The Mining Advocate March 2014 by The Mining Advocate

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+ our new Women in Mining focus THIS EDITION • A lightning-fast way to cut downtime • New life for Leichhardt copper operation • Grand plan for Abbot Point industrial hub • $1.7b range crossing a boost for business

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The Mining Advocate | March 2014

COVER IMAGE: BHP Billiton Cannington asset president Laura Tyler. Photo: John De Rooy

March 2014

FEATURES

5 High strike rate

9 Promoting Indigenous Employment

Read about the lightning detection equipment helping worksites reduce unnecessary downtime by providing a more accurate picture of storm threats.

10 Women in Mining

7 Hear me RAW

11 Our Mining Heritage

BHP Billiton Cannington asset president Laura Tyler was among the host of worthy winners at this year’s Resources Awards for Women. Mrs Tyler took out the overall title at the Queensland Resources Council-run awards.

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9-10 Liftoﬀ This edition sees the launch of our new theme pages - Promoting Indigenous Employment and Women in Mining - highlighting initiatives and advances in fostering diversity in the resources industry, the challenges to be addressed, and the individuals and organisations achieving so much in this field.

13 Between Shifts 14 Industry Update - Coal and Gas News in brief across the coal and gas industries.

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11 Political intrigue

15 Education in Queensland 18 Building Mining Communities

The tale of former Queensland Premier Edward Granville “Red Ted” Theodore and the Chillagoe-Mungana mining deals that destroyed his career.

19 Logistics

21-32 Northern lights

20 Living Remotely

Our NQ Operations feature looks at mining and supply industry activity, opportunities and people across North Queensland. From the newly re-opened Leichhardt copper operation in north-west Queensland to the latest fortunes of the former Kagara assets and a grand old dame out at Lawn Hill - it’s all here.

21 North Queensland Operations

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Company digs deep to survive Boosting sales staff was among one operation’s tactics in tough times, writes Bruce Macdonald. Heavy equipment rental company Orionstone’s general manager accounts, Ben Hailes, remembers September 2012 with equal measures of dread and satisfaction. That was when the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) formally announced a major cost-cutting initiative that would see other big players like Rio Tinto, Peabody and Anglo American follow the lead. Australia’s largest privatelyowned heavy earthmoving company supplier, which was only incorporated in 2003, faced its biggest challenge to not just survive, but grow the business. Headquartered in Mackay, Orionstone’s operations are on the doorstep of the Bowen Basin coal-producing district where the ripple effect was felt as profoundly as anywhere in Australia. “The result – it was felt through the food chain very quickly,” Mr Hailes said. Businesses reliant on the mining industry supply chain faced dwindling profits as the coal mining operations shed staff as commodity prices declined. Boom quickly turned to bust in

Mackay and Orionstone, like other businesses reliant on the mining industry, had to quickly rethink strategies to remain viable. Mr Hailes remembers well the early repercussions of the announcement on his business. “Enquiry levels for tenure came off and hire contracts that had taken three or four weeks to arrange were taking three or four months,” he said. “Some hire companies were putting machines out at uncommercial terms to get some cash flow rather than no cash flow.” Mr Hailes said Orionstone’s reaction was to put more staff on in the sales area to provide the highest possible level of service while maintaining the same number of orange collar employees (maintenance staff ). A strategy of offering dedicated maintenance staff onsite was promoted heavily as a complementary service. Big equipment contracts included a dedicated maintenance team which minimised equipment downtime. Satellite maintenance facilities

Ben Hailes

Mr Hailes said companies remembered the support provided in good markets and bad and knew that you were not just a “fairweather friend”. “We have worked hard to keep our labour force, they are a complementary asset to our machines,” he said. Creative concepts have also seen Orionstone move from the land to the sea to provide clients with the highest level of service. “While mobilising sea transport is not new, mobilising it from Mackay was something that had not previously been considered or

previously explored as machines were traditionally trucked and loaded in parts,” Mr Hailes said. “By chartering a barge from Mackay we were able to place our machines on the barge fully commissioned so that they were ready to work upon arrival to site (in Weipa), reducing costs and providing a solution that decreased delivery times.” Mr Hailes said the nature of the contract displayed the ingenuity of local businesses working together to achieve positive outcomes both for businesses and the region as a whole.

Orionstone General manager accounts

called “igloos” were set up outside the company’s heavy maintenance centres in Mackay and Perth to further minimise equipment downtime. Mr Hailes is confident the mining industry is at the bottom of the cost-cutting cycle and will eventually rebound as commodity prices rise. Orange collar workers represent about 95 per cent of Orionstone’s 110-strong Queensland workforce and Mr Hailes is delighted to have retained all those staff. “We have a small turnover and a track record of reliability,” he said.

Dani Saville works on a Caterpillar 740B Moxy.

Photo: Damien Carty

NEWS

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Riding out the coal industry downturn

More hurt ahead But opportunities remain for ‘agile’ players with competitive prices, writes Bruce Macdonald. A senior banking official in Mackay predicts another “12 months of hurt” for businesses linked to the supply chain servicing Bowen Basin coal mining companies. Melissa Green, the manager of the city’s Bank of Queensland branch, said there was a clear trend among businesses asking for temporary and permanent overdraft facilities. “I’m hearing that a number of businesses aren’t being paid while others are making arrangements with the ATO (Australian Tax Office),” she said. On a more positive note, Deloitte Mackay business partner and mining services team leader, Nick Harwood, said there had been a “less than expected” number of companies facing liquidation or others being forced into receivership. “There are new contract opportunities due to productivity gains (in the coal mining industry), which is a good thing,” Mr Harwood said. A record amount of coal was

shipped through Queensland coal-loading facilities in 2013. Mr Harwood said there were opportunities for agile companies that delivered a high level of services at a competitive price. Ms Green said there was money to lend to businesses but she cautioned that “they need to put up a good business case” to be successful in getting a loan. “We are looking for more diversity in businesses, not just in the (workers’) skill sets but strong fundamentals as well,” she said. Ms Green said while business owners were hurting, it was flowing down the line to employees who were not getting overtime they once relied upon to meet payments. “Employees are in a position where they just don’t know what bills to pay (first),” she said. An interesting spin-off of the tough times being experienced in Mackay observed by Mr Harwood is a trend of local businesses moving farther afield to find contracts. “Some companies are looking

at LNG and have moved into the Surat Basin for opportunities,” he said. Mr Harwood believes he will have a clearer idea of how businesses are travelling in the next couple of months. He said the December-quarter BAS statements had to be lodged in February and there could well be a cash shortage around town. Ms Green said many businesses were now lean and well placed to take advantage of the next surge of development in the Galilee Basin.

Suppliers adapting Coal mining industry supply businesses have adapted and evolved to ride out widespread cost-cutting measures in the industry, the leaders of two key central Queensland bodies say. Bowen Basin Mining Club chair Jodie Curry said the “panic” of 12 months ago had subsided, adding that redundancies had slowed as businesses better understood how to work with the coal companies in the 21st century. Central Highlands Development Corporation general manager Sandra Hobbs pointed to the organisation’s 2014 Economic Profile, released in February, which revealed that $12 billion worth of projects

Businesses in the Mackay area are hurting.

Photo: Damien Carty

were going on in the region. “There is a lot of exploration work (in coal and gas) going on and the region’s agricultural and construction sectors have shown improvement,” she said. Ms Hobbs said people were realising that the coal prices of a few years ago were “exceptional” and the industry was now back to a more standard level. “There’s no doubting the cost-cutting measures have hurt businesses across all sectors but businesspeople are telling us that it’s picking up and they are getting work,” she said. Ms Curry said the days where supply chain providers would sit and wait for the phone to ring had long gone. “(Business) people are now more strategic, they are getting out and talking with clients,” she said. “It’s clear that the businesses which are adapting to the new environment will ride out the downturn.” Ms Curry had a word of advice for businesses – don’t focus solely on the big mining companies like BMA but pay more attention to the junior miners. She pointed to Bandanna Energy, Stanmore Coal and QCoal as significant players in the market that deserved considerable attention.

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Work bonanza from range road Local companies are hoping to win a significant slice of action, writes Dominique Kimber. The $1.7 billion Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC) is set to create thousands of jobs over its three-year construction phase, according to federal Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane. The federal and Queensland governments recently announced they would deliver what would be the largest inland road project Australia has seen. Mr Macfarlane said the project would deliver a huge boost to employment in the region. “At the moment it’s at the registration of interest stage and it will then go to the expressions of interest stage,” he said. “Following that there will

Ian Macfarlane Minister for Industry

be a shortlisting - once that happens the prime contractor will be decided.

“For those companies that aren’t in that category, they’ll then be able to begin negotiations with the prime contractor. “There will be significant opportunities right down to small operators in terms of participating in the project. “It’s a very big project and it will take three or four years to build it and will come at a cost of $1.7 billion plus some add-ons, which will be funded both privately and by the likes of the Toowoomba Regional Council.” Mr Macfarlane said the size of the project meant it had caught the attention of Australian and international companies. “There is a lot of interest and I’m not going to name them but Australian companies

Denis Wagner Wagners company director

combined with international interest coming out of Europe,” he said. “It will be very competitive. The mining industry is going through a slump so there’s a lot of yellow machinery lined up along the road in Queensland

owned by companies who will be keen for some work.” Toowoomba construction materials and mining services company Wagners is one of the local businesses interested in being a part of the build. “We are in discussions to see what involvement with other players there might be on the project either as a consortium or a subcontractor,” company director Denis Wagner said. “We would hope that a lot of the subcontract and supply work is left to local companies and if they do that then it will be very beneficial to the region. “If they bring in outsiders it will be far less beneficial to the region. “Our potential involvement is in concrete and cement supply, that’s the stuff we would like to do and reinforcing steel supply.” • Logistics boost - Page 19

Abbot Point development area open to industry plans Seeney stresses good The State Government is moving to the next phase of the Abbot Point coal loading facility expansion, seeking proponents for its 16,230ha State Development Area (SDA) which is adjacent to the port. The way has been paved by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s approval in January of the removal of 3 million cubic metres of dredge material, with a range of strict environmental conditions. The Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning and the Office of the Coordinator-General have been undertaking planning studies for Abbot Point. Over the past six years, this work has included a number of studies examining the potential of the site which surrounds the existing port facility. An area of 6000ha has been identified within the SDA for a range of uses and associated rail infrastructure to export coal from the Bowen and Galilee basins. The State Government sees potential for the Abbot Point SDA in the following areas: 1. Large-scale, value-adding industrial development, 2. Bulk mineral resource unloading and stockpiling facilities, 3. Mineral processing, 4. An LNG facility, 5. Fuel storage, and 6. Extractive industries. A Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning spokesman said

the high-level planning had been undertaken but it was now up to the proponents interested in making use of the SDA to consider their plans and options for proposed projects. “We have identified areas within the SDA which have potential and it is now up to the proponents to look at the

Abbot Point is one of five Priority Port Development Areas (PPDAs) proposed

state’s planning and move their own plans to the next stage,” the spokesman said. The department is facilitating a number of terminal development projects at Abbot Point, in part linked to the potential development of the Galilee Basin. To further facilitate and fast-track the rail corridor developments from the GVK Hancock mine site near Alpha and a second from the Adani mine site to the north, the State Government has begun consultation on a proposed SDA along the two corridors to assist in the orderly acquisition of property from landholders if necessary. The department spokesman said the government’s preference would always be for project proponents to negotiate commercial agreements

to acquire land needed for projects, but by declaring an SDA for the rail corridors it would make it clear that land could be acquired for a project of “state or national significance”. Abbot Point is one of five Priority Port Development Areas (PPDAs) proposed in the draft Queensland Ports Strategy – the Queensland Government’s blueprint for managing and improving the efficiency and environmental management of the state’s port network over the next decade. These are areas where development will be concentrated and encouraged. GVK Hancock already has a framework agreement in place to advance its project while Adani, which has a 99-year lease on the Abbot Point Terminal 1, is working on its second terminal (T0) environmental impact study of a site within the port area.

news from Galilee Deputy Premier and Minister for Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Jeff Seeney, had good news for businessmen and women who gathered in Bowen for an industry breakfast recently, when he outlined major initiatives to realise the potential of the Galilee Basin coal resources. Mr Seeney, speaking via a video link from Brisbane, said the Galilee Basin was forecast to generate $28.4 billion and deliver 28,000 new jobs to Queensland. “A number of (coal) mining projects in the Bowen Basin are also moving in a very positive direction which is good news for Bowen and the Whitsunday coast region,” he said. “We are focused on

growing the business of this state and we will do all we can to facilitate the progression of resource projects in the Galilee and Bowen basins.” Mr Seeney said he was pleased with the strong interest being shown from the private sector, mining companies and infrastructure providers towards investing in the resources sector and in the necessary infrastructure such as the Abbot Point coal-loading expansion project.

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Key wetlands inﬂuence land use More than two thirds of the Directory of Important Wetlands Australia-registered Caley Valley Wetlands falls within the Abbot Point State Development Area (SDA) and is sure to be a focus of conservation groups. Extensive groundwork has been undertaken - as part of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning study - to protect the 23sq km of estuarine wetlands and another 11sq km of marsh area. Flood modelling has been undertaken along

with hydrological surveys aimed at providing physical separation of significant industrial areas and infrastructure activities. Only 6000 of 16,230ha of the SDA have been earmarked for potential infrastructure development. A Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning spokesman said development of the SDA would be staged in line with emerging, credible demand for industrial sites.

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

NEWS

High strike rate pays oﬀ Technology is helping worksites cut downtime when storms approach. A global mining company with operations throughout Australia is using state-of-theart lightning detection equipment capable of saving millions of dollars in unnecessary shutdowns due to inaccurate notifications. BHP Billiton trialled the GPATS lightning detection system in 2011 at its Northern Goldfields nickel mine in Western Australia. Using GPATS (global position and tracking systems) lightning sensors located right across Australia, mine sites can track the movement of storms and associated lightning with a much higher level of accuracy, according to GPATS network administrator Michael Tang. “The new lightning detection technology provides an actual position of every lightning strike, rather than just an estimated range (non-directional) to the closest strike,” he said. “GPATS data detection efficiency is up to 98 per cent and the geographical accuracy is from 200 to 300m.” Mr Tang said GPATS sensors were capable of picking up lightning strikes that occurred up to 10,000km away, offering the potential of global coverage. Mine sites subject to lightning strikes get a first alert when the approaching storm is 80km away and a second when it is 30km away. Production supervisors on threatened mine sites work with specially trained staff who track storms on equipment set up by GPATS using the Google Earth database. When an approaching storm is 10km away, outside staff are instructed to seek shelter and vulnerable equipment is also shut down. Such has been the success of the GPATS test project, the technology is being rolled out at mining operations across the country prone to lightning strikes.

Since commencing operations, GPATS has had great success in capturing clients for its lightning location systems and data services. The list includes governments, meteorological bureaus, power companies, airlines, news broadcasters and now mining operations. GPATS operates in 50 countries around the world and its Australian operation is based at

Meteorology and has been responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Australian National Lightning Network for more than 10 years. Lightning sensors automatically detect and analyse the radio wave produced by each lightning strike (cloud to ground and inter/intracloud). In addition, sensors can monitor the altitude, longitude and latitude of every strike. This data is fed into a Central Analyser

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Big dry chokes North West CopperChem is among industry players hit by lack of water, writes Dominique Kimber. Councils and businesses in the North West are looking at ways to stay alive as Queensland faces the largest drought on state record. According to government reports, drought now spreads across almost 80 per cent of Queensland, with 38 drought declared areas and four partially drought declared shires by early March. “Our major dam that we depend on is only 33 per cent full,” Mount Isa Mayor Tony McGrady said. “While there has been some rain around the district, Mount Isa has missed it and we still need significant rain for the drought to be over. “You don’t have to be a scholar to say that if you don’t have significant water to run an enterprise, then something has to happen. If we don’t get big rains soon we’ll have to take it to the Premier’s office and lay our cards on the table.” Cloncurry Mayor Andrew Daniels said the neighbouring town was also feeling the mounting pressures of a dry wet season. “The drought has basically crippled a lot of the industry and

there has been a lot of damage done in terms of confidence,’’ Cr Daniels said. “It’s a serious issue and a difficult time and we need to work together and put in some serious infrastructure to try and bring a good plentiful supply of water, power and transport.” Operations in the region are also facing the possibility of closure and job losses if significant rain doesn’t fall soon. CopperChem and Exco Resources chief executive officer Brendan James said the drought meant the company may have to close down its concentrator. “We got to the point in December where we were trucking water in at a fairly expensive cost to the business and even when doing that we could only run the operation at about 45 per cent of its production capacity,” he said. “Forty-five per cent capacity and buying water is not viable to run the concentrator, the revenue generated just doesn’t cover the cost of operation. So we’ve had to look at everything we can do and part of that is looking at putting the concentrator into care and maintenance until such time that

North-west Queensland is doing it tough as drought takes hold.

we not only get a little bit of rain but that we can get enough water in front of us to get us through this next upcoming dry season.” Mr James said a number of contingency plans had been put into place to try and avoid job losses but, unless a substantial amount of rain fell, up to 30 jobs could be on the line.

“Now we’ve had a little bit of rain lately but it’s just not enough to get us through,” he said. “We’ve advised all staff that it (the concentrator) may be put into care and maintenance but before we do that we’re going to trial every opportunity to keep it running.” Director of local business Curry

Contracting, Dionne Connolly, said small businesses were also under threat. “We’ve really noticed a difference in the demand from mining,” she said. “CopperChem is one of our major partners, we are their preferred supplier for labour hire and we have actually provided a service to them for three years.’’

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McNab secures three-year Santos construction and maintenance contract Construction and civil contractor McNab will continue its ongoing relationship with Santos, with the award of a three-year design, construction and maintenance contract. The Toowoomba-based company was one of two contractors selected to undertake ongoing building, civil and maintenance works on Santos’ building infrastructure throughout Queensland. “We have been working on Santos projects in the Surat Basin for a number of years, and are thrilled to support Santos as they move into the operational phase of their GLNG project,” said McNab managing director Michael McNab. “Awarding long-term contracts to businesses in the region is not just good corporate citizenship, it makes smart business sense as well.”

McNab provides construction, civil, maintenance and environmental services on many of Queensland’s largest energy projects, as well as for resource companies including Anglo American and BHP Billiton. Projects range from a 3000-megalitre tailings storage dam and compressor hub buildings for the gas industry, to ongoing environmental rehabilitation and stabilisation across Queensland. Works are also wrapping up on the design and construction of Anglo American’s Grosvenor Mining Industrial Area near Moranbah. The contract award follows a number of recent milestones for McNab, with the achievement of a 0.00 Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate and more than three million hours without a Lost-Time Injury.

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The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Trailblazer honoured Cannington chief stresses importance of diversity in the mining workforce The first woman to be appointed as an asset president within BHP Billiton has won Queensland’s Resources Award for Women. Cannington Mine asset president Laura Tyler introduced the north-west Queensland operation’s first diversity plan to improve the attraction and retention of women in the company’s workforce. The mother of three has worked across four continents and recently became the first woman to be appointed as a vice-president of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC). Mrs Tyler said men in the industry must be encouraged to speak out on the subject of workforce diversity. “They remain the dominant hiring managers in our business and it is only through their engagement that we will see magnified change in the status quo,” she said. “I have spoken at women’s events around the world to empower other women and show them that females can successfully fill senior roles in the industry. I believe diversity

Laura Tyler BHP Billiton Cannington Mine asset president

is not only important for individuals but also for our businesses. “Often I am the only woman at the table in meetings. This needs to be corrected.” Resources Awards for Women (RAW) Gender Diversity Champion winner Craig McCabe - the general manager of Wesfarmers Curragh - said he wanted to start having brave and open conversations about why some men found it difficult to relate professionally with women in the resources industry and what needed

RAW winners - 2014 Overall winner: Laura Tyler - BHP Billiton Cannington Mine asset president. Highly Commended: Linda Murry - Rio Tinto Alcan Weipa planning and logistics manager; Amy Hodson-Clarke - Geodynamics well engineering and technology manager; Leisa Elder - Arrow Energy vice-president community and sustainable development. Rising Star: Cindy Emmett - Anglo American Metallurgical Coal, Moranbah North Mine graduate mechanical engineer. Trade: Amy Woods - Glencore Mount Isa Mines underground install electrician. Operator: Leah Ross - Thiess Mining, Curragh North Coal Mine superintendent open-pit operations. Gender Diversity Champion: Craig McCabe - Wesfarmers Curragh Coal Mine general manager. Best Company Initiative: BMA - Daunia and Caval Ridge mine diversity program

to be done about it. “Mining has traditionally been a male-dominated industry - but this is one tradition that we don’t want to continue with in the future – we actually cannot afford to,” he said. “If half of the population believe our industry isn’t attractive then we will not have the technical and leadership talent we need to remain globally competitive in the future. And if half the population aren’t involved in the conversations and the decisions we make on the job then we’re not going to get the innovative ideas needed to remain competitive and sustainable in the longer term.” QRC chief executive Michael Roche said the RAW awards were part of the peak body’s plan to increase the proportion of women in non-traditional roles in the resources sector to 20 per cent by 2020. “Our 2012-13 returns show women make up 17 per cent of our overall workforce, up from 14 per cent in 2011-12,” he said. “The proportion of women working in our sector in non-traditional roles, which include senior management, engineering, trades, geology and operators, has increased from 11.9 in financial year 2011-12 to 13.5 per cent in 2012-13. “The proportion of women who are executive managers rose from 7 per cent to 9 per cent, project management from 8 per cent to 21 per cent, superintendents from 13 per cent to 19 per cent and supervisors from 5 per cent to 7 per cent. “Female engineers increased from 12 to 15 per cent, and geologists up 1 per cent to 32 per cent. The proportion of operators also rose 1 per cent to 10 per cent. “Disappointingly though, the proportion of female tradespeople languishes at just 2 per cent of the trades workforce. We have a lot more work to do in this area, and not just for women. Trade training needs to come into the 21st century.” • New Women in Mining focus - Page 10

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REGIONAL ROUND-UP

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Moranbah

Townsville

Isaac Mayor Anne Baker has lashed out at the State Government, describing 100 per cent forced FIFO as the single biggest threat facing central Queensland. Cr Baker’s comments came after Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said Isaac Regional Council was “scaremongering” over its opposition to a possible 100 per cent FIFO workforce at BMA’s Red Hill project near Moranbah, the Daily Mercury reported. She had called for BMA to state whether the proposed Red Hill mine would be another 100 per cent FIFO like Caval Ridge and Daunia, as well as stating that she looked forward to Premier Campbell Newman keeping his election commitment in relation to FIFO. A BMA spokeswoman said while the miner acknowledged local concerns, the decision to source the workforce for two new mines from the Cairns and Brisbane regions reflected its belief that the employment and economic benefits of mining should be shared with other regions.

Two Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority board members have been cleared of having a conflict of interest. Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt ordered an inquiry after environmentalists raised concerns that former Townsville mayor Tony Mooney and Queensland public servant Jon Grayson held interests in resource companies that could benefit from expanding coal and gas production near the reef, the ABC reported. Mr Mooney is the stakeholder relations manager with Guildford Coal – which is working towards the development of mines in the Pentland area south-west of Townsville, while Mr Grayson holds shares in Gasfields Water and Waste Services. However, the report’s author and legal expert, Robert Cornall, found the two GBRMPA board members had not breached their public duty and had appropriately disclosed their financial and personal interests, the ABC said. “The report finds that allegations of conflict of interest are unfounded,” Mr Hunt said. GBRMPA in January announced it had approved an application by North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation to dispose of dredge spoil from Abbot Point expansion work at a deepwater location offshore.

Mount Isa Member for Mount Isa Rob Katter has used a speech in Parliament to push for Mount Isa to become a gas supply hub for domestic consumption, linking the pipelines from southern Queensland and the Northern Territory. “This hub would help overcome the dire undersupply of gas for domestic use in Queensland, and it would create jobs in new industry to help offset more traditional forms of mining,” he said. Mr Katter said he had written to federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, asking him to honour his pledge to commit $1 million for a feasibility study for a pipeline linking Tennant Creek to Mount Isa and the national pipeline grid. Mr Katter said the exporting of gas was hiking the price up domestically and that was impacting on industry and on Mount Isa, which was reliant on gas-fired power stations. Armour Energy, which holds gas tenements in northwest Queensland and the Northern Territory, has entered an agreement with the APA Group to transport gas to Mount Isa, Sydney and various markets in Queensland.

Gladstone Efforts continue to rescue the Gladstone Steel Project after Boulder Steel went into administration, with creditors recently agreeing to a new proposal. The Observer reported that Otsana Capital, working with Paul Sundstrom, was behind a Deed of Company Arrangement for Boulder Steel and that the matter was expected to go to shareholders within the next three months. A community rescue bid led by Mr Sundstrom had raised about $120,000 to support the project by the end of January, the paper said. The steel plant project offers the prospect of 1800 permanent jobs in addition to those created in the construction phase, according to Mr Sundstrum. Otsana Capital specialises in IPO’s (Initial Public Offerings), corporate restructuring and recapitalisation of ASX-listed companies.

Emerald A local fossicker picked up a 753-carat sapphire after rain on the gemfields near Emerald. ABC Rural reported that the man had been “specking” - simply looking on the ground as you walk along – when he came across the stone. Larger than a golf ball, the stone has been named the Sapphire Princess. “This is an exciting find not just for the lucky fossicker but also for anyone thinking of heading out to the Sapphire Gemfields,” Central Highlands Development Corporation tourism development officer Peter Grigg told the APN group. “It goes to show that you can come to the largest sapphire gemfields in the southern hemisphere, explore and get your hands dirty, hopefully walk away with a fantastic memento.”

Western Downs Landholders in the Western Downs region have raised concerns about weeds spreading due to resources industry workers taking a careless approach to vehicle wash-down procedures. Surat Basin News reported there were fears of disastrous financial implications for agriculture due to those procedures not being rigidly enforced for gas company employees and contractors. The news service quoted a GasFields Commission Queensland spokesperson as saying that more could be done to continue to improve washdown practices. “Landholders, local and State governments and the gas industry all have a role to play to ensure they are well managed and effective in reducing weed seed spread,” the spokesperson said. Meanwhile grazier Allan Leech has launched a legal battle with gas company QGC over the spread of African lovegrass on his property, 40km west of Dalby, The Chronicle reports.

Southern teams gather to boost rescue skills Emergency response teams from throughout southern Queensland joined a day of skills exercises at New Acland Mine, north-west

of Oakey on the Darling Downs, recently. The inaugural inter-company Southern District ERT Skills

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New Acland Mine ERT member Brett Jackwitz tends to “casualty” Jim Thornton during practice drills.

at mines, but it is extremely important to be prepared and to have personnel equipped with the right skills to manage all situations,” Mr McDonald said. “We thought the event would

be a great way to collaborate with other local ERTs and also have a bit of friendly inter-company rivalry.” The organisers hope to see the combined site training day become an annual event.

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PROMOTING INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

JV breaks into major projects A Queensland-based indigenous consulting and project management business has prequalified for major project work with Arrow Energy and Santos through its joint venture work with two other companies. Indigenous Development Solutions has teamed up with civil construction company Silverstrand Developments and modular building manufacturer Allplates. Company managing director Garry Green said the joint ventures aimed to increase Aboriginal participation particularly in the resources, oil and gas sectors. “Aboriginal participation and quality participation in these sectors is down right across Australia,” Mr Green said. “So what we tried to do with the joint ventures was to bring the best of our indigenous consulting and project management business that we had with IDS, and align it with organisations that were also accredited across the board and had a long track record within the space to provide that

demonstrated capability, financial capacity and document control that the large major projects want. It’s areas that sometimes Aboriginal people fall behind in.” Mr Green said that growing up he spent a lot of time in remote indigenous communities across Australia and he noticed a gap in the consultation process between non-indigenous organisations, government bodies and traditional owner people. “I guess the cultural values and cultural integrity of what was being put out into the community was sort of being thrust upon them. In talking to a number of the communities, we came up with Indigenous Development Solutions,” he said. “We have a common goal to build people like building infrastructure. We think that it’s really important because a lot of these communities, with the remote isolation of it all, don’t get many great opportunities. “We are able to assist these communities in having a voice in a culturally sensitive way, to talk

are purely a voice and we purely provide the project management experience and experience to pull the required consultants together to get the venture off the ground,” Mr Green said.

“Aboriginal people have a lot of great ideas and they have a good sense of business. It’s just about being able to provide that support and that mentoring to help them navigate that tricky space.”

QGC, Titans join forces

Garry Green Indigenous Development Solutions managing director

to large-scale mining companies, non-indigenous organisations and government statutory authorities and provide that specialised voice. IDS also works with indigenous communities to help them get their own business ventures off the ground. “We’re all about finding out what the community wants. We

QGC is teaming up with the Titans to support an indigenous youth program encouraging young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Surat Basin to finish school. The natural gas company will contribute $420,000 in a yearlong partnership with Titans 4 Tomorrow, the community outreach arm of the Gold Coast Titans Rugby League Club. The partnership will result in 14 three-day camps at which local elders and traditional owner groups will help to connect young people with their cultural heritage and mentors will advise on educational and vocational opportunities. Participants will come from Dalby State High School, Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Miles State High School, Chinchilla State High School, Tara Shire State High School, St John’s College and Roma State College. QGC vice-president sustainability Brett Smith said the goals of Titans 4 Tomorrow reflected the commitments of the QGC Reconciliation Action Plan and Social Impact Management Plan for the Queensland Curtis LNG Project.

Skill360 Australia promotes worker participation Employers looking to increase indigenous participation in the workforce can look to recruitment and skills-based organisations in Queensland such as Skill360 Australia. Skill360 Australia services all of North Queensland and the Torres Strait region offering a range of services to assist industry and business in recruiting, training and mentoring their workforce. The company provides specialist mentoring and training solutions as well as consulting services through its Indigenous Workforce Solutions unit.

“The service we offer to employers essentially means working with them across all arms of their business with a purely indigenous focus to tailor programs,” Indigenous Workforce Solutions manager Rebecca Burke said. “We also go into the wider community to consult with community organisations, any relevant government organisations as well as traditional owners to talk to them about employment and training opportunities within their communities. Every employer has different needs when it comes

to developing or implementing indigenous workforce programs. We can advise them on strategies and then help them to locate and screen suitable candidates. We assess all of our candidates’ skill levels and can provide preemployment training to give them the basic skills required to succeed in the placement.” Skill360 Australia delivers accredited training courses from Certificate I up to diploma and its group training division manages apprentices and trainees employed across a wide variety of industries including mining.

Skill360 Australia supports indigenous participation in the workforce.

WOMEN IN MINING

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Juleen grabs opportunity for success Juleen Brown runs a busy schedule as the AMEC Mining Sector Lead for Environment, Women In Mining and Resources Queensland (WIMARQ) Chair, AusIMM committee member, wife, and mother of her 16-month-old son. Ms Brown says, for her, success is all about grabbing opportunities as they come along. “I’m always open to new opportunities that come along, and I think that it is really important to be able to be flexible and to see opportunities and take them,” she said. “Most of the high-level women that speak at the WIMARQ events have that common theme of grabbing opportunities when they’re there.” Ms Brown joined WIMARQ in 2006 - in the early years of the organisation, and about 12 months ago took up the position of chair. “I got involved because I had been on another committee with AusIMM with one of the WIMARQ founding members. I kind of pursued coming on board with them because she was involved, and I have been involved ever since. I really enjoy it, they’re a really great group of women,” she said. “Our key goal is really to provide support and network opportunities for women in the

industry. We want to provide a place where women can come and have a drink, have a laugh, meet other women and to share stories. “We’ve probably progressed on from that a little bit in recent years.” The group had started an annual conference called Inspire and was kicking off a mentoring program, she said. Ms Brown began her career as a mining engineer after completing a bachelor degree in engineering and mining. She then completed a masters in environmental management and has been working in the environmental field for the last eight years. “My role at the moment is to develop the environmental business within the mining sector. So AMEC is a very big organisation worldwide but they are relatively new in Australia. So we’re really trying to develop what is already a very strong business in the Americas and the UK,” she said. “It involves client meetings as well as some travel. I was recently in Perth and I’ll be heading to Canada in coming weeks. “I really enjoy my job and down the track I would like to work my way back up to full-time work. I think I would one day like to move back into more of

WIMARQ chair Juleen Brown, AngloAmerican Coal global head of human resources and corporate affairs David Diamond, Queensland Education, Training and Employment Minister John-Paul Langbroek, QRC/WIMARQ Mentoring Program director Ali Burston and QRC deputy chief executive Greg Lane at the Sundowner event to launch the mentoring program.

the environmental manager or environmental community roles on the corporate side. But as I said, I’m always open to new opportunities that come along.” Ms Brown said that one of the biggest pieces of advice she could give to other women in the industry was to network and to get practical experience in their relevant field rather than moving directly into city-based jobs. “I started out in the Northern Territory on a gold mine called The Granites in the Tanami desert as a project engineer,” she said. “After that I was at a small coal mine near Lithgow in NSW, then Ernest Henry mine in Queensland as a mining engineer. “After two and a half years consulting as an environmental project manager I went back to EHM for another year as the environment superintendent. “Since then I’ve had Brisbanebased roles. “Really go out and get that solid on-site experience. I had about 10 years on site and it really was invaluable. You become better at your job if you have that practical experience.”

Mentor program for mining professionals Women in Mining and Resources Queensland (WIMARQ) recently launched its pilot mentoring program aimed at supporting professional women in the mining industry through career guidance and networking. The mentoring program is the first of its kind and was created in response to an increasing demand for formal mentoring assistance to the rising number of women working in Queensland’s minerals and energy sectors. Project director of the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) and WIMARQ Mentoring Program, Ali Burston, said men and women were invited to participate as mentors. “The QRC/WIMARQ Mentoring Program 2014 will run February 2014-June 2014 and implements a heavily structured framework that includes a comprehensive matching process conducted by a registered psychologist for all participants,” she said. The program was heavily oversubscribed - resulting in 22 matches for 2014, that is 22 mentees and 22 mentors. “Mentors occupy senior positions such as chief executive officer, asset president, chief operating officer, principal, general manager and directors from organisations such as BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Downer EDI, BMA and Arrow Energy – to name a few,” Ms Burston said. The program is supported by the Queensland Government and the QRC. Anglo American was the venue host for the recent Program Commencement Sundowner event. There will be three official ‘sundowners’ held throughout the program: a launch function, midway networking function and a celebration function at the end of the program.

OUR MINING HERITAGE

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Red Ted’s aﬀair to remember Almost 100 years ago in a small mining town in far north Queensland a political scandal began that would become known throughout Australia as the Mungana Affair. In 1922 the Queensland government under Premier Edward Granville Theodore (“Red Ted”) agreed to purchase some ChillagoeMungana mining properties in a move that was supposed to increase employment opportunities in the state. In the years that followed the acquisition, accusations of corruption erupted against Red Ted and another former Queensland Premier, William McCormack, stating that they had had financial interests in the purchase. Professor of History and Politics at Griffith University and author of 36 books including “Red Ted”, The Life of E.G. Theodore, Ross Fitzgerald, said that the scandal caused irreparable damage to Theodore’s reputation and effectively destroyed his career despite being found innocent in civil proceedings. “He (Theodore) and Bill McCormack had supposedly made quite a lot of money out of dubious land deals and mining deals in far north Queensland Mungana mines around the Chillagoe area. “Certainly he was not proven to be guilty but it certainly did tarnish his career.” Professor Fitzgerald’s book tells how what he describes as political attempts to discredit Red Ted began and ended. “…On 4 July 1930 a blow fell which would not only remove Theodore from active politics during the next six months but would irreparably taint his reputation during his lifetime and beyond. For it was on that day that Ted’s political opponents in Queensland released a judicial report finding gross fault with his conduct over the Queensland Government’s acquisition of the Mungana mines.” In August 1931 Red Ted was found not guilty of any of the charges laid against him including corruptly receiving shares in Mungana

E.G Theodore courtesy of National Archives of Australia

leases and conspiracy to sell the Mungana mines to the government at an inflated price. Despite the finding there are those who to this day believe that Ted was guilty. Author of The Mungana Affair: State Mining and Political Corruption in the 1920s Dr Kett Kennedy said that there were

Girofla smelting works at Mungana, about 1900. Photo: courtesy of State Library of Queensland

some things that made him sceptical about Ted’s innocence. “Theodore himself never gave account of financial transactions shown on his bank statements obtained during the civil proceedings. This is what changed my mind about his innocence,” he said.

“Theodore’s barrister advised him not to explain the transactions, which to me was very suspicious. “A lot of people argue that the civil proceedings exonerated him, but they didn’t at all because he never explained how the money got into his back account.”

Mungana past and present

Girofla mine, Mungana district, about 1900. Photo: courtesy of State Library of Queensland

The former mining town of Mungana, near Chillagoe west of Cairns, was was initially part of the community of Girofla. Mungana was surveyed on June 26, 1901 by C. Andrews to serve the mines in the area, according to Angor to Zillmanton: stories of North Queensland’s deserted towns by Colin Hooper. These included the Girofla, Lady Jane, Dorothy, Red Dome and Griffiths mines. Queensland Labor Premiers Ted Theodore and Bill McCormack received their political training as mine union organisers in Mungana,

and later became involved in the Mungana Affair. Many years later, in 2005, a new gold zone was discovered by Kagara Zinc, according to University of Queensland website Queensland Places. Mungana Goldmines is seeking to develop the Mungana and Red Dome gold projects along with polymetallic deposits in the area to be acquired through an agreement with former shareholder Kagara, which has gone into liquidation.

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BETWEEN SHIFTS

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Inland Rail forum

PHOTOS: Andrew Coates

Burke and Wills Hotel, Toowoomba

Mary O’Brien (Cotton Growers Australia) and Priscilla Radice (Port of Brisbane).

Wayne Newton (AgForce Grains), Ashley Geldard (Red Industrial), Rob Taylor (Northern GRDC) and Graham Geldard (Red Industrial).

Michelle Reynolds (Freight Terminals) with Dallas Hunter (FK Gardner and Sons).

Mackay Area Industry Network (MAIN) members briefing

PHOTOS: Damien Carty

Harrup Park Country Club, Mackay

Alistair Emery (Momentum Software Solutions), Derek Ellis (Emeco), Jamie Sleeman (Mastermyne) and Mike Browne (Brown & Bird Financial).

Steve Ross (Gibsons Consulting), Gary Riches (NQBP), Rex Vegt (Gibsons Consulting) and Peter van Iersel (MAIN).

Nathan Cross, Sarah Day and Bec Obermeit (all Dowdens Group) with Amy Vizer (Airconstruct).

Skytrans Toowoomba - Roma service launch

PHOTOS: Andrew Coates

Toowoomba airport

Steve Jones (Skytrans) and Phil Gregory (Wellcamp Airport).

Toowoomba Mayor Paul Antonio and Skytrans managing director Simon Wild.

Meagan Anserth (FCM Travel), Barry Dixon(Maranoa Mail) and Bernadette Dixon.

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INDUSTRY UPDATE COAL AND GAS

In the loop

March 2014 |

officially opened its US$966 million extension at the Broadmeadow underground coking coal mine in the Bowen Basin. The Broadmeadow Mine extension project will increase the mine’s production rate by 400,000 tonnes per year, and introduces Longwall Top Coal Caving technology to the operation. “Unlike other conventional longwall mining techniques, Longwall Top Coal Caving allows both the lower and the top portion of the coal seam to be mined,” BMA asset president Lucas Dow said.

A freshly-cut bucket wheel trench ready for pipe laying on the Queensland Gas Pipeline.

Jemena is finalising plans to increase the capacity of the Queensland Gas Pipeline (QGP) by installing a 35km loop near the Rolleston Compressor Station in central Queensland. The project was sparked by demand from new and existing customers, Jemena general manager, pipelines commercial and business development, Dave Green said. “We’re aiming to start construction of the almost $40 million looping project by June of this year and aim to complete the project by the end of the year,” he said. Built in 1989, the QGP links the Wallumbilla gas hub in south central Queensland to large industrial gas users in Gladstone and Rockhampton. In 2010, in response to the economic and industrial growth in the Gladstone region, Jemena invested more than $100 million in doubling the QGP’s capacity to 52 PJ/annum via 113km of looping and the installation of two midline compressors – one at Banana and one at Rolleston.

Major Ichthys LNG contract

total of $90 million to Easternwell to build and operate specialist rigs.

The UGL Kentz joint venture has won a $740 million contract for the structural, mechanical and piping construction package for the Ichthys LNG Project in Darwin.

Under a $50 million contract, Easternwell will construct two servicing rigs at its Toowoomba factory to be used for maintenance of QGC wellsites in the Surat Basin.

The contract was awarded by JKC Australia LNG, a joint venture between JGC Corporation, KBR and Chiyoda Corporation that is responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction of the onshore LNG facilities, including the gas processing plant at Blaydin Point.

QGC and Easternwell have signed a separate $40 million contract for construction of an exploration drilling rig incorporating the latest technology including automation.

The contract will provide more than 900 jobs for construction personnel in the Northern Territory, according to UGL.

Easternwell picked for rig job QGC has awarded contracts worth a

All the rigs are expected to be operating from the second half of 2014. QGC recently announced that deputy managing director Mitch Ingram would succeed Derek Fisher as managing director on April 2.

Broadmeadow mine milestone BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance has

“BMA is the first asset within BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi, and one of only a small number of Australian mines, to implement this technology. This extension will sustain operations at Broadmeadow Mine for another 21 years, and takes BMA another step closer to completing a $9 billion pipeline of major projects in Queensland.”

Cockatoo takes over Blackwood Cockatoo Coal has completed a takeover of Blackwood Corporation, which holds tenements in Bowen Basin, Galilee Basin, Surat Basin and ClarenceMoreton Basin. Cockatoo Coal managing director Andrew Lawson said the combined company was well positioned to continue the expansion of the Baralaba mine on time and on budget, and to rationalise and realise value from an extensive portfolio of additional assets. “Cockatoo, with the integration of the Blackwood employees, has a management and workforce which I believe is extremely capable and eminently able to deliver value to all of our shareholders in 2014 and beyond,” he said.

Former Rio chief at GVK Hancock GVK Hancock has appointed Darren Yeates as chief executive officer to help lead the final development stages of its Galilee Basin mining projects. The company said Mr Yeates, previously chief operating officer and acting chief executive officer for Rio Tinto Coal

The Mining Advocate

Australia, brought more than 30 years’ experience in coal mining operations, mine infrastructure and resource sector industries.

More coal for Curragh Wesfarmers Resources is adding to its coal reserves at the Curragh operation near Blackwater by buying a nearby asset from Peabody Energy for $70 million. Mineral Development Licence 162 is located between the Curragh and Curragh North mining leases and contains 67 million tonnes of coal reserves within a total resource of 255mt. Wesfarmers said the acquisition, which increases the reserves potentially available at Curragh by about 29 per cent, was expected to extend Curragh’s mine life and provide future options to further optimise mine operations.

Brain drain on horizon More than two-thirds of the world’s oil and gas professionals are approaching retirement, potentially creating a major skills gap for the industry just as peak demand looms, new research shows. A study conducted by recruitment website OilCareers.com and energy industry adviser Douglas-Westwood found that about 69 per cent of industry professionals were likely to retire within the next 10-15 years.

Groundwater report released The Queensland Government says a report into coal seam gas (CSG) impacts has found industry was working well to manage any impacts on groundwater resources from development in the Surat Basin. Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps said the independent Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment, which prepared the report, was progressing a wide range of research projects in the Surat Basin to better understand groundwater aquifer connectivity and refine the model of likely CSG impacts, when the report is updated in December 2015.

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REMEMBERING the past • Supporting the future

Education in Queensland

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Mining families get onboard he said. “There’s been a very big emphasis on the care of students, particularly on the transition from their families into boarding itself. It’s a process that has certainly undergone a lot more care as time has gone on. “We like to use the term loco parentis to say that our boarding staff are stand-in parents in the absence of the real parents. We are acutely aware of the difficulties that the kids go through.” Australian Boarding Schools Association (ABSA) executive director Richard Stokes said boarding school was becoming a more viable option for working families. “We’ve done some research over recent years and we’ve seen a reasonably steady, be it small, increase in students from mining families,” he said. “What boarding school provides for kids is a very stable and well-based education so that when things are changing, for example families that might be a little bit disjointed with work requirements, the kids are a little bit more settled. “If I look back 35 years, the boarding schools looked after kids, meaning they were safe and

Boarders at The Cathedral College, Rockhampton.

secure and fed well, but nowadays it’s about providing a really rich and diverse opportunity to enjoy

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The popularity of boarding school education seems to be on the rise as schools report a growth in demand partly attributed to the FIFO and DIDO workforce in the mining industry. The Cathedral College, Rockhampton principal Rob Alexander says the school currently has 950 students with about 16 per cent of them boarding. “We’ve seen a surge in the popularity of our boarding facilities, both boys’ and girls’,” he said. “We have a number of kids whose parents live in Rockhampton but then travel out to mining communities to work and we have seen an increase in that over the last four or five years. “It’s people from Rockhampton who aren’t in town through the week, who don’t know what their roster will be in two months’ time, and so they put the kids into boarding. It gives the kids stability in their studying.” Mr Alexander said that while some kids had difficulties adapting to a boarding school lifestyle, overall students responded well. “It’s a really diverse range of kids, some take to boarding like fish to water and others struggle,”

Education in Queensland

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Experience worth the sacriﬁce Many families living in remote locations throughout Queensland turn to boarding school education for their kids. Mother of five, Rebecca Burge says that having her boys away for school can be “gut wrenching” but that she still considers it a worthwhile sacrifice. The Burge family lives at Lamonds Lagoon Station, about 90km south of Mount Garnet and almost five hours from the nearest cities of Charters Towers, Townsville and Cairns. All five boys have completed or are completing their schooling up to Grade 7 through Charters Towers School of Distance Education, taught by Mrs Burge, and have then gone on to boarding school at Toowoomba Grammar School. Mrs Burge says that boarding school education offers a range of opportunities that aren’t available to the boys at home. “We chose boarding school due to distance and isolation. It was either continue distance education or go to boarding school. By the end of Year 7

the boys needed more than I could offer them,” she said. “A boarding education offered them greater opportunities in many fields: including socially, academically and sporting. “Attending boarding school means no five-hour trips to play sport, not having to contact your teacher by phone when needing to ask questions and, best of all, no great technology issues. “There is also that team sport and comradeship.” Mrs Burge said that despite the positives, the boarding school lifestyle had not been without its hardships. “While our children enjoyed Toowoomba Grammar and especially the older boys have a special place for their school, none of them have enjoyed being away from home,” she said. “As a parent and mother it is a gut-wrenching thing to drive out of Toowoomba and leave your children behind. “There are always tears at the beginning of every term but once they get back to school they soldier on and enjoy all

The Burge boys - (back) Samuel, Nicholas, Harry, (front) Lachlan and Angus.

the school has to offer. They miss the home cooking and the warm weather of North Queensland.” Two of the boys have now completed their

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Brisbane Grammar boarder Max MacRae from Mount Isa loves the boarding life.

A boarder’s life for me When Max MacRae left his home in Mount Isa to begin his journey as a boarder at Brisbane Grammar School, he remembers feeling “excited and scared” at the prospect of living in a new city. “My parents own a newsagency in Mount Isa and my Dad works in the mines, so it was a big decision for me to move to the city,” he said. While initially everything seemed so big and different, Max said it didn’t take long for him to settle into his new school and he now considers Harlin House a home away from home. Weekend trips to the beach, paintball excursions, ice-skating and socials with other boarding schools

are some of the activities that Max has enjoyed as a boarder. This busy activities schedule is complemented by an extensive program of academic enrichment with nightly tutorials facilitated by Brisbane Grammar School teachers. “It’s been helpful for me to have our teachers come into Harlin House and assist us with our school work,” Max said. “I would definitely recommend becoming a boarder. I have made so many new friends and become a lot more mature and independent. I have learnt to live with different people and am more responsible in my behaviours.”

schooling. Nicholas, 21, has just completed his trade as boilermaker in Townsville, while Samuel, 19, works at home building up his own herd of cattle.

Harry, 15, and Angus, 13, continue their studies at Toowoomba Grammar School, and Lachlan, 11, is completing Grade 6 with Charters Towers School of Distance Education.

Uni mines real potential CQUniversity is helping workers in the minerals and resources sector to achieve recognised qualifications while gaining valuable on-site experience. The university offers specialised mining industry courses aimed at helping companies to skill up their existing workforce whilst continuing full-time employment, without the need for a three or fouryear full-time bachelor degree. Discipline leader in mining and geoscience programs and senior lecturer in geosciences at CQUniversity, Dr Andrew Hammond, said the associate degrees offered by the university were paraprofessional qualifications. “We currently offer three associate degrees including the associate degree in mine technology with mining or mineral processing specialisations, the associate degree in mine operations management with underground coal or surface coal options, and the associate degree in geosciences,” he said. “The idea is that the students formalise their practical work experience

Cadia Valley Operations control room operator Jonathon Rossiter is studying through CQU.

and gain theoretical skills too. Many of the students are in supervisory positions already but the whole thing is they are paraprofessionals and they work under the supervision of fully qualified folk, those that have bachelor or higher degrees.” Cadia Valley Operations control room operator Jonathon Rossiter is studying the associate degree in mine technology (mineral processing specialisation). “With the position I’m in at the moment, I operate the processing plant so a lot of the information with the minerals processing degree can be directly applied to my job,” he said. “It’s helping me increase my knowledge and could

also open up the option for a full degree later on if say the position of metallurgist comes up. “I haven’t really got any trades or qualifications. It wasn’t until I was actually in the mining industry that I found out about the opportunity to study.” Next year CQUniversity will join forces with other universities, TAFEs and the Minerals Council of Australia to offer a new suite of associate degree programs called MINAD (Minerals Industry National Associate Degree). This will deliver new versions of the existing associate degrees, including the associate degree in mining engineering and the associate degree in geoscience.

Education in Queensland

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Resourceful ambassadors Seventeen Queensland students are a step closer to a rewarding career in the resources sector following their acceptance into the Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy (QMEA) Ambassador Program. The Year 12 students from schools in Blackwater, Brisbane, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay, Moranbah, Mount Isa, Rockhampton and Townsville are acting as QMEA Student Ambassadors over the course of the 2014 school year. The student ambassadors will participate in a range of activities across a 12-month period that will aim to increase their understanding of the resources sector, provide opportunities for networking with other students and industry representatives, and develop leadership skills. “Our programs provide students with the opportunity to learn more about pathways into our sector through genuine engagement activities,” acting director Katrina-Lee Jones said. “These are our brightest minds, and through previous QMEA activities they have developed a genuine intent to pursue a career in the resources sector. “The QMEA Ambassadors play an important role in

promoting to students in their schools the opportunities provided by the QMEA and the range of careers that exist in the resources sector by drawing on their own experiences with the sector.” The students have already participated in industry site tours such as Swanbank Power Station and SIMTARS and worked on problem solving challenges alongside engineers

at Hastings Deering, Skills Tech and the University of Queensland. The QMEA works with 34 schools throughout Queensland and links them with sponsor companies looking to provide rewarding and long-term careers in the resources sector. It is a partnership between the Queensland Resources Council, State Government and resources sector companies.

QMEA students Natasha Leway (Alexandra Hills SHS), Madison Matschoss (Moura SHS), Nicholas Curmi (Kirwan SHS) and George-Ellis Kaisara (Kirwan SHS) participate in an engineering challenge at the University of Queensland.

St Joseph’s Catholic School, Cloncurry Expands to Secondary The expansion of St Joseph’s Catholic School to offer junior secondary came as welcome news to families in Cloncurry this year. Townsville Catholic Education Diocesan director Dr Cathy Day said the development to extend the primary school to offer years 8 and 9 was the result of co-operative planning between key organisations. “St Joseph’s Catholic School has been, and will continue to be, an integral part of the Cloncurry district,” Dr Day said. “Much has been done since I first met with a group of enthusiastic parents in the school’s shed some time ago, pressing us to extend our Catholic Education offering here in Cloncurry. “After working with the local community, the Cloncurry Shire Council, the local parish and all levels of government, we were thrilled with the approval to extend St Joseph’s Catholic School to offer years 8 and 9.” Mayor of Cloncurry Shire, Cr Andrew Daniels, said the development was a great opportunity to keep families in the Cloncurry community longer and to also attract new families to town with the provision of quality junior secondary schooling. “This development will complement the quality education already offered by Cloncurry State High School,” Cr Daniels said. Most Rev Michael Putney, Bishop of the Townsville Diocese, is also delighted with the collaborative approach to ensure this dream has become a reality. “Education is a key activity in our mission as

Church,” Bishop Putney said. “Our investment in St Joseph’s Catholic School continues the Church’s commitment to serve the spiritual, educational, social and community needs of country parishes in our Diocese.” Dr Day encouraged parents to use this opportunity to ensure their children had the best start to a Catholic secondary education. “We are delighted to support families in the Cloncurry community by extending our delivery of Catholic education and we hope parents will consider one of our Catholic boarding schools for the senior years. St Joseph’s Catholic School principal, Bob Grant, said this expansion into junior secondary was an historic occasion for the town. “St Joseph’s Catholic School was established in 1909 and therefore this is a major milestone and a sign of the community’s support of the development of educational opportunities in Cloncurry,” Mr Grant said. “We encourage families relocating to Cloncurry and interested in a Catholic junior secondary education to call us for further information. “Families and friends of St Joseph’s can also now follow us on Facebook to keep up to date with the school’s news and developments. “St Joseph’s is a very close-knit and familyoriented school. We warmly welcome our new families and look forward to them being actively involved in the life of our school.”

EEA engineers new project to aid learning Mining engineers won’t have to miss work and travel long distances in order to log their continuous professional development (CPD) thanks to a new project by Engineering Education Australia (EEA). EEA’s Engineering Online (EOL) is a digital platform for engineering professionals and students to access a portfolio of online resources including courses, webinars and technical workshops. Group general manager for EEA Ann Ellis said EOL was developed in response to feedback from engineers and engineering organisations on how they would like to receive professional development. “Some time ago people would come along to face-to-face courses and they were quite happy to do so, but over the last year things have changed,” she said. “People are less likely to want to leave work and it’s a bit costly and there’s often a lot of travel involved. So when people are looking to get their CPD they don’t necessarily want to come to workshops.” EEA’s EOL resource follows the trend of other education providers in delivering content to clients and students in different ways. “We have done some webinars and delivered some online courses and qualifications and thought that what we really should do is have one place where we can put a whole diverse amount of CPD that addresses the way that people learn differently and also covers all of the specialisations for engineering,” Ms Ellis said. “EOL is a site with courses, qualifications, interviews, case studies, showcasing of projects, and technical content by experts. So we’re building more like a television channel really that has a variety of content for all different groups.” Students and professionals can access about 60 or 70 items free of charge and there are 455 items available online through subscription.

Building Mining Communities

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

SUPPORTED BY BHP BILLITON CANNINGTON

The QCoal Community Dental Service has celebrated its first anniversary.

Milestone a reason to smile Glencore Copper Assets North Queensland chief operating officer Mike Westerman (far left) and chief mining officer Matt O’Neill (far right) congratulate St Joseph’s Catholic School principal Bob Grant, Cloncurry State School P&C president Deb Twomey and deputy principal Brendan Baillie, and Cloncurry PCYC branch manager Sergeant Michael Maguire on being awarded 2014 partnerships under the Glencore Community Program North Queensland.

Support for youth A three-year partnership with a pledge of $195,000 to support a new youth officer for Cloncurry is among Ernest Henry Mining’s latest community initiatives. About 140 local residents attended the recent Ernest Henry Mining public barbeque to celebrate the announcement of the mine’s 2014 community partnerships. The Glencore Community Program North Queensland (GCPNQ) was established in 2005 under Xstrata and aims to support initiatives that promote economic growth and sustainability in the local area. So far $28 million has been allocated through the program on initiatives benefitting the communities of Cloncurry, Mount Isa, Townsville and

Bowen, with more than $5.6 million committed to Cloncurry alone. This year’s partnerships included Cloncurry State School, Saint Joseph’s Catholic School and Cloncurry PCYC. A spokeswoman for Ernest Henry Mining said $321,000 had been allocated to the 2014 partnerships. “The partnership with Cloncurry state school is $80,000 and is for one year,” she said. “The funding will be used for new sun shelter and seating for the students. Sun safety is important here, and this will help the kids to be sun smart when playing outside. “The second partnership with Saint Joseph’s Catholic school is for $46,000 and will be used

for science room and laboratory fit-out. Saint Joseph’s was just a primary school until recently and it has now been extended to include years eight and nine. So the school now has to be able to provide for additional subjects and extra rooms so we’re helping with that. “The last partnership is our largest one. It is a three-year partnership with the Cloncurry PCYC and is for $195,000 in total. We’re helping to create a whole new job for a youth and community engagement officer. The role will firstly develop a longer-term crime prevention strategy and will include a roll out of new and exciting PCYC programs in Cloncurry. “It’s an exciting partnership that will aim to really provide a lot for the local youth.”

Bechtel safety in another league Broncos players Sam Thaiday and Corey Parker provided a bit of safety inspiration for Bechtel teams on the Santos GLNG project during a recent visit. The NRL stars made the trip as part of the Bechtel Safety League campaign which was launched last year. The program challenges Bechtel staff to improve workplace safety with an overriding goal of significantly reducing on-site injuries. So far the initiative has seen some successful results, with the team recently recording two million hours on the Curtis Island site without a lost-time injury.

The site’s environment, health and safety manager Jeff Weldon said the players motivated the workforce to continually improve their safety performance. “Sam and Corey compared their pre-season training to how the workforce should approach personal safety and the safety of their mates every single day,” he said. “The entire team on site has embraced the Safety League program and injuries have been reduced because of the team’s engagement.”

February marked the first anniversary of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) and QCoal’s Community Dental Service. The three-year partnership was launched to provide free-ofcharge preventive dental care in regional communities. RFDS (Queensland Section) chairman Bill Mellor said the service had received a big response.

“Over 2000 patients from more than 13 rural communities across central and western Queensland have received treatment,” Mr Mellor said. To date the communities of Clermont, Sapphire, Blackall, Winton, Hughenden, Camooweal, Richmond, Greenvale, Collinsville, Bowen, Dajarra and Normanton Theodore and Monto have benefitted from the service.

Award for Santos GLNG Santos GLNG has received a national award that recognises the business’s efforts in measuring and managing the impacts of its operations in Queensland. Social Impact Measurement Australia’s panel of judges announced Santos GLNG as the winner of the Impact Measurement Achievement Award in the Government, Corporate or Philanthropic Organisation category at a recent ceremony in Sydney. Santos GLNG social performance manager John Phalen said the project’s Social Impact Management Plan (SIMP) outlined how it maximised the benefits and mitigated the impacts of its activity across the Maranoa, Banana Shire, Central Highlands and Gladstone regions. “We have invested more than $50 million into regional Queensland communities where we operate and we continue to proactively engage with communities on social impacts and mitigation strategies through a range of forums and channels,” he said.

McGinns’ McGrath month Mackay engineering supplies business McGinns is holding a month-long promotion for the McGrath Foundation. March will see McGinns “go pink” selling a variety of McGrath Foundation pink safety equipment, raffling Einhell products and hosting a Family Fun Day on Saturday, March 29. “Recently some of our employees and their family members have been personally affected by cancer, so McGinns wants to raise donations to support the McGrath

Foundation, whilst helping raise awareness of breast cancer in Mackay,” McGinns manager David Evans said. “Our goal is to help fund the appointment of another McGrath Breast Care Nurse, as there are currently only two McGrath Breast Care Nurses for Mackay and the surrounding communities.” As part of the Dowdens Group, McGinns will also use the organisation’s lifestyle program to help promote the cause and raise further donations courtesy of the entire Dowdens Group workforce.

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LOGISTICS AND MATERIALS HANDLING

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Rail project builds up steam The Inland Rail project has been on the drawing board for decades but it’s beginning to get attention from the government and private sectors to get it going. The Federal Government has earmarked $300 million to kickstart the project, which will connect Brisbane to Melbourne via an inland route through Toowoomba. Toowoomba Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) chief executive officer Shane Charles said the project would be critically important for the resources and agricultural industries. “It will be particularly important for the resources industry in trying to get more of the coal to port, especially considering the Glencore Xstrata decision not to proceed with the Surat Basin Rail project it’s left a bit of a hole,” he said. The Surat Basin Rail project was a joint venture between Xstrata Coal, ATEC Dawson Valley Railway (a subsidiary of Australian Transport and Energy Corridor)

and QR Surat Basin to build a rail line between the western railway system near Wandoan and the Moura railway system near Banana. “That decision not to proceed with the Surat Basin Rail has put a constraint on the remainder of the coal producers in the southern Surat Basin that they have no ability to get their coal to port so we need another solution,” Mr Charles said. He said the Inland Rail would act as a solution, with aims to get stage one - between Toowoomba and the Port of Brisbane - in action during the first term of the Abbott government. “It’s a 10-year project but it depends, as it is a very complex financing deal,” Mr Charles said. “We would hopefully be looking at the first stages to start almost immediately and as the demand grows, move to finalise stages two and three. So we’re certainly pushing for the connection from the Port of Brisbane to

TSBE chief executive officer Shane Charles, implementation group chair John Anderson and Port of Brisbane chief executive officer Russell Smith at an Inland Rail forum in Toowoomba. Photo: Andrew Coates

Toowoomba to be started very shortly.” He said there was growing momentum in private and political circles to see the project succeed. Australian Logistics Council (ALC) managing director Michael Kilgariff said the rail project was

of particular importance for the growth of the Port of Brisbane. “ALC welcomes the Federal Government’s commitment of $300 million to progress this project and its establishment of an inland rail implementation group

to put together the project plan,” he said. “An important part of the group’s work is preserving and protecting the preferred alignment now so that the land will be available when the Inland Rail freight line is eventually built.”

Road ahead looks positive for $1.7b bypass initiative The largest inland road project that Australia has seen will act as an enabler for economic growth and open up the region of Toowoomba as a freight and logistics hub, according to the co-chair of the Engineers Australia Toowoomba regional group. The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing (TSRC) was recently secured for the state by the federal and Queensland governments. Dr Steven Goh described the road project as a “once in a lifetime opportunity to open the gateway to the

outback” and connect Brisbane with regional Queensland. “It’s a bypass road project that involves funding of approximately $1.7 billion. So it’s quite a significant transportation and road project, in fact it’s probably one of the largest road projects in the country at the moment,” he said. “The current route is one of those major hurdles because you have this road going up the range and it’s very slow. As I recall it’s about 16 traffic lights. There’s a lot of traffic coming from all over the country to this region and the bypass

would be able to divert the freight traffic. “And when you talk about dealing with the mining potential out west around the Surat Basin, well it would be a gateway to the coal deposits out there. “It’s a key ingredient in establishing a national transport and freight hub at Charlton (on the outskirts of Toowoomba) as part of a national freight network inclusive of road, rail and air transport.” The TSRC was set to provide a significant boost to the region, potentially helping to kickstart

$30 billion worth of mining projects in the Surat Basin alone, Dr Goh said. “The potential for increasing productivity of freight and human cargo, government figures suggest, are a $2.6 billion contribution to the regional economy, and $3.1 billion nationally. “The land has been bought, the initial conceptual design has been put out there, so it’s essentially what we would call shovel-ready. There are still some final designs to be done but that should happen pretty quickly and then it would be about three years to construct.”

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LIVING REMOTELY

March 2014 |

Guide gives advice on FIFO lifestyle The Queensland Resources Council has released a new guide to aid workers and families preparing for and adjusting to the fly in-fly out lifestyle. The Guidance for LongDistance Commuting (FIFO/ DIDO) Workers outlines the benefits and challenges of the lifestyle and highlights some of the social and personal issues individuals and families face. It also contains a list of organisations that can provide assistance to commuting workers and their families and can form the basis of an induction tool to be used by HR professionals. “We recognise that the lifestyle does have some challenges for families, and this guide provides valuable advice for people already working FIFO or DIDO rosters, or those considering them,” QRC chief executive Michael Roche said. Founder and director of FIFO Families, Nicole Ashby, said guides such as this were important but that even more could be done. “Research shows that the first six months of FIFO is a crucial period for both the worker and the family unit, so going into the FIFO lifestyle with your eyes wide open and being prepared certainly influences how well your transition into the lifestyle will be,” she said. “So resources like this are a win-win for everyone, for the workers, for the families, and for the companies. “I think that companies can do more to prepare their workers

in terms of induction. FIFO Families runs seminars that we’ve done at corporate level for industry. “It highlights the issues and challenges that you face in the lifestyle, but ‘look here’s the solutions and the resources and the strategies you’ll need to get through it’. It’s so important we believe.” Mrs Ashby said she had experienced the difficulties of the FIFO lifestyle first-hand. “My husband works offshore in oil and gas and his roster is four weeks on and four weeks off and he’s been doing that for the

last five and a half years and we have three kids aged four, six and eight,” she said. “I didn’t have any preparedness entering the lifestyle. An opportunity just came up and then, yeah, he was gone. “So I realised quite quickly that if you don’t have the people around you that understand the lifestyle and you don’t have the support system it can be very isolating, lonely and extremely stressful.” The Reference Guide for FIFO/DIDO Workers can be downloaded from the QRC website at www.qrc.org.au.

The Mining Advocate

Mining companies support the need for rescue helicopter The RACQ NQ Rescue helicopter service based in Mount Isa continues to fly even though chief executive officer Alex Dorr, his staff and a band of volunteers find it increasingly difficult to find the $1.6 million that is needed annually to remain in the air. Realising the importance of having an “airborne hospital” in the vast Outback of northwest Queensland, BHP Billiton Cannington mine has joined the increasing number of mining companies which support the service with a $20,000 donation. The service is offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and includes air medical services to residents, workers and visitors to

The RACQ NQ Rescue helicopter, based in Mount Isa.

The Outback over a footprint of 500,000sq km from Mornington Island in the Gulf to Birdsville in the far south-west corner of Queensland. Service representative Kara Thompson said community and corporate support was vital to keep the service operating, irrespective of any government support. “Over the past couple of years we have seen a significant growth in support within the mining community,” Ms Thompson said. “There is a realisation of our invaluable support for on-site mining injuries and the immediate aero-medical transfer we’re able to supply.” Helipads have been installed at the Cloncurry and Mount Isa base hospitals which in turn see a faster turnaround for patients who require critical treatment from mine sites that have helipads installed. Operating costs and equipment place a huge financial strain on the service, which struggles to get support from the State Government. Ms Thompson said it cost $5250 per hour to fly the helicopter and the annual fuel bill was in excess of $100,000. The helicopter, valued at $2 million, is leased at $100,000 per month and the fit-out as an aero-medical facility cost in the region of $2 million, according to Ms Thompson. “The need for the service is unquestionable and the organisation continues to work hand-in-hand with the State Government on ways in which to secure long-term funding support,” she said.

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NQ Operations

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

New life for Leichhardt project New owners plan to start opencut mining by mid-year at the Leichhardt copper project in north-west Queensland, building to a workforce of about 70 when fully operational. Malaco Leichhardt general manager Stewart Robinson said the company was sending out tender documents for mining, explosives and transport services. “From the request for quotations we will be shortlisting and from that discussions will be held with those parties,” he said. “We are not ruling out mining ourselves and tenders will also be going out for pricing on equipment and then we’ll be reviewing what we do.” The parent company – Malaysian firm Malaco Mining – had already spent a considerable amount of money to bring the site into compliance and upgrade processing plant, he said. It began producing copper cathode in mid-February from stockpiled ore at the project, purchased for $14.75 million from Cape Lambert – which took on Leichhardt copper in 2010 after former operator Matrix Metals went into receivership. While administration for the operation will be headquartered in Adelaide – where Mr Robinson

is based – it will use Cloncurry and Townsville as its main hubs for goods and services. “The majority of our contractors that have been involved to date have been Townsville, Cloncurry and Mount Isa based,” Mr Robinson said. Materials processing company Nordev is one of the first to benefit from the reopening of the Leichhardt operation, undertaking interim crushing and screening work at the site. “We’re excited about the prospects in the Cloncurry district,” Nordev managing director Greg Raines said. “It shows a glimmer of hope for further works in the western province area.” Mr Robinson described the development as good news at a time when industry was slowing down a little in north-west Queensland. “We’re in an ideal time to start operations up, with the cost of mining coming down,” he said. All mining companies had to run smarter now than they had in the past to be profitable and Leichhardt Malaco was striving to be a very lean organisation, he said. Mr Robinson said Malaco Mining had the advantage

Copper solution from the leach heaps at Malaco Leichhardt’s Mt Cuthbert site.

of being a privately owned company - without the costs and hierarchical delays of a publicly listed business – with a geologist, executive chairman Dato’ H K Sia, at the helm. The new owners plan to mine the Leichhardt project’s Mt Watson pit at a rate of about 1.5 million tonnes of ore per annum, grading about 0.85 per cent copper. The ore will go through the

operation’s heap leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning facility at nearby Mt Cuthbert. Mr Robinson said there were stockpiles of mined ore containing about 4000 tonnes of copper when Malaco took over. The site had produced about 100 tonnes of copper cathode in the first three weeks of commissioning the newly refurbished plant, he said. Glencore is the offtake partner

for the product – Grade A plate. Mr Robinson said the Leichhardt tenement package held huge exploration potential, and that Malaco Leichhardt would push to establish resources to support a five to 10-year mine life. “Our hope is to grow the business to a bigger footprint, with potential different process streams,” he said. “We will be exploiting our tenement package.”

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NQ Operations

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Solar solution to acid shortfall Staff working at Incitec Pivot’s Phosphate Hill mine in northwest Queensland are taking innovative and eco-friendly steps to overcome a shortage of acid used at the site. The regular supply of sulphur dioxide from the Glencore Xstrata copper smelter in Mount Isa will dry up when the facility closes in late 2016. Gypsum and site waste water containing low concentrations of phosphoric acid are produced as by-products during the manufacture of ammonium phosphates at Phosphate Hill. IPL managing director and chief executive officer James Fazzino said these by-products were disposed of in cells adjacent to the plant through a wet stacking process. But when gypsum is combined with the waste water it produces a liquor that is continuously recirculated through the cells, increasing concentration.

The liquor contains 4 to 5 per cent phosphoric acid, which is then placed in evaporation ponds to increase its concentration up to 20 per cent. The concentrated phosphoric acid is then pumped back to the plant for the manufacture of ammonium phosphates. “The process of recovering phosphoric acid in this manner is referred to as decant,” Mr Fazzino said. “In a nutshell, the solution is to use our gypsum cells as a solar phosphoric acid plant.” An Incitec spokesman said the company had known of the decant process for some time. “The recent advancement was the capability to bring it back to the plant. This involved a dedicated on-site project team utilising skills and expertise from across the site and building on capabilities learned as part of our business improvement program, Business Excellence,” he said.

Pondage at Phosphate Hill where Incitec Pivot is undertaking the solar evaporation trials.

“Given it is recycled and doesn’t require transportation, the decant represents a cheaper source of

phosphoric acid although it is obviously a limited resource.” The shortfall will be made up

by importing additional product from within Australia and overseas.

Expo showcases Townsville region Townsville has been labelled as a key industry hub by the event coordinator of the inaugural North Queensland Industry and Resources Expo. Australian Events director Bob Carroll says Townsville has significant investment potential alongside a pool of high quality trades, products and technologies. “Some companies are looking outside of Mackay and the Bowen Basin for investment opportunities and I believe that Townsville and the far north can do that for them,” he said. “The industry expo in Townsville will give attendees the chance to get a very good picture of how the industry is going in all areas in and around Townsville, and where these opportunities may lie. “They will also see new product and ways of

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improving productivity and cutting costs.” The expo will take place at the Townsville Entertainment Centre on March 27-28 and is expected to host a large range of exhibitors. “So far we’re on track to have the event sold out,” Mr Carroll said. “Based on our online enquiries we would expect up to 3000 delegates to attend over two days.” The event will kick off with a welcome breakfast at Jupiters Hotel Casino. “There will also be some functions attached to the event. This means people will not only get the opportunity to see the product, but they also have the opportunity to network,” Mr Carroll said.

NQ Operations

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Isa output still going stronga Glencore Xstrata’s exit strategy from its copper smelting operation in Mount Isa and associated refinery in Townsville is proceeding on schedule for a December 2016 shutdown, contrary to industry rumours that it could remain open until 2020. A company spokeswoman said such strategies took time to implement and there had been no change to the longer-term aim to rationalise production strategies in the North West. These strategies will not see a slowdown in output - in fact operations are being ramped up and production increased. The focus will now shift to the company’s Port of Townsville operations. A new berth – offering 2.5 times more shiploading capacity, greater berth efficiency and significant improvements in environmental performance – will come online this year and secure opportunities for future export growth, according to the company spokeswoman. The berth will handle not only Glencore Xstrata mineral concentrates but concentrates and fertiliser from third-party mines

and mineral processing operations in the North West. Production figures tallied during 2013 underscore that Glencore Xstrata is in a growth phase. Copper production was 249,600 tonnes in 2013, a 25 per cent increase over 2012. This increase mainly related to higher anode production at Mount Isa (up 26 per cent), driven by higher concentrate feed from Ernest Henry mine, which produced 70,700 tonnes of copper in concentrate in 2013, an increase of 107 per cent compared to 2012, relating to that site’s $589 million life-of-mine extension project. Glencore Xstrata’s Australian zinc and lead production rose by 3 per cent and 10 per cent respectively in 2013, mainly driven by the growth projects at McArthur River and Mount Isa. The George Fisher project at Mount Isa reached its planned annualised ore mined run rate capacity of 4.5 million tonnes in June 2013. Commissioning for the McArthur River Phase 3 project is expected by mid-year.

Sky-high progress for shaft work A delicate balancing act was performed at the Ernest Henry mine recently when the sky shaft was moved into its final position within the shaft headframe. The 1000m shaft is complete and hoisting is expected to begin in May. Construction work is also under way for the underground components of the materials handling system including primary crusher, surge bin, trunk conveyor and loading station. On the surface, construction is progressing well for the overland conveyor. The head-end, consisting of three gantries and two trestles, was moved into place in January. Final construction works are scheduled

to start now the sky shaft is in position. “Once completed, the shaft will allow us to ramp up production rates to around

6 million tonnes per annum, extending the mine life to at least 2024,” underground shaft project manager Adam Beswick said.

The sky shaft is moved into position within the headframe.

The power installation project at McArthur River Mine.

Switched on at McArthur River expansion Energy Developments Ltd completed its biggest remote area power installation project when workers flicked the switch on a 58Mw facility at Glencore Xstrata’s McArthur River zinc mine in the Northern Territory recently. It was a logistical exercise of major proportions

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and involved transporting six 8.9Mw power plants, each weighing 180 tonnes, by road from Darwin. The installation was part of the $360 million Phase 3 upgrade of the McArthur River operation. The upgrade - doubling ore capacity to 5-5.5 million tonnes per annum - is more than 80 per cent complete.

NQ Operations

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Spotlight on supply route The question of pit-to-port supply chain co-ordination via the Mount Isa to Townsville rail corridor could well become clearer for prospective investors with the release in April of the North Queensland Resource Supply Chain report. The study flows on from the Mount Isa Townsville Economic Zone (MITEZ) report, 50-year Freight Infrastructure Plan, released in 2012. MITEZ executive officer Glen Graham said a $1.6 million grant from the then-Labor Federal Government funded a more detailed study of issues raised in the 2012 report. Those findings were to be released in March but have now been delayed until April. Mr Graham, who was a member of the working group which was tasked with overseeing the study, said it was now in the hands of the State Government. The study centred on three main areas: a demand analysis model, an infrastructure capacity audit and supply chain coordination. Mr Graham said the 2012 MITEZ report raised a raft of issues which confronted new players wanting to tap into the mineral wealth of the North West who felt continuity of rail capacity could become an issue longer term as tonnages destined for the Port of Townsville ramped up. He said that a number of issues in the public arena at the moment, including the

Glen Graham MITEZ executive officer

privatisation of the Mount Isa to Townsville Rail Corridor and the Port of Townsville and news that the federal and State governments had agreed to investigate incorporating Queensland into the national rail network, was adding to uncertainty. Meanwhile, Glencore Xstrata has pulled out of the joint venture Cloncurry Multi-user Rail Load-out Facility planned for the outskirts of Cloncurry. Both Glencore Xstrata and MMG were to build storage facilities on the site while copper junior CuDeco had planned a container loading facility. CuDeco – which is developing its Rocklands Group copper project near Cloncurry - is now the sole operator of the site but will more than likely look to share the facility with third parties.

Cash boost for tungsten project Carbine Tungsten has signed a loan agreement for US$1 million with long-term off-take partner Mitsubishi Corporation RtM Japan. The investment is for environmental and engineering works for the stockpile project at the Mount Carbine site in far north Queensland. The funding provided the company with flexibility to fast-track its hard rock project as it looked to take advantage of the global tungsten supply shortage, Carbine managing director Jim Morgan said.

Construction of the Diamantina Power Station is well advanced.

DPS build still on the boil Progress has continued at the Diamantina Power Station (DPS) site despite contractors Forge Power Group going into receivership, with the plant’s third gas turbine firing up in February. The 242MW plant is being constructed in Mount Isa under a turn-key contract with Forge for owners/developers APA Group and AGL Energy. It is supplying power into the North West Power System from three of its four gas turbines, with only one remaining gas turbine to be commissioned in open-cycle mode before the next

phase of commissioning activities for closed-cycle mode commences. “We want to thank all of the employees, contractors and subcontractors who have remained committed to delivering this project for the region,” DPS project director Stephen Ohl said. DPS has been in discussions with Korda Mentha, the receiver and manager for Forge Group, negotiating the terms of a transition deed. This was executed on February 25, allowing for security of payment to Forge employees as well as Forge subcontractors working on site.

Glencore mothballs Mount Margaret site Glencore Xstrata has wound up mining operations at Mount Margaret, near Cloncurry in a move affecting about 150 employees and 140 contractors. The company suspended work on four of the five open pits at the site in September to further investigate ways to reduce mining costs and improve processing outcomes. “Ultimately, we decided to place the operations into care and maintenance once we

completed mining activities at E1 North,” an Ernest Henry Mining spokeswoman said. Mining at E1 North finished in early March, sparking the start of redundancies - although the EHM spokeswoman said about 30 per cent of the workforce would be required until June. “We have worked to redeploy our people, particularly local people, within our operations in the north-west region wherever

possible, and are pleased to have been able to provide 85 per cent of impacted personnel, and 92 per cent of locals, with their preferred outcome,” she said. “Mount Margaret has played an important role in the success of (Ernest Henry Mining) operations, contributing significantly to our production profile as we worked to advance our $589 million underground development project.”

Find extends Mount Wright production Resolute Mining has announced a 46 per cent increase in reserves at the Mount Wright underground gold mine which is part of its Ravenswood operation. Recent detailed underground diamond drilling conducted from the bottom of the mine has confirmed sufficient mineralisation for the viable development of a further three underground levels and stoping operations below the current mining base. The company says the extra production at the mine, which has been operating since 2007, extends the mining and processing operations until at least the September quarter of 2016. Resolute chief executive officer Peter Sullivan said this gave the company further flexibility in planning the development

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The Mount Wright gold mine outside Ravenswood.

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NQ Operations

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Contractor makes her mark Dionne Connolly runs her business with a strong community focus and an overriding goal of “giving opportunities to locals, when nobody else will”. Now, the director of Cloncurry-based business Curry Contracting is being recognised as the Mount Isa electorate’s “Woman of Generosity”. As part of the nomination, Mrs Connolly travelled to Brisbane recently to attend the International Women’s Day breakfast at Parliament. Mrs Connolly, a Kalkadoon woman who lives in Cloncurry, describes herself as a local “fixer” and says the company she runs with her husband Adrian seeks to help the community in any way it can. “Curry Contracting is currently the Queensland manufacturing industry’s (small) employer of the year, the Northern Outback’s indigenous business of the year and I was a finalist for the regional services award,” she said. “I believe we get that type of recognition because our business is not solely profit driven - we really, really care

about our community, the local economy, the people who work for us, and the people who can’t get work in the local community. “While Curry Contracting is a private enterprise and not a community organisation, a lot of what we do within our business

is really about trying to help our local community and make a real difference to local people.” Mrs Connolly said that finding out about her nomination was a humbling experience. “In a way I thought to myself, why me? There are so many other people who care and who are invested in the community,” she said. “I know these people because I’m exposed to them, I’m

on the committees with them.” The proudest achievement of her life was her marriage and three children, Mrs Connolly said. “Adrian and I have been married for nearly 10 years and if it weren’t for my husband the company wouldn’t be what it is and we wouldn’t have achieved all that we have,” she said. “We are grateful for the recognition of the work we do in

and for our local community.” Member for Mount Isa Rob Katter said Mrs Connolly had used her business acumen to not only establish a business in Cloncurry, but to help local people practically through the processes of buying their first home or car, investing their superannuation, and discussing education options with indigenous parents.

Copper-gold sites bear fruit

Dionne Connolly at the Queensland Manufacturing Skills Awards where Curry Contracting was named Small Employer of the Year 2013.

Syndicated Metals is starting a new phase of exploration drilling at a series of copper-gold prospects about 4km south-west of its flagship Barbara project in north-west Queensland. The company said the prospects represented attractive opportunities for the discovery of additional copper-gold mineralisation outside of the main Barbara resource, which is being developed as part of Syndicated’s 50/50 joint venture with CopperChem. Resource development drilling at the Barbara deposit has been ongoing since January as part of the work required to complete a feasibility study, which is being funded by CopperChem as part of its earn-in requirements.

Discovery Parks – Cloncurry, Mount Isa and Mount Isa-Argylla Established in 2004 and now with more than 30 parks, Discovery Parks enjoys an enviable position as the largest owner-operator of parks nationally. Discovery Parks offers a diverse range of accommodation options designed to suit the needs of corporates, workforces small and large, and travellers. You can count on Discovery Parks to deliver a commercially viable accommodation solution for your needs. Discovery Parks – Cloncurry, Mount Isa and Mount Isa-Argylla are three well-appointed accommodation parks ensuring a choice of quality accommodation within the north-west Queensland area. These “boutique” style villages at Cloncurry and Mount Isa offer your company staff a “home away from home” with comfortable and friendly services, including full catering from our on-site dining halls and recreational facilities, and Mount IsaArgylla with extensive cabin options. The continual development of accommodation to meet corporate and workforce guests represents a substantial part of Discovery Parks’ business plan and we are proud to be able to offer an extensive

Corporate and workforce accommodation ideally located in north-west Queensland selection of self-contained cabins and en-suited rooms across the three parks. Discovery Parks prides itself on the excellence and diversity of its accommodation services. Discovery Parks welcomes the opportunity to provide your company with a choice of services tailored for you. Our parks accommodation and facilities can be viewed on our corporate website: www. discoveryparks.com.au On-site inspections and additional information regarding the parks can be arranged upon request by contacting Robyn Sefton on 1800 134 033.

The Barbara project - about 60km northeast of Mount Isa - has an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 5.3 million tonnes, grading 1.4 per cent copper and 0.1 parts per million gold. CopperChem, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WH Soul Pattinson, holds copper processing facilities at Cloncurry which would be used to process Barbara ore. In addition to its Great Australia operations at Cloncurry, CopperChem began open-cut mining operations in November at Mt Colin. Mt Colin is a greenfields copper-gold project about 60km west of Cloncurry, with an expected mining rate of 400,000 tonnes of ore per annum. ADVERTISEMENT

Minelec goes the extra mile to service industry Minelec Pty Ltd is a Townsville-based, privately owned electrical contractor founded in 1991. The company foundations were built around servicing north-west Queensland metalliferous mines and quarries in the early 1990s, where full-time crews attended everything from surface statutory maintenance in the processing plants to underground high-voltage reticulation in the mine. In the years that followed and as the company continued to grow, this service extended from the north-west Queensland mining leases down to the coal industry and the central Queensland region. Today, 23 years later, Minelec continues to provide services to the entire northern half of Queensland including central Queensland (coalfields), north-west, north and far north Queensland. We also send work crews

interstate as the need arises. Minelec is a longestablished and wellknown electrical contractor in the region. We are a multi-award winner in mining and industrial sectors and a business that has capability to deliver on everything from small to large projects with the flexibility to meet client’s requirements in the current financial environment. A demonstrated understanding of the current financial environment is in one of the recent underground projects completed, where working together with the mine, we were able to deliver approximately 25 per cent savings on a $2.4M estimated project. This was achieved with innovation, drive and flexibility, all the while allowing the mine to continue to operate. A brief list of services Minelec provides includes construction, maintenance,

servicing, repairs, sub stations, high and lowvoltage reticulation, earthing systems, lightning protection systems, MCCs, power factor correction, control and instrumentation, general lighting and power, concentrators, milling, grinding, conveyors, crushing and screening, primary mine ventilation fans, primary plant air compressor facilities, winders, shafts and hoisting, and dewatering systems, to name a few. Our experience has also helped us to understand the issues with working at remote locations. A vast supplier network along with a proactive approach and ingenuity at getting things done means that it doesn’t matter where your site is, you can be assured Minelec can deliver projects safely, efficiently and professionally regardless of the location or environment.

NQ Operations

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

New horizons for Dawsons Group Following on from the success of its RTO arm in Cairns, Dawsons Group of Companies is embarking on the delivery of scheduled training in Townsville. The Dawsons Training division has been exceptionally well received by its clients – whilst obviously heavily geared towards the resources sector, Dawsons is increasingly picking up clients in defence, education, marine, sugar and power industries. “It’s our commitment to quality, industry experience and flexible delivery models that sets us apart” Dawsons Training manager Mark Kerridge said. Dawsons has been delivering on-site training for many clients

in the Townsville area and is supplementing this with the commencement of public courses in Townsville in March 2014. Dawsons has a number of unique services for clients, providing value that only an industry-based company could identify. “We are able to offer clients a seamless shutdown mobilisation process, landing a crew on site fully inducted and passed out and then utilising our trainers to provide on-site safety support and verification of learning and safety behaviours during the shutdown,” Mark said. This model has been successfully rolled out to clients

on sites hubbing from Townsville and Cairns. Dawsons Training has recently executed agreements with the best mining houses to partner in the delivery of safety and highrisk training – both on and off site. Recent reforms to RTO compliance requirements mean that now, more than ever, it is not viable for mining companies to also carry the burden of operating as training organisations. “Clients are examining their business models to leverage industry partnerships to deliver the required outcomes, cost effectively and at the best possible standard,” Mark said.

Never too old to learn At the age of 65, most people would be making plans on how to wind down and fill their lives with recreational activities. Not Clive Murray. With a 90-yearold mother who was a teacher, a wife and a daughter who both work in education, Clive decided that it was his turn to give back. After 38 years working at the Mulgrave Sugar Mill in Gordonvale, Clive - a Wanyurr-majay man from Gordonvale - was convinced to step into a whole new career where he could pass on that knowledge to the next generation. Over the course of his working life at the mill, Clive had progressed through many occupations, collecting the requisite licences on the way. This wealth of practical experience combined with his naturally easy manner and communication skills made Clive an excellent candidate to transition into a training and mentoring role. It took more than some gentle persuasion from Dawsons’ thentraining manager Robyn Van Rooye to step Clive through the process of attaining his Certificate IV in Training and Assessment, then registration with WHS as an assessor. “To a 65-year-old man with no

A lifetime’s experience has translated into a change of career as a Dawsons trainer for 65-year-old Clive Murray.

computer skills, the concept of completing an online study course was absolutely terrifying,” Clive said. “It was the reassurance and support from Robyn and the team at Dawsons Training that got me through in baby steps.” Clive trains and assesses in high-risk occupations, forklift, non-slew crane, work platform, rigging, scaffolding and dogging and says that his greatest achievement was overcoming his fear of public speaking in order to be able to impart his knowledge in a classroom situation. Clive is combining his day job training at Dawsons with his passion for cycling and intends to ride from Cairns to Broome in 2015 to raise funds for breast cancer.

The Dawsons Training team includes office manager Nile Baker, safety and training manager Mark Kerridge, and training administrator Sophie Costi.

Meet a lifelong adventurer It’s a long way from the Swiss Alps to Groote Eylandt, but Jacques ( Jack) Cramatte feels that his latest job with Dawsons Engineering at Groote Eylandt is taking him back to the great outdoors and his childhood walking expeditions in Switzerland. “I love the variety and getting out into the environment,” Jack said. A boilermaker by trade, Jack is now seeing the other side of a mining operation, working with a crew of geologists, drillers and environmental engineers on surface and groundwater sampling as part of the EIS process. “He is an invaluable member of the project team, providing ongoing logistical support and safety supervision to our field teams,” Jack’s supervisor, Mike Chapman, said. “The passion and enthusiasm he demonstrates in his role has provided a very positive impact to those

Boilermaker Jacques Cramatte.

who work with him.” Jack was headed to Cairns in 1995, looking for work on the Skyrail construction project. As it happened, he missed that opportunity and ended up at NQEA, staying with them for nearly five years. It was in 2000 that he started work with Dawsons and since then his excellent trade skills and easy manner have seen him deployed to every work site Dawsons has a presence at. Jack has been part of crews on site in locations from PNG to Western Australia and South Australia and most of the local sites in between, working on projects at

mine operations, sugar mills, slipways and power stations. When recalling the variety of work over the years, Jack says; “I really enjoyed the construction project Dawsons worked on at Tom Price in WA. It was technically really well organised and the install went together seamlessly.” Since 2000, Jack has left Dawsons to work on various projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Gove, but always returns. “He’s always welcome back,” Sharon Dawson said. “Jack has been well received at any site we’ve ever sent him to. He always represents himself and our company well.”

NQ Operations

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Feeding the Lawn Hill giant MMG’s Lawn Hill processing plant in Queensland’s lower Gulf region has a long way to go before retiring. The umbilical connection with the Century pit will be cut in 2016 as the proud parent faces redundancy after 20 years as a world’s best zinc producer.

Enter Dugald River MMG Queensland operations general manager Mark Adams said there was a 45-million-tonne resource waiting to be mined over an estimated 20-year life span. The processing plant, estimated to have a replacement value of about $1.2 billion, would be fully depreciated by 2017 - which was an added commercial imperative, Mr Adams said. While still in its infancy, the Dugald River project, about 65km north-west of Cloncurry, is well established - taking water from the Lake Julius connection to Ernest Henry mine and power from the

Mount Isa-to-Ernest Henry line.

Getting it right It is no secret that Dugald River presents challenges for mine planners. Several companies, including Rio Tinto and Pasminco, have owned the lease and failed to realise its potential. MMG upgraded its estimates for Dugald River in its minerals resources and ore reserves statement 2013, which was presented to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It said; “Dugald River zinc mineral resources have increased as a result of updated mineral deposit interpretation and modelling supported by definition drilling and underground geological mapping.” Zinc was up 1 million tonnes to 7.6 million tonnes, and silver was up 2 million oz to 64 million oz. MMG maintains new geotechnical approaches will

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unlock the riches and says the ore body strikes 10,000m underground. “Dugald River is one of the five best (zinc) ore bodies left in the world today,” Mr Adams said. “The ore body is more complex than expected but that’s underground mining.”

What’s next? Dugald River is not the only hand MMG will play to keep its Gulf facilities turning over. The company has split the lease up into 30 exploration zones in an effort to identify smaller, even higher-grade deposits. MMG was confident the geology of the area, where material that was easily mobilised was forced into fault structures, would reveal reserves of dominantly lead ore, Mr Adams said. Processing tailings dam fines was another options being investigated by mine managers, he said. The plant currently extracts about 75 per cent of the zinc

The processing plant at MMG’s Lawn Hill site in North Queensland.

metal and 55 per cent of lead, leaving a vast resource in the tailings dam. That’s estimated to be about 2 million tonnes of zinc alone. “We can now show fairly conclusively (that) technically we can extract it. Previously that was not an issue, we couldn’t extract it. Now the question

is can we run a commercial process?” Mr Adams said. Processing tailings dam material also removed a major environmental liability which added to the business case, he said. The potential for phosphate production presents yet another option for planners.

Champion going the extra mile The processing plant at Century is as much a part of the landscape as the spinifex. It is one of the largest structures between Mount Isa and PNG in the north and Cairns and Darwin running longitudinally. It stands obdurate against the extremes of heat, flood and age and, after 20 years, it has taken on the colours of the Gulf savannah and blends in like a local. In the face of increasing challenges to get more zinc concentrate from diminishing grades of ore, the 79 processing plant staff have garnered Ferrari performance. The plant was originally designed to process 680 tonnes of ore an hour. It has been refashioned and refurbished, tweaked and tightened, honed and calibrated to the

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point where it is now handling 1000t/hour. No one knows the plant like processing manager Tim Ackroyd who, like strapper Tommy Woodcock whispering in the ear of Phar Lap before a big race, is forced to ask for more from his champion. Mr Ackroyd has been in charge of the plant for eight years and sometimes wonders who the master really is, while admitting there is a touch of superstition in maintaining performance from this thoroughbred. “It’s curious,” he said. “We talk about it (the plant) having a lot of character. We don’t talk too loudly in case she hears us and does something nasty to us. You’re always running around touching a lot of wood.”

Mr Ackroyd estimates the cost to replace the concentrator at the Lawn Hill site would be more than $1.2 billion. Owner MMG is understandably keen to maintain a return from its investment. “To maintain the performance of this plant, you have to push more through to keep metal production up,” Mr Ackroyd said. “That’s what makes a good metallurgist: understanding where you can spend a small amount of money to get good returns. Every plant is different and I think the real trick is understanding the plant and its specifics.” At current production, MMG Century is the third largest zinc producing mine in the world.

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NQ Operations

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Plain sailing for shipping boss From Mount Isa Mines to the helm of Sea Swift, Fred White has had a varied career. Cairns-based chief executive officer of shipping company Sea Swift, Fred White, is a fifthgeneration miner who can best be described as a rough diamond who has revealed many sparkling facets. His childhood was nomadic and began in the Boyne Valley near Rockhampton when his father Alex tried his hand at cattle grazing. A massive flood saw the family move to the Anakie sapphire fields west of Emerald in Central Queensland where they lived in a corrugated iron shed. It wasn’t long before the White clan was on the move again to Clermont in search of gold and then on to Cape River near Pentland. The Cape River Mine was established and young Fred was packed off to All Souls College in Charters Towers to continue his education. “At 42 dad decided he had had enough of the Outback and decided to retire to the coast. The family finished up in Innisfail,” Mr White said. Gold fever is a hard malady to shake and it wasn’t long before the White family had a profound shift

Fred White Sea Swift chief executive officer

of scenery to Tasmania. But Innisfail was to prove a significant stop in Fred’s journey to manhood. He met his wife-tobe Michelle there – maintaining a long-distance romance before they formalised the union and married in 1987 in Innisfail. The couple’s travels took them to Mount Isa, where Mr White

landed a job in the lead smelter. “I will never forget that experience, Mount Isa had 40 days of over 40-degree temperatures after I had just started,” Mr White said. But the wanderlust returned after two-and-a-half years and he was back in Tasmania scratching for gold. He invested in a gold mine with his father which didn’t reap the rewards of previous ventures and Fred sought work at the Bell Bay aluminium smelter run by Rio Tinto. “That was a turning point in my life, if I didn’t do something with my life now I’d be a labourer all my life,” Mr White said. “So I decided to become a student full-time and scratch for gold on the weekends.” He ended up with an associate diploma of metallurgy tucked in his pocket. A stint back in Innisfail working in the local foundry as the afternoon shift furnace boss was the launch pad to a stellar career at Mount Isa Mines. “I got a call from a guy offering me a job as a shift boss in Mount Isa, it was a no-brainer,” he said. Promotion to superintendent of plant at the lead smelter followed and then a management position. “Around this time Xstrata took

Heavy equipment bound for Weipa.

over the mine and I was given the GM’s role with Xstrata Zinc,” Mr White said. At 42 he decided to retire, just before the GFC in 2008. “It was a mistake, not so much financially, but because of the huge vacuum it left in my life. I didn’t consider for a second that that’s what was going to happen,” Mr White said. “Even though I asked HR consultants to take me off all their employment data bases I got a call from a ‘headhunter’ enquiring about a role with Sea Swift. “I decided to meet the owner,

Sid Faithful, and found I had real chemistry with him and I was appointed to run the business.” In his five years in the chair at Sea Swift, Mr White has doubled staff to more than 400, doubled annual revenue and doubled the size of the fleet. The company has also expanded into Darwin and now services about 40 remote locations across northern Australia from Cairns to Darwin. Sea Swift vessels have worked on the massive Curtis Island LNG plant construction project since it began more than two years ago.

NQ Operations

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Getting them home new safety technology A Townsville-based business is tackling the issue of safely managing workers travelling or operating in remote and isolated conditions. JESI ( Journey-Events-SafetyInnovations) Management Solutions recently released journey management software that automates an alert to emergency contacts when a traveller does not reach their destination. Co-founding directors Joe Hoolahan and Matthew Tebble say JESI is a new and affordable software solution accessible from any telecommunication device. It is not an app, is not GPS-reliant and is capable of automating an alert response to a series of emergency contacts even when a user is incapacitated. “We didn’t want a system that monitored people’s every movement like a GPS tracker, but wanted a solution that by

exception alerted someone if the user didn’t check in at the time they should have. Simple, automated, affordable and reliable was our criteria,” Mr Hoolahan said. JESI is being piloted across diverse industry sectors

including mining, community, training, government and health sectors. JESI Management Solutions is seeking distributors to incorporate the software system into their suite of products.

Trailer work to stay in Townsville Townsville businesses are set to benefit from Defence’s Land 121 Project, which includes the acquisition of 2146 lightweight Mercedes G-Wagons and 1799 light and lightweight trailers. In answer to questions put by Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald at recent Senate hearings, Major General Paul McLachlan confirmed that maintenance work on the trailers being acquired under the Land 121 project would be conducted by local contractors. “This further clarification from the Head of Land Systems is great news for the North,” Senator Macdonald said. “As 70 per cent of these trailers will be deployed in Townsville and Darwin, this is great news for Northern Australian Defence industries.” Townsville businesses made up almost 60 per cent of the contractors engaged under the $148 million Logistics Transformation Program at Lavarack Barracks. Of 68 work packages, 39 were awarded to Townsville businesses and a further 10 to businesses from southeast Queensland with an established office in Townsville, according to the Department of Defence. Senator Macdonald’s questions at the Senate Defence Estimates Hearings also confirmed that F44 aviation fuel for helicopters on Defence’s new LHD ships would be managed through the port of Townsville.

Co-founding directors Joe Hoolahan and Matthew Tebble.

Wulguru Group employees Barry Weir (26 years’ service), Jeff Dellit (16 years) and Kevin Cox (32 years).

Wulguru Steel - experienced people with the right skill sets A Townsville-based business specialising in steel fabrication and supplying equipment and services to the mining and mineral processing sectors continues to prosper in the market as many competitors have been forced to downsize as commodity prices contract. The Wulguru Group boasts 150 employees and company director Wayne Landrigan reckons he knows why

the business continues to do well. “It’s our people - we don’t have much turnover, within the last few years having several employees reaching milestones of 15, 20 as well as 30 years with us,” he said. “We have experienced people with the right skill sets who are known by our clients through repeat business, that’s where we shine.”

Clients include the BHP Billiton Cannington Mine in the North West, Phosphate Hill, Queensland Nickel, Glencore and the Port of Townsville.

the changing market conditions, but one common thread has run through the business since its inception – acquiring the very best staff with a shared view of excellence and a capacity to present engineering solutions across a range of engineering, welding and fabrication applications.

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NQ Operations

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Lighthouse shines for owners In 2001 a quartz deposit about 150km west of the Atherton Tableland near Mount Surprise in North Queensland was found to be the largest known deposit of high purity rock silica in the world. The Lighthouse mine is owned and operated by Auzminerals Resource Group (AMRG) and it produces quartz that comes out of the ground at 99.99 per cent purity. The quartz is sent for processing at AMRG’s Port Melbourne factory where it goes through an extensive purifying process to turn it into High Purity Quartz Sand (HPQS). AMRG principal Roger May said the company had called on leading experts from Germany and the United States as part of its research process. “We sent samples of this raw quartz to Doctor Shi, at Suntech Power in China, who is well known in Australia for discovering a new way of making solar panels at Sydney University,” he said. “I’ll never forget how Dr Shi told us he had been searching the world for a silica quartz of this purity. Suntech was then the largest manufacturer of solar

panels in the world. “For several years we have also had the assistance of two of the world’s leading experts in the production of HPQS with our research program at AMRG’s private research facility in Port Melbourne. “It’s not an easy process to actually make high-purity quartz sand. You have to crush it, acid wash it, wash it again, put it through a 2000-degree furnace to burst the crystals to remove any remaining impurities, then re- acid wash and clean it again. The HPQS then has to be ground down to a very fine quartz sand from the original rock quartz.” Applications for HPQS include solar panels, semi conductors and high-end electronics, and demand worldwide is currently outweighing production levels. “This year the world usage of high-purity quartz sand was predicted at 170,000 tonnes but the world production is only predicted at 80,000 tonnes. This product sells for $7000-$25,000 per tonne so it’s a very profitable enterprise for us, and we have the largest supply in the world,” Mr May said.

The Lighthouse deposit is the largest known deposit of high-purity rock silica in the world.

The Lighthouse mine deposit has been estimated at three to six million tonnes and AMRG has plans in the works to expand the Queensland mine site and the Port Melbourne processing plant in order to meet production demands. “The cost of shipping the raw quartz from the mine

FIND A QUALITY LOCAL SUPPLIER The North Queensland Mining Services & Manufacturing Directory 2013/14 ŝƐ ĂŶ ĞƐƐĞŶƟĂů ƌĞƐŽƵƌĐĞ ĨŽƌ ŵŝŶŝŶŐ ĐŽŵƉĂŶŝĞƐ͕ ĐŽŶƚƌĂĐƚŽƌƐ ĂŶĚ ƉƌŽĐƵƌĞŵĞŶƚ ŽĸĐĞƌƐ͘ Find local engineers, architects, project managers, heavy industry equipment suppliers and many more quality companies.

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site to the processing plant in Port Melbourne is incidental considering the large profit margins but AMRG also plans to build a 30,000-tonne factory in Queensland near the Lighthouse mine and we’re looking at having it operational by the end of 2015,” Mr May said.

“We also have a planned new factory building that is four times the size of the existing Port Melbourne processing site which actually adjoins our current factory, so we’re going to expand it into that. “We plan to have that new facility operational by the third quarter of this year.”

NQ Operations

The Mining Advocate | March 2014

Snow Peak goes into production Snow Peak Mining is pushing forward with plans at its Surveyor and Baal Gammon projects as refurbishment of its Mount Garnet processing plant nears completion. The ex-Kagara assets, which were formally acquired by Snow Peak Mining early last year, have undergone restructuring and refurbishment. Snow Peak Mining managing director Ralph de Lacey - also chairman and managing director of Consolidated Tin Mines – expected concentrate production to begin in March. “We’ve held the assets now since January 25, 2013 and we’ve gone through the process of developing

The Mount Garnet plant refurbishment program is nearing completion.

reserves, establishing mining professionals, refurbishment of the processing plant and developing mine plans, schedules and budgets,” he said. “We recommenced mining at the Surveyor underground

deposit in December last year and we currently have about 19 people on site there. “The Baal Gammon project presented a challenge as the pit had a volume of water in it. This was addressed through a treat

and release program that we commenced in December last year. The program is ongoing but achieving desired outcomes. “The plan is to commence mining at Baal Gammon once all water is removed from the pit.”

The company will increase its workforce as it ramps up mining activities and aims to have about 130 people employed by April, compared to a current workforce of about 100. “The recommencement of operations under Snow Peak Mining is bringing substantial employment to the region,” Mr de Lacey said. “Kagara’s demise left a lot of people unemployed, so now, as required and in line with the ramp-up schedule, Snow Peak is re-hiring these pre-trained experienced individuals.”

Gold venture picks up key Kagara assets Kagara liquidators FTI Consulting have sold off the company’s central region assets and entered into a binding Heads of Agreement with Mungana Goldmines for the sale of the northern region projects over the last 12 months, leaving two asset packages for sale. An FTI Consulting spokesman said while there was some interest in the remaining assets, a sale in the

immediate future would be unlikely. “The liquidators have been speaking to prospective buyers for the two remaining assets – Thalanga (in North Queensland) and Admiral Bay (Western Australia),” he said. “While talks are continuing, low commodity prices and poor market conditions have impacted on the level of interest in assets of this nature and have

impacted on the timeframe.” The current binding Heads of Agreement with Mungana Goldmines for the sale of the northern region assets is dependent on approval by the company’s shareholders. Non-executive chairman for Mungana Goldmines, Joe Treacy, said the company aimed to finalise the deal by the end of March.

“Mungana have a very large gold resource up there of about 2.7 billion ounces and its acquisition of the Kagara base metals is essentially in the same area and is about 240,000 tonnes of zinc metal and a significant amount of copper, lead and silver,” he said. “So certainly this acquisition would significantly increase the resource base of Mungana.”

NSS in focus

March 2014 |

The Mining Advocate

Keeping pace with demand NSS is continuing to expand its equipment and infrastructure to keep abreast of growing demand to shift, store, load and unload goods in Gladstone, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns. Townsville is the focus of a major development with the construction of an 8500sq m pressurised storage shed under way. NSS has won a five-year contract to store and ship zinc ferrite for Sun Metals and half the capacity of the shed will house 20,000-30,000 tonnes of the material at any one

time, according to commercial manager Ross Grenside. The remaining space will be set aside to meet growing demand. Work on the $12 million project is expected to be completed by May, weather permitting. The shed will be able to accommodate side-tip, end-tip and bottom-dump trailers and has been designed to include a number of environmentally friendly features including negative pressurisation to ensure that no dust from the stored

NSS commercial manager Ross Grenside (left) and NSS port logistics manager Jason Fitzgerald where the new $12 million shed will be located.

materials escapes outside the shed’s walls, rainwater run-off capture and truck wheel washing facilities. Increased volumes of material

moving through the Port of Townsville has also led to NSS taking steps to purchase a new mobile harbour crane worth $5 million. It is a Liebherr

LHM420, with a lift capacity of 120 tonnes. Mr Grenside said it would be able to handle bulk cargo, project cargo and containers. “This crane reinforces NSS’s commitment to the region and will increase productivity at the port, reducing vessel load times and customer demurrage risk,” he said. Mackay is also on the radar for expansion. “We are looking at a plan to relocate our Mackay operations within the port precinct to a larger area nearer to the berth,” Mr Grenside said.

Leaders in CQ loading

The Liebherr LHM 550 Litronic mobile harbour crane is just one of the fleet of advanced port equipment at the NSS Gladstone facility.

The ports of Gladstone and Mackay have been pivotal to the prosperity of Queensland in the past and will be even more so in the future. NSS is keenly aware of the vital role these two harbours play, investing heavily in equipment, manpower, infrastructure and alliances in both centres. The company’s Gladstone facility features a Liebherr mobile harbour crane (LHM 550 Litronic), a vital addition to a fleet of advanced port equipment. The acquisition of this 150-tonne capacity crane was sparked by a significant increase in demand for stevedoring, transport and logistics services in the region to support the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Hay Point coal loading facility near Mackay and LNG developments on Curtis Island off Gladstone. As the largest cargo handler in regional Queensland, the purchase demonstrates the company’s commitment to the Gladstone area and

ensures that it remains as a provider of premium services to clients. In 2011 NSS formed a partnership with global construction company Bechtel Corporation, which co-ordinates the construction effort at the BMA Hay Point expansion project along with the development of the three Curtis Island LNG facilities. As part of the partnership, NSS has provided stevedoring and ancillary services necessary to unload vessels, transport and receive and load-out project cargo into storage areas. Expansion of the BMA Hay Paint coal terminal 40km south of Mackay involves the construction of a third berth, which will increase the terminal’s capacity from 44 million tonnes per annum to 55mtpa. An estimated 390,000 tonnes of cargo is expected to be transported during the project period which will continue through until mid-2014, with project cargo arriving through Mackay and Gladstone ports.

Safer, cleaner places to do business Compliance requirements are a growing function with any company in the 21st century and NSS has been busy in this regard. Safety and quality initiatives include: • Decision in 2010 to achieve third-party accreditation of NSS

Safety Management System. • Certification against AS 4801 and ISO 18001 in June 2011 • Accreditation program roll-out to all ports NSS operates. • Ports of Gladstone, Mackay and Cairns achieved certification 2013.

• Accreditation of NSS quality management system against ISO 9001 in January 2012. • Ongoing accreditation program roll-out. • Implementation of the Qudos management system which covers document control and

incident management. Environmental measures include: • Reviewing operations in terms of environmental performance and sustainability long term. • Investigating the benefits of replacing current bulk hopper

systems with Eco Hoppers. • Developing and implementing a dust suppression system during bulk loading operations. • Introducing low-frequency reversing beepers across all operations in close proximity to residential areas.

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