Australian Mining - July 2017 by Prime Creative Media

AUSTMINE 2017 AIMEX PREVIEW VOLUME 109/6 | JULY 2017

QUEENSLAND COALFIELDS

INNOVATION

TAKING MINING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

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COMMENT

BEN CREAGH

DEFINING INNOVATION IN MINING

FRONT COVER

Ben.Creagh@primecreative.com.au IT IS NO LONGER ENOUGH TO JUST BE INNOVATIVE IN MINING. INSTEAD, IT HAS BECOME ABOUT DEFINING THE TYPE OF INNOVATION MINING NEEDS.

ining is becoming a more open industry. Companies and their leadership have started to share the secrets of their innovations and use of emerging technologies with each other. Or they are working with each other to research and develop their next innovations to be prepared for the industry of the future. Mining and METS (mining equipment, technology and services) groups are communicating like they never have before and this is leading to a culture of innovation, or a culture of improvement, or a culture of progress – take your pick. At least this was the impression the Austmine 2017: Mining’s Innovation Imperative conference and exhibition (coverage on pages 16-21) delivered in Perth during May. In the past, speakers at mining events have too often seemed reluctant to be open about what is happening behind-the-scenes at the companies they represent – it was as if they were telling listeners only what their shareholders would want to hear. This was not the case at Austmine 2017, which featured more than 50 speakers focusing on the growth in the mining and METS industries through innovation and technology. Mining innovations and technologies were shared, explored, critiqued and celebrated at Austmine 2017. This was the aim of the event and one it achieved. The common way this change was described by those who attended was that a paradigm shift had taken place in the industry, in Australia anyway. This shows that innovation – the

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

buzzword that has dominated the mining and METS industries for many years now – continues to be defined from a mining industry perspective. Innovation is no longer something that mining and METS companies must consider as part of their operations or contracts, but something that is dissected with a clearly thought-out strategy. The industry is now focused on defining the type of innovation that is required in mining – it might be sustainable innovation, efficiency innovation or disruptive innovation. And then it is being open by sharing the knowledge gained from this process with industry peers so they can also unlock value from their operations, while also becoming better prepared for the future. It’s an optimistic, and refreshing, outlook for the industry. And one that mining and METS companies seem eager to foster in the years ahead.

In this edition of Australian Mining, we preview the Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition (AIMEX) next month in Sydney. Held every two years the event will once again provide key insights for businesses in the mining industry. This issue also looks at the ongoing pursuit of innovation in mining, including coverage of Austmine 2017: Mining’s Innovation Imperative conference. We shine the spotlight on the Queensland Coalfields with a feature looking at Aurizon’s management of Cyclone Debbie earlier this year. Australian Mining follows the progress of Newcrest Mining as it edges towards resuming production at the Cadia East mine in NSW after an earthquake on Good Friday. And as always, we provide the latest mining technology and equipment in our Product Showcase.

Ben Creagh Editor

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CONTENTS

QUEENSLAND COALFIELDS

ENERGY

28-29 DIFFICULT CONDITIONS FAIL TO DERAIL AURIZON Aurizon has rebounded from the devastation caused by Cyclone Debbie

RENEWING ENERGY GENERATION TO IMPROVE MINE SITE EFFICIENCY More mines in Australia are introducing renewable energy to their operations

14 - 15 AUSTMINE

16-17

MAKING WAY FOR ENERGY STORAGE Delta Energy discusses the necessity for energy storage in remote areas.

TALES OF INNOVATION CULTURES AT TWO IRON ORE MINERS Innovation has become engrained in the psyche of Western Australia’s iron ore miners MINING’S OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME AN INNOVATION LEADER Barrick Gold’s Michelle Ash is urging the mining industry to be ready for digital disruption and become innovation leaders

18-19

30-31 PROSPECT AWARDS

WHAT ARE MINING’S STANDOUT INNOVATIONS? Speakers from Austmine talk about the most exciting innovations

WINNER PROFILE: GLENCORE Neil Hassett was Mine Manager of the Year at the Prospect Awards in 2016

20-21 32-33

MARKET WATCH

AIMEX

ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION A special preview and guide to one of the region’s most significant mining events

PROVIDING EQUIPMENT FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY Caterpillar dealer Hastings Deering follows the success of improved conditions in the mining industry

34-43 GOLD MINING

LEVEL MEASUREMENT

44-45 NEWCREST UPGRADES CADIA EAST FOLLOWING SEISMIC EVENT An insight into what it takes to resume operations at an underground gold mine following a dangerous seismic event

RADAR LEVEL MEASUREMENT IN THE MINING INDUSTRY A look at how new technology can deal with the overfilling of storage tanks

23 TRACKING THE TRENDS

PRODUCTS

24 PREVENTING CYBER ATTACKS WITH TOUGHER SECURITY MEASURES Deloitte’s Nicki Ivory discusses the importance of cyber security

46-47

STORED ENERGY MOTOR BASES Advancements in stored energy springs can make a big difference in the transmission of power, improving operational efficiency

CASE STUDY

ALLIGHTSYKES RENEWS FOCUS ON THE FG WILSON GENERATORS RANGE A renewed focus for these tried and tested generators

PYBAR DOUBLES DRILLING PRODUCTIVITY AT COSTERFIELD MINE A new drill has proven to be a game changer for narrow veinoperations

INNOVATION DRIVES INCREASED UPTIME Metso’s new MX cone crusher is achieving notable outcomes in the world of mining for its users

25 SALT MINING

26-27 SALT DEMAND SET TO SOAR BY 2020 Global industrial salt demand expected to catapult by 2020

CAT PUTS ITS LONGWALL SOLUTIONS ON SHOW Caterpillar’s latest longwall solutions are contributing to productivity increases at Australian mine sites

REGULARS

INDUSTRY COMMENT 8

NEWS 10

PRODUCT SHOWCASE 52

AUSTRALIANMINING

JULY 2017

EVENTS 54

Experience the Progress.

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INDUSTRY COMMENT

FRICTION: THE KEY TO SAFE AND COMPETENT HAUL ROAD OPERATIONS WHEN THE LIFEBLOOD OF A MINE IS A POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS NETWORK OF UNSEALED HAUL ROADS, HOW DO YOU PROVIDE A SAFE WORKING ENVIRONMENT TO MAINTAIN AN EFFICIENT OPERATION? ERIC TOMICEK SHARES HIS THOUGHTS.

mine’s network of haul roads can either be its greatest asset or its greatest liability. The path to safe and efficient haul road operations begins with understanding what friction is, being able to measure it and knowing how to manage it. A haul road that is dusty when it is dry can become extremely slippery and dangerous due to rain or when sprayed with water to suppress the fugitive dust. Two independent friction concepts are required to effectively manage haul road safety and maintain competent haul road operations – friction supply and friction demand. Friction supply is the available friction where vehicle tyres meet the haul road surface. Typically, when water is applied to haul roads (rain or by water cart to suppress fugitive dust) the friction supply value will decrease by varying amounts.

Quality coarse haul road sheeting material, such as basalt, will exhibit a high friction supply value when dry and wet. In contrast, a haul road with considerable clay content will have high friction supply when dry, but have hazardously low friction when wet. Friction demand is the required friction to operate the vehicle for a given circumstance on mine haul roads. Broadly speaking, this is a sum of how the vehicle is driven (braking, acceleration and steering) combined with the specific geometry of the haul road design. Critical locations where friction demand needs to be considered include ramps, particularly those at the upper range of gradient specifications, vehicle conflict points such as intersections and geometrically demanding road layouts such as those with curves. If the friction demand at a section of haul road is higher than the friction supply, the vehicle operator will be unable to safely negotiate that

specific geometry of haul road. The outcome will most likely be an uncontrolled/unplanned movement causing damage, injury or – in the worst instance – death. By managing the haul road’s friction supply to be always in excess of the friction demand a safety margin is maintained. Friction supply and demand is measured using an instrumented portable accelerometer attached to a light vehicle with an anti-lock braking system. An easy-to-use plug-and-play haul road friction measurement tool that is simply mounted to the window of a vehicle, in combination with a proven methodology, is now available for mine operators to measure and manage their haul road conditions. A driver can easily perform friction demand and friction supply testing for which the tool will output a simple friction number. The friction measurement process and methodology can be used for the

PROPER MANAGEMENT OF HAUL ROADS IS VITAL FOR MINE SITE SAFETY

AUSTRALIANMINING

following applications: • To provide a friction supply measuring procedure and risk management model for the road network by friction profiling of a selection of haul road surfaces for friction analysis and comparison under a consistent water application rate process. • To provide commentary and recommendations on mine road design, watering and maintenance practices. • To assess surface friction after rain to inform decisions to return to work. • Operational road watering audit for proactive vehicle safety management practice. • Road surface material evaluation for measuring before and after road sheeting friction benefit. • Friction related vehicle incident investigation for friction supply/ demand safety margin analysis. Understanding friction is important to a mining operation from safety and operating cost perspectives, especially with the unpredictability of uncontrolled movements occurring on mine haul roads. Water trucks which allow for a quantitative level water output, used in conjunction with road profiling technology, should be implemented across mining operations to advise a safe level of water to apply to a haul road to maintain an adequate level of friction. At Australian Diversified Engineering, we are at the forefront of bespoke product design aimed at providing solutions to commonly faced challenges by the mining and construction industries. We pioneer the development of the next generation water truck control system that manages both dust and safety, giving mining and earthmoving companies confidence that their vehicle operators are driving on safe haul roads. We will continue to grow our line of innovative products to ensure mining and construction companies can operate safely and efficiently. AM Eric Tomicek is sales manager at Australian Diversified Engineering

JULY 2017

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NEWS

THE LATEST MINING NEWS AND SAFETY AUSTRALIAN MINING PRESENTS THE LATEST NEWS AND SAFETY AFFECTING YOU FROM THE BOARDROOM TO THE MINE AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN. VISIT WWW.AUSTRALIANMINING.COM.AU TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING.

RIO CUTS PAYMENT TERMS TO 30 DAYS FOR SMALLER SUPPLIERS Rio Tinto will reduce the payment terms for smaller suppliers to 30 days in a bid to improve cash flow for those businesses. The 30-day payment terms will apply to Australian suppliers under $1 million of expenditure and will begin on July 1. Rio’s current payment terms are 45 days from the end of the month after a correct invoice has been received, and this will remain for larger businesses. Rio said nearly 300 existing suppliers including Aboriginal businesses and

charities are on payment terms of less than 30 days, which will remain unchanged. It added that several businesses that have negotiated payment terms will not be affected by the change. “Faster payment terms will help our smaller suppliers manage cash flow and help our local business partners to grow,” said Rio Tinto managing director Australia Joanne Farrell. “A supply chain of strong local suppliers is good for our business, good for local communities

and good for the economy.” Last year, Rio came under fire from State and Federal Governments for increasing its payment terms from 45 days to 60-90 days due to the tough commodity market. The new terms come after Rio announced a new procurement programme for Western Australian and Pilbara Aboriginal businesses, providing them more opportunities to bid for contracts with the company’s iron ore business.

OUTOTEC WINS PROCESS EQUIPMENT CONTRACT FOR GRUYERE GOLD PROJECT

OUTATEC WILL DESIGN AND DELIVER A GRINDING MILL FOR THE GRUYERE SITE.

Mining equipment manufacturer Outotec has been awarded a €14 million ($20.6 million) contract by the Amec Foster Wheeler Civmec Joint Venture (ACJV) for the delivery of process equipment at the Gruyere gold project in Western Australia. The Gruyere project, about 200km east of Laverton in WA’s Goldfields region, is a joint venture between Gold Road Resources and Gold Fields. ACJV was named as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project last month. Outotec’s scope of work for ACJV includes the design and delivery of a 15MW semi-autogenous (SAG) grinding mill, which will be delivered to the Gruyere site during the first quarter of 2018. Kimmo Kontola, Outotec’s mineral processing business unit head, commented: “Our deep process knowledge and advanced mill technology will provide the foundation for this large and efficient plant.” ACJV has launched work on the EPC contract, which involves the detailed design, procurement and installation of the process plant, administration office, workshop and warehouse, as well as the main water pipelines and power lines to the borefield. More than 300 personnel will be employed at the peak of the project, which is expected to be completed by December 2018. Mining services company MACA was awarded the bulk earthworks contract for the Gruyere project. The Gruyere JV has forecast construction of the project to be completed by December 2018.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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AUSTRALIAN MINING GETS THE LATEST NEWS EVERY DAY, PROVIDING MINING PROFESSIONALS WITH UP TO THE MINUTE INFORMATION ON SAFETY, NEWS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MINING AND RESOURCES INDUSTRY.

HERON LOCKS IN OFFTAKE AGREEMENT FOR WOODLAWN OPERATION Heron Resources has secured an offtake agreement for the zinc, copper and lead production from its Woodlawn project near Tarago in New South Wales. Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) Metals has been awarded the base metal concentrate offtake from the Woodlawn project from the start of production until the end of 2021, or three-and-a-quarter years. The agreement covers 100 per cent of the zinc, copper and lead concentrates produced over that time. Heron managing director Wayne Taylor said the company had run a highly-competitive offtake process for the Woodlawn project’s concentrates over the past 12 months “Zinc concentrates are particularly in short supply in the global marketplace, which is expected to remain tight for the next few years, and this has resulted in the company agreeing attractive commercial terms for 100 per cent of mine output during the critical first few years of production at Woodlawn,” Taylor said. Woodlawn is expected to produce about 70,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of zinc concentrates, 30,000dmt of copper concentrates and 25,000dmt of lead concentrates annually. LDC chief executive officer Paul Akroyd said the company would support Heron in the development of the Woodlawn project. “This is full aligned with our strategy to build upon our existing Australian activity and continue to provide solutions for the needs of the Australian mining industry,” Akroyd said.

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NEWS

GLENCORE ADDS QUEENSLAND COAL MINES TO MITCHELL SERVICES DRILLING CONTRACT

NEWCREST TO RELAUNCH OPERATIONS AT EARTHQUAKE-HIT CADIA EAST BY SEPTEMBER

Glencore has awarded Mitchell Services with a three-year contract to provide drill services across its Queensland coal operations. The new agreement follows Glencore awarding Mitchell an exploration drilling contract at its Clermont operation in Queensland in June last year. Adding to that contract, Mitchell will now also provide exploration services at Glencore’s Collinsville and Newlands coal mines, as well as the Clermont mine. The contract, which includes a two-year extension option, is material in size based on the anticipated revenue. Mitchell chief executive officer Andrew Elf said the company’s operational team had delivered an outstanding service to the Clermont mine during the past eight months. “I am extremely pleased that this operational excellence and strong working relationship with Glencore Coal Assets Australia have translated into an expansion to Collinsville and Newlands where we will utilise existing equipment over an extended period,” Elf said. THE CONTRACT IS MATERIAL IN Mitchell will use existing surface SIZE BASED ON ANTICIPATED drill rigs in its fleet to carry out REVENUE. the exploration drilling at these three mine sites, it added.

Newcrest Mining expects to restart production at the earthquake-hit Cadia East mine in New South Wales by the end of September. The Cadia operation, 25km south of Orange, was hit by a large seismic event early Good Friday morning, suspending underground mining activities. A prohibition notice was issued at the site by NSW authorities following the incident, and has remained in place since. In its latest update following the incident, Newcrest reported that damage to the Cadia East underground mine infrastructure was minimal, with no permanent damage. It said rehabilitation work and upgrades to ground support were underway at Cadia East’s Panel Cave (PC) 1 and was well advanced at Panel Cave 2. Production at both panel caves is expected to be relaunched in the first quarter of the 2018 financial year, if the prohibition notice is lifted. “Newcrest has worked closely with the NSW Mining Inspectorate on the rehabilitation and support plans for PC1 and PC2,” the company said in a statement. “The majority of work undertaken relates to increasing the dynamic ground support capacity around known fault structures and rehabilitating ground support in areas impacted by the seismic event.” Newcrest estimates that the cost of the rehabilitation and upgrades will be about $25 million. While Newcrest forecasts lower production from Cadia East in first quarter 2018, it does not expect the seismic event to significantly impact output beyond the 2017 financial year. Newcrest’s gold production guidance for the 2018 financial year is between 650,000750,000 ounces. In the 2016 financial year, the Cadia operation produced 668,773 ounces of gold and 64,130 tonnes of copper. Read more on p23.

GOVERNMENT BETRAYED MINING BY DROPPING EXPLORATION INCENTIVE: AMEC

AMEC’S SIMON BENNISON CALLS THE MOVE “IGNORANT”.

The Australian Government’s decision to dump the exploration development incentive (EDI) from its Budget this week is a betrayal of the mineral exploration industry in the country, according to the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC). The government move followed an internal review of the initiative, which was introduced less than three years ago. The EDI provided a 30 per cent tax credit for shareholders of mining companies that suffered losses from exploration spending. Simon Bennison, AMEC chief executive officer, said the government was turning its back on future mineral discoveries and mining development in Australia with the decision. “Industry is seriously disappointed at the level of ignorance in government

BOART LONGYEAR LAUNCHES GLOBAL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR DRILLING

relating to the benefits of this initiative,” Bennison said. “The uninformed and breathtaking policy reversal by government and the department of industry is both short sighted and extremely disappointing for the Australian mineral exploration sector, and the nation as a whole. “It will cost jobs and growth, particularly in regional Queensland and Western Australia.” Bennison said the decision appeared to be the outcome of a non-transparent and unpublished internal review of the EDI, based on limited measurable data over a short timeline and conducted during a severe exploration downturn. “There was also inadequate public consultation,” Bennison said. “The EDI was originally set up as a longterm initiative, but it has now been cut short after less than three years despite it having minimal impact on the Budget. “The impact of the backflip is that it will effectively increase the after tax cost of exploration by 30 per cent for many Australian junior greenfield explorers, and undermine the nation’s exploration effort required to replace Australia’s ageing mines.” It is not too late for the government to recognise the “severe consequences” of the move and critical need to discover new mines, Bennison concluded. AUSTRALIANMINING

Boart Longyear has launched its new global training program for drillers, which incorporates the company’s standards and worldwide best practice. The program is suitable for drilling supervisors, drillers, driller assistants, mechanics, welders, manufacturing employees, and other frontline employees. It is based on the Australian Resources and Infrastructure Industry training requirements, the United States Mine Safety and Health Administration standards and the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety standards, customised for Boart Longyear specific rigs, equipment and tooling. The training includes classroom and onthe-job training, health and safety guidance documents, standard work procedures, online training and detailed assessments for certification of competency. Vice president of Environment, Health, Safety and Training, James Chalmers, said safety is the company’s top priority. “The training incorporates Boart Longyear standards and industry best practices and uses a combination of techniques to ensure understanding and comprehension,” he said. The program includes a drilling supervisor training course where supervisors are given essential coaching and tools to help them navigate and succeed in their positions.

JULY 2017

THE COURSE IS BASED ON AUSTRALIAN, AMERICAN, AND CANADIAN STANDARDS.

Supervisors lead over 75 per cent of the workforce in Boart Longyear, and their influence in environment, health, safety and training is critical to employees’ and clients’ safety and success. From workbook exercises, interactive activities, real-life situational examples and guided discussions, each supervisor is given an opportunity to grow in their position from both an operational and safety perspective. The training will be tracked and reportable online through the company’s learning management system. The system tracks individual training and competencies and includes more than 20 online training modules on topics such as Hazard and Risk Awareness, Field Level Risk Assessment, Incident Reporting and Investigation, and Distracted Driving.

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QUEENSLAND COALFIELDS

DIFFICULT CONDITIONS FAIL TO DERAIL AURIZON MINING FREIGHT OPERATOR AURIZON HAS REBOUNDED WELL FROM A VARIETY OF CHALLENGES IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, MOST RECENTLY THE DEVASTATION CAUSED BY CYCLONE DEBBIE. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

yclone Debbie was considered the most dangerous weather event to hit Australia in years when it struck the country’s East Coast in March and April this year. It caused immense disruption for the mining industry in Queensland and New South Wales, with widespread flooding covering large portions of both states. For several miners, predominantly in the coal sector, the cyclone forced them to lower their production expectations for the current financial year due to output being interrupted as they waited for conditions to improve. But perhaps the most significant impact the cyclone had on the industry was the disruption it caused to the rail network of Aurizon, Australia’s largest mining freight operator. Aurizon’s maintenance, engineering and civil teams had to work tirelessly over almost a month

to repair damage caused to its four coal systems by Cyclone Debbie and the flood events that followed. The Goonyella rail system was the last of Aurizon’s coal operations to reopen in late April after recovery and repairs were completed at multiple sites where landslides impacted infrastructure along the corridor. Aurizon acting executive vice president of customer and strategy Ed McKeiver said the Central Queensland coal network “bore the brunt” of Cyclone Debbie and the associated flooding. “All four coal systems were impacted and closed for varying periods of time,” McKeiver told Australian Mining. “Our infrastructure teams scoped more than 520 pieces of recovery work with a repair bill estimated at $40 – 50 million. Our crews worked relentlessly on a disciplined and well-executed recovery plan to ensure customers could recommence

exports as quickly as possible.”

Positive outlook

The disruption caused by Cyclone Debbie followed what had mostly been a positive period for Aurizon, particularly over the previous six months when the company had been encouraged by a strengthening coal market. McKeiver said despite the interruption caused by Cyclone Debbie the outlook was positive for its customers, as well as for the industry generally. “We recognise that these higher prices may not be sustained in the longer term, however the long-term outlook for demand of Australian high-quality resources remains positive,” McKeiver said. “A higher coal price typically provides an incentive for coal producers to increase production, however many of our customers were already operating at relatively high utilisation rates, and therefore there

AN AURIZON TRAIN LEAVES THE DAWSON COAL MINE

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were less opportunities to increase volume in the short-term.” Despite improving market conditions, Aurizon has experienced slight fluctuations with the volumes hauled. In coal haulage, the company saw a 1 per cent decrease in volumes from the first half of the 2016 financial year to the same period of 2017, primarily due to a pair of contracts expiring. However, in iron ore, the company experienced short-term upside off the back of the stronger iron ore prices that spiked during that period. Following Cyclone Debbie, and the temporary closure of the Central Queensland Coal Network it caused, Aurizon expects its above rail coal tonnes for the 2017 financial year to be 12 – 14 million tonnes lower than what it previously forecast.

In transition

Like most of the Australian miners it serves, Aurizon implemented a program to transform the company during the commodities downturn. The program initially committed to saving $380 million between 2016 and 2018. In the first half of the 2017 financial year, the company generated $64 million of benefits from increasing labour and fleet productivity, outsourcing property maintenance and rationalising its supplier base through the procurement process. Aurizon’s front office also transformed with Andrew Harding appointed as its new managing director and chief executive officer in December 2016, replacing Lance Hockridge. McKeiver said Harding, previously an executive at Rio Tinto, was focused on continuing to deliver transformation benefits beyond FY2018 by expanding the scope of the program to include the company’s capital and revenue. “Across the business, Aurizon is taking a very disciplined approach to managing costs and capital to drive value for its shareholders,” McKeiver explained. “While capital expenditure has reduced and the business is generating strong cashflows, Aurizon has a clear

view that it is able to achieve greater efficiencies, further cost reductions and productivity improvements, while maintaining its commitment to customers and to safety.” McKeiver said Aurizon would use these initiatives to grow value for its shareholders and customers by ensuring its core businesses continue to improve operationally and commercially. He believes there is also enormous opportunity to make sustained improvements across the supply chains that serve the Australian resources sector. “A good example of productivity improvement is Aurizon’s introduction in recent years of longer coal trains with bigger payloads in Queensland,” McKeiver said. “Likewise, new technology is transforming Aurizon’s rolling stock maintenance practices, resulting in a higher utilisation of coal train assets, lower maintenance costs, and continued high levels of safety. “Collectively we must remain globally competitive and work hard to provide reliable and highlyefficient export supply chains for our products and our services. “The overall benefit of supply chain collaboration means a more efficient supply chain that continues to support the global competitiveness of Australian resources.”

Pursuing innovation

Collaboration and innovation also remains a key strategy that Aurizon is using to generate value in the early stages of Harding’s tenure. On its Central Queensland coal network, Aurizon is progressing to automated track inspections by identifying complex patterns in data to predict faults, optimise the maintenance response and improve reliability. These include reducing the frequency of manual rail operation, using remote monitoring to extend inspection periods, introducing remotely controlled rail lubricators to reduce in rail and wheel wear, and using drones to inspect electrical overhead and bridge structures. “In our above rail business, using our assets productively has been a key area of focus in order to maximise locomotive hauling capacity,” McKeiver said. “In the 2016 financial year, by increasing the train lengths across the Central Queensland Coal Network, we were able to use 743 fewer trains than we would have previously required to haul the same volume of coal.” McKeiver said this allowed Aurizon to reduce its fleet size, while also benefiting the communities and the environments in which the company operates from an environmental perspective. AM

“ ProTrac measures reliably – even under extreme conditions.”

A CLOSE UP OF AN AURIZON TRAIN ON THE MOURA RAIL LINE

New from VEGA: the radiation-based instrument series, ProTrac. ProTrac delivers reliable measurements for level, density, mass flow or point level. Using four detector variants, ProTrac can solve the most difficult measuring problems – whether in extreme temperatures, high pressures or aggressive media. The system also provides additional security with integrated asset management. www.vega.com/au/innovation Phone: 1800 817 135

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AUSTMINE 2017

TALES OF INNOVATION CULTURES AT TWO IRON ORE MINERS INNOVATION HAS BECOME ENGRAINED IN THE PSYCHE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S IRON ORE MINERS. HOW TWO OF THEM REACHED THAT POINT HAS FOLLOWED DIFFERENT PATHS. BEN CREAGH EXPLAINS.

he similarities between Rio Tinto and Roy Hill Holdings in the Pilbara region of Western Australia are obvious. Both are leading iron ore miners in the region – albeit at vastly different scales. For Rio, its Pilbara operations give it the world’s largest portfolio of iron ore assets, with 15 mines, four port facilities and a 1700km rail network. Roy Hill, on the other hand, is a new producer in the region at its 55 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) iron ore mining, rail and port operation, which made its first shipment in 2015. Another similarity between the two, which was evident at the Austmine 2017: Mining’s Innovation Imperative conference and exhibition in Perth, is the innovation cultures they have focussed on developing at their iron ore operations. However, how Rio and Roy Hill have established these innovation cultures at their operations have taken different paths. Much of this

is to do with contrasting scales and development timelines of their assets. Rio celebrated its 50th year of exports from the Pilbara last year and shipped its five billionth tonne of iron ore in April. “When you consider that a little over 50 years ago there was no iron ore industry in the Pilbara, the development of our business over the past five decades epitomises pioneering progress,” Rio Iron Ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said at Austmine 2017. It is because of this legacy that Rio needed to introduce innovation into existing operations. In the past decade, this move has gathered pace for the company. “Over the past 10 years, Rio Tinto’s investment in machine automation, remote operations and data capture has kept our business at the forefront of innovation in the mining sector. These are the early building blocks of our Mine of the Future programme, from which considerable value is already being realised,” Salisbury explained.

“The value opportunity increases exponentially when we capture all components into one system - where individual machines and data are linked, and processes are automated. Cementing this consistently across the entire value chain is what we are now working towards in our iron ore business here in Western Australia. “It is important though to recognise that in spite of the pioneering and advancement in new technologies in mining, we cannot lose sight of the fact that it is people who drive innovation.” Salisbury said the development of Rio’s iron ore business came about through hard work, creative thinking and a massive investment. It cost Rio$40 billion to build its iron ore export operation, which includes the 15, soon-to-be 16 mines, the integrated rail and port network and the Perth-based operations centre. The business also includes 370 haul trucks, 50 production drills, 200 locomotives and 450km of conveyors.

ROY HILL CHIEF EXECUTIVE BARRY FITZGERALD

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JULY 2017

To innovate in a business of this scale Rio opened itself to ideas for improvement from its 11,000 employees, who are viewed by the company as the foundation of this culture. “It’s about supporting a culture of innovation, where an employee is not only accountable, but is empowered to make a difference,” Salisbury said. “Operators and tradespeople have the opportunity to say, ‘look, we’re wasting money on this’, or ‘this particular bit of gear doesn’t run well’, or ‘if I could have a bit of money or time to fix this, I could improve our productivity’. “We have 2000 of these new ideas in the pipeline and recently I was briefed on the top 50. I have a live dashboard on the status of each.” Technology and automation has also played a key role in the company’s journey towards an innovative culture, like it now is throughout the mining industry. The first phase of Rio’s automation journey focused on machine automation and data platforms – automated trucks, drills, visualisation systems and AutoHaul. About 20 per cent of the company’s haul truck fleet in the Pilbara is now autonomous. Rio is now determined to establish a sustainable innovation culture, according to Salisbury. “What if I told you that I’ve got a mine site in the Pilbara with a crusher that is now capable of calling trucks to maximise throughput? What if I told you a team of six people delivered this capability within two weeks?” Salisbury said. “You might be surprised. Rio Tinto is a big organisation and at times we have been slow to move. But, having a crusher calling trucks to improve productivity is exactly what we achieved last month (April) at Hope Downs.” Salisbury said this achievement was the result of the innovation culture that was fostered to make the business more agile and supportive of creative thinking and collaboration. “We have recognised the need to change our business mindset so

AUSTMINE 2017

that we are open to adopting new ideas and ways of work quickly,” Salisbury added. Unlike Rio, Roy Hill had the opportunity to develop an innovation culture from the outset of development at its greenfields operations. While this may have been a paradigm shift at an individual level for its workforce, it set the scene for the company before its first shipment had even set sail. “Two years ago when we set up Roy Hill we had the advantage of being a greenfields project – that means that we were able to think about what could be different,” Roy Hill chief executive Barry Fitzgerald said at Austmine 2017. This gave Roy Hill the freedom to apply best practice to its fledgling operation from elsewhere in the mining industry, such as the trend of integrating information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) within the business. “We actually unashamedly went out and took the best practices we could find from all of our competitors, and there is a lot of very good practice out there,” Fitzgerald explained. “We also made the decision that from day one we would have a different contractual delivery structure. We would recruit differently. We would manage our environmental impact. We would be technology and communications enabled. The rock would drive continuous improvement across the business, and innovation and improvement would be fundamental. “Today, we probably think more about operational effectiveness rather than innovation because that truly

RIO IRON ORE CHIEF EXECUTIVE CHRIS SALISBURY

brings in the human element.” This approach helped Roy Hill secure multiple awards for its environmental approach to the development of the operation, including the 2016 Australian Mining Prospect Awards Excellence in Environmental Management Award. Part of Roy Hill’s environmental awareness featured several initiatives adopted during development of the

AUSTRALIANMINING

port facility to minimise impacts to mangroves and benthic habitat, like the construction of an overland conveyor. Fitzgerald said Roy Hill was future proofing the company and its employees so they remained competitive in the emerging mining environment. “We as business leaders need to have discussions with our workforce, as well as the community, about

JULY 2017

future proofing themselves, as well as our own challenge to future proof our business,” Fitzgerald said. “We are committed to building an improvement culture which is high performing, resilient and low cost.” In the essence of collaboration, Fitzgerald said the improvement culture enabled the business to establish effective and strategic relationships with the industry. AM

AUSTMINE 2017

MINING’S OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME AN INNOVATION LEADER BARRICK GOLD’S MICHELLE ASH IS URGING THE MINING INDUSTRY TO BE READY FOR DIGITAL DISRUPTION AND BECOME INNOVATION LEADERS. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

he mining industry has an opportunity to erase its reputation for being laggards when it comes to embracing technology that enables innovation, according to Barrick Gold chief innovation officer Michelle Ash. Speaking at Austmine 2017, Ash, who oversees Barrick’s global innovation program, said mining had traditionally been slow to introduce technology to operations and be innovative in its thinking. However, Ash believes mining could leapfrog other sectors to become leaders in innovation, as there are so many problems in the industry that could be solved by using technology.

Ash added that mining could develop in this way by applying technologies that might already be considered “basic”, such as Apple’s FaceTime, an application found on the company’s iPhones and other communication products. “Three months ago was the first time we allowed, or enabled, our people to use FaceTime underground,” Ash said. “The fact is that now we can FaceTime and an operator, when they are having a problem at the face, can call up their supervisor and actually show them what is going on. “The supervisor can solve that problem in Toronto or Melbourne and get some additional advice on

how to solve the problem – that’s a real technology or productivity improvement.” Ash said it was initiatives and developments like this that provided motivation for mining to become an innovation leader in a broader industry sense. “The wonderful thing about this is that it is a great opportunity for us as leaders in the mining industry to not be the laggards anymore, to adopt even some basic technologies out there,” she said. Teck Resources digital operations director Peter Cunningham believes digital disruption will potentially have a bigger impact on METS companies than the owners of mines.

BARRICK GOLD CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER MICHELLE ASH

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“What does disruption look like in mining?” Cunningham pondered at Austmine 2017. “I think the nature of the resource in mining means that we are not likely to be so disrupted – somebody like Uber is not going to come along and sell our ore from underneath us. “Disruption is going to affect service providers and technology groups, and it is also going to create an incredible amount of opportunity.” At Teck, a diversified mining company based in Vancouver, Canada, Cunningham is accountable for the delivery and support of operational technologies, analytics platforms and front-line information systems at its global operations. Cunningham explained the company focused on integrating its information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT) as part of its digital platform. He said digital operations in mining involved two key pillars – the human side and the digital capability. “The human side, (or) the leadership capability. (It is) the ability once you have a technology, or a potential technology, in your hands to actually make it count…to motivate people to use it,” Cunningham said. “The second pillar – the capability: we have been doing a lot of thinking about how do we prepare for what’s coming? “How do we prepare for machine learning and AI (artificial intelligence)? how do we prepare for small innovators helping us?” For mining companies planning a digital reinvention of their mines, Ash highlighted three key considerations they should explore: the future technological disruptions, how we respond to disruption, and the leadership that will be required to embrace disruption. She explained that disruption could impact the mining industry in many ways, such as Apple’s plan to stop using mined products in its devices and instead develop them from completely recycled materials. “In terms of gold, Apple most probably uses somewhere between 500,000oz and a million ounces

a year, depending on how many billion of these (iPhones) they think they are going to sell in a year,” Ash said. “That is the entire production of our Cortez mine or our Goldstrike mine – that is a significant change to our industry.” With these diverse forms of disruption emerging for mining companies, Ash believes it is critical for them to rethink their business models to remain competitive in a changing industry environment. This starts with the industry continuing to take innovation seriously, Ash added. “We do need to think fundamentally about how we change the offerings we have. We need to set ourselves some bold targets,” Ash explained. “There are different ways we can do this and think about a digital mine this way, which a lot of us are doing at the moment.” Disruption is coming… we can’t

Innovation that saves you space, time and money “Do it right!”

stop it but we can embrace it, Ash added. Cunningham said one of the biggest issues for the mining industry regarding digital disruption and the evolution of technology was being ready for it. “I believe AI will become more and more capable over time,” he commented. “The list of things that people do better than computers is shrinking over time and it’s not very much to imagine that in three years or five years we may be significantly shifted, and how do we prepare for that? “I would suggest that one of the things we can do is take all of the data that we are already collecting and let innovators who know how to use machine learning to helps us to find opportunities.” The challenge will be for the mining industry to “open up”, be prepared to share data and ask for help from these innovators when it is required, Cunningham concluded. AM TECK RESOURCES DIGITAL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR PETER CUNNINGHAM

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AUSTMINE 2017

WHAT ARE MINING’S STANDOUT INNOVATIONS? SPEAKERS FROM AUSTMINE 2017 TELL AUSTRALIAN MINING ABOUT WHAT THEY REGARD AS THE MOST EXCITING INNOVATIONS AT THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES.

he need for technological innovation continues to be bandied about in mining circles. There are several mining executives putting their money where their mouth is to achieve this, and the mining equipment, technology and services (METS) industry is helping them do it. Many of mining’s brightest minds gathered at Austmine 2017: Mining’s Innovation Imperative to discuss the latest technological innovations in the industry. Seven of the conference’s speakers described the most impressive innovations that have been implemented at their company over the past couple of years:

Craig Stegman, Rio Tinto Copper & Diamonds vicepresident operational and technical support

But from a Copper and Diamonds perspective, which is my business area, I am very excited about the work we are doing to support our Mine of the Future program in large-

RIO’S CRAIG STEGMANYOU

scale underground mining. We are working with a range of original equipment manufacturers to develop fit-for-purpose mining equipment for deep block caves, ranging from excavation to ground support installation. There seems to be an almost infinite range of solutions and I am very impressed by the strategic thinking that is taking place to find the right pathway. Another dimension of our underground program is the development of communications systems that will be the foundation for advanced data analytics; we have all this advanced equipment but we needed a method of getting all the information generated out of the mine. Trials of different options at Kennecott have now translated into deployment of improved communications systems at Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia where the data analytics needs are even greater.

Michelle Ash, Barrick Gold chief innovation officer

Our TCM (total carbonaceous matter) project has been a really

fantastic processing innovation. It took a couple of decades of research but now Barrick is using thiosulfate in the processing of carbonaceous gold ore. Carbonaceous ore isn’t good for processing via roasting, so previously we were using cyanide to extract the gold. Cyanide is highly toxic whereas thiosulphate is relatively non-toxic so it’s a big win for the environment and it also reduces fresh water use as we can recycle the thiosulphate solutions. Barrick’s new AMBS (airmetabisulphite) treatment has allowed us to extract ore concentrates in our flotation processes by using salty or brackish water instead of using cyanide and lime that are not only poisonous but use lots of fresh water. We mine in some very arid areas so using brackish water means we aren’t taking away from water sources used by local communities. Finally, our partnership culture is our most interesting innovation and it’s non-technological. The idea is that each person thinks and acts as if the company were his or her own, and that we’re all personally invested in the long-term success of Barrick.

PLANETARY RESOURCES, CHRIS LEWICKI

RIBARRICK GOLD’S MICHELLE ASH.

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Last year every Barrick employee was granted shares in the company— making us all owners—and our most committed and passionate leaders are invited into our partnership program. We believe that being a partnership organization is distinctive, commercially compelling, and likely to lead to greater success.

Chris Lewicki, Planetary Resources president & chief engineer

We have successfully 3D printed an object using a meteorite as the feedstock and we pioneered a new distributed computing platform which will enable robust autonomous spacecraft operations in the harsh environment of deep space.

Penny Stewart, PETRA Data Science managing director and principal

The coolest development we’ve created are our FRAGx algorithms which use a machine learning AI to fully automate ore fragmentation assessments. It uses 3D mapping to assess ore fragmentation in less than a minute. Prior to this, ore

PETRA’S PENNY STEWART.

AUSTMINE 2017

BARRY FITZGERALD, ROY HILL CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

much better involved in planning new operations.

Vanessa Guthrie, Minerals Council Australia chair

NEWMONT’S LARA BRUHNS

fragmentation assessment required over an hour of manual processing by highly qualified geotechnical engineers. The most interesting (and highest value) development was when we helped develop the algorithm to predict when a SAG mill was likely to overload. This means that preventative steps can be taken an hour in advance. The cost of developing the algorithm was effectively covered by preventing one hour of downtime.

There are so many, it is hard to think of just one that stands out more than others. However, I do think the advent of Artificial Intelligence – such Cognitive Computing – is truly disruptive. I find it amazing that the human sense of judgement i.e. cognitive behaviour can be coded into computing science in a way that enables highly complex problems which are rich with ambiguity and uncertainty and in a constant state of flux to be resolved. It is also hard to imagine what the next phase of development of this concept will be.

MINERALS COUNCIL CHAIR VANESSA GUTHRIE

Barry Fitzgerald, Roy Hill chief executive officer

Lara Bruhns, Newmont Asia Pacific general manager operations services

In the safety space, we’re at a point now where technological innovations are able to replace administration control in situations like fatigue monitoring. We have cameras attached to systems that can tell if you are distracted by measuring your eye positions, or predict and warn of micro-sleeps by measuring the length of blinks. Five years ago, that was just

at the invention stage, it wasn’t quite there. Now, it’s in use by lots of mining companies. Virtual reality is another very interesting space that has come on in leaps and bounds recently. It allows technical experts engage with people in the investment side of the business by visualising complex geology in 3D at a relatively low cost. For $8000 or $9000 you can have a system that can quickly and easily put together a 3D model that allows investors to be

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At Roy Hill, we’ve been using drones extensively for aerial surveys and imaging. We’ve also been trialling an in-pit robotic re-fueller which can significantly reduce the amount of time that needs to be spent going to and from refuelling stations. Roy Hill is also trialling a rail track maintenance vehicle with an on-board data centre processing information received from a slew of new and innovative integrated sensors. These collect a terabyte of data each trip which helps inform our asset health and maintenance strategy. AM

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MARKET WATCH

PROVIDING EQUIPMENT FOR INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS TO CATERPILLAR DEALER HASTINGS DEERING ABOUT THE COMPANY’S SUCCESS FOLLOWING IMPROVED CONDITIONS IN THE MINING INDUSTRY.

or Brisbane-based Caterpillar dealer Hastings Deering, 2017 has seen a rise in inquiries for new equipment, bolstered by the returned confidence in the mining sector. Hastings Deering executive manager for mining sales, Jason Smith, said the company has seen an improvement in equipment sales, particularly over the past four to six months, due to improved commodity prices toward the end of 2016. However, he said that companies are still cautious about their purchase decisions. “Companies are cautious after what we’ve been through with the industry downturn,” he told Australian Mining, “So they want to be sure that there is going to be a sustained improvement in the market before they really commit to any major capital spends.”

Upgrades and updates

Established in 1932, Hastings Deering sells, rents and provides support for Caterpillar parts and equipment for use in the mining, oil and gas, construction, transport and marine industries. Smith said Caterpillar constantly updates and upgrades its products to improve operator functionality and increase productivity on site. He highlighted upgrades to a range of equipment such as the K Series wheel loaders which have both fuel and productivity improvements over former models.

“Some of our larger diggers also come with operator assist which wouldn’t have been standard practise previously,” he said. When it comes to delivering the latest mining technologies, Smith emphasised the importance of the scaling and upsizing of equipment. He said technology plays a key role in how the mining industry improves productivity, with both the size of the equipment and its constant improvements funnelling into the overall performance of a mining project. Moreover, Smith said Hastings Deering is seeing a growing demand in automated parts, with Caterpillar equipment able to be retrofitted with these technology systems for improved use. “We’re seeing significant automation in fleets in other geographical areas and at some stage we’ll see that flow into our region around Queensland and the Northern Territory as well,” he said. Smith added that with around 100 people working in Hastings Deering’s technology function, the company has the skills and expertise to provide support for existing machines and for any technology attached to it.

and technology training for the mining industry. The company also has Centres of Excellence (COE) in Mackay, Toowoomba, Rockhampton and Mt Isa which all have specific specialities to address the needs of mining operators. Each centre specialises in a particular area such as component repair, gas powered engines, hydraulic cylinders, underground vehicles, undercarriage and longwalls. “The intent behind these centres is to have in house operational and engineering experts in our business, so we’ve increased resources in those key areas,” Smith said.

Success now and into the future Smith said that the company has achieved success in the underground sector, particularly in its maintenance support of the North Goonyella mine, where it achieved successful collaboration with its client. He also said the company had

Achieving excellence

Apart from delivering equipment, parts and services, Hastings Deering also provides training through its three Learning Centres in Central Queensland, Brisbane and Port Moresby. These centres cover basic and advanced operator, maintenance AUSTRALIANMINING

UPSIZING EQUIPMENT CAN IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF A MINING PROJECT.

JULY 2017

been working with a customer that was about to embark on the commercialisation of the semiautonomous tractor system (SATS) trial, with the system able to run multiple machines at once. “We’ve been heavily involved with that customer and Caterpillar to bring that system to realisation and commercialise it in the Queensland markets,” Smith said. “So, it’s a very exciting time to have that coming in.” With these successes, the company has an added boost to its growth plans, both in the mining industry and in sectors it does not play a part in yet. “We’re certainly hoping that we’ll get some growth through the improvement in market conditions,” Smith said. “We’ve got opportunities to grow our share in markets that we’re not currently participating in and to retain our market share in those that we are.” AM

GOLD MINING

NEWCREST UPGRADES CADIA EAST FOLLOWING SEISMIC EVENT NEWCREST MINING GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO WHAT IT TAKES TO RESUME OPERATIONS AT AN UNDERGROUND GOLD MINE FOLLOWING A DANGEROUS SEISMIC EVENT. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

old company Newcrest Mining must still be counting the cost of the earthquake that struck near its flagship Cadia East operation in New South Wales on Good Friday. The Cadia operation, 25km south of Orange, was affected by a large seismic event at 2:30am, suspending underground mining. Geoscience Australia recorded a 4.3 Richter scale magnitude earthquake about four kilometres from the operation. Newcrest’s seismic systems, designed to record seismic events at the mine, registered a 3.1 magnitude scale seismic event locally. All Newcrest personnel working in the Cadia East underground mine were moved to refuge chambers or safe areas following the event. Fortunately, no injuries were recorded and damage to mine infrastructure was minimal. While surface operations at Cadia were not adversely affected, the NSW Mining Inspectorate issued a prohibition notice that halted underground mining indefinitely. The mine was still under a prohibition notice from the NSW

Mining Inspectorate, banning extraction of ore from Panel Cave (PC) 1 and Panel Cave 2, several weeks after the incident took place. After thorough inspections of the underground operation, Newcrest, the largest Australian-based gold miner, estimated remediation and upgrades to Cadia East to cost $25 million. The company was hopeful that production from both PC1 and PC2 would restart in the September quarter, assuming the prohibition notice had been lifted and the remediation works completed. By mid-May Newcrest had completed inspection of PC1 and the rehabilitation plans for remediating and enhancing ground support had been developed. The company assessed the PC1 crusher chamber where it undertook ground support rehabilitation work with resin injection. This was followed by the installation of additional conventional cables and bolts to restore dynamic capacity, using long reach drilling equipment. Newcrest planned to initially relaunch production at PC1 by trucking material to the PC2 crushers, before gradually increasing output when access to the PC1

A LIGHT VEHICLE LEAVES THE CADIA EAST UNDERGROUND PORTAL

crusher was again available. At PC2, Newcrest prioritised restoring production safely and as quickly as possible while the upgrades to PC1 and other parts of the mine were completed. While the prohibition notice was in place, Newcrest had 10 trucks conveying about 65,000 tonnes of ore to the processing plant from lowgrade Cadia Hill stockpiles each day. The ore contained about 0.35 grams a tonne (g/t) of gold and between 0.1-0.12 per cent copper,

THE CADIA EAST UNDERGROUND MINE

AUSTRALIANMINING

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which was being processed at a recovery rate of about 70 per cent. Speaking about the incident at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference, Newcrest managing director Sandeep Biswas said the company’s technical teams has worked with external experts to understand the event and its impacts. “The level of upgraded ground support required has been reviewed by independent geotechnical experts and deemed to provide sufficient capacity to manage the impact of future local and regional seismic events,” Biswas said. He added production at Cadia would be affected and would not reach the company’s guidance for the operation in the 2017 financial year. Newcrest expects its gold output for the 2018 financial year to be 650,000-750,000 ounces, subject to the prohibition notice being lifted. “We remain on track to reach our group production guidance for this financial year despite the seismic event,” he explained. “Our initial output that we have set for Cadia for next year is between 650,000-750,000 ounces, but we will give detailed guidance in August as we do every year.” In the 2016 financial year, the Cadia operation produced 668,773 ounces of gold and 64,130 tonnes of copper. AM

TRACKING THE TRENDS

PREVENTING CYBER ATTACKS WITH TOUGHER SECURITY MEASURES DELOITTE AUSTRALIA NATIONAL MINING LEADER NICKI IVORY DISCUSSES THE IMPORTANCE OF STRENGTHENING CYBER SECURITY MEASURES TO PROTECT VALUABLE DATA. SHARON MASIGE WRITES.

ollowing the global ransomware attack in May that affected 12 Australian businesses, the need for tougher security protocols remains stronger than ever, particularly on mine sites. In Deloitte’s 2017 Tracking the Trends report, the normalcy of innovation, the increasing amounts of data moving to the cloud and the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) increased the potential exposure to online threats. Deloitte Australia national mining leader Nicki Ivory told Australian Mining the mining industry as a whole lags behind other industries when it comes to cyber security. She said it was particularly dangerous to use legacy systems that are not equipped with the latest security requirements as they are the most prone to cyber attacks. “Anyone who has those legacy systems and hasn’t got them kept up

to date is vulnerable [to attacks], but its probably even more of an issue for the mining industry because it is notoriously bad at keeping up to date with digital trends,” Ivory said. However, Ivory highlighted that there is a digital revolution happening in the mining industry, with a growing adherence to digital systems and technologies. She particularly referred to the use of sensors – which have become cheaper – that are able to track everything in real time and feed the data to operation systems. Within this digital revolution is the rise of automation, with the growing development of autonomous mine vehicles. Ivory said operators should not fear using these systems because of threats of possible hacks. She said the use of these vehicles should run in conjunction with security protocols. “Your security protocols need to be developed in parallel to developing the autonomous vehicle program so that when you implement it, you have

your security systems ready to go at the same time,” she said. “So as long as you do it in a planned and organised way, there’s no need to fear autonomous vehicles any more than you’d fear any other system you have in your company.” Ivory highlighted that emails are one of the easiest ways viruses can enter a company. “Your human interface is by far your biggest risk,” she said “You have to have your entire security protocols up to date.”

Tightening up security

Ivory reinforced the importance of strengthening security systems, with techniques such as updating firewall security and segmenting networks so they don’t have end to end networks that all speak to one another. “Put segments in place so that you can control the damage if something does get in,” she said. Ivory also highlighted the need for operators to be vigilant about what

THE MINING INDUSTRY LAGS BEHIND OTHER INDUSTRIES WHEN IT COMES TO CYBER SECURITY

AUSTRALIANMINING

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is happening with their operating systems and to find ways to know when something usual has entered it. “There are obviously quite sophisticated ways that companies can do that nowadays for example enlisting the help of a 24/7 cyber response centre that can not only monitor where things get in, but also what threats are out there so you can quickly shut them down to protect yourself.” Having a proactive mindset towards cyber security was another key point Ivory brought up – one that companies are still slow to act on, she said. “We’re not finding companies acting as much on this as we would think,” Ivory said. “On the whole, we’re seeing board members really worried about it, but its not number one on management’s priority list.” The Deloitte report highlighted four strategies companies can employ to enhance their cyber security: • Strengthen traditional security protocols: This is through enhancing firewall security, restricting administrative access to systems, and implementing endpoint protection and segmenting networks so hackers only access a few segments. • Become more vigilant: Through employing security information and event management solutions or engaging 24/7 cyber response centres • Cultivate resilience: When a breach occurs, companies should have technical and incident response protocols, akin to a safety incident report. There should be systems in place to communicate the responsibilities of each stakeholder so that there is a crossfunctional response. • Prepare diligently: As cyber threats become more complex, there is a great need for companies to be more aware and prepared. This can be through training staff on safer computer practices or appointing a Chief Information Security Officer. AM

CASE STUDY

PYBAR DOUBLES DRILLING PRODUCTIVITY AT COSTERFIELD MINE A NEW DRILL HAS PROVEN TO BE A GAME CHANGER FOR NARROW VEIN OPERATIONS. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS. PYBAR’S MUKI MICRO COMBO RIG

ace drilling productivity at Mandalay Resources’ Costerfield gold and antimony mine in Victoria more than doubled during a threemonth trial of Pybar Mining Services’ MUKI Micro Jumbo. The Costerfield mine is an underground operation using narrow vein mining techniques to extract vertical veins no wider than 300mm in situ. Mandalay commissioned the Pybar rig and operators from August to November 2016, anticipating the primary benefit in mechanising development mining would be the elimination of the manual tasks involved in handheld development and ground support. The rig trial replaced the face drilling component of the airleg (hand held) method typically used at the narrow vein operation, completing 940 metres of advance in 90 days. Ground conditions limited cut

advance of not more than 2.0m, however the MUKI is configured to take up to 3.0m cuts. “Comparably, this is substantially improved advance than could be expected using a one or two man airleg team,” said Pybar chief operating officer Brendan Rouse. “On multiple occasions, six cuts per shift were achieved. Elimination of other constraints such as available bogging capacity would have resulted in additional advance.” The handheld ore drives at Costerfield are typically 1.8m wide x 2.8m high. Excavating airleg drives over 2.8m height can prove challenging, whereas the MUKI easily managed 1.8m wide x 3.0m high drives with neater profiles and allowing more room for production drilling. A range of face holes sizes were trialled in order to improve penetration rates and optimise overbreak. Previous trials at Costerfield AUSTRALIANMINING

using an Atlas H104 jumbo proved overbreak was difficult to control. Also, when converting to a longhole configuration, shorter 900mm drill rods were required resulting in more hole deviation that would be expected than the 1.2-metre rods that the MUKI is capable of within the development dimension constraints. While the MUKI trial focused on assessing the mechanisation of the face drilling part of the cycle, it also completed ground support components of the development cycle as well as longhole production drilling. In addition to increased productivity, the MUKI offers greater safety benefits by reducing manual handling over the airleg method. The rig is a new addition to the Pybar fleet. It has the capability to drill, rock bolt and longhole drill from drives and stopes as small as 1.8m x 3m. Longhole rods of 1.2m, T38 or R32 thread can drill holes accurately up to 15m long and 64mm diameter. The change between development

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and long hole drilling configurations takes less than six hours, providing a completely flexible narrow mining solution. As mines become deeper and more complex, narrow vein mining is expected to become more prevalent, requiring highly specialised equipment with the ability to perform in narrower drives. “Few contractors in Australia have access to this specialist equipment and Pybar currently has the only MUKI in the country in its fleet,” Rouse said. “We believe the MUKI is a gamechanger for narrow vein operations and will be of particular interest to mine owners in Victoria and in WA, which is home to the largest number of narrow vein mining operations in Australia.” Following the successful trial, Costerfield is implementing the elimination of all airleg mining and converting their operational development to mechanisation using the MUKI drills. AM

SALT MINING

SALT DEMAND SET TO SOAR BY 2020 WITH GLOBAL INDUSTRIAL SALT DEMAND EXPECTED TO CATAPULT BY 2020, IS AUSTRALIA – AS THE WORLD’S LARGEST EXPORTER – POISED TO REAP SOME OF THE BENEFITS? SHARON MASIGE WRITES.

AUSTRALIA IS THE WORLD’S LARGEST SALT EXPORTER

Salt demand on the rise

Research from Freedonia Group’s 2016 World Salt report indicated that global salt demand will increase by 20 per cent leading up to 2020. In 2015, the Asia Pacific region accounted for 44 per cent of global salt sales, the report found, making it the world’s largest regional market. Asia Pacific’s chemical manufacturing market in particular is set to have the biggest growth, with an increase of between 2.7-3.8 per cent a year to 2020. In a similar vein, the average global price for salt is expected to rise two per cent each year from the US$38 mark back in 2015 to US$42 by 2020, signalling a rapid growth in demand. While China maintains the top spot as the world’s largest salt producer – followed by the United States – Australia is ranked sixth on the global list of producers, according to a US geological survey (USGS) report. Australia does, however, maintain the title of the world’s largest salt exporter.

Salt and Western Australia

Most of Australia’s industrial salt comes from Western Australia. Rio Tinto and Mitsui are two of the biggest salt producers in WA – both having operations in the Pilbara. Rio’s Dampier Salt (DSL) operations – comprising the Dampier, Lake MacLeod, and Gascoyne operations – account for around 74 per cent of the salt sold from WA by volume between 2015-16. Dampier is the company’s largest operations, with a capacity of 4.2 million tonnes (Mt) of salt per year. Mitsui subsidiary, Shark Bay Salt, operates both the Shark Bay and Onslow salt fields in WA. Onslow is the state’s second-largest salt producer, attaining 2.7Mt a year. While most often associated with the food industry, salt is also used widely in the manufacturing and industrial sector – particularly the chloralkali industry – to produce caustic soda and chlorine. A mining industry source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Australian Mining that Australia was AUSTRALIANMINING

well established as a key provider of chemical feed stock to countries including Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. “Australia is the biggest exporter of salt in the world and it is by far the biggest supplier into the Asia Pacific chloralkali chemical market,” the source said. They said they believe the report shows the need for Australia to significantly increase its salt supply to meet this growing demand. “What [the report] is saying is that all of the growth, almost every bit of growth, is going to come from chemical industries in Asia, and Australia of course is the supplier of feed stock products, chemical feed stock products salt into that market,” the source explained. “So when you look at the statistics, it looks as though Australia would need to double or triple its production by 2020-2025 to meet that future growth in demand.” They added that while commodities such as iron ore tend to have sharp hikes and drops in demand,

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salt does not react to financial health, but is instead more closely linked to industrialisation and population growth. “So it’s more strong steady growth rather than commodity spike,” the source said.

Jumping on the salt train

Global salt giant K + S Group recently announced the development of a new $350 million salt project in the Pilbara – Ashburton. “There’s been no new development in salt in Australia for probably 20, maybe even 30 years,” the source said. The Ashburton project is part of the company’s wider salt 2020 strategy, where it aims to reach a group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 1.6 billion tonnes in 2020. It is expected to produce 3.5Mtpa of solar salt with production slated for 2019. In a statement, the German company reported the Ashburton project “represents K + S’ entry into

SALT MINING

the Australasian region” and that it will “supply the growing Asian market” reinforcing its anticipated place in the salt market. The company was granted mining licenses for the site last year and has begun the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) approvals process.

Salt comes at a price

According to the Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP), the price of salt reached $30.60 per tonne in the 2015-16 financial year, down from $31.90 in the 2014-15 financial year. Between 2015-16, salt sales in Australia reached 11Mt – down nearly 10 per cent from 2014-15. The DMP attributed the decrease in sales value to $336 million to the lowered sales volumes combined with the slight price reduction. While statistics from a DSL 201315 report have prices around US$55 a tonne, and other reports have the export price at around $48 a tonne The source claimed the WA DMP is reporting incorrect, lower prices for salt compared to global prices. “What’s happening is the department of mines (and petroleum) in Western Australia report annual statistics for bulk commodities for

gold, iron ore... and the prices they’re reporting for salt is less than half what the salt is actually achieving on the global market.” In response to claims the DMP reports average salt prices that are less than other parts of the world in the 2015-16 statistics digest, DMP general manager policy and coordination, Richard Borozdin told Australian Mining, “Salt is not a standard product and its composition differs significantly including purity and method of manufacture.” “There are also variations in individual contracts between specific customers and suppliers, and variations in shipping costs. All these factors combined mean that prices will vary across the world. “The salt price reported by the department of mines and petroleum is the average free on board (FOB) price received by all salt producers in Western Australia and does not include many of the aforementioned factors.” Bordozin added that the salt price recorded was based on information received from Western Australian producers. “Under the state agreements, which govern the royalty rates for salt, highly detailed price audits are carried out and include examination of invoices

for the various services associated with getting the salt to market such as shipping and handling, as well as the price ultimately paid by the customer in the destination nation,” he said. “While the details of the audits are confidential, they confirm that once all costs are considered, DMP’s reported price is an accurate representation of the value of the salt produced.” When asked why these claims would be made, Bordozin said: “The DMP statistics digest has consistently reported the FOB price of salt per tonne, however this is generally not made explicit.” “Comparisons between FOB prices shown in the digest and the cost including freight (CIF) or cost and freight (CFR) price paid in the destination country may suggest a discrepancy if full shipping costs are not taken into account.” Dampier Salt asserts on its website that it conducts its sales and marketing from Singapore, while the anonymous source claims the company price transfers out of Singapore in order to avoid paying tax in Australia. “They sell their products to their Singapore marketing companies at a small rate, and then those products are on-sold to the customers

thereby avoiding Australian tax,” the source said. “So the result of that [is] when the department of mines in Western Australia ask Rio Tinto what they get for their salt, they give them the transfer price – the price that they sell it internally.” “When you go to the department of mines yearbook and look at the price that Australian salt is fetching, it’s just wrong. The figure is actually less than half what it’s actually getting.” In response, a Rio Tinto spokesperson told Australian Mining claims that it sold salt from Singapore were false. “Dampier Salt sells its product directly to customers. The profit from those sales is taxed in Australia. The Singapore Commercial Centre facilitates those sales and receives a fee for that service,” the Rio spokesperson said. “Rio Tinto is one of Australia’s biggest taxpayers. Since 2010, Rio Tinto has paid more than US$50 billion in taxes and royalties globally.” Regardless of the price arrangements, it seems the demand for industrial salt will likely grow bigger as the years go on. AM

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ENERGY

RENEWING ENERGY GENERATION TO IMPROVE MINE SITE EFFICIENCY MORE MINES IN AUSTRALIA ARE INTRODUCING RENEWABLE ENERGY TO THEIR OPERATIONS. KATE DOUGHERTY EXPLAINS THE BENEFITS AND OBSTACLES OF RENEWABLES PROJECTS FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY.

p to 15 per cent of a mine’s input costs can be attributed to energy, and that figure is expected to soar in the coming years. Australia’s power consumption will grow by more than 40 per cent between 2014 and 2050, the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) projects. The mining sector will take the biggest hit as it extracts deeper, lower-quality ore that requires more processing. Jurisdictions are turning to lowcarbon renewable energy to meet this ballooning demand. The federal renewable energy target (RET) aims to generate 23.5 per cent of the nation’s power from renewable sources by 2020. States also have their own goals; energy-challenged South Australia plans to boost renewables from 43 per cent of total generation to 50 per cent by 2025. Renewables can play a vital role in meeting demand, enhancing security, and guarding against price volatility when paired with energy storage. They’re also well-suited to Australia’s mining sector. On-site solar and wind generation can reduce or eliminate the need to haul diesel fuel to remote, off-grid areas—a logistically difficult endeavour. “Some mines in Australia operate in incredibly remote locations, and the cost of electricity is upwards of $300/MWh,” Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) chief executive officer Ivor Frischknecht explained.

ARENA launched the regional Australia Renewables Program in 2013 to provide funding to first-of-a-kind projects that demonstrate the cost of deploying and operating renewable energy in remote locations. “Supply chain issues, including having road access cut off for weeks at a time, are not uncommon. These mines are also located in areas with the best solar resources in Australia, and among the best in the world. Renewables can deliver cheaper and more predictably priced power, and reduce fuel supply risk to these sites,” said Frisch.

Supply challenges in South Australia

Still, questions remain about how to meet the nation’s energy needs, particularly in the wake of South Australia’s blackouts. Operations like BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine took large financial hits during the outages, prompting criticism of the state’s RET. The independent review into the future security of the National Electricity Market, which was released in March 2017, was also panned by the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) as technology-biased in favour of renewables.

Storage: The ‘silver bullet’ of energy

While the recent blackouts have left some mining firms uneasy about renewables, the larger consensus is that more energy storage is the answer. In February, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on ARENA

THE USE OF SOLAR POWER IS INCREASING AT AUSTRALIAN MINE SITES.

AUSTRALIANMINING

and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to encourage the development of flexible capacity and storage projects. ARENA plans to solicit expressions of interest for $20 million of demonstration projects. Storage systems now have relatively short payback times, according to Juergen Zimmermann, business development and technology manager for ABB. Today, they “fit within a typical five-year contract term.” Companies like SolarReserve are already capitalising on opportunities for storage in remote areas. This concentrated solar power (CSP) firm stores excess solar energy in tanks of molten salt, then releases it through a heat exchanger as needed. The technique allows SolarReserve to power mining operations around the clock. “Why that’s unique and interesting to the mining sector is that we have the ability to run 24/7, so we have base load capability,” SolarReserve director of development Tom Georgis said. Renzo Gaggioli, Canadian Solar project manager for South East Asia and Australia region, added: “Solar has this significant advantage of being capable of generating close to the load and has a predictable generating curve that correlates well to the loads. “Paired with modular energy storage units available in the market, the combination represents the ‘silverbullet’ to reduce electricity costs.”

Rising energy costs driving uptake of renewables

Cost is the main driver for mining companies to explore renewables. “Operational costs continue to go up for the resource sector. As miners have to go deeper, the purity of the ore requires more processing, more energy,” Georgis explained. “The percentage of operational expense that’s attributed to energy continues to go up… they need to minimise costs as much as possible to maintain their competitiveness.” Every business that runs on vast amounts of energy will have to look into solar, Gaggioli reiterates. The industry’s reliance on expensive diesel generators and electricity from

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distant generation sites will force the issue, he adds. The sooner miners start the transition, the better. “What mining companies need to consider is that, unlike with any other commodity or product, renewable energy projects require long-term planning and diligence from inception to fruition, hence, early movers will now benefit significantly in this sense,” Gaggioli said. For now, Gaggioli feels that there’s a “wait and see” approach in the industry. Once proven technologies and projects are rolled out, widespread uptake of renewables will follow. Operational projects are already spurring more miners to explore renewable energy, according to Frischknecht. “After receiving 30 applications involving the mining sector in 2013, we had a couple of quiet years, comparatively speaking,” he said. “In the second half of 2016, however, the Degrussa solar project (at Sandfire’s copper mine) came online, and ARENA experienced another notable surge in interest from the mining sector. “I believe that miners are encouraged by the big names involved in the Weipa solar project (Rio Tinto, First Solar), and the size and ambition of the Degrussa project.” Early adopters look for three things, according to Georgis. A technology “has to be proven, in most cases it needs to run 24/7, and then of course the economics needs to make sense.” Technically, renewables don’t even need to run 24/7 if they’re part of a hybrid integration. For grid-connected sites, “it really depends on where they’re currently getting their power from, and is there an alternative that’s more attractive”. Hybrid integration is still viewed as risky, however. Understanding and managing the risk of the technical and commercial integration of renewables is a challenge for mining companies, Zimmermann continued. Fortunately, “the commercial integration issue is addressed through new business models where new players enter the market and offer a fully integrated hybrid solution with a single point of responsibility for the

ENERGY

power supply,” he explained. “The issue of minimising integration risk with existing diesel plants is addressed through the incremental hybridization, where renewables are introduced in stages, in combination with stabilizing and storage technology.”

Roadblocks to renewables in mining

One key barrier is the mining sector’s perception that renewables are costly and unreliable, according to Frischknecht. “Near-commercial, low-penetration, renewable projects do not deliver the savings that typically get a miner excited. Medium to high penetration systems can, but are seen as riskier,” he said. Miners are hesitant to disrupt the status quo and risk production downtime, especially if existing arrangements are meeting their needs. A fixed asset with a 25-plus-year lifetime or a long-term power purchase agreement can also be a hard sell where mines have short operational lives. “Redeployable, plug-and-play solar is an exciting technology ARENA is supporting through Laing O’Rourke, and we expect SunSHIFT to be a disruptive newcomer to this part of the market,” Frischknecht said. “The issue of short mine life or short contracts for purchasing renewable

energy is addressed through companies like SunSHIFT, who have developed redeployable solar,” Zimmermann agreed. Companies ready to explore renewables may find themselves constrained by factors outside their control – namely commodity prices. “We’re engaged right now with various mining entities that are looking at an uptick in commodity pricing, meaning that they’re getting the go-aheads to move forward with either new mines or mine expansion,” Georgis explained. As a result, SolarReserve is focusing on mines that are already operating, or fringe-of-grid, that are experiencing power issues.

How will the market for renewables evolve?

All eyes will be on commodity prices as stakeholders try to predict the future of renewables in Australia’s mining sector. That factor will determine whether new mines and expansions come online, Georgis and Gaggioli say. The dip in commodity prices has imposed capital constraints on mining firms, Gaggioli said. “Not all have a long-term vision and a clear path towards long-term low cost energy supply,” he explained. “So the initial barriers may have been around capital and vision. When

the first, then the second project have been rolled out and the benefits are understood, then will be a sort of snowball effect, and [that] will happen very soon.” Once that occurs, SolarReserve will be focused on pure off-grid solutions, “but also looking at states where there are quite a few mines that are gridconnected,” he explained. Those mines will need to “make sure that they have pricing security, and they have availability and security for their power needs.” In the meantime, some miners are testing the waters. “BHP Billiton’s involvement in the ARENA-funded Lakeland solar project and Newmont’s use of a shadow price of carbon are good examples of these companies getting some corporate exposure but doing so within a low-risk environment by getting knowledge sharing returns,” Frischknecht explained. ARENA is eager to share knowledge and work with the mining sector more closely. The agency is developing a handbook to assist miners with the technical and commercial decision-making process, which is slated for release in the latter half of 2017. One lesson ARENA learned early on is how reliability can be managed with a robust data set, Frischknecht reported.

“The importance of data cannot be understated. The cost of monitoring load and the solar/wind resource is negligible in comparison to what it can cost in the long term without it,” he said. Data monitoring can be a key risk mitigation strategy that prepares companies for sudden shifts in energy or environmental policy, Frischknecht advised. Even with the risk of policy shifts, one thing’s for sure – the cost of renewable energy is falling fast, and the economic case for it is stronger than ever. The message around economics and lower cost to operate mines will drive change and increase the uptake of renewables in mining over the next one to two years, Zimmermann and other experts believe. “Utility-scale solar is already cheaper than new coal or gas generation, and Australia is not in [a] position to rely on fossil fuels to deliver competitive electricity prices to homes and businesses in future years,” Gaggioli predicted. “Today, with the ageing fleet of traditional generators, we can comfortably say that in the long term, the switch to renewables is inevitable. AM The interviewees from this article participated in the Energy and Mines Australia Summit in Perth during June. Kate Dougherty is from Energy and Mines.

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ENERGY

MAKING WAY FOR ENERGY STORAGE CALLS FOR ENERGY STORAGE HAVE BEEN ON THE RISE IN AUSTRALIA, PARTICULARLY AFTER SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S SERIES OF POWER GRID FAILURES. DELTA ENERGY’S DAVID BOLT DISCUSSES THE NECESSITY FOR ENERGY STORAGE, PARTICULARLY IN REMOTE AREAS. SHARON MASIGE REPORTS.

outh Australia’s power grid failures in 2016 launched energy security into the spotlight and sparked a push to ensure the energy stability in the state. The first power grid failure during storms on September 28 2016 caused a blackout that affected 850,000 of the state’s businesses, homes, transport services and industries

An Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) report on the blackout highlighted that it was triggered by tornadoes – travelling at wind speeds up to 260km – that damaged a single circuit 275 kilovolt (kV) transmission line and double circuit 276kV transmission line, causing them to fault and subsequently lead to the blackout. The severe weather was also felt across the resources sector with

AUSTRALIANMINING

South Australia’s largest mine, BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam, forced to shut down operations. The company used back-up generators during that production halt before full power was restored a few weeks later. However, the state suffered yet another power outage in December 2016, prompting the state government to drive a focus on energy security, with a $500 million incentive to increase energy security.

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The funds were to be directed into building Australia’s largest battery to store wind and solar energy, and developing a 250MW gas-fired power plant as an emergency backup power system, among other energy targeted initiatives. In the middle of state government scrambling to find better energy security solutions, Tesla CEO and chairman Elon Musk tossed his hat in the ring, tweeting an offer to build

ENERGY

a 100MW battery power system installed in 100 days or its free – further fuelling the energy storage debate. Delta Energy Systems ANZ regional manager for industrial automation, David Bolt, said energy storage was one of the company’s main focuses from a long term direction. Bolt said Australia is a ‘hot bed’ for such new exciting technology seeking both on-grid (utility scale) and off-grid (remote) energy storage systems as there was a strong interest in both markets. He also highlighted that the company received more enquiries following Musk’s tweet.

“We’ve had so many enquiries ever since Mr Musk answered the ‘energy crisis call’,” Bolt told Australian Mining. Bolt said Delta acquired Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in 2016 to launch the company into the energy storage market. Delta now offer containerised lithium solutions up to 1MW in power output combined with bi-direction inverters (PCS) to manage energy flow between charging and dis-charge. Bolt said the two key factors relating to the adoption of lithium energy storage were ‘peak smoothing’ in off -grid PV inverter applications and reducing the ‘spinning reserve’ amount (gas or

diesel gen-sets) being utilised in remote applications where there is no reliable energy source. While grid utility scale refers to the level of solar power supplied to the grid, peak smoothing refers to systems that smooth the peaks and troughs of large photovoltaic (PV) solar sites following cloud cover. The smoothing system approach utilises the stored chemical energy in the batteries when the PV system is affected by cloud cover to even out the peaks. “What they’re using the batteries for is for a giant capacitor which discharges that energy into the grid quickly when needed; smoothing the output,” Bolt said. “The energy storage comes in and smooths all the peaks off and when cloud goes away, the solar system kicks back in again with any excess energy recharging the batteries”

What projects the company is working on

Delta is involved in remote applications in far to reach mine sites across Australia, as well as Samoa and the Marshall Islands. He said those islands, as well as the remote mine sites in the Pilbara, all use gas and diesel generators (spinning reserve) which contributes to the amount of carbon emissions they produce. Because of these emissions, these remote locations are beginning to consider cleaner energy systems. “What is making them look at energy storage and renewable isn’t the cost as much, it’s the fact that they’re getting charged on the CO2 output,” Bolt said. “In Australia, for the majority of the major mine giants, every time they switch on that diesel gen-set they’re burning the diesel and they’re getting fined for the emissions, but that diesel gen-set has to stay on idle. “So what’s pushing those companies to cleaner energy and energy storage is the fact that it doesn’t have any fine associated with keeping it operational. That’s the motivator for energy storage and pushing it on those remote applications.” Bolt further explained the importance of energy storage particularly in remote areas like Samoa. For example, if these small islands do not receive 300,000

DELTA IS INVOLVED IN REMOTE APPLICATIONS IN FAR TO REACH MINE SITES ACROSS AUSTRALIA, AS WELL AS SAMOA AND THE MARSHALL ISLANDS.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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litres of diesel into their operating tanks because of adverse weather such as a typhoon, then energy storage combined with renewable technology’s such as hydro, wind, solar or even flywheels could be the solution for maintaining a sustainable energy source.

Utilities

Bolt described the utilities sector as an ever changing and fluid market. He said that most large energy players were looking for other sources of energy that would take them into the future and were cleaner and more energy efficient as the market was currently “in a state of turmoil”. Bolt also emphasised the importance of government incentives as a factor for helping reinforce cleaner, more efficient energy sources and to determine the long term future of the utilities market. “Everything’s changing and we need to look at what’s a long term in terms of a stable supply and I think energy storage combined especially with solar can give that,” he said. However, Bolt also emphasised the rather slow take up of energy storage with a variety of unknowns around the ever-changing technology. “Right now the capital expenditure is still quite expensive for energy storage and the ROI (return on investment) isn’t as strong as it needs to be,” he said. “It is a dynamic, fast changing market however and the cost/kWh is getting to a much more cost effective target. At present the cost of running a diesel generator is around $160/ kWh, the cost of energy storage is around $250/kWh. Note in 2010, deployed lithium energy storage cost was around $1000/kWh, 75 per cent more than it is today. When this meets parity and considering zero emissions, we have something much more attractive to off-grid and utility scale applications” “We’re still at the beginning of the bell curve on energy storage – whereas the likes of coal and gas have always been there and the price of fossil fuels is in a state of flux right now with uncertainly on long term price. I think a lot of these energy companies need to make a step into a long term decision on what’s good for them, but we see a strong focus in the off-grid market at this stage where sustainable supply is critical.” AM

PROSPECT AWARDS

PROSPECT AWARDS WINNER PROFILE: GLENCORE AUSTRALIAN MINING SPEAKS TO GLENCORE’S NEIL HASSETT, WHO WAS MINE MANAGER OF THE YEAR AT THE PROSPECT AWARDS IN 2016, ABOUT HIS ROLES IN THE MINING INDUSTRY AND HOW IMPORTANT COAL MINING IS FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

or coal handling and preparation plant manager (CHPP) at Glencore’s Mt Owen coal operations, Neil Hassett, receiving the Mine Manager of the Year award at the 2016 Prospect Awards was a humbling experience. Hassett told Australian Mining he was proud both to have been

nominated and to win the award. “I’m sure there would be a lot better people out there than me,” he said. Hassett has worked in the mining industry for 38 years, particularly in the coal processing area. He began as an operator in the late 1970s, working through a number of roles, including mechanical supervisor, processing supervisor and processing superintendent, before starting his

AUSTRALIANMINING

current position – CHPP manager – which he has held for the past six years. The biggest improvement Hassett has observed during his time in the mining industry is its increased focus on safety and the improvement in safety performance. He highlighted that coal processing has also improved, particularly with a greater focus on quality more so than tonnes.

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PROSPECT AWARDS

In terms of Mt Owen, located around 25km northwest of Singleton in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, Hassett said one of its major achievements was the increased tonnages that had gone through the plant and the improvement in the quality of the coal product. However, one of the things he is particularly proud of at the operation is his ability to help its workers succeed. “In my time, I’ve given people the opportunity to progress their career and this includes people who were operators on the shop floor through to people in various roles in maintenance – both mechanical and electrical,” he said. “I’ve given them the opportunity to progress and when I’m finished here I’ll be able to walk away and say I’ve given them that opportunity to take and run with.” When prompted about the operation’s challenges, Hassett asked: “I don’t suppose you’ve got three days have you?” Among the issues that often beset coal mine managers, Hassett specified the ongoing challenge of operating a plant that is 20 years old. He highlighted wear and tear on the plant as one of the key maintenance issues. “We run up to 15 million tonnes of feed through the plant each year,” he said. “And the major challenge is ensuring that the plant is kept up

think we’ve all got to work hard to improve the quality of the throughput and when we’ve finished mining that it’s rehabbed correctly,” he said.

Things are looking up

GLENCORE’S NEIL HASSETT

been developed like automating the stockpile dozer operation but that’s in its early stages. “We haven’t seen it here but I would believe in the next couple of years we’ll look to automating some of the processes that are labour intensive like reclaiming coal off our product stockpile with dozers.”

I STILL BELIEVE THERE’S QUITE A GOOD FUTURE IN IT [COAL MINING]. I THINK WE’VE ALL GOT TO WORK HARD TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE THROUGHPUT AND WHEN WE’VE FINISHED MINING THAT IT’S REHABBED CORRECTLY.” to a standard that will allow us to continue to wash coal to a quality standard and to keep that plant in good working condition.” But in terms of implementing more automated and innovative solutions to benefit the operations, Hassett said that not much has been done at this stage. “I wouldn’t say that we’ve tried a lot of it here but we’ve looked at how we can improve the process, for example with better, bigger and more efficient machinery,” he said. “There are a lot of projects that sit in the background that have AUSTRALIANMINING

The benefits of the coal mining industry

Hassett emphasised the importance of the coal mining industry, particularly as it provided him employment and a lifestyle. “I probably wouldn’t have gone into any other industry,” he said. Hassett added that coal mining also contributes to the local economy and supports local communities. He believes it is a sustainable industry despite the efforts of certain groups calling for the closure of coal mines. “I still believe there’s quite a good future in it [coal mining]. I

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Hassett believes there is an overall sense of positivity in the coal mining industry, despite some nervousness about its future due to supply needs, price and viability. “I think there’s quite a bit of optimism,” he said. “I think there’s quite a good future in it and people are working hard to make the industry a lot more efficient than what it has been over the years.” And this positivity is also felt at Mt Owen, which Hassett said was on track to extend the life of the mine to at least 2030. There is also the potential to expand the two open cut mines in the operations – Ravensworth East and Glendell. “We also process coal from both those mines and I’d say, without putting dates on them, that they’re looking at the viability of expanding both those operations to increase the life of them,” Hassett added.

The makings of a good manager

One of the key pieces of advice Hassett suggested for aspiring managers was to try to understand your staff. “Work with your people to try and ensure that when they come to work they’re focused on what they want to do at work,” he said. Hassett also attributed the success he’s had in his job to some of the people he has worked with. He particularly mentioned his mentor Greg Queenan and Mt Owen operations manager Ashley Mcleod. “If I reflect back on where I’ve been able to get myself to, I attribute it to working with some good people who have supported me in those roles,” he said. “I’ve got to where I am because I’ve worked with some very good people and I’ve been given opportunities like I like to do to my people – give them the opportunity to better themselves.” AM Nominations for the 2017 Prospect Awards are open. This year’s awards take place at the Ivy in Sydney on October 26. Please visit, www.prospectawards.com.au.

ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION

THREE REASONS TO ATTEND AIMEX THE ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION (AIMEX) IS AUSTRALIA’S MOST EXTENSIVE MINING EXHIBITION, AND IS SET TO RUN FROM 29 – 31 AUGUST 2017 AT THE SYDNEY SHOWGROUNDS. AUSTRALIAN MINING CAUGHT UP WITH AIMEX EVENT DIRECTOR BRANDON WARD TO HEAR THREE REASONS WHY AIMEX SHOULD BE A MUST ATTEND EVENT IN YOUR CALENDAR. Hear from experts

Visitors will have unrivalled access to leading industry minds via the free-to-attend conference program. Themed The Future of Mining, the program has world-class keynote presentations and white paper discussions on: • Economic and political outlook for mining; • Technology and innovation and what this means for businesses; • Automation and digital advancements to improve operational efficiency and maintenance; • Advancements in drilling and blasting, processing and bulk materials handling; • Fleet performance and tyre management; and • Occupational health and safety. NSW Mining Chief Executive

Stephen Galilee, General Electric Strategic Account Development Manager Ian Larsen and Mining3 Chief Executive Professor Paul Lever are among the confirmed speakers for 2017.

Trial new technologies

From mining and extracting and materials handling, to automation and minerals processing, the AIMEX exhibition floor offers an unparalleled opportunity for visitors to connect and interact with companies and their products. More than 300 exhibiting companies are set to showcase their products and services at AIMEX, including Global Pumps, GM Holden, APC Technology, Winder Controls/ Siemag, MTG, Nautitech Mining Systems, Airbus Defence and Space, IFM Efector, Insitu Pacific, and Austdac Pty Ltd. AUSTRALIANMINING

Also on the exhibition floor is The Breakthrough: a new platform at AIMEX 2017 to showcase emerging technology that will provide significant benefit to the mining sector. All products are new to market and launched within the past 18 months.

Make new connections

AIMEX remains the leading event for the mining sector, with its scale offering opportunities for the industry to upskill, network and generate new business leads. No other event in the region has the same offering for visitors to network, collaborate and learn from one another and discover some of the latest products from leading suppliers. To attract new audiences, AIMEX organisers have also entered a new industry partnership with Engineers Australia, the nation’s

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peak representative body for the profession. Networking events are scheduled throughout the program, including the AIMEX Networking Event sponsored by METS Ignited on Wednesday 30 August and the Smart Mining Networking Events hosted by Austmine Ltd. Organisers also offer a Business Matching Program, providing a personalised itinerary to match visitors’ specific needs. This year’s event is proudly supported by NSW Mining, Austrade, METS Ignited, Engineers Australia, NSW Department of Industry, NSW Energy & Resources Knowledge Hub, METS NSW, Welding Technology Institute of Australia, Austmine, Bowen Basin Mining Club, MESCA, US Department of Commerce. For more information and to register for AIMEX 2017, please visit www.aimex.com.au.

AIMEX WILL EXPLORETHE FUTURE OF MINING

MORE THAN 3OO COMPANIES WILL EXHIBIT AT AIMEX.

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ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION

INTRODUCING DAVID MOULT, NONEXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN FOR AIMEX WORKING WITH NATURAL RESOURCES MEANS NEVER KNOWING WHAT WILL BE AROUND THE CORNER.

o says David Moult, non-executive Chairman of AIMEX: “It is safe to say that the mining sector has just come through one of the most difficult periods that I have ever witnessed in my 40 year career.” “The pace and diversity of this industry is why I chose to enter the mining sector in the first place. Mining engineering covers more aspects of engineering than any other

engineering discipline around.” In 1998, Moult first joined Centennial Coal when it was a very small listed company with a market

capitalisation of less than $20 million. Around the time of the takeover of Banpu in 2010, he helped grow Centennial Coal into an ASX S&P100

AIMEX PROVIDES AN UNPARALLELED OPPORTUNITY FOR COMPANIES AND INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS FROM ACROSS THE REGION TO CONNECT FACE-TO-FACE, DISCUSS INDUSTRY TRENDS AND GENERATE NEW BUSINESS LEADS.”

DAVID MOULT, NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AIMEX.

listed company with a market capitalisation of $2.6 billion. He now holds the position of nonexecutive director of Centennial Coal Company Limited, and is the chairman of Coal Services Pty Limited, a director (and past chairman) of the NSW Minerals Council, chairman of the Australian Coal Association Low Emissions Technologies Limited Board and a member of the University of NSW Education Trust Advisory Committee. “Recent movements in the coal price has given the sector more confidence, particularly as prices level to a more sustainable position. It is encouraging to hear a more rational debate from the Federal Government in respect to the electricity generation mix, particularly as we move into a more carbon constrained economy.” As prices level, Moult argues the industry is looking for opportunities to invest - making events like the Asia-Pacific International Mining Exhibition 2017 more important than ever. “AIMEX provides an unparalleled opportunity for companies and industry professionals from across the region to connect face-to-face, discuss industry trends and generate new business leads.” “For suppliers, it’s an opportunity to showcase their latest innovations. For operators, it’s a platform to see and discuss where mining equipment, technology and services is headed. For delegates, it’s a change to meet with colleagues - new and old.” David Moult is the non-executive Chairman for AIMEX. He has also been a director for Minerals Council of Australia, the NSW Freight Advisory Council, Coal Innovation NSW (CINSW) and the Australian Coal Association (ACA). In May 2014, through to project end in February 2015, David was also a member of the Minerals Industry Taskforce, tasked with providing a roadmap for the growth in the minerals sector within NSW.

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CONFERENCE PROGRAM THE FUTURE OF AIMEX TUESDAY 29 AUGUST 10:30am

Opening welcome david moult, aimex non-executive chairman and former centennial coal ceo

10:35am – 11:30am

Panel discussion: setting the scene – outlook for the australian mining resources industry stephen galilee, ceo, nsw mining mick buffier, chairman, world coal association

11:30am – 12:20pm

Keynote Session: Case Study Collaboration, technology and innovation John Richards, Chairman, The Bloomfield Group

12:50pm – 1:20pm

Creating Trust, Commitment and Sustainable Operational and Safety Results Paul Moynagh, Co-founder and Growth Director, Fewzion

1:20pm – 2:00pm

BREAK

2:00pm – 2:45pm

How the Digital Transformation is driving to an increasing efficiency mining operation Ian Larsen, Strategic Account Development Manager, General Electric (GE)

2:50pm – 3:50pm

Panel session: Methods and strategies to monitor health, safety and wellbeing of workers onsite Natasha Jager, National Manager, Workplace Safety, Alcohol and Drug Foundation Lucy Flemming, MD/CEO Coal Services

3:50pm – 4:00pm

Unearthed Sydney Big Data Hackathon Winners Zane Prickett, Director, Unearthed

WEDNESDAY 30 AUGUST

10:30am – 11:30am

Panel Discussion: Championing technology and innovation in ‘new normal’ environment Dr Ewan Sellers, Research Director for Hard Rock Mining, CSIRO Professor Paul Lever, CEO, Mining3 Jeannette Mcgill, Head of Telstra Mining Services, Telstra Steve Burgess, Executive General Manager Operations Excellence, Centennial Coal

11:35am – 12:20pm

Meeting the Challenge of Innovation Larry Lopez, Director of Accelerating Commercialisation, Department of Industry, Innovation & Science

12:20pm – 1:20pm

BREAK

1:20pm – 2:05pm

The influence of mine haul road design and maintenance on tyre performance Ian Campbell, Operations Support Specialist , Kal Tire

2:10pm – 2:55pm

Challenges in Minerals Processing and opportunities for the industry Kevin Galvin, Laureate Professor, University of Newcastle

3:00pm – 3:45pm

Innovations in bulk materials handling Brian Moore, Bulk Materials Handling Lead / Australia – Asia Region, Global Lead: Centre of Excellence in Granular Flow Performance, Hatch

THURSDAY 31 AUGUST

10:30am – 11:30am

Panel Discussion: Building bridges for greater mining success Christine Gibbs Stewart, CEO, Austmine Ric Gros, Ceo, MetsIgnited Dr Bernd Länger, Manager, Competence Centre for Mining & Resources German-Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce Alex Lester, GM, Nautitech Dr Mark Dunn , Principal Research Engineer Coal Mining Research Program, CSIRO Energy

11:35am – 12:20pm

Updates to the standards and industry practice around gas detection Tim Wylie, Chief Technology Officer, Ampcontrol

12:25pm – 1:10pm

Advanced cloud based maintenance systems and its application at Mine Sites Simon Van Wegan, Product Manager, Maintenance, Modular Mining Systems

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ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION

INTRODUCING THE BREAKTHROUGH WANT TO LEARN ABOUT THE LATEST EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE MINING SECTOR? COME ALONG TO THE BREAKTHROUGH, A NEW PLATFORM UNEARTHING THE LATEST ADVANCEMENTS AND NEW-TO-MARKET TECHNOLOGY RELEASED IN THE PAST 18 MONTHS. Orb Engineering Services

Imagine being able to produce site electricity without having to factor OPEX costs like fuel, spare parts and highly skilled technicians? Orb Engineering Services provides a mobile clean energy platform which tackles the questions of cost per kWH with no CO2-eemissions whilst producing electricity, as well as rental options for Renewable

Energy Generators to local industry. Their management team has worked in the global arena for more than 30 years, on projects in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Enterprise Improvement Solutions

Enterprise Improvement Solutions is passionate about transforming the way you manage your assets,

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people and systems to ensure you unlock their maximum value. Based in Perth, Brisbane and Wollongong, EnterpriseIS is a group of experienced and passionate consultants from across the industrial arena, who look for opportunities to learn more about what makes companies work. Their professional team have years of operational experience and know

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what it takes to ensure they develop effective solutions that add real value so the results stick.

Avatar Technology

Avatar Technology is a mobile communication and asset management provider specialising in GPS based solutions. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s solutions to market are centralised around three core

product technologies including personal safety and security, vehicle fleet management and asset management and push to talk.

Future In Lifting

Future in Lifting is a new safety invention for the listing industry that is quicker, safer and simpler. The company’s new, easy hook-up release system provides a new dimension and sets a new benchmark in workplace health and safety.

Occhio Vision Care

Occhio Vision Care will be launching the latest Mallee Bull Eyewear range at AIMEX. Mallee Bull Eyewear, part of the Occhio Group, is a world leader in

designing and developing optical superior eyewear for both your work environment and personal lifestyle pursuits. The company manufactures a wide range of industry specific frame options to perfectly suit your hazardous work environment.

Commit.works

Commit.works (formerly known as Fewzion) makes powerfully simple software that helps blue collar workforces manage their frontline processes, people and equipment to get control and improve results. Our easy to use systems quickly connect to your ERP, Planning, Safety & Project tools so that the things that matter to frontline leaders, planners

AUSTRALIANMINING

and their teams are in the plan and visible to everyone, each shift.

performance with the low cost and simplicity of leaky feeder.

Digital Drift

Construction Cloud

Boost production and reduce costs with the Digital Drift System - a high‐speed, fit for purpose, access layer communications network for challenging industrial environments with linear topology. Our world-first Cisco compatible system provides standards‐compliant Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports right where they are needed, supplying power and data backhaul for any industrial Ethernet device. Suitable applications include underground mines, tunnels, processing plants and agriculture. Using a single coaxial cable to carry both power and data, we achieve fibre

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Construction Cloud helps people from different organisations work together to deliver infrastructure on time and on budget. We have recently developed a new technology called the project communication infrastructure that is completely changing how people manage time and budget. This is done by maximising plant and equipment uptime, maximising revenue and saving engineers and foremen hundreds of hours. For more information about The Breakthrough, visit the AIMEX website: http://www.aimex.com.au

ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION

EXHIBITOR PROFILES MORE THAN 300 EXHIBITORS ARE CONFIRMED FOR AIMEX 2017. READ ON FOR A SNAPSHOT OF SOME OF THE EXHIBITING COMPANIES, COMING FROM AUSTRALIA AND AROUND THE WORLD.

The Intelligence Programme Line of Airbus Defence and

Breathe-safe is a proud Australian manufacturer of: High-

Space is the supplier of choice for commercial satellite

efficiency air filtration and air conditioning systems (HVAC) for

imagery, C2ISR systems and related services. The company

mining and construction equipment. The company supplies

is able to create a comprehensive situational awareness

intelligent, custom designed fresh air cabin pressurisation units

picture and deliver sophisticated end-to-end solutions across

with high-efficiency particulate filters (HEPA as standard) for

all commercial, intuitional and defence markets.

fixed, mobile plant equipment and site buildings.

ALS is one of the world’s largest and most diversified international testing service providers. With a range of services and products including Coal Quality, Food Safety, Geochemistry and Oil and Gas. ALS Coal Service line is a section leader in the provision of Coal Quality Testing and consulting Services across the full spectra of operational requirements.

APC Technology design, manufacture and test ruggedized computing solutions for hard and hazardous environments. The company’s hazardous location range is IECEx certified and suitable for zone 0, 1 or 2 environments.

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Insitu Pacific is a leader in commercial remotely piloted airborne Global Pumps provides the mining sector with the toughest,

services, providing professional remote sensing capabilities

longest wearing pumping solutions from world-class technologies

combined with data analytics technology. Our systems enable

sourced from around the globe. For over 40 years, Global Pumps

the digitisation and automation of operations to increase

has delivered innovative solutions for difficult and challenging

efficiency, enhance safety and reduce operating costs for our

pumping applications with an uncompromising focus on reliability.

customers in the resources sectors.

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ASIA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION

Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group is a global leader in full service

Devoted to the design and manufacture of products that

mining tyre management and supply. Kal Tire has been

improve safety and productivity in hazardous areas. See

operating in Western Australia for nearly seven years, and in

the SPITFIRE range, with the new Wingman, the new

2016 secured its place as a national tyre service provider by

I.S. Cubex system, 7” and 10” Displays, and the newest

acquiring the tyre services business of Klinge & Co.

addition to our range, the powerful thermal camera with human and situational analytics.

Megapulse is an Australian company that manufactures a patented Pulse Technology which drastically reduces battery degradation. Their technology has helped Volvo, Scania, Mercedes and MAN in Europe to reduce Electrical System Faults in their vehicles from an average of 50% down to below 1% and increase on-board battery service life from an average of 2 years to over 5 years.

Strata Worldwide Pty Ltd is a global suppliers of safety and communications technologies for underground and surface mining. The company’s mission is to provide products that keep workers both safe and productive, by listening to customers’ needs, tailoring solutions to meet those needs and by providing steady support throughout the entire business process.

MTG is an international company specialising in the use of state-of-the-art technology for the design and production

System 7s real time condition monitoring system is

of innovative GET systems for earthmoving machinery.

overcoming the barriers faced by traditional oil analysis

We have a presence in the world’s main markets in the

methods and adherence to hours-based maintenance

mining, construction and dredging sectors, and we operate

schedules. The company has developed a range of

through more than 300 distributors that are present in

products that are swiftly taking hold both in Australian and

over 60 countries.

International markets.

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29 – 31 AUGUST 2017

Sydney Showground, Sydney Australia

ASIA-PACIFIC’S INTERNATIONAL MINING EXHIBITION Australia’s most significant showcase of mining technology, equipment and services.

AIMEX WILL FEATURE:

▶ The largest showcase of suppliers both locally and internationally

▶ A free to attend operationally focused conference

▶ A dedicated platform launching new-to-market technology

LEVEL MEASUREMENT

RADAR LEVEL MEASUREMENT IN THE MINING INDUSTRY LIKE MANY MINES THAT USE BULK STORAGE AND TANKS, THE OVERFILLING OF A STORAGE TANK IS AN IMPORTANT SAFETY ISSUE. IT MAY RESULT IN LOSS OF TANK FLUID AND THERE COULD POTENTIALLY BE SEVERE CONSEQUENCES IF THE FLUID IS FLAMMABLE OR ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE, WRITES AUSTRALIAN MINING

he issue of the structural integrity of the tank, which needs to be preserved and regularly maintained, is an ongoing concern for many mines, and is particularly important in uranium mines, where spillages from storage tanks can have critical implications for the widerÂ community. In December 2013 in the Northern Territory the Ranger mine had a spill of uranium and acid resulting in fear and worry in the local indigenous community over radioactive contamination near the famous Kakadu National Park. To help improve bulk storage safety at mine sites, radar sensors are used in

widely different applications, ranging from small bulk solids containers to large warehouses. However, up to now, meeting the vast range of different application requirements meant that different sensor versions needed to be used.

Bulk handling Australian Standards and the issue of safety in mining

As safety is a foremost concern in all mining operations, there a number of current standards that help enhance bulk handling safety at Australian mine sites. These include recent standards such as Australian Compliance Standard IEC6151, which is designed for the prevention of

overfill particularly when handling combustible or toxic fluids as well as tank lifecycle, design and engineering requirements. For bulk or solid handling scenarios, of particular note is another standard, known as AS3774-1990: Loads for Bulk Solids Containers, which provides a comprehensive review of the loads acting in bin and silo walls under the full range of operating conditions likely to occur in practice. According to the WorkCover Code of Practice (2005), in any storage tank system, pressure may accumulate in the container or ancillary plant (such as in a filtration system removing airborne dust) from systems such as pneumatic transfer, or fumigation of a

A NUMBER OF CURRENT STANDARDS THAT HELP ENHANCE BULK HANDLING SAFETY AT AUSTRALIAN MINE SITES.

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sealed (or semi-sealed) silo; pressure relief such as venting or valves may be necessary to control both positive and negative (vacuum) pressure. Therefore, pressure testing of sealed silos is usually necessary for correct operation and fumigation, and a suitable system should beÂ provided.

How radar level technology prevents other storage issues in mines

Choosing the correct level measurement technology is important as whatever technology that is picked needs to be easy to install and operate. Across Australia between 2007 and 2012, a total of 36 mining workers died from work-related injuries. The

LEVEL MEASUREMENT

total number of deaths equates to 3.84 fatalities per 100,000 workers, which is almost 70 per cent higher than the national rate of 2.29. The reliability and real time capabilities of radar level measurement are used to help identify and take corrective action on any abnormal conditions in a range of storage silos, such as build up on the sidewalls, which could have serious safety implications. If left unchecked, these issues can cause a raft of problems like pressure build-up, overweight storage, or explosive dust concentration buildups – all of which could cause worker injury or even death. Then there is the issue of soil stockpiles found commonly in and around mining/mineral processing sites, which are used as an intermediate buffer between inventory and production. When it comes to the level measurement of these soil stockpiles, calculating their correct level measurement is important. Since their size can vary in accordance with the scale of production and can typically reach

above 10m in height and weight thousands of tonnes, issues such as safety, reliability and accuracy, are crucial.

Common issues solved by radar level measurement

Many commonly found dusts in the mining industry are combustible and with the right set of circumstances, are also highly explosive. A range of mineral dusts are also a concern and when encountered in an underground mine the hazard takes on an order of magnitude that is considerably higher. For mining, one well-known and ongoing concern is the uncontrolled combustion of sulfide and coal dusts. “Sulfide minerals oxidise rapidly when broken and exposed to air and, in operations where such minerals become dispersed as dusts, sparks or heat flash from blasting can initiate an explosion,” said the CSIRO’s Dr. George Lukaszewski. The consequences can range from mine pollution by sulfurous gases to loss of life. The reactivity and ignitability of different sulfides can be

determined in the laboratory. Iron containing disulfides such as chalcopyrite and pyrite are the most reactive and have the lowest ignition temperatures, shortest thermal exposures for initiation and highest burning intensities. Their dusts are the most susceptible to ‘flash’ initiation and explosive propagation. While the metal monosulfides are less reactive, in the presence of moisture they may ‘age’ or weather to produce elemental sulfur in forms that dramatically lower dust ignition energies.” Therefore, when it comes to the mining industry, being able to accurately measure the density of sulfide, coal dusts and other potentially hazardous ore materials are just a few applications that come to mind. In these type of situations, radar sensors have shown their worth when needing to measure the level of irregularly shaped ore piles and dust, even where material buildups or cavities. So, whether storing bulk ores, filling tall silos with a constant level of powder or running a tailings plant, the need to get a complete picture of the actual storage levels is important, which explains why the use of radar technology has now become so widespread across the mining and resources sector.

Some typical mining industry applications for radar measurement technology

There is also a direct relationship between radar level measuring devices and worker efficiency-thanks to the use of radar level measurement technology, level readings can now be done remotely, constantly, and at a distance of 100m, all without the need for human intervention. Radar level measurement can be used for: Bulk ores Radar sensors are ideal for level measurement in very high silos, large bunkers and segmented vessels that are used to store bulk ores and/or powders. The radar sensors can be equipped with an encapsulated plastic antenna or a lens antenna integrated in the metal flange. This enables the optimum adaption to different application areas. CAPVEGAPULS 69 IS AN ALL-ROUND RADAR LEVEL MEASUREMENT SENSOR.

• Fine powders Before further processing, many fine powders are often stored in AUSTRALIANMINING

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tall silos and transported both in and out of the silo via pneumatic conveying. Efficient storage and transport of the product is ensured by accurate level measurement and point level detection, as well as also monitoring the pneumatic conveying system pressure. • Solid fuels silo Apart from conventional energy sources such as gas, oil and coal, solid substitute fuels such as dried sewage sludge are increasingly being used in a variety of industrial and mining applications. Since the required amounts of energy represent a significant cost factor in any production process, knowing the exact level measurement of the stored solid fuels is essential. One popular radar level measurement technology is the German-made VEGAPULS 69 is an all-round radar level measurement sensor for continuous measurement of bulk solids in the mining industry. This continuous measurement can occur under different process conditions, including level measurement in very high silos, large bunkers and segmented vessels. For the mining sector, some key features of the VEGAPULS 69 include maintenance-free operation thanks to non-contact measuring principle; high plant availability, because wear and maintenance free and reliable measurement independent of steam, dust and noise function The VEGAPULS 69 operates with a transmission frequency of 79GHz and an antenna size of 75mm allowing it to achieve an opening angle of just 4°. The system is designed so that the sensor also operates with the same values in the smallest measuring ranges. This comes as a benefit to users of conveyor belts, for example, in which distance measurements usually need to be made under very harsh conditions. A fast measurement is necessary here because the position of the belts changes very quickly. The cycle time of the new VEGAPULS 69 is below one second with an accuracy of ±5mm. Such heights are also necessary in fall chutes as are common in quarrying and mining. The higher focusing also plays a role in these applications because the walls that are cut into the rock have a rough surface and there are fewer interference signals. AM

PRODUCTS

FIGURE 4A.

STORED ENERGY MOTOR BASES ADVANCEMENTS IN STORED ENERGY SPRINGS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE TRANSMISSION OF POWER, IMPROVING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY. RICHARD SHARP, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LEVERLINK, EXPLAINS.

he term “stored energy” can mean many things to many people. The most recent and easily recognisable use of the term is batteries in conjunction with solar panels. However, in mechanical terms stored energy is a significant advantage which has considerable benefits to the mining, quarry, and extractive industries by dramatically reducing operating costs. For more than 25 years we have used the capacity of rubber torsion springs to store energy for mechanical advantages and maintaining tension of v-belt drives. Typically a traditional v-belt drive

would consist of a driving force such as an electric motor or perhaps an internal combustion engine, and v-belts which transmit the power. Commonly, v-belt change out or adjustment would be carried out by the use of jacking bolts. These may be slide rails, tilted plates, or other methods. Exposed adjusting threads are subject to corrosion and seizure. Some operators may choose to cover these threads in a corrosion proof tape. In all cases this is slow, inefficient and labour intensive. Alignment (facing) of pulleys and keeping shafts parallel can almost be an impossible task. Maintaining the correct belt tension according to the AUSTRALIANMINING

THE MOST BASIC OF ALL DESIGNS.

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PRODUCTS

FIG. 3 A TYPICAL OVERHEAD DRIVE.

FIG. 1 CLEARLY SHOWS THE RUBBER TORSIONAL SPRING IN A NEUTRAL POSITION. FIGURE 2 DEMONSTRATES THE SPRING BEING LOADED TO AN ANGLE OF 25 DEGREES. THIS STORED ENERGY IS USED TO KEEP THE V-BELT TENSION OPTIMISED.

v-belt manufacturer’s specification is more than likely neglected due to the difficulty of the task, resulting in poor performance efficiencies and decreased belt and pulley service life. The stretch in most modern designed v-belts has been minimised. The use of exotic materials such as Kevlar have resulted in higher power transmitting capabilities. However, the correct v-belt tension must still be maintained to have the most effective transmission of power to the drive and minimise costs. The energy stored in this position (Fig.1) is relative to the sectional size of the spring and its length. This technology has been developed in Australia to manufacture some of the largest rubber torsional springs in the world. Primarily these are used in the mining industry to tension v-belt drives but have

many other applications such as the tensioning of large chain drives up to six inch pitch. The rubber cord used in the manufacturing of the stored energy springs has been compounded specifically for the harsh environmental conditions found in the mining, quarrying and extractive industries. Forces provided by the spring are linear from 0 to 15 degrees and progressive to 25 degrees. The functional application of each and every design depends on the following factors: • the kW, frame size and poles of the electric motor • the number, type, and section of the v-belts to be tensioned the angle of the drive and driven pulley • the mass of the electric motor and whether it has to be lifted as well

as tensioning forces to adjust the v-belts. The design of the mechanical structure (which the rubber torsional spring is an integral part of) may consist of the most basic and agricultural design to more sophisticated and mechanically astute which provide minimum maintenance and long service life. These advanced designs make for simplistic and time saving adjustment systems which in return provide efficiencies in labour costs that most operators are seeking today. The rubber torsion springs in the design pictured (Fig. 3a & 3b) is an example in which the mass of the electric motor as well as forces to tension the v-belts must be included into the design. It is not uncommon for motors in excess of 500kW and 5000kg to be

mounted in this arrangement. A design of this type is mechanically operated and all adjusting mechanisms are enclosed and lubricated. This along-side drive arrangement (Fig. 4a & 4b) is designed for electric motors 200kW and above. The dual rubber torsion springs provide a safe and stable platform for large motors. A design of this type is mechanically operated and all adjusting mechanisms are enclosed and lubricated. Previously we have discussed the technology of the stored energy capabilities of the rubber torsional spring. However, it also brings other benefits to the drive in that it can absorb shock load, which is often experienced in some applications. This can mean the difference between breaking shafts or belts in a rigid or fixed drive design. AM

FIG. 3B SIDE VIEW OF AN OVERHEAD DRIVE.

FIG. 4B THE DUAL RUBBER TORSION SPRINGS PROVIDE A SAFE AND STABLE PLATFORM FOR LARGE MOTORS

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2017

AUSTRALIAN MINING PROSPECT AWARDS

NOMINATIONS NOW

OPEN To nominate, please go to

www.prospectawards.com.au Platinum sponsor