived in Wellington in July after 30 years in Australia. Aggregate News did a Q+A with Wayne and asked firstly about the key areas of focus for him? A. The key message I want to get across is we all have skin in this game. Sometimes our own skin. The new H+S at Work Act underscores this; everyone shares responsibility. Worker to Director. Q. What about this mentoring initiative? A. If we want there to be a quarrying industry into the future, we need to do so much better than seeing more than half of oral B grade CoCs failing their exams. Keri Harrison, H&S Manager at Southern Screenworks was the first to offer her help to a couple of guys from another Canterbury quarry to get across the line. She’s already done this successfully at her own site. Dunedin’s Gavin Hartley then offered and a further 15 volunteer mentors have stepped up to offer their help. If you can help – or want help – please email or text me. Q. The WorkSafe Site Specific CoC is being seen by many in the quarry industry as a sledgehammer response to a nut? A. To their credit, WorkSafe and MITO are open about what they are proposing and working in tandem. I attended five of the seven regional forums. As outlined, the Site Specific
CoC will exclude most people with suggested restrictions that it only apply to sites producing less than 1000 tonne a week; it also totally eliminates alluvial gold mines. Q. So what’s the solution? A. I ’m putting in a MinEx submission framed around an alternative riskbased approach. Hopefully this will be taken onboard along with the necessary work to align unit standards with the necessary training requirements. Q. What else is emerging? A. I am pleased to see a rethink underway from looking at every risk to a focus on serious harm and death injuries. At the recent QuarryNZ conference I asked how many had had an emergency at their site; a third of delegates put their hand up. Four or five of them put up their hands again when asked if they were well prepared. Attending my first fatality as a manager in Sydney, I found 40 out of 50 staff running around in shock after a 19-year-old worker had been electrocuted on a catwalk. You need an Emergency Response Plan. It can be something as simple as a wall chart, laminated and on the smoko wall for everyone to see. I can supply a basic version on request. As a quarry or mine manager, invite your local emergency services to visit your site so they know the lay-out and access at a quiet time rather than in an emergency.
Join our united voice! The Aggregate and Quarry Association achieves workable and sensible outcomes for our industry. Contact us today: office@aqa.org.nz www.aqa.org.nz Benefits for members include: • A voice on numerous national committees, including MITO and MinEx • Access to information and guidance from our expert Technical committee committee members plus our Board members • AQA members also receive issues of Contractor and Q&M free of charge. A G G R E G AT E & Q U A R RY A S S O C I AT I O N O F N Z
Supporting New Zealand from the ground up 40 www.aqa.org.nz
Wayne Scott
Q. How’s the Health and Safety template coming along? A. MinEx has brought this together for small quarries with help from the AQA and IOA. It includes a basic Emergency Response Plan. I’m still asking for feedback on the template as we get it finalised into the most useful document it can be to assist smaller site operators. Q. Final message? A. Through MinEx we have the opportunity to present a united Extractives sector position to government and better influence change. Our small team are here to assist with improvements in health and safety across the Extractives sector so call me if you have an issue or want to have a chat on any health and safety related topic. I’m also trying to physically visit as many of you as possible. * Wayne Scott can be contacted at
021 944 336 or wayne@minex.org.nz
Aggregate & Quarry Association of NZ PO Box 32 019, Maungaraki, Lower Hutt, 5050 Chief Executive Roger Parton tel 04 568 9123 fax 04 568 2780 email office@aqa.org.nz
www.aqa.org.nz
TECHNICAL ISSUES FOR AQA MEMBERS CoC and Unit Standard Consultation
• During August, WorkSafe and MITO consulted on Certificates of Competence. • Proposed changes were mainly to unit standards requirements for CoCs and trying to clearly define the type of low-risk quarry operation that warranted a specific site CoC instead of a B Grade CoC. • MITO is mainly renaming and renewing dates on its unit standards, but two new unit standards have also been written relating to surface extraction – Reading Quarry Plans and Surface Extraction Methods. • MinEx crafted an excellent submission from feedback gathered across the industry and so AQA’s submission was mostly in support of MinEx’s submission. • One of the counter-proposals to WorkSafe regarded the type of site where a manager could hold a site-specific CoC. The criteria were based on accumulating a risk score rather than specific requirements (e.g. no crushing or excavation deeper/ higher than 6m).
M/4
•A QA is still checking M/4 results to see if producers can meet the statistical acceptance requirements. We are also developing a reasonable way to check compliance on site so you don’t have to employ a statistician or send results off-site. • This should be completed in September, when we will go back to NZTA with findings.
Low Volume Roads – Road Controlling Authority Forum
•T he Guidelines for equitable funding of pavement maintenance for low volume roads have been published by the RCA Forum • There was some debate about classifying land use (mainly pastoral examples) and the Forum is seeking a legal opinion on this. • A case study performed in the Wairoa District demonstrates that cost is fairly evenly distributed per tonne of product carted on the road but fails to recognise the relative cost per tonne of aggregate is huge compared to high value products like milk, timber and livestock. • Quarries will have to demonstrate their community benefits to their Road Controlling Authority to lower their rates when RCAs start implementing the guidelines.
Auckland Transport – Technical Design Manual
•A T’s Code of Practice has been in use since 2013 and AT is now releasing their Technical Design Manual (TDM) to cover all aspects of design. Aggregate for road pavement will be one of the first specifications released. The AQA Technical Committee has been instrumental in its development. • Key changes include allowing synthetic and recycled aggregate for sub-base and subgrade improvement layers. Testing frequencies are also included. • There are production, source, performance and environmental property requirements, including permitted amounts of foreign material. • The upshot is that a more diverse range of aggregates can be used in road construction.
AQA Board Chair
Brian Roche, Ravensdown
Deputy Chair Jayden Ellis,
Stevensons Construction Materials
Board Members Andrea Cave
Winstone Aggregates
Mike Higgins J Swap
Tony Hunter Blackhead Quarries
George Kelcher Road Metals
Brett Swain Southern Screenworks
Jared Johnston Fulton Hogan
Technical Committee Chair
Stacy Goldsworthy Green Vision Recycling
Greg Arnold Road Science
Jayden Ellis Stevensons Construction Materials
Alan Stevens Civil Contractors
David Morgan GBC Winstone
Clare Dring Fulton Hogan
Cobus van Vuuren GBC Winstone
Low Volume Roads Workshop – Call for More Economical Aggregate
•T he Aggregate Inventory Group presented at a REAAA workshop on low volume roads, held in Tauranga in September, advocating for using lower quality basecourse on much of the public road network. • The drivers include avoiding extreme cartage distances and preserving premium resources for high-volume roads, in turn reducing environmental effects and pavement consumption. • The Group propose matching aggregate performance levels to traffic loading, which for a large percentage of the sealed network is low. For example, 49% of local roads have a traffic loading < 1000 vehicles per day. • Modified marginal aggregates could be a good solution to this issue. www.aqa.org.nz
October - November 2017 41
New AQA Board member Jared Johnston.
I N N O V A T I O N S
SDLG latest wheel loader SDLG presented its newest wheel loader, the L956F, and its most recent motor grader, the G9138, at Mining Indonesia last month. Represented here by Transdiesel, the three tonne LG936L and five tonne LG956L are two of the manufacturer’s biggest sellers, and last year accounted for over 80 percent of SDLG wheel loaders sales in Indonesia alone. With dimensions of 8180mm by 3024mm by 3423mm, the five tonne L956F is the smallest of the three F-series wheel loaders. It is suited to a range of applications and its wear-resistance bucket has a capacity of three cubic metres. “Our motor graders are simple to use, so customers can put them to work quickly and start getting a return on their investment as soon as possible,” says the company. “On top of that, they are affordable and reliable, making them attractive options for customers with road-building projects, both in urban and rural areas.” Q&M
Reversing belt tracker innovation A new powered conveyor belt tracker from Martin Engineering is said to deliver immediate and continuous precision adjustment of hard-totrack reversing conveyors, helping to reduce spillage and extend the life of belts and other system components. Able to effectively centre the belt regardless of the travel direction, the robust unit has demonstrated greater durability and longer service life than previous designs, translating to a reduced cost of ownership. “Most reversing belt trackers use a paddle wheel or roller of some kind to move the actuator,” says Martin Engineering product development engineer Andrew Timmerman. “Like anything mechanical, the more moving parts there are, the more opportunity for something
to wear out. “In comparison, this unit reduces the number of parts in a rugged design, using either an air or electric actuator to reverse the working direction.” Engineered for reliability and longevity, the unit gives conveyor operators a new option for powering the tracker, allowing them to best suit their individual circumstances. “We wanted to offer both types of actuator to meet the needs of virtually any location,” Timmerman continued. “The sensors communicate the pulley direction, sending a signal either to an electrical relay or a pneumatic solenoid to extend or retract the cylinder as needed, depending on which version is specified.” Q&M
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