Australian Mining - April 2017 by Prime Creative Media

HUNTER VALLEY SPOTLIGHT

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MINING JOBS REVIEW VOLUME 109/3 | APRIL 2017

CRANES AND LIFTING EQUIPMENT

CONTRACT MINING REINVENTED FOR A NEW ERA

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COMMENT

BEN CREAGH

ADDING VALUE TO CONTRACT MINING

Ben.Creagh@primecreative.com.au WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN A MINING CONTRACT IN TODAY’S MARKET CONDITIONS?

rospects for contract miners and services companies seem to be improving in the Australian mining industry. Already in 2017, several contract wins or extensions have been awarded around Australia, which must be an uplifting sight for companies contending for work in this space. It is also encouraging for mine workers looking for new opportunities, or those considering a return to the industry. With new mining contracts, comes employment. Admittedly, it is difficult to expect modern mining contracts to resemble those awarded during the bonanza that contractors and services companies enjoyed throughout the mining boom. What we are seeing instead, is a new-look mining contract that is focusing on many of the initiatives that form part of the strategies that have been implemented by leading miners in recent years, including innovation, productivity, efficiency and collaboration. It looks as though it has become a necessity for contract miners and services companies to follow the lead set by mine operators with these initiatives. For starters, the pricing aspect of negotiations remains well and truly in the favour of companies awarding the contracts, as Ausdrill COO Andrew Broad explains in this edition. Broad told Australian Mining that Ausdrill had to shift on its pricing targets for recent contract extensions in Western Australia’s Goldfields region, including at the Super Pit gold mine where it has provided services for almost 30 years. But winning mine contracts goes

MANAGING DIRECTOR JOHN MURPHY EDITOR BEN CREAGH Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: ben.creagh@primecreative.com.au JOURNALIST SHARON MASIGE Tel: (02) 9439 7227 Email: sharon.masige@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER KRISTINA PERIC Tel: (02) 9439 7227 Email: kristina.peric@primecreative.com.au

a lot further than just renegotiating prices – adding value through innovation or collaboration can now be a decisive factor in securing work. Ausdrill is aiming to add innovation to its service through a technology partnership that will significantly increase productivity and efficiency for its clients. Partnerships with technology or research companies are increasingly common around the industry. RCR Tomlinson’s proposal to collaborate with Primero and Minnovo was considered a “compelling offering” by Pilbara Minerals when it was awarded the $148 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract at the Pilgangoora lithium project in WA. Both Primero and Minnovo had previous experience in the lithium space, therefore complementing RCR’s expertise for Pilbara Minerals. It is the ability to add value in ways like this that looks set to shape the next wave of mining contracts in Australia. Like the companies leading the mining industry, contractors and mining services groups must reinvent how they operate to be innovative, and have the capability to deliver productivity and efficiency gains at mines and projects.

Ben Creagh Editor

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FRONT COVER

In this, the April edition of 2017, Australian Mining shines the spotlight on the mining industry in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. After a bleak start to 2016 for the Hunter Valley region, there has been a resurgence in activity as commodity prices, particularly for coal, have rebounded. This issue also looks at contract mining, including how drill and blast specialist Ausdrill was reinvented during the downturn to secure work opportunities in the modern-day industry. Australian Mining also profiles Tom Juric, Liebherr’s new general manager in Australia. Juric discusses his new role and the company’s latest innovations for the mining industry. Recruitment portal Seek provides positive news for job seekers in a feature that analyses the increase in advertisements for mining employment so far this year. And as always, we provide the latest mining technology and equipment in our regular Product Showcase section.

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CONTENTS

HUNTER VALLEY SPOTLIGHT HUNTING FOR A SUSTAINABLE MINING FUTURE Mining in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales

MINERALS PROCESSING

12-14

A GAME CHANGER FOR COPPER PROCESSING FLSmidth’s latest technology to boost copper production

30 EXPLORATION

32-33

CONTRACT MINING REINVENTING AUSDRILL FOR THE NEXT ERA OF CONTRACTING How Ausdrill has managed to hold strong despite the mining downturn

EXPLORING AT GREATER DEPTHS Gap Geophysics tool for detecting underground deposits

16-17

OPINION PIKE RIVER MINE RE-ENTRY EXAMINED An analysis of the Pike River coal mine disaster in New Zealand

TECHNOLOGY

34-35 OIL AND GAS

UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET OF THINGS Schneider Electric discuses how IoT can boost efficiency

36-37

AVOIDING THE NEXT DEEPWATER HORIZON Examining the factors that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster

18 TRACKING THE TRENDS HOW THE MINING INDUSTRY CAN CONTINUE TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY Deloitte shares the latest mining trends with Australian Mining

20-21

PRECIOUS METALS

38-39

GOLD STRENGTH HOLDS FIRM A review of how precious metals have performed so far in 2017

PROFILE TAKING LIEBHERR TO THE NEXT LEVEL Liebherr welcomes a new general manager in Australia

22-25 AUSTMINE TIME RIPE TO TAKE INNOVATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL Australian Mining speaks to Austmine CEO Christine Gibbs Stewart

TELSTRA SERVICING THE MINING INDUSTRY Australian Mining speaks to head of Telstra Mining Services Jeannette McGill

PROSPECT AWARDS

PERSONNEL

PROSPECT AWARDS TO HIGHLIGHT INDUSTRY OPTIMISM A look at the sponsors for this year’s Prospect Awards

26-28 RISE IN MINING JOB ADS SIGNALS START OF TURNAROUND The increase in job ads over the past year

42-45

WORKFAST LAUNCHES UBER-LIKE LABOUR HIRE TECHNOLOGY FOR MINING Workfast’s recruitment technology for the mining sector

PRODUCT FOCUS: CRANES AND LIFTING LIFTING MADE SAFER MHE-Demag’s material handling equipment for the mining industry

46-47

REGULARS

INDUSTRY COMMENT 6

NEWS 8

PRODUCT SHOWCASE 48

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EVENTS 50

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

LOSING SLEEP OVER ENVIRONMENT RISK? TAILINGS DAM FAILURES HAVE PUT ENVIRONMENTAL RISK HIGH ON THE LIST FOR MINING COMPANIES. GAVIN WILBY SAYS THERE IS HELP FOR THE ISSUES KEEPING EXECUTIVES UP AT NIGHT.

ncreasing public awareness of environmental issues means operator scrutiny is at all-time highs. Catastrophic issues in Brazil, Hungary and Canada have also very publicly pushed the impact of pollution incidents to the top of boardroom agendas. Increasing public awareness of environmental issues means operator scrutiny is at all-time highs. Catastrophic issues in Brazil, Hungary and Canada have also very publicly pushed the impact of pollution incidents to the top of boardroom agendas. For mining companies operating across the globe, there are over 16,000 different environmental laws affecting operations. Much of this legislation results in strict liability for clean-up and the potential for damage to third parties and their property. There is also huge potential for change of law exposures occurring during the mine life and post closure remediation periods. Tailings dams are a problematic area for insurers and one where executives are looking for risk transfer solutions. Compared to water dams, they are 10 times more likely to suffer a failure. In most developed countries, they are subject to close controls and monitoring. Australia’s mining industry hasn’t seen a major environmental failure for many years, the most recent being in 1994 at Olympic Dam, then owned and operated by Western Mining. Insurers have always been concerned about tailings dams – how many there are, where they are, how they’re constructed and what volumes are stored in them. Remarkably, despite the recent incidents of failure, we’re no closer to knowing how many tailings dams exist around the world. Current estimates range anywhere from 3000 to 6000. Why aren’t there accurate figures? There’s no doubt it’s a sensitive issue for some companies; some of the blue-chip miners happily share the information but others, particularly smaller operations in developing countries, prefer not to make details of these installations public.

Mining operations are always seen as heavy property/loss of gross profit risks, with insurers charging commensurate premiums. Liability exposures are often considered the ‘poor relation’ and regarded as minimal given the remote nature of mining operations and the restricted access to them. Tailings dams are the exception to the rule. An inability to provide sufficient comfort (and that means information) will see underwriters: i) increase premiums, ii) reduce cover, and iii) impose reduced sub-limits – or a combination of all three. Traditional liability policies are only triggered by “sudden and accidental” events – gradual pollution is excluded, as are pre-existing conditions. And such, pollution must leave the licenced mine area to trigger a third party liability policy. On site contamination would have to be addressed under a first party policy and, under “polluter pays” legislation, the site owner/occupier is responsible for remediation. But not all property policy wordings will address this, especially if the event is gradual. Companies need to have carried out detailed risk assessments and ensure that their internal processes plus insurance program are fit for purpose. Mining companies

WHY AREN’T THERE ACCURATE FIGURES? THERE’S NO DOUBT IT’S A SENSITIVE ISSUE FOR SOME COMPANIES; SOME OF THE BLUE-CHIP MINERS HAPPILY SHARE THE INFORMATION BUT OTHERS, PARTICULARLY SMALLER OPERATIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, PREFER NOT TO MAKE DETAILS OF THESE INSTALLATIONS PUBLIC.” here are doing a good job of this. But many Australian miners have extensive international operations. ASX-listed miners cannot afford to relax their standards overseas and must develop a minimum benchmark that applies to every operation regardless of location. To ensure premiums levels are controlled and cover enjoys the maximum breadth possible, mining houses need to be prepared to provide their insurers with robust data and information addressing the construction, monitoring and management of their tailings facilities. They also need to demonstrate effective control over any works undertaken to increase their capacity (heightening and widening), for both liability and property underwriters. A failure to provide sufficient data will leave clients exposed to price hikes and cover restrictions.

Available risk transfer solutions

WILLIS TOWERS WATSON’S GAVIN WILBY

AUSTRALIANMINING

The insurance market (in conjunction with Willis Towers Watson) last year designed some novel and unique risk transfer policies that address some of these issues. Specialist natural resources underwriters are at the forefront of designing bespoke polices in the following areas: • Contractors’ pollution liability policies • Pure financial loss policies, to cover third party financial losses following a pollution incident • Environmental impairment policies, that sit alongside general liability policies and “fill the gaps” left by the common exclusions of gradual defect and pre-existing conditions

APRIL 2017

• Insurance for contractual warranty and Indemnity provisions. One of the major limitations to the provision of large scale insurance for the mining industry is capacity. While the market could easily put together $300 million of capacity for a project, the size of the numbers involved in potential environmental impact liability (EIL) claims simply dwarf this sizeable figure. So, where does the market provide benefit? It’s for all those claims and issues that are currently either uninsured or are being funded out of profit (declining) and loss accounts in the future. For prospecting and contracting companies, EIL insurance can be an essential part of the risk management process to transfer contractual risk and protect. For any company with captive and/or balance sheet reserves, the insurance community can, and does, provide meaningful insurance and reinsurance of these complicated (and potentially long tail) liabilities. Insurance is only part of the risk management toolkit for all companies involved in the mining industry. Advanced engineering, operating at the outer extremes of the globe and increasingly strict regulation dictates that the management of environmental risk is part of daily operations. Integration of specialist insurance products into the conventional risk transfer suite can only add to protect businesses during these uncertain times. AM Gavin Wilby is an account director specialising in mining for Willis Towers Watson.

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NEWS

THE LATEST MINING NEWS AND SAFETY AUSTRALIAN MINING PRESENTS THE LATEST MINING AND SAFETY NEWS AFFECTING YOU FROM THE BOARDROOM TO THE MINE AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN. VISIT WWW.AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING. ANOTHER QUEENSLAND WORKER DIAGNOSED WITH BLACK LUNG The number of mine workers diagnosed with black lung in Australia has risen, with the 20th case confirmed in Queensland. This latest case has affected a worker from the Moranbah North Colliery underground mine. It comes shortly after a worker from an underground coal mine in central Queensland was diagnosed. The CFMEU said these cases highlighted the need for urgent industry action to provide compensation and support to diagnosed workers and their families. CFMEU mining and energy district president Stephen Smyth said the mining industry should take responsibility for the disease

A number of hearings have been held throughout Queensland for the Coal Worker’s Pneumoconiosis select committee inquiry into the resurgence of black lung in Australia, which was welcomed by the CFMEU. However, Smyth said tougher dust levels should be enforced. “We need stronger laws and harsher penalties to reduce legal dust levels in the mines. This is the only way to prevent more cases of the disease emerging in the future.” The current black lung case has been referred to the Queensland department of natural resources and mines.

and be the main driver of action to prevent further diagnoses. “The black lung crisis is escalating,” Smyth said. “We’ve now reached 20 victims of the disease – and this number will certainly grow in coming months.” The union is calling for a black lung victims fund through a 10c per tonne of coal produced in Queensland levy. The current coal dust limits in Queensland is 3mg a cubic metre of air, higher than the NSW level of 2.5mg a cubic metre. Smyth said there had been no changes to the legal dust limits in the mining industry despite the number of confirmed cases.

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THOUSANDS OF MINING JOBS ON THE WAY FOR THE NT The Northern Territory Government has signed project facilitation agreements (PFA) for two mining projects, set to bring more than 2000 jobs to the territory. The territory’s government signed a PFA with Australian metals company TNG for the location to develop the TIVAN metals refinery as part of its Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron project. The high technology refinery will produce high purity products from the Mount Peake vanadium-titanium-iron deposit, located 235km northwest of Alice Springs. Development of the mine and its associated refinery is expected to provide more than 1700 construction jobs and 600 ongoing jobs. Chief minister Michael Gunner, who conducted the signing, said the PFA was a major step in providing ongoing work for hundreds of people in central Australia and Darwin. “This is a $850 million project with potential for 500 jobs during construction and more than 200 jobs during operation of the mine, plus more than 1200 jobs during construction and 400 jobs during operation of the refinery,” he said. Mount Peake is expected to produce 17,560 tonnes of vanadium pentoxide, 236,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide (pigment) and 637,000 tonnes of iron ore for export annually. The PFA signing comes after Mount Peake received a major project status and TNG managing director Paul Burton said it was another milestone as toward its development. “This agreement is a further indication of the proactive and positive approach which the Northern Territory Government is adopting to help facilitate the development of this major new Australian resource project,” he said. “The TIVAN refinery is a value-added downstream process which we expect will bring significant economic benefits to Darwin and the Northern Territory and help to enhance the region’s position as the development hub for Northern Australia.” The NT Government also granted Verdant Minerals a major project status and a PFA for its Ammaroo phosphate project. The $750 million project, approximately 180km southeast of Tennant Creek, is set to provide nearly 500 jobs during construction and operation. Gunner said once approved, Verdant could begin construction by the second half of 2018 and become fully operational by late 2019. Verdant Minerals managing director Chris Tziolis said the project would benefit the region and the NT during construction and production over the coming years. “The development of Ammaroo and other fertiliser mineral projects in the territory

could in time enable the value adding to the minerals to produce finished fertiliser products to service demand in both Asia and Australia, which now imports most of its fertiliser needs,” he said. “We look forward to working closely with the relevant NT Government agencies to deliver the project as a starting point to the development of what could be a significant long term industry for the Northern Territory.”

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MORE MINING JOBS ARE ON THE WAY FOR QUEENSLAND AND THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

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NEWS

QUEENSLAND APPROVES BLAIR ATHOL COAL MINE, 600 JOBS ON THE WAY Queensland’s department of natural resources and mines (DNRM) has approved the move of the Blair Athol coal mine to TerraCom subsidiary Orion Mining. The department approved the transfer of the mining lease following Orion Mining’s acquisition of the mine from Rio Tinto last year. Blair Athol was purchased for $1, with the Queensland Government receiving $79.6 million to meet its rehabilitation costs. The acquisition included the mining lease, related licenses, land, site infrastructure, active contracts, as well as all mining plant and equipment. TerraCom will also

WA STILL AUSTRALIA’S TOP SPOT FOR MINING INVESTMENT Western Australia remains the most attractive jurisdiction in Australia for mining investment, according to Canadian think-tank, the Fraser Institute. However, the behemoth mining state dropped from the top spot globally in the organisation’s 2016 annual survey of mining executives to third in 2017 behind Canadian provinces, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The survey ranks 104 jurisdictions around the world based on geologic attractiveness and the extent government policies encourage or deter exploration and investment. Queensland (10th) is the only other Australian state to feature in the top 10 jurisdictions, improving from 16th overall in 2016, even though its overall rating score declined slightly. Behind the top three were Nevada (United States), Finland, Quebec (Canada), Arizona (US), Sweden, Republic of Ireland, and Queensland. Despite having just two states in the top 10, Australia and Oceania did manage to surpass Canada and the US as the most attractive region in the world for investment when both policy and mineral potential are considered, Fraser Institute added. “WA was rated to be the most attractive jurisdiction in the region and the third most attractive jurisdiction in the world this year based on its investment attractiveness score,” Fraser Institute reported. “Two Australian jurisdictions— New South Wales and Queensland — experienced declines in their policy perception index (PPI) scores this year.” NSW’s PPI score was notably lower, falling from 51st in 2016 to 66th this year, as more respondents rated socioeconomic agreements/ community development conditions, labour regulations, and the legal system as discouraging to investment. It is the fifth consecutive year that NSW suffered a decline in its PPI score. While Queensland’s PPI score decreased, the lift in the state’s investment attractiveness score was driven by a substantial improvement in miners’ views of Queensland’s geology. “In fact, this year Queensland is rated as having the fourth most attractive geology in the world,” according to Fraser Institute. The Australia and Oceania investment attractiveness index rankings order in 2017 is: WA, Queensland, South Australia (13th overall), Northern Territory (20th), Fiji (41st), Tasmania (56th), Victoria (57th), Papua New Guinea (59th), NSW (62nd), Philippines (66th), New Zealand (67th), Indonesia (78th) and Malaysia (93rd).

relocate its corporate office to Clermont as part of the acquisition. Blair Athol later received a two-year mine life extension, taking it to up to seven years. TerraCom plans to commence more than 50ha of site rehabilitation as it brings the mine back into production. Blair Athol is expected to deliver 2Mtpa of coking coal and recommence operations in the first quarter of 2017. The mine is set to bring 150 direct jobs and another 450 indirect jobs in the region, according to the Gladstone Observer.

With the successful approval, the Blair Athol mine, together with TerraCom’s producing Baruun Noyon Uul coking coal mine in Mongolia, will enable it to capitalise on the strong coking coal and thermal coal markets. TerraCom is also considering the acquisition of a hard coking coal mine in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The approval is subject to a number of conditions including Orion Mining demonstrating it has arrangements in place for access to a coal handling and preparation plant for crushing and washing; guaranteed rail loading of coal and transportation to market; and a secure water supply.

BC IRON, KALIUM LAKES ENTER POTASH JOINT VENTURE BC Iron and Kalium Lakes have entered a joint venture agreement for the Carnegie potash project in Western Australia. The exploration project, around 220km northeast of Wiluna, comprises one granted exploration licence and two licence applications covering approximately 1700 square kilometres. It is highly prospective for a large sub-surface brine deposit, which could then be developed into a solar evaporation and processing operation producing sulphate of potash (SOP). Under the agreement, BC Iron can earn up to a 50 per cent interest in the project, by mainly solefunding exploration and development expenses until a feasibility study is completed. Kalium will be the joint venture manager, using experience from its flagship Beyondie potash project, also in WA. BC Iron’s managing director Alwyn Vorster said, “Through this agreement with Kalium, BC Iron has gained exposure to a highly prospective project in

an agricultural commodity with attractive long term dynamics.” Vorster added that becoming involved in an agricultural commodity was one of the company’s key objectives. “This move into potash, added to the pending conclusion of a scoping study on BC Iron’s Mardie salt project, positions BC Iron well in agricultural and other commodities leveraged to a growing global population,” he said. Kalium’s managing director Brett Hazelden said the agreement was an “excellent outcome” for the company, as it provides funding to advance the Carnegie project, while also letting it focus on Beyondie. “Carnegie’s large footprint and proximity to other exisiting SOP exploration projects provides for a unique opportunity that can leverage relevant knowledge and experience generated for Beyondie,” he said. Under the agreement, BC Iron has also provided Kalium the right to acquire a 50 per cent interest in the Mardie project, around 100km west of Karratha.

SCIENTISTS UNEARTH THE REASON FOR WORLD’S RICHEST ORE DEPOSITS Scientists have identified why some of the richest ore deposits such as copper, zinc and uranium were formed during the middle period of the Earth’s history. The team from the University of Tasmania and University of California, led by emeritus professor Ross Large from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits (CODES), attributed this to the rise in oxygen in the atmosphere at the time. Oxygen in the atmosphere 2.3 to 1.8 billion years ago not only caused a change in the evolution of life, it also caused a shift from the formation of iron, gold, nickel ore deposits to zinc, silver, copper and uranium ore deposits. Some of Australia’s biggest and richest ore deposits formed after this switch, such as those at Broken Hill (zinc-lead-silver), Olympic Dam (copper-uranium), Ranger (uranium) and Mt Isa (copper-zinc-lead-silver). The team tracked the level of oxygen in the Earth’s ancient atmosphere using a laser based analytical technology developed at the University of Tasmania. It helped determine the changes in the chemistry of pyrite (fools gold) that grew in seafloor muds billions of years ago, tracking the ups and downs of oxygen in the atmosphere. AUSTRALIANMINING

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They found that massive deposits of gold, iron and nickel formed in the oldest (Archean) rocks when oxygen was very low in the atmosphere and oceans. However, when oxygen drastically increased following the Great Oxygenation Event – around two billion years ago – the amount of sulfate and salt increased in crustal fluids, leading to a switch to giant deposits of copper, zinc, silver and uranium. Professor Large said the basic reason for the switch was very simple. “Copper, zinc, silver and uranium are readily mobile in oxygen-rich and salty crustal fluids, which were plentiful during middle Earth history, whereas gold and iron are only mobile in low oxygen crustal fluids, like the most ancient fluids, that preceded the Great Oxygenation Event,” he said. “We now have a much better idea of how oxygen changed in the ancient atmosphere and how this relates to the generation of large and rich ore deposits in ancient rocks. “Australia has extensive areas of rocks deposited after the Great Oxygenation Event and our research provides a new lead to assist geologists in the discovery of rich deposits of copper, zinc and uranium.”

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HUNTER VALLEY SPOTLIGHT

HUNTING FOR A SUSTAINABLE MINING FUTURE MINING IN THE HUNTER REGION CONTINUES TO OVERCOME SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES TO BE A KEY DRIVER FOR NEW SOUTH WALES. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

hat’s next for the mining industry in the Hunter region of New South Wales? For a region that mixes industries like mining and resources, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and more, it seems that one of these sectors causes more friction than the others do combined. That industry is of course mining, which despite the battering it has taken over the past few years continues to contribute substantially to the region. The outlook for the mining industry in the Hunter region was bleak in 2016, especially for the coal industry, when Anglo American committed to a global restructure, resulting in a 60 per cent downsizing of its operations. However, the following figures from a recent NSW Minerals Council

survey, which covered the 2016 financial year before the recent recovery in coal prices, indicates that the industry in the region has maintained its strong contribution. According to the NSW Minerals Council, the 23 participating mining companies in the survey directly injected $4.8 billion into the region’s economy during the 2016 fiscal year. This expenditure was the same level as the previous financial year, and higher than four years ago. The spending included $1.5 billion in wages for 11,218 fulltime employees, and $3.3 billion in purchases from 3647 local businesses. The number of local supplier businesses in the Hunter mining supply chain increased by 230 to 3647, while the number local direct mining jobs was also up slightly. Over the past five years, local mining companies have spent $26.4 billion in the Hunter region, with AUSTRALIANMINING

$6.4 billion of this was spent in the Newcastle local government area (LGA). NSW Minerals Council chief executive officer Stephen Galilee said these numbers were quite likely higher now, considering the improvement in market conditions throughout the mining industry. “There is growing confidence that even more local businesses and more local jobs will be supported going forward,” Galilee told Australian Mining. “Over the last six months we’ve seen encouraging signs of recovery in the coal price and an increase in demand for our coal from key markets like China. “There is also increased demand for our coal from Southeast Asia reflecting the deployment of more coal-fired power generation across the region, including new low-emission coal-fired power plants.”

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Coal contribution

Recent activity in the Hunter’s coal sector has been both positive and negative for the industry and region. Rio Tinto looks to have found a buyer for subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries, its Hunter Valley thermal coal division, in China’s Yancoal. The proposed deal would see Yancoal acquire the assets, including majority shares in the Hunter Valley Operations mine, the Mount Thorley mine and the Warkworth mine, for $US2.45 billion ($3.23 billion). Between them, the operations produced 25.9 million tonnes of thermal and semi-soft coking coal in 2016. “We are confident that Coal & Allied will continue to contribute to the NSW economy and the communities of the Hunter Valley under a new owner,” Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques commented on the deal.

BAC Modular Workplace and Drawer Storage Systems If the deal is executed, Yancoal would expand an Australian portfolio that already includes seven sites across NSW and Queensland. The proposed Coal & Allied deal might even be the start of more M&A activity in the region, according to Ernst & Young’s Paul Murphy, who expects demand for Australian coal to remain high. “Already in 2017 we’ve seen one large coal mining deal talked about, in the Hunter Valley, NSW,” Murphy said. “And if the price stays within a fairly stable band this year, then we expect to see a few more coal deals occur in Australia.” Meanwhile, Anglo American’s exhaustive expansion plans for the Drayton South coal mine in the Hunter have again been stalled. For a fourth time in six years, the Planning Assessment Commission rejected the proposed expansion because of the risks the project would pose to the environment. Anglo American is seeking to develop Drayton South into a 6.4Mt per annum coal mine, with a 15-year mine life.

Keeping the faith

Shrinking business volumes in the past five years have caused many mining services companies and

suppliers to close their operations in the Hunter region. The suppliers that remain today have overcome various challenges to beat falling volumes through increased market share. Despite the pessimism the downturn caused, Metso bucked the trend in 2016 with a significant investment into a new east coast service facility at Tomago in the region. Metso has been supplying equipment and services to the broader mining and quarrying industries from its east coast service centre in the Newcastle suburb of Carrington since 1959. After more than 50 years at Carrington, the company relocated its service centre to the new 2000-square-metre Tomago facility last year. The Tomago facility houses around 35 personnel, comprising some of Metso’s east coast services staff, part of its health, safety and environmental (HSE) team, as well as associated support staff. Metso’s new facility provides extensive services to the coal and metalliferous mining industries along Australia’s entire east coast. It also services the company’s clients in the quarry industry. So, with a strong market position,

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JASON RICHARDS EXPLAINS THE CAPABILITIES OF METSO’S TOMAGO FACILITY.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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HUNTER VALLEY SPOTLIGHT

that matches a more cost effective supply model. “The benefits of the new centre were immediately recognised by both our customers and personnel. We are confident that we are very well positioned to service a rebound in the mining and quarrying industries,” he said.

METSO’S NEW TOMAGO FACILITY IN THE HUTER REGION.

Where are the jobs?

and after 57 years at Carrington, why did Metso invest in the new premises? Metso vice president of service operations Roger Taylor explained: “Whilst we are bullish about the medium to long term future of mining, ultimately the decision to invest was based on a core theme of increased efficiency. “We also chose a location that brought us physically closer to our customers. The 20 kilometre move from Carrington to Tomago might not sound significant, but it cuts travel time to the Hunter Valley by 30 minutes and so allows our team to respond more rapidly to urgent customer issues.”

facility, said. Richards sights the facility’s greatly improved lifting capabilities and innovative new paint booth as two examples of significant efficiency improvements. The paint booth can be retracted upwards when not in use and then lowered over the equipment as required. This allows the floor space

to be used for other purposes when the booth isn’t required. It also saves the time that would be needed to move equipment in and out of a fixed paint booth. Taylor added, “Whilst we do have a positive outlook for business in the region, ultimately we wanted to improve the service that we provide to our customers with a new facility

Further adding to the renewed optimism in the Hunter is the prospect of more mining jobs returning to the region. And after years of bad news for mine workers in the Hunter there have signs that employment is slowly coming back. Glencore demonstrated an early case of this late last year by announcing that its Integra underground coal mine in the Hunter would restart, creating up to 275 jobs. If the Drayton South development is ever approved, that mine is expected to employ up to 500 workers. “After a long period of downturn, the recovery in coal prices has boosted activity and confidence across the Hunter mining sector and this will hopefully translate into more jobs for the region,” Galilee said. “Mining is the beating heart of the Hunter, providing jobs and economic stability, as well as providing reliable electricity to our region and to NSW.” Galilee believes that mining will remain the bedrock of the Hunter economy for many years to come. AM

A SCALPING SCREEN BEING MOVED INTO THE SCREEN TEST BAY AT METSO’S TOMAGO SERVICE CENTRE

Combining efficiency with safety

Common industry strategies to improve efficiency, safety and flexibility were high priorities at the new facility, Metso’s service manager for eastern Australia Jason Richards continued. He said the business had survived over the years by constantly improving its practices in these areas. “The new centre has provided a leap for us in both efficiency and productivity. The quicker processing times, and overall reduction in costs are a benefit for us as well as our customers,” Richards, who is responsible for the Tomago AUSTRALIANMINING

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CONTRACT MINING

REINVENTING AUSDRILL FOR THE NEXT ERA OF CONTRACTING AFTER BATTLING THROUGH THE CHALLENGES OF THE MARKET DOWNTURN, AUSDRILL IS FINDING ITS PLACE IN WHAT IS STILL A DIFFICULT ENVIRONMENT FOR AUSTRALIAN MINING CONTRACTORS. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

rill and blast specialist Ausdrill is a typical example of a modernday mining services provider that is navigating a new-look marketplace for its sector. The Western Australian-based company reinvented itself during the industry downturn to adapt to the challenging environment that was created for contractors and mining services groups. Like most of its peers, Ausdrill felt its share of pain three to four years ago as its profits and stock value on the ASX both nosedived. Ausdrill, which is led by industry veteran Ron Sayers, has experienced a turnaround in fortunes over the past year, reflected by its share price hitting highs not reached since 2013. In the past six months, Ausdrill’s order book has been bolstered by several new contracts and extensions to existing agreements to help drive this revival. Starting with this year’s Australianbased extensions, Ausdrill secured more than $200 million worth of contracts with two of its existing

clients in WA’s Goldfields region Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) and Gold Fields. Ausdrill, through subsidiary BTP Equipment, also added a $70 million contract extension with Peabody Energy at the coal company’s Hunter Valley and Bowen Basin operations. However, Africa continues to be the strongest source of activity for Ausdrill, with several contract wins strengthening its growth prospects. In December 2016, Ausdrill announced that subsidiary, African Mining Services, won two mining contracts in West Africa worth a combined value of more than $500 million in its latest achievement on the continent.

Competitive conditions continue

Despite the improved outlook these contract wins and extensions have delivered, Ausdrill chief operating officer Andrew Broad explained that market conditions still presented many challenges for the contractor and other services companies. “Demand is still not matching supply, and there is still an

excess of equipment and services companies out there,” Broad told Australian Mining. “Looking at the exploration drilling sector there’s an awful lot of gear out there and companies are struggling, both small and large companies, in that space. “They are very much focusing on cash flow. So, some of that rates going around in the market are quite cheap now.” Being a company that prides itself as a market leader for service – more so than for offering the lowest costs – Broad said this environment provided Ausdrill with tough pricing decisions it now commonly had to make. “If a client is looking at price and he is happy with service, but then Company B comes along and they are 20 per cent cheaper, it makes it hard for them not to look at it,” Broad said. “We are not in the market of price matching and we are holding our revenues because of that.”

Adding value What this environment also meant for

AUSDRILL IN THE PILBARA REGION.

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Ausdrill was that the recent contract extensions weren’t as easy to secure as they may have appeared. Contract values had to be discussed and adjusted with its long-term clients, and Ausdrill’s hierarchy also focused on ways the company could add value in areas where it may not have previously. “There has been price movement on all of the contract extensions we’ve had – either price or condition movement,” Broad said. “But to be honest it’s about sitting down with a client and working through what’s currently driving their success and trying to come up with solutions that integrate you with their process. “From a marketing perspective that is where we are trying to positions ourselves. If we are doing a drilling contract on site that is not all we do – where we can value add? “Whether it is through other parts of our business or other parts of our service offering that we can integrate for our client. And trying to understand where they are going in the long term and how we can be part of that.”

CONTRACT MINING

AUSDRILL HAS WORKED CONTINUOUSLY AT KALGOORLIE’S SUPER PIT FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS.

Innovation focus

A key way services companies can add value for their clients is by joining the current trend in the industry of being innovative and using technology, Broad continued. Ausdrill demonstrated this commitment by making a technology investment in Chrysos Corporation, which is aiming to commercialise a CSIRO-developed photon assay technology. According to the CSIRO, the x-rays used by the technology provide a faster, more accurate way to detect gold over traditional chemical analysis. “It’s a lot quicker, a lot more efficient and arguably a lot more accurate,” Broad said. “So while we are still going through that testing process by pulling that technology into our group we can then look at how it can help change the mining operations (of our clients).” Broad said it was important for the mining services and contracting sector to identify ways that it could be innovative

to follow the standard set by leading mining companies. “The autonomous mining that the big miners are progressing is certainly driving some of the technology changes,” Broad said.

with the company’s balance of work on track to move further away from its traditional home, Australia. He said the company was simply finding more opportunities in Africa than it did in Australia.

WHETHER IT IS THROUGH OTHER PARTS OF OUR BUSINESS OR OTHER PARTS OF OUR SERVICE OFFERING THAT WE CAN INTEGRATE FOR OUR CLIENT. AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHERE THEY ARE GOING IN THE LONG TERM AND HOW WE CAN BE PART OF THAT..” “Like always there is a trickle down effect to the smaller operations and the contractors like ourselves. We have to start thinking about how we can incorporate that into our business to be able to offer what would traditionally be a large miner project. “Innovation and technology will need to be a part of the service providers offering in the future.”

African opportunities

Broad said Ausdrill’s ongoing success in Africa was also set to continue,

“That’s probably been reflected by our contract wins in the last six months and there is still a big pipeline of work that we are bidding for in Africa,” Broad said. “It’s interesting because traditionally our business has been one third Africa and two thirds Australia, but in 12 months we can see that ratio is going to flip in the other direction.” Ausdrill is familiar with operating in Africa, having held a presence in the continent since the early 1990s. AM

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TECHNOLOGY

UNDERSTANDING THE BENEFITS OF THE INTERNET-OF-THINGS SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC’S BRAD YAGER DISCUSSES HOW THE INTERNET-OF-THINGS CAN UNLOCK EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY GAINS FOR MINING COMPANIES. BEN CREAGH REPORTS.

onvincing the mining industry of the benefits of the Internet-ofThings (IoT) has not been the easiest task over the years. For starters, the technology emerged significantly during the mining boom when its benefits were not exactly top priorities for mining companies looking to rapidly develop projects and produce their commodity as quickly as possible. In hindsight, which is always a wonderful thing in mining, IoT should have been a priority, or at least a major consideration, for mining companies, especially when you consider what has become important in today’s marketplace – innovation, productivity and efficiency. To be fair, IoT has been on the radar of many mining companies as awareness of its benefits to not just mining, but several other industry sectors, has grown. However, unlike an industry such as manufacturing, mining would not be considered an early adopter of IoT, according to Schneider Electric process automation offer and BD director Brad Yager. “Mining definitely prioritised speed over efficiency when it was expanding but that’s no longer the case – now there is much more focus on driving operational efficiencies,” Yager told Australian Mining. “These things have always been there as ‘nice to haves’ but the primary goal was to do things faster but not necessarily more efficiently. “Now with the downturn and the smaller margins it is much more important – it is a necessity to survive rather than an opportunity to make more money.” Schneider Electric, the global energy management and automation specialists, launched its next generation architecture and platform to deliver IoT-enabled solutions, known as EcoStruxure, late last year. Yager said the benefits of adopting a platform to deliver IoT range from the obvious – a reduction in energy use – to more complex considerations like workforce management, due

to its ability to unlock additional productivity from employees. He added that IoT allowed mining companies to adapt to volatile markets with better efficiency, while also complementing their social licence to operate with improved maintenance and monitoring capabilities. These benefits are particularly beneficial in the shift towards autonomous technology at mining operations, Yager continued. “When we look at the automation piece it can solve a lot more than just the energy dilemma. It is a cost saving but there are also a lot of other costs in a business it assists with,” Yager said. An obstacle that prevented mining companies from implementing IoT solutions into their operations during the mining boom was establishing a strong business case for the technology.

Despite IoT’s value for mining now being better understood, and even better suited to today’s market conditions and strategies, Yager said justifying investment was still an issue. “How to get the business cases there to invest appropriately in those benefits is probably the hurdle,” Yager said. “I think what we will see is some forward-thinking businesses that invest early and they will start to leap frog their competitors – then the ground swell will come. “At the moment there is more opportunity for the smarter, more nimble players to take advantage.” Schneider continues to advance its IoT solutions, based around EcoStruxure, which provides a fundamental set of technological capabilities that have proven to unlock value for users.

EcoStruxure offers three core capabilities, described as: embedded connectivity and intelligence; interoperable foundation for smart operations; and, infrastructure for cloud-based connected digital services. The latest architecture and platform is open, scalable and interoperable, connecting the three layers of Schneider’s technology stack, from connected products, to edge control, to applications, analytics and services. According to Schneider, the next generation EcoStruxure delivers safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability and connectivity of IoTenabled operations. It has been designed to enable Schneider, its partners and enduser customers to develop scalable and converged IoT solutions that deliver innovation at every level of an organisation. AM

SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC’S BRAD YAGER SPEAKS AT A RECENT IOT CONFERENCE

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TRACKING THE TRENDS

HOW THE MINING INDUSTRY CAN CONTINUE TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY IT IS TIME THE AUSTRALIAN MINING INDUSTRY BECAME SERIAL INNOVATORS TO UNLOCK THE NEXT LEVEL OF PRODUCTIVITY GAINS. BEN CREAGH WRITES. profit in 2016, with chief executive officer Jean-Sebastien Jacques attributing the performance to the company’s commitment to maximise productivity from its assets. “We enter 2017 in good shape. Our team will deliver $US5 billion of extra free cash flow over the next five years from our productivity programme,” Jacques said. After delivering half-year profits of more than $4 billion BHP CEO Andrew McKenzie said the result followed several years of a “considered and deliberate approach” to improve productivity and redesign the company’s portfolio and operating model.

Meanwhile, Fortescue also boosted its half-year profit, to almost $1.6 billion, with CEO Nev Power commenting that the company was continuing an “unwavering focus” on delivering against productivity and cost reduction targets. As Deloitte outlines in the second point of its 2017 Tracking the Trends report, titled Unlocking productivity improvement: “Although commodity prices have begun climbing, most miners now understand the dangers inherent in ramping up spending as the cycle turns.” Instead, companies are seeking ways to both sustain and extend the productivity improvements they have

begun to realise, Deloitte continued. So, how will the Australian mining achieve this?

Productivity levers

According to Deloitte national mining leader Nicki Ivory, the focus on reducing costs is the productivity lever that Australian companies have used the most to lift productivity during the downturn. Now, Ivory added, it is time that mining companies took the next step to unlock new productivity gains to further improve cost efficiency in the next era of the industry. “It is about looking at how we can do things differently to keep productivity in the equation. How we can spend less capital to achieve the same result. How we use

Credit: Christian Sprague Photography

he Australian mining industry is finally seeing positive outcomes from the measures taken during the post-boom era. In the recent reporting period, Australia’s leading iron ore miners – Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group – all talked up the results of these initiatives. While the rebound in commodity prices obviously played a central role in the financial improvement of the triumvirate, the focus on productivity, innovation and efficiency was also crucial, according to the companies. Rio Tinto turned a loss of more than $1 billion in 2015 into a $6 billion

RIO TINTO’S AUTONOMOUS HAULAGE TRUCKS AT THE WEST ANGELAS MINE.

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TRACKING THE TRENDS

people more efficiently,” Ivory told Australian Mining. This means maintaining focus on many of the same principles that were introduced during the downturn, despite the recent turnaround in market conditions. “What we have historically seen in the mining cycles is that cost cutting always comes in as part of the down cycle, but then those learnings are quickly lost during the next upcycle because it becomes all about growth,” Ivory explained. “We’re now seeing it differently, maybe because the fall has been so bad during the downturn. “Those learnings seem to be a lot more embedded and part of mining’s DNA now. We have to maintain cost discipline so that disciplined approach is definitely being carried forward as we perhaps start to move into an upturn again.”

Targeting technology

Technology is the obvious productivity lever that the mining industry can continue to use to unlock

further productivity improvement, Ivory continued. Many of the technologies that mining can apply have been emerging in the industry for at least a decade now, including remote operating centres, autonomous equipment and the use of cloud-based applications. “The iron ore industry, and particularly BHP and Rio, have obviously been at the forefront with some of the stuff they have been doing,” Ivory said. “Some of the classic examples everyone knows about are the autonomous trucks they have been working on for a while and are now operating. And then the autonomous trains will be next. “(But) when we talk about technology it is quite a broad thing – it is not just about automation.” With that Ivory points to what the mining industry can learn from other industries, such as manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. “It is not just about information technology but also chemical technologies, especially if you think

about the processing that is required in mining. It is about taking the technology from industries like pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, and learning how you can process differently,” Ivory said. “The point in that is that we don’t just look at what we’re doing in our industry but learning from other industries too – quite frankly mining has not historically been good at adopting from anywhere else.”

Innovative culture

Ivory said companies in the mining industry also needed to create an innovative culture, not only during a market downturn, but when conditions are also on the rise, and even booming. She believes this is a strategy that is only just being properly understood throughout the industry. “The penny is now dropping in that there is a lot that can be done without spending much money – it’s a cultural thing at the end of the day,” Ivory explained. “You need to have your culture

BHP BILLITON’S OPERATIONS AT PORT HEDLAND

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right and accept that you might fail at something. And you mustn’t punish failure – you need to fail fast and learn from it. “If there is culture that you can’t fail at something and you will be punished, then that really stifles innovation.” While that may have been a common mining culture of the past, another principle that has emerged during the downturn that also drives innovation is collaboration Ivory said collaboration worked for mining companies in conjunction with the technologies now being widely used in the mining industry. She added there was now more collaboration between companies at different stages of the mining lifecycle than in the past, and it was important that this trend continued. “It would be fair to say (the emergence of collaboration) has been slow. The big guys probably moved first. It’s such a shift from where they would have been historically and they did everything themselves,” Ivory concluded. AM

PROFILE

TAKING LIEBHERR TO THE NEXT LEVEL AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS TO LIEBHERR AUSTRALIA’S INCOMING GENERAL MANAGER - SALES AND MARKETING, TOM JURIC, ABOUT HIS NEW ROLE, THE COMPANY’S LATEST TECHNOLOGIES AND THE CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM IN THE MINING INDUSTRY THIS YEAR. SHARON MASIGE WRITES.

iebherr is one of the world’s largest mining and construction equipment manufacturers, with a presence in Australia since the 1980s. In Liebherr Australia’s latest management change Tom Juric has been appointed as the mining divison’s new general manager, after working for the company since 2010. Juric began as a product engineer

in sales and marketing and moved to a major account manager role less than two years later. From 2012 Juric worked on major accounts and told Australian Mining his role as account manager gave him the opportunity to look at different areas of the business and understand “what makes Liebherr tick”. “We’re not your typical multinational corporation,” he said. “We’re still a family business

so with that comes quite a lot of unique features and some challenges as well.” Juric said the German company was not listed on any stock exchange and was currently in the third generation of the Liebherr family running the business. In terms of his new role, Juric said he would bring the responsibilities and experiences he gained from differing levels to understand what

LIEBHERR’S GROUND ENGAGING TOOLS RANGE COMPLEMENTS ALL OF ITS MACHINERY UP TO 400 TONNES.

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his team and the company at large needed to be successful. “I’m quite collaborative and like to hear different opinions,” he said. “I like to be challenged and in this day and age, in this market, I think that’s a valuable skill to have.” Although it is typical for new managers to observe business practices for the first three months, Juric said he would not necessarily have to wait that long as he had

PROFILE

already been observing for a number of years. He outlined what he believed was the key responsibility of his role. “It’s about providing my team the tools to be successful and by extension our customer base to be successful,” he said. He added that it also involved auditing or analysing the team and ensuring the company provided every opportunity to do right by its brand.

New year, new products

Juric highlighted that during the company’s re-correction period between 2011-2015, its research and design ramped up, with the development of around five new product lines. Liebherr has more products on the way and plans to roll out three new ones later this year, beginning with the PR 776 mining dozer. Juric said the dozer was unique in that it is a Liebherr engine, high sprocket hydrostatic drive track type tractor - the only one of its kind in the 70-tonne dozer class. “Through those three distinct features, it’s going to deliver a very competitive total cost of ownership to our customers,” he said. The PR 776 was showcased twice last year: at Bauma in Germany and MINEXPO held in Las Vegas. Juric said it was the most exciting thing that was talked about at the shows. It will be officially released in Australia around the third quarter of this year. The second major product release is Liebherr’s Ground Engaging Tools (GET) range, which Juric said “really closes the loop on Liebherr’s vertically integrated approach to the machine design”. “Up until the introduction of the GET, we’ve effectively been in control of the sort of machine; in control of the design of the bucket; but we’ve really been reliant on industry to provide the GET solution, but not anymore,” Juric said. “We’ve gone out on our own based on decades of experience, research and significant investment.” The tools have been developed by the company’s engineers to complement not only machinery up to 400 tonnes but potentially other products as well. The final product is the Troubleshoot Advisor, which consolidates the company’s technical capability into an app – allowing operators to troubleshoot any

issues they have with Liebherr machinery 24/7. “It’s a tool that people can use to quickly diagnose problems on the machinery and bring it back to service without necessarily having to call specialists out,” Juric said. The app serves as a time-saving tool but operators can still contact support staff if necessary. Moreover, Juric added that the system could adapt and grow - the first level of artificial intelligence the company has invested in. “It’s actually quite ingenious in that it’s constantly learning. So, any improvements, any updates or any better methodology that is quicker or more cost effective, gets uploaded to the system and is available for immediate use for service teams around the globe,” he said.

Innovation or automation

Juric said innovation and automation were often used interchangeably but referred to different things. “Automation is a topic that is of extreme importance and it is the future of our industry but innovation in itself doesn’t just start and end with autonomy,” he said. “Innovation transcends new, inyour-face, technology – it’s about doing things differently and better to create value.” Juric emphasised that some of the best innovation is often unseen - it simply works and blends into the background. He said the innovative benefits were witnessed in faster, more efficient, lower cost machines, that may not be heavily advertised as much as a system like automation. Juric also noted that innovation is one of Liebherr’s core business values, critical to helping its brand continue to grow into the future. When it comes to the way the company services the mining industry, Juric said it was a component company first and a technology company by extension. He added that the company supported the industry by engaging with their customers and developing solutions for them. One of these solutions was the R 9800 – the largest excavator the company makes. “The industry called out for a specific need, we went away, designed something, came back and said ‘Well how does this look?’ And to and fro we went and eventually the R 9800 was born,” he said. Juric said Liebherr listened to the customer base – which he referred to AUSTRALIANMINING

as partners - to create a “symphony” between the company’s intelligence and customer needs.

Cautious optimism

Juric believes there has been a sense of “cautious” optimism in the mining industry, particularly since August last year. He said the recent triple digit price rise of coking and steaming coal had a lot to do with the optimism and even though the prices have since softened, a general positivity remained. “I don’t think that we’re going to go back to the ways of the last boom... however we are far more positive and in a bullish position than we were 12 months ago,” he said. Juric was also impressed by the restraint shown in the industry amid the uptick in the commodity price. He added that one question remained: ‘Will it last?’

Ready for a new role

Juric expressed his excitement at taking up the position as general manager - sales and marketing, “It’s certainly been an aspiration of mine for some time,” he said. “It’s going to challenge me and it’s the challenges - the diversity in the role - that I’m looking forward to.” Juric added that he was most looking forward to being able to influence his team and set each of them up for success. “I can’t wait to really get my feet under the desk and work with this amazing bunch of people that we have here,” he said. Liebherr is continuing to invest in alternative product lines for the mining industry, with a focus on entering the high horsepower diesel range. Juric started his new role on April 1. AM

TOM JURIC, LIEBHERR-AUSTRALIA’S NEW GENERAL MANAGER – SALES AND MARKETING

APRIL 2017

PROFILE

TELSTRA SERVICING THE MINING INDUSTRY AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS TO THE HEAD OF TELSTRA MINING SERVICES, JEANNETTE MCGILL, ABOUT HER NEW ROLE AND THE DIVISION’S PROGRESS SINCE IT DEVELOPED MID LAST YEAR. SHARON MASIGE WRITES.

ast year, Telstra established a new communications services department – Telstra Mining Services – which it called a strategic investment in the sector. Leading the business is Jeannette McGill, who entered the company from her previous role as the head of technology and innovation at Anglo American Platinum. Hailing from South Africa, McGill started in mining production as a section and exploration geologist – becoming the second woman in the country’s Free State Province to receive an underground blasting certificate. With 20 years of mining experience, McGill was well positioned to take up the role with Telstra, particularly after her experience with Anglo American. “My previous role and responsibility was looking after the technology and innovation program for Anglo American platinum and

my production and mining finance background has afforded me the space to be able to take and lead the mining focus business for Telstra,” McGill told Australian Mining. Telstra Mining Services launched on July 1, created as a standalone domain to service the mining sector. McGill said its development was an exciting journey for Telstra. “We’re [Telstra] the only telco globally that have got such a significant place in the mining sector, and the trajectory that we have seen in the past few months has been exceptionally positive,” she said. “We’ve had some exciting projects where we’ve been able to partner with clients around Australia [and] we’ve also been able to work offshore and support international clients.” The new mining business involved the acquisition of Brisbane-based CBO Telecommunications, taking on its network design and consulting services.

McGill said the new acquisition gave Telstra access to infrastructure that could be deployed in the mine pit. “Telstra’s move to servicing the mining sector is not brand new - Telstra has always been able to provide connectivity up to the mine gate for producers,” McGill said. “But through the acquisition of CBO we’re now able to deliver infrastructure services into the pit environment. These can be fixed infrastructures for long term instalments - like towers - as well as more dynamic installations, that are suited to the dynamic nature of the mining pit.” The business can also provide trailers and skips. “It’s also about being able to provide the Telstra LANES product which offers access to a dedicated radio frequency spectrum for enterprise customers in the mining space,” McGill said. As bandwidth demands grow

TELSTRA MINING SERVICES WAS CREATED AS A STANDALONE DOMAIN TO SERVICE THE MINING SECTOR

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Telstra LANES gives operators the ability to consistently maintain connectivity across the whole site, and between machines, vehicles and sensors.

Innovation, automation and communication

When it comes to communication technologies helping boost automation on site, McGill said it was up to the companies to choose the level of autonomy they prefer. “When you look at mechanisation and autonomy they’re sort of a gradual state of play and one doesn’t always have to resolve and decide to full autonomy on the site,” she said. “We work with a range of customers that have decided at which particular point on the path to automation they are willing to work with; some of the technologies work quite well with traditional wired communication or radio techniques [and] that’s the service and solution set the Telstra Mining Services offers. “We’re not going to force every customer to the same end point. We are able to provide sustainable solutions that will ensure producers can produce their product efficiently, as well as safely, and be able to provide the correct communication platform to enable their business to succeed.” McGill said the business conducted a strategic dialogue with customers to identify the best solution for the site. “The technology will always match the problem, so the real question is ‘What problem is it that producers are needing to solve and how can communications support that problem solving?’,” McGill said. “One of the problems in the global mining sector has been around efficiency, production and the actual figures that are coming out so one of the solutions to that is the scale that is created through autonomy. “There’s been a lot of work that has been done on a range of fleet to be able to derive full or partial autonomy, as well as full or partial mechanisation - but full autonomy requires high bandwidth networks.” McGill said the business was able to substitute land based

PROFILE

communications techniques like wireless 3G and 4G and, in future, 5G technologies. “I do see a transition to more wireless techniques and being able to take the 4G LTE and longer term the 5G technologies into more production intensive environments, however that’s not to say the wired or the radio techniques will lose relevance,” she said. McGill added that it was about providing a holistic set of solutions to allow mining companies to mine efficiently and increase production

HEAD OF TELSTRA MINING SERVICES, JEANNETTE MCGILL

Women standing tall

During her time in the mining industry McGill has received several accolades, including recognition as one of the Top 100 global women in mining for 2016. With the greater push toward gender diversity in the mining industry, McGill highlighted her support for women entering the sector. She emphasised that it was about providing equal opportunities for everybody. “I always say that the mining sector isn’t necessarily suited to everybody. I know that there’s even a lot of guys who don’t want to deal with the peculiarities of the mining environment. “But it boils down to choice. Before, women were never given the choice to work in the mining sector and so that’s really what I try and support.” This follows in parallel with BHP’s goal of having half its workforce women by 2025. The company’s current workforce is currently comprised of only 17 per cent women. “It’s about being able to provide everybody the choice of being able to take part in the exciting sector that is mining, a sector that has really supported my career and I have been able to give back to it over the past 20 years, and I do support related employer initiatives,” McGill said. “We organisations do want to look at the composition

AUSTRALIANMINING

EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTION ARE THE KEY PRIORITIES FOR MINERS

of the workforce from a gender diversity perspective but for me, the fundamental driver is about everybody being able to have access to the fundamental choice and that choice would be to be able to be engaged in the global mining sector.”

A look ahead

Telstra Mining Services is on track for more growth over the coming years as communications technologies continue to evolve. “I’ve seen that the communication around the need for technology and the need for minesite communication technology has really matured,” McGill said.

APRIL 2017

“People are understanding that with the drive toward mechanisation and with the drive for automation this is going to make the requirement for minesite communication very different. “So the gravitas that Telstra Mining Services has been able to have in the marketplace for a very short space of time has been one of which we have been able to advance the company’s conversation and provide leadership and guidance around the key strategic opportunities that exist for them.” With the ongoing need communications technologies on site, it seems the only way for Telstra Mining Services to go is up. AM

PERSONNEL

RISE IN MINING JOB ADS SIGNALS START OF TURNAROUND DATA FROM ONLINE JOBS PORTAL SEEK SHOW THE NUMBER OF ADVERTISED OPPORTUNITIES FOR JOBSEEKERS IN MINING HAS INCREASED SIGNIFICANTLY SO FAR THIS YEAR. BEN CREAGH REPORTS.

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

PERSONNEL

Seek’s top advertised mining, resources and energy jobs

SOURCE: SEEK

RANK

LOCATION

SUBCLASSIFICATION

Australia

Mining - Engineering & Maintenance

Australia

Mining - Operations

Australia

Mining - Drill & Blast

Australia

Mining - Processing

Australia

Management

Australia

Health, Safety & Environment

f job advertisement volumes are any guide, employment prospects in Australia’s mining industry are officially on the rise. Data from online jobs portal Seek backs this statement. At a national level, job ads for mining, resources and energy on Seek increased 52 per cent in January when compared to the same period 12 months earlier. In Western Australia – the country’s major mining state – the mining, resources and energy industry experienced the greatest advertising growth of all industries during January, with job ads rising 45 per cent year-on-year. Seek spokesperson Sarah Macartney told Australian Mining the data were encouraging for the mining industry, both nationally and in WA Even more importantly, Macartney added that the decline in job advertising associated with the mining downturn looks to have finally turned. “It’s good to see continued advertising growth across mining, resources and energy in Western Australia. This rebound coincided with the rally in commodity prices, though it remains to be seen whether these prices can be sustained,” Macartney said. The lift if advertised mining, resources and energy jobs reflects the renewed optimism for employment opportunities being reported by miners and services companies. In the first quarter of 2017, several company announcements have reported the prospect of hundreds of jobs being created by either new developments or mines reopening,

including more than 1000 positions in Queensland between the Styx and Blair Athol coal operations. Queensland joined WA as a state that has experienced a significant turnaround in advertised jobs. In fact, all eight states and territories recorded year-on-year growth of at least 17 per cent. Queensland led the way 70 per cent higher, while New South Wales registered a 44 per cent increase in job ads.

Engineers in demand

The largest volume of job ads for the mining industry in January were for engineering and maintenance roles, according to Seek. “Mining professionals in high demand across Australia this January were mining engineering and maintenance specialists and mining operators, with more than 800 opportunities advertised for each role on Seek this January across Australia,” Macartney revealed. Other disciplines that were also popular for job ads on Seek included: drill and blast, processing, management, and health, safety and environment (HSE). In WA, the most popular roles for job ads were much the same as what was recorded nationally, Macartney added. “The WA mining professionals in high demand this January were mining engineering and maintenance specialists, with more than 500 job opportunities on Seek, and mining operators with over 300 jobs advertised,” Macartney said.

Employers in control

Despite the increase in mining related jobs advertised on Seek, AUSTRALIANMINING

Macartney said it was still a hirer’s market in the industry to start 2017. “For each job advertised there was a higher than average number of candidates applying, creating more competition for job seekers but providing hirers with a larger pool of candidates to choose from,” Macartney said. She added that the volume of mining jobs advertised was also still well below the highs reached during the mining boom. “The job ad volume in WA specifically is still well below the highs that we saw during the mining boom,” said Macartney. “It is encouraging to see the upward trend in advertising volume for the state, however it is well off the opportunities that we saw advertised in the height of the mining boom.”

Mining top paid industry

As the volume of job ads rises, mining, resources and energy remains the highest paid industry on Seek despite a slight year-on-year fall. The average annual salary advertised on Seek for Australian mining, resources and energy industry jobs is $115,005, a one per cent drop on what the online employment platform reported in 2016. Mining, resources and energy remains comfortably ahead of the consulting and strategy ($108,471), construction ($106,693), engineering ($103,247), and information and communication technology ($102,548) industries. However, the four rounding out Seek’s top five highest paying industries all recorded increases compared with their averages from a year ago.

Macartney said it was interesting to see that the mining, resources and energy industry was still the top paid on Seek. “The decline in job advertising associated with the mining downturn looks to have finally turned and earning prospects remain strong for those working in this industry,” Macartney said. “However, it’s important to point out that while it is great to see high earning potential across industries that actual growth in advertised salary year-to-year has remained relatively flat.” “Employees should look at what other perks or benefits they can weave into their remuneration if salaries are not on the rise. This may be the inclusion of a phone or car in their package, free parking or gym memberships, or increased annual leave.” Mining, resources and energy also featured in Seek’s top five highest paying jobs. Salaries for managers in the industry increased by one per cent to $133,169, making the role the third highest paid job advertised on Seek behind architects ($137,707) and engineering managers ($133,530). Macartney said it was also interesting that management roles in mining, resources and energy, along with engineering and information and communication technology (ICT), was among the top five highest paying jobs advertised on Seek. “These roles directly support the growth and prosperity of our nation and in return these professionals are being highly remunerated to manage the build teams that can deliver on the needs of businesses,” Macartney concluded. AM SOURCE: SEEK

LOCATION

INDUSTRY

% Growth Jan 17 v Jan 16

Australia

Mining, Resources & Energy

52%

Mining, Resources & Energy

45%

QLD

Mining, Resources & Energy

70%

NSW

Mining, Resources & Energy

44&

VIC

Mining, Resources & Energy

17%

Mining, Resources & Energy

151%

Mining, Resources & Energy

54%

TAS

Mining, Resources & Energy

33%

ACT

Mining, Resources & Energy

50%

APRIL 2017

PERSONNEL

WORKFAST LAUNCHES UBER-LIKE LABOUR HIRE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY WITH RECRUITMENT SHOWING SIGNS OF RAMPING UP IN MINING, WORKFAST HAS EXTENDED A DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY IT LAUNCHED LAST YEAR TO THE INDUSTRY. BEN CREAGH REPORTS.

ech company Workfast has expanded a web-based, on-demand labour hire platform to Australian mining companies after finding success in other industry sectors. The Uber-like technology, which was first introduced for the construction and engineering industries in the second half of 2016, provides mining companies with access to labour hire workers at variable rates of pay – a first for the industry, according to the Sydney-based company. Workfast calculates a worker’s hourly rate based on experience and availability. The platform has been developed so that its users only pay for what they need from an employer, the company claims. It has also been designed to integrate with the whole human resources process, with automated time sheets and weekly schedules, invoicing, payments, expense

reconciliation, calculation of overtime hours and the production of payslips all features of the platform. Workfast chief executive officer Tim Nieuwenhuis said it was an opportune time to launch the platform for the mining industry with market conditions improving for more than six months. “It’s a great time, and with the predictions the industry will keep rising, human resources directors need to be prepared with the right workers that can satisfy their growth strategies while also satisfying the board’s requirements to be lean and efficient,” Nieuwenhuis told Australian Mining. “The biggest trend for mining companies is the need to find savings wherever they can. As a result of industry fluctuations, HR directors are feeling immense pressure to be lean and efficient. “This means looking at new recruitment agencies or utilising technology to assist in bringing costs down.”

During the downturn, however Nieuwenhuis believed the benefits of variable pricing would not have suited mining companies, and the company therefore did not target the industry. “We didn’t think previously that mining would be open to the idea of variable pricing,” Nieuwenhuis explained. “The calls we received from the mining industry were that they were under pressure to reduce costs, obviously with the fluctuations in the industry at the moment - if pricing of the dip goes too low they wouldn’t be profitable.” But with conditions on the rise, Nieuwenhuis said many mining companies, especially those with smaller operations, could now use a variable pricing model to their advantage. “The miners that come to us are saying that they are sick of normal labour hire companies, who are just sending any worker and they don’t have a huge pool of workers to

choose from,” Nieuwenhuis said. “I think it is moving more towards a product of meritocracy where workers who work hard stay in the job and miners, like in all industries, won’t want to get rid of them.” In other industries, there have been savings of around 30 per cent from using Workfast. Nieuwenhuis is confident that savings of up to 10 per cent can be made by mining companies, particularly in terms of administration costs. “For big companies, even a five per cent discount on wages could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings. In comparison, if a traditional labour hire or recruitment agency sourced a cheaper employee, they would skim that saving as a profit rather than pass it on to the client,” Nieuwenhuis said. Workfast is also planning to launch a mobile and smartphone app for the technology in the mining industry, as well as the other sectors it supports, to complement the web-based platform. AM

WORKFAST CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER TIM NIEUWENHUIS

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

AUSTMINECONFERENCE.COM.AU

MINERALS PROCESSING

A GAME CHANGER FOR COPPER PROCESSING FLSMIDTH’S RAPID OXIDATIVE LEACHING (ROL) TECHNOLOGY IS FACILITATING AND MAXIMISING CLEAN COPPER PRODUCTION FROM HARD-TO-PROCESS AND ARSENIC-HEAVY CONCENTRATES.

esigned to operate at 80 degrees and normal atmospheric pressure – two characteristics that enhance safety compared with traditional smelting – FLSmidth’s Rapid Oxidative Leaching (ROL) process is both faster and simpler. It can leach more than 98 per cent of the copper from chalcopyrite concentrates in less than six hours. Existing atmospheric leach processes leach a maximum of 95 per cent copper in 20-60 hours. According to FLSmidth, ROL technology is a more efficient and profitable alternative to selling concentrate to smelters for removal of the arsenic and extraction of the copper. The 2016 winner of the prestigious global R&D 100 Award, the ROL technology is being developed by FLSmidth’s research and development division. A pilot plant at the facility includes four scaled reactors, which enable batch and continuous operation of the ROL process. Currently 10-litre and 100-litre

continuous stirred tank reactors in series with stirred media reactors (SMRt) are being used to test the process in batch leaches and have delivered positive results. SMRt reactors are used to mitigate passivation of the chalcopyrite copper concentrates. Included with each apparatus is equipment used in measurement and control

FLSMIDTH’S OPERATIONS AT SALT LAKE CITY IN THE UNITED STATES

AUSTRALIANMINING

of temperature, the potential of hydrogen (pH), REDOX potential and oxygen addition, as well as a sample tracking system. The ROL process uses a Mechanochemical leach to overcome passivation and the company aims to deliver a pregnant liquor solution that will match with the new generation reagents being developed by chemical companies to maximise the potential yield from hard-to-process and arsenic-laden concentrates. According to the company, the ROL process can be used to economically produce copper at a range of throughputs. Small to mid-tier miners can develop smaller deposits or supplement ageing heap leach operations and produce 5000 to 150,000tpa cathode copper at the mine rather than selling their concentrate to a smelter. FLSmidth’s ROL technology offers benefits across several ore types. For copper producers, the new technology could mean a renewed business case for remaining deposits as several existing mines have lost the ability to economically make copper concentrates suitable for smelting. This ROL technology makes it possible to recover more copper from low- to mid-grade concentrates. Also, there are known mineral deposits, yet to be developed, that are unsuitable

APRIL 2017

for smelting, but would be suitable for leaching with the new technology. ROL also makes it possible to develop mineral deposits containing arsenic for recovery of copper, gold and silver, while complying with stringent environmental air and land pollution regulations. As the technology operates at atmospheric pressure a concentrate can be treated at the mine site with complete control over the arsenic-bearing residues generated after leaching. This makes it possible to avoid the potential for arsenic contamination of sea, air and land during transport to a smelter, or as a consequence of the smelting process. ROL could be considered revolutionary technology but it is a technology that, according to Manfred Schaffer, group executive vice president of FLSmidth’s minerals division, will deliver economic and productivity benefits to the copper sector internationally. “Many existing mines are holding tonnes of copper concentrate with more than 0.5 per cent arsenic concentrations, which is too high for smelting. Our technology can be used to process those tonnes of high-arsenic concentrate into saleable product or even make it possible to develop new deposits that are high in arsenic,” Schaffer explained. AM

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN 11 MAY 2017

MELBOURNE WWW.ENDEAVOURAWARDS.COM.AU

EXPLORATION

HELISAM CAN DO A 100KM SURVEY OF A DEEP OREBODY IN LESS THAN TWO HOURS

EXPLORING AT GREATER DEPTHS AS MINING COMPANIES SEARCH DEEPER UNDERGROUND FOR MINERAL DEPOSITS, THE ABILITY TO FIND MAJOR RESOURCES MORE EFFICIENTLY AND COST EFFECTIVELY REMAINS A CHALLENGE. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS TO GAP GEOPHYSICS CEO MALCOLM CATTACH ABOUT THE COMPANY’S EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR GREATER DETECTION. SHARON MASIGE WRITES.

ustralian company Gap Geophysics has been developing geophysical technologies for exploration for more than 20 years. One of the innovations is the Sub-Audio Magnetics (SAM) technology for mineral exploration. Gap Geophysics chief executive officer Malcolm Cattach has been involved in developing SAM, which began as his PhD project during the early 90s.

While traditional exploration surveys conduct magnetic measurements – measuring the changes in the Earth’s magnetic field due to different rock types – Cattach said these technologies have since been refined over the past 25 years. They are now able to measure both minute changes in Earth’s magnetic fields and detect electromagnetic (EM) responses – measuring the EM response of Earth to a transmitted response (they actually produce and electromagnetic pulse which produces

THE SUB-AUDIO MAGNETICS (SAM) TECHNOLOGY FROM GAP GEOPHYSICS IS ABLE TO CONDUCT BOTH MAGNETIC AND ELECTROMAGNETIC SURVEYS

AUSTRALIANMINING

a response from conductors in the ground). This is where SAM technology fits in, which can measure both magnetic and EM properties in the ground using a fast sampling caesium vapour magnetometer. “SAM technology, which gives us the ability to do very rapid surveys, (at) very high resolution because we can take measurements without stopping,” Cattach told Australian Mining. Cattach said it gave users the ability to undertake very rapid and high resolution surveys – able to take measurements without stopping. “The interesting thing about the Sub-Audio Magnetics technique is that it measures both the magnetic field and the conductivity responses all from one survey,” he said. For even deeper penetration to deposits further underground, the company developed the SAMSON technology, able to track even more precise measurements. “The SAMSON technology is much more sensitive to very deep targets, but that does require it to be stationary,” Cattach said. “It’s the most precise mode of operation for doing electromagnetic surveys.” Cattach explained that SAMSON takes one long reading, and while doing so, produces an EM pulse that goes through the ground.

APRIL 2017

“If there are conductors in the ground then what we’re doing is producing an electrical current flow to these conductors underground and we actually elicit a response using the SAMSON technology sitting at the surface,” Cattach said. “The other thing that we’ve done for deep penetration surveys is we’ve developed very high powered transmitters to the instruments that produce the pulse in the first place. “[They] have a certain amount of power and the amount of power determines how deep you can actually get a response from it in the ground.” Cattach added that the signal the high-powered EM transmitters produce is 10 times greater than other conventional transmitters. “This means that we can see much deeper into the ground than people have been able to survey before,” he said. This provides a greater opportunity for explorers as they continue to seek deeper ore deposits. “Over time, a lot of the shallower discoveries have already been made and this is because they’re relatively shallow, relatively simple to detect, so conventional, cheaper, less advanced technology has been able to detect it,” Cattach said. He emphasised that it caused a greater need for technologies such as SAMSON.

EXPLORATION

“Given that it’s generally accepted that most of these new surface ore bodies have already been found, the next challenge for the mining industry is to look much deeper than we’ve been able to see with conventional technologies,” Cattach said. “So our whole objective with the SAMSON technology is to build instruments capable of seeing much deeper and exploring much further in the ground.” Cattach added that the SAMSON technology has been successful in detecting significant resources and used at BHP and Glencore’s Mt Isa Mines and St George Mining’s Mt Alexander nickel project in Western Australia. “They’re [St George] still investigating the results of the surveys we just completed for them as well and they’re finding much deeper conductors that what they’d be able to find with conventional technologies so they’re quite excited at the moment,” Cattach said.

Taking SAM to greater heights

Cattach said the company refined the SAM technology even further to achieve deep penetration from airborne platforms. They developed another technique

called HeliSAM, a helicopterborne magnetic acquisition system, which can detect orebodies several kilometers deep. “We’re doing some final field tests over a known conductor in Western Australia in the next couple of weeks,” Cattach said. “That could be quite exciting because people have been using a full-sized helicopter and it means they can have lower transmission frequencies and deep penetration.” The company is also working on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, for the same use as the HeliSAM. Cattach explained that as explorers look deeper underground, they were covering bigger areas than they had been expecting. “Something that is maybe 500m down might produce an anomaly which is 1.5 or 2km wide so the deeper you’re looking, the bigger the scale of the surveys. The bigger the scale of the surveys, the more expensive they become,” he said. That is, unless the company has a more efficient method of gathering the data. “So what we’re actually doing with HELISAM and the UAV SAM and even ground SAM for that matter is

producing technologies capable of very rapid acquisition of data of these very deep ore bodies,” Cattach said. “So even if they’re looking much deeper, they can still be quite efficient using the SAM technology.”

What Gap Geophysics is working on now

A key area the company is currently working on is commercialising the HeliSAM technology in Canada. Cattach said it had a particular application in countries with difficult working environments, like Canada. “Most of their exploration has to be done in the middle of winter when the lakes are frozen, that’s the only time they can get access to the ground,” he said. Cattach also highlighted some of Canada’s thick forest terrain where to complete ground surveys, explorers need to cut through the bush and create a clear line before they can begin taking measurements - which is both time consuming and expensive. “What HeliSAM enables us to do is avoid the need to cut lines through the bush,” he said. Cattach added that a 100km survey in a deep orebody could be undertaken in two hours with the helicopter technology – this would

normally take months to do on the ground, at a greater cost. “It’s really quite revolutionaryapproaching exploration for these high conductance orebodies in very difficult terrain,” he said. In addition to mineral exploration, Gap also uses its EM technologies for other applications. Its sub-division, Gap Explosive Ordnance Detection Services (GAP EOD) uses EM technologies to detect unexploded bombs. “We have instruments operating at the moment in places like Laos, in the Ho Chi Minh trail, finding bombs in mine sites [areas] that were from the Vietnam war,” Cattach said. He added that the company pioneered this technology, beginning with bomb detection during the 1980s. “We’re the first people in the world to do digital detection of unexploded ordnance,” he said. The company also has systems in Germany, finding deeply buried bombs from the Second World War. With innovation remaining at the heart of several companies, who knows what other applications the company’s electromagnetic technology could be used for next. AM

THE SAMSON IS A STATIONARY TECHNOLOGY FOR GENERATING MORE PRECISE ELECTROMAGNETIC SURVEYS

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

OPINION

PIKE RIVER MINE RE-ENTRY EXAMINED GERARD MORRIS ANALYSES THE PROCESS OF RE-ENTERING THE PIKE RIVER COAL MINE, THE SCENE OF THE NEW ZEALAND MINING DISASTER THAT KILLED 29 PEOPLE IN 2010

he responsibilities that come with being an expat West Coaster in New Zealand are usually only seasonal, when associates are looking for a taste of fresh West Coast whitebait. That has changed over recent months with the questioning topically centred on whether entry into the Pike mine is likely or even possible. It is a subject that has become highly charged on both sides of the argument, especially at political levels and across the country, with everyone seemingly having a view on a complex tragedy that has so many sad threads. Six years on from November 19 2010 and global mining tragedies tell us emphatically that the ongoing passage of time after an underground mining disaster, markedly increases the complexity of victim recovery

which in turn, decreases the probability of successful recovery. Every New Zealander wishes to see all victims of Pike returned to their families for a respectful burial. An abandoned underground mine is not morally acceptable as an eternal resting place for these 29 men. It remains a sad fact that mining all over the world, in Australia, Europe, South Africa, the USA and China have underground mines as eternal tombs for victims of mine disasters. Strongman Number One mine near Greymouth is a tomb for two victims of the 1967 disaster that killed 19. Some of the Pike victims’ families commissioned an experts’ report to support their case for re-entry and have lobbied hard to get this report accepted. Prepared by UK coal mining experts, David Creedy and Robert

Stevenson, the report ‘A method for safe re-entry of Pike River Mine Drift’, has been used to make the case for re-entry into the 2.3-kilometre stone access drive at the mine, known as the Drift. The five-page UK report contrasts with the extensive bevy of reports commissioned by Pike’s owner Solid Energy, using New Zealand underground mining experts, and published in their hundreds of pages on their web site. Solid Energy’s work using extensive local knowledge, is perceived to be too conservative compared to the UK opinion. History repeats in a sense as on the day after the first explosion at Pike, on November 20 2010, seven of the 13 New Zealand certificated underground mine managers were there ready to assist only to be sidelined by the government agencies.

Both sides partially agree, based on footage obtained by robots and borehole cameras, that structurally, the Drift could be entered as it is likely to be in good condition for the first two kilometres given the installed level of structural supports and roof bolts. Even after four explosions, it is likely to be intact. From footage obtained from cameras inserted down boreholes near the in-bye end of the Drift, damaged infrastructure from pipes and conveyor belts obstructing the roadway is seen up to one metre deep in places. Compounding this is the methanerich, potentially explosive atmosphere in the Drift that is the core problem for re-entry. The Pike Royal Commission identified the last working locations of the Pike 29 as beyond the Drift, in

AN UNDERGROUND CONVEYOR AT PIKE RIVER

A VIEW FROM INSIDE THE PIKE RIVER MINE IN NZ

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

OPINION

the actual workings of the mine. There is a belief that a group of miners were exiting the mine at the time of the first blast in an underground transporter, a Driftrunner, and maybe caught in the large rockfall at Spaghetti Junction, the point where the Drift meets the mine workings. One of the two survivors from Pike’s first explosion, Daniel Rockhouse, was within 500 metres of Spaghetti Junction and it is this stretch of the Drift where the speculation is focused. There is no advocacy from the families to go beyond this point and enter the actual mine workings. In addition to the gas ignition risk that would be caused by activity at the top end of the Drift, a similar danger is the geological structure where the coal seam intersects with the stone Drift. The Hawera fault lies near where the seam starts adjacent to a known fall at Spaghetti Junction. Given the increase in earthquakes across the South Island

in recent times, there is significant stress on the adjoining strata. The mine has been on fire at various stages and any form of reignition arising from re-entry activity into the Drift, cannot be dismissed. The UK experts say the workings have been gas-filled, therefore oxygen free for four years, which removes spontaneous combustion concerns, a view not shared by local experts.

In a Pike-sized mine at Crandall Canyon in Utah in 2007, six miners were killed in the mine and 10 days later, three rescue workers were killed attempting recovery. The six miners remain entombed. Like Pike, the Crandall Canyon inquiry found the mine was destined to fail because the company made critical miscalculations, and again like Pike, the US Department of Labor

IT REMAINS A SAD FACT THAT MINING ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN AUSTRALIA, EUROPE, SOUTH AFRICA, THE USA AND CHINA HAVE UNDERGROUND MINES AS ETERNAL TOMBS FOR VICTIMS OF MINE DISASTERS.” In any analysis of the risk of reentry at Pike, history reminds us of the many rescue workers killed attempting recovery of coal mine disaster victims.

was faulted for lax oversight of the mine and mismanaging the failed rescue attempt. The use of drones at Pike to survey the Drift has emerged as a new

A PIKE COAL CUTTING MACHINE IN ACTION

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

option. A mining conference paper in Germany a few years ago highlighted the challenges of such an option underground, rather than seeing them as useful. A drone in the Drift at Pike would need light and a ventilated atmosphere to transmit useful images, as well as repeaters along the length of the Drift. The latest drones have sensors to avoid objects in the open and they are largely untested on receiving Wi-Fi signals through solid rock, up to 2.3 kilometres in this case. They simply cannot fly in a lighter-than-air, methane atmosphere. The re-entry of the Drift at Pike is recognised in mining circles globally, as not straight forward. The UK experts’ report is full of unproven, hopeful assumptions. AM Gerard Morris is a West Coaster and former coal mining journalist from New Zealand. He has co-authored two books on West Coast mining history.

OIL AND GAS

AVOIDING THE NEXT DEEPWATER HORIZON IT HAS BEEN SEVEN YEARS SINCE THE DEEPWATER HORIZON EXPLOSION THAT KILLED 11 PEOPLE AND CREATED WHAT IS REGARDED AS THE WORST OIL SPILL IN UNITED STATES HISTORY. A SEMINAR SERIES INVESTIGATING THE AFTERMATH WAS RECENTLY HELD IN SYDNEY, EXPLORING THE HUMAN AND ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS THAT LED TO THE DISASTER. SHARON MASIGE WRITES. that investigates incidents such as Deepwater Horizon, publicises the findings and makes recommendations to the parties involved to make improvements to help prevent a similar incident. She said the board produced four volumes of information from its investigation of the disaster. Mackenzie said the CSB identified common themes with disasters such as Deepwater Horizon and one of the biggest was the gap between the ‘work as imagined’ and ‘work as done’ – what a company says it is going to do in a particular situation compared to what it actually does. She emphasised that there was a gap between what was expected of workers on paper and what they were able to do in practice. “When we investigate incidents we look at the policy on how you manage your hazards…and then we look at what we found in reality and what the actual practices were,” she told Australian Mining.

THE DEEPWATER HORIZON EXPLOSION CAUSED WHAT IS REGARDED AS THE WORST OIL SPILL IN UNITED STATES HISTORY.

Credit: Louisiana GOHSEP’

n 2016, the film Deepwater Horizon, based on the BP oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, was released, inspiring a seminar series providing insights into what contributed to the explosion. Held by the University of Sydney Chemical and Biochemical Foundation, in conjunction with the Safety Institute of Australia, the Deepwater Horizon Revisited: Investigative Insights Seminar was held in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide. It featured discussions from United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) investigator, Cheryl Mackenzie, and Noetic Group general manager of risk, Peter Wilkinson. While the seminar briefly explained the cause of the rig failure, one of the main topics was the human and organisational factors that contributed to it. Mackenzie explained that the CSB is a non-regulatory safety body

Mackenzie added that the gap provides an opportunity for companies to work on their policies and practices and identify what can be changed to ensure another event like Deepwater is prevented. Mackenzie mentioned a key example following the disaster, where CEOs from other major oil companies were called to give a testimony that an

CHERYL MACKENZIE, LEAD INVESTIGATOR, UNITED STATES CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD

incident such as Deepwater wouldn’t happen with their company. While most of them suggested they had proper management systems in place, it was later discovered that the majority had almost exactly the same oil response plans, highlighting a potential failure in safety procedures. “A lot of them had oil spill response plans that were almost identical and they were all almost identical in the inaccuracies contained within them,” Mackenzie said. “They identified wildlife that could be impacted by an oil spill and it was animals that don’t exist in the Gulf.” The CSB is also involved in following up with organisations that it makes recommendations to but Mackenzie said that in this situation, a lot of the focus was on their recommendations on the regulator and industry associations such as the American Petroleum Institute. Because the findings were not unique to BP and Deepwater Horizon rig owner Transocean she believed that change could be created right across industry. “We feel if they take up our recommendations, a larger audience is more likely to also respond to that and make some changes for safety purposes,” she said.

Lost Time Injuries

The explosion occurred shortly after BP celebrated seven years without a lost time injury (LTI). AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

OIL AND GAS

While LTIs are a good measure of occupational safety, Mackenzie said they were not a good indicator of process safety. She highlighted that occupational safety involved instances such as wearing the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) and ensuring proper handling of tools – issues that are high frequency and low consequence. Alternatively, process safety refers to the containment of extremely hazardous materials. “In this case it would be hydrocarbons coming out of a well that could ignite and blow up; that’s a process hazard,” Mackenzie said. Mackenzie added that it was easier to manage occupational safety issues as they are more observable compared to process safety issues. “You can observe when someone’s not wearing their safety helmet or hardhat, you can observe when someone’s climbing at a height without the right fall protection but process safety hazard is ‘What are you doing to make sure, in this case, flammable material stays contained?’,” she said.

Mackenzie explained that while safety observation programs were well intentioned, they mainly focused on what was observable, potentially missing process issues. “If that’s what your company’s looking at to try and manage your process hazards, that’s not going to be sufficient,” she said. “You have to try to look at, ‘well what are the steps that we’re taking to ensure that we don’t have a lot of containment issues?’.”

It’s human nature

One of the main things Mackenzie said the film accurately depicted was the sense of chaos following the explosion. She said the people responded the way they were trained to respond. “That’s human nature. We’re trained a certain way; we have an expectation based on experience [and] we’re taught to expect certain things.” Mackenzie highlighted that it was normal people doing normal work in an abnormal situation. “People rely on rote memory and

then they respond in a way almost automatically to what they already have been trained to do and know how to do,” she said. “The evidence that we saw, they did what policy said they should have done, what they knew to do based on the information they had at the time and their natural human response to the situation that was occurring.”

Not so unique

During the event Peter Wilkinson, who was also an advisor to the CSB during the Deepwater Horizon investigation, mentioned another significant oil spill – the Piper Alpha disaster of 1988. He told Australian Mining that during the incident, hydrocarbons flowed onto a burnt platform and fuelled the fire. Wilkinson said the incident with the well kick that triggered the Deepwater disaster was a known hazard. However, he warned that there is a danger with known hazards. “The difficulty comes with wellknown hazards which are relatively

rare in terms of huge consequences and I think humans are much better at dealing with things were we get regular feedback,” he said. Echoing Mackenzie, he said low probability, high consequence incidents do not give feedback by having disasters because they are harder to imagine. He highlighted that Transocean had a well kick in the UK sector in the North Sea prior to Deepwater but it did not involve significant changes that could have been made if people envisaged what it could have led to. Wilkinson said it played a role in helping shape safety in the oil and gas industry and highlighted the engineering changes made for production platforms, particularly in relation to using better quality emergency shut down systems. Despite the difficulty in gaining support for regulatory changes following Piper Alpha, Wilkinson said Australia made changes without suffering a major disaster. “An example of that was setting up the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority which increased the pool of resources, both money and competence to regulate offshore petroleum.”

When bad news is good news

Wilkinson said that human and organisational factors cross boundaries regardless of the industry a person works. He emphasised that while good news given by workers in any workplace should be celebrated, it is also important that companies are honest with themselves about what may be going wrong, to address safety issues. “You cannot manage what you don’t know about,” he said, and added that management should consciously attend to it. Cheryl highlighted the importance of learning from events such as Deepwater Horizon, particularly as organisational levels and certain organisational practices become more complex and interwoven. “We need to continually advance our understanding of how these events occur in order to really prepare ourselves and remember that these incidents are rare but they can happen. “We can’t just sit back and hope it doesn’t happen, we actually have to do something about it.” AM

PETER WILKINSON, GENERAL MANAGER OF RISK AT NOETIC GROUP

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PRECIOUS METALS

GOLD STRENGTH HOLDS FIRM ABC BULLION GENERAL MANAGER NICHOLAS FRAPPELL REVIEWS THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PRECIOUS METALS SECTOR SO FAR THIS YEAR.

old continued its first quarter rally in an almost unbroken run on from January, despite a recovery in the US Dollar index. Bond yields in the United States continued to trade in a more or less sideways fashion, although the end of February has seen a reassessment of the chances of a rise in the Fed Funds rate, now up to even chances in the assessment of interest rate markets. Gold weakened a little off the back of that – not that this reassessment in any way indicated a steady rise in rates throughout the year, as Fed Chair Janet Yellen kept language surrounding future rises ‘accommodative’ and ‘gradualist’, at least until the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) can assess the scale of the fiscal impact of President Trump’s policies. Gold remained in an uncertain environment where the price had not done enough to challenge the trend line resistance that capped gold at the height of Brexit and Trump mania - that trend line hovered above at US$1304 at the end of the month. Price targets indicated a move towards $US1274. I consider that there is significant resistance to be found at $US1278.50 initially, where the 61.80 per cent Fibonacci retracement of the July to December price decline is located. On the downside, support comes in at $US1229 and $US1211. Positioning-wise, gold had a steady month in terms of changes in CME commitments. Managed money gross longs added 197,600 fine troy ounces (Ftozs), while managed money shorts covered and bought back 622,900 Ftozs in the face of rising prices. The active CME contract traded at an estimated volume weighted average price (VWAP) of $US1233.67. Managed money speculative length was not quite back up to levels last seen in mid-December. CME open interest is expanding steadily in a positive confirmation of the quarter’s price movements. ETF holdings added just over 2.01 million Ftozs over the course of the month, a significant change over the small net out-flow (-282,672 Ftozs) seen during January. In Australian dollar terms, the price was thwarted by the weekly cloud base at $1643, along with the 50 per

cent retracement of the NovemberDecember 2016 price decline. The rally in the AUD has itself dampened gold’s performance in Australian dollar terms, as iron ore, gold and other exports improve Australia’s terms of trade. There is further resistance at $1652.

Silver

Silver continued to rise strongly through February, outperforming gold and creating the possibility that silver would move to around 64-65 times the price of gold. The essential factors behind the rise in gold have driven silver, as political uncertainty in both Europe and America – the latter revolving around trade and fiscal priorities of course –encouraged a degree of demand for portfolio insurance as equities continue to perform strongly. The price rallied up to the 50 per

cent Fibonacci retracement of the move from the July-December down move, and the swing low in August, levels which capped the price until the end of the month. The next major resistance level is the weekly Ichimoku cloud top, currently at $US18.78, followed by US$19.15-25. In Australian dollar terms, the price closed just shy of the 38.20 per cent Fibonacci retracement of the decline from the July to December, which lies at $24.07. The weekly Ichimoku cloud top resistance comes in at $24.90, with the 50 per cent retracement at $24.97, so that is very likely a decent band of resistance to progress if the Australian dollar price challenges that level. Support comes in at $US17.89, $US17.40 and $US17.19 in the medium term. In Australian dollar terms, $23.48 and $23.22 currently act as support below the spot price.

GOLD HAS CONTINUED ITS FIRST QUARTER RALLY IN AN ALMOST UNBROKEN RUN ON FROM JANUARY

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CME positioning in the managed money sector saw an increase in gross speculative longs of 90.170 million troy ounces (Tozs) t+-hrough February, to reach 480.165 million Tozs, over 90 per cent of the high over the preceding decade. This rate of increase is about twoand-half times the rate at which longs increased over the same period last year, but with less of an impact on the price. Speculative shorts declined by 8.28 million Tozs over the course of the month, and gross shorts now stand at just under 56 million. After February 21, silver open interest declined dramatically while the price increased only slightly, a reflection of a sharp reduction in spread trades. The VWAP for the active silver contract on the CME in February was $US18.28. Global ETFs finished the month at 647,703,762 Tozs, up 1.462 million Tozs on the month.

PRECIOUS METALS

Platinum

Platinum rose in February but struggled with technical resistance at the weekly cloud base – swinging around the $US1000 level inconclusively before a rally to close the month at $US1027. This was well within the weekly Ichimoku cloud, as platinum emerged from a phase of looking seriously unloved in comparison with its sister platinum group metal, palladium. Subsequently the price rallied to the 50 per cent retracement of the August-December downswing, which is about $US1043, and then dropped back somewhat, as platinum hit one of the major resistances mentioned in the January article. CME positioning indicated that the first half of the month saw a continuation of the short-covering from speculative sellers, who bought almost 71,000 Tozs in the first week of the month. Longs contributed nothing to buying pressure in the first week, then turning sellers as they liquidated

positions that had grown in January around the $US980-990 level, selling 46,700 Tozs of platinum futures in the middle two weeks of the month at a VWAP of $US1010 and $US1006 respectively. The final week of the month saw a significant expansion of open interest, with 263,100 uplift between February 21-28, implying strong fresh buying, since the final week saw a rally of $US24.15 from open to close. The final week brought 182,850 Tozs of fresh buying from the managed money sector, and 48,200 Tozs of buying from shorts covering back, all at a VWAP of $US1020 in the week ending February 28. The balance of the open interest came mainly from increased spread trading between different futures months. The VWAP for February was approximately US$1012. Perhaps the key message was that buying back from shorts was 68,200 Tozs in February, compared with January, where buying from that source exceeded 520,000,

a factor of almost eight-to-one. Additionally, buying from fresh longs in January was just under twothirds of the buying pressure from short-covering. After substantial buying from that source, it now looks as if the final week of the month saw some late-comers to the event – fresh buyers who will be hoping that prices rally above the $US1020 level where they appeared to arrive. Global ETFs on February 28 were 2,392,041 Tozs, an increase since the end of January of about 12,000 Tozs. January car sales in Europe grew by 10.2 per cent, totaling 1,170,220 units, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) in Belgium. Commercial vehicle registrations grew by 8.2 per cent, totaling 173,614 units. The light commercial vehicle (LCV) sector was the biggest driver in the sector. Targets for platinum extend to $US1064 and $US1090 in the medium term, with decent resistance anticipated at around $US1080. Downside targets extend to $US988.

Palladium

Palladium never quite made it back to the January high, despite a decent recovery, and spent the second half of February consolidating, or slightly weakening away from the top of the trend channel that palladium reached at the end of January. CME positioning indicated that managed money longs purchased 95,400 Tozs by February 21, with managed money shorts selling initially, and then buying a net of 30,400 Tozs. After that, open interest declined by 267,700 Tozs. The mainly sideways price action that accompanied the reduction reflected the lower number of spread trades between various months. The VWAP for the whole of the month was about $US778. Something of concern was that palladium saw a reduction of open interest of 318,100 Tozs since January 24, and also evidence of a reduction in volume in the previous week, which may foreshadow weakness in the otherwise strong trend. Given that the powerful first quarter performance in the palladium price appears to be predicated on both continuing strong demand and forecast deficits, and that auto demand is critical for palladium, it is worth pointing out that although US auto sales data look undeniably strong, the tremendous build-up in American auto debt is of concern. AUSTRALIANMINING

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The last half-decade saw $US423 billion of debt creation to finance auto loans in the US, with growth in debt more or less climbing at the same pace each year. That takes the overall debt to $US1.157, almost half as much again as at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. Meanwhile, delinquencies rise, and loan periods lengthen, an insidious form of credit deterioration given the tendency of even the nicest vehicle to wear out after a few years. This can’t go on forever, although like most things, it can certainly go on for longer than is reasonable. On the supply side, there have long been debates between analysts about measuring the true level of inventory in any given year. My only contribution to that discussion is that so far while over-the-counter forwards are a bit tighter by about 0.60-1 per cent than platinum, or gold and silver for that matter, based on the mid of the swap curve, the forward curve is not screaming about lack of supply yet. Given that there are about four decades of ‘potential supply’ of above ground stocks in gold, a one-year palladium swap is only around 0.75 per cent more expensive to borrow than a one-year gold swap, as of the beginning of March. That difference in cost could easily be justified by the risk premium of a smaller, less liquid market with a highly concentrated supply source geographically. But all these things can change rapidly, given the right form of external shock. Palladium ETFs saw small inflows of around 12,000 Tozs to grow to 1,530,456 Tozs by the end of the month. The price continues within a bullish trend, with support at $US738 and $US705 in the longer term, and upside targets that cluster around the $US820-823 level initially, and possibly $US860 in the longer term. $US820 fits the upper boundary of successive highs visible within a sort of upwards trend channel in the fairly near term. The other constraint that has retarded palladium’s advance in the past six months is the top of the monthly Ichimoku cloud, and this level lies at $US795 from here on to the end of May, three months away. As that technical line has risen from $US685 to $US785 through 2016, the palladium price has touched it or approached it to within $US10 five times now, and failed at each approach. Watch closely. AM

AUSTMINE 2017

TIME RIPE TO TAKE INNOVATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL DESPITE IMPROVING MARKET CONDITIONS, THE NEED FOR INNOVATION IN THE MINING INDUSTRY REMAINS AS STRONG AS EVER. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

hile innovation has been widely accepted as a necessity in the Australian mining industry, miners and METS (mining equipment, technology and services) companies have only just started to achieve what is possible, according to Austmine chief executive officer Christine Gibbs Stewart. Austmine, regarded as Australia’s leading industry body for the METS sector, has helped foster the growth of innovation in the country during the ups and downs of the mining cycle. The innovation trend in the downturn has led mining and METS companies at all levels to declare it as a central component of their longterm strategies. Mining giants like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have been at the forefront of this movement. Mid-tier and junior companies have also jumped on the innovative opportunities created by

this trend, with tech start-ups now commonly collaborating with major mining services groups to deliver new solutions. Gibbs Stewart believes a stronger culture of innovation has been established amongst miners and METS companies in recent years as the potential benefits have become better understood. “With the world becoming more competitive, orebodies becoming more complex and the demand for miners to improve their productivity and bring down costs, the life blood of the industry is to be innovative,” Gibbs Stewart told Australian Mining. “If you are not innovative you are not going to survive in the industry for very long.” Despite a stronger culture of innovation emerging Gibbs Stewart said there was potential for further growth in this area. “I think we have only scratched the surface in terms of where mining is going in terms of innovation and

technology,” she said. “Concepts like the digital mine and small footprint mining are certainly going to require further innovation now and over the coming years.” And with market conditions improving significantly during the past six months as commodity prices have rebounded, Gibbs Stewart said now was an opportune time to progress this culture to the next level. She said Austmine’s members had welcomed the improvement in market conditions since the second half of 2016. She added that regional areas in Australia had expressed the most positivity. “Our members in regional areas have reported that they are back up to full shifts or are hiring people back,” she said. “A lot of it is still for maintenance contracts but there are other projects now also coming online – particularly now with companies picking up some of the distressed assets or assets that have been put on sale.

“We know there are opportunities out there and we also know there are some feasibility studies being discussed.” However, Gibbs Stewart warned against the industry falling into a boom-and-bust mentality if market conditions continued to move in a positive direction. “Even though people are excited about the turnaround in the industry I think it is more about looking at the longer term and what we need to be focusing on to ensure the industry is sustainable in the future,” she explained. “Looking at it as a boom-and-bust cycle we are never going to get there. Even during the boom the investment into the future wasn’t made in the right way to really ensure the industry is healthy in the future. “That’s what we need to be doing, looking at the longer term more strategically so we can really work on those challenges.” The industry body’s next conference, Austmine 2017: Mining’s Innovation Imperative, will take place in Perth on May 22-24. Austmine 2017 will feature more than 50 speakers from across the globe, all focusing on innovation within the mining and METS industries. Subjects covered will be as diverse as mining asteroids, mining’s digital revolution and developing a culture of innovation. AM AUSTMINE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CHRISTINE GIBBS STEWART.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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2017

AUSTRALIAN MINING PROSPECT AWARDS

NOMINATIONS NOW

OPEN To nominate, please go to

www.prospectawards.com.au Platinum sponsor

Sponsors

PROSPECT AWARDS

PROSPECT AWARDS TO HIGHLIGHT INDUSTRY OPTIMISM THE AUSTRALIAN MINING PROSPECT AWARDS ARE GEARING UP ONCE AGAIN TO HONOUR THE LATEST INNOVATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN AUSTRALIA’S MINING INDUSTRY.

ith budding optimism in the sector in recent months, the awards continue to support the efforts of those who work hard to ensure the prosperity of the industry. Taking place at the Ivy in Sydney on October 26, the awards categories range from Hard Rock Mine of the Year, Innovative Mining Solution, Mine Manager of the Year, Excellence in

Mine Safety and OHS, and the coveted Mine of the Year. It brings together a range of delegates from the mining industry including contractors, engineers, equipment manufacturers, mine software companies, and mine operators. The awards would not be possible without sponsors from the mining industry. So, Australian Mining thought this edition presented an opportunity to check in on how a few of them have started 2017.

MMD EXPERIENCES RENEWED MINING CONFIDENCE With 2017 now well under way, minerals processing solution provider MMD has observed an upturn in the mining industry compared to the previous 18 months. “We’ve seen the price of coking coal dramatically increase, albeit falling back a little bit too, and iron ore prices surging past $US90 per tonne - roughly double the price it was last year,” MMD told Australian Mining.

The company also noticed an increase in optimism in the sector, which boosted its equipment sales during late 2016 and created more prospects in the months ahead. “We secured three substantial orders for equipment at the back end of 2016 and are confident in securing further orders throughout 2017,” MMD said. Over the past year, MMD made several achievements, including

MMD HAS RECOGNISED RENEWED OPTIMISM IN MINING.

AUSTRALIANMINING

securing two 1150 Sizers with Fortescue Metals Group at its Cloudbreak iron ore mine in Western Australia and two 635 Sizers through Lycopodium at Endeavour Mining’s Karma mine in Burkina Faso. The company also delivered a 625 and 500 Sizer with Thiess and one D7 Feeder and three 645 Sizers with DRA for Mach Energy’s Mount Pleasant mine. It is also securing more onsite and workshop overhaul works for other mining companies throughout Australia. MMD said it was always looking at innovative ways to improve the design of its equipment and structures to save customers operational and capital costs. “We pride ourselves on our customer support through aftersales service, we are not a company that sells equipment and walks away,” MMD said. “We work with our customers to optimise any equipment we have on site to be the most reliable, safe and cost-effective piece of equipment that the mine operates.” The company believes semimobile and fully-mobile sizing equipment is the way forward for operators – reducing truck haulage distances, lowering CO2 emissions and costs per tonne. “Mine deposits are becoming more remote, smaller and more difficult to process, the MMD semi-mobile sizers can easily access these remote deposits and then be relocated to

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another mine or another part of the mine, making the equipment a moveable asset,” the company stated. MMD is returning as a sponsor for the 2017 Australian Mining Prospect Awards. As it has served the mining industry for more than 40 years it acknowledged the importance of recognising those who have demonstrated best practice in the sector. “We believe in recognising the achievements of other mining companies and their employees through their hard work, persistence and dedication, without such, progress cannot be made in the industry,” MMD said. The company also highlighted the importance of nurturing its employees from apprenticeships to senior management so they can gain a deeper understanding of the company and can better assist customers. With the Prospect Awards coming in October this year, MMD reinforced its significance for the mining industry. “We see that in supporting the Prospect Awards, we are supporting the mines that have the same principles as our own: to encourage, inspire and motivate their employees to do their very best for their employer and the mining industry,” the company concluded. MMD is a Platinum Sponsor Mine of the Year

PROSPECT AWARDS

METSO CELEBRATES THE ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS OF AUSTRALIAN MINING It’s no secret that the mining industry has been through a few tough years, with prices of Australia’s most important export resources in free-fall since unprecedented highs in 2012/13. Over the last few months, we have seen a remarkable recovery in coal and iron ore prices, even crude oil is showing signs of recovery. The question on everyone’s lips is - are these new levels enduring or just another blip on the resources rollercoaster? The reality is, that it’s too early to tell. While iron ore, coal, and oil and gas are certainly the biggest contributors to Australia’s mining export revenue, they aren’t everything. According to Metso head of marketing and communications, Peter Newfield, there seem to be green shoots appearing right

across the industry, accompanied by some cautious optimism. The road to a renewable energy future is driving new demand for resources like graphite and lithium. For mining companies, the order of the day seems to be finding innovative ways of doing things that improve their environmental performance, cost structure, operational efficiency and safety. Newsfield said Metso partnered with many mining companies to help them improve their performance in these areas. The company does this through the supply of innovative, energy efficient equipment as well as by working with its clients to optimise their processes to improve safety, efficiency and cost. “Metso is a world-leading industrial company serving the mining,

aggregates, recycling, oil, gas, pulp, paper and process industries,” he said. “We help our customers improve their operational efficiency, reduce risks and increase profitability. Our company’s knowledge, people and solutions help drive sustainable improvements in our industry’s environmental performance. “Sponsoring the ‘excellence in environmental eanagement’ category of Australian Mining’s Prospect Awards is a great opportunity for us to showcase the environmental credentials of our industry. Newfield continued: “Mining is critically important to Australia. The success of our industry and sustainability of our environment go hand-in-hand, they are both pivotal to the long term prosperity and wellbeing of all Australians.”

Metso is sponsoring the Excellence in Environmental Management category

PETER NEWFIELD (LEFT) IS METSO AUSTRALIA’S HEAD OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION.

BGC CONTRACTING SEES POSITIVE SIGNS IN 2017 The strength of commodity prices, especially coal, has seen tendering activity in the mining sector restored to levels not seen in more than two years, according to BGC Contracting chief executive officer Greg Heylen. Heylen said the confidence in the sector was reflected in the substantial number of tender opportunities as coal clients re-entered the industry because of the sustained higher commodity prices. “BGC Contracting is well positioned to grow in this sector, with recent contract wins in Queensland contributing to an increased awareness of our brand and capabilities on the east coast,” he said. “In New South Wales we were also successful in winning a contract to complete a major infrastructure upgrade to a section at Burrill Lake on the Princes Highway, south of Sydney. “Late last year we completed an important strategic acquisition of DIAB Engineering, an established industrial maintenance and fabrication services business, servicing many of Australia’s leading resources companies. “Demand for maintenance work has increased recently as companies ramp up their equipment to take advantage of increased commodity prices.” Heylen said BGC Contracting’s strategy to diversify into a broader number of commodities, in addition to its traditional focus on iron ore, such as coal and gold. He added that BGC Contracting was

focusing on construction and public infrastructure, especially in NSW and Victoria, and also pursuing new opportunities in facilities maintenance and management, which were key elements of the company’s strategy for the future. “Underpinning much of this has been our collaborative approach to working with our clients to improve efficiencies,” he said.

“By continuing to seek more efficient solutions even in the buoyant times, we are providing our clients with a degree of insurance against adverse moves in the commodities cycle. “The growth of our business through new contracts outside our traditional sectors and geographies, together with the opening and resources of new offices in Brisbane and Sydney, will contribute to building our national brand.”

Heylen concluded: “The Prospect Awards fill an important role in helping companies that contribute to the mining industry and recognises them in a significant forum. I think this is fantastic for our industry.” BGC Contracting is sponsoring the Contribution to Mining award.

BGC OPERATING AT THE IRON KNOB MINE.

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PROSPECT AWARDS

FLEXCO CELEBRATES 110TH ANNIVERSARY WITH OPTIMISM The positivity seen in late 2016 has continued into 2017, and for Flexco, it has been an excellent start to the year with some early successes setting the scene for a strong year. Flexco managing director Mark Colbourn notes the market optimism and positivity increasing over the past year and into 2017. “Operations are focusing on improving productivity with current assets; as a company, we are concentrating on making our customers more efficient and reducing their downtime,” Colbourn said. It is a special year for Flexco in 2017, with the company celebrating its 110th anniversary. Flexco was established on March 27 1907 in Illinois, the United States, with the

company celebrating the milestone at its operations all around the world. Throughout 2016 Flexco had some great wins, most notably the installation of the company’s Tasman Warajay Technology (TWT) transfer chutes into an iron ore facility in Port Hedland. Flexco WA sales manager Adam Wright said the project was not only very important to the company but also an exciting opportunity. “This was an exciting project for Flexco as these chutes were the first TWT chutes into the iron ore market. The results have been extremely positive, with flow rates increasing and no reported blockages,” Wright said. “The success of this project has created further opportunities in

2017 that we are very much looking forward to.” To Flexco, customer support is paramount and remains a strong focus in 2017. The company has an Australia-wide team of field support representatives who have extensive field experience and technical knowledge of the conveyor and its systems. “We view ourselves as more than a manufacturer of products, but rather as a provider of belt conveyor solutions and more and more frequently we see the need for custom solutions and innovation,” Colbourn said. “With a strong team of engineers and heavy-duty field specialists, coupled with our ability to design in-house and manufacture products

FLEXCO HEAVY-DUTY FIELD SPECIALIST JASON COE (CENTRE), CONDUCTS A FULL BELT CONVEYOR ASSESSMENT ONSITE IN THE PILBARA.

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in our Australian manufacturing facilities, we are constantly adapting and providing custom solutions to solve issues for our customers onsite quickly.” Flexco is pleased to be partnering with Australian Mining for the Prospect Awards in 2017. The company values the sharing of best practices for positive industry growth. “It is important for the industry to recognise excellence and reward innovation,” Colbourn said. Flexco is sponsoring the Excellence in Mine Safety, OH&S category

PROSPECT AWARDS

SEW-EURODRIVE LEADS SUPPLY TO AUSTRALIA’S COAL INDUSTRY As a key supplier to the coal mining and mining industry at large, SEWEurodrive believes in quality and efficiency when it comes to drive technology. Supplying a range of industrial gear units and complete engineered drive solutions for especially large torque and arduous requirements, the company delivers more than just a product to the industry. A team of talented engineers develop effective and timely solutions based on customers’ drive specifications, which are backed by after-sales commissioning and product support. SEW-Eurodrive also understands that time —or more importantly down time—is money, so many units are delivered within a matter

of weeks from local assembly plants, rather than waiting months for items to be shipped from overseas. The company has invested heavily in local facilities with the objective to better support the Australian mining industry with all its gear drive needs. These investments include the company’s 10,000-square-metre heavy industrial solutions division in Tullamarine. SEW-Eurodrive stocks (and assembles to order) Australia’s most extensive range of helical and bevel gear components sourced from our sister companies in Germany and Finland at the facility. In addition, SEW-Eurodrive engineers and supplies complete drive packages to combine these

SEW gear units with motors (up to multi MW), couplings, brakes and other ancillary items. SEW-Eurodrive also opened a state-of-the-art service centre in Mackay in March 2017 to better support gear drive customers in the Queensland city and the surrounding region. The coal mining industry is one of Australia’s strongest assets. As the world’s greatest exporter of coal, Australia can be thankful for an industry that has given us global recognition. SEW-Eurodrive takes great pride in sponsoring Australian Mining’s coal mine of the year award, which the company hopes in turn encourages organisations in an industry which has greatly

NOMINATE FOR THE 2017 PROSPECT AWARDS Nominations for the 2017 Australian Mining Prospect Awards are open. Launched in 2004, the Prospect Awards has become the most esteemed and prestigious awards program for the mining and minerals processing industry in Australia. Now in its 14th year, the awards continue to be the premier event for the mining sector. The mining industry in Australia remains vibrant and innovative despite a challenging market environment, and the Australian Mining Prospect Awards have been the only national awards program to stop, take a look at what the mining industry is doing, and reward those who are excelling and going above and beyond, recognising and rewarding innovation. This year’s ceremony will be held at the Ivy in Sydney on Thursday October 26, with industry leaders, management and staff from mining companies throughout the country attending to honour the achievements in the sector over the past year. For the full list of categories and to enter, visit: prospectawards. com.au/nominations/ Early bird tickets to attend the event are on sale $165+GST or $1,500+GST for 10.

A SEW EURODRIVE FACILITY.

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supported it over time. The company hopes the award goes to a fitting recipient to provide them with the acknowledgment they deserve for making such a strong contribution to Australian industry. SEW-Eurodrive looks forward to maintaining ongoing partnerships with all forms of mining, now and into the future. SEW-Eurodrive is sponsoring the Coal Mine of the Year category

PRODUCT FOCUS: CRANES AND LIFTING

LIFTING MADE SAFER MHE-DEMAG MANAGING DIRECTOR VINCE DI COSTANZO DISCUSSES THE COMPANY’S MATERIAL HANDLING EQUIPMENT FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY.

HE-Demag Australia has been involved in the design, planning, manufacturing, installation, troubleshooting and service of a range of material handling systems and equipment for more than 50 years. The company’s managing director Vince Di Costanzo said innovation was one of the key strengths MHEDemag brought to the mining industry. “We deliver material handling equipment with the latest control technology, including integration with existing equipment and semi automation solutions,” he told Australian Mining. Di Constanzo added that MHEDemag also installed new control technologies on older mechanical systems to increase their efficiency. Cranes are one of the major material handling products the company manufactures and Di Costanzo said one of the key trends was making these cranes lighter and more efficient. “The world is changing with

technology. It happens to all the industries, including the material handling sector,” he said. “One of the upcoming trends is delivering cranes with reduced size and deadweight for the same lifting capacity, allowing customers to reduce the costs of supporting structures and associated maintenance for dragging unnecessary dead loads around.” The company specialises in refurbishing existing material handling equipment to boost efficiency. Di Costanzo said on top of new cranes, there was an increasing demand for the refurbishment of existing cranes to help operators save costs. Amid the mining downturn, Di Costanzo added that MHE-Demag, like many others in the industry, felt the effect of reduced capital. He said the company was able to restore equipment at reduced costs and return it to as good, or even better, condition – further minimising operating costs. However, over the last six months, Di Costanzo observed a slight upturn in the mining industry AUSTRALIANMINING

which had lifted demand for the company’s cranes. “We are seeing the increased requests for equipment sales and service, and a particularly significant increment in requests to refurbish older existing equipment,” he said.

Explosion proof range

With the improving optimism in the mining industry, the company is expanding its product range for Australia. Di Constanzo said it was continuing to introduce a wider product range, particularly of explosion-proof material handling equipment. He added that the mining, oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical industries are known to be explosive environments and it is important that workers in these environments adopt explosion-proof equipment to ensure their safety. “Sparks in industrial environments can lead to explosions and these can be caused by the malfunction of material handling components, such as a short circuit in the electrical boxes or gearboxes, or

APRIL 2017

friction between steel parts,” Di Costanzo said. “Defective or poorly designed machines such as cranes and hoists can create sparks through friction or from being overloaded. “An overloaded crane can also potentially break its lattice boom, hook or hoist boom, creating a spark that can ignite an explosion and endanger workers.” To decrease the risk of sparks and to prevent blasts, equipment used in industrial environments need to be certified as explosion-proof. MHE-Demag equipment is ATEX (Atmosphères Explosibles) and IECEx (International Electrotechnical Commission standards for explosion proof equipment) certified to reduce the risk of explosions. The company’s explosion protected products include cranes, hoists and other lifting equipment, as well fully integrated custom panels, electrical control panels, circuit breaker panels, plugs and receptacles, terminal boxes, cameras, human machine interfaces (HMI), horns and strobes and helidecks.

PRODUCT FOCUS: CRANES AND LIFTING

The explosion-proof cranes minimise the risk of overloading and materials falling through their twospeed control via inverter control for trolley and bridge motion, allowing smooth and precise operations. The MHE-Demag series of hoists are available for capacities between 1.6 tonnes and 20 tonnes with standard or low headroom designs, and up to 100 tonnes as a footmounted hoist. The explosion-proof winch series covers heavy lifting capacities up to 180 tonnes and the explosion-proof air hoists offer lifting capacities from 125kg for general workshops to 100 tonnes for offshore applications. The company’s explosion proof portfolio is also flame proof for increased safety.

Crane safety on site

Di Costanzo said it was imperative that cranes are used on site to improve worker safety. “Many processes in the mining industry place workers at risk in hazardous environments,” he said. “The use of cranes to reduce these

risks is becoming more frequent, for instance, to reduce personal safety risks, such as back injuries from repetitive lifting.” He said the Demag KBK Systems & Jib Cranes minimised operator fatigue with semi-automation of particular cranes in some repeating processes. Maintenance and servicing are also important for ensuring safety on site and Demag’s latest Engineered Service program is able to conduct a rigorous assessment of the condition and application of equipment. The program is comprised of a customised service plan that satisfies both OEM requirements and Australian Standards without relying on “cookie-cutter” templates that may inflate service costs of customer’s equipment. “We define a Maintenance Agreement scope based on a consultation process that is risk mitigated by configuring it in relation to actual usage and duty cycle, location, installation and operating environment, as well as OEM requirements, Australian Standards and applicable legislation,” Di Costanzo said. The program also provides

transparency in all aspects of the program delivery, from detailed quotations and invoices to cost-ofmaintenance at the equipment level. It provides real-time reporting and will soon include real-time predictive maintenance tools that will further reduce unexpected and unplanned repairs and associated downtime. In addition, the company’s consultative risk mitigation assessment of routine inspection plans; the quality and scope of its reporting tools; and the fully consultative review it delivers to customers after each service visit; highlight all safety issues identified during the service – helping operators monitor the health of their equipment.

Where to next?

Di Costanzo called 2017 a good year for MHE-Demag. It is currently supplying its products and services to projects in the manufacturing and handling of aluminium, which Di Costanzo said was “very encouraging” given the recent downturn. “Many of these projects are to do with refurbishment of installed equipment, which provides a better return by having only the

MHE-DEMAG BALANCES OPERATOR REQUIREMENTS AND BUSINESS OBJECTIVES TO DELIVER THE RIGHT CRANE FOR THE JOB

AUSTRALIANMINING

MHE-DEMAG MANAGING DIRECTOR VINCE DI COSTANZO

APRIL 2017

refurbishment cost to recover, rather than the complete replacement costs,” he said. Di Costanzo added that the company is focusing on expanding its product range which he believed would create a more “vibrant business environment” over the coming years. AM

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

RPM LAUNCHES IMPROVED MINE SIMULATION SOFTWARE RungePincockMinarco (RPM) has released the Haulsim 2.3 mine simulation software, and provided live demonstrations of the system at this year’s 2017 SME annual conference in Denver, Colorado. Version 2.3 enables users to produce more comprehensive and extended reports through detailed Pivot Grid reporting in the experimenter. This provides the end user greater visibility and advanced analytics of the direct impact of equipment changes to the bottom line. Simulation product manager, Adam Price, said, “Most haulage software does a calculation where as Haulsim does a full discrete event simulation. “Having a discrete event simulation engine at its core means that Haulsim works differently from other ‘deterministic’ mine haulage modelling tools. With this release, users can easily identify queuing and vehicle interactions as a result of more complex reporting capabilities.” The system’s reporting enhancement was developed in partnership with the RPM consulting group and has already been used to help identify bottlenecks at a number of mine sites. Additional features of the system include improvements to ‘grouping’ functionality. Changes made to the way that equipment is grouped makes it quicker and easier to quantify the impact operational decisions like ‘hot-

MAGNETIC CABLE HOOKS FOR GREATER SAFETY Adept Direct has released a heavy duty cable magnetic holder for hanging hoses, cables, power leads and pneumatic lines. The magnetic cable hook can be easily attached to any steel surface (sheds, fencing or frames) using large round zinc plated 25kg magnet. The non-conductive, high visibility, HDPE strap is simply looped under any hose, lead or cable and clipped up into the top locking mechanism. The cable hook can be quickly detached and moved into any area that requires cable holders. It does not require any tools or any screws to undo; operators can just slide the cable magnet sideways and reinstall it into the new location, making it safe, easy and secure. The magnetic cable hook has the dimensions 120mm x 250mm. • Adept Direct www.adeptdirect.com.au

seating’ and ‘staggering start times’. Another enhanced feature is an updated equipment library. The Haulsim equipment library contains the latest in published data, enabling users to draw upon the most up to date equipment information directly from manufacturers to calculate the speeds that equipment travel in the model.

Leveraging industry leading simulation technology, the system integrates real-world data to empower users to optimise its mine fleet outcomes. • Runge Pincock Minarco (02) 8248 1500 www.rpmglobal.com

CHLORINE ANALYSER FOR WATER MONITORING Electro-Chemical Devices has released the plug-and-play TC-80 Total Chlorine Analyser, for simplified water monitoring and treatment processes, easy installation and less maintenance for lower ownership costs. The analyser monitors total chlorine in drinking water, rinse water, cooling water or other fresh water samples from 0.05-20ppm chlorine as the standard range or 0.005-2.000ppm with the low range sensor. Its plug-n-play design installs quickly right out of the box. It has an advanced panel mount design includes built-in flow control, which eliminates the need for complicated pressure regulators and rotameters. Built-in automatic pH compensation also eliminates the need for expensive reagents to reduce maintenance and life-cycle costs. The analyser features a panel mount design that incorporates a constant head flow control device, a pH sensor, a chlorine sensor and ECD’s T80 analyser/transmitter conveniently mounted on a PVC panel. Connect the sample and drain lines, next connect the power and outputs, and the TC80 is ready to use. It is calibrated at the factory before shipment, which is accomplished by DPD comparison. It is available with either 110-240VAC or 24VDC power and graphically displays both the Total Chlorine and pH allowing for easy trend analysis. The standard configuration has two 4-20mA outputs and three alarm relays. As for cleaning, the analyser is available with an Auto Clean option that includes a solenoid actuated spray cleaner using either 30psi process water or air. An easily adjusted timer controls the period and duration of the cleaning cycle. • AMS Instrumentation & Calibration (03) 9017 8225 www.ams.ic.com.au AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

SUPERIOR INDUSTRIES DEBUT LATEST BELT CLEANER AT CONEXPO Bulk material processing and handling system supplier Superior Industries debuted its Exterra Secondary Belt Clesaner at this year’s CONEXPO in Las Vegas, Nevada. This latest model is an expansion of its line of Exterra Belt Cleaners and is designed for quick, straightforward conveyor installations. Segmented into 3-inch urethane chunks with tungsten carbide tops, the belt cleaner’s blade is engineered for long life and efficient material shedding. Its design allows the blade segments to individually conform to the belt for effective cleaning. Additionally, the cleaner’s blade angle is adjustable to accommodate mechanical and vulcanised splices. The Secondary Belt Cleaner is designed for belt widths of 18”-72” (457 mm - 1828 mm) and belt speeds up to 1,000 FPM (5.1 m/sec). It was debuted alongside a number of new equipment from the company. • Superior Industries +1 (302) 589 2406 www.superior-ind.com

CHICAGO PNEUMATIC ADDS TWO MODELS TO ITS MID-SIZE PLATE COMPACTOR RANGE

International construction equipment manufacturer Chicago Pneumatic has expanded its midsize light compaction range with the addition of two new reversible plate compactors. Designed primarily for compaction of granular soils, the new MV164 and MV174 models are suitable for operation in confined areas and trenching duties, either to complement or provide an alternative to drum roller machines. The company’s spokesperson for light compaction equipment, Andrzej Mrozinski, said the two additions were developed with maximum productivity and user-friendly operation in mind. They provide reliable compaction power and speed in either direction. To aid productivity on site, operators can back out of a trench while still compacting. They can also change operation

direction using the vibration dampened handle. Both models offer power and reliability from their manual start engine units. The MV164 features a 3.6 kW Honda GX 160 petrol engine, while the MV174 is powered by a Hatz 1B20 diesel engine that produces 3.1 kW. Both machines can achieve a maximum forward speed of 22 m/min. The compactors’ durability is enhanced by a 450 mm wide bottom plate made from Hardox 400 steel, designed for intensive usage and extremely resistant to wear and tear. In addition, the new design incorporates a hinged protective hood that provides easy access to the fuel tank. The hood also incorporates a foldable lifting eye to aid movement both on and between work sites. The hydraulic pump is strategically located to reduce the risk of impact damage and accessories for the compactors include a wheeled transport device and block paving kit. • Chicago Pneumatic www.cp.com

INDUSTRIAL GRADE PANEL PC’S RELEASED Backplane Systems Technology has released Aplex Technology’s ViTAM Series of industrial grade panel PC’s. The ViTAM Series is a multi platform based PC. It uses ARM and X86 based processors including the Intel Atom and Intel 6th generation iCore series. With a wide range of screen sizes available from 10.1” to 24” screens – there are screens available to suit a range of industrial applications. The systems feature a rugged design with an IP66/IP69K rated stainless steel enclosure allowing them to withstand temperatures from -20°C to +60°C. They are also able to withstand being hosed by high pressure water. The ViTAM screen uses an optical bonding LCD with anti-reflection technology; suitable for use in sunlight or other areas where bright light can affect a screen’s readability. It also has high brightness up to 1,000 nits for environments where harsh daylight is an issue. The series is based on a modular design that allows different modules to be added to the system, including CAM, PoE, RFID and WIFI/Bluetooth. They also feature robust M12 connection for GbE, USB and Power Input. • Backplane Systems Technology (02) 9457 6400 www.backplane.com.au

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

EVENTS XXX PRODUCT SHOWCASE

CONFERENCES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS EVENT SUBMISSIONS CAN BE EMAILED TO EDITOR@AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU

2017 NSW MINERALS COUNCIL EXPLORATION FORUM MAY 8 2017 NSW PARLIAMENT HOUSE, SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES This year’s NSW Minerals Council Exploration Forum: ‘The Rocks and Beyond’: Compliance, land access and exploration success. It will focus on regulatory compliance, case studies, community engagement and environment management. The forum will also feature presentations on leading industry practices and will provide government policy updates for delegates to remain up to date on exploration issues. •2017 NSW Minerals Council Exploration Forum (02) 9274 1400 www.nswmining.com.au

8TH WORLD CONFERENCE ON SAMPLING AND BLENDING MAY 9-11 PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Organised by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

AUSTRALIAN MINING BRINGS YOU THE LATEST EVENTS IN THE MINING CALENDAR

(AusIMM) together with the CSIRO, the conference follows other successful events held in Denmark, Brazil and South Africa. It will be combined with the Australian sampling conference which is traditionally held every two years. The event will bring together engineers, metallurgists, geologists, samplers, consultants and managers involved in all aspects of blending and sampling in the mineral, pharmaceutical, agricultural and recycling industries. It will provide an opportunity for delegates to network, share ideas, and keep up to date with the latest developments in sampling, sample preparation and blending of a variety of commodities. •8th World Conference on Sampling and Blending (03) 9658 6105 www.wcsb8.com CONFERENCES ARE A GREAT WAY TO GAIN UP TO DATE INSIGHTS INTO THE MINING INDUSTRY

RIU RESOURCES ROUNDUP MAY 10-11 SOFITEL SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES The 14th annual Sydney Resources Roundup provides a platform for Australia’s miners and explorers to present the progress and latest developments their companies have made. Companies will also provide an outlook of their strategies over the coming years. The conference also provides an opportunity for investors and stock brokers to develop new relationships with resources companies. •RIU Resources Roundup +61 (08) 9388 2222 www.riuconferences.com.au

2017 APPEA CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION MAY 14-17 PERTH CONVENTION AND EXHIBITION CENTRE, WESTERN AUSTRALIA The Australian Petroleum & Exploration Association’s (APEA) conference and exhibition is the largest annual upstream oil and gas conference in the southern hemisphere. It will bring together delegates both nationally and internationally, providing a series of case study presentations, panel discussions and technical updates on the issues and challenges of petroleum exploration and development.

AUSTRALIANMINING

APRIL 2017

The three-day conference and exhibition will feature more than 100 speeches and presentations on topics including energy and climate policies, unconventional gas as well as updates from regulators. •2017 APPEA Conference and Exhibition +61 (02) 3231 0510 www.appeaconference.com.au

ALTA 2017 NICKELCOBALT-COPPER, URANIUM-REE & GOLDPM CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION MAY 20-27 PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA Organised by ALTA Metallurgical Services, the conference and exhibition will feature programs, forums, presentations by international speakers on the global nickel, cobalt, copper, uranium and gold industries. It is comprised of three technical conferences, three practically oriented short courses, social functions and an international trade exhibition. It will exhibit the latest developments in process technology, plant operations, process modelling and control systems. •ALTA 2017 Nickel-Cobalt-Copper, Uranium-REE & Gold-PM Conference & Exhibition +61 (0) 411 692 442 www.altamet.com.au/conferences/ alta-2017

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Low-cost level measurement. Radar sensor for water management. Reliable level measurement in water treatment facilities, pump stations and rain overflow basins. Open channel flow measurement and water level monitoring.

VEGAPULS WL S 61 ▪ Measuring range up to 8 m

▪ Can be used outdoors without restriction ▪ Flood-proof IP 68 housing

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Further information: www.vega.com/wls61

Phone 1800 817 135