Australian Mining Apr 2022

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK COMMODITY SPOTLIGHT VOLUME 114/3 | APRIL 2022

DIGITAL MINING

TRUST THE PROCESS SHINING A LIGHT ON MINERAL PROCESSING

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COMMENT

SEPARATING THE GOOD FROM THE NOT AS GOOD IT SEEMS AN OBVIOUS THING TO SAY, BUT MINING IS A MANY-TIERED PROCESS. EXTRACTING THE PRECIOUS METALS AND ORES FROM THE GROUND IS JUST ONE STEP IN THE MINING VALUE CHAIN.

PAUL HAYES paul.hayes@primecreative.com.au

F

rom production to crushing and screening to mineral transportation and beyond, the mining industry embodies an expansive journey involving a seemingly endless series of people, equipment and expertise.

A critical cog in this cycle is mineral processing. Whatever’s extracted from the ground doesn’t become what it needs to be on its own, and without processing and beneficiation all that digging would be wasted time.

That’s why this issue of Australian Mining is shining a light on mineral processing, looking at some of the evolving methods, new technologies and developing equipment that are advancing this vital aspect of the industry.

We examine innovative and improved equipment like apron feeders and vibrating screens, new products that can help keep processing equipment in the best possible condition for a long on-site life, and new technologies such as automation that can help to make material characterisation safer and more efficient than ever before.

Elsewhere in this issue, environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices take centre stage in the first of a three-part Australian Mining series breaking down Deloitte’s Tracking the Trends 2022 report.

The first instalment examines how miners can utilise ESG as a means to create value in the resources sector, with leading experts providing their thoughts on key areas.

But it’s also important to remember that ESG not limited to ‘environmental’, and that is something Kal Tire has really wrapped its arms around.

The tyre services company’s managing director discusses how the organisation is constantly taking steps in developing its social and governance practices to create a safe and appealing workplace.

Looking at some commodities, increased activity in Queensland’s Bowen Basin shows there is definitely plenty of life left Australian coal, the chief executive officer of Liontown Resources explains how the company is setting itself up to be a big lithium player with the Tier 1 potential of its Kathleen Valley project, and we ask the question: is Australia about to go platinum?

As the COVID pandemic starts to (somewhat) recede and restrictions are wound back in many parts of the country, in-person events are back on the agenda – and the 2022 Women in Industry Awards taking place in April are a perfect example.

Ahead of the presentation, we speak to several of the finalists, each of whom represents some of the outstanding success achieved by women in traditionally maledominated industries, including mining, road transport, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, bulk handling, waste management, rail and infrastructure.

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

Paul Hayes Editor

FRONT COVER

Over the last few years, First Quantum Minerals Limited has commissioned some of the largest mineral processing equipment ever built.

To help increase production at its Cobre Panama mine from 85Mtpa to 100Mtpa, the company engaged vibrating equipment specialist Schenck Process to deliver three of the largest banana scalping screens ever produced.

These 85-tonne machines were designed and built at Schenck Process’ production facility in WA and will handle 8000tph.

This month’s cover image shows the first of these ‘mega’ screens being lifted onto its isolation frame in preparation for testing.

Cover image: Schenck Process

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IN INTHIS THISISSUE ISSUE

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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

Tracking the value in ESG The first in a three-part series inspired

by Deloitte’s Tracking the Trends 2022 report.

46 46

COMMODITY SPOTLIGHT

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

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Is Australia about to go platinum?

A closer look at Australia’s first platinum group elements industry.

Lithium’s next roaring success story The rise of Liontown has been one of honesty, studiousness and discipline.

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

The coal capital of Queensland Operations in the Bowen Basin continue to perform.

ESG

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MINERAL PROCESSING

Where financial and sustainability overlap FLSmidth explains the benefits of upgrading thickeners at one of Australia’s largest gold producers.

GOLD INDUSTRY GROUP

Setting the gold standard A focus on the first female CEO in the Perth Mint’s 123 years of operation.

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FLEET MANAGEMENT

Streamlining fleet solutions Aeroklas Australia can manage the entire build of the vehicle.

MINING SERVICES

Glencore challenging the status quo The major miner looks to improve its current underground utility fleet at Mount Isa Mines.

A M S

TECHNOLOGY

Injecting value into mining Air Liquide gas injection technology improves sustainability and processes.

REGULARS

INNOVATION

3 COMMENT

McLanahan provides support to remote projects Turning a logistical challenge into another successful project.

6–16 NEWS 72–73 PRODUCTS 78 EVENTS

Embracing the ESG opportunity Kal Tire’s ongoing efforts to be a responsible employer of choice.

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NEWS

THE LATEST MINING AND SAFETY NEWS AUSTRALIAN MINING PRESENTS THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE BOARDROOM TO THE MINE AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN. VISIT WWW.AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING. BHP GETS IRON ORE VESSEL MOVING BHP’s world-first LNG-fuelled Newcastlemax bulk carrier has set sail between WA and Asia.

On its maiden voyage, MV Mount Tourmaline arrived at Jurong Port

in Singapore for its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering operation, taking place through the FueLNG Bellina, the first LNG bunker vessel in Singapore.

THE LNG-FUELLED NEWCASTLEMAX BULK CARRIER MOUNT TOURMALINE

FueLNG, a joint venture between Shell Eastern Petroleum and Keppel Offshore & Marine, operates the bunker vessel.

BHP awarded Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) a five-year contract for five LNG-fuelled Newcastlemax bulk carriers in September 2020, and awarded the LNG fuel contract to Shell in December 2020 “These dual-fuel LNG Newcastlemax vessels are a world’s first, but more importantly, they represent a culture shift in shipping and mining,” EPS chief executive officer Cyril Ducau said.

“These ships tell both industries that significant carbon-emission reduction is available today and necessary to implement, as we work towards net-zero solutions.

EPS would like to congratulate BHP, FueLNG, MPA, and Shell for being leaders in the decarbonisation movement.”

After LNG bunkering, the 209,000-deadweight tonne vessel will leave for Port Hedland in WA for iron ore loading operations.

“BHP works with our suppliers to embed innovative and sustainable solutions in our supply chain,” BHP chief commercial officer Vandita Pant said.

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“This vessel delivers significant improvements to energy efficiency and emissions intensity, as well as reduced overall GHG emissions in our value chain.

“These LNG-fuelled vessels are expected to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions intensity by more than 30 per cent on a per-voyage basis compared to a conventional fuelled voyage and will contribute towards our 2030 goal to support 40 per cent emissions intensity reduction of BHP-chartered shipping of our products.”

GOLDING AND SIMEC AGREE TO $600M DEAL NRW Holdings’ wholly-owned subsidiary Golding Contractors has signed a three-year contract extension worth approximately $600 million with OneSteel Manufacturing trading as SIMEC Mining.

The mining services agreement will be extended until January 31, 2025, with an option for SIMEC to extend the contract for a further three years.

“This extended agreement is particularly pleasing as an example of a Golding team working closely with our client to

generate sustained cost-effective solutions,” NRW chief executive officer and managing director Jules Pemberton said.

Golding will continue to provide mine planning, load and haul, and maintenance services at the South Middleback Ranges and Iron Baron mining area in South Australia, as well as the recommencement of a third mining area at Iron Knob.

The 10 million tonne-perannum iron ore mine in the Middleback Ranges is owned

by SIMEC, which mines both AUSTRALIANMINING

hematite and magnetite iron ore.

Total reserves and resources come in at just under half a billion tonnes.

Golding will also employ approximately 600 people at the mines, most of whom live in the Whyalla district of South Australia or in the Adelaide region.

NRW is a leading provider of diversified contract services to the resources and infrastructure sectors in Australia.

These services encompass civil construction, including bulk earthworks, road and rail

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construction, and concrete installation, together with contract mining and drill and blast services through NRW Civil & Mining, Golding Contractors and Action Drill & Blast.

Golding delivers a full range of open-cut mining services in the mining sector, spanning the entire mine development and operations.

Golding also offers specialist mine site rehabilitation works, including environmental dam construction and reclamation earthworks.

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NEWS

FORTESCUE PLANS UNRIVALLED RENEWABLES HUB THE HUB WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR POWERING FORTESCUE’S PILBARA MINING OPERATIONS.

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) has proposed to construct a 5.4 gigawatt (GW) renewable energy hub in the Pilbara region of Western Australia to fulfil its net-zero promise by 2030.

Fortescue subsidiary Pilbara Energy submitted a proposal for the Uaroo Renewable Energy Hub to the state’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), asking for a development area of 61,525 hectares.

The project would be located 120 kilometres south of Onslow and 170 kilometres west of Fortescue’s Eliwana iron ore mine.

Fortescue’s Pilbara mining operations,regardless of the weather conditions.

“The proposal has been scaled to supply FMG mining operations and with consideration for the intermittency of wind and solar power generation – that is, the variability of wind speed and the restriction of solar power generation to daylight hours,” the proposal stated, The wind turbines are expected to generate peak power around 40 per cent of the time and the solar farm for 30 per cent.

The project would include up to 340 wind turbines, a solar farm and a battery energy storage system with associated infrastructure.

A temporary construction camp would also be included with a capacity of 1600 people, while the hub’s operational workforce would include up to 100 people.

Construction of the Uaroo Renewable Energy Hub is hoped to be complete over a seven-year timeframe once the appropriate approvals are received.

The proposal said the hub would be sufficient for powering

This will allow Fortescue to reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions from its mining operations by at least 1.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions or equivalents each year – displacing diesel and gas-fired power.

Fortescue’s proposal hoped this plan would inspire others to implement similar solutions, as they too target net-zero operations.

“The proposal will demonstrate the viability of zero-carbon technologies in fuelling commercialscale operations and will encourage other proponents to follow suit,” it stated.

THIESS LOCKS IN $1.5B AT OLIVE DOWNS Pembroke Resources has awarded Thiess a contract for the provision of mining services at its Olive Downs coking coal complex in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

The eight-year contract is expected to produce $1.5 billion in revenue for Thiess over the first five years, with revenue beyond this term to be finalised.

“We’re pleased to be working in partnership with Pembroke, tailoring our mine development capability, technology focus and ESG (environmental, social and governance) credentials to optimise

the outcomes for the production of steelmaking coal from Olive Downs,” Thiess executive chairman and chief executive officer Michael Wright said.

“Pembroke and Thiess share a view of Olive Downs being a world-class mine that sets global benchmarks in sustainable mining, using technology to drive exceptional outcomes.”

Thiess will deliver full-service mining operations, including mine planning, overburden removal, drill and blast, load and haul, water management and rehabilitation of

final landforms at Olive Downs.

This includes the construction of mine infrastructure, providing all mobile plant and equipment, as well as the statutory operator for the project.

Thiess executive general manager Australia Shaun Newberry said the company was well placed to best serve Pembroke, using its intimate knowledge of the region.

“We have a long history operating in the Bowen Basin, applying our technical knowledge and operational experience to minimise environmental impacts and maximise

AUSTRALIANMINING

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benefits for our client and the community,” Newberry said.

“We look forward to working with Pembroke and surrounding communities to achieve long-term social, environmental and economic outcomes.”

This announcement follows two mining services worth $200 million that were awarded to Thiess in December 2021 from BHP Mitsubishi Alliance and Austral Resources.

Thiess will commence operations at Olive Downs in the first half of 2023, subject to the finalisation of contracts.

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NEWS

IRON ORE SETS NEW EXPORT REVENUE RECORD Australian resources export revenue reached a new record high of $351 billion in 2021, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The record shows a 21 per cent increase from the previous high set in 2019, with resources contributing 68 per cent of total Australian export revenue.

Iron ore was the highest contributing resource with $154.2 billion, up 32 per cent from 2020, to set a record high. Coal contributed $62 billion, up 43 per cent from 2020, with aluminium (including alumina and bauxite) adding $13.7 billion, up 15 per cent from 2020.

Copper (metal and concentrates) added $12.1 billion, up 14 per cent from 2020 and a new record high, while gold contributed $25.9 billion.

Federal Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt said the latest monthly figures showed Australia’s resource and energy exports continue to surge in record territory.

“It is important to thank the men and women in our resources and energy sector for their stellar work in ensuring our valuable commodities are meeting global demand,” Pitt said. “These export earnings continue to create and sustain jobs for Australians, particularly in regional areas.

“Resources remain far and away Australia’s biggest export earner and continue to underpin the strength of the national economy.

“The outlook for our resources and energy sector continues to be positive as global demand for Australian resources remains strong, particularly for our coal and gas.”

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive officer Tania Constable said the record growth demonstrated the importance of the mining industry to Australia’s economy.

“This incredible growth in revenue has also delivered Australia its largest ever trade surplus ($123 billion) during the COVID-19 pandemic, at

IRON ORE WAS THE HIGHEST CONTRIBUTING RESOURCE WITH $154.2 BILLION.

a time when it needed economic stimulus the most,” Constable said.

“Ongoing demand for resources is driving the 258,000 direct mining jobs, with significant benefits flowing to all of Australia and particularly regional communities.

“Australia is proving again how its highly-skilled, innovative mining workforce is competitively supplying the minerals for the future.”

However, Constable added it was important not to take the positive trade figures for granted.

“More must be done to attract the investment needed for new projects in Australia to meet growing world demand for minerals for everyday living and to drive the energy transition to net zero emissions,” she said.

“Over a decade ago, the investment phase of the mining boom underpinned the nation’s rebound from the Global Financial Crisis with over $370 billion spent in the five years to 2014 developing new resources projects and building critical infrastructure in regional areas.”

Constable said while Australia had significant endowments of copper, lithium, nickel, gold and rare earth elements, it is important to note that developing these deposits into the mines of the future is far from guaranteed.

“Globally competitive tax rates, more workplace flexibility and increased government funding for pre-competitive exploration programs are all essential to mining’s longterm future and Australia’s economic prosperity,” she said.

“And when the mining industry is strong, all Australians benefit.”

MONADELPHOUS’ $400M CONTRACTS COVER ALL BASES Monadelphous has revealed a basket of new contracts in the resources and energy sectors worth about $400 million, including with South32, Newcrest and Codelco.

The engineering company received a 12-month extension to its supply of shutdown and major mechanical services at South32’s Worsley alumina refinery in Collie, Western Australia, where it has worked since 2015.

Newcrest awarded a contract for structural, mechanical, piping and electrical works on the Lihir gold mine front-end recovery project in Papua New Guinea.

Monadelphous managing director Rob Velletri said he was proud of the company’s ability to maintain a strong reputation across sectors and with various clients.

“We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationships with these valued customers and are committed to continuing the provision of high-quality, innovative and safe solutions,” he said.

In Chile, Monadelphous subsidiary Buildtek will provide mine infrastructure maintenance and repairs at the Chuqicamata underground copper mine for three years. It will also maintain AUSTRALIANMINING

the heap leaching process and electrowinning copper extraction plant at the Radomiro Tomic copper mine for five years.

Also in Chile, Buildtek was awarded a contract by Collahuasi Mining Company, owned by Anglo American, Glencore and Japan Collahuasi Resources.

Buildtek will provide modifications to the concentrate distribution system at the Collahuasi Maritime Terminal.

In the energy sector, Monadelphous also won a $150 million contract extension with Woodside Energy to provide

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maintenance, shutdown and brownfields project services at Woodside’s onshore and offshore gas production facilities in Western Australia The contract basket follows a strong 2021 for Monadelphous which saw the company end the year with about 7800 people in its workforce – up around 37 per cent on the previous year.

In 2021, the company’s engineering construction division achieved its highest revenue since 2015, securing new contracts worth about $620 million, including $200 million after June 30.

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RIO TINTO RAMPS UP TASSIE RENEWABLES Rio Tinto has partnered with the Tasmanian Government to investigate the development of new industries and boost the resources sector’s contribution to the state’s economy.

A Memorandum of understanding (MoU) will see Rio and the State Government attempt to decarbonise the Bell Bay aluminium smelter and allow it to feed clean technology industries that require vast amounts of aluminium.

Aluminium is used in a majority of the photovoltaic (PV) components in solar panels, most notably in the frames that hold them together.

By decarbonising Bell Bay, which produces 192,000 tonnes of aluminium per year, Rio can aid in the uptake of solar power globally.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein said both MoU parties recognised the important relationship between Tasmania and the resources sector.

“This MoU is a strong demonstration of our shared commitment to Tasmania’s economic and industrial future and reinforces the state’s renewable energy credentials,” Gutwein said.

“Rio Tinto has been a figurehead of local industry here for some 67 years, directly employing more than 500 Tasmanians and more than 700 indirectly, and this agreement reaffirms Rio Tinto’s long-term commitment to our state.”

In January, Tasmania recorded a fourth consecutive month where the annualised export figures exceeded $4 billion, with 64.1 per cent coming from non-ferrous metals, metallic ores and metal scraps.

RIO TINTO AND THE TASMANIAN GOVERNMENT WILL ATTEMPT TO DECARBONISE THE BELL BAY ALUMINIUM SMELTER.

“These strong results follow data released showing that Tasmania has the fastest growing economy in the nation, with State Final Demand growing 4.2 per cent in the September 2021 quarter,” Tasmanian Trade Minister Guy Barnett said last year.

The Bell Bay aluminium smelter has continued to play its part in, having operated in Tasmania

since 1955, making it the oldest aluminium smelter in the southern hemisphere.

Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jakob Stausholm recognised the importance of aluminium in decarbonising efforts.

“Aluminium is essential for the global transition to a low-carbon economy and we are excited about the contribution our Bell Bay

smelter can make both towards this transition and to the region’s future,” Stausholm said.

“We want to help ensure a strong and vibrant future for Bell Bay, where we have been part of the community for well over half a century and where we are actively working with the Tasmanian Government on a shared vision for the future.”

OZ LINES UP WEST MUSGRAVE WITH EPA APPROVAL OZ Minerals has received Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) approval for its West Musgrave copper-nickel mines in Western Australia, as the company approaches a final investment decision.

The project proposed to develop two deposits (Babel and Nebo) near the intersection of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, 1300 kilometres north-east of Perth.

The operation would have a mine life of 26 years as OZ Minerals seeks to produce about 26,000 tonnes per nickel and 32,000 tonnes of copper per year.

In the company’s quarterly report for December 2021, managing

director and chief executive officer Andrew Cole said the project was increasing in cost as OZ targeted a final investment decision.

“The West Musgrave study progressed well during the year, with many aspects of the project well advanced and technically de-risked. The team continues to work through a range of value opportunities for inclusion into the project base case, albeit we are also seeing capital escalation in a number of areas, with full costings yet to be concluded,” Cole said.

“The project remains on track for a final investment decision in H2 2022; however, uncertainties also remain in relation to ongoing border restrictions, labour AUSTRALIANMINING

availability and the potential impact on project schedule and costs.”

The EPA recommended development of up to 20,852 hectares (ha) with no more than 3830ha of native vegetation cleared.

The recommendation also stated 1.465 billion tonnes of waste rock was suitable for permanent waste rock dumps and a tailings storage facility (or Nebo pit void) would need to contain up to 315 million tonnes (Mt) of tailings.

The project is proposed to be powered by a range of renewable energy sources, as OZ Minerals attempts to operate the site with net-zero emissions by 2040.

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With no emissions mitigation measures, the project would produce about 9.48Mt of Scope 1 carbon emissions over its 26-year life. This is equivalent to 364,675 tonnes per year.

With the proposed mitigation measures of wind turbines, solar power and a battery energy storage system, plus a greenhouse gas management plan, the project will begin operating at 196,500 tonnes of Scope 1 emissions per annum – almost halving the potential for Scope 1 emissions.

From 2033, the project will not produce more than 75,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year, with carbon neutrality projected for 2040.

NEWS

SANDVIK CLOSING IN ON ANOTHER WORLD-FIRST THE TH655B IS EXPECTED TO BE 30 PER CENT FASTER ON A 1:7 RAMP THAN A COMPARABLE DIESEL TRUCK.

Sandvik has almost completed testing the largest battery-electric underground mining truck for use at AngloGold Ashanti’s Sunrise Dam gold mine in Western Australia.

The 65-tonne TH655B prototype will be trialled at Sunrise Dam under an agreement with Barminco and AngloGold Ashanti, before expected commercial production in late-2023.

Sandvik mining and rock solutions president Henrik Ager said this was the natural progression for Sandvik equipment.

“With more than 50 years’ experience in the design and manufacture of underground mining equipment, we’re proud to continue to lead the way in helping customers embrace more sustainable solutions,” Ager said.

“Our 65-tonne battery-electric truck is our latest development in helping mass hard rock miners and contractors to make the shift towards more productive, emissionfree mining.”

The TH655B is expected to be 30

per cent faster on a 1:7 ramp than a comparable diesel truck with an electric drivetrain output of 640kW. The machine follows Sandvik’s introduction of the TH550B 50-tonne BEV, which was unveiled at MINExpo in Las Vegas last September.

The new TH655B takes a similar cabin design as that from the Toro TH663i underground truck, equipped with joystick steering, large touchscreen and new control system for enhanced ergonomics.

This prototype won’t be the first time Sandvik and Barminco have been involved in a world-first, either.

In September 2019, Barminco received the world’s first mobile raise boring machine with back reaming capability – a bespoke edition of Sandvik’s Rhino 100 mobile raise boring machine.

The machine was also deployed at Sunrise Dam and was able to be set up for operation within two hours, instead of the usual three to four days for a conventional machine.

GLENCORE ONE STEP CLOSER TO GLENDELL EXTE Glencore has received New South Wales Department of Planning, Industry and the Environment (DPIE) approval for its Glendell Continued Operations project located in the Upper Hunter Valley of New South Wales.

A final determination on the project will now be made by the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) following its assessment process that will include a public hearing.

The Glendell open-cut coal mine is part of Glencore Coal’s Mount Owen complex at Ravensworth.

The complex contains the Mt Owen, Ravensworth East and Glendell mines, with the integration of these operations enabling all sites to use a single coal handling and

preparation plant (CHPP) as well as infrastructure at the Mt Owen mine.

The Glendell project proposes to continue mining for a further 21 years beyond current approvals to around 2044 on land almost completely owned by Glencore.

The project involves extending the life of the existing operations by establishing a new mining area, the Glendell pit extension, to the north of the current Glendell pit.

Development of the Glendell pit extension would enable the extraction of an additional 135 million tonnes (Mt) of run-of-mine (ROM) coal over the 21 years, at an increased production rate of up to 10 million tonnes per annum.

The project will provide employment opportunities for up to AUSTRALIANMINING

690 personnel and create a further 350 construction jobs.

Glencore has invested more than $15 million in developing the project, and over the past five years has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders on different aspects of the project, including Singleton Council, government agencies, Registered Aboriginal Parties, near neighbours, and the communities of Singleton and Broke.

It will also add $282 million in royalties that help the NSW Government continue to pay the wages of nurses, teachers and police, and to build muchneeded infrastructure.

Public submissions in support of the project commented on the economic benefits, including

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employment generation and the payment of royalties to the NSW Government, as well as the positive social impacts, noting Glencore’s support for local businesses and community organisations.

Those opposed to the project were primarily concerned with the potential impacts on air quality, water resources and amenity impacts, along with broader commentary about the mining industry’s impact on climate change.

The DPIE concluded that Glencore designed the project in a manner that achieves a good balance between maximising the recovery of a coal resource of state significance and minimising the potential environmental impacts.

APRIL 2022

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ILUKA REFINERY TO LEAD THE WESTERN WORLD Iluka Resources has made promising progress towards developing a rare earths refinery in Eneabba, Western Australia, with a government-backed feasibility study expected to be finalised in March.

The company has been stockpiling rare earths monazite and xenotime at a former mining void in Eneabba since the early 1990s and is now working through phase three of a fully integrated refinery.

Phase one began in 2020 when a mixed monazite-zircon concentrate was produced, before phase two

construction began in 2021.

This construction is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2022, as the feasibility study for the refinery’s full integration is completed.

In Iluka’s half-year report, ending December 31 2021, the company emphasised the magnitude of owning such a facility.

“If it existed today, Eneabba phase three would be the only operational refinery of its type in the Western world,” the company stated.

“Phase three presents an

opportunity to establish a strategic processing hub for the further growth of Australia’s rare earths refinery.”

The industry is indeed growing.

Hastings Technology Metals’ Yangibana rare earths project in Western Australia has been recognised by the State Government with a commendation from Premier Mark McGowan.

More recently, Hastings received multiple approvals for Yangibana and a $140 million loan from the government’s Northern Australia

Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).

This kind of positivity has given Iluka managing director Tom O’Leary the confidence to proceed with the Eneabba project.

“Iluka is in discussions with the Australian Government regarding risk-sharing arrangements for a potential phase three at Eneabba,” O’Leary said in the half-year report.

“Growing demand for rare earths in 2021 was reflected in rising prices throughout the year.

“This demand is project to increase markedly in coming years.”

ILUKA HAS BEEN STOCKPILING RARE EARTHS AT A FORMER MINING VOID IN ENEABBA SINCE THE EARLY 1990S.

BHP SHIPS DIRECT TO PILBARA BHP will increase the direct shipping of supplies from Singapore to Port Hedland, providing local business opportunities for Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

BHP has been trialling direct shipping to Port Hedland since 2020 and will now ship 7.5 per cent of the containerised supplies it receives into its Western Australian Iron Ore (WAIO) operations from all over the world through Singapore, directly to Port Hedland.

BHP’s WAIO general manager of port operations Cindy Dunham said since BHP began trialling the transport project, the business has seen safety, cost, efficiency, and environmental improvements.

“This initiative not only improves

efficiency, it also improves safety and environmental outcomes, thereby benefiting the whole community,” Dunham said.

“BHP would like to work with local businesses in Port Hedland to explore opportunities to optimise their own supply chains via this shipping route.

“We are committed to helping develop Port Hedland as a thriving, sustainable place to live.”

Pilbara businesses will be able to benefit from the direct shipping route, through BHP’s freight provider ANL. BHP plans to make this direct route open and available to businesses interested in reducing their transport costs for building AUSTRALIANMINING

supplies and consumer goods.

It is estimated that there will be a six-day reduction in transportation time, and the move will also reduce the greenhouse gas emissions related to the transportation of the re-routed goods into the Pilbara by up to 75 per cent per container.

Before the trial began, BHP supplies for WAIO were shipped to the Port of Fremantle and were then transported 1650 kilometres by road to Port Hedland.

Pilbara Ports Authority chief executive officer Roger Johnston said direct shipping in the Pilbara had grown faster than predicted since the first call in late2020, with benefits to the port, proponents, and the local economy

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already being realised.

“PPA is proud of the work it has done to make direct shipping possible and has already trebled its first port of entry facilities to accommodate growing demand,” Johnston said.

“The service is generating more inbound and outbound freight opportunities, which in turn creates local opportunities for container de-stuffing, warehousing, and distribution.

“A recent report by ACIL Allen estimates the economic benefit of near-port freight efficiencies to be approximately $5 million per annum, while imported cargo freight efficiencies are in the order of $60 million per annum.”

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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

TRACKING THE VALUE IN ESG IN THE FIRST OF A THREE-PART SERIES INSPIRED BY DELOITTE’S TRACKING THE TRENDS 2022 REPORT, AUSTRALIAN MINING EXAMINES THE USE OF ESG AS A MEANS TO CREATE VALUE IN THE RESOURCES SECTOR.

N

ow in its 14th year, Deloitte’s latest Tracking the Trends report delved into the top 10 issues that could shape the mining over the next 12–18 months.

Unsurprisingly, the idea of environment, social and governance (ESG) credentials featured heavily in the report, as mining companies are increasingly reacting to stakeholder influence in the direction and strategy of their businesses.

And while outspoken stakeholders may have posed a headache for executives in the past – conceived as meddling or “woke” – the growing sentiment is that their voices represent an important pillar in the development of modern mining.

With more than 15 years’ experience in the field, Deloitte partner – sustainability Michael Wood is a leader in advising on decarbonisation, climate-related risk, and climate resilience. He said the rewards of taking ESG seriously could transform a business.

“One of the lessons learned that we always start off with our clients is that your first good starting point is to understand your risk profile,” he told Australian Mining.

“But the rewarding thing for mining companies is that once you go into that, there’s a whole plethora

of opportunities that are often untapped.”

SETTING UP SUSTAINABLY

In Trend 1 of the Tracking the Trends report, ‘Aligning capital allocation to ESG’, authors Andrew Swart and Andrew Lane outlined the many ways to create a sustainably advantaged business portfolio.

Swart and Lane stated that a sustainable portfolio would make a company’s intentions clear to the ESG-minded investor.

“As companies move beyond pure reporting of metrics to making ESG an integral part of their strategies, a key differentiator will be the narrative they build for investors around their portfolio and how they are positioning their assets for the long term,” the report stated.

Now that companies are beginning to gain confidence that investors will rally behind strong ESG credentials, these opportunities can arise in all kinds of ways, according to Wood.

“Capital markets are willing to invest into these opportunities, while there’s also an appetite from investors to commit to targets,” he said.

“This allows leaders to gain confidence and start to make their own commitments, but also start to take action, whether that’s through allocating capital or signalling other types of involvement such as AUSTRALIANMINING

partnerships with OEMs or even alliances with competitors.”

This kind of action has been seen in a big way in the mining industry over the past few years.

Major diversified mining groups – some of which consult with Deloitte – have taken the initiative to bring together companies of all sizes to collaborate on clean energy technologies.

For example, the Charge on Innovation Challenge was founded

by BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale, who challenged the industry to find solutions for decarbonisation issues in mining and present them for commercialisation.

The Electric Mine Consortium presents another example of several major miners combining with recognised mining, equipment, technology and services (METS) companies to decarbonise their respective operations.

These kinds of initiatives are what the industry needs, according to Wood, who said miners must focus on two main issues to prove they’re serious about their ESG credentials.

“The first is you need to decarbonise your electrical systems, and then you need to decarbonise the way that you move materials,” he said.

“The first challenge is typically the easier path to solve, given the

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technology is ready and the cost of renewables is already attractive.

“The biggest challenge for this sector is, how do we move material most efficiently and in a less carbonintensive manner?”

To meet this challenge, Wood suggested first understanding the life of a miner’s asset and its equipment and when certain decarbonisation solutions will become commercially and technologically available, if that is not the case already.

ESG CREDENTIALS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT FOR STRONG BUSINESSES.

As companies become known for their ESG credentials, customers in turn become willing to use their products to please the sustainability demands of their own customers.

Wood said the influence of the supply chain was one of the major opportunities to create value from ESG. “It’s not just the mining sector’s responsibility – it’s a whole value chain. If the mining company or companies aren’t aligned to their value chain, they’ll be challenged eventually,” he said.

“The mining sector is honestly quite astute in terms of those risks.

The biggest risk for the sector, though, is that if we don’t understand what those pathways are, there will be a number of opportunities that we’ll miss.”

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These missed opportunities could come in the form of the E, the S and the G, or a mixture of all three, as they are often linked in practice.

Wood recounted a story of a mining companies that failed to consult with Traditional Owners and paid the price by not maximising value from an opportunity.

Deloitte posed questions to the client about historical climatic events, which extend from the typical issues of extreme temperatures, rainfall and flooding – events that can significantly disrupt supply chains.

In analysing how the company was prepared against these kinds of events, questions were asked regarding how performance guidelines were established.

Wood said they were measured on historical observations, but those observations only extended back to

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INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

In Trend 1 of the Deloitte report, Lane discussed that some companies are recognising the financial value of community consultation.

“Beyond energy, it’s likely that some companies will ramp up their community and stakeholder investments,” he said.

“Often, these struggle for equitable assessment through traditional capital-allocation metrics, but some companies are developing methods to quantify these investments, particularly if they help de-risk assets and create deeper buyin from communities.”

DELOITTE PARTNER – SUSTAINABILITY MICHAEL WOOD.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PATHWAYS

Once community consultation is considered and carried out, extra measures can be taken by working with industry experts such as Deloitte.

About five years ago, Wood spearheaded the development of Deloitte’s decarbonisation solutions – a service designed to determine how companies are exposed to climatic IMAGE: DELOITTE.

relatively recent times within the last 100 years.

“The question was, “where was that engagement with Indigenous communities who have had that knowledge of the land for 40,000plus years?” he said.

“These communities could easily tell you that the last one-in-100year event may not be so – it may be more common, or it may be one of their one-in-500-year events that is more catastrophic.

“So that shared knowledge is just a missed opportunity when we limit ourselves to our own observational data.

“We don’t know what we’re missing out on when we don’t engage with the Traditional Owners in a respectful way to extract that information, but also to engage them through that process.”

This consultation process has historically been an issue of compliance and respect for landowners, but another motivator has arisen as ESG matters more and more.

DELOITTE’S TRACKING THE TRENDS 2022 REPORT, FRONT COVER.

AUSTRALIANMINING

risk and inform them of the effects and valuations.

“What we do is we synthesise the latest science, whether that be at a global, regional or local level, and we translate that into the mining sector,” Wood explained.

“We can downscale that to a valuechain level or a specific operating site to determine decarbonisation pathways, but also exposures to physical changes; for example, heat stress and other matters.”

By setting out feasible pathways to decarbonise, companies can avoid the legal and reputational pitfall of greenwashing.

Greenwashing is the concept of claiming to be environmentally sound for the benefit of adhering to decarbonisation regulations and maintaining stakeholder confidence, when a company is in fact not achieving or cannot achieve its own ESG targets.

In Trend 4 of the report, ‘Embedding ESG into organisations’

by Henry Stoch and Harsha Desai of Deloitte Canada and Africa, respectively, the report discussed the risks associated with unachievable ESG goals.

“For ESG commitments to be properly met at the operational level, information must be able to flow freely up and down the organizational structure, rather like through neural pathways,” the report stated.

“Leaders must be able to look into the business and check that the commitments they have made publicly are being understood and reflected in practices below them.”

If this can’t be done, investors and regulators alike will begin to question a company’s authenticity, its reputation and the laws around greenwashing.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has publicly-available guidance on

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greenwashing and the Australian Government has developed its own guidance material on creating achievable goals.

Wood suggested that reputational risks were just the start of the consequences for setting unreasonable climate action targets.

“If those commitments exist, there needs to be defendable evidence as to support a statement. If that doesn’t exist, then greenwashing is a real issue,” he said.

“The litigation pathway and the legal exposure is very real for companies who have set targets or commitments without any reputable background or defendable evidence.”

Of course, no one expects a company to decarbonise overnight, but some proof that the wheels are is in motion must be shown to ensure the long-term reputation of any industry, let alone mining.

And while the Tracking the Trends report only claims to forecast the coming 12–18 months, Patricia Muricy of Deloitte Brazil said the impact of today’s ESG commitments would stretch far beyond next year.

“We know from global climate models what kind of changes will happen over the next 15 years under different scenarios ranging from 6°C to 1.5°C temperature rises,” Muricy said.

“It’s only after 2035 that the trajectory of these models starts to diverge. The trajectory beyond 2035 is uncertain and will be determined by the speed of global decarbonisation.

“Miners therefore need to build a certain level of agility and optionality into their operating plans.”

Ominous, perhaps, but the uncertain nature of the mining industry beyond 2035 only solidifies the fact, as Wood alluded to, that there are plenty of opportunities ahead. AM

INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

TURNING SUSTAINABLE PLEDGES INTO ACTION SETTING GOALS IN SUSTAINABLE MINING IS ONE THING, BUT ENSURING THOSE GOALS HAVE A TANGIBLE PATHWAY TO SUCCEED IS QUITE ANOTHER.

S

ince the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its sixth climate change assessment report in August 2021, mining companies have continued to announce bold new strategies to decarbonise operations and supply chains.

Rio Tinto more than tripled its goals and now aims to reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2030.

Fortescue Metals Group aims to abolish scope 3 carbon emissions by 2040 through various projects with its subsidiary Fortescue Future Industries.

BHP has teamed up with South Korea’s POSCO to explore greenhouse gas emission reduction technologies in integrated steelmaking, as the miner pursues net-zero scope 3 emissions by 2050.

And all of these announcements came in October 2021.

But even the fine print in BHP’s scope 3 emissions reductions plan acknowledges that “‘Goal’ means an ambition to seek an outcome for which there is no current pathway”.

To turn these goals into targets – the latter defined by BHP as having an existing pathway – there are several entities available that specialise in just that.

Data management company acQuire is one such company that supports the industry through environmental compliance and improvement.

Environmental leader at acQuire, Stuart van de Water, said companies shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the task of decarbonising.

“They need to be genuine and empower passionate environmental and sustainability professionals with a budget and a voice within their company to make a real difference,” he told Australian Mining.

“There are so many opportunities to implement even small initiatives that make a big difference because of the scale of the operation.”

While there are large, costly solutions like electric haul trucks and green steelmaking, van de Water emphasises the combined impact of everyday activities.

SUSTAINABLE MINING IS PROGRESSING FROM GOAL TO OUTCOME.

To wrap one’s head around the volume and impact of these activities, acQuire has developed an environmental data management solution called EnviroSys. The program allows companies of varying sizes to efficiently capture, validate, monitor, analyse and report any type of environmental data This data includes air quality, water resources, noise, waste, emissions, soil, land disturbance and rehabilitation activities.

The software fills a hole in wellmeaning companies where passionate environmental professionals need the right tools, according to van de Water.

“An environmental data management system like EnviroSys can absolutely help in this area,” he said.

“This occurs by providing a direct line from obligations, conditions and targets to the data, with full transparency and auditability, minimal manual handling, and instantaneous compliance assessment.”

In this way, acQuire moves businesses beyond mere compliance and into the realm of best practice.

Best practice means recognition, and recognition can mean increased investment and a strong reputation with customers and suppliers.

S&P Global released its Sustainability Yearbook for 2022 in February, recognising the most sustainable companies from the previous year.

ENVIROSYS ENABLES BEST PRACTICE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, COMBINING A RANGE OF DATA.

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As a specialist in business analytics, S&P collated more than 13 million data points from 7554 companies across 61 industries.

Within the metals and mining sector, Rio Tinto, Newmont, Gold Fields, Anglo American and IGO were all recognised for best sustainable practices. Fortescue Metals Group also received a Gold Class Award for its equal-high score in the steel sector.

For companies to prove to shareholders that their words will result in action, van de Water recommends being open and accessible.

“Transparent plans, activities and performance is the key way to do this,” he said. “Regular publishing of results, even live views of measurements and metrics, not just an annual curated ESG report, should be the minimum standard.”

Context is also key, according to the environmental leader. van de Water emphasised the importance of presenting such data in a digestible manner, which is conveniently achieved by EnviroSys. “It’s pointless throwing ESG data into a database and thinking you’re organised. You might as well just be using spreadsheets,” he said.

“You need to know why you’re collecting the data, when it should be collected, what is it telling us, how it will be used, and who needs to use it.

“EnviroSys achieves all these and can be used by different internal and external stakeholders in the information value chain.” AM

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SHINING A LIGHT ON MINING ENGINEERS THE BOARD OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS OF QUEENSLAND IS STRIVING TO IMPROVE THE QUEENSLAND MINING INDUSTRY’S COMPLIANCE WITH THE PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS ACT 2002.

Q

ueensland is at the forefront of engineering standards and safety in Australia.

The state’s engineering industry has been regulated by the Board of Professional Engineers of Queensland (BPEQ) since 1930.

BPEQ is an independent statutory body that safeguards the Queensland public and maintains the professional standards of engineers working across all industries, including mining.

One of BPEQ’s primary responsibilities is to register engineers to practise through the registered professional engineer Queensland (RPEQ) system.

BPEQ chair Andrew Seccombe explained the difference between an engineer and a RPEQ. “To provide professional engineering services (in Queensland), you need to be registered. So that’s RPEQ,” he told Australian Mining. “You can work as an engineer without being a RPEQ yourself, but you have to be mentored and you have to have a direct supervisor who is a RPEQ and takes full professional responsibility for your work.

“Any design, construction, production, operation and maintenance work you do that requires or involves applying engineering principles is considered to be professional engineering.”

Engineering misconduct can have major consequences to health and safety, as well as project integrity, which is what makes registration so critical.

“It’s important to ensure industries understand there’s a difference between a RPEQ and someone that calls themself an ‘engineer’ and is not registered,” he said.

“RPEQs have done certain training and have qualifications, they’ve done a number of years in the industry under direct supervision of a RPEQ, and they’ve been assessed as qualified and competent in engineering.

“RPEQs continue to do development – CPD (continuing professional development) hours – to maintain a professional approach to their work.”

As part of the Professional Engineers Act 2002, engineers must legally be registered as a RPEQ when completing professional engineering services in or for Queensland.

“If you’re caught undertaking professional engineering services (and you are not a RPEQ), you will face prosecution,” Seccombe said.

“Unfortunately, it’s not a happy subject. But it is the law designed to protect the public and that includes people working on mine sites.”

Despite engineers’ importance to mining, the industry does not have the same representation of RPEQs as other sectors.

“To some extent, the mining industry has probably gone under the radar in regard to RPEQs,” Seccombe said.

“There’s always been a very big push towards those industries that have direct impact on the public.

“Those people designing and constructing buildings, bridges and roads, that’s where the bulk of our RPEQs are.

“The mining industry is something that we’re pushing into and my background is in this sector – I’ve been in mining for the last 12 years – so it’s a big priority for us at the moment.”

As BPEQ looks to increase its exposure within the mining industry, the organisation is conducting a series of registration roadshows in 2022, bringing wisdom and expertise on-site.

“Every year through our strategy days we identify engineering areas that need further attention and this year it is the mining industry,” Seccombe said.

“We are undertaking a roadshow up in central Queensland to talk to mines around Mackay and Moranbah.

“Later on in the year, we’ll move up a bit further to Townsville and Mount Isa. This is to increase the engagement with the mine sites and engineers, talk about the role of BPEQ and the importance of registration, and get more engineers registered and compliant.”

For a budding mining engineer keen to achieve their RPEQ, Seccombe said

BPEQ CHAIR ANDREW SECCOMBE.

it’s important to document your work and experiences.

“The assessment process requires you to gather information and examples of things that you’ve done,” he said. “If you do that from the very start, it makes your assessment process a lot easier.

“The other piece of advice is to take pride in the work you’re doing.

“A lot of the decisions you’re making as an engineer have direct impacts on the health and safety of people working in mining.

“Even for mine planning engineers who think they just run schedules and don’t have much design work, every time you run a schedule, that has some sort of impact on someone in the future, whether it’s measurable or not, and it often will involve or require professional engineering services.” AM IT’S IMPERATIVE MINING ENGINEERS ARE REGISTERED AS RPEQS.

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COMMODITY SPOTLIGHT

IS AUSTRALIA ABOUT TO GO PLATINUM?

CHALICE MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ALEX DORSCH.

SEVERAL LOCAL EXPLORATION COMPANIES ARE CARVING OUT A NEW PATHWAY TO A DECARBONISED FUTURE. AUSTRALIAN MINING TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT AUSTRALIA’S NEW CRITICAL MINERALS INDUSTRY.

T

here’s been plenty of intrigue surrounding platinum group elements (PGE) of late, chiefly as a result of Chalice Mining’s record PGE discovery in March 2020.

Chalice unearthed the largest PGE discovery in Australian history at its Gonneville deposit within the Julimar nickel-copper-PGE project in Western Australia.

As part of a maiden indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate published in November 2021, the discovery contains 10 million ounces of palladium, platinum and gold – collectively called 3E (3 elements) – plus more than 900 thousand tonnes of base metals, paving the way for the emergence of a new

world-class critical minerals industry.

Palladium is estimated to be 15 times rarer than platinum and 30 times rarer than gold. Russia makes up about 40 per cent of the world’s palladium supply, producing 2.6 million troy ounces of the metal in 2021.

South Africa is the world’s largest platinum supplier, with the country’s Bushveld complex comprising the world’s largest open-pit platinum mine, Mogalakwena.

Combined, palladium and platinum are critical to autocatalysts – a device used in the automotive industry to convert harmful pollutants from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles into lessharmful properties such as carbon dioxide and water.

Demand for palladium and platinum also comes from the jewellery industry, where the metals’ rarity is especially appealing.

Platinum is becoming increasingly important in the world’s pursuit of

DRILL RIGS AT CHALICE’S GONNEVILLE DEPOSIT IN WA.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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decarbonisation. It is currently used in electrolysers to produce green hydrogen, and in hydrogen fuel cells to power fuel-cell electric vehicles.

Chalice claims palladium can also be used for this purpose.

COMMODITY SPOTLIGHT

DRILLING IN THE JULIMAR STATE FOREST IN WA.

In 2021, the palladium and platinum markets were turbulent, to put it mildly. Palladium prices reached a record high in May while platinum prices hit a seven-year high in February. But a shortage of semiconductor chips in the automotive industry brought demand back down to earth.

Despite this type of fluctuation, it’s expected PGE demand will only grow as the green energy transition continues and Australia’s prospects can set themselves up to take advantage.

Chalice managing director and chief executive officer Alex Dorsch told Australian Mining that with its

recent Gonneville discovery the company had effectively “created an Australian PGE industry”.

“For 50-plus years, the world has been totally reliant on Russia and South Africa, and to a lesser degree North America, for supply of incredibly valuable and scarce platinum group metals,” he said.

“Australia has had very few standalone PGE discoveries and those have typically been too small to be economic or have had metallurgical challenges.

PGEs are currently produced as by-products from certain nickel sulphide mines in WA; however, in very small quantities.

“So our discovery, with approximately 10 million ounces of contained precious metals, about 910,000 tonnes of contained base metals – and growing – and with the right sulphide mineralogy, allowing us to sell to a range of customers, is a major development in Australian history.”

Chalice’s findings have also unlocked a new, unexplored area, known as the West Yilgarn nickelcopper-PGE province east of Perth.

Dorsch said alongside its PGE potential, Julimar has unique mineralogical characteristics that will give Chalice greater versatility in the market.

“The sulphide mineralogy at Julimar is such that we can use flotation to produce two separate metal concentrates – a copper-PGEgold concentrate and a nickel-cobaltPGE concentrate,” he said.

“This allows us to essentially sell to existing copper and nickel concentrate customers, not dissimilar to other base metal miners in WA.

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COMMODITY SPOTLIGHT

CORE SAMPLE FROM THE GONNEVILLE DEPOSIT.

“We are also investigating additional processing techniques, particularly on lower-grade mineralisation at Julimar, as we see significant potential to produce battery precursor products from the project.”

To focus its efforts on Julimar, Chalice spun out its gold assets into new company Falcon Metals in December 2021. Looking ahead, Julimar is the miner’s main priority.

“We are certainly moving Gonneville, the first discovery, forward through studies as quickly as possible,” Dorsch said. “The next major milestone is the scoping study for the initial development of Gonneville, which is expected to be completed in mid-2022.

“Meanwhile, we are continuing to expand the resource at Gonneville, with a focus on extending high-grade zones at depth.”

Chalice is also focusing its efforts on Julimar’s fancied Hartog prospect, which had received stronger responses in prior airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys than Gonneville.

“We are also drilling exploration holes over 10km of Julimar complex strike length immediately north of Gonneville, at the Hartog and Dampier targets, as well as at the Jansz and Torres targets approximately 15–20km to the north-east,” Dorsch said.

“It is certainly an exciting time for the company as some of Julimar’s most exciting drill targets are tested over the coming months.”

Caspin Resources has been developing its Yarawindah Brook nickel-copper-PGE project just 40km from Julimar.

In early February, the company announced a significant discovery at its XC-22 prospect within Yarawindah Brook, unearthing a 68m zone of nickel, copper and PGE mineralisation from its YARC0022 drill hole.

Given this was XC-22’s first drill hole, Caspin chief executive officer Greg Miles said it was a critical milestone for the company.

“It was important to us for a couple of reasons,” he said.

“Firstly, it’s probably our best result in terms of economic grade. I wouldn’t consider it to be a highgrade result at the moment, but the width of PGE mineralisation at almost a gram combined platinum, palladium and gold at such a shallow depth is certainly a step in the right direction.

“There was also a significant nickel and copper hit in the drill hole, which is also exciting.

“But the main potential is probably the PGE mineralisation, and from our understanding the geology would suggest the PGE mineralisation is possibly over AUSTRALIANMINING

at least a kilometre along strike and certainly open down-dip or down-plunge.”

Caspin aims to complete further drilling at XC-22 to better understand its potential while also focusing its efforts on other targets within Yarawindah Brook, including the Central Yarabrook Hill prospect.

“The Yarawindah Brook project has got a number of other prospects on it as well,” Miles said. “So we’re not blinkered, we’re not just solely focused on the one prospect.

“We think that all our project areas have good potential and it always pays to work on a few different exploration fronts at any given time.”

Located in the eastern section of the Yilgarn Craton, Western Mines Group’s Mulga Tank nickelcopper-PGE project is tapping into the largely unexplored Minigwal greenstone belt. Western Mines aims to commence an initial 10–12-hole drill program at Mulga Tank at the end of March or early April.

Western Mines managing director Caedmon Marriott said the untapped nature of its target area had the company particularly enthusiastic.

“This is what makes it exciting for us,” he said. “The fact a little company like us can pick up a bunch of giant projects that from historic work is highly prospective but no one’s really given it a good crack.

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“It’s ultramafic intrusion, it covers a large area, and I think all the historical work shows there’s a working geochemical system here.

“If you’ve been researching PGEs, you’ll know that the geochemistry of these rocks – these ultramafic and mafic rocks – is critical to generate sulphides, to generating PGEs, nickel and copper.”

The West Yilgarn province in which Julimar is located had been largely neglected up until Chalice made its record discovery.

Chalice’s belief in the resource never wavered, something Marriott said could inspire any emerging operation.

“It’s incredibly awesome for the industry that Chalice have been successful because they’ve gone to what was potentially a province written off or nobody gave credibility and they’ve been able to find a massive deposit,” he said.

“It shows that these areas that have maybe been looked at a little bit or are more frontier in a way or untested, which certainly our project is … it just gives us the confidence that it is possible.”

Chalice, Caspin and Western Mines are all breaking new ground as they collectively pioneer Australia’s first PGE industry. It’s foundational work that could establish Australia’s next green metals pathway. AM

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COMPANY PROFILE

KATHLEEN VALLEY, WA, HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE 500,000 TONNES PER ANNUM OF SPODUMENE.

LITHIUM’S NEXT ROARING SUCCESS STORY WITH THE TIER 1 POTENTIAL OF ITS KATHLEEN VALLEY PROJECT, LIONTOWN RESOURCES IS SETTING ITSELF UP TO BE A BIG LITHIUM PLAYER.

T

he rise of Liontown Resources has been one of honesty, studiousness and discipline.

The emerging Australian lithium company has cultivated its business profile and assets patiently and observantly, understanding no success is gained from jumping the gun.

At the beginning of September 2020, Liontown’s share price was hovering around the $0.10 mark. A year later, the company clocked $1.

Liontown has steadily appreciated since then, as its flagship Kathleen Valley lithium project in Western Australia has grown sturdier by the day. At the time of writing, Liontown shares were trading at $1.44 and the company had a market capitalisation of $3.15 billion.

The Liontown fortune has been created despite receiving zero revenue from Kathleen Valley. While the lithium revival has assisted the company’s appeal, there’s more to the story.

“Once we hit the downturn in lithium, under the leadership of (Liontown chair) Tim Goyder the company decided they knew they had something significant, but the time was not right for the company to go out with another lithium project,” Liontown managing director and chief executive officer Tony Ottaviano told Australian Mining.

“So they decided to bunker down and work on further definition, further test work, further analysis and study to make sure that when the market did turn they were in the right position to be able to take the company forward quite quickly.”

Lithium prices plummeted in 2019 following an overcompensation in the market. There was an oversupply of lithium as producers increased their output, yet there wasn’t the same demand many had forecasted.

Liontown acquired Kathleen Valley from Ramelius Resources in August 2016. Years of drilling ensued and as the downturn hit, Liontown cranked up its exploration program, AUSTRALIANMINING

LIONTOWN MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CEO TONY OTTAVIANO (LEFT) AND CHAIR TIM GOYDER (RIGHT).

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COMPANY PROFILE

confident in the knowledge the market would recover.

“Liontown spent more money on drilling the orebody out and they grew the resource, almost tripled it.

Then they knew they had a world class Tier 1 asset,” Ottaviano said. “So when I joined they’d just finished their pre-feasibility study (PFS). I picked it up and we started doing the detailed feasibility study.”

Ottaviano was appointed to Liontown’s top post in May 2021 after 17 years at BHP, taking over from longstanding managing director David Richards.

Liontown completed the Kathleen Valley definitive feasibility study (DFS) in November 2021, increasing the project’s initial production base from two million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), as set out in the PFS, to 2.5Mtpa.

The DFS indicated Kathleen Valley had the capacity to produce approximately 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of spodumene concentrate, with the potential for a 4Mtpa project expansion in year six, to deliver approximately 700,000tpa of spodumene.

Also in November 2021, Liontown and the Tjiwarl Native Title Holders signed a native title agreement regarding Kathleen Valley, following two-and-a-half years of collaboration between the lithium company and

TIM GOYDER (LEFT) AND TONY OTTAVIANO (RIGHT) AT KATHLEEN VALLEY.

the Tjiwarl Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC (Tjiwarl AC).

The Tjiwarl AC is the prescribed body corporate for the Tjiwarl Native Title Holders and represents 11 families connected by culture and country within the Tjiwarl Country determination area.

Tjiwarl Country spans 13,000 square kilometres of land and waters between Leinster and Wiluna in WA’s northern Goldfields region.

To reduce the impact on cultural heritage sites, Liontown redesigned the Kathleen Valley mine plan in consultation with the Tjiwarl AC to be a predominantly underground operation instead of the originallyplanned open pit.

“One of the proudest moments so far in my tenure as managing director of Liontown was the signing of the native title agreement in November last year with the Tjiwarl,” Ottaviano said.

“We’re very proud of the Traditional Owners, the Tjiwarl, and how they’ve helped us. They will continue to help us and we’ll continue to work as a partnership.

“We are the first native title agreement signed since Juukan Gorge and I’m telling you how significant that is given what happened.”

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DRILLING AT KATHLEEN VALLEY.

devastating Aboriginal heritage sites at Juukan Gorge, including two culturally and archeologically significant rock shelters.

This occurred despite the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) Traditional Owners repeatedly suggesting they wanted to protect the site.

The PKKP found out about the planned blast in mid-May and issued an urgent request to stop the detonation. The rock shelters were ultimately destroyed on May 23.

With the native title agreement in place and having completed the Kathleen Valley DFS, Liontown undertook an institutional placement and raised $450 million in December 2021.

The company signed its first Kathleen Valley offtake agreement in January 2022, inking an initial five-year deal with South Korea battery maker LG Energy Solution for the supply of up to 150,000 dry metric tonnes per annum (dmtpa) of spodumene.

A month later, Liontown signed its second Kathleen Valley offtake agreement, linking up with Tesla for a similar five-year deal also involving the supply of up to 150,000dmtpa of spodumene.

Liontown had thus sewn up 60 per cent of Kathleen Valley’s initial production capacity in two deals.

Both deals commence in 2024, when Liontown aims to start production at Kathleen Valley.

But offtake agreements are a twoway street and Liontown has been incredibly judicious in the process.

“Our offtake strategy has three elements to it,” Ottaviano said.

“Get customers that are diversified

by geography; get customers that are diversified for position on the value chain; and then get diversity of contract type, be very smart in the way we construct the contracts.

“So with geography, we want to be positioned globally so that we’re not reliant on one particular geography to sell into. And we’ve got North America, we’ve got Korea, and we’ll potentially look at maybe a

couple of other jurisdictions. So good coverage there.

“The second one is position on the value chain, which is arguably the most important, I believe. And the reason being is we want to be as close as possible to where the technology is being adopted, and where it’s being designed.

“Because if I’m sitting back in the raw material area, and there’s changes in technology – and the battery world is changing constantly – I don’t want to be flat-footed. I want to know it before anyone else does. Then I can be agile and move my product suite accordingly.

“For example, if hydroxide doesn’t become the chemical of choice downstream and it moves to lithium sulphate, I’ll know that before.

If I’m only dealing with a converter, I’m blind.”

Spodumene has typically been converted into lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide before it is used to make batteries. However, advancements are always imminent in the ever-changing world of battery development.

As Liontown continues to de-risk Kathleen Valley, the company has its sights set on the final investment decision (FID) expected in the second quarter of 2022.

“The critical milestone coming up now is the FID, which we’re planning

to do in June of this year,” Ottaviano said. “Leading up to the FID the board needs to have comfort around a number of things.

“Firstly, have we got offtakes in place? We’re working well in that regard.

“The second thing we need to put in place is the funding. Have we got this project fully funded? We’ve raised $450 million – so we’ve done the equity piece – we’re now in discussions with the banks to provide our final debt funding.

“The third thing we need to have across the line for the board is permitting.”

Liontown’s native title agreement with the Tjiwarl Native Title Holders has enabled the remaining Kathleen Valley permitting submissions to be finalised, which will occur ahead of the FID. Following a positive FID, Liontown will ready itself to commence the Kathleen Valley build, with ambitions to complete construction by the December quarter of 2023.

Commissioning would then take place in the March quarter of 2024, paving the way for first production in the June quarter of 2024.

All signs suggest Liontown has the potential to become a major player in the global lithium market. With Kathleen Valley’s Tier 1 potential, it’s not a matter of if, but when. AM CORE SAMPLES FROM KATHLEEN VALLEY.

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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

COAL HAS A SIGNIFICANT PLACE IN THE FUTURE OF AUSTRALIAN MINING.

THE COAL CAPITAL OF QUEENSLAND DESPITE CONCERNS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF COAL MINING IN AUSTRALIA, OPERATIONS IN THE QUEENSLAND COAL REGION OF THE BOWEN BASIN CONTINUE TO PERFORM AND PROVIDE FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

T

he final day of the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, saw strong debate over the wording of the commitments signed onto by almost 200 nations, replacing “phase out” with “phase down” in regard to coal consumption.

Following this signing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a press conference where he said the event was the turning point for coal.

“Together, it is beyond question that Glasgow has sounded the death knell for coal power,” Johnson said.

Despite this proclamation, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison responded to questioning at a press conference to say that coal power had a significant place in the future of Australian mining, and that COP26 did not spell the end of coal.

Australia exported 177 million tonnes of metallurgical coal during the 2019–20 financial year, with a majority sourced from Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

Retired metallurgist-cum-marketer for BHP Tony Le Bas told Australian Mining the future of metallurgical coal would be maintained well past 2030.

“Analysts are predicting there will be more steel produced by electric arc furnace by 2040, but there will still be 1.3 billion to be produced by blast

furnace. So over the next 20 years I can’t see demand for coking coal decreasing,” Le Bas said.

“We have the best coking coal in the world in Australia, and we produce the most on the seaborne market.”

BHP’s Queensland Coal operations comprises the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and BHP Mitsui Coal (BMC) assets in the Bowen Basin region.

BMA is Australia’s largest producer and supplier of seaborne metallurgical coal and is owned 50:50 by BHP and Mitsubishi Development.

BMA operates seven Bowen Basin mines (Goonyella Riverside, Broadmeadow, Daunia, Peak Downs, Saraji, Blackwater and Caval Ridge) and owns and operates the Hay Point Coal Terminal near Mackay.

BMC owns and operates two opencut metallurgical coal mines in the Bowen Basin (South Walker Creek Mine and Poitrel Mine). BMC is owned

by BHP (80 per cent) and Mitsui and Co (20 per cent).

According to BHP’s 2021 annual report, a drop in the average realised coal price affected the operations’ revenue for the past 12 months.

“A spike in uncertainty regarding China’s import policy on Australia origin coals distorted the usual trade flows and had a key influence on the market,” the company stated.

AUSTRALIANMINING

“At Queensland Coal strong operational performance, including record production at Goonyella facilitated by record tonnes from Broadmeadow mine, was offset by significant weather impacts across most operations earlier in the year, as well as planned wash plant maintenance at Saraji and Caval Ridge in the first half of the year.

QUEENSLAND RESOURCES COUNCIL CHIEF EXECUTIVE IAN MACFARLANE.

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“At South Walker Creek, despite record stripping, production decreased as a result of higher strip ratios due to ongoing impacts from geotechnical constraints and lower yields.”

In September last year, Vitrinite received approval for its Vulcan mine complex, paving the way for the development of a $160 million metallurgical coal mine in the region.

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

The lease will unlock the first four years of an expected 15-years-plus mine life, opening the door for more than 150 full-time jobs while delivering a major economic boost to the region.

“Having the Vulcan mining lease approved for Vitrinite is a huge milestone for our company,” Vitrinite founder and managing director Nick Williams said.

“Going from a greenfield to a producing mine is a huge feat for any company and to do it in the time we’ve done it is an amazing feat and we’re very excited.”

Vitrinite first acquired the asset in 2018, quickly accelerating the project into development soon thereafter.

The region has also seen advances in mining technology in recent years, with Glencore using its autonomous longwall technology at the Oaky Creek underground metallurgical coal mine in the Bowen Basin following successful trials.

Developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation’s (CSIRO) Centre for Advanced Technologies, the underground longwall uses first-of-itskind ExScan technology, enabling the operation to be fully automated.

A control centre above ground is alerted by ExScan’s sensors and transmissions enabling it to operate the longwall using three-dimensional scans of the mining area.

Given the risks associated with methane-rich underground environments, the ExScan technology has been specifically designed for use in explosion risk zones.

The ExScan is contained in an

enclosure that’s been certified to International Electrotechnical Commission ‘Ex’ standards for use in volatile underground environments.

According to the CSIRO, the technology helps to make remote

operations safer and more accurate by providing situational awareness in explosion risk zones.

It also provides steering information for longwall systems by measuring face creep, retreat and roadway height in

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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

real-time, while creating accurate 3D maps of the underground environment by incorporating camera, radar and other sensor data.

It comes as Federal Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt recently visited the mine, with Glencore’s efforts in land rehabilitation and emission reduction also on display at Oaky Creek.

First announced in March last year, the mine has achieved 132.8 hectares of certified rehabilitation and has also cut emissions by up to 840,000 tonnes CO2 in the last year by using methane emissions for electricity generation.

The mining industry also takes time to look after the region.

To mark its 50th year in operation in 2021, BMA’s Goonyella Riverside Mine donated $50,000 in support of Moranbah community initiatives.

“Without the community, we don’t exist, whether it’s the schools or the health services or critical services like CQ Rescue choppers,” Goonyella Riverside Mine general manager Sean Milfull said.

As part of the “50 for 50” campaign, community organisations and local businesses were invited to apply for grants of up to $10,000 for initiatives that improve the liveability and vibrancy of Moranbah in the Bowen Basin.

Goonyella Riverside team members were then called on to vote for the shortlisted community applications and chose to support five initiatives from CQ Rescue Chopper, Moranbah Hawks Football Federation, Moranbah District Support Service,

Moranbah State School and ELAM community services.

From building a cyclone shed for sports equipment at the local football club, to disadvantaged youth support programs, as well as funds to keep rescue choppers in the air and saving lives, the donations will reach right across the region.

“It’s almost a symbiotic relationship with the community where we’re feeding off each other,” Milfull said. “For us, it’s absolutely critical that we ensure the sustainability of critical services, whether it be health, education or community groups. And it’s something we’re very passionate about at Goonyella.”

However, it is important to note that coal is not the only thing in abundance in the Bowen Basin region.

A gas pipeline could future-proof gas supply, reduce emissions and help create jobs, a new study has found.

Queensland Resources Minister Scott Stewart last year released the Bowen Basin Pipeline concept study, which found opening the basin to gas development could bring environmental and economic benefits for the state.

“The answer to domestic gas shortages and supporting our manufacturers is more gas production here in Queensland,” Stewart said.

“Developing the Bowen Basin could do this, while also making a valuable addition to our transition to a low carbon economy.”

The concept study investigated potential pipeline pathways and optimisation of the Bowen Basin’s gas

reserves to support the east coast gas market for export and domestic use.

The study also investigated opportunities to capture fugitive emissions from underground and opencut coal mines in the Bowen Basin to assist in Queensland’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Stewart said the project could make meaningful progress towards the State Government’s target of 30 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030 and zero-net emissions by 2050.

“Modelling in the study showed that the reduction in fugitive emissions from coal mine methane capture outweighs the potential emissions impact from CSG (coal seam gas),” he said.

“This means that the pipeline would bring low-emission gas to market, and it could also reduce the emissions impact of coal mines in the area, which is a big win–win for all involved.”

Stewart said the State Government would ensure Queensland is doing the heavy lifting on gas supply and policy.

“Since 2015 the Palaszczuk Government has released more than 80,000 square kilometres of land for gas exploration, over a quarter of it guaranteeing the gas will be for Australian consumers,” he said.

“In a national first, we released land nearly three years ago exclusively for gas for the domestic market to boost essential supply to the east coast market, particularly our manufacturers.”

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the news as it could help reduce industry emissions,

boost the state’s gas supplies and create more regional jobs.

Chief executive Ian Macfarlane said the study followed six months of industry consultation, after the QRC and the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies secured an election commitment to assess the feasibility of building a new gas pipeline in the Bowen Basin.

“Building a pipeline in the Bowen Basin could provide a much better connection from the region’s gas reservoirs to Queensland’s gas markets and deliver a welcome increase in gas supply,” Macfarlane said.

“Gas is an essential input for refining and smelting, so this pipeline could also add value to Queensland’s metals exports, and deliver improved environmental outcomes through better use of waste gas from existing coal mines, which will help lower emissions.

“The QRC is delighted to see infrastructure like this under consideration, and we welcome the State Government’s commitment to work collaboratively with the Commonwealth in funding this important scoping study.”

“If the pipeline proceeded it would provide new jobs and opportunities for Queenslanders, particularly in the regions, and will help our state recover from the long-term impact of the pandemic on the economy.”

While the quest to lower emissions and “phase down” coal will have an impact on the region, operators in the Bowen Basin will continue to thrive for the foreseeable future. AM

HAY POINT EXPORTS COAL FROM BOWEN BASIN MINES.

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2021

ESG

EMBRACING THE ESG OPPORTUNITY KAL TIRE TAKES PRIDE IN FOCUSING ON ALL ASPECTS OF ESG. AUSTRALIAN MINING SPOKE WITH MANAGING DIRECTOR MILES RIGNEY ABOUT THE COMPANY’S ONGOING EFFORTS TO BE A RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYER OF CHOICE.

I

t seems a simple proposition for a company: ask employees what they think you’re doing well and what could be done better to make them more comfortable in their job.

And, as Kal Tire managing director Miles Rigney told Australian Mining, that simple proposition can be an incredibly effective tool.

“If we have a workforce that feels we’re inclusive and they’re a part of things, then that helps us become an employer of choice,” he said.

“One of the initiatives we put in at the end of last year was, when we do our annual performance reviews with our team members we included a couple of questions around diversity

and inclusion for the first time.

“That’s proved to be very enlightening, to hear the feedback from our team about what they think we’re doing well in the diversity and inclusion space, and to also hear their thoughts about what we could be doing that we’re not currently doing now.

“The process is not quite finished yet, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the feedback we’ve received from our team members will help steer the direction we move in over the next year and beyond.”

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and the push towards a more sustainable industry have undoubtedly been recent drivers of the resources sector.

Australian mining long ago realised the importance of sustainability and the sector is a leader in the journey towards zero emissions. However, it’s important to remember that ESG is not limited to ‘environmental’.

Kal Tire is very aware of that reality, which is why the tyre services company continues to take major steps in developing its social and governance practices to create a safe and appealing workplace.

“There’s been a number of programs that we’ve run in the last 12 months which I think have really helped in that area,” Rigney said.

“Particularly around the professional development of our team members and showing them a pathway that we’re

KAL TIRE’S NEW MAPLE PROGRAM IS A WAY OF CALCULATING CO2 AND OIL SAVINGS BY GETTING A DAMAGED TYRE BACK INTO SERVICE.

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KALE TIRE MANAGING DIRECTOR MILES RIGNEY.

ESG

prepared to invest in their ongoing development to become future leaders in our business.”

That professional development has focused on two key areas.

The first is a trainee program that helps people new to the company learn how to complete maintenance activities safely and efficiently. The second is a focus on training more experienced team members to become future leaders.

“That means we’re fuelling our own growth,” Rigney said.

“In the competitive market we’re in at the moment, for us to be successful we must be the employer that our current team members choose to stay with because they appreciate that we appreciate them.

“I like to think we do well in that area, but we’re always going to continue to try and improve. We’re never going to get to the point where we say, ‘okay, tick, we’ve done that’.

“The foot never comes off the throttle. We’ve always got to listen.”

But Kal Tire’s social and governance practices are not solely directed inwards. The company is driven by its AIMS, a set of principles that “guide us to make the right decision”.

“These AIMS have been around for a very long time and it’s something that Kal Tire has continuously worked at,” Rigney said.

THE TYRE SERVICES COMPANY HAS BEEN PROACTIVE ABOUT SEEKING FEEDBACK ON ITS PERFORMANCE AS AN EMPLOYER.

It was these principles that led the company to support the Small Steps 4 Hannah initiative, an Australian organisation – named for Hannah Clarke and her children – that works

AUSTRALIANMINING

to halt the cycle of domestic violence.

And it was through this support that Kal Tire ultimately became a sponsor of the Small Steps for Hannah Annual Lunch.

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“The support of International Women’s Day correlates directly with the Small Steps 4 Hannah initiative,” Rigney said.

“We attended a charity launch

ESG

KAL TIRE’S PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES A PROGRAM THAT HELPS PEOPLE LEARN HOW TO COMPLETE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES SAFELY AND EFFICIENTLY.

for the Small Steps for Hannah Foundation last year and we listened to the various speakers they had, the work they were trying to do, and it became very easy for us to say, ‘we think this is really, really important work’.

“So the decision to upgrade from being an attendee to becoming a sponsor was very simple.”

Looking outward, Kal Tire understands the need for continuous improvement and to be innovative for its customers, particularly in the area

of sustainability. This thinking drove the company’s new Maple Program, which kicked off at the start of 2022.

“The Maple Program is based on a carbon calculator that we built and has been independently evaluated and accredited by SCS Global Services, a leader in sustainability standards and third-party accreditation. Essentially it’s a way of calculating CO2 and oil savings, in terms of kilograms, tonnes, barrels, litres,” Rigney explained.

Under the program, when Kal Tire is able to help a customer by repairing

a tyre with its proprietary Ultra Repair process, they can then provide that customer with a certificate that outlines how much CO2 and oil was saved by getting that tyre back into service versus purchasing a new tyre.

Kal Tire is also very conscious that repairing and recycling tyres is not the start of the journey with its customers.

The company’s expertise comes into play far earlier and is designed to maximise tyre life and minimise environmental impacts.

“The start for us is helping our customers firstly determine the most appropriate product or tyres for them to use: what tyres are most likely to deliver them the productivity that they’re ultimately looking for?”

Rigney said.

“Once the tyre has been delivered to the operation, our area of expertise is understanding the capabilities of the tyre and putting management and maintenance practices around that tyre so the customer is able to get the most value from it, the most productivity.

“In a perfect world the tyre doesn’t get damaged, but it’s not a perfect world and tyres do get damaged … and that’s when the repair business kicks in.”

Once a repair is done, the tyre is returned to service and sees out the rest of its life. Only then does recycling come into play.

As a member of Tyre Stewardship Australia’s Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme, Kal Tire understands the importance and value of recycling tyres, rather than burying them in the ground.

That understanding is on display with the company’s tyre recycling plant in Chile, where the governmenthas mandated the recycling of off-the-road tyres. While Australia currently has no such legislation, Kal Tire is already looking at a similar local facility.

“We have to move at the right pace and make sure that when we do establish a facility that there’s an understanding that there’s no value in waste tyres,” Rigney said.

“At the moment when the tyres are being buried, they don’t represent a pile of gold. The reality is that the value of the offtake is less than the cost of the process, so customers have to pay.

“What will be the driver going forward for us is working with one, two, three, four customers who understand and are okay with that, and ready to enter into a longterm commitment to enable us to go off and build our first facility in Australia.

“Those discussions have started and I expect we may see some momentum build.” AM

THE COMPANY’S PROPRIETARY ULTRA REPAIR PROCESS.

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MINERAL PROCESSING

TOUGHER TO GO THE DISTANCE STRENGTHENING THE METALS THAT QUITE LITERALLY KEEP A MINE RUNNING IS CRUCIAL. ARMORGALV CORROSION PROTECTION NOT ONLY IMPROVES DURABILITY, BUT CAN HELP MINES ACHIEVE THEIR SUSTAINABILITY GOALS. THE PROCESS CREATES A MORE DURABLE MATERIAL THAT CAN WITHSTAND MINING CONDITIONS.

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rmorGalv corrosion protection is a galvanising process unique and exclusive to ArmorGalv Australia, the only plant of its kind in the country.

Rather than simply being a coating on ferrous and non-ferrous metals, ArmorGalv is a zinc-iron alloy, with the layers of thermal diffusion galvanising typically exhibiting hardness values greater than that of the parent material.

Surface hardness results typically exceed 35 Rockwell C, as referenced within ASTM A 1059/A 1059M – 08 (ASTM International, 2008).

Using a thermal diffusion galvanising process, multiple layers of zinc-iron alloy are formed, from a super corrosion-resistant gamma layer to a compact delta layer and then the zeta layer.

Each layer is harder, more corrosionresistant and more abrasion-resistant than the previous one, helping to increase the life of the part.

By strengthening the metal itself, the process creates a more durable material that can withstand harsh mining conditions by delivering better defence against deterioration.

ArmorGalv is an alternative to hotdip or electrolytic galvanising that was

developed to replace cadmium and chrome in plating.

This cost-effective, environmentally-friendly and durable galvanising technique was designed in Israel in 1993. However, it did not find its way to our shores until ArmorGalv Australia was born in 2010.

ArmorGalv Australia general manager Clive Jones said the ArmorGalv diffusion process means the sacrificial layers are diffused deeper into the substrate to ensure it lasts longer.

“It’s embedded inside the material as well as on the top, so it’s harder, it’s flexible, and it’s a smart mixture of a zinc oxide which gives much more endurance to the finished product,” Jones told Australian Mining.

“It reduces internal stresses to the base material and removes any hydrogen embrittlement rather than inducing it like hot-dip galvanising does.”

Material fracturing as a result of hydrogen embrittlement is a safety issue on mine sites, a risk ArmorGalv eliminates.

Mine sites are hotbeds of highambient temperatures, extremely high humidity, acid and dust, which results in high demands being placed on the need for corrosion-resistant machines and materials.

AUSTRALIANMINING

Corrosion resistance can be substantially increased through the application of a thicker coating or a top coating.

“With hardened and high-tensile steel, we don’t need to have it as thick as the softer zinc coatings because it’s a hard coating. So it’s not going to chip off so easily.”

When customers are looking for a longer lifespan, they’ll generally look for the thicker coating first, with the option to implement the ArmorPlex solution beyond that, where an epoxy coating will be placed over the top of the ArmorGalv corrosion protection without any further preparation.

“The thicker coating is sufficient for most mines, as it has quite a significant lifespan. It will be fairly extreme conditions, which may be heavily acidic ground, that sort of thing, where the customer might opt for the additional ArmorPlex,” Jones said.

ArmorGalv went through a series of salt spray tests that showed the lifespan of the corrosion protection can be from 1500 to 3000 hours, compared to approximately 500 hours with hotdip galvanising.

“Heavy equipment components used in mining environments such as cable trays, high-tensile fixings and anchors, rock bolts, small structural steels, springs for vibratory equipment, and conveyor components are all critical parts,” Jones said.

“When these parts are treated with ArmorGalv, they won’t be affected by hydrogen embrittlement, and instead will have the tensile strength

customers can rely on to be serviceable for much longer.”

The machinery parts are also exempt from galling when galvanised with ArmorGalv.

Galling is defined as when two surfaces in contact seize up, and the materials gain their corrosion resistance from a passive oxide layer over their surface. Under high contact-force sliding this oxide can be deformed, broken and removed from parts of the component, exposing the bare reactive metal.

When the two surfaces are the same materials, these exposed surfaces can easily fuse together, causing seizure or galling.

Due to increased hardness and wear-resistant properties, the Thermal Zinc Diffusion process provides good anti-galling properties, predominantly facilitated by the absence of free zinc at the outer surface.

When it comes to sustainability, ArmorGalv Australia has worked hard to continuously improve its footprint both internally and for its customers.

The ArmorGalv thermal diffusion galvanising process provides important environmental benefits in comparison to other corrosion protection methods.

It is a completely non-toxic and heavy metal free, environmentally responsible protection against corrosion and wear and tear.

“The mines that are looking into being more environmentallyfriendly and reaching net-zero carbon emissions, they need to be considering ArmorGalv,” Jones said. AM

ARMORGALV IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO HOTDIP OR ELECTROLYTIC GALVANISING.

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MINERAL PROCESSING

ADVANCING MINERAL PROCESSING THROUGH AUTOMATION A FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND SOLUTION, THE ONLINE RHEOMETER HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REDEFINE MINERAL PROCESSING IN AUSTRALIA AND BEYOND. NEWCREST MINING’S LIHIR OPERATION IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

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heology Solutions has been servicing the mining and mineral processing industry for the past 25 years with specialist engineering supply and expertise, primarily in the measurement and characterisation of slurry properties.

Rheology Solutions developed the first OnLine Rheometer (OLR) – an instrument that can be fitted in a pipeline and can provide feedback on the flow properties of the materials that pass through it in real-time, without the need for manual sampling and laboratory testing.

Recently, the company has pioneered a more specialised version of the instrument, the OLR M2000, focused on the needs of the mining industry.

The ruggedised instrument can be fitted in a pipeline or thickener underflow and relays the measurement data to the process operator. The operator can input specific flow property data to establish optimal production specification parameters.

The OLR can then monitor proceedings and display the slurry conformance throughout the mining and production process.

The OLR M2000 is differentiated from all other instruments available in the market by its ability to index the yield stress. The yield stress is the minimum stress needed to make

A MOCK-UP OF RHEOLOGY SOLUTIONS’ OLR M2000 UNIT.

a concentrated slurry flow. It is often felt when rakes, mixers and pumps commence operation, and the machine requires more energy than normal to begin rotation.

The OLR provides a wealth of data and insight and the mining industry has shown particular interest in the product due to a specific valuable metric – the yield stress index (YSI).

The instrument not only accurately displays the YSI, but does so in an automated manner. This aids understanding of the presence of clays, for example, and accelerates rapid, informed process control by warning of adverse process conditions.

AUSTRALIANMINING

The OLR is evolved automation, because customers need to understand what the sensor is telling them and then act accordingly, whether it is through software-enabled process control or with operator control.

Rheology Solutions partnered with Rheological Consulting Services (RCS) to trial the OLR using slurry from Newcrest Mining’s Lihir gold operation in Papua New Guinea.

Lihir had reported periodic “high viscosity events” in the pressure oxidation (POX) circuit with little warning, which reduced throughput, gold recovery rates and increased operating costs.

Following a thorough laboratory investigation, RCS found the yield stress of the slurries changed dramatically during these “high viscosity events”.

“If this number is really high then the material would become excessively thick and lumpy, flow will be affected, blockages may occur and the reactions and separations are not going to happen efficiently. All this means gold recovery decreases,” Rheology Solutions director of research Pradipto Bhattacharjee said.

“In some cases, you just dilute it.

But you got to know ahead of time that this material coming in has got a yield stress of that level.

“If this figure is not good, then it may need to be diluted. Importantly, the level of dilution required can be

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determined and can be automated to reduce the downstream production effects caused by over dilution.”

The challenge was to find a way to constantly monitor the yield stress of the slurry such that a warning could be obtained for an imminent “high viscosity event”.

Manual sampling and laboratory testing could be done a finite amount of time during the day and was not an option.

This is where the OLR technology became relevant. Prior to the OLR, there was no suitable method for monitoring the yield stress of the slurry, in-line, continuously and in an automated manner.

Through the YSI, which correlates linearly with the yield stress, using the OLR to provide forewarning of a future “high viscosity event” became a viable option. First-of-its-kind laboratory and pilot work ensued and demonstrated that through the YSI metric the OLR detected small changes in material flow behaviour in response to very small changes in solids concentration.

These results showed for the first time that the yield stress of a concentrated particulate slurry could be measured in-line and in a flowing material, and were presented and published at a peer reviewed conference.

Rheology Solutions owner and managing director Patrick Griffin said while the OLR was a valuable mineral processing solution, it has the versatility to be used across various other applications.

“There are many places in a mining operation where rheological information is needed,” Griffin said.

“It is not just production but also waste management, other storage, and other operational needs.”

And when it comes to automation, the OLR has the potential to be a universal solution, uniting different applications under a single control.

“At Lihir, for example, the possibility is that OLR units could be placed at many various sites in the mining process,” Griffin said. “Then working again with RCS, OLR units could be the heart of automatic control and the data could be used to control the process automatically.” AM

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MINERAL PROCESSING

THICKENER UPGRADE: WHERE FINANCIAL AND SUSTAINABILITY OVERLAP UPGRADING THE THICKENERS AT ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S LARGEST GOLD PRODUCERS NOT ONLY BOOSTED THE MINE’S BOTTOM LINE, BUT IT ALSO REALISED IMPORTANT SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS, AS THE FLSMIDTH TEAM BEHIND THE PROJECT EXPLAINS.

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hickeners are a ubiquitous feature at mineral processing facilities and have been for many decades. And in an industry where the lifetime of major equipment is often measured in decades, they are particularly long lived.

FLSmidth – whose association with thickeners goes back more than a century via the Dorr-Oliver and EIMCO brands that it acquired in 2007 – has many systems still operating at Australian mines that were installed in the 1960s, while a couple date back as far as the 1930s and 1940s.

In addition to its role in the production of target minerals, thickeners play an important part in mine water management and recycling: areas of focus in today’s mining industry where sustainability is becoming an ever more pressing dayto-day concern.

This is particularly true of mines in regions of high water stress, which is how the World Resources Institute categorises most of Australia.

With thickeners infrequently replaced, improving the performance of existing installations is key to meeting the industry’s changing sustainability and performance goals, according to FLSmidth Australia’s head of mining David Williams.

“Thickener technology is constantly evolving. Refurbishing and retrofitting therefore helps to ensure the ongoing integrity, reliability and productivity of existing machinery with the latest advances in thickener technology,” Williams said.

“At FLSmidth, we combine years of engineering expertise to offer a complete service package – from equipment and process evaluation to tailored upgrades, including complete new mechanisms, feed systems and new drives.”

FLSmidth’s experience and technology range is comprehensive, including the world’s largest and highest-capacity bridge and columnmounted thickeners.

THE 44-METRE THICKENER WAS FITTED WITH A P-DUC MECHANISM AND E-VOLUTE FEEDWELL TO IMPROVE THROUGHPUT AND UNDERFLOW DENSITY ACROSS A RANGE OF FEED CONDITIONS.

Not keen to rest on its laurels, however, the company is always looking forward. Its research and development model integrates the evaluation of new technologies and concepts with continuous review and update of existing products.

“Our efforts focus on the development of solutions that combine high performance, reliability and availability with minimal environmental impact, in line with our MissionZero goal to reduce the water use and footprint of mining operations,” Williams said.

Among the latest developments in thickener technology offered by FLSmidth are its E-Volute feedwell and E-DUC and P-DUC feed dilution systems.

“The E-Volute feedwell is the result of many years of development work, including CFD modelling, at the laboratory and pilot scale,” FLSmidth global product line manager for thickening Fred Schoenbrunn said.

“The result is an involute design with sloped tapering shelf and sloped inner shelf, which promote superior energy dissipation in the feed AUSTRALIANMINING

stream, optimal mixing and improved shear profiles to ensure thickener performance and efficiency.”

According to Schoenbrunn, this provides a range of benefits including: • increased retention time in the feedwell • maximised solids throughput • reduced shear rates and minimised flocculant consumption • increased flocculation efficiency • even distribution of feed slurry/solids • enhanced settling rates and increased equipment capacity • optimised underflow solids • minimised short circuiting • reduced overflow solids.

Supporting the work of the E-Volute feedwell are the E-DUC and P-DUC feed dilution systems, both of which are designed to ensure even distribution of flocculated solids in the feed before it reaches the E-Volute feedwell.

“The E-DUC system is appropriate for applications that require consistently large volumes of feed dilution, whereas the P-DUC system incorporates a variable speed drive that

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allows for variable dilution flowrates in applications where large variations in feed flow or density are expected,” Schoenbrunn said.

Case study: Feed system retrofit at an Australian gold operation

FLSmidth has supported thickener performance upgrade at one of Australia’s largest gold mines for several years.

When the mine first approached the engineering company, it was operating third-party 34m diameter leach feed and 44m diameter tailings thickeners, and nameplate capacity was 700 tonnes per hour (tph).

“We initially upgraded the leach feed thickener, installing an E-DUC dilution system and E-Volute feedwell,” FLSmidth regional product line manager for dewatering Anson Gilbert said.

“This increased leach feed thickener underflow density from 48 per cent to 54 per cent solids at 850tph of feed solids, resulting in significant savings in both lime and cyanide consumption, as well as increasing carbon in leach (CIL) residence times.

MINERAL PROCESSING

Flocculant consumption also fell by 34 per cent on a gram/tonne basis.

Return on investment was achieved in less than six months.”

The mine successfully operated with this upgraded set-up for several years.

Over time, however, the thickener started to bottleneck the process and the mine again approached FLSmidth to help.

“The mine’s proposal was to swap the duties of the 34m leach feed thickener and 44m tailings thickener,” Gilbert said.

“When we were called in, we set about analysing the idea with a comprehensive program of onsite test work, process evaluation and structural analysis of both thickener bridges.”

Through this work, the FLSmidth team observed continuous pluming in the leach feed thickener in proximity to the overflow launders – with solid particles in the overflow visible at elevated throughputs – while faster settling rates and compaction times were seen in the tailings thickener.

“We were therefore able to prove the viability of swapping thickener duties to unlock additional thickener capacity,” Gilbert said.

“The faster settling tailings material could be treated in the smaller thickener, meaning the additional unit area required for the leach feed application could be obtained by using the larger thickener.”

FLSmidth recommended installing P-DUC mechanisms on both thickeners and an E-Volute feedwell on the 44m thickener.

The engineering team also recommended a larger feed box to allow for increased throughput and improved deaeration of the feed.

As a result of the upgrade, thickener throughput has increased from 1060tph

to 1160 tph, without any increase in flocculant consumption on a gram/ tonne basis.

There is also now no visible pluming or particle carryover in either of the thickeners overflow.

“Thickeners are no longer the bottleneck to performance,” Gilbert said. “By increasing throughput and maintaining the same fixed costs, we also enhanced profitability, and payback has been achieved in under 12 months.”

The value of thickener upgrades

“The retrofit demonstrates the potential improvements that a thickener upgrade can bring to an operation,” David Williams said.

“In both units, we achieved a large improvement in solid–liquid separation, which facilitated a further flowsheet change and removed a customer pain point.”

Overall, the upgrade resulted in a 9 per cent increase in plant capacity allowing for reduced fixed cost per ounce.

This project also demonstrates the mutual benefits thickener upgrades can bring to a mine’s profitability and environmental performance.

There were multiple specific sustainability wins.

Increasing the underflow density from the leach feed thickener allowed for additional residence time in the CIL circuit, improving recovery at a given throughput.

This increased the production of gold without increasing the amount of ore mined.

The underflow water ratio in the tailings thickener dropped from 0.85 tonnes water to 0.75 tonnes water per tonne of solids processed – an 11 per cent reduction in water going to the tailings dam (even with the higher tonnage).

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“These benefits align with our MissionZero sustainability program to drive sustainable productivity in mining – and demonstrate the complementary value this sort of project can bring to a mine’s productivity and environmental performance,” Williams said.

“As sustainability becomes an ever-important element in the performance of mineral processing operations, we believe the value of such projects will become increasingly important as mining companies seek to meet both financial and environmental goals.

“We are committed to supporting the industry on this journey.

“And, through our MissionZero program, we are working with our customers and other partners to build a truly sustainable mining industry.” AM

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MINERAL PROCESSING

THE RESULT OF A WELL-OILED MACHINE APRON FEEDERS ARE AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF THE MINERALS PROCESSING CYCLE. AFTER DECADES OF MAINTAINING, FIXING AND INSTALLING THEM, MINPROVISE HAS ALSO BEGUN DESIGNING AND MANUFACTURING THEM.

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inprovise is a specialist engineering, products and services company providing expert support to the mining, oil and gas and construction industries throughout Australia, with key locations in Perth, Karratha and Port Hedland in Western Australia and Coopers Plains in Queensland.

The company offers everything from mineral processing equipment and fabrication to specialist industry products and site services.

Minprovise general manager of value-added services and engineering John Minnaar told Australian Mining that in the mining sector, Minprovise predominantly provides maintenance service, especially in the crushing and materials-handling environment.

“Part of that is also the supply of technical specialists, or subject-matter experts on equipment to maintain and optimise the equipment,” he said.

“We also provide parts and services as well as products to support the mining industry, and we assist clients to evaluate the condition of their assets to help plan and schedule maintenance.”

Minprovise was established in 2004 with a core business of reducing the risk associated with operation and maintenance of crushing equipment.

Between that time and 2017, the company occasionally delved into refurbishing apron feeders; however, it wasn’t a main focus.

But in 2017 an opportunity presented itself for Minprovise to follow apron feeders down a more permanent path.

“That’s when Minprovise decided to set up an apron feeder division and an apron feeder specialist service that I headed in 2017,” Minprovise apron feeders and materials handling technical specialist Louw Scholtz told Australian Mining.

“From 2017 we’ve grown from refurbishing one apron feeder a year to eleven machines this last year across the board.”

When this apron feeder specialist service was implemented, the company’s technical experts provided maintenance on any apron feeder brand that its customers had installed on-site.

MINPROVISE HAS THE A-TEAM OF APRON FEEDER DESIGN, MAINTENANCE AND OPTIMISATION.

Minprovise gained experience and knowledge getting to know apron feeders inside and out – literally.

When Minnaar came on board with the company he managed to demonstrate the value of manufacturing Minprovise’s own brand of apron feeder based on the wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated through years of providing maintenance to other brands.

Minprovise has been able to take the best design elements from each model it encountered in the field, improve on them, and incorporate the results into its own well-oiled machine.

“An apron feeder is a fairly simple piece of equipment, but our team has done a lot of innovating, and research and development of safety items that we’ve designed and incorporated in our maintenance strategies,” Minnaar said.

“We were able to find out the good and bad points of all the machines out there are and put the best of it all together.”

Minprovise has considerable technical experience, with Scholtz’s team always working on, improving and maintaining apron feeders.

Adding to the team is Minprovise drawing office manager and apron feeder design and development leader Darren Brooke, with years of experience for various market competitors.

It’s the A-Team of apron feeder design, maintenance and optimisation.

“We believe we’ve got a very strong technical team who design the lifecycle of apron feeders, from the design through to operation and maintenance,” Minnaar said.

AUSTRALIANMINING

Apron feeders usually have a lifespan of four to five years before replacement.

Minprovise has now developed a unique process and methodology for this replacement that works in partnership with a client’s own standards and procedures, as well as their needs based on the data Minprovise has collected during the previous four to five years of maintenance.

Standards change and new ones are continually introduced; it’s a dynamic space.

“A lot of the plants these machines are in were designed before certain standards even existed,” Scholtz said.

“So we go out and assess the site for specific ways to improve that particular set-up and come up with ideas and designs to enable easier and more efficient maintenance.

“This can include building specialised platforms and devices that we can (use to) hook winches and access platforms onto the machine or build the platforms around the machine to carry out maintenance.”

This site-specific analysis, coupled with Minprovise’s more general database gleaned from years in the maintenance space of apron feeders and crusher circuits, results in a comprehensive approach with unique and often-subtle changes and adaptations that can have significant impact on overall efficiency and optimisation of the circuit and, more specifically, apron feeders.

Scholtz and Minnaar agree that a lot of the difficulties or challenges Minprovise has encountered have forced them to think outside the

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box and come up with unique ideas, designs and safety features that mitigate some of the risks generally present in this environment.

Minprovise is still consistent with its beginnings of “reducing the risks”, but as its entrance into the design and manufacture of apron feeders is showing, it takes its current positioning of “forward-thinking partners” seriously.

Part of this transition and growth has been an internal overhaul where Minprovise invested heavily in training so the revised teams can improve on their knowledge development of innovative solutions.

“We have very competent people that go into the field, assess and bring the information back to us in-house, where we combine it with our greater knowledge and experience and the client’s needs, and come up with innovative solutions” Minnaar said.

“The open field of development is a continuously ongoing process. We have our base designs, and we use our subject-matter experts to invest the knowledge back into our designs.”

Minprovise values collaboration and feedback and as a company it gets involved in community activities, supporting local in all aspects of the business – manufacturing, assembly, support for maintenance, and operation – as much as it can throughout its home state of Western Australia.

The experienced team at Minprovise will continue to improve safety and identify efficiencies in processes where possible, staying committed to reducing costs, risks and minimising downtime on-site. AM

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MINERAL PROCESSING

DYNA ENGINEERING TAKES CONVEYOR GUARDS TO NEXT LEVEL THIS REVOLUTIONARY TAKE ON THE HUMBLE CONVEYOR GUARD IS TAKING THE MINING INDUSTRY BY STORM, ONE PIECE OF RECYCLED PLASTIC WASTE AT A TIME.

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wo years ago, DYNA Engineering recognised an issue with conveyor guards that had plagued the industry since the product was conceived decades earlier.

Traditionally, steel conveyor guards have capably contained conveyed material around a mine site, providing a relatively sturdy and costeffective option for the Australian mining industry.

However, traditional never meant problem-free, according to DYNA Engineering general manager Thomas Greaves.

“Steel guards have been used for 40 or 50 years and no one’s ever come up with something better. So customers have always had the same problems about corrosion and painting which they were looking to fix,” Greaves told Australian Mining.

“This presented a niche in the market and DYNA saw it as an opportunity to help. We started thinking about what sort of product could solve it and we came up with a material that’s lighter and that’s

commonly used in mining processes.

That was HDPE.” HDPE – high-density polyethylene – has been recognised by DYNA as the best, most cost-effective, safest

and longest-lasting material available for guarding bulk-handling systems.

DYNA’s take on the product is 40 per cent lighter than steel guarding, making it much easier and

safer for maintenance teams to install and replace.

Compared to steel guards, HDPE is also very low maintenance due to its resistance to corrosion and abrasion.

THE GUARDS’ X-DESIGN REDUCES MATERIALS AND IMPROVES STRENGTH.

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MINERAL PROCESSING

DYNA ENGINEERING’S HDPE CONVEYOR GUARDS IN ACTION.

Greaves said all these benefits and more have made it a big success over the last two years.

“It’s quite new to the market and I think our version of the product is quite revolutionary. It doesn’t require any frame or stiffening to be added to

meet Australian standards, which is one of our key benefits. This reduces the manufacturing costs and makes it competitive compared to its steel counterpart,” Greaves said.

“There have been competitors who have seen us achieve success, but

we’ve got that first-mover advantage and we’re really starting to produce it at scale.”

This scale has included some of Australian major miners, mostly in Western Australia, but DYNA is aspiring to expand across the country and has also begun to see success in the eastern states.

In 2021, the company set up a dedicated workshop in Bayswater, outside Perth, which has allowed DYNA to cope with year-on-year growth in sales.

Greaves said the use of recycled plastics to create the guards was a big factor in their popularity.

“There’s always improvement to be made over time, but having a recycled and recyclable product is really in fashion these days,” he said.

“Everyone’s looking at their sustainability and ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives, and this product fits into that niche quite nicely.”

HDPE was chosen for the conveyor guards due to its easily recyclable nature. DYNA sources the materials from a local recycling partner and uses between 7–10kg of plastic waste per guard.

Greaves explained the inspiration behind the use of recycled plastic.

“We saw a lack of demand for recycled plastic even though Australia

produces a lot of plastic waste and we don’t have a great use for it at scale,” he said.

“So something like the HDPE guards can take quite common plastics and make them into something that’s useful.

“Where a milk bottle has a two- or three-week life, the HDPE guards last for 10 to 15 years.”

Considering the higher cost per unit of HDPE, the team at DYNA Engineering had to ensure every piece of its conveyor guard was necessary.

They came up with their own X-design which was found to strengthen the panels substantially without requiring additional attachments or framing to strengthen it.

Greaves said without this key design feature, DYNA’s HDPE conveyor guards may never have gotten off the ground.

“To present a cost benefit for the customer, our X-design lowers the amount of components needed to make the guards and made our guards competitive against fabricated steel guards,” he explained.

“With our HDPE guards, you’re not paying extra but you’re getting all these other benefits with it, and that’s made the industry really sit up and listen.” AM

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MINERAL PROCESSING

REMOVING THE BUZZ ABOUT VIBRATING SCREENS HAVER & BOECKER NIAGARA HAS SHOWN THAT GOOD THINGS DO COME IN THREES WITH ITS SUITE OF PULSE DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS TO IMPROVE SCREENING EFFICIENCY AND ENCOURAGE PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE.

I

t goes without saying that digging up valuable ore is just one step of the mining process, and that without subsequent steps of processing and beneficiation such digging would be wasted time.

So the importance of keeping equipment like vibrating screens running cannot be overstated.

It is for this reason that Haver & Boecker Niagara has built a reputation with products and services like its Pulse Diagnostic suite, which includes the Pulse Impact Test, Pulse Vibration Analysis (Pulse VA) and Pulse Condition Monitoring (Pulse CM).

Peter Kilmurray, Haver & Boecker Niagara’s vice president of sales for North America and Australia, said the Pulse suite had customers’ best interests firmly in mind.

“Unexpected downtime is a huge source of lost revenue for producers, so we aim to create products and technology that prevent that,” Kilmurray told Australian Mining.

“We’ve engineered each system to optimise the health of vibrating screens – regardless of the brand – by detecting

irregularities that could translate into diminished performance, decreased efficiency, increased operating costs and imminent breakdowns.”

The consequences of an undetected hairline crack or a twisted side plate can be severe for the longevity of a vibrating screen, so catching these issues before they turn into more significant failures can be a difference of thousands of tonnes or dollars.

Kilmurray explained each piece of the puzzle, starting with the Pulse Impact Test.

“Also known as the ‘hammer test’ or ‘bump test’, it’s part of our quality assurance program during factory testing as well as on-site,” he said.

“The advanced testing ensures each machine is properly calibrated to avoid operating in resonance for efficient operation.”

Next, Pulse VA is designed to capture a moment in time in a vibrating screen’s performance, so it can be compared to the machine’s past performance as well as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications.

HAVER & BOECKER NIAGARA VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES, PETER KILMURRAY.

These moments are captured using eight wireless tri-axial sensors that fasten to key areas of the equipment.

The information is then sent via WiFi to a remote device, allowing safe monitoring from a distance.

Kilmurray said the Pulse CM tool was the most comprehensive option.

“This system consists of permanently installed sensors to monitor the screening equipment 24–7,” he said.

PULSE DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS OPTIMISE VIBRATING SCREEN HEALTH, REGARDLESS OF THE BRAND.

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“Pulse CM captures real-time information and provides alerts via e-mail when it detects the first sign of potential problems.

“By constantly monitoring the accelerations of the vibration screen, Pulse CM offers a forecast of the equipment’s dynamic condition in intervals of 48 hours, five days, and four weeks.”

And while these three tools don’t need to be used together, operations will benefit most from harnessing each of their individual purposes.

Kilmurray said the Haver & Boecker Niagara team would take the time to consult with customers to understand their needs and pair them with the best configuration for their application.

“By using the tools together, operations can get a holistic view of their equipment and help to ensure it operates at OEM standards,” he said.

“For some operations, it might be quarterly Pulse VA tests paired with a bi-annual Pulse Impact Test. Whereas for others, it might be a combination of the three.”

In any case, customers will only get the best out of these technologies when they’re paired with capable support from the Haver & Boecker Niagara team. That is something the manufacturer has developed in spades, according to Kilmurray.

“Customers benefit from site visits by certified technicians who not only know how to use the impact test, vibration analysis and condition monitoring, but are able to conduct thorough vibrating screen and screen media inspections to complement the analysis,” he said.

“Our Haver & Boecker Niagara certified service technicians perform each analysis, from placing the sensors in key locations and conducting the test to analysing the data and providing recommendations as needed.”

And if three isn’t the magic number for a given mining operation, Haver & Boecker Niagara will continue to fill gaps in the market with the next big thing in mining technology.

“Diagnostics are always evolving.

We are constantly looking at what data can be captured and how it can help our customers run their operations’ more efficiently,” Kilmurray said. AM

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CEO FOCUS

SETTING THE GOLD STANDARD PERTH MINT ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER JANE KING, THE FIRST FEMALE CEO IN THE COMPANY’S 123 YEARS OF OPERATION, DISCUSSES HER FOCUS ON WELLBEING, SUSTAINABILITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.

I

t has been a busy past 12 months for the Perth Mint and the gold industry.

The Gold Industry Group member company announced record silver sales for January, selling 2,387,165 ounces of silver in minted product form.

Last year the organisation also saw the gold price record its first calendar year decline since 2018, falling 4 per cent to end the year at $US1820 ($2500) per ounce of gold.

However, it noted that most of the decline in 2021 was seen during the first quarter, with improvement enjoyed since.

The Perth Mint also welcomed its first female chief executive officer in the company’s 123 years of operation.

Acting chief executive officer Jane King said she had been with the Perth Mint for more than seven years.

“Initially, I thought I would be here for 18 months to two years, but I have found it to be a fascinating business that presents one professional challenge after another,” King said.

“I am still excited by the Perth Mint and want to be part of its success.

“As acting CEO my focus is to keep the business running while seeing the business and our people through this difficult COVID period.

“Our priority is to protect our staff from the spread of COVID. Equally so, if that did happen we have plans in place so that we can keep serving the mining community as we provide an essential service to their businesses.”

King has a background in customer service, but also spent a short time with Rio Tinto in Dampier at the port in WA, as well as two years as an HR superintendent on-site at Fortescue Metals Group’s Cloudbreak.

“In addition to learning some pretty colourful language, understanding provisions for the life of mine was really rewarding,” King said.

“Everything that we touched had to go back to how it was before, so I like the respect for the land that we were mining.

“Once the mining aspect was removed from the pit we were backfilling and putting it back to how it was. The site also held a lot of respect for the First Nations people. Although I have a Masters in Employment Relations – Safety, HR and IR, working on a big mine site really honed my safety focus.”

PERTH MINT ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER JANE KING.

King said one of her key priorities in the role was keeping people physically and mentally safe, especially amid the COVID pandemic.

“I am cognisant of people’s mental wellbeing throughout this process and different people handle situations differently,” she said.

“Encouraging our leaders to be understanding and put strategies in place for people who are struggling or living alone (is important), supporting

them to continue living their lives as normally as possible as we deal with COVID.” King said the Perth Mint offered women equal opportunities.

The company also has a program to educate its people on cultural awareness and have included First Nations people’s stories in its exhibition tour.

“In the tour, we talk about how Aboriginal families helped the gold

THE PRICE OF GOLD HAS HAD A TUMULTUOUS 12 MONTHS.

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industry get started,” King said.

“We’re also committed to expanding our supply chain to use more Indigenous businesses and work with groups like the Waalitj Foundation to encourage candidates to apply for positions across our business.”

“Our business is enormously diverse. You walk through the different parts of the business and you see people from around the world.

“With our heritage buildings, we have some challenges around access, but that said we have a lot of people who have declared a disability and we have made modifications to buildings that we can within heritage guidelines.”

King said that over the next oneto-five years she would like tourism to return to the visitor levels that the Perth Mint enjoyed before COVID, with more people from all over the world coming to enjoy its building and showcase its products.

“I would like our coin programs to continue to be of interest and the innovation that is shown in there continue so more and more people collect gold and silver pieces,” she said.

“I would like visitors to feel safe and comfortable coming here and visitors and customers understand that we are a sustainable business.

“I would also like our mining clients to still feel that they get good value and that we are conducting a business that has an eye on the future.” AM

TECHNOLOGY

SMARTER, SAFER AI-DRIVEN MINING FLEETS THE DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED DATA ANALYTICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND INCREASED CONNECTIVITY THROUGH THE INTERNET OF THINGS ARE KEY DRIVERS OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN THE MINING SECTOR. ONE AREA WHERE MACHINE LEARNING CAN PLAY A BIG ROLE IS FLEET MANAGEMENT. In-cab cameras can also provide important proactive safety benefits.

For example, some models can detect a driver falling asleep while driving or an imminent crash, triggering audible in-cab warnings to help prevent a crash from occurring.

AI-powered machine vision technology can also be used to streamline driver ID and security processes.

For instance, you could use facial recognition to unlock or start vehicles (to prevent, say, unauthorised usage), or enable auto-login to your telematics system.

AI ENABLES DEEPER ANALYSIS OF FLEET OPERATIONS AS WELL AS MORE ACCURATE AND SPECIFIC PREDICTIONS IN MINING OPERATIONS.

Challenges that AI-powered video can help mining operators to solve

T

he Australian mining industry has one of the highest fatality and injury rates of any industry. A combined total of 2808 working days per year are lost due to injuries alone.

This makes it easy to see why mining companies have a lot to gain from advanced technology and why rates of adoption continue to grow.

There’s an urgency to ensure minesite safety and maintain regulatory compliance, which has resulted in a need for mining companies to become more proactive in managing daily operations to mitigate risk.

Why AI is the future of fleet management

Artificial intelligence (AI) can allow for a deeper analysis of fleet operations, as well as more accurate and specific predictions than have ever been seen.

Thanks to AI, mining fleets can improve the accuracy of telematicsderived data related to driver behaviour, asset-tracking, fleet utilisation and overall operations which, in turn, can improve site safety, driver safety, productivity and cost-efficiency.

Automated decision-making

AI-driven automated decision-making is also becoming more common when it comes to fleet maintenance issues.

Many fleets today practice preventive maintenance; for example, sending a notification or alert every 10,000 kilometres to change the vehicle oil to prevent future engine problems.

By analysing engine data, fleets can get more precise and predictive than ever before.

Not every vehicle needs its oil changed at 10,000 kilometres – where, how and how frequently depends on factors like the way a vehicle is driven and the condition of the oil.

Telematics data that is pulled from the engine and analysed can give a more precise picture and enable fleets to predict exactly when maintenance is needed to suit a particular circumstance.

Users can see how such a process would lead to better efficiency, greater uptime and increased productivity.

Preventive fleet maintenance is where AI can really shine.

Making fleets safer

The use of facial recognition is another feature of AI that could contribute AUSTRALIANMINING

to making mine fleets safer.

In-cab cameras are a big growth area in telematics. According to Berg Insight, the market for video telematics will grow by 22.2 per cent between 2020 and 2025, to a total of 3.2 million subscribers.

Video telematics can reduce collisions by 60 per cent and the related costs by 75 per cent. Visual evidence collected by in-cab cameras is a powerful tool for insurance claims and driver safety training.

What’s more, video telematics is increasingly being used in combination with AI technology to help provide visual context.

This helps to determine the circumstances around specific events such as on-site crashes. AI-powered video eliminates the need for the time-consuming task of sifting through hours of footage to find the precise moment or event a fleet manager needs to review, and makes any video snippet available in near real-time.

The technology has garnered a significant reputation for its ability to increase safety and efficiency within fleets of all kinds, making AI ideal for the mining industry.

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The benefits of using AI-powered technology can include (but are not limited to): • r eduction in speeding through increased awareness of road safety behaviours • i dentifying at-risk drivers and taking relevant actions to assist them • locating drivers at all times •p roviding direct real-time feedback on road conditions to operators and their control centres • r educing fuel usage, thus lessening environmental impact.

Using AI alongside video telematics can help manage driver distraction, fatigue and other potential safety threats in real-time to prevent potential crashes and the resultant injuries.

Safety incidents can be significantly reduced through the identification and monitoring of high-risk drivers, locations, times and shifts.

In turn, action plans can be implemented to train drivers on how to avoid safety hazards, allowing for improvement to take place on a continuous basis for long-term results.

The more data you have, the smarter you can be about making decisions that improve performance, efficiency and most of all safety.

Generating actionable insights will be the key to success in this brave new world of AI-enabled fleet management. AM

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TECHNOLOGY

NEXT-LEVEL TECH INJECTS VALUE INTO MINING AIR LIQUIDE HAS DEVELOPED A GAS INJECTION TECHNOLOGY CALLED NEXELIA TO IMPROVE SUSTAINABILITY AND QUALITY OF PROCESSES SUCH AS GOLD LEACHING AND LITHIUM CARBONATE PURIFICATION.

A

ir Liquide has grown out of France since 1902 to operate in 78 countries, employing around 64,500 people and serving more than 3.8 million customers.

With more than a century of experience in gas production technologies and applications, Air Liquide has served the Australian mining industry with mineral processing solutions for flotation and pH control, oxidative roasting, gold leaching and in-situ uranium leaching, process water treatment and nitrogen inerting systems for longwall underground mines.

The latest of these solutions is called Nexelia and it was designed in response to customers’ problems with chemical costs and sustainable processes.

Air Liquide regional operation centre market manager Eiichi Mizutani explained the motive behind Nexelia.

“Key objectives pursued by gold mine operators are to maximise productivity and gold recovery from increasingly complex ores, while doing

A FLOW CHART OF THE GOLD LEACHING PROCESS USING NEXELIA.

so in a competitive and sustainable manner,” he told Australian Mining.

“More than ever before, gold mine operators need reliable and costeffective solutions to meet their performance goals while respecting their commitment to corporate social responsibility.”

Nexelia for gold leaching is an all-inone gas solution that injects industrialquality oxygen into the pre-oxidation and cyanide leaching circuit in the most resource efficient volumes.

But no two ore samples are equal, and Air Liquide works with its customers to understand their material and design a system that will maximise productivity and minimise resource intensity.

“It all starts with process expertise, interacting with our experts either onsite or in the lab,” Mizutani said.

“By sending mineral samples to one of Air Liquide’s labs, we would design the experiment plan with different set-ups.

“Then for every set-up we measure changes in oxygen uptake ratios, cyanide consumption and gold increase yields with our commercial-level testing.”

AUSTRALIANMINING

By reducing resource intensity and minimising chemical consumption, mining companies can improve their sustainability and costs.

But the benefits of Nexelia stretch even further, according to Mizutani.

“In the gold mining field, the technology provides not only savings of cyanide consumption and sustainability, but it will also help to maintain or improve the gold recovery rate by verifying the mineral and adopting the oxygen transfer system for the specific application,” he said.

In keeping with current demands for technology-driven solutions, Air Liquide has rolled out a monitoring solution for dissolved oxygen and pH levels.

The Air Liquide wireless monitoring system is designed primarily for gold and copper leaching monitoring, Mizutani said.

“Using this system, the key data is uploaded almost real-time to the cloud, so we can check it anywhere from the smartphone or laptop,” he explained.

“By monitoring key parameters like dissolved oxygen, it ensures efficient oxygen usage and high performance of the process in terms of gold recovery and chemical consumption.

“The benefits of such tools are operational traceability, early detection of abnormal situations, alarms, getting real data and less travel to remote locations.”

But Air Liquide wasn’t happy with just serving the gold and copper sector, adding Nexelia for lithium carbonate purification to the fray.

Another all-in-one gas solution, this applies to lithium carbonates produced by acid or basic routes from either brines or mined rocks.

Mizutani explained how carbon dioxide was used in a three-step process.

“It dissolves lithium carbonate from slurry, then solid impurities are filtered out. Finally, when heated up, dissolved lithium carbonate precipitates and releases carbon dioxide,” he said.

“The solution then captures the released carbon dioxide in this third precipitation phase and re-uses it in the initial dissolution phase.”

The result is battery-grade lithium carbonate and reduces the amount of carbon dioxide required per kilogram by three times – from 0.6kg of carbon dioxide per kilogram of lithium carbonate to 0.2kg of carbon dioxide.

Mizutani is excited to watch the results in Australia’s growing lithium sector after the technology showed its worth in North America.

“That was proven in Canada, but one of the strengths of our company is that Air Liquide’s efforts around the world can be replicated everywhere,” he said. “We feel that it is our mission to continue to contribute to the mining industry while grasping technological trends around the world.” AM

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POWER GENERATION

ATLAS CEA CONQUERS A POWER CONUNDRUM THE QAC 1450 TWINPOWER MEANS THE MINING INDUSTRY NOW HAS AN INSPIRED NEW POWER SOLUTION AT ITS DISPOSAL: TWO GENERATORS IN ONE.

A

trusted distributor of world-renowned manufacturer Atlas Copco, Atlas CEA has been supporting the Australian mining sector for decades.

Atlas CEA has overseen constant advancements in industrial productivity solutions over the years, but not many innovations compare to Atlas Copco’s new QAC 1450 TwinPower generator.

As Atlas CEA New South Wales branch manager Greg Conrad puts it, the QAC 1450 TwinPower is a beast.

“You get a powerhouse in a 20-foot container,” he told Australian Mining.

“You get two generators in one and it allows you to manage power delivery to your site better than you can from a single large generator.”

The dual generators give the customer more flexibility to provide optimal power at the right time, and more efficiently.

“Not everyone has a perfect load for a generator, so what we’ve done is design this unit to better benefit the customer and their site-specific needs,” Conrad said.

“In that, you can start the day with high loads and then as the day goes on, or as loads vary, the generator can transition from acting as one big generator operating at 1450 kilovoltampere (kVA) to a single generator operating at 725 kVA with reduced risk of damaging the engine due to low loading.”

In a mining setting, where operations often run 24–7 and maintaining uptime is critical, reliable power generation is imperative.

“Because you’re running two generators, you have less wear and tear and less fuel consumption,” Conrad said. “Maintenance costs are significantly reduced because you’re changing oil and coolant filters for two smaller generators instead of one big one.

RELIABLE POWER GENERATION IS IMPERATIVE TO MAINTAINING UPTIME.

AUSTRALIANMINING

THE QAC 1450 TWINPOWER PACKS TWO GENERATORS IN ONE.

“A customer that we recently sold the unit to starts the unit up in the morning with two engines handling the full load, but when the load drops, one engine automatically turns off and goes into standby until required.

“The cost savings from this are astronomical.

“As you can imagine, the equipment pays for itself pretty quickly if it’s used for that reason.”

If an operator wants to maximise their power even further, the QAC 1450 can also be connected to extra generators in parallel.

Additionally, the unit can run as a single 1450 kVA generator connected to as single switchboard or run as two completely separate 725 kVA generators, each providing power to separate loads and operating independently.

The QAC 1450 is versatile in operation but also provides greater flexibility through its comprehensive but user-friendly control system.

“The control system is full of options that allow you to tailor the generator operation to your site needs,” Conrad said.

“The generator does what you want it to do; you’re not confined to the limitations of a single, big generator delivering full power all day long.

“So you can run it at full capacity or you can run it at half capacity. One of the nice features built for critical sites is that you can also program it for redundancy so one generator acts as the prime unit while the other one stays on standby.”

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Conrad said the QAC 1450’s control system caters for many other powermanagement requests, including base loading or peak lopping, which is another example of its flexibility to meet various customer needs.

To support the QAC 1450, Atlas CEA has a comprehensive service team across its branches in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, with technicians at the ready for servicing or if a customer runs into any difficulties. And the company’s service capability doesn’t stop there.

“We also have dealers throughout Australia to help support the extensive range of equipment operating across the country, and some of the maintenance can be done by your local or site mechanic if the requirement arises” Conrad said.

“We have local parts distribution as well as our National Distribution Centre in Sydney supplying parts throughout Australia.

“Then we also have Atlas Copco for support as well. They’ve been around for over 170 years specialising in construction and mining equipment.

“So we have a pretty high presence of service, parts, and technical support throughout Australia.”

Through the QAC 1450 TwinPower, Atlas CEA has innovated an inspired new way of combatting power concerns on mine sites.

Operators can do away with fears of low-loading, excessive servicing and high fuel consumption and now have the capacity to better manage their power usage across the working day.

It’s about flexibility, and the QAC 1450 TwinPower has that in spades. AM

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DIGITAL MINING

CONNECTED TECHNOLOGY WITH A PURPOSE FARRUKH YAQUB, HEAD OF ROTATING EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE AT SKF AUSTRALIA, CONSIDERS THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING PURPOSE IN MIND WHEN IMPLEMENTING DIGITAL MINING SOLUTIONS.

D

igital tools for equipment monitoring are getting smarter, more powerful and more cost-effective.

But as mine operators implement these new technologies, they should always keep their purpose in mind.

Predictive maintenance has traditionally been used by early adopters with an understanding of how strategic maintenance management can contribute to profitability.

High costs and complexity once limited predictive maintenance to the most critical, industrial assets. Today, exciting changes are afoot.

“New developments, including mobile computing, wireless communications, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), make it feasible to add smart monitoring capabilities to a much wider range of machines,” Farrukh Yaqub, head of rotating equipment performance at SKF Australia, said.

“In such a fast-changing and dynamic environment, it is easy to get carried along by the hype.”

SKF’S ROTATING EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE CENTRE.

With technology companies and service providers offering to wire up anything and everything, the key question for mine operators is no longer whether they can monitor their assets, but how to manage the increasing volumes of data.

To find purpose, equipment operators need to begin with a clear vision of their end goals.

What are they trying to achieve with their overall maintenance and reliability program? How could digital

technologies contribute to those aims?

In SKF’s conversations with miners, the company has heard several different answers to that latter question.

“Often they have strong financial goals, such as maximising the return on capital investments or minimising the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their assets,” Yaqub said. “Improved safety is another universal priority in demanding and hazardous mining environments.

SKF’S IMX-8 TECHNOLOGY IS ADVANCING SMART MONITORING CAPABILITIES.

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“Resources companies are also prioritising actions that improve their operational sustainability, as part of the license to operate and to make it easier to attract and retain a skilled and motivated workforce.”

Setting out the goals of a potential machine-monitoring and predictive maintenance program provides a framework that helps owners prioritise their actions and implement the most appropriate solutions.

Mining equipment will always be exposed to wear and the risk of damage, but by identifying the assets and failure modes that have the largest impact on their reliability goals, operators can identify technologies that help them detect, predict and prevent those failures.

Once mining companies have defined the objectives of their monitoring and predictive maintenance project at the asset level, it is time to identify the right solution. That solution will typically comprise several connected hardware, software and human elements.

SKF finds it useful to break the solution down into four distinct parts: connect, detect, inform and improve.

Connect

‘Connect’ is about the equipment and infrastructure needed to measure and record reliability-related data. For bearings and rotating machines, that usually involves vibration sensors, since vibration is still the best way to spot early problem signs.

However, condition-monitoring systems are increasingly combining multiple data types, such as process data and production data from machine control systems or lubrication oil temperature and condition information from dedicated sensors.

Combined with handheld devices, sensors can be used to collect data periodically during walkarounds by maintenance staff. Or they can be permanently fixed to the machine, transmitting data via wired or wireless connections at an appropriate rate.

“The best approach depends on the type of asset being monitored and its role in the process,” Yaqub said.

“Traditionally, permanent sensors and wired connections were expensive to

DIGITAL MINING

Inform

‘Inform’ is about translating the anomalies detected by the remote monitoring system into actionable information for the end user. For example, if a problem is detected in a bearing, the user knows they will need to inspect the machine.

What the user really wants to know is whether they should stop immediately or whether it will be safe to keep the machine running until the next scheduled maintenance intervention.

SKF’s experience suggests the ‘inform’ phase works best when it involves close collaboration between condition-monitoring and data analysis experts and the miner’s own operations and maintenance teams.

Improve

The need for collaboration is even more pronounced in ‘improve’, which is often key to the most significant performance and value improvements.

It is about the robust application of traditional reliability improvement tools to prevent the reoccurrence of failures identified by the predictive maintenance system.

SKF harnesses ‘improve’ by working with its customers to identify changes in bearing selection or lubrication strategy that can prolong the life of equipment and extend the mean time between critical asset failures.

Case study

A horizontal grinding mill was installed at an Australian mineral processing site, presenting some significant challenges.

The remote location of the site meant access to specialist personnel was not always available. In the past, the customer had experienced a situation where a critical failure was picked up too late, leading to a major unplanned shutdown.

A second challenge related to the nature of the mill operations. The asset rotated at low speeds of around 10 revolutions per minute (rpm).

This necessitated the use of highly sophisticated vibration analysis algorithms to extract valid data on the condition of bearings and gearbox elements in an extremely noisy environment.

SKF provided a mill-monitoring system that attended to the customer’s unique environment and situation.

“SKF monitored the mill on behalf of the customer, installing the necessary sensors and communication equipment and conducting analysis remotely from one of its RDCs,” Yaqub said.

“After only three months of continuous monitoring, the RDC identified an anomalous signal and was able to pinpoint the problem to a particular pinion gear within the machine.

“In this case, timely action to the problem saved the customer enough in avoided downtime to cover the cost of the remote monitoring system.”

New developments make it feasible to add smart monitoring capabilities in a much wider range of machines, but it is easy to be carried away in the hype. Break down the solution into four parts: connect, detect, inform and improve.

The key question that follows is: what is trying to be achieved with the overall maintenance and reliability program?

Once this is answered, the solution can be implemented. AM

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‘Detect’ entails the analytical techniques used to identify anomalies in machine data and diagnose potential faults. This is a highly specialised task requiring a combination of sophisticated algorithms and human expertise.

Difficulty accessing specialist personnel can be a critical bottleneck for predictive maintenance programs, especially for miners operating in remote and inaccessible locations.

Today, the need for on-site expertise has been lessened by the development of centralised remote monitoring facilities, which use cloud technologies to share data from multiple sites and assets from a single hub. Specialist staff then analyse the data and diagnose problems.

“Some large organisations choose to staff and run such facilities themselves, but this can also be outsourced to specialist providers,” Yaqub said.

“It is a service SKF provides for its customers worldwide through its network of remote diagnostics centres (RDC).

“There is also an ongoing drive to automate more anomaly detection and problem diagnosis using AI technologies.

“AI systems are already showing tremendous promise in machine monitoring applications, both by reducing the workload placed upon human experts and by spotting subtle signals people might miss.”

TRU

Detect

HEAD OF ROTATING EQUIPMENT PERFORMANCE – SKF AUSTRALIA, FARRUKH YAQUB.

•

install and were only used on the most critical assets.

“Balance of plan assets, such as pumps and fans, could be effectively monitored using handheld devices.

“Attitudes are beginning to change, however. This is being driven by the development of lower-cost wireless sensors that are quick and easy to install.”

Switching from handheld devices to wireless sensors frees up maintenance staff for more valueadding work and has come with safety benefits, reducing the need for personnel to approach running machinery for data collection.

Continuous monitoring can also allow for quicker problem identification than the traditional two- or three-week manual data-collection cycle, helping to reduce environmental concerns and save the planet’s resources.

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INNOVATION

MCLANAHAN PROVIDES SUPPORT TO REMOTE PROJECTS THE OEM HAS GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR A REMOTE OPERATION IN INDONESIA, TURNING A LOGISTICAL CHALLENGE INTO ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL PROJECT FOR THE COMPANY.

U

sing initiative and innovation, McLanahan designed, manufactured, tested and shipped a reclaim feeder and two feeder-breakers to a client of more than 10 years.

In March 2020, a major Indonesian coal producer contacted McLanahan, as they needed its tried and tested Australian-made equipment.

The machines were ordered as part of the operation’s continued expansion and happened to coincide with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, severely limiting international travel.

This left McLanahan unable to perform its preferred site visits to consult with the customer in-person, opting instead for the (now all-tofamiliar) video call.

McLanahan sales specialist for minerals Paul Skelton explained just what made this order especially tricky.

“We’re used to designing orders to suit customers’ applications, but this one was unique in that we had to make a concerted effort to fit everything inside the envelope of a 20-foot container,” he told Australian Mining.

“This was to help them transport it domestically in Indonesia, as their trucks and their roads and infrastructure aren’t suited to a long portable container.”

Equally tricky was keeping the customer involved in the design and

MCLANAHAN’S FEEDERBREAKER WAS ABLE TO FIT INTO A 20-FOOT CONTAINER.

manufacture of the equipment from roughly 5500km away in a Newcastle warehouse.

Despite the challenges the situation presented, necessity is indeed the mother of invention and this has also become a service McLanahan uses for its customers in Australia.

“A lot of difficult site locations are not just in Indonesia but in Australia. I think one of our greatest tools has been the video calling,” Skelton said “We’ve had to do it a lot in our workshop to show customers what we’re doing.

“We’ll send them video of us explaining equipment, and video of our factory acceptance testing because we assemble and test everything here in Cameron Park before we ship it.”

But once the equipment was designed, built, packaged and en route to Indonesia, the job was only half done. The next step was ensuring the customer could unpack and install the machines themselves.

Detailed instructions – not to mention a significant amount of foresight – were key to pulling off what would usually pose another logistical nightmare.

“They were very happy with the documentation detailing how to lift it safely out of the container back onto their truck,” Skelton said.

“They were able to assemble it quite easily with instructions we gave them. And with the videos we AUSTRALIANMINING

gave them on how the machine was assembled and tested, they were able to reference that.

“Language barriers are always difficult because their English is far better than my Indonesian, but we were able to overcome that with drawings and focusing on the engineering detail.”

Considering what tools were on hand was one of the most important aspects in designing equipment for the receiver to install; it wasn’t as though the customer, located in a remote part of Indonesia, could run off to the hardware store if something was missing.

“The customer was experienced in installing pieces of equipment based on instructions we gave them. But then they weren’t that experienced in running this particular piece of equipment,” Skelton said.

“So we provided a few video conferences and referencing manual recommendations for testing methodologies and procedures that would work based on the tools they had available and based on the remoteness of their operation.”

What was even more important was ensuring that safety was maintained throughout the entire installation process.

Whether working with a brandnew customer, or a client of more THE EQUIPMENT WAS UNLOADED IN INDONESIA AFTER A LONG JOURNEY.

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than 10 years, Skelton said no one should get hurt when working with McLanahan machinery.

“I think one thing that we’re very aware of in McLanahan is trying to promote a culture of safety to countries like Indonesia, where their safety standards are not as high as us in Australia,” Skelton said.

“We supply a customer equipment that meets the engineering and technical specifications, but also keeps everyone safe.”

Looking to the future, McLanahan has realised the value of telecommunications in delivering mining equipment, be it bespoke or stock standard. Where a site visit would see a handful of company representatives meet with customers in-person, a video call allows potentially dozens of people to collaborate to satisfy everyone’s needs.

And while Skelton’s career has involved countless site visits and smiling faces, he sees remote operations as another tool in McLanahan’s belt.

“I think it’s a good model for us and, as a result, I recently had a conversation with the customer about the next stage of the project to potentially add another three machines,” he said.

“So they’re confident in being supported and being acknowledged.” AM

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FLEET MANAGEMENT

STREAMLINING FLEET SOLUTIONS LOOKING FOR AN EXPERT SERVICE PROVIDER THAT KNOWS HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF LIGHT VEHICLES FOR MINING APPLICATIONS? AEROKLAS AUSTRALIA HAS THE RESOURCES AND THE KNOW-HOW TO MANAGE THE ENTIRE BUILD OF THE VEHICLE.

A

eroklas Australia acquired vehicle accessory manufacturer TJM in early 2015 and it has since grown its product range extensively.

TJM has been in operation since 1973, when Lloyd Taylor, Cliff Jones and Steve Mollenhauer started the journey to becoming the first Australian company to manufacture and distribute quality 4WD equipment.

The company’s products are designed, tested and manufactured to thrive in the world’s most famed offroad frontier: the Australian outback.

TJM’s rigorous testing and worldclass engineering ensure that every product reaches the highest levels of performance and functionality, enabling it to thrive in the harshest mine conditions.

The Aeroklas Australia group also includes market-leading Australian auto-accessory brands Flexiglass and Bocar.

Aeroklas Australia can streamline fit-outs for all fleet vehicle needs, regardless of mine-site location.

The group’s acquisitions mean the fleet division has access to an array of ready-made products, quality assurance, Australian design rules compliance, workshop fitment capabilities and expert staff to ensure standardisation of vehicle fit-outs.

“We’ve got two major retail divisions that can help support with fleet project management and building vehicles, whether that be our TJM retail and distribution network or our newly developed Aeroklas fitment centres,” Aeroklas Australia’s head of customer experience and retail strategy Matt Logan said.

“We have launched two Aeroklas fitment centres in Western Australia and one in Queensland.”

The fitment centres and qualified staff can deliver solutions that guarantee on-time vehicle delivery via localised centres, personalised service and a reduced risk of damage through overhandling of fleet vehicles.

The fleet division covers a full spectrum of vehicle fitment and equipment needs, spanning indemand products such as vehicle protection, suspension upgrades, ute trays, canopies, lighting and communications.

THREE AEROKLAS FITMENT CENTRES HAVE BEEN OPENED IN WA AND QLD.

“The benefit of working with the national fleet team is we’ve got the capability to work across our multiple brands and our other preferred supply partners we work with,” Logan told Australian Mining.

“The biggest thing that sets us apart from any of our competitors is we have got the ability to manage and build the entire vehicle.”

When it was looking at establishing the fleet division and the fitment centres, Aeroklas Australia found that customers were often having to outsource specialty builds for their vehicles to multiple suppliers, adding to downtime.

“We take that one vehicle and fit all of the components given our specialties, and our fleet division has the capability to project manage that successfully and work with procurement managers from the mining divisions to regularly update them on the project build of those cars,” Logan said.

“Our divisional capability is quite unique across Australia, where we’re either using our core products or our direct access to supply partners to bring in specialty products that we can then fit to the vehicle.”

The company’s specialty is exterior equipment – bull bars, side steps, rear bars and the like – all of which is relevant to mining vehicles.

AUSTRALIANMINING

“Our bull bars are renowned for having proprietary development in the products. They have built-in rated recovery points within the bar itself, which provides better strength for a safer recovery,” Logan said.

“They also have a unique integrated winch-frame system, so when customers want to put winches in it’s a lot easier to fit the winch into the vehicle.”

TJM XGS suspension is designed to elevate a vehicle’s core potential and improve comfort, while refining how it responds to braking, accelerating and cornering. XGS suspension offers outstanding loadcarrying and towing capabilities compared to a standard system.

TJM has the XGS 4000 series and the exclusive XGS pace series, a highly-upgradeable remote suspension system.

“The quality on the XGS 4000 system is one of the best in its class.

It’s a specific application engineering that’s designed and applied to the vehicle, and it also supports the gross vehicle mass and weight upgrades many mining vehicles might need,” Logan said.

“A lot of standard suspension cannot accommodate the additional load-bearing accessories being added to mine vehicles. You need to go aftermarket to be able to fit

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suspension that supports your required load-carrying or towing capacity needed to operate a light vehicle on a mine site.”

Aeroklas Australia’s resources enable it to provide complete solutions. If a mine site requires canopies for its fleet, Aeroklas can utilise Flexiglass and Aeroklasdesigned canopies, or if the company is after aluminium trays or the like for the back of the vehicle, it can use Bocar’s products.

Along with TJM’s vehicle protection accessories comes its communications products, an essential feature for mining vehicles to maintain safety. Antennas and UHF give vehicles the ability to communicate and get help in remote areas.

GME, Oricom and Uniden make up TJMs preferred supplier program for communications products, and the Aeroklas fleet division can fit every product from each of the companies TJM offers a three-year warranty on all shocks and struts, with a strong confidence in their reliability.

“Our steel and alloy bull bars are also under a three-year warranty. They typically last longer than that, but it depends on the corrosive conditions, the environment that the mine is in and the type of work that the bull bars will be subjected to,” Logan said. AM

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MINING SERVICES

GLENCORE CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO AT MOUNT ISA MINES THE MAJOR MINER HAS TAKEN ON 10 KOVATERA LIGHT VEHICLES AS IT LOOKS TO IMPROVE ITS CURRENT UNDERGROUND UTILITY FLEET AT MOUNT ISA MINES IN QUEENSLAND.

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ave Anderson has been working with Mount Isa Mines (MIM) for 36 years and is currently the company’s maintenance superintendent for light vehicles (LVs) in north-west Queensland.

He’s seen it all in the maintenance world and has become an expert at devising strategies to reduce downtime and operating costs on mine sites.

So when MIM wanted to increase the durability of its underground LVs, the company turned to Kovatera.

Glencore operates more than 130 LVs at MIM and has a number of maintenance strategies based on the various failure modes, with the brake system the prominent limiting factor.

According to Anderson, any LV operating on a standard rear brake system in the underground environment requires maintenance intervention every 14–21 days to prevent premature failures. This is where Kovatera offers a more reliable and effective system.

“We’ve got control measures in place where the internal wet brake system is a more reliable and efficient system, and Kovatera meet that requirement,” Anderson told Australian Mining. “That was one of the main drivers around trialling the Kovatera LVs, as it allows us to extend our maintenance strategy and potential life of asset.

“While it’s going to take a number of years to phase out the current LVs and fully implement the Kovateras into the business, we expect to have a reduction in fleet numbers and maintenance requirements over that time.

“This is what we’re basing our decision on and the Kovatera is a more fit for purpose unit.”

There are currently six Kovateras supporting Glencore’s underground mining operations at Mount Isa, with a further four in transit.

The Kovatera LVs don’t just stand apart for their brake systems, but also for their chassis strength. The chassis is made of fabricated steel with a flat plate ‘T’ configuration, giving the vehicle a very sturdy backbone.

THE KOVATERA IS A MORE FIT-FORPURPOSE LV FOR MOUNT ISA MINES.

Based on this design, Kovatera and Drivetrain are able to provide a five-year/5000-hour warranty on the chassis.

“Life of asset has been an issue with our LVs. We’ve tried a lot of vehicles over the years and the chassis has always been the weakest link in our equipment, which ultimately determined the life of asset,” Anderson said.

“We’ve tested various brands and vehicle types, but the chassis just don’t hold up from an operational perspective.”

A stronger chassis means a safer vehicle. The Kovatera LVs also have rollover protective structure (ROPS) and falling object protective structure (FOPS) certification, which means they can navigate more areas underground compared to other LVs. Kovatera’s fail-safe braking system is also a key attribute, as are the machines’ automatic speed-limiting capabilities.

Drivetrain has played a critical role in getting the Kovatera LVs to site, and the company will continue its support of Mount Isa Mines into the future,

GLENCORE’S DAVE ANDERSON NEXT TO THE KOVATERA.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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ensuring they attend to every need.

“I know we’re in the early stages of our relationship, but in the past 12 months Mount Isa Mines have been appreciative of the support Drivetrain has shown,” Anderson said.

“It’s hard to get an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to make changes as quickly as we want.

There’s always going to be some initial minor requests from us, and Drivetrain has responded promptly to make the required alterations.”

“The teamwork approach we’ve established to make these machines successful has been reassuring. To date, I am very happy with the work Drivetrain has been doing.”

To further expedite Glencore’s deployment of Kovatera LVs at MIM, Drivetrain is establishing more support closer to the source.

Drivetrain technical manager Shayne Griffin said this had started by consolidating parts.

“One of the most important things for us is the ability to supply parts at a local level. Drivetrain is currently in the process of implementing spare parts and warehousing into Mount Isa for immediate supply and ongoing support. This will be the first stage,” he said.

“The next stage will be the implementation of Drivetrain technical and onsite support in the Mount Isa region to support our growing fleet of Kovateras.” AM

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MINERAL PROCESSING

STRONGER AND HARDER STEEL INCREASES UPTIME PROVIDING HIGH-STRENGTH AND ABRASION-RESISTANT STEEL TO THE INDUSTRY IS A SPECIALTY FOR BISALLOY STEELS, BUT THE COMPANY ALSO HAS A MAJOR FOCUS ON SERVICES AND SUPPORT THAT REALLY SETS IT APART.

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isalloy Steels is the only manufacturer of high-strength, abrasionresistant, quenched and tempered steel plate in Australia.

Due to its highly trusted products, and their widespread use, BISALLOY (the product itself) has become the name for quenched and tempered performance steels in the country and across parts of Asia.

Bisalloy’s steel is typically used for wear-resistant, structural and armour applications and is all manufactured in its base in Unanderra, near Wollongong in New South Wales.

Bisalloy Steels national business development manager of mining Geoff Lewis told Australian Mining its specialised quenched and tempered steel is a niche product within the steel industry.

“The plate has very unique properties that allows it to be used in very high-wear or abrasive applications, and the reason it’s able to hold up is in the properties of the steel,” Lewis said.

“Hardness is very important, but the range of Bisalloy products and their properties also allow for the plate to be processed into varying applications where abrasion resistance and toughness are needed.”

BISALLOY SPECIALISED QUENCHED AND TEMPERED STEEL IS A NICHE PRODUCT WITHIN THE STEEL INDUSTRY.

As a specialist performance Australian steel manufacturer and supplier, Bisalloy Steels responds to customer demands and market changes quickly and is committed to and focused on continuous product development.

“Our strategy is to work very closely within the Australian mining industry. We want to work with the mining companies and the mine sites, but also with the associated companies that deal with mines; for example, mining contractors and engineering houses,” Lewis said.

“We want to listen to what their needs and requirements are for wear technology, and work with them in further developing existing products, or helping to develop new products that increase wear life to contribute to greater uptime.”

Bisalloy high-strength steel is also used when it comes to transport equipment and structural components such as trays, low loaders, trailers, dump trucks and excavator buckets.

By using BISALLOY, mines and mine equipment fleets can not only increase their uptime, but also their payload.

“For most applications, both types of steel, high-strength BISALLOY STRUCTURAL steel and abrasionresistant BISALLOY WEAR steel, are AUSTRALIANMINING

designed and used in varying parts of the equipment,” Lewis said.

“By working with mines, contractors, and engineering houses, Bisalloy offers local technical sales support that can provide every opportunity at the design phase to ensure equipment is as light and strong as possible, enabling them to carry more material and reduce the regular maintenance cycle by having a longer lasting material in their equipment.”

The Australian steel industry is continuously working toward technology advancement through

ongoing collaboration with companies in the field.

“Bisalloy has been servicing the mining industry for over 40 years.

Our products have continued to be developed and evolve over time, and that’s by listening to the market’s needs,” Lewis said.

“Bisalloy being an Australianowned company is not just about production. It also offers support for the market to discuss with our local in-country technical and research and development team about wear technology, and for us to listen to what the mine sites are aiming for.”

The Bisalloy technical team is also based in Unanderra at the head office and production site. That team is primarily responsible for product development and quality, but also for supporting the mining sector with visits, discussing wear technology and technology developments, and advancements in mining applications.

In addition to the sales and technical team, Bisalloy has a national distribution and dealer network with dealers in every state.

“That includes not just capital cities but also in regional Australia as well,” Lewis said.

“That enables Bisalloy products to be held closer to the end user, which in this case is the mines. Those dealers can offer from full plate to an extensive capability of processed parts of Bisalloy steel to the mines and services companies.” AM

BISALLOY STEEL IS TYPICALLY USED FOR WEAR-RESISTANT, STRUCTURAL AND ARMOUR APPLICATIONS.

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Solution for Gold Leaching

SOLUTIONS FOR MINING & EXTRACTIVE METALLURGY Air Liquide’s all-in-one gas solution for gold cyanide leaching process can help you increase productivity, maximise gold recovery and reduce cyanide consumption.

Our experts provide support to adapt and implement our solution at your site including lab testing, oxygen demand characterisation and oxygen usage optimisation.

With more than 100 references worldwide in the past 20 years, Air Liquide provides all-inone solutions, related services and equipment in Mineral Processing, Hydrometallurgy, Pyrometallurgy and Process Water Treatment.

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PRODUCTS

BME UNVEILS AXXIS TITANIUM

RAISING PIPES TO SUPERIOR LEVELS

One of the world’s most advanced electronic blast detonation systems – AXXIS Titanium –has been launched by Omnia Group company BME. Further enhancing the safety levels, manufacturing quality and performance of the popular AXXIS range, AXXIS Titanium secures BME’s position as a global leader in electronic delay detonator design.

The new system brings exciting new features to improve safety, while performance is boosted by the increased blast duration per detonator, more units per blasting box and precise firing accuracy.

The logger can now do the programming, scanning and testing, while the controller starts up and firing at the blasting point from the view site can take as little as two minutes.

This flagship product seamlessly integrates with BME’s software systems and hand-held digital tools, developed as part of the company’s continued focus on digital advancement on mines.

An ISO 9001 certified company with over 30 years of flotation experience, Superior Industrial has a large range of pipe floats used in mining, water treatment, sewerage, aquaculture and dredging.

The unsinkable floats with a high buoyancy are suitable for floating cables, pipes and hose diameters from 25mm to 1000mm. With marine grade 316 stainless steel fasteners, the heavy-duty, high-impact, rotomoulded polyethylene floats have locating pin slots for easy installation. Passive radar and light reflective stripes are also available.

With superior quality, reliability and precision manufacturing by engineers, all products are expertly fabricated to suit any application and comply with international standards.

Additionally, the team of design and manufacturing experts offers technical support within all industries. With a global reach, the range of pipe floats is container-friendly and available for worldwide shipping.

• bme.co.za

• superiorindustrial.com.au

CAPS GENERATORS FILL ANY NEED

LASETLO – TRAIN LOAD OUT SYSTEM

CAPS has launched a new range of generators to complement its existing AIRMAN and KOHLER products with outputs ranging from 9kVA to 794kVA. The company has used its 41 years of experience in the Australian mining industry to develop the right features for tough conditions, using worldclass componentry from Perkins engines, Leroy Somer alternators, and Deepsea controllers.

All models come with high-quality super-quiet acoustic enclosures, double-wall bounded fuel tanks and many safety features such as Earth leakage, electric fuel-level sensor, low -uel alarm, fuel gauge, battery isolator, rain cap, lifting points and emergency stop button.

If CAPS generators are being used as backup power, the manufacturer also offers an automatic transfer switch to start and stop units when power is lost and restored.

LASE has released a laser-based volume measurement system to quickly measure wagons and open doors in the front or back of train load out stations.

The system consists of up to six LASE 2D laser scanners that communicate with the LASE system application software and continuously record measurement data.

Two of these 2D laser scanners are placed in front of the train loading/ unloading station centered above the tracks to measure the volume of each wagon.

Two more are then positioned laterally next to the track and measure the walls of the wagons in horizontal scan planes, as well as the speed and positions of the wagons.

Two more 2D laser scanners are placed behind the train loading/unloading station to measure the respective fill level or checks whether the wagon has been completely emptied.

• caps.com.au

• lase-solutions.com

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PRODUCTS

HEXAGON LEVELS UP COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM

MICROMINE FORMS ANOTHER PIECE OF THE PUZZLE

Hexagon Mining has introduced a significantly improved version of its collision avoidance system, consolidating powerful technology into just two hardware components: a smart antenna and a five-inch LCD display.

Version 10 of the HxGN MineProtect Collision Avoidance System – known simply as CAS 10 – protects drivers and equipment with 360-degree operator awareness for vehicles, assets and operators in open-pit mines.

Besides collision avoidance, MineProtect integrates systems for operator alertness, object detection, personal protection and vehicle intervention by sharing the same hardware.

The smart antenna integrates GPS, RF, Wi-Fi, LTE and ultra-wide band time of flight technology and the in-cabin, touchscreen display features modern UI/UX consistent with Hexagon’s other onboard solutions.

This creates a better driving experience, reduced deployment and training time, reduced supply chain complexity and increased operator adoption.

Micromine has further expanded its suite of digital mining products with Micromine Nexus, a web-based platform that offers a central, secure and streamlined data storage solution for mining projects.

The company developed Nexus in response to customer feedback and built it to be scalable, customisable, user-friendly, and able to satisfy data security and regulation requirements.

The launch of Micromine Nexus brings significant benefits to the way mining companies manage project data and collaboration, while also progressing Micromine’s longer-term vision for building a fully-connected ecosystem.

The past year has seen Micromine add several other software before Nexus, catering to exploration, mine planning and mine scheduling.

• micromine.com

• hexagonmining.com

HOVERMAP GOES FROM GOOD TO GREAT

THE HEART OF THE MINE

Emesent has launched Hovermap ST for autonomous LiDAR (light detection and ranging) mapping, using a new technology to build on a solid reputation of mining data capture.

The original Hovermap has been tried and tested since 2019 in some of Australia’s largest mines, including by Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining and Glencore.

With a new Automated Ground Control feature, Hovermap ST speeds up survey workflows and improves accuracy without having to stop at each survey point.

Once an array of Emesent ground control targets are placed around the survey environment, Hovermap ST can conduct a survey without stopping in motion to produce up to 600,000 points per second.

Hovermap’s Tap-to-Fly autonomy feature also enables guided exploration in previously inaccessible areas beyond line of sight and communication range.

The lifeblood of your mine relies on the healthiest of hearts. That’s why Weir Minerals provides GEHO pumps for operation all day every day, in the most sustainable way possible.

The GEHO piston diaphragm pump is a crankshaft-driven pump, usually driven by a gearbox, motor and variable speed drive. The pump diaphragms protect the moving parts from the abrasive slurry, and the pump non-return valves remain as sole wear parts.

Constant innovation means that Weir’s GEHO positive displacement pumps have been trusted across the globe for over 100 years. Whether it’s transporting ore, tailings or feeding processes, this rugged range handles the toughest conditions with might.

High pump efficiency (up to 96 per cent) means lower energy costs and reduced carbon footprint, with high availability due to their heavy-duty industrial design.

• emesent.io

AUSTRALIANMINING

• global.weir/industries/mining

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EVENT SPOTLIGHT

WOMEN IN RESOURCES TAKE A BOW THE 2022 WOMEN IN INDUSTRY FINALISTS REPRESENT THE OUTSTANDING SUCCESS ACHIEVED BY WOMEN IN TRADITIONALLY MALE-DOMINATED INDUSTRIES.

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his year’s finalists demonstrate the exceptional value women have brought to industries in the past 12 months.

The awards are designed to recognise women who work in mining, road transport, manufacturing, engineering, logistics, bulk handling, waste management, rail and infrastructure.

Women in Industry ambassador Rachael Ashfield said the awards give women an opportunity to highlight key aspects and career-defining moments of their many years of success and dedication.

The ifm efector marketing manager became the Women in Industry ambassador following her 2020 nomination for the Business Development Success of the Year category, which she subsequently won.

Ashfield has progressed her career steadily, moving from executive assistant to marketing assistant, and

now leading the department.

Ashfield encourages women from across the relevant sectors to grow themselves professionally.

“I am proud of being the ambassador for the Women in Industry Awards, as it means what I do – and the way I do it – are accurate reflections on what ifm strives to accomplish every day,” Ashfield said.

“I want to wish all the women nominated not only the best of luck but moreover, the recognition, support and help to raise the profile for all these wonderful women in the mining, engineering, manufacturing, process control, commercial road transport industries that can go unnoticed.

“Well done to all those nominated.”

A number of companies picked up multiple nominations.

Weir Minerals scored nods for cyclone specialist Katherine Walton in Business Development Success of the Year, and graduate engineer Monique Yap for Rising Star of the Year.

AUSTRALIANMINING

IFM EFECTOR’S RACHAEL ASHFIELD IS THE WOMEN IN INDUSTRY AWARDS AMBASSADOR.

Bosch Australia (two), Norske Skog (two), KPMG (two) and the Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLD (four) all scored multiple nominations.

Komatsu Mining’s director of strategy and performance Christine Morris has been nominated twice for the Excellence in Mining Award and the Mentor of the Year Award.

Transport Women Australia board member Merry Manton snagged nominations for the Safety Advocacy Award and Excellence in Transport.

Categories for the 2022 Women in Industry Awards Social Leader of the Year Proudly sponsored by Komatsu

“Komatsu’s philosophy is passed down from generation to generation through our principles, strategies and the belief that corporate social responsibility is part of our core business and the value we create,” Komatsu Mining director strategy and performance Christine Morris said.

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“In regions across the globe, Komatsu continues to provide products and solutions which address social needs and give back to communities where we do business by leveraging the skills and passion of our people.

“We seek to play an active role in supporting the long-term success of society through sustainable efforts that reach far beyond Komatsu, which is why we have decided to sponsor the Social Leader of the Year category.

“This is our opportunity to recognise the women who are driving change in this category – breaking down barriers and creating new possibilities for the next generation.”

Finalists:

• Anne Williams – plant operations manager – rail, John Holland • Jane Tiller – ethical, legal and social advisor, Monash University • Jo Withford – senior project engineer, Transport for NSW • Penelope Twemlow – director, KPMG

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

Finalists:

• Amelinda Ilardi – project manager, ANCA • Ashleigh Fulcher – mechanical engineer, Viva Energy Australia • Brownyn Evans – chief executive officer, Engineers Australia • Narelle Dobson – director special projects, Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLD • Rachel Barrett – senior verification and validation engineer, Bosch Australia

Excellence in Mining Proudly sponsored by Weir Minerals

KOMATSU MINING’S CHRISTINE MORRIS IS NOMINATED FOR TWO DIFFERENT AWARDS.

• Pranjal Pawar – project manager, Development Victoria

Excellence in Engineering Proudly sponsored by BAE Systems

“The Women in Industry Awards is a unique platform that recognises and celebrates the achievements of women in engineering in Australia,”

BAE Systems Australia engineering director Martin Bartlett said.

“BAE Systems is committed to progressing women and addressing gender diversity and balance in the industry. These awards afford us an opportunity to publicly promote our commitment. We are delighted to once again sponsor the Excellence in Engineering category in 2022.”

AUSTRALIANMINING

“Weir Minerals is very excited and proud to be supporting the Women in Industry’s Excellence in Mining category, highlighting inspirational female leaders, pioneering initiatives and exceptional talent of today and tomorrow,” the company stated.

“The Women in Industry Awards align with Weir’s own global inclusion and diversity agenda to ensure we develop a culture where everyone’s

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“I WANT TO WISH ALL THE WOMEN NOMINATED NOT ONLY THE BEST OF LUCK BUT MOREOVER, THE RECOGNITION, SUPPORT AND HELP TO RAISE THE PROFILE FOR ALL THESE WONDERFUL WOMEN IN THE MINING, ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING, PROCESS CONTROL, COMMERCIAL ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRIES THAT CAN GO UNNOTICED. ”

EVENT SPOTLIGHT

GINA RINEHART IS NOMINATED FOR THE INDUSTRY ADVOCACY AWARD.

• Stephanie O’Dwyer – manager health, wellbeing and innovation, BlueScope Steel

Industry Advocacy Award Finalists:

• Gina Rinehart – executive chairman, Hancock Prospecting • Hermione Parsons – director, Deakin University Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics • Jo Sainsbury – director, Kickass Women • Kylie Ward – Asia Pacific HR director, Stantec • Megan McCracken – chair, NAWO

Business Development Success of the Year Finalists:

voice is heard, and where we care for, respect and encourage each other, helping to champion gender equality within our business and our industry.”

• Louisa Jansen – site engineer, Fulton Hogan • Monique Yap – graduate engineer, Weir Minerals

Finalists:

Safety Advocacy Award Proudly sponsored by BOC

• Carly O’Loughlan – director, Ore Contracting WA • Carrie Heaven – superintendent mine services, Glencore • Christine Morris – director strategy and performance, Komatsu Mining

Rising Star of the Year Proudly sponsored by Atlas Copco “At Atlas Copco, we believe that diversity in business is a critical driver for our long-term success,” the company stated.

“The Women in Industry Awards are a special way in which we can show our commitment to advancing the gender balance in industry.

“As a global company, Atlas Copco recognises the link between diversity and innovation and, as we say, ‘there is always a better way’, and contributing to these awards is just one way that we can show that Atlas Copco recognises the talent and achievement of females across our industry.”

Finalists:

• Deanne Heier – product performance specialist, Norske Skog • Isabella Freeman – project manager, RoadTek/Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLD • Kirstie Looke – crude scheduler, Viva Energy Australia

“BOC has been proudly supporting the Women in Industry Awards for the past seven years. The awards encourage and recognise the success of women in industries that have traditionally been male-dominated, including road transport, logistics, rail and bulk handling, infrastructure, mining and engineering,” the company stated.

“The calibre of nominees and winners each year demonstrates considerable leadership and commitment to their various sectors and aligns with BOC’s focus on the pursuit of excellence in industry.

“BOC believes the awards are an important event, and it’s critical companies continue to support the participation of women in industry and shine the light on the women who are true role models in leadership.”

• Katherine Walton – cyclone specialist, Weir Minerals • Kylie Hollonds – managing director, GF Oats Australia • Lacey Webb – founder and director, Resource Hub • Louise Johnson – scientific specialist, BOC • Puneeta Chellaramani – director, KPMG Australia

Mentor of the Year Finalists:

• Angela Wiggins – chief counsel, BAE Systems Australia • Christine Morris – director strategy and performance, Komatsu Mining • Kylie Fraser – president of consumer and healthcare group, Linfox • Larissa Rose – director consultant,

Glowing Green Australia • Lidia Trehane – software engineering manager, Bosch Australia

Excellence in Transport Finalists:

• Catherine Baxter – chief operating officer, Metro Trains • Heather Jones – director, Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls • Kirstyn Glass – rail operations consultant, Trapeze Group Asia Pacific • Merry Manton – board member, Transport Women Australia • Penny Ford – executive director (transport planning services), Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLD

Excellence in Manufacturing Finalists:

• Cori Stewart – chief executive officer, ARM Hub • Heidi Bergman – director of manufacturing sciences and technology, Seqirus • Julie Jones – general counsel and company secretary, Matrix Composites and Engineering • Noelle Parlier – chief engineer, PACCAR Australia • Sabrina Sequeria – project engineer, Lighting Protection International • Shay Chalmers – director, Strategic Engineering Australia AM The 2022 Women In Industry Awards will be held in Melbourne on Thursday April 7.

Finalists:

• Ainsley Fish – project systems representative, RoadTek/ Department of Transport and Main Roads, QLD • Grace Kube – graduate process engineer, Norske Skog • Merry Manton – board member, Transport Women Australia • Sabrina Sequeria – project engineer, Lighting Protection International AUSTRALIANMINING

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EVENTS

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

Minesafe International Conference Perth and online | May 4–5 Minesafe International Conference sees industry professionals come together to explore the opportunities, development trends and innovative technologies concerning health and safety in the mining industry.

The conference covers all the important topics, including legislation, regulations and policies relating to mine safety, and shines a light on current and emerging health issues.

Minesafe also provides the opportunity to learn about psychosocial management that promotes a zeroharm workplace safety culture.

Minesafe will boast a packed program of industry presentations, live Q&As, panel discussions and more, providing the perfect platform for learning and collaboration in mine safety. The event takes place both in-person and online.

• ausimm.com/conferences-andevents/minesafe Austmine Mining Innovation Roadshow Brisbane | June 2 Arriving in Brisbane on June 2, the Austmine Mining Innovation Roadshow brings together members of the mining and mining equipment, technology and services (METS) communities to network and share expertise.

The first Mining Innovation Roadshow was launched in 2017 and has gone from strength to strength since then, serving as an important platform for discussion and collaboration.

This year’s Brisbane event will feature presentations from key leading industry speakers with a focus on the themes

delivered at the Austmine Smart Mining Conference held in Perth in May 2021.

Panellists will include those at the forefront of innovation in the mining industry, with attendees able to connect with professionals ranging from chief executive officers to managing directors and vice presidents.

Attendees are predominantly METS companies, industry advocates, government representatives and miners • austmine.com.au/web/ Web/Events/Event_Display. aspx?EventKey=RS071021 The Australian Gold Conference Sydney | June 14–15 Australia’s largest precious metals conference and exhibition comes to Crown Sydney in June.

The two-day Australian Gold Conference brings together every aspect of the precious metals investment industry to promote and assist everyday Australians alongside those already-interested investors.

Keynote speakers will share their investment insights and look at ways one can grow and preserve their wealth going forward.

ASX-listed mining companies will be present as they provide updates on their mining investment opportunities.

Bullion dealers will also be on hand for those keen to know more about how and when to purchase physical metal.

Representatives from the likes of De Grey Mining, Evolution Mining, Calidus Resources and Kin Mining are locked in to present at this year’s conference.

• goldindustrygroup.com.au AUSTRALIANMINING

Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference Gold Coast | August 21–24 Representing an initiative to promote health and safety in the Queensland mining industry, the conference provides attendees with the opportunity to exchange information, network and foster proactive health and safety management techniques.

This year, the event returns with the theme “Together we collaborate, innovate and educate”. The conference will retain presentations planned for 2020 and promote the ingenuity of home-grown safety.

It follows a bumper year for conference attendance, with almost 1000 people joining the event when it featured seven keynote presentations, 50 concurrent presentations and 60 trade displays in 2019.

Held at the Star Gold Coast this year, the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference will conclude with the Safety Innovation Health Awards and gala dinner.

• qmihsconference.org.au BULK 2022: Australian Bulk Handling Expo Melbourne | August 24–26 The Australian Bulk Handling Expo, conference and awards will take place in 2022 to bring together the bulk handling industry into a standalone exhibition that shares the same location as MEGATRANS, which integrates intrinsically with the logistics and multimodal freight sector.

It is supported by the Australian Society for Bulk Solids Handling (ASBSH), which will host an industry

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conference, while the trade expo will showcase the latest in bulk materials handling equipment and technologies.

Exhibitors include VEGA, SEWEurodrive, Mideco, Bonfiglioli, Minprovise and ESS Engineering.

BULK2022 will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre over a period of three days. BULK2020 and BULK2021 ticketholders will be able to use their tickets to join the rescheduled expo.

• bulkhandlingexpo.com.au International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) Melbourne | October 17–22 The eighth IMARC comes to Melbourne Showgrounds in Victoria from October 17–22 after being postponed from its previous date in January and February.

Isuzu, Newtrax Technologies, Murray Engineering and Australasian Metals have confirmed their support and participation for the event, in addition to major sponsors Caterpillar, Toronto Stock Exchange and Sandvik.

The IMARC team continues to build content and themes to attract global leaders from across the mining, investment, and METS communities across the value chain.

Leading into October 2022, chief executive officers that were due to speak at the conference at the end of January will take part in a series of virtual interviews and keynote presentations as part of a brand new IMARC Insights series.

For those who registered for the previous event dates, the tickets will have automatically transferred to the new dates.

• imarcglobal.com

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EDITION 12

‘One Motion’ Australia expands their service offering for heavy industry Turn to page 04

Surface technology extends the life of bearings

A crash course in Timken Solid-Block bearing units

Motion Australia talks shop on custom design solutions

Premature bearing failure is often caused by surface initiated fatigue

On-site training sessions for the strongest bearing unit on the market

Motion’s Design Hub is growing enterprise of engineering savvy

06

10

16

contents 08 Motion Australia ushers in the future of fluid transfer technology

13

22

Streamlined vibratory and shock absorption made simple with Mackay plate isolators

Low-voltage drive solutions for heavy industry

February 2022

2

06 NTN EA surface technology extends the life expectancy of bearings

20 A Shell Lubricants guide to drive line lubrication

10 A crash course in Timken Solid Block Housed bearing units

21 State-of-the-art gearbox design for mining and quarrying applications

12 Low-voltage drive solutions for heavy industry

24 For drill rig assemblies, nothing outlasts a Diamond

13 Streamlined vibratory and shock absorption made simple with Mackay plate isolators

25 For knock-out V-belt solutions, Gates® crushes the competition

14 CRC SmartWasher technology: Tips and training from industry experts

26 CRAM engineers excellence in Australian mining

15 Rexnord Case Study: A custom gearbox solution for Newcastle coal port

27 Mining operators can’t afford not to change PT accessories

18 Hardy Spicer drives mining solutions from Kalgoorlie-Boulder branch

28 Extend machinery life and performance with Pulsarlube

19 Bearing the weight of heavy industry changes

29 Adhering to the LOCTITE liquid threadlocker legacy

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

EXPERT PROFILE

Meet the Team

Aaron Bryer, Category Manager - Hydraulic Hose & Fittings Over 15 years in industry, 6 months at Motion Australia

Bringing the Motion teams and customers on the journey is extremely rewarding for Aaron.

Aaron Bryer is the Category Manager – Hydraulic Hose & Fittings for Motion Australia. His focus is leading the team to drive the QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS profitable growth, sales performance, market strategies and 1 What’s your favourite word? supplier relations for hydraulics and hose fittings. Aaron has 15 years’ experience in the industry, working with key OEM’s, Contemporaneously “people google it when I use it” mine sites, distributors and mobile services. Starting with 2 If you could win an Olympic medal for any sport, Motion Australia 6 months ago, Aaron is excited to identify real or fake, what would it be? where Motion’s group capabilities lie. Aaron will be utilising Web swinging races learnings from Motion Australia’s Hardy Spicer to create effective growth strategies for his category. Bringing 3 If you could change your name, what would it be? the Motion teams and customers on the journey is Din Djarin extremely rewarding for Aaron.

4 What was your favourite subject in school?

Music “drums” 5 What’s your hidden talent?

Painting and charcoal drawings

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

3

COVER

‘One Motion’ Australia expands their service offering for heavy industry

M

ines, quarries, and other businesses in the heavy industry sector are set to reap the benefits of Motion Australia consolidating all its subsidiary businesses into one entity. According to National Sales Manager, Grant Gray, the company arrived at this full circle solution after engaging in important conversations with key suppliers and customers.

“Customers were saying to us: ‘Look, we love dealing with you, but is there any way we can deal with you as one entity?’

This prompted us to begin exploring ways that we could mature our business and drive home our desire to streamline our services and foster an ease of doing business,” enthuses Grant.

“This is a very exciting time for us as a business and for our customers in the mines and quarries industries – in fact we are already having conversations about how this broader offering under the one business group will be of benefit to them,” he elaborates. “For example, if a customer is looking for bearings and transmission solutions at one of

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

our BSC or CBC locations, they can now also inquire about more advanced industrial solutions such as fluid transfer, hose fittings and connections through our other businesses like Hardy Spicer, CRAM and AIP.” These iconic brands have come together under Motion Australia to create a wholly owned general parts company.

Customers in Australian mining and quarrying sectors now have unmatched coverage of products and services,

with access to over 600,000 unique parts from more than 2,300 world-class suppliers around the globe.

“From a mining and quarrying perspective, we are often dealing with critical deadlines, expensive pieces of machinery and remote harsh conditions,” says Grant.

“Particularly on younger mining and quarrying operations, we are looking to understand what their critical parts are by looking at ways that we can extend

prices still present unique challenges to the market, according to Ross Lee, Technical Manager of Strategic Partnerships for Motion Australia.

“Mining applications present the most punishing operating conditions for products in Motion Australia’s scope such as bearings, shaft seals, power transmission drive units, fluid power systems, hydraulic cylinders seals, hoses, and driveshaft assemblies,” says Ross. “As we continue to expand our capabilities in these products and services— including both manufacturing capability and repair services— we are also focussing on more advanced ways to avert downtime and maximise production continuity, crucial to our customers’ bottom- line results.”

A few of these ways, according to Ross, are an increased focus on predictive maintenance and remote condition monitoring of machine health; application of best and safest practices for maintenance procedures; and utilising the latest in machinery component technologies.

the life of these components and support them in their needs surrounding stock, inventory, supply chain, and logistics in the current market climate.”

“With the transition to ‘One Motion’, we want to harness our mechanical and hydraulic engineering expertise by ensuring we have accredited in-house capabilities, which include rigging, hydraulic sealing, hose manufacturing, seal refurbishments and fully equipped workshops for manufacturing, repairs, welding, fabrication, and design.”

“We have a fantastic offering as a larger entity, and we back it up with a very strong workforce,” says Grant. “And likewise, we want to align ourselves with other businesses that have a fantastic footprint by focusing on three key criteria: maintaining the largest stock holding, the largest national footprint, and the largest technical workforce in the country.”

Whilst Australian mining operations are considered highly efficient, the cost of production and variable commodity

“Beyond supporting the supply of quality industrial products, Motion Australia’s service scope looks to address the unsatisfactory service life of equipment components by employing countermeasures such as improved part capability, engineering design analysis, and best practices for mounting, installation and adjustment,” explains Ross.

“This also encompasses optimising lubrication procedures and providing front line sealing protection for machinery modules exposed to harsh operating environments. Plus of course rapid response services in the event of equipment breakdown,” he adds.

Every year, Motion is consulted on a wide range of mining and quarrying equipment operating issues, which continuously adds to their application problem knowledge base for utilisation across their nationwide technical support network. On-site—as well as off-site— maintenance support services represent a key aspect of the company’s expanding level of front-line support to mining and quarrying industries.

“The challenges we are seeing now in these industries are uncertainty

surrounding supply chain, transport and logistics, as well as demands around inventory,” says Grant. “We are still currently seeing some shortages globally, so our aim is to help supply align with demands in production right now.”

“We will achieve this by offering more comprehensive programs and increased efficiencies; ranging from cost savings to automated inventory management solutions, to asset management,” he explains. “This will happen by leveraging our technology, expertise and the established processes we bring to the table as a larger organisation.”

“If you look at the multitude of businesses out there, it’s all about ensuring that you have the bandwidth of offerings and we are pleased to be able to say that we do,” says Grant. “These industries are not new to us, and our businesses are not new to our customers. Many of our businesses are long-term entrenched companies that have been doing what they do for more than 100 years. So, you know, this is not our first rodeo!”

Motion employs over 60 expert level engineers around Australia, each with their own specific skill set and offering in their own field. “Our team has extensive practical experience and knowledge, and they truly excel out on site talking directly with end users to understand every individual application and how to achieve the best outcomes for each one,” he enthuses.

In summary, the changes customers can expect to see as these internal industrial solutions businesses transition to a single entity under Motion Australia are many and varied. But there is one key area of growth that is certain: customer relationships.

“Now we can approach the customers that we have built up a level of trust and transparency with over a long period of time and start to have a dialogue about what other offerings we have as a company,” says Grant.

“Already having these relationships established lays the groundwork for us and makes the job a little bit easier—but above all else, we want our customers to feel comfortable to come and talk to us about what’s next.”

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

5

BEARINGS

NTN EA surface technology

A

extends the life expectancy of bearings

standard bearing of identical type and size will have the L10 fatigue life of around double its equivalent manufactured 50 years ago, and this is reflected in the increased dynamic load ratings published by bearing makers. This is because contemporary rolling bearings produced by reputable manufacturers are made from clean alloy steels with applied processing technologies which result in a much lower incidence of premature surface contact fatigue.

However, in certain operating situations, industry is still experiencing premature fatigue failures of bearings well before their design life is achieved, according to Ross Lee, Technical Manager of Strategic Partnerships —Bearings for Motion Australia. Overwhelmingly, these bearing failures are due to what is known as “surface-initiated fatigue,” he says. “As this naming suggests, the fatigue and subsequent cracking or flaking of bearing rings and rollers in contact originates at the surface, and results from one or a combination of

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

operating conditions.”

Firstly, the presence of hard particle debris circulating through the bearing.

“This type of contamination causes indentions with crater like edges, or high points, that form rolling contact stress raisers, and so the nucleus of fatigue flaking,” says Ross.

Another common cause of surface fatigue, he explains, is improper or diminished lubrication. “In this instance, the applied oil viscosity at the bearing operating temperature has insufficient surface separating film strength to form effective lubrication condition,” says Ross. “The result is metal to metal contact at the high points of rollers and raceway surfaces, and fine surface layer fatigue develops in the form of peeling damage.”

“Furthermore, if there is a dispersal of fine contaminants in the lubricant, that will actually wear the rolling contact surfaces,” he elaborates. “This will act much the same as a lapping agent, leading to loss of the bearing surface

geometry, increased clearance, and ultimately failure.”

Lastly— heavy or excessive loading conditions will not only increase the cyclic stresses in bearings and shorten fatigue life, but can also exceed the capability of the lubricant, explains Ross.

In the instance of this combination of factors, premature surface-initiated fatigue failure can sometimes be observed.

NTN Corporation has been observing these application issues and how they have been affecting their customer base in major heavy industrial segments.

From this, they put together an R&D team including Design Engineers, Metallurgist and Tribologists, who set about addressing these life impacting factors one by one.

The summit of their findings on surface technology is evident in the resulting EA Long-Life bearings, which were developed with a two-stage heat treatment process that is comprised of conventional case carburising and

compound carbon nitriding.

“Carbon and nitrogen are diffused in the surface layer, stabilising the requisite amount residual austenite to toughen the surface layer,” explains Ross. “This provides improved resistance to fatigue cracking caused by surface-initiated damage, generated by contamination and poor lubrication. Moreover, the Nitrogen enhances the resistance to temper softening.”

This treatment improves the thermal stability of the material structure, according to Ross. Additionally, the EA Long-Life bearing material exhibits higher retained hardness and increased level of residual compressive stress, to compensate for any tensile stress concentrations forming around surface indentations, and therefore, inhibiting fatigue crack propagation. The result is significantly longer bearing life.

“Under both plant testing, and in-field mining or process industry service, the typical fatigue life increase over conventional bearings has proven to be two to three times greater than bearings of the same size, design, and ISO load

NTN EA Long Life bearings are made using a two-stage heat treatment process that is comprised of conventional case carburising and compound carbon nitriding.

ratings,” says Ross. “We have certainly observed this in Australian mining applications, and other industry cases.

“Even more significantly, in the instance of highly adverse operating conditions, with any combination of heavy contamination, marginal lubrication, or abnormal loading, whilst all bearing materials will experience life

reduction, the difference in fatigue life is significantly greater for EA material bearings than conventional through hardened or case carburised bearings,” he explains. “And this can be in the order of five times greater life expectancy.”

Considering some of the other damage modes that are often observed in mining or quarrying related bearing applications, there are additional benefits of NTN EA Long Life bearing material, notes Ross.

“The EA bearings exhibit half the wear rate of conventional bearings, and these benefits extend to the most susceptible area of roller bearings such as cylindrical and tapered roller bearings, including the sliding contact surfaces of ribs and roller ends,” he says.

NTN EA Long Life Bearings • Performance Life Tested to Standard • Operating life using lubricant mixed with foreign matter is: More than 5 times • Operating life using clean lubricant is: More than 2 times • Peeling strength: 3 times. (Rate of incidence is 1/3) • Wear strength: 2 times. (Wear rate is 1/2) • Fret strength: 1.3 times. (Wear rate is about 80%) • Operating life when fitting stress is high is: 3 times • Operating life against crack fatigue is: 1.5 times

“And where metal to metal rolling contact results in fine surface fatigue exfoliation or peeling, the EA material surface layer is three times more resistant to this form of damage, in turn slowing the rate of peeling by three times.”

“The EA Long-Life bearings resilient, or defensive characteristics were actually a response to NTN’s extensive market research. NTN listened to their customers, and the EA bearing is a response to the demands of the current bearings market,” concludes Ross. “NTN listened to their customers, and the EA bearing is a response to the demands of the current bearings market.”

“The comparative life performance of NTN “EA” treatment bearings is now field proven in both OEM and MRO applications, in Australian conditions and globally.”

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

7

HOSE

Motion Australia ushers in

W

8

the future of fluid transfer technology

hether it’s a scraper, a loader, a bulldozer, or a drill rig— most mining equipment requires a hydraulic hose to operate the machinery correctly, according to Motion Australia’s Aaron Bryer.

“The hose is the critical transfer item on pumps to extract a particular fluid or medium from a charged area.

Hydraulic hose and pumps are the key components in any mining extraction method essentially.”

“Hydraulic hose fittings, adaptors and accessories are really important for mining equipment,” he explains.

“If you look at a loader or a digger which articulates up and down, there will be a pump that is forcing the liquid

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

or medium, which will later discharge through a hose,” he continues.

“To put things in perspective, the pressure rate in one of these hoses is going to be up to 6000 psi going through a half inch hose. So, the quality of the hose is imperative for the functionality of the equipment, but also the safety of the setup, because

obviously that level of pressure needs to be handled with care.”

“In particular jumbo drill rigs in underground mining have strands of hose that twist around a rail pulsating backwards and forwards and can subject to failure that will happen very quickly,” he adds.

As the Hydraulic Hose and Fittings Category Manager, Aaron looks after Motion Australia’s business side strategies and market channels within their hydraulic hose portfolio, under the business group department of Flow Technologies. He has been the industry for 15 years and knows his way around fluid transfers and connection products for the heavy industrial sector.

Over the past 12 months, Motion Australia in partnership with Gates®— a notable Strategic OEM Supplier to the market— has introduced new hydraulic hose capabilities and fluid transfer services to Motion customers within the mining and quarrying segments.

At the same time, Gates® has introduced an entirely new standard range of hydraulic hose products into the market: The Gates® MegaSys™ MXT™ and MegaSys™ MXG™ 4K and 5K Hydraulic Hose range styles—”a feat of engineering that achieves a lightweight and flexible new hose construction technology and a giant leap forward for materials science and process innovation,” according to Gates® engineers.

A significant benefit of the new hose design, according to Aaron, is that it is

formulated around Gates’ invention: an outer cover compound that enhances abrasion and ozone resistance.

“Combine this with the new Gates® XtraTuff™ Plus wire braid reinforcement technology and the construction offers more wire than a conventional two-wire hose,” says Aaron.

“This new range of hydraulic hose products are really challenging the traditional style of hydraulic hose by offering more freedom around the flexibility with about 40% more flexible force event ratio,” he explains.

“The flexible, durable, and lighter cover in a new standard range has given us less products to deal with but at a superior level of performance,” he furthers. “It’s a very economical solution all around, for both Motion Australia as a distributor, and our customers on their applications. Because of the construction of this new hose, we are seeing double the service life.”

Gates MXG™ 4K 4000psi Hydraulic Hose Features and Benefits • 40% lower force-to-bend • 30% lighter weight • 8% more compact •M ulti-use hose consolidates Inventory •M XG™ 4K comes standard with XTP cover •M XG 4K qualified with Global Spiral™ (GS) couplings to 1,000,000 impulse cycles •A vailable in sizes 6, 8, 10, 12, and 16 • MXG 4K has a smooth cover •C ompliant with the applicable standards of a wire spiral hose • Meets MDG41, FRAS and MSHA

Furthermore, he notes, “There is a stipulation around safety measures that requires these types of hoses to have an eye locking mechanism that adheres to the Guidelines of MDG 41 Underground Mining Guidelines to improve the safety of the hose. All Gates® products are tested to these MDG 41 Guidelines.”

Gates® and Motion Australia have been working heavily over the past 12 months to collaborate on joint calls to various sites to educate customers and end users on the efficiencies of these products— including reduction in assembly times,

Motion Australia has introduced new hydraulic hose capabilities and fluid transfer services.

reduce waste and increase fuel efficiency.

In addition to this, Motion offers an efficient vendor managed system in these mining workshops that has seen customers reduce their dead inventory rationalisation, reduce administration account costs, obtain instant stock reports, and better manage their assets and traceability.

“We also have our 1800 HOSEVAN business arm that has been playing a pivotal role in maintenance overhauls for mining equipment, keeping fleets and equipment operating with scheduled maintenance, and providing hose auditing and breakdown service,” concludes Aaron. “All the while, remaining fully stocked with all of the new Gates® MegaSys™ MXT™ and MegaSys™ MXG™ products.”

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

9

BEARINGS

A crash course in

I

Timken Solid Block Housed bearing units

dentifying industry best bearings solutions for heavy industrial applications is par for the course for Tony Tormey. As Category Manager for Industrial Bearings at Motion Australia, part of Tony’s job is identifying industry standards and ensuring customers have access to technical expertise and training straight from the source.

“Every so often, a range of products comes along that sets the standard and become unparalleled in the market,” says Tony. “And when it comes to bearings solutions for heavy industry, the Timken® solid-block housed units are an excellent example of a range of products that truly set the standard—they are absolutely the strongest unit on the market for heavy industry and have been a sweet spot for us for years because customers just love the product.”

The standout feature of the Timken® solid-block housed units, according to Tony, is that they are the only spherical roller bearing housed units constructed from solid cast steel which gives the bearing unit exceptional resilience and strength under extreme operating conditions. “In addition to this, the bearings are completely enclosed in their Housing and are available with a range of shaft locking and sealing options that shield from contaminants and provides extended bearing life,” he adds.

“As part and parcel of the Timken® solid-block housed units offering, Australian Timken engineers readily provide customers with extensive training options through their technical department,” furthers Tony. “And our broader team at CBC, BSC, and all affiliated Motion Australia businesses work in partnership with Australian Timken’s engineering arm to make that training accessible to all parties within an organisation.”

This is where Sean Young comes into the picture. As General Manager for Regional Sales at Australian Timken, Sean has an extensive history of working on the

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

bearings side of the business, frequently performing onsite training symposiums for customers working with heavy industrial equipment. Having previously worked for Motion Australia for 20 years, in a similar role to Tony on the bearings side, Sean has experienced both sides of the successful partnership between the two entities and acquired deep knowledge of the bearings business, particularly the Timken® solid-block housed units, which are his speciality.

“This product is a sweet spot for me,” says Sean. “Before joining Australian Timken, I had already worked with the Timken® solid-block housed units for a number of years. Often, I would visit customer sites to oversee the replacement of traditional housed units with these bearings units to obtain more service life for my client base.”

One of the biggest selling points for these units, according to Sean is their ease of installation, which comes from their unitised nature—the bearing is already fitted inside the Housing when it arrives on site.

“The most common cause of bearing failure for traditional housed units is that the internal clearance is hard to get right upon installation,” explains Sean. “There is a whole process where the fitter typically drives the bearing up the sleeve, while measuring internal clearance to spec. In a lot of cases, fitters end up either tightening the bearing too tight, so it overheats the lubricant and the bearing during operation, or they don’t tighten it enough and it spins loose on the sleeve.”

Timken® solid-block housed units remedy this issue, notes Sean, due to the fact that bearings are already fitted inside the units with seals at point of purchase. “The internal clearance is factory set and depending on the shaft locking method, can accommodate all operating speed ranges,” he says.

The other issue these units avoid is the risk of internal contamination, according to Sean.

“Whenever we train on these products, we talk to the fact that bearings suffer from “C.L.I disease” —that’s contamination, lubrication and installation,” he explains. “With the Timken® solid-block housed units, the bearings, grease and seals are already fitted in the factory which keeps the contamination out, and there is a grease nipple and grease release valve to purge used grease from the bearing.”

Getting the installation right from the

outset automatically increases the life of the bearings, he furthers. Not only that, but the time required to install is reduced significantly.

90 minutes all up to complete the installation comfortably, whereas they had been spending a whole day fitting the previous bearings units.”

“Years ago, we did some work with an aluminium plant on a very tricky conveyor application that was right at the top of the plant,” says Sean.

“The conveyor was eating the existing bearings every four to six weeks, so we took some Timken® solid-block housed units to the site to trial.”

“The result was longer life bearing units, reduced maintenance hours, and significant cost savings for the customer,” he concludes.

We conducted a training session with their reliability engineers, and fitted the first unit in the training session,” he explains. “The engineers were blown away because it took less than

Interested in organising a Timken® solidblock housed units training session? Visit a local Motion Australia branch today. We are now offering the full range of products and service through all our businesses: AIP, BSC, CBC, Cram, Hardy Spicer, Seal Innovations, Sealing Solutions, SpecFast, Walterscheid and WebsterBSC.

WHY MADDIE THE MINER LOVES TIMKEN® SOLID-BLOCK HOUSED UNITS •A two-row spherical roller bearing •B lack oxide extended inner ring •S ix different primary sealing options that seal on the bearings inner ring •M achined solid housing feet and base •H ousing tolerance: J7 > Light Interference fit •S tandard Grease Relief Valve •O ptional external open or closed steel or urethane seal covers (bolt on) •F ive shaft locking styles •E asy to change from fixed to floating •H ousing can be supplied standard with powder coating, or optional with nickel, zinc, or urethane coating •H ousing manufactured from cast steel

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

11

BEARINGS

X-Life quality sealed bearings

B

ward off dust, dirt, and downtime

earings on mining equipment rely on three barriers of protection against the ingress of contaminants that are present on mine sites: the housing, the housing seal, and the grease, according to Motion Australia’s in-house bearings expert, Tony Tormey.

In his role as Category Manager for Industrial Bearings, Tony has developed a kind of sixth sense for the subtle differences in bearing performance when they need to contend with dusty and dirty applications such as coal and ore mining operations, aggregate quarries, or mills where raw materials run on conveyors around the clock.

“On heavy industrial applications such as mining and quarrying conveyors, it’s very easy for dust and dirt to penetrate a bearing housing,” explains Tony.

“Sometimes when the bearing is being installed, dust in the surrounding air may make contact with the parts as the bearing is being driven up the shaft.

Over time, if contaminants continue to build up, the bearing life will start to run down.”

“In this instance, any presence of moisture from washdowns or damp environmental conditions will quickly transform dust into sludge further hindering the performance of the bearing,” he continues. “Eventually the bearing will require replacement.

And in the worse-case, halt production altogether.”

“For this reason, it is extremely important to use advancements in bearings technology to the advantage of our customers that are working with harsh mining equipment,” Tony adds.

On that note, Schaeffler has been on the leading edge of bearings technology since their inception more than 120 years ago. During this time, Motion Australia and Schaeffler have enjoyed a distribution partnership since 1983— when Motion first began stocking Schaeffler bearings products and supplying them to Australian customers.

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

Tony has been working with Schaeffler’s bearings experts for so long that their team feels like close colleagues, he says.

One of Tony’s liaisons, John Tawadros, Head of Distribution Sales at Schaeffler, concurs with this sentiment, explaining how the companies have found the partnership to be mutually beneficial over the years.

“When we find a good joint solutionsbased partnership as we have with Motion Australia, it’s all about our combined capabilities,” says John. “As a bearing manufacturer and technology company, Schaeffler’s product expertise and engineering know-how supports Motion, our distribution partner, to develop joint strategies for presenting these solutions to customers.”

When it comes to bearings for mining and quarrying equipment, the Schaeffler Sealed Spherical Roller Bearings (SRB) has been a standout in that market, according to John.

WHY MADDIE THE MINER LOVES SCHAEFFLER SEALED SPHERICAL ROLLER BEARINGS: • Longer operating life.

• Reduced maintenance cost • Pre-greased with Schaeffler Arcanol Load 400 grease • Contact seals • X-life design: Very high dynamic and static loads ratings • Radial internal clearance marked on outer ring • Easy to mount, reduced downtime

“On the materials handling equipment side, large conveyor belts need to be able to move immense amounts of heavy material across long distances,” he says. “This is where the Schaeffler Sealed SRB in X-life comes in. This particular bearing design has increased longevity in these types of applications due to its X-life design as well as the benefit of integral seals.” The addition of the integral seals on the bearing itself gives the added advantage of a fourth barrier of protection against ingress.

The Schaeffler X-life design focuses on material, surface finish and internal geometry tweaks, to result in much higher axial and radial load capacities as well as higher limiting speeds.

“With X-life, we’re able to maximize the capacity of these bearings, to improve their robustness in this harsh environment.” explains John.

“Additionally, Schaeffler’s sealed SRB’s are heat stabilised to +200°C with increased wear resistance, while the seal material operating limit is up to +100°C (+120°C intermittently).”

Designed for simple and fast mounting and installation, the Radial Internal Clearance (RIC) is marked on the Outer Ring of Schaeffler Sealed Spherical Roller Bearings, thus maintaining the pre-sealed integrity of the bearings. That is, the seals don’t need to be removed to measure the clearance during mounting. In addition to these features, the Schaeffler Sealed SRBs are pre-greased and allow for controlled greasing through a lubrication groove.

“The result is a robust, high capacity, long life bearing, able to survive harsh environments,” concludes John. “Combine this with Schaeffler’s hydraulic drive-up mounting method and free online Mounting Manager tool, and it makes the bearing installation process simple and efficient, whilst preventing contaminants from entering the bearings.”

ADVERTORIAL - ISOLATORS

network of supply channels nationwide, giving mining operators security and peace of mind on lead times and shipping costs.

Commencing in 1932 as a small but efficient supplier of OEM automotive parts, Mackay has grown to become Australia’s largest and most trusted designer, manufacturer, and distributor of a diverse range of engineered rubber and rubber composite products.

Streamlined vibratory and shock absorption made simple with Mackay plate isolators

M

ackay is the largest manufacturer of vibration isolators in Australia with simple, effective solutions for controlling damaging structural vibrations and shock on rock crushing and large hopper feeder applications.

vibrations generated by rock crushers or large vibratory hopper feeders. As vibrations are typically predominantly located in the horizontal plane, this design makes it possible to stack one mount upon another to increase lateral isolation.

For rock crusher control cabins, which are typically located at the top of the equipment, the structural vibrations induced by the crushing operation can be significant, and as such, it becomes necessary to isolate the control cabin for the safety and comfort of operators and the protection of equipment.

By using the same external dimensions and simply changing the rubber hardness and intermediate steel plates with the Mackay M211 series of Plate isolators range of mounts, a crushing application will increase its maximum loading capacity from 1,452kg to 17,700kg. The larger load capacity of the M211 series isolators creates a wide range of potential application solution opportunities.

The latest Mackay M211 Series Plate Isolator is state-of-the-art passive plate mounted isolation system that has been designed and engineered to protect rock crushing equipment and machinery using passive vibration isolation to contain energy using dampening elements.

The M211 series of Plate isolators are ideal for isolating from structural

As every application can be different, Mackay has a team of specialist product engineers ready to assist with solving any vibration problem. Working in partnership with Motion Australia as a distributor ensures Mackay products are widely accessible through a massive

Mackay is an 100% Australian owned and operated private company that has become the most trusted designer, manufacturer, and distributor of engineered parts and components in the country, servicing the Automotive, Defence, Transport, Rail, Marine, Mining, Construction, and Industrial markets—at home and around the world.

The safety-critical components and systems Mackay designs and manufactures are used in trains, trams, cars, trucks, buses, high-speed catamarans, commercial marine vessels, frigates, submarines, armoured vehicles, guided weapons, rockets, helicopters, and UAV’s.

Mackay’s technical expertise, world class production standards and commitment to continuous improvement ensures a successful delivery of components— reinforcing Mackay’s reputation as the benchmark for quality. Mackay’s success has been built on a simple philosophy— understanding our customers’ needs and providing timely, cost-effective engineered solutions.

The M211 series of Plate isolator is a straightforward design that provides an uncomplicated solution to controlling vibration and shock on mining applications. If you are looking to protect equipment and machinery from the damaging effects of vibration and shock, Mackay Plate Mounting systems provide the answer.

For more information on the Mackay M211 Series Plate Isolators for rock crushing and feeder applications, visit your local Motion Australia branch and speak with a technical representative today.

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

13

TRAINING

CRC SmartWasher technology:

T

Tips and training from industry experts

he CRC SmartWasher® Bioremediating part washer system has been making waves in the Australian mining industry in recent years with its environmentally friendly approach to breaking down oil, grease and contaminants on heavy machine components using an organic degreasing solution called OzzyJuice.

CRC Industries Technical Sales Executive, Ian Maguire, works on the front lines of the mining industry in Western Australia, specialising in Maintenance, Repairs and Operations (MRO) products and working out on mine site to train staff on the SmartWasher technology.

“My main goal is to get in front of the end users of our SmartWasher system to facilitate optimisation and the correct use in application of the products,” says Ian. “This is best achieved by doing onsite training, surveying, and evaluating the specific requirements of applications on site, alongside their MRO team.”

Ian notes that the CRC SmartWasher technology has been particularly successful on West Australian mine sites due to its ability to clean the region’s native red dirt from equipment.

“The red dirt in this part of the country is notoriously difficult to clean off of parts,” says Ian. “It cakes and clings onto surfaces stubbornly, often proving to be a challenge for MRO staff. However, the CRC SmartWasher Bio-remediating part washer has demonstrated excellent cleaning power in even the toughest of cleaning applications with its unique, high-performing OzzyJuice degreasers.

As part and parcel of the effectiveness of the system, SmartWasher accessories— the CRC OzzyJuice and the OzzyMat Filter— combine to create a premium cleaning solution that is completely safe for worker health and the environment, while eliminating concerns about hazardous waste

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

disposal, according to Ian. “Our team of material scientists use their extensive knowledge of surface technology to develop the OzzyJuice SW-X1 formula specifically for the mining industry to remove soot, grime, diesel fluid, tacky grease on gears and drive shafts and burnt on carbon,” he explains.

“The CRC SmartWasher® system uses MADDIE THE MINER: HOW TO USE YOUR CRC SMARTWASHER • After removing the SmartWasher from its packaging, check over pins and hoses to ensure they are in place • Remove the false bottom of the sink and place an OzzyMat blue side (filter) down on the sink screen • Add required OzzyJuice fluid • Plug the machine in to an outlet that is designated for the SmartWasher and switch on to heat it up • Turn on the Power Switch and adjust the pressure of the juice and the nozzle • Begin cleaning parts!

• Using the brush clean down components which includes a button to run OzzyJuice through the brush • Contaminants will be caught in the OzzyMat filter • The OzzyJuice never needs to be changed, it just needs to be topped up intermittently, usage dependant.

• For maintaining the machine, once a month replace the OzzyMat, introducing a fresh dose of microbes, to ensure your cleaning efficacy remains constant day after day.

bio-mediation technology to essentially eat through oil, grease, and carbonbased contaminants,” he furthers. “The OzzyJuice formula is water-based, pH neutral, GHS non-hazardous, and meets the NSF A1 standard for health and safety.

Additionally, the formula leaves behind no streaks or residue, is non-flammable and non-toxic.

Motion Australia is an exclusive distributor of the CRC SmartWasher® Bio-remediating part washer system in Australia and working together the two companies have cemented their relationship through a common goal of providing excellent MRO products, services, and training to customers.

“Motion Australia Account Managers have great relationships with their customers which makes it easier for me to get onto these sites and present the SmartWasher products and applications,” says Ian. “Whenever possible, I try to get out to sites to provide Smartwasher demonstrations and work hands on with MRO teams to familiarise them with the system. These demonstrations speak a thousand words on the features and benefits of the SmartWasher products, which are easily realised by doing these on-site demonstrations,” he concludes.

GEARBOX

Rexnord Case Study: A custom gearbox solution for Newcastle coal port

cement, coal, metal processing, mining, paper, and power generation.

“We have a lot of experience working with the iron ore ports in Western Australia where we implemented low noise technology with our Falk V-Class® Gear Drives,” says Thong Phabmixay, Sales and Application Engineer for Regal Rexnord.

“The Falk V-Class drives have been designed to operate with reduced noise and vibration while at the same time maximising a plant’s productivity,” he explains. “And with the addition of the Regal Rexnord Smart Condition Monitoring System, operators have the ability to monitor vibrational diagnostics in real-time along with various other critical factors for performance modelling such as temperature, oil quality, water content and the overall safety of the application.”

N

ewcastle, New South Wales, is home to the world’s largest coal handling facility and the main export terminal for Australia’s coal mining industry—Port Waratah— with the capacity to export 145 million tonnes of coal per year.

The area surrounding the Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) is primarily a residential coastal town which means the facility must take special care in reducing noise levels on the operation.

To achieve offsite noise reduction, the company developed a long-term strategy for noise management that would see the implementation of lownoise gearboxes for their Stacker and Reclaimer Booms. The gearboxes were powering the site’s conveyor drive applications moving coal products around site in preparation for export.

In search of a reliable, durable, noiseless gearbox technology solution, the team at PWCS approached Regal Rexnord who were very proactive about designing a solution to the problem—immediately suggesting a custom Falk V-Class® Gear Drive design.

The Falk V-Class drives have been designed to operate with reduced noise and vibration while at the same time maximising a plant’s productivity.

The Falk name has long been synonymous with forward thinking power transmission solutions since its inception more than 125 years ago.

Likewise, Regal Rexnord, just one year Falk’s senior, saw an opportunity to combine forces as industrial solutions suppliers and acquired Falk in 2005, assuming ownership of the Falk series product range.

Since that time, Falk power transmission solutions have been a key range for Regal Rexnord in supplying heavy industries such as aggregate,

In collaboration with the University of Newcastle, a team of Regal Rexnord engineers developed a custom V-Class solution that attenuated the gearbox noise by adjusting the auxiliary features.

In addition to this, they modelled the gearbox’s air flow to autonomously stabilise its operating temperature. The resulting design saw a huge reduction in the costs of operation with zero consumption levels of electrical, water, or air required.

The custom V-Class gearboxes were designed and assembled at Regal Rexnord’s Facility in Newcastle.

“The gearboxes exceeded PWCS’s noise, temperature and vibration requirements under strict testing conditions and were certified for installation,” concludes Thong. “We have delivered the V-Class gearbox drives to Port Waratah in phases over the last few years, much to the satisfaction of the customer. The conveyor drives have been running smoothly, quietly and reliably ever since.”

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

15

ENGINEERING

Motion Australia talks shop on custom design and manufacturing solutions

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

M

otion Australia’s Workshop and Design Hub in Chullora, New South Wales is a perpetually growing enterprise of engineering savvy and ingenuity that services the Australian industrial centre nation-wide. “We get a lot of enquiries for weird and wonderful things that give us the opportunity to showcase our extensive manufacturing capabilities, both custom in-house solutions and refurbishments,” remarks Workshop Manager Mark McKiernan.

“Advanced machining and surface treatment technology allows us to create more sustainable, affordable solutions for customers on a much quicker turnaround time. We do a lot of things—bearings, sheaves, pulleys—to name a few. For customers, it’s much more efficient to work locally with us to get components, than ordering from overseas.”

Mark began his career at Motion Australia in 1977 as a fitter and turner and has since become well versed in the engineering side of the business.

After 40 years of service, his passion for his work remains clear: “Motion has been good to me over the years, and it’s a two-way street,” he smiles. “I love what I do. I do a lot of work with local industry—producers, manufacturers, and heavy industry across sectors. My clients span from all over Australia and Indonesia— and quite frankly, there is nothing more satisfying for me in my work than a happy customer and a job well done.”

In recent years, the Chullora team has been getting more involved in reclamation for bearings housings.

“A lot of older sites use housings that they trust and prefer local solutions,” says Mark. “In my role, I get the housings shipped in from the customer’s site along with their requirements. Then I examine the housings for cracks and fractures and send them out to be x-rayed and tested to spec. Once it’s back in the workshop, we clean up any cracks or fractures, weld them, machine them, and spray them with a stainless-steel blend with a fine bit of copper in

“We managed to perform the restoration and have it back on site for the customer in two weeks. The customer was very happy with a cost saving of 60% off the quote for a new bearing and such a quick turnaround time.

It was a win-win for the customer, and for us, because we earned ourselves a new client from this job.”

restoration and have it back on site for the customer in two weeks,” he says.

“The customer was very happy with a cost saving of 60% off the quote for a new bearing and such a quick turnaround time. It was a win-win for the customer, and for us, because we earned ourselves a new client from this job.”

When it comes to sheaves, Mark says the engineering hub at Queensland and Chullora —led by Josh Price — does the design entirely in-house using engineering capabilities and the advanced 3D modelling software, Solid Works.

“Our sheaves are constructed to Australian standards in accordance with Crane Codes,” explains Mark.

“Basically, the sheaves scape is all based around freight loading.

We fabricate the frames, and all

it. That adheres to the casting and then depending on the customer’s preference, we spray it with a tungsten carbide thermal spray or a ceramic which bonds with the stainless steel.”

“From there, we have it shipped back to the customer and installed back on their original equipment, and there it is —a housing just like brand new.”

The cost of reclaiming an old housing is about two thirds cheaper than casting a new housing from scratch and the lead times are significantly shorter, according to Mark. Once the team at Chullora receives the housing to the workshop, they typically give themselves a three-to-four-week window to do the job. Whereas the lead time for manufacturing an entirely new housing can be up to six months.

Recently Mark and the workshop team did a job for a customer in Newcastle just days before Christmas. The lead time getting a new bearing was going to be at least 12-14 weeks.

“We managed to perform the

the mechanical parts are tested and certified to spec. Many of our customers have sites that require a full inspection test plan, and we assist with arranging that and ensuring it’s fully certified and signed off.”

Drumming up more business relies heavily on experienced sales and technical engineers who perform site visits state-to-state, according to Mark, who rates Motion’s engineering expertise in Australia second to none across all facets of engineering. “Our team in the field come back with a lot of enquiries from sites. We put a together a quote package, drawing up designs from scratch, and making suggestions for improvement that are then relayed back to the customer. All the channels that work to make this happen really speak to how Motion Australia’s business works like a welloiled machine,” he concludes.

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

17

SERVICES

Hardy Spicer drives mining

I

solutions from Kalgoorlie-Boulder branch

n the outback West Australian winter of 1893, prospectors Paddy Hannan and Tom Flanagan were travelling near the base of Mount Charlotte and stopped to recover a horseshoe kicked off by one of their steeds.

Upon closer inspection of the ground, they noticed traces of gold at the foot of the hill. Not long after, Paddy filed a Reward Claim for the area and hundreds of rogue diggers and fortune seekers flocked to the region in search of gold. The area is known today as the Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Goldfields in Western Australia.

It is here that one of Motion Australia’s flagship businesses, Hardy Spicer Kalgoorlie found their niche, supplying driveshafts, hydraulic hose & fittings components and services to the mining and road haulage industries throughout the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Goldfields Region.

“We specialise in driveshaft design, manufacture, repair and balancing for the mining industry, heavy haulage, industrial and light vehicle applications,” says Billy Cumming, Goldfields Manager at Hardy Spicer.

“We offer a complete range of driveline parts ranging from universal joints, cv joints, centre bearings, flanges, weld yokes, slip assemblies, and new and exchange driveshaft assemblies

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

through our Australia-wide network.

We distribute the Gates® Connected range of integrated hydraulic hose and fitting products, a range of adaptors and accessories applicable to the mining sector—with safety being a primary focus for our business.”

To compliment these products, Hardy Spicer offers a selection of speciality hose assemblies, both Standard and API certified to suit mining applications.

“Important to note that we have the ability to manufacture hose assemblies and driveshafts in accordance with OEM part numbers,” says Billy.

While the early days of the Goldfields were hard on gold diggers in the lawless land of the Australian Wild West, the area has since been reinvented as an urban central mining capital of Australia.

At their Kalgoorlie-Boulder branch location, Hardy Spicer serves the local community and industrial and mining corporations who have established large-scale operations that rival others around the world.

“Our range of products and services have been tailored to stand up to the rigors of Australia’s mining operations,” says Billy.

“Service is a key focus for us in ensuring return business. We want our customers to be able to rely on Hardy Spicer as a reputable source of products, services and repairs, and hold the quality of our offerings in high regard.”

To that end, Hardy Spicer, understands the urgency on equipment repairs for their customers.

“Here at our branch in KalgoorlieBoulder, our staff and mobile van operators are on call 24/7,” he says, concluding, “We understand that customers require urgent repairs be carried out efficiently, cost effectively and to a high standard. As a premium supplier and service provider, our team is dedicated to meeting and exceeding our customer’s expectations.”

WHY MADDIE THE MINER RECOMMENDS HARDY SPICER •M ining and heavy haulage repairs and balancing •D riveshaft manufacturing, servicing, and repairs •C ustom OEM hydraulic hose and fittings •O n-site mobile repair facilities • Adaptors and accessories •2 4/7 staff service and mobile vans on-call

BEARINGS

Bearing the weight

N

of heavy industry changes

TN and Motion Australia have enjoyed more than 50 years of successful partnership in the bearings industry. As a trusted global scale bearing manufacturer, NTN has kept the market on its toes throughout the years with increasingly advanced bearings technology—and the recent roll out of the new NTN ULTAGE range is no exception.

ULTAGE is the new NTN standard production range of their latest bearing designs, developed to meet the requirements of heavy industry’s most demanding applications. The new range includes spherical roller bearings, tapered roller bearings, cylindrical roller bearings and a variety of other specialised and industryspecific bearings products.

The namesake ULTAGE derives from the words ‘Ultimate Stage’ according to Ross Lee, Technical Manager of Strategic Partnerships —Bearings for Motion Australia. “Ultimate”- signifying refinement level and “Stage” signifying the series advanced technology and suitability for diverse applications.

“Across this new range of products are a number of game-changing advantages both in the materials of the bearings and the design geometries,” says Ross. “The result is significantly higher load ratings and so, extended service life, higher operating temperatures, greater tolerance of misalignment, and better resistance to contamination.”

“Longer service life and higher rotational speeds deliver greater application flexibility in an industry such as mining and mineral processing where there are ever-increasing loads, elevated operating temperatures, and ever-present contamination— which is the arch nemesis of bearing performance.”

According to Ross, a few of the key features worth highlighting from the ULTAGE range of Spherical Roller,

Tapered Roller and Cylindrical Roller Bearings fall into a few categories, as covered in outlines by NTN bearings engineering experts.

Load Rating Maximised roller diameters and lengths, along with associated high strength design cages, deliver significantly increased, industry leading, dynamic load ratings and bearing life.

Stress concentration reductions with ULTAGE internal design enhancements Under heavy loading, stress concentration can be generated, which ultimately reduces bearing life. Edge stress can be generated when heavy loading is combined with bearing misalignment. The ULTAGE design creates smooth stress distribution across the rolling contact area, reducing edge stress. Even under harsh conditions, the optimised internal geometry of the ULTAGE product line will reduce stress, leading to longer bearing life.

ULTAGE bearing material Special alloys and heat treatment processes deliver a tougher bearing material capable of 200°C continuous ambient operating temperatures without reduction in life. Optimum rolling and sliding contact surface finishes- reducing frictional torque and temperature rise, enhance efficiency.

More specifically, Ross highlights some of the key elements to the different varieties of ULTAGE bearings series types.

ULTAGE Spherical Roller Bearing advantages The new window type pressed steel and wear resistant surface treated cage results in allowable speeds up to 20% higher than NTN conventional design. Additionally, the optimised internal design results class leading

Ultage is NTN Corporation’s new standard range of bearing designs.

bearing load ratings, testing shows over three times longer life than previous bearing life. Sealed type ULTAGE Spherical Roller Bearings are also available to prevent the entry of contaminants.

ULTAGE Tapered Roller Bearing advantages An optimised roller crowning results in up to 30% higher dynamic load ratings and testing shows three times longer bearing life. Improved surface finishes and specific profiles reduce torque and temperature rise, increasing max allowable operating speed by 10%.

These bearings are also dimensionally interchangeable with conventional Tapered Roller Bearing sizes.

ULTAGE Cylindrical Roller Bearing advantages With up to 20% higher dynamic load rating nearly doubling bearing life, this type has optimised internal geometry that increases maximum speeds by 20%. These bearings are also dimensionally interchangeable with conventional Cylindrical Roller Bearings.

“Overall, NTN ULTAGE delivers the operator an improved bottom line due to less downtime and maintenance,” concludes Ross. “In cases where bearings are subjected to tough operational demands, customers in the mining and quarrying sector will recognise the difference in the performance and reliability of their equipment with these new generation of bearings.”

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

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ADVERTORIAL - LUBRICANTS

A Shell Lubricants guide

S

to drive line lubrication

hell understands that a mobile equipment fleet is the backbone of any mining operation. To keep operations running on uptime, equipment needs to always be running reliably and efficiently, which is often the result of choosing the optimal lubricant.

So, which type of lubricant is best for ensuring operators get the most out of their engines, transmissions, hydraulic systems, and greased components?

Global leading expert on mobile equipment lubricants, Shell, shares some of their insights.

According to Shell’s industry research, lubricants account for only around 1-2% of total maintenance costs. Yet if chosen correctly, many operators do not realise that choosing the right lubricant product for a piece of equipment can save up to 30% on total operating costs1.

Further research conducted by Shell experts shows that adequate lubrication on mobile mining equipment is often overlooked until it’s too late and an inevitable breakdown happens— leading to unnecessary costs and delays that could have been avoidable.

Particularly, when in the field, it’s easy to neglect lubricant maintenance in the name of productivity. For this reason, it’s important to use high quality premium lubricants to ready your fleet for the job.

Choosing the correct lubricant or grease often depends on a combination of the equipment’s design characteristics,

operational parameters, and environment.

Factors like temperature, humidity, and location (altitude/underground) all pose different challenges for lubrication.

With lubrication customised to each application, your machines will run at peak performance throughout the life of an oil drain.

Shell believes that choosing the right lubricant product from inception is one of the most valuable investments equipment operators can make for the future of their operation. That’s why Shell lubricants for Driveline was created as a portfolio of high performing lubricants designed to bolster the performance of every machine component and maximise uptime.

The local team of Shell Lubricant experts and technical representatives are available to consult with operators on choosing the right product to suit the Driveline ratios of their mobile equipment. To simplify the process, Shell has created a portfolio of distinct product ranges for enhancing the performance of five key components on mobile equipment.

For more information on lubricant recommendations based on application requirements, visit your local Motion Australia branch today.

REFERENCE: 1. Unlocking Efficiency in Mining Report, Shell.com

Engines To avoid abrasive wear that leads to reduced efficiency and higher fuel consumption, and oil oxidation from overheating.

Product Range: Shell Rimula Transmissions Transmission lubricant needs to accommodate low starting temperatures and then build a strong layer of protection as heat increases to resist oxidization.

Product Range: Shell Spirax Hydraulics Air needs to be released quickly on hydraulic applications to avoid air bubbles that will hinder the pressure and lower efficiency levels.

Corrosive deposits further reduce efficiency.

Product Range: Shell Tellus.

Rear Axles Optimal lubrication should extend oil drain intervals and maximise component life, improve fuel economy and be robust in hot, dirty conditions.

Product Range: Shell Spirax Wheel Bearings For water and washout resistance, rust inhibition and protection against wear and extreme pressure additives.

Product Range: Shell Gadus Motion Australia and their associated businesses—CBC, BSC, WebsterBSC, Hardy Spicer, and CRAM—have an unprecedented distribution network, making Shell products available to even the most remote industrial mining and excavation sites in the country.

As the exclusive distributor of Shell lubricant products in Australia, Viva Energy works in partnership with Motion Australia to ensure Australians have access to the most premium lubrication for mobile equipment available in the world.

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

ADVERTORIAL - GEAR UNITS

State-of-the-art gearbox design for mining and quarrying applications

Bonfiglioli’s HDO Series Helical Bevel Heavy Duty Gear Units Design Features • Top torque density • Silent and vibration-free operation •L ifetime calculation in accordance with the applicable ISO and AGMA standards •E xtensive customisation options •H ighly transmissible power •R obustness and reliability •M ounting flexibility •U sable in explosive environments Main options •M ine Spec. Fan Cooling •A ir-oil and water coolers •A nti-Run Backs in excess of 200% rated torque •F orced lubrication •T emperature and oil level sensors • Drywell • Taconite seals •A TEX certification for explosive environments Motors

F

or robust, reliable, heavy duty gear units for harsh industrial environments, customers rely on Bonfiglioli to deliver solutions that are industry-specific, and tailor made to meet the requirements of heavy industrial application, across multiple sectors.

With more than 60 years of experience providing full integrated gearbox solutions to the mining, quarrying and extractive industries, Bonfiglioli’s deep understanding of application requirements —both technical and environmental— gives them an edge over competitors.

capabilities—combined with a vast global presence that comprises of 14 manufacturing plants around the world — product excellence is Bonfiglioli’s top priority.

Bonfiglioli’s HDO Series Helical Bevel Heavy Duty Gear Units are exemplary of this standard of excellence.

With housings constructed of spheroidal cast-iron, high-quality shaft and gear materials matched with the latest manufacturing methods makes the HDO series drive durable and

Whether it’s updating a legacy gearbox, or replacing an existing model with more advanced, IoT compatible solutions, Bonfiglioli has modular, customised solutions that allow for streamlined product selection, fast delivery, and easy installation.

suitable for demanding applications

Bonfiglioli’s e-business software Mosaico allows customers to select the right products to suit the requirements of their equipment, access technical data, and configure their products online.

Australia, Bonfiglioi enjoys a

By employing the latest in gearbox technology, lean manufacturing processes, and industry 4.0

like feeders, crushers, floatation cells.

With the correct sizing and options configuration, the HDO series will be your partner in keeping equipment running and the running costs down.

As a Strategic Supplier to Motion longstanding distribution partnership with Motion’s group of businesses.

Products such as the HDO Series Helical Bevel Heavy Duty Gear Units Series range and other power transmission products are available through one of 140+ branch locations.

• Input with solid shaft • Input with e-motor coupling: - BN, BE, BX [IEC asynchronous] - BSR [IEC reluctance] Motor options •T hermistors and thermostat sensors • Independent forced cooling • I ncremental, sin/cos absolute single/multi-turn encoders • Tropicalization • Anti-condensation heaters

No matter how remote the site location, Bonfiglioli and Motion have got you covered.

Visit your local Motion Australia branch to speak to a technical expert today!

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

21

ADVERTORIAL - DRIVES

Low-voltage drive solutions

T

ECO’s track record for designing award winning electrical and rotating equipment is what makes them uniquely qualified to design and develop products and services for heavy duty industrial operations.

Mining, excavating, quarrying and heavy earth moving operations are subject to some of the harshest working conditions in the world, with equipment running 24/7 on site to keep up with an everincreasing demand for raw materials in the world today.

Whether it’s a semi-autogenous or ball mill, a conveyor or a crusher, the drive lines on these sites need to contend with high ambient temperature, impact loads and voltage transients that could compromise valuable uptime in the case

for heavy industry of incidental equipment failure.

matter how remote the location.

TECO understands the challenges of heavy industry, and as a strategic supplier to Motion Australia, they have proactivity increased ability to deliver best in class products to Australian heavy earth moving, mining, quarrying, and excavating operations.

Drawing on years of expertise in intelligent electrical-mechanical design, TECO has developed the 510 Low-Voltage Variable Speed Drives specifically to accommodate the needs of heavy industrial applications.

Motion Australia’s inventory capabilities, combined with their extensive network of more than 140 branches Australia-wide, means that TECO electrical solutions are readily available to customers— no

Each 510 series model variation (F, A, E, and L) has its own unique capabilities to suit the requirements of any application— the result of which is a range of truly “F.A.E.L. safe” Low-Voltage Variable Speed Drives.

TECO’s 510 Low-Voltage Variable Speed Drives were designed to accommodate a variety of heavy industrial applications.

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

The TECO F510

The TECO A510s

Capabilities:

Capabilities:

X 230V 1 – 175 HP

230V 1 – 150 HP

460V 1 – 800 HP

460V 1 – 425 HP

Description:

Description:

Drives for fan and pump control that meet protection level-IP55 and are water and dust resistant.

Advanced current vector control that is the evolution of the A510, with 60% greater computing power.

Advanced Features:

Advanced Features:

•A dvanced Network functions for Building Automation

•S ix control modes integrated in one drive

•A utomatic Energy Saving Function

•D ual core processor with 32-bit MCU and ASIC

•U ltra-Low Motor Noise using Soft PWM Technology

•2 00% 0.5Hz starting torque

•F ire Override Mode

•F our quadrant control, speed, torque, and position control modes

•P ump Cascade Control Card for up to 8 Pumps •B uilt-In Multi Pump Control Mode •B lockage Detection • Sleep Mode • Dry Pump Protection • LCD Keypad Standard •R TC Function / Simple PLC / PTC Motor temperature detector input • B uilt-In Filter up to and including 45kW thereafter available with optional external filter •3 .7 to 600kW output range

•B uilt in modbus RTU via RJ45 port •D ual rating for normal and heavy-duty loads •P LC and PID functions as standard •P arameter lock function prevents unauthorizes access • LCD keypad • Fire override mode •B uilt in filter up to 45kW, with optional external filter for larger units

*T he A510s Enhanced model includes a PTC Thermistor Input

• I P55 up to 75kW and thereafter are standard IP00 but IP20 available if fitted with NEMA kit

The TECO E510

The TECO L510s

Capabilities:

Capabilities:

230V 0.5 – 20 HP

110V 0.25 – 1 HP

460V 1 – 25 HP

230V 0.25 – 10 HP

Description:

460V 1 – 15 HP

A general multi-function model ideal for industrial applications with a sealed design and high level of water and dust proof.

Description:

Advanced Features: • V/F Control, Vector Control •S tarting Torque 150% / 3Hz (V/F), 150% / 1Hz (Vector) • Fire Override Mode / Safety Stop • I P66 Enclosure • Built-In Modbus RTU via RJ45 port •P LC & PID functions as standard •P arameter Lock Function prevents unauthorised access • LCD keypad •0 .75-11kW 3-Ph Input and 3-Ph Output

A compact V/F and SLV control drive for heavy industrial applications.

Advanced Features: •V /F Control and torque compensation function •B uilt in MODBUS RS485 communication •R J45 Interface for PC and Copy Module • PID Functionality • Full Protective Functions •B uilt In EMI Filter for Interference Suppression •E xternal Cooling Heatsink •B uilt In Digital Display and Keypad including Speed Adjust Potentiometer •0 .75-2.2kW 3-Ph Input and 3-Ph Output

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

23

CHAIN

For drill rig assemblies,

E

nothing outlasts a Diamond

xploratory mining involves mapping, surveying, and testing ground area to determine whether there are valuable raw materials beneath the surface, followed by drilling for those mediums using rigging equipment.

According to the Victorian government’s Earth Resources Department, less than one percent of mining exploration activities results in the establishment of a mining operation, which is why exploratory mining often comes at a high financial cost and is strictly regulated for application requirements.

“A drill rig assembly sees some of the harshest environmental conditions of any heavy industrial application,” says Troy Markland, Motion Australia’s Product Manager for Chain and Ironware. “A drill down rig is a robust piece of equipment used to bore down into rock to create blast holes. The equipment components need to be able to withstand intense pressure and shock loads from the impact of the blasts.”

Troy has over 40 years of experience working with Power Transmission products during which time has overseen the implementation of an exceptional number of successful drive solutions to customers within the mining segment. He has also worked closely with Strategic Suppliers and manufacturers of drive solutions to achieve stellar results on demanding applications.

For drill rig assemblies, Troy notes that the Diamond Chain by Timken High Strength (HS) Series Chain has been a particularly outstanding product in terms of reliability, robustness, and overall performance on drill down operations.

24

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

“The Timken Diamond Chain HS is well known to be the strongest performing drive solution for drill rigging equipment, which is why it remains the choice of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) within the mining sector, both in Australia and the US,” says Troy.

needs to be prepared to hit hard rock as the rig drills down,” Sean explains.

“Whereas, the Diamond Chain is much wider than a standard chain, with a carbon steel hardened pin arrangement to accommodate the vertical load and ensure the chain remains smooth while running.”

The Diamond Chain Company was founded in 1890 with a focus on producing the best roller chain. Since that time, the chain has been used by some notable historic figures such as the Wright Brothers and Henry Ford, and was later acquired by Timken.

The Diamond Chain is constructed from high grade carbon and alloy materials to ensure minimal impurities that might impact the strength of the chain under stress and fatigue. The pins, rollers, and bushings are precision fabricated, shot peened and heat treated to withstand high temperatures. Each chain is lubricated with proprietary grease in a “hot dip” process that provides superior corrosion protection and extended life.

Timken is a strategic supplier to Motion Australia and their affiliated group of businesses, and the two industrial figureheads have enjoyed a successful distribution partnership that has spanned more than three decades.

Working so closely with the manufacturer of Diamond Chain products, Troy has frequently had the opportunity to engage with the Timken team directly at a production level and on joint site calls to analyse drive chain solutions in-situ.

General Manager for Regional Sales at Australian Timken, Sean Young, has worked on various drill chain applications over the years and speaks to some of the specialised features of the Diamond Chain HS. “Drilling rig chain requires specific components to ensure that it can withstand the impact of a drill blast, and this is evidenced in the design and construction on the Diamond Chain.”

“A standard drive chain runs horizontally between two sprockets, while a drill chain has to run vertically and the chain

In addition to these characteristics, each linkplate on the chain is bevelled to maximise strength and the chain is then prestressed to avoid initial wear and tear of components—that’s the Diamond difference.

“We work a lot with OEMs to better understand what the application requirements are so that we can actually create a chain using the Diamond components to best suit the equipment,” says Sean. “In a situation where an existing rill chain is not performing well for a customer, we often recommend the Diamond Chain as a better option, and we work with the team at Motion Australia to encourage the supply of the Diamond Chain to customers in the mining segment.”

“We try to encourage customers to trial the chain because we can always be certain that it will deliver on its capabilities,” concludes Sean.

BELTS

For knock-out V-belt solutions,

A

Gates® crushes the competition

large of part of extractive industry is the process of crushing rock down to a more manageable size to produce valuable raw materials. That said, the crushing process is about as dirty, dusty, and gritty an environment as they come, according to Motion Australia’s Rob Michelson.

Rob has over 30 years of experience working in Power Transmission roles and specialising in belt, gearbox, motor and coupling products. He began his career as a fitter within the mining and quarrying sectors where he did a lot of jobs on crushers. More recently, he stepped into the role as National Product Manager for Belts at Motion Australia —an excellent opportunity for him to put his practical knowledge to use assisting customers with finding the right solutions for their crushing equipment.

The key with crushing applications,

says Rob, is to improve reliability.

“Downtime is a huge cost to our customers. An hour of downtime can add up to a five-figure cost for some of these customers, so we must look for ways to extend the life of driven parts and reduce the time and costs of maintenance and repairs.”

“There is a lot of heavy vibrations and high impact loads on crushing operations that can really do a number on belted equipment,” he says. “On a standard crusher, there can be up to dozen or more belts transmitting power and torque from the motor to the crusher.”

“Due to severe environment and importance on the crusher process, breakdowns can be costly. So, it’s important to use the most suitable product,” he continues. “A big part of my role is working with mining and quarrying staff on site, or remotely, to implement drive solutions that are tailored toward the harsh conditions on crushing applications.”

The ideal belting solution for this type of application is a high-strength, highpower V-belt, according to Rob. His top choice belt for crushing applications is the Gates® Predator® V-belt, which has been designed specifically to be fit for this purpose.

“The Predator® V-belt provides up to three times greater power capacity than a standard belt, which means three times the power and a reduced overall drive cost,” he explains. “The

The Gates Predator V-belt provides three times greater power capacity than a standard belt.

belts are constructed from a premium, heat resistant, rubber compound that is reinforced with tensile aramid cords to prevent breakage under the force of heavy loads.”

The aramid cords give the Predator® V-belts a lot more strength than the standard polyester cord found in most V-belts, Rob explains.

“The extra strength means it’s a higherpowered belt. Rather than having twelve belts across the pulleys, only half that number of belts could be required,” he notes. “Ultimately this reduces overhung load which aides bearing life, more power is transmitted and there is an increase in the reliability of the equipment.”

When it comes to implementing the Predator® V-belt solutions on site, Rob often works with the Gates® Design Flex™ Pro™ program to assist in performing an equipment analysis.

“The Design Flex™ Pro™ enables us to input the motor power, RPM, and other drive parameters to complete an analysis of a customer’s current drive setup,” he says. “This allows us to pinpoint where potential problems may lie. We also offer direct engineering services support to site to assist with laser alignment and tensioning— offering our customers a complete and concise reliability package.”

“Centralised here in Melbourne, I do a lot of work with Gates® and their head office here,” concludes Rob. “Gates are known to have invented the original V-belt concept and have a long-standing legacy of progressing V-belt designs to their current iteration.

It’s a huge advantage for us as an organisation to work with Gates® because they always keep us one step ahead with innovative belting solutions.”

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

25

ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING

CRAM engineers excellence

B

in Australian mining

efore being acquired by Motion Australia in 2019, CRAM began with a team of four hydraulic specialists, operating out of a small workshop in Unanderra, New South Wales.

Today, CRAM is a globally scaled and recognised brand that incorporates the collective knowledge of 1800 employees working at more than 180 locations across Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia.

“Our mission is to provide superior engineering services and products that will exceed customer expectations and impress the competition,” says Ryan Kendrigan, General Manager at CRAM. “We have a good mix of working with OEM products in combination with our own manufacturing. Our bespoke manufacturing provides high quality engineered solutions to our customers who are operators and contactors within the industrial space.”

The company specialises in high level industrial engineering and design— supplying products in the fields of fluid power and hydraulics. Additionally, CRAM offers full service in-house design

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MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

and drafting services which include fabrication, maintenance, refurbishments, repairs, and overhauls.

As a full-service engineering solutions provider, CRAM is no stranger to the mining sector— facilitating the supply, refurbishment repair of blast hole drill units and undercarriage components, as well as all other mechanical, structural, and fluid power componentry such as chain, rollers, and sprockets.

CRAM’s in-house fabrication workshop offers world-class engineering services that are unparalleled in the mining and heavy industrial markets.

“We have a dedicated engineering projects team that manages the design and manufacturing of a wide range of mechanical, fluid power, and electrohydraulic solutions,” says Ryan. “Our mechanical and fluid power engineers can perform a comprehensive analysis of fluid power systems, mechanical componentry, and structural analysis.”

“Our CP Engineers can certify all calculations for our clients by Australian Engineering Standards and Mining Design Guidelines,” he elaborates. “Then we present the client with a full-service

solution package which includes onsite installation, training, and follow-up assessment to see how the equipment is performing down the track.”

A team of electro-hydraulic engineers designs and builds electronic control systems that are tailored for the specific requirements of different types of hydraulic applications.

“Our in-house design capabilities allow us to manufacture complete machines as well as reverse engineer existing machines for repairs and upgrades,” says Ryan. “We test all our projects to the highest standards and ensure our clients have assurance that their equipment is certified and compliant.”

CRAM’s management systems are certified to ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems, AS/NZS 4801 and accredited to AS/NZS ISO/IEC 17020 for the operation of various types of inspections. In addition to this, the CRAM team practices a ‘Zero Harm’ standard for environmental protection and safety.

“We are a company that customers can recommend, and employees can be proud to work for,” concludes Ryan. “Our team is compelled to produce reliable machinery that is fuelled by innovation and a passion for engineering and driven by the needs of our customers.”

POWER TRANSMISSION

Mining operators can’t afford

M

not to change PT accessories

otion Australia’s Product Manager for Chain and Ironware, Troy Markland, believes that a good belt solution isn’t complete without the right accessories, and the Fenner Power Transmission portfolio offers the most comprehensive package of PT accessories on the market.

According to the Fenner engineering team, approximately 50% of new belts are fitted to worn out pulleys, which wastes energy and inevitably shortens the life expectancy of the belt and the assembly.

“A word to the wise —to maximise investment and boost efficiency and service life on an application, fit new belts with new pulleys,” says Troy.

With more than 160 years of experience quite literally “under their belt”, the Fenner name has long been synonymous with manufacture and supply of premium grade Power Transmission products for heavy industrial applications.

“Particularly in the mining and quarrying segment— where there are high-speed driven applications that rely on the integrity of PT products—it’s important to rely on suppliers like Fenner that how the requisite experience and engineering capabilities in that space,” says Troy.

“Fenner offers a comprehensive list of belt-driven designs, complete with reliable and durable couplings, pulleys, and taperlocking accessories to compliment a wide range of drive line applications.”

For mining applications, there are three

core products in the Fenner range that Troy suggests as a complete PT solution: The Fenner® Classic V friction belt, the Fenner® Friction Pulley, and the Fenner Taper Lock® bush system.

The Fenner Classic V friction belt is conducive to static in accordance with ISO 1813 and constructed from a treated jacket that has heat and oil resistant properties. In addition to these features, the belt uses Precision Build (PB) technology that makes it a true “fit-and forget” solution.

Fenner Pulleys are precision manufactured from high grade iron materials to tolerate high loads and achieve rim speed of up to 40m/s. The pulleys are surface treated and statically balanced to provide greater accuracy on high-speed applications.

Combining the Fenner Pulleys with the four whole FennerTaper Lock Bush shaft fixing system—cast from premium grade iron and steel—and the result is greatly improved balance and a higher tolerance to shock loads, according to Troy. “Significantly, the Fenner Taper Lock Bushes have been tested on more than 50 million applications and have proven to be the most effective shaft fixing design on the market.”

Troy recommends the Fenner Pully and Taper Lock bush solutions to many of his mining customers. “In contrast to some of the traditional key locking assemblies on the market, the Fenner Taper Lock® bush system is one of our preferred methods of fixing transmission components to machine shafts,” he explains. “The bush bore design is a simple and effective piece of engineering that allows for easy fitting to the machine shaft.”

“Particularly, when you are dealing with a drive system that is moving heavy raw materials, chemicals or liquids, it is imperative that your drive solution is reliable and easy to maintain,” explains Troy. “Otherwise, you risk belt jumps and equipment failures.”

Fenner Pulleys Features and Benefits • Manufactured from high-grade iron • Tolerant to high shock loads • Achieve rim speeds of up to 40m/s • Statically balanced •S urface treated to prevent corrosion • Customisation options Fenner Taper Lock Features and Benefits •T ested on more than 50 million applications •A vailable in a range of weldon hubs, bolt-on hubs and hub adaptors •S hrink-on fit on uniform load applications •N o key necessary •4 -hol feature for more balanced assemblies •H igh-grade, close grain iron material When it comes to selecting the right PT accessories, Troy suggests mine site operators contact their local Motion Australia branch to speak to technical experts. “We have a great working relationship with Fenner as a supplier and access to valuable engineering resources that can assist in designing the right PT solution for every application,” he concludes.

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

27

ADVERTORIAL - LUBRICANTS

Extend machinery life

W

and performance with Pulsarlube variation against ambient temperature differences, because of its inert Nitrogen gas generation.

hen it comes to the operational health of your machinery and equipment, it’s crucial to maintain proper lubrication of rotating parts to ensure reliability.

Lubrication-related failure and damage is imminently preventable and should be low on the list of things to worry about when it comes to your machinery.

However, lubrication is often overlooked or ignored, to the detriment of the health and reliability of your equipment.

To achieve reliability, you need the right lubrication method for your machinery. Applying the right product will extend the life of your machinery and equipment, keep your maintenance costs down, and boost your operational performance.

Alemlube is an Australian-based lubrication company, leading the market with innovative product designs. Their team understands the ins and outs of machine maintenance, and their products are specifically designed to prolong the operational life and ability of your machinery. From their product offerings, Motion Australia recommends the ‘Pulsarlube’ range of Single and Multi-Point Grease lubricators, which offers an efficient and easy to install Key features: •L ow-cost lubrication solution that optimises lubrication without compromising performance of equipment •E co-friendly product, where applicable parts can be disposed of separately •C ertified CE, ATEX, UL for use in hazardous areas •V arious dispensing settings and grease pouch volumes to suit a wide range of applications •E asy to adjust dispensing periods, even during operation •E asy to install in hazardous and confined areas

28

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

Another application is CNG stations, where a common issue with electric motor bearings is that they are lubricated less frequently than other bearing types. This then creates a real danger with over-lubrication, which can cause even more damage and problems than under-lubrication. Pulsarlube E can be installed on the electric motor bearing of compressors to provide the most appropriate and precise levels of lubrication.

Alemlube’s Pulsarlube E Series Single Point Grease range of lubricants prevent equipment damage.

option for mining operations of all sizes.

The Pulsarlube E Series Single Point Grease lubricators is a great option for use across the mining and resource industries where conditions are harsh. Within the cement industry, for example, extreme temperatures, and the presence of high-density airborne dust particles, often cause issues for machinery. Cement dust can have a devastating impact on the bearings of conveyors, which is why proper lubrication is necessary. Pulsarlube E prevents damage on bearings from overexposure to dust and is easily installed on the head pulley bearing in conveyor systems. Its reliability is largely due to its ability to dispense less

The Pulsarlube M Series Multi Point Grease lubricators is another excellent option for those working in the mining, quarries, or related industries. The Pulsarlube M can be installed remotely (up to 8M) due to its high output pressure (Up to 60bar). It also offers multi-point installation, with up to 8 lube points using Ø6 tube, with a maximum length of 6m per point. Pulsarlube M is operated through a built-in LCD, and its transparent container makes it easy to inspect the quantity of lubricant at any time. The Pulsarlube M can be applied in a variety of situations, from HVAC equipment and cooling tower, to cleanrooms and LM guides— it offers significant savings due to its feature of replaceable grease pouches and battery packs.

Alemlube’s products were designed with an in-depth understanding of the lubrication needs of industrial machinery and equipment, and their products are both affordable and reliable. The Pulsarlube range is an excellent option for a variety of industrial applications and will maintain the health and efficiency of your machinery.

If you’re in need of more information on the Pulsarlube range, visit your local Motion Australia branch.

ADVERTORIAL - THREADLOCKER

Adhering to the LOCTITE

D

liquid threadlocker legacy

id you know? On a conventional bolted assembly, there is only 15% metal-to-metal contact and the remaining 85% is simply open air?

The advantages of LOCTITE® threadlockers • Maintains the clamping force

•P revents loosening under heavy external loads •T he elimination of all gaps guarantees a secure threaded connection •C ompletely sealed and air-tight •P revents leaks and reduces the effects of corrosion •E ngineers and designers can opt for the through hole design over the blind hole design for threaded assemblies •A ll LOCTITE threadlockers have a broad temperature resistance of -65°F to 300°F, while some threadlockers are designed for high temperatures up to 650°F •O ne bottle of LOCTITE liquid threadlocker suits nuts and bolts of all sizes Choosing a LOCTITE® Threadlocker LOCTITE threadlockers products are available in many different grades to cater to a wide range of jobs, from maintenance and repairs (MRO) to aligning with original equipment (OEM) standards. The different types of threadlockers are colour-coded to help distinguish one from another, but all the bottles are red in colour. The red bottle is a LOCTITE trademark. It’s what visually distinguishes LOCTITE threadlockers from any other brand.

For more information on where to buy genuine LOCTITE® threadlocker products, visit your local Motion Australia — BSC, CBC, or WebsterBSC branch.

Conventional mechanical fasteners such as double nuts, spring washers, nylon insert nuts and toothed flange bolts often fail to provide security when up against vibration, thermal expansion, corrosion, bending and torque. A threadlocker on the other hand, is an adhesive solution that effectively “locks” your assembly securely in place, forming a strong bond that ensures load bearing capabilities and seals all gaps.

Liquid threadlocker was invented in 1953 by a chemistry professor named Vernon K. Krieble who saw a need for a practical adhesive solution that would secure nuts, bolts, and threaded fasteners in place with a bond that was airtight, strong, and flexible. And so, using a complex mix of chemistry and engineering, the LOCTITE® liquid threadlocker was first born. From there, Krieble became the founder of the LOCTITE brand which today is the longest standing manufacturer of threadlocker products in the world.

With a combined 60 years of expertise, the LOCTITE threadlocker products continue to uphold a tradition of innovation using the latest in adhesive technology. When applied between two mating threads, LOCTITE threadlockers push the air between the threads out as the fastener is tightened. The anaerobic threadlocker resin is high viscosity, shock resistant, and provides

an instant, low-pressure sealing solution that cures on metal surfaces, even in an airless environment to form a thermoset plastic that locks threads and joints in place.

Once applied between two threads, the liquid threadlocker adhesives secure nuts, bolts, and threaded fasteners in place for long lasting adhesive performance.

The results? LOCTITE threadlocking compounds can effectively reduce the impact of costly failures, repairs, maintenance, and downtime.

MADDIE THE MINER HOT TIPS Is it an original?

How to verify genuine LOCTITE® threadlocker products

Have you ever questioned whether the Loctite® product you own is genuine? If so, you could be correct!

There are many counterfeited threadlocker products available on the global market.

As a result, LOCTITE has gone to great lengths to ensure customers can identify genuine products by implementing distinctive anticounterfeit QR codes on product packaging. The micro-texture on the QR code is unique for every authentic bottle. Customers can verify LOCTITE products to make sure they are the real deal by following the following three steps: • Step 1: Scan the QR code on the bottle label • Step 2: Select “Verify product” •S tep 3: Re-scan the QR code on the case (avoid blur, glare) or upload a photo of the label with QR code to verify

LOCTITE Threadlocker products are an alternative to traditional mechanical fasteners.

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

29

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

Keeping industry in Motion Industry leading products from our Strategic Suppliers TIMKEN® SOLID-BLOCK SPHERICAL ROLLER BEARINGS

GATES PREDATOR® V-BELTS Gates Predator® V-belts are the leading heavy-duty V-belts in the market. They are excellent problem solvers that perform well in harsh environments and in extremely demanding applications where standard V-belts have performance issues. The Predator belt difference is in the construction: they have the highest power density of any V-belt and virtually zero stretch because of the use of high strength, high modulus aramid tensile cords.

CRC SMARTWASHER® The CRC SmartWasher systems employ a natural process called bioremediation to degrade and remove contaminants from the cleaning fluid, allowing re-use of the cleaning fluid. The CRC SmartWasher is part of the CRC Greenlight program, which offers a diverse range of environmental cleaning products that are smart, safe, and effective.

SCHAEFFLER SEALED SPHERICAL ROLLER BEARINGS Schaeffler Sealed Spherical Roller Bearings feature reduced maintenance outlay, very high basic dynamic and static load ratings, bearing materials dimensionally stabilised up to +200°C, and 2 different sealing materials – nitrile rubber, fluoro rubber.

X-life quality – longer rating life & operating life.

FALK V-CLASS GEAR DRIVES Heavy-duty ductile iron housing withstands shock loads. Exclusive Magnum no-leak seal design. Horizontal split-housing allows easy disassembly/ assembly for maintenance. 31 unit sizes, up to 3M lb-in (340 kNm) torque.

NTN ULTAGE SPHERICAL ROLLER BEARINGS

BONFIGLIOLI HDO GEAR UNITS

ULTAGE series spherical roller bearings are the standard series developed to meet the demands of “long operating life,” “higher speed,” and “improved easy handling” that are required for various industrial machinery.

Improved cage design allows lubricating oil to enter easily.

Constructed from a high-grade castiron housing to a precision optimised spheroidal design, Bonfiglioli’s HDO Series Helical Bevel Heavy Duty Gear Units have limitless capabilities on the most demanding applications such as crushers, feeders, rolling conveyors, elevators, and flotation cells.

FENNER® CLASSIC V BELT Ideal for high ratio or small pulley drives, the Fenner® Classic V belt has a specially treated jacket to give superior anti-static, heat and oil resistant properties which exceeds the new industry anti-ignition standards.

30

Designed for the most challenging circumstances. Made with cast-steel housings and Timken high-performance spherical roller bearings, these are the only spherical roller bearing housed units to offer steel solid-block housings as standard. In addition, Timken solid-block housed units can run efficiently on misaligned shafts up to ±0.75 degrees, without a reduction in life expectancy.

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

ALEMLUBE PULSARLUBE AIR® DESICCANT BREATHERS

GATES MXG™ 4K 4000PSI HYDRAULIC HOSE

With extended service life and longlasting shelf life, Pulsarlube AIR® Desiccant Breathers provide effective removal of contaminants. Reservoir fluid flow from 150gpm to 1,320gpm. Electret filter (particle size > 2) removes airborne dirt, dust, and other undesirable particles by electrostatic charge. Activated Carbon filter removes moisture, fumes, and odour.

The Gates MegaSys™ MXG™ 4K Hydraulic Hose is a feat of engineering that achieves a lightweight and flexible new hose construction technology and a giant leap forward for materials science and process innovation. The MXG™ 4K rates at 40% lower Force-to-Bend, 30% lighter weight and 8% more compact than standard hose.

3M™ EXTRA HEAVY DUTY DUCT TAPE 6969 3M™ Extra Heavy Duty Duct Tape 6969 is an industrial strength duct tape. It owes its strength and reliable performance to its abrasion resistant, waterproof polyethylene film backing. In addition to strength and reliability, this tape tears easily by hand and removes cleanly for no-hassle use on demand.

An effective tape that conforms, sticks where needed, seals, protects and meets dozens of other demanding applications.

MACKAY M211 SERIES PLATE ISOLATOR The M211 series of Plate isolators are ideal for controlling damaging structural vibrations. With a large loading capacity of 1,452kg to 17,700kg, the M211 series isolators have a wide range of potential application solution opportunities such as rock crushing and large hopper feeder applications.

NTN EA BEARINGS

SHELL RIMULA R4 L The Shell Rimula R4 L heavy duty engine oil uses the most advanced 15W-40 oil technology to create exceptional resistance to corrosion, wear and oxidation while producing lower vehicle emissions. The Shell Rimula R4 X is designed to provide triple protection for tractor engines, covering three key areas: acid and corrosion control, wear control and deposit control.

TECO 510 LOW-VOLTAGE VARIABLE SPEED DRIVES Drawing on years of expertise in intelligent electrical-mechanical design, TECO has developed the 510 Low-Voltage Variable Speed Drives specifically to accommodate the needs of heavy industrial applications.

Each 510 series model variation (F, A, E, and L) has its own unique capabilities to suit the requirements of any application.

Providing longer operating life due to their improved crack fatigue strength, wear strength and peeling resistance characteristics, especially when the lubricant is contaminated. The EA bearings provide advantages due to their compact design, longer operating life, and longer intervals between maintenance and inspections.

LOCTITE® 263 THREADLOCKER

DIAMOND CHAIN BY TIMKEN® HIGH STRENGTH SERIES CHAIN Diamond High Strength Drive chain is built with medium carbon through-hardened alloy steel pins for a higher tensile strength, working load and fatigue strength (when compared to a heavy series chain) in high load, lifting or pulsating applications.

LOCTITE® 263 is a red, dual cure, acrylic dimethacrylate ester fluorescent threadlocker designed for the permanent locking and sealing of threaded fasteners. It cures between close fitting metal surfaces and prevents loosening and leakage from shock and vibration. It works on active metals (e.g. brass, copper) and passive substrates such as stainless steel and plated surfaces.

Particularly suited for heavy duty applications.

MINES AND QUARRIES | EDITION 12

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Food and fibre production with Simplicity

Customers stand to benefit from ‘One Motion’

Turn to page 24

Keeping ahead of the work

Plan for a strong yield

Serving the agricultural belt

According to Shaun Thorneycroft at Precise Header & Ag Repairs, the biggest challenge he faces is getting parts.

National Sales Manager, Grant Gray, encourages those working in agriculture to secure supply in advance.

Find out why the BSC Wagga Wagga branch has become a destination point for farmers in the Riverina region.

Turn to page 04

Carrum Downs sealing experts restore seals to factory new

Harvesting the macadamia boom in Bundaberg

Environmentally sound industrial cleaning solutions

Sealing Solutions offers superior in-house seals testing

Dale Jackson talks about the local macadamia industry

CBC helps customer go green with CRC’s eco-friendly product range

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