Australian Mining - Aug 2018

AUTOMATION MAINTENANCE VOLUME 110/7 | AUGUST 2018

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AUTOMATION MAINTENANCE VOLUME 110/7 | AUGUST 2018

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COMMENT

ATTENTION SHIFTS TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S GOLDFIELDS BEN CREAGH

Ben.Creagh@primecreative.com.au

A

WHAT CAN THE INDUSTRY EXPECT FROM THIS YEAR’S DIGGERS & DEALERS MINING FORUM?

ll eyes will be on KalgoorlieBoulder when the Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum returns in August.

The event is often considered to be a barometer of the health of the mining industry, particularly in Western Australia.

In 2017, Diggers & Dealers was widely regarded as the most optimistic event in years.

The attendance was up and positivity flowed from company presentations.

Diggers & Dealers promises to be even bigger this year, considering that market conditions have stabilised even further since last August.

The line-up of companies being represented reflects that. It also, again, demonstrates the growing diversity of companies in the state.

Often considered an event geared towards gold miners, and perhaps the local nickel sector, Diggers & Dealers is now a must-attend for companies targeting the bourgeoning battery metals marketplace.

Miners and explorers of lithium, cobalt and others make up a small percentage of those presenting at the three-day conference.

That’s not to say gold isn’t continuing to make its mark as Kalgoorlie-Boulder celebrates 125 years since the first discovery of the precious metal.

While there have been recent concerns for the region’s largest gold mine – the Super Pit, the mid-tier sector is notably strong.

The battle to contain costs is mostly being won and several fledgling operations are adding new production, both now and in the coming years.

It is not just the listed companies, however, that are well represented at Diggers & Dealers these days.

The METS (mining equipment, technology

MANAGING DIRECTOR JOHN MURPHY EDITOR BEN CREAGH Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: ben.creagh@primecreative.com.au JOURNALIST EWEN HOSIE Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: ewen.hosie@primecreative.com.au VANESSA ZHOU Tel: (03) 9690 8766 Email: vanessa.zhou@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER NATASHA SHEKAR Tel: (02) 9439 7227 Email: natasha.shekar@primecreative.com.au

and services) sector is again set to have a major role in the increasingly packed exhibition area.

This is a good sign that fortunes have also turned for mining services providers.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is always a memorable place to visit for this editor too. One of my first experiences as a journalist was in the Goldfields city, like many resources reporters around the country.

It was also where I had my first genuine taste of the Australian mining industry, visiting local operations or discovering the history of the area’s ghost towns.

That was more than a decade ago, but the legacy of that time lives on at my latest home, Melbourne.

Since moving to the Victorian capital I have taken weekend drives to learn more about the gold rushes that helped grow cities like Bendigo in much the same way I would travel to a town like Menzies in the WA Goldfields.

At Australian Mining, our focus is commonly on emerging news from companies operating in the west.

And while certain aspects of the region remain the same (such as the strong gold sector), others have evolved to add much-needed depth.

As you will read in this issue, the lure of supplying materials for batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) has cemented this for the area.

Ben Creagh Editor

SALES MANAGER JONATHAN DUCKETT Tel: (02) 9439 7227 Mob: 0498 091 027 Email: jonathan.duckett@primecreative.com.au ART DIRECTOR Michelle Weston GRAPHIC DESIGNERS James Finlay, Blake Storey, Adam Finlay SUBSCRIPTION RATES Australia (surface mail) $140.00 (incl GST) New Zealand A$148.00 Overseas A$156.00 For subscriptions enquiries please call GORDON WATSON 03 9690 8766

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AUGUST 2018

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FRONT COVER

In this edition of Australian Mining, we explore the concept behind the digital mine, including the impact of automation, waste management and other disruptive technologies.

This issue also looks at collaboration between MacKellar Mining and Liebherr that started during the mining downturn two years ago and has successfully expanded since.

We throw the spotlight on the Goldfields region in Western Australia, with particular focus on the emerging opportunities in the famous mining area.

This edition explores how water management has changed and the effect of climate change on strategies for this important resource.

And as usual, we review the latest mining equipment and technology in our regular products spread.

Cover image: The Nova mine, Independence Group.

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CONTENTS

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT GOLDFIELDS MINING EVOLVES A new era for the famous mining region

TYRE MANAGEMENT

42 12-13

TAKING AN END-TO-END APPROACH How Kal Tire provides a holistic solution

FUTURE OF MINING THE DIGITAL MINING CONCEPT Different perspectives on this mining revolution

ORE SORTING

14-16

44-45

THE IMPORTANCE OF ORE SORTING A cutting-edge collaboration in Australia

MINING EQUIPMENT EXCAVATOR ENTRANCE PAYS OFF MacKellar Mining works with Liebherr

MINERALS PROCESSING

46 18-20

THE RIGHT BALANCE Bosch Rexroth’s top-to-tail approach

MINING WASTE CLIVE PALMER’S PLAN Huge cobalt potential at the Yabulu refinery

TECHNOLOGY

22

49

A SAFE BOOST Schneider’s tips to combine safety and profits

GOLD MINING

METS

50-51

THE FUTURE OF EXTRACTION Notre Dame seeks a modern method

THE SMALL FOOTPRINT MINE How the METS sector plays its part

24 TRACKING THE TRENDS FLUIDITY OF WATER MANAGEMENT Deloitte’s modern-day considerations

RISK MANAGEMENT

26-27

MINING REBOUNDS What it means for managing risk

52

PROSPECT AWARDS A CUSTOM FIT The latest from a former award winner

28

53

30

54

MAINTENANCE GATHERING DUST SMC promises more efficient cleaning

SOFTWARE GEOBANK INTEGRATION MICROMINE updates its software offering

MATERIALS HANDLING NO CHAIN, NO PAIN Gates delivers improved belt performance

SAFETY

TECHNOLOGY

CONVEYOR SAFETY What ESS Engineering recommends

HASTINGS DEERING TALKS TECH Equipment trends from the Cat dealer

55

32-33 ENERGY POWERING THE MINING INDUSTRY AES 2018: A showcase of energy

DRILL & BLAST

34-36

56

BME OFFERING GROWS Australia receives new technology

DATA MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDY SCREENING MEDIA INSTALLATION Glencore partners with Metso in the Hunter

38-40 57

ADVANCED IIOT IN MINING Weir Minerals’ latest innovation arrives

REGULARS

NEWS 8-10

PRODUCTS 59-61

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NEWS

THE LATEST MINING AND SAFETY NEWS 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. BHP’S $4.5BN SOUTH FLANK MINE TO CREATE MORE THAN 3000 JOBS BHP will spend $US2.9 billion ($3.9 billion) to develop the South Flank iron ore project in the Pilbara, Western Australia.

The miner, which approved the investment in June, owns an 85 per cent stake in the project, with ITOCHU

and Mitsui sharing the remaining 15 per cent interest. South Flank has been forecast to cost $US3.4 billion ($4.5 billion) between the owners.

South Flank has been flagged to replace production from BHP’s 80Mt/y Yandi mine, which is

scheduled to reach the end of its economic life next decade.

BHP is targeting first ore at South Flank in 2021. The operation is expected to have a mine life of more than 25 years.

South Flank will expand BHP’s existing infrastructure at Mining Area C, with 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.

BHP IN THE PILBARA. IMAGE: BHP.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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construction of an 80Mt/y crushing and screening plant, an overland conveyor system, stockyard and train loading facilities, procurement of new mining fleet and substantial mine development and pre-strip work.

BHP has selected CIMIC’s CPB Contractors to deliver the construction of bulk earthworks, concrete and underground services for the development.

CIMIC chief executive officer Michael Wright commented: “The South Flank development works will help ensure that the Mining Area C precinct becomes one of the largest standalone iron ore processing centres in the world.”

The $260 million construct-only contract started in July and will conclude in September 2020.

The investment follows BHP’s initial $US184 million funding commitment in June last year for South Flank’s accommodation facilities to support workforce requirements.

Mike Henry, BHP president operations, Minerals Australia, described South Flank as a capital efficient project that offered attractive returns.

“The project will create around 2500 construction jobs, more than 600 ongoing operational roles and generate many opportunities for Western Australian suppliers,” Henry said.

South Flank iron ore will contribute to an increase in WAIO’s average iron ore grade from 61 per cent to 62 per cent, and the overall proportion of lump from 25 per cent to about 35 per cent.

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NEWS

MINING PROFITS SURGE NEAR BOOM-TIME LEVELS Top mining companies are reaching near boom-time profits, with net profit up 126 per cent in the past year, a PwC report has found.

The Mine 2018 report revealed that net profit of the world’s top 40 miners increased to $US61 billion ($79.7 billion), up 126 per cent, and is forecast to rise to $US76 billion in 2018. Market capitalisation of the group increased by 30 per cent to $US926 billion in 2017.

According to the PwC report, revenue increased by 23 per cent to $600 billion, while EBITDA rose 38 per cent to $US146 billion.

At the same time, capital expenditure is at its lowest level since 2006 ($48 billion), with limited new projects in the pipeline.

PwC Australia mining leader Chris Dodd said strong balance sheets were tempting the top 40 mining companies to pursue bold investment and growth opportunities, but many remained focused on maintaining a robust and flexible balance sheet to avoid the misgivings of the past.

He believes the results show that the investment in infrastructure by the top 40 during the mining boom is now reaping rewards.

“The hard work has been done by these mining companies to cut

costs, drive efficiency and keeping supply at sustainable levels,” Dodd said.

Dodd said these results increased temptation for stakeholders: governments are looking at increased taxes and royalties, workers will demand pay rises and shareholders will seek increased dividends. He said, at the same time, mining companies would be encouraged to buy more mines and expand operations.

“Everywhere we look people are saying, mining companies look profitable again and how can we get our hands on it to get our fair share,” he said.

However, Dodd said the level of supply coming online was reduced compared to the past and the “rush to production tonnes” approach from previous years has dissipated.

This has made way for more sensible decisions by mining companies about meeting demand without flooding the market and driving prices down, Dodd added.

“Prices are largely sustainable, no longer boosted by unprecedented growth in China like we saw 10 years ago. What we are seeing now is that growth in China has been baked into the base, buying everything they did last year, plus more,” Dodd said.

SURGE IN PERMANENT ROLES SIGNALS MINING RECOVERY Most regions across Australia have experienced an increase in permanent mining roles on jobs portal SEEK, suggesting renewed confidence in the sector following a five-year downturn.

This suggests a turnaround from the 2012-16 mining slump, which was characterised by reluctance in hiring permanent staff, a climb in the ratio of contract to permanent job ads and a loss of 55,000 mining jobs.

Amidst looming skills shortages, employers have moved to lock in scarce talent with permanent work, with these roles making up 60 per cent of industry vacancies last May. The DFP Mining and Resources Job Index also revealed that, “Permanent job opportunities have grown faster than flexible work, not just [in June] but also marginally in the last quarter and particularly in the last year.”

The mining, resources and energy sector secured the top spot for the highest growth rate across all

industries – up 34 per cent year on year in May – while the rise of new job ads was up 10.7 per cent nationally.

In the mining states, the number of opportunities has picked up by 93 per cent from their low in 2016, and the non-mining states by 109 per cent.

The type of jobs being advertised in 2012 and 2018 also sees a shift, with Opex notably increasing over Capex-related job ads, reflecting wider industry trends.

Kaixin Owyong, an economist from NAB, said the lift in commodity prices has spurred industry investment in maintenance roles, which was needed to run the large capital stock that was acquired during the mining boom.

Mining is the third largest contributor to the Australian economy, contributing 6.9 per cent of GDP. The sector employs 1.8 per cent of Australia’s total workforce.

AUSTRALIANMINING

MINRES COMES TO THE RESCUE OF KOOLYANOBBING The Koolyanobbing iron ore operation in Western Australia’s Yilgarn region has found a saviour in Mineral Resources (MinRes).

US-based owner Cleveland-Cliffs, which was working towards closing Koolyanobbing this year, reached the agreement to sell its Asia-Pacific iron ore assets to MinRes in June.

The deal has saved hundreds of jobs, both at the Koolyanobbing site and at the Port of Esperance where the operation’s product is exported.

MinRes’ acquisition included Cliffs’ tenements and all remaining iron ore, as well as the fixed plant, equipment and non-process infrastructure.

In addition, MinRes now owns Cliffs’ infrastructure at the Port of Esperance, including the rail car dumper and two large storage sheds.

MinRes believes the acquisition enables it to realise further value from the investments it has made in fixed plant, mobile equipment and rail rolling stock that has been used to operate the Carina operation, which will close this year.

The Western Australian Government helped facilitate the deal for both parties.

Rail owner Arc Infrastructure, meanwhile, has agreed to a track access framework that assists with the economics of a continued Yilgarn-toEsperance iron ore operation.

MinRes managing director Chris

Ellison described the deal as a win-win outcome for all parties involved.

“I can confidently say that this transaction, and the many benefits it will create for Western Australia, would simply not have been possible without the cooperation and commitment from Cliffs, the state government and Arc Infrastructure,” Ellison said.

While Cliffs did not reveal the value of the deal, it did say that the cost of closing its Australian operation was now expected to be reduced by around $US65-75 million, based on MinRes assuming certain obligations.

Cliffs chairman, president and chief executive Lourenco Goncalves said the sale marked the company’s exit from its Australian iron ore business, and represented the final step in the implementation of a US iron ore-centric strategy.

“We are pleased to have reached agreement on a transaction that not only brings real value to Cliffs shareholders, but also represents the potential for continued job opportunities for employees in Western Australia who would be impacted by the pending closure of the Koolyanobbing complex,” Goncalves said.

Cliffs announced in January that it was planning to accelerate the closure of its Asia-Pacific operations in 2018 after evaluating current and anticipated future market conditions in connection with its iron ore reserves.

THIESS AWARDED $225M CONTRACT BY BHP FOR ROCKY’S REWARD CIMIC Group-owned Thiess has been awarded a major $225 million contract to continue to provide mining services at BHP Nickel West’s Rocky’s Reward nickel mine in Western Australia.

Thiess has been providing turnkey mining services to the mine since August 2015.

BHP Nickel West is a fully integrated subsidiary of BHP that focuses on three Western Australian mines, Mt Keith, Cliffs and Leinster, as well as a smelter in Kalgoorlie and refinery in Kwinana. Rocky’s Reward is an open pit mine about 400km north of Kalgoorlie, which forms part of the company’s Leinster project.

The contract, which is set to span 34 months, involves cutbacks at the Rocky’s Reward pit, as well as works at a satellite pit.

The works will incorporate mine planning, engineering, drilling and blasting, overburden and ore mining

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and rehandling facilities, which will be processed at a facility in Leinster.

CIMIC Group chief executive officer Michael Wright said the award would continue Thiess’s strong working relationship with BHP Nickel West.

“We’re pleased to continue our support at Rocky’s Reward, delivering value through our mining expertise and our experience in planning and scheduling mining around existing underground workings.”

Thiess managing director Douglas Thompson added that the company looked forward to providing local opportunities for jobs and suppliers as a consequence of the extension.

“This contract recognises our ability to bring the right equipment, people and expertise to projects,” Thompson said.

“We look forward to building on our experience at Rocky’s Reward where we delivered strongly in production and safety.”

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REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

IGO IS INVESTIGATING NEW GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES TO DRIVE ADDITIONAL VALUE AT NOVA. IMAGE: IGO.

ANOTHER MINING EVOLUTION EMERGES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA’S GOLDFIELDS AS THE GOLD INDUSTRY HITS ITS LATEST MILESTONE IN KALGOORLIE-BOULDER, NEW OPPORTUNITIES HAVE ALSO ARRIVED IN THE FAMOUS MINING REGION. BEN CREAGH WRITES.

G

old mining has consistently overcome the challenges of time in the Goldfields region of Western Australia.

The city of Kalgoorlie-Boulder marked the 125th anniversary of its first gold discovery by Irish trio Paddy Hannan, Thomas Flanagan and Daniel Shea in June.

Last year the 60 millionth ounce of gold was produced from the Golden Mile.

The Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines (KCGM) joint venture

also delivered its 20 millionth ounce around the same time.

It’s fair to say the precious metal is as important as ever to the region.

The famous mining region, born during a period of depression, has been one of the few global mining districts that has worked continuously for the past 125 years despite the ups and downs of a volatile industry.

This includes the latest downturn, which mining has gradually recovered from over the past two years.

As was the case 125 years ago, AUSTRALIANMINING

a new mining sector has emerged from a difficult economic period in the Goldfields, driven by demand for materials used in batteries and electric vehicles (EVs).

Western Australia’s lithium sector has grown significantly from one operating mine in 2016 to potentially seven by the end of this year.

Mt Marion, 70km from KalgoorlieBoulder, is one of the operations guiding this growth.

The joint venture between Neometals, Mineral Resources and Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium marked its first shipment of lithium concentrate

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from the Port of Kwinana near Perth in February last year.

Neometals, which owns 13.8 per cent of Mt Marion, is proposing to give Kalgoorlie-Boulder a bigger piece of this evolving sector in the coming years.

The company executed an option agreement and memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder for development of a lithium hydroxide refinery near the city in June.

Neometals’ agreement covers a 40-hectare sub-lease 5km from the Kalgoorlie township for the

REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT

refinery, while the MoU provides assistance for procuring utilities and infrastructure.

The Kalgoorlie refinery, part of Neometals’ plan to bolster further value from its lithium supplies in the wake of the battery boom, is proposed at an initial 10,000 tonnes a year (t/y) capacity.

Lithium would be delivered via Neometals’ portion of the Mt Marion operation, as well as other assets the company has in the pipeline.

Neometals managing director Christopher Reed says a range of sites were assessed for the refinery, including Kwinana.

“Ultimately, we chose Kalgoorlie as a location as it offered a number of very compelling benefits,” Reed tells Australian Mining.

“The major draws for Kalgoorlie included proximity to the mine, the generous size of the site for future expansion, distance to rail, services and the major highway and also the significant support of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.”

Kalgoorlie’s proximity to Mt Marion delivers cost savings to Neometals that are not only limited to transport, shipping and taxation advantages.

Reed says Neometals also expects much stronger margins associated with chemical conversion in Kalgoorlie.

There are also important environmental considerations by choosing the Goldfields site.

“The reduction in transport equates to a reduced environmental footprint which is important in terms of achieving the values set by Neometals, but it is also a material consideration for lithium chemical end users who account for the full life cycle of their materials and must meet stringent material sourcing and disposal obligations,” Reed says.

The proposed refinery may also provide opportunities for other lithium miners in the region. Reed says Neometals’ is fairly confident it is in the right region to access feed from other lithium operations if it is needed.

However, he admits the company’s intention is to rely on its own assets, including the Mt Edwards and Mt Holland prospects. The company completed its acquisition of Mt Edwards, a new brownfields lithium exploration project 40km from Mt Marion, in June.

Neometals has exposure to the tenement package at Mt Holland, which adjoins the Kidman Resources/ SQM’s Earl Grey lithium package in the nearby Yilgarn region, through a 36 per cent share in junior company, Hannans.

The Goldfields region is, of

course, also known for its vast nickel reserves, which have surged in value for their owners in recent times, partially due to expected demand for batteries and EVs. Independence Group (IGO), which reached its first anniversary since launching production at the Nova nickel-copper mine last month, has flagged its intentions to target this demand.

With Nova running at its nameplate 1.5 million tonnes per annum mining rate, and output on track for another boost in the June quarter, IGO is progressing next generation projects to drive additional value from the mine’s potential.

IGO is studying opportunities for downstream processing to produce nickel and cobalt sulphate, which would deliver higher payabilities, premium prices and improved concentrator recoveries.

The company is progressing metallurgical testwork to confirm findings from a scoping study it delivered this year.

“We are pleased with the results to date from this testwork and expect to progress to a prefeasibility study, which would be completed by the end of the 2018 calendar year,” Bradford tells Australian Mining.

A successful move into downstream processing of nickel and cobalt sulphates would be timely for IGO as demand increases, something

Bradford is confident will give the company a strong long-term outlook.

Bradford says the impact of this demand has already been witnessed on cobalt pricing and, in time, he also expects the same will happen for nickel and copper.

“The market is forecasting a large deficit in the availability of highquality nickel for use in EVs and other minerals used in metals for batteries and energy storage and distribution technologies,” Bradford says.

“We think nickel will be a big winner from the EV demand disruption, as we continue to see deficit in supply being eroded for stockpiles.”

IGO’s ambitions at Nova also include introducing greater underground automation, which would be a significant development for the region’s nickel sector.

“Nova is relatively unique in that most of the underground capital infrastructure is already in place and the mine design is well suited to accommodate autonomous mining and haulage,” Bradford said.

“We are currently expanding our fibre optic backbone underground to facilitate the potential transition to a greater amount of autonomous mining.”

IGO’s other major asset is a 30 per cent stake in the Tropicana gold mine joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti.

World-class gold mines like

THE NOVA MINE HAS CELEBRATED ITS FIRST ANNIVERSARY AS A PRODUCING OPERATION. IMAGE: IGO.

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Tropicana continue their significant contribution to the Goldfields region’s production profile, with 102,000oz in the March 2018 quarter.

The region is also seeing an uptick in new output, including Dacian Gold’s 180,000oz–210,000oz a year Mt Morgans operation near Laverton.

In 2019, another 270,000oz of average annual production is on track to be added through the Gruyere joint venture between Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources.

Surbiton Associates gold consultant Sandra Close believes the gold sector in the Goldfields region has been traveling well, supported by a stable price for the precious metal.

“When you look at new mines like Dacian’s, and then that Gruyere will start in 2019 and then build up, you can see what is in the pipeline and that there is quite a lot of activity there,” Close says.

“It is the combination of things that looks good.

“The overall stability to the average gold price has been good for quite a while and that has been reflected in the lift in activity. That’s why we saw a really superb quarter in the last quarter of 2017.”

With the gold sector strong, and the battery metals sector emerging (rapidly), the start of the next 125 years in the Goldfields looks promising. AM

FUTURE OF MINING

THE EMERGING POTENTIAL OF THE ROBOTISED MINE MINING IS ALREADY A LEADING INDUSTRY WHEN IT COMES TO AUTOMATION, BUT A MINE DEVOID OF HUMANS IS A WHOLE OTHER CHALLENGE. EWEN HOSIE EXPLORES THE CONCEPT BEHIND THE ‘DIGITAL MINE’.

A

utomation is not a new concept in mining but it remains at the forefront of industry discussion even a decade after Rio Tinto announced its industry-changing Mine of the Future program in 2008.

The company’s strong push towards safer and more environmentally sustainable mining methods that make use of automation technology have impacted the Australian mining industry in a big way.

Firstly, it expanded the popularity of driverless haul trucks, then robotic drilling, and now, as Rio puts the finishing touches on its automated rail network AutoHaul, driverless trains as well.

But this could be just the beginning of something much larger and more disruptive for the mining industry. The opportunities for further automation of mine sites extend beyond haul vehicles to the prediction that someday there will be no human workers onsite at all — a fully digital mine.

Some within the industry, while open to the innovations brought by the mining industry’s influx of new technologies in recent years, are reticent about the concept.

“It is unlikely that Australian mine sites will become completely automated in the near future,” David Byers, interim chief executive officer of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) tells Australian Mining.

“There is no doubt that innovative

technology such as automation, along with drones, robotics and artificial intelligence, is changing the face of the modern mining sector.

Increasing automation of mining and logistics is also changing the nature of work – moving workers from mine sites to remote operational centres while requiring workers to enhance their skills.

“However, we believe the requirement for an onsite workforce will continue despite these trends.”

In a survey of MCA member companies, 70 per cent of respondents cited ‘R&D and adoption of new technologies’ as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to achieving future improvements in productivity.

A separate study of long-term

MINING TRUCK AUTOMATION HAS KICKSTARTED A POTENTIAL TECH RENAISSANCE FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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developments indicated that 69 per cent of mining companies across the globe were looking at introducing remote operations and monitoring centres, similar to Rio Tinto’s Perthbased operations centre introduced as part of its Mine of the Future plan. A further 29 per cent were looking into robotics and 27 per cent unmanned drones.

“The opportunities for Australia’s mining industry presented by new technologies and automation will only be fully realised by inspiring the next generation to pursue science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) disciplines,” explains Byers.

According to Michelle Ash, chief innovation officer of Canadian major Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold

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FUTURE OF MINING

THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY SUCH AS AUTOMATION, ALONG WITH DRONES, ROBOTICS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, IS CHANGING THE FACE OF THE MODERN MINING SECTOR.” miner, adoption of the digital mine could reduce all-in operational costs extensively over a time by a third, and sustaining costs by half if optimised to its fullest extent.

A speaker at many conferences on the topic of technological change in mining, she says the industry is ripe for disruption. Citing tailings and the movement of waste as the two biggest impacts on energy use, Ash explains that the mine of the future will come from the result of “nanosizing”, a process of reduction across several facets of an operation.

This process includes moving the smallest amounts possible while still achieving high extraction rates by shifting away from methods like diesel as a primary energy source and implementing renewable methods such as solar, wind and battery tech; and a gradual shift away from open cut operations to more underground mining closer to the face.

Eventually, stocks and tailings dams could be eliminated altogether, drawing on techniques such as closed-loop, recyclable water supplies (a technique already implemented

by Anglo American) and even gene editing.

The adoption of practices from other tech industries such as blockchain could also prove advantageous to manufacturing, particularly in gold and other precious metals industries, by decentralising production and improving efficiency, making the supply chain more transparent from extraction to end user.

All these practices, many borrowed from developments in other tech companies, will require reskilling and re-education of miners from administration and site workers to upper management.

“All of these versions of innovation in our industry are possible,” Ash says in a conference speech. “They’re possible with tech like artificial intelligence (AI), automation, blockchain and nanotechnology, but what then are some of the skills we need to enhance in order to make these things a reality?

“What we might actually have to do is completely rethink our industry so [that] our mines might be fully autonomous and fully electric, with smaller equipment and smaller tech.”

Despite improved safety, mining involves much more waste than it

did 100 years ago, including material, energy and water waste, and Ash is not the only one who believes the future is small.

Anglo American is another firm believer in the potential of the digital mine. Anglo American technical director Tony O’Neill stated at a conference that the industry could be “unrecognisable” in the next five to seven years as mining becomes increasingly automated, with companies’ focus turning further away from onsite staff and more towards government and community relations as sites become an increasingly human-free zone.

Anglo American’s tech-focused FutureSmart Mining sustainability program is heavily invested in the concept of increasing the use of robotics in mining.

According to a company statement, which echoes Ash’s notion of ‘nanosizing’, the company believes that ‘swarm’ robotics could break mining’s traditional “paradigm of scale” in the long term.

“Innovation in mining has traditionally meant scaling up bigger trucks, bigger shovels – to increase capacity. With robotics, the smaller the better: lightweight and modular, robots can perform multiple tasks, with precision, in any terrain.”

The company sees a potentially exciting future for the application of these swarms, which comprise of a fleet of lightweight robots built for use at deep levels in underground mining. Similar in concept to ants or locusts, the robots ultimate purpose would be to extract material with greater precision and lower waste ore consumption than regular mining methods.

It is clear that mining is being disrupted by technology, but the form it may take is still clouded. As Ash explains, “We are experiencing one of the greatest rates of change in how technology is changing our social interactions, and how we experience the world and each other, than at any other time in history since the Renaissance.”

It is an exciting time for futurists, speculators and hungry businesses with potentially industry-changing ideas and ideals, and whether or not workers have a place onsite in future, the industry will rise to meet new challenges. AM AUSTRALIANMINING

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MINING EQUIPMENT

MACKELLAR MINING EXCAVATOR ENTRANCE PAYS OFF THE QUEENSLAND-BASED CONTRACTOR HAS ESTABLISHED A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER LIEBHERR OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS. BEN CREAGH EXPLAINS.

M

acKellar Mining took a punt in 2016 when the mining industry was waiting for the start of a recovery.

Australian mining may still have its challenges today, but market conditions have improved considerably from where they were two years ago.

In early 2016, commodity prices were yet to bounce back after an extended period in the doldrums and investment was at its lowest level in years.

This challenging environment didn’t, however, stop MacKellar Mining from entering the large excavator marketplace for the first

HISTORICALLY, THE BUSINESS, WHICH WAS STARTED BY MY FATHER (ALASTAIR MACKELLAR), HAS STEERED CLEAR OF LARGE EXCAVATORS BECAUSE THEY ARE HIGH IN MAINTENANCE AND COSTLY TO MOVE.” time in the company’s 40-plusyear history as a provider of earthmoving equipment.

The company demonstrated that investment, even during mining’s down cycles, could prove beneficial and pave the way for growth opportunities when the market did turn.

Historically, Maroochydorebased MacKellar Mining had

focused on dump trucks, loaders and smaller diggers instead of large excavators.

This emphasis shifted in April 2016 when Mackellar Mining took control of a Liebherr R 996B, the second largest machine in the German manufacturer’s excavator range.

By adding the R 996B, a 672t machine with a 36m3 backhoe bucket, MacKellar Mining diversified

MACKELLAR MINING NOW OWNS A LIEBHERR PR 776 DOZER, ALONG WITH THE EXCAVATORS.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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into a new equipment class that complemented its range of dump trucks, including the Cat 789C. The acquisition has been rewarding, particularly as commodity prices started their well-publicised rise just a few months later; meaning demand for machinery has increased.

MacKellar Mining’s purchase of the Liebherr excavator two years ago has become the first of many, with the company placing an order for a fifth machine in May. Duncan MacKellar, managing director of MacKellar Mining, says the addition of the R 996B excavators has proven to be a complementary move for the company’s fleet.

However, he admits that it was a risky decision back in 2016.

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MINING EQUIPMENT

“Historically, the business, which was started by my father (Alastair MacKellar), has steered clear of large excavators because they are high in maintenance and costly to move. So there was a bit of risk involved around taking the excavator as a contractor,” Duncan MacKellar tells Australian Mining.

MacKellar Mining’s four R 996Bs are all operating in well-known mines in Queensland’s Bowen Basin coal sector, including the first machine at Sojitz’s Minerva operation.

Yancoal, a long-term client of MacKellar Mining, has two of the machines; one at the Yarrabee mine, and the other at the Middlemount joint venture with Peabody Energy.

Junior miner Batchfire Resources is using the fourth R 996B at the Callide operation.

“The feedback (on the excavators) has been very consistent,” Duncan MacKellar continues.

“Liebherr has provided a very high quality of fitter and support staff that are available to service the machines.

“Their field service is exceptional, the availability of their people has been great, their parts solid and the quality of the local management in Mackay has been strong.”

As MacKellar Mining has grown its fleet of Liebherr excavators, the company’s partnership with the manufacturer has also developed.

MacKellar Mining and Liebherr, while being companies of contrasting scale and originating from different continents, have found they share similar organisational values, particular as family-run and grown companies.

Liebherr Australia general manager – sales and marketing Tom Juric says

the relationship between the two companies has “gone from strength to strength” since 2016.

“At the beginning you are always a bit unsure about new people you have never done business with, but I would have to say from the get-go we have viewed MacKellar as a longterm strategic partner,” Juric tells Australian Mining.

Juric believes MacKellar Mining’s entry into the large excavator sector may have surprised some, but it has turned out to be a smart move.

“Back then the market was pretty down, it wasn’t a good time in mining, so it was really surprising to see these guys take that sort of a punt in 2016,” Juric recalls.

“It was during 2016 that the machine went to work and then the market started to turnaround – MacKellar must have known something that the rest of us didn’t.

“We are absolutely rapt with the timing of the deal and that MacKellar has expanded with additional excavators since then.”

The partnership has also extended beyond the excavators, with MacKellar Mining adding the recently released Liebherr PR 776 dozer to its fleet.

Duncan MacKellar is full of praise for how Liebherr responds from an after-market service perspective to satisfy the mine operators using the excavators or dozer.

“For a contractor that is critical when choosing a piece of equipment as It opens up a lot more options if you have to place a machine elsewhere,” Duncan MacKellar says.

MacKellar Mining’s move into the large excavator equipment class followed another significant

MACKELLAR MINING RECEIVED THE FIRST R 996B FROM LIEBHERR IN 2016.

expansion four years earlier.

The company partnered with Spanish contractor EPSA Group in 2012 to form MacKellar EPSA, a new services company that broadened its offering as a contractor on a global scale.

The partnership allowed MacKellar Mining to combine its local knowledge with EPSA’s international strengths, diversifying it further into the mining services and civil and infrastructure earthmoving markets.

MacKellar EPSA has delivered a variety of projects, including dozer push operations, coal mining services, mineral sands mining services and large volume bulk earthworks for highway upgrades.

As a mining contractor, MacKellar is providing services for Batchfire at the Callide operation. The company has started to build a presence in

MACKELLAR MINING HAS ORDERED A FIFTH R 996B FROM LIEBHERR.

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the civil sector on major projects in Queensland.

Juric believes development like the EPSA partnership, as well as the expansion into larger excavators, has strengthened MacKellar Mining’s reputation.

“It has established Mackellar’s credentials as all-round mining contractors … not just a company that dabbles in a certain size of contract,” Juric says.

“These guys can perform at the small end of the scale right up into bulk work, which has traditionally been dominated by fairly large, listed contract miners.”

With a fleet now featuring around 280 pieces of equipment, Duncan MacKellar is hopeful the uptick in the mining market over the past 18 months continues.

He says recent signs suggest the buoyancy of the mine owners will flow over to equipment and services companies like MacKellar Mining.

“My view is that commodity prices and the industry have been on the up for 18 months, but there was a good six months of cautious optimism, even six to 12 months.

It is really now that those prices have stabilised but it has been that way for up to 18 months,” Duncan MacKellar says.

“As a contractor there has definitely been a significant lag in that upturn to correlate to equipment rates.

“Now everyone is going ‘okay, this looks like it has settled down and we should be in a reasonable position for another cycle’, however long that may be.”

If the growth in MacKellar Mining’s fleet of Liebherr excavators is any guide, however, then the cautious optimism has also become genuine for this industry partnership. AM

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MINING WASTE

COBALT FLAGGED AS QUEENSLAND NICKEL REFINERY FUTURE CLIVE PALMER TELLS AUSTRALIAN MINING OF HIS PLAN TO REVIVE THE YABULU NICKEL REFINERY NEAR TOWNSVILLE MORE THAN TWO YEARS AFTER IT WAS CLOSED.

REOPENING THE REFINERY WOULD PROVIDE TOWNSVILLE WITH A BOOST.

for more than two years and remains the focus of a court case between Palmer and liquidators.

Palmer says his companies have more than $500 million of cash in Queensland banks to reopen the refinery.

Despite the closure, QNI has installed a cobalt refinery at Yabulu and plans to process the tailings at the site for the first seven years of operations following the proposed restart.

The company wants to ship the cobalt in containers through the port of Brisbane. It also intends to extract nickel from the Greenvale ore at the refinery as part of the processing.

Palmer is considering further investment in the refinery to double its production capacity. He says more than a billion dollars has been invested in Line 2, by previous owner BHP, and an additional $200 million investment could see production increase to 75,000t/y.

“This is good news for Townsville.

A full technical study has been completed to take the necessary steps to commence production,’’ Palmer says.

QNI will continue to operate under AUSTRALIANMINING

the terms of the Queensland Nickel entity, which has been passed by the state’s parliament.

Palmer says QNI is not seeking cash from any party or financial assistance to reopen the refinery. It would, instead, be achieved from his group’s own funds.

“What is needed is a positive approach from government to assist the refinery reopening in the shortest possible time,” Palmer says.

“The refinery operations over 40 years provided 3000 jobs for North Queensland and was North Queensland’s largest employer.

“It is time for all sides to forget about politics and to support the Queensland company that owns the refinery and is debt free to open and operate for the benefit of Townsville and the nation.”

Palmer is eager to ensure the refinery remains a Queensland-owned facility. He says foreign companies have made several offers for Yabulu, but he has knocked them back for the sake of the state.

“So many industries have closed in North Queensland in recent times and overseas investors have just taken

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their money and abandoned North Queensland,’’ Palmer says.

“The team at the refinery by their hard work and diligence have now confirmed the $6 billion of cobalt we now have in inventory on site. It time to work together for a stronger and better North Queensland.’’

Palmer acquired the refinery from BHP Billiton in 2009. AM

Image credit: shutterstock.com

B

usinessman Clive Palmer claims tailings owned by his companies in Queensland contain cobalt worth $6 billion.

Palmer says his QNI Resources and other companies mined nickel in the state’s north at Greenvale for more than 40 years that has been found to be high in cobalt The increasingly valuable mineral has historically been deposited as tailings instead of being extracted as a by-product of the nickel.

Cobalt prices have surged in recent years, reaching record highs of more than $US90,000/t in 2018, due to the metal’s expected demand for batteries and electric vehicles (EVs).

Palmer says a survey confirms that the tailings have more than 69,000t of cobalt.

“The inventory owned by QNI and located on their freehold property at Townsville is a major asset of the QNI group, worth billions of dollars,’’ Palmer says.

QNI has approved plans to reopen the Yabulu Nickel Refinery near Townsville. The site has been closed

BUSINESSMAN CLIVE PALMER HAS A PLAN FOR THE YABULU REFINERY.

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GOLD MINING

THE GOLD STANDARD: HOW NOTRE DAME COULD REVOLUTIONISE EXTRACTION NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS HAVE CREATED A MOLECULE THAT COULD DELIVER ENVIRONMENTAL AND EFFICIENCY BENEFITS FOR GOLD EXTRACTION. AUSTRALIAN MINING WRITES.

F

or all of mining’s technological leaps in recent years some things remain firmly in the past. Nowhere is this more apparent than the use of potassium cyanide in gold leaching, a process that has remained largely unchanged since its inception in the mining industry over a century ago.

Sodium cyanide is useful for the extraction of gold from goldbearing ore, but it is extremely poisonous and can cause significant environmental damage. Researchers at the microscopy-focused Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility, led

by Professor Bradley Smith of the University of Notre Dame in

Indiana, may have found another way.

“From a purely technical standpoint, it is truly remarkable that the 125-year old process of cyanide leaching is still in operation today even in the world’s most technically-advanced countries,” Smith tells Australian Mining.

“There is likely no other major industrial process that has endured for so long without disruption.”

Smith and his team released an academic article for the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) entitled, ‘Macrocyclic receptors for precious gold, platinum or palladium coordination complexes’ that details a new process for precious metals extraction.

Their research led to the creation of a type of molecule that in the words of the team’s paper can, “selectively encapsulate anionic, square-planar chloride and bromide coordination complexes of gold(III), platinum(II), and palladium(II).”

In more

AUSTRALIANMINING

general terms, the team created a molecule (referred to as a molecular complexation agent) that is capable of attaching itself to molecules in gold-containing ore for the process of separating and purifying gold chloride and gold bromide from a leach solution.

By-products of this reaction are then converted into relatively harmless chloroauric acid, allowing for simple reduction via industrial solvents. The process is not just limited to gold, it can be applied to other precious metals such as palladium and platinum, which share a similar chemical structure with gold.

Smith, a chemistry and biochemistry professor, led the study, accompanied by doctoral student Wenqi Liu and Notre Dame Molecular Structure Facility director Allen Oliver, using funds from the National Science Foundation.

The research was originally driven by curiosity rather than any financial or industrial incentive; Liu found a way to synthesise arene tetralactam macroycycles, complexation agents designed as supramolecular hosts for the capture of dye molecules.

These molecules hold the same shape as gold chloride molecules, a serendipitous and coincidental discovery that

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allowed the project to evolve into a distinct study of gold-selective precipitation.

The team’s process eliminates the need for water, which has the potential to reduce tailings waste and encourage recycling of solvents. Once perfected, Smith’s team hopes to hold financial potential in mining situations where cyanide is not a feasible choice, or as a method of extracting gold from waste streams.

“Many alternative lixiviants have been explored over the years as potential replacements for cyanide, especially oxidising solutions that convert the ore into gold chloride or gold bromide,” Smith explains.

“While these alternative methods are environmentally more benign, there are various technical challenges due in large part to the lower stability of gold chloride and gold bromide, which complicates the purification steps.”

The research is expected to host potential applications for several industries, such as recycling, water purification, process chemistry and pharmaceuticals, but it is the mining industry that is front and centre when it comes to precious metals.

“We are hoping to form collaborations with mining experts who can help us to first identify the quantitative performance benchmarks that will produce a broad positive impact, and then enable us to achieve those benchmarks,” Smith concludes. AM

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TRACKING THE TRENDS

THE FLUIDITY OF WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN MINING HAVE PROGRESSED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM WHEN THEY WERE PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON HOW TO SECURE ACCESS TO THE RESOURCE. AUSTRALIAN MINING EXPLAINS.

W

ater has always been an issue for Australian mining operations – the famous story of the Goldfields Water Supply Scheme in the late 19th Century is a prime example of how the resource was managed in the formative years of the industry.

Charles Yelverton O’Connor designed the pipeline from Mundaring Weir to the Eastern Goldfields in Western Australia to provide much-needed water

to communities and mines in the then-remote region.

Reliable water access in isolated mining areas remains a key issue in Australia, but it is now joined by concerns being increasingly experienced in the country’s diverse environments.

As Deloitte’s 2018 Tracking the Trends report states, “floods, ice melt and severe storms have the potential to create excess water,” an issue that can be equally as damaging.

The mining sectors in Queensland and New South Wales know all too well about the threat of floods and

severe storms, having felt the impact of a number of cyclones over the past decade that suspended operations.

Abnormal events, blamed on phenomenon like El Nino, have further introduced climate change as a consideration that must be taken into account when mining companies develop water management strategies, both for now and into the future.

Paul Dobson, Deloitte AsiaPacific sustainability and climate risk partner, says long-term concerns like climate change and the resilience measures required in preparation for it have come to the fore.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES USE MORE WATER TO RECOVERY ORE AT OLDER MINES.

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“Companies not only have to manage water usage, but also the long-term aspects like climate change and how they interact with communities,” Dobson tells Australian Mining.

“The interplay between water and social licence has become stronger and stronger. The social and broader climate change impacts potentially mean less water in the long term, but also likely mean extreme events like increased flooding.”

The size of Australia means its mining regions often have to deal with vastly different conditions and water management considerations,

TRACKING THE TRENDS

Dobson adds. The major miners, with operations throughout the country, need to be prepared for all of these conditions.

“In the north, in the tropical regions, if cyclones and floods get more extreme you have to manage those events and the resilience aspect much more than to the south where it is dryer,” he says.

New mining technologies join weather as another factor that is influencing how companies have to manage water at operations, according to David Cormack, partner at Deloitte.

As ore grades decline, more water is needed to extract the same amount of ore, pushing up water requirements in the industry to use these technologies.

Cormack says an example of these technologies is in situ recovery, a process used to extract minerals like copper through boreholes drilled into a deposit.

“One of the challenges with in situ extraction is containment and part of that containment is the ground water situation. It is kind of a catch 22 for mining companies,” Cormack tells Australian Mining.

In light of the challenge new technologies create, mining companies must enhance their approach to water management by finding more innovative ways to reuse and recycle water, the Deloitte report continues.

As these elements come into play, Dobson believes water management will continue to emerge as an issue for mining companies in much the same way energy efficiency has in recent years.

“I think water is now being seen as the next big thing from a macro country perspective,” he says.

“The broader trend has been more about how we measure carbon usage and carbon prices, but how do we also leverage water?

“It is a big issue already and it is only going to get bigger and more diverse because of the climate change impacts that are going to roll

out in the coming decades.”

Deloitte’s leading strategies for water management:

Conduct a water risk assessment

Risk assessments allow companies to gain a clear understanding of the risk factors associated with their current water use, such as impact on operations if local water levels drop or the potential disruptions they may face due to extreme weather conditions.

Put a cost to water

In an age of water scarcity, it is becoming imperative to price water on a full cost basis, taking into account not only its access cost, but also the costs associated (for instance) with its treatment and chemical alteration, to monitor wastewater or tailings facilities over the course of decades, and to build treatment or desalination plants.

Using digital technology to manage water use

New technologies give companies the ability to monitor the quantity of their water intake in real time, determine how much water is required for various mining processes, and track the quality of the water they retain in their tailings facilities or release into the environment.

“ ProTrac measures reliably – even under extreme conditions.”

Rethink traditional mining processes

Companies that are achieving true innovation in water management tend to take regional factors into account before a mine is ever built.

This has seen some companies adopt increasingly innovative water management approaches.

Take a shared value approach to water use

New from VEGA: the radiation-based instrument series, ProTrac.

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COAL MINES MUST MANAGE A RANGE OF WATER CONCERNS, SUCH AS FLOODS AND STORMS.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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PROSPECT AWARDS

A CUSTOM FIT: CATCHING UP WITH CUSTOM MINING PRODUCTS CUSTOM MINING PRODUCTS FOUNDER ROBERT GOLDSPINK WON NOT ONE, BUT TWO PROSPECT AWARDS IN 2015 FOR HIS INVENTIVE UNDERGROUND MINING PRODUCTS. EWEN HOSIE CATCHES UP WITH GOLDSPINK TO FIND OUT WHAT HE’S BEEN UP TO SINCE.

R

obert Goldspink’s mining inventions are the kind of simple-yetingenious devices that can make a person wonder why they had never been thought of before. A miner with 34 years of experience, his inventions are designed to help make the day-to-day workload of operators easier, safer and more efficient.

Goldspink’s efforts netted his company Custom Mining Products two Australian Mining Prospect Awards in the same year.

At the 2015 event, he won in two separate categories: Excellence in Mine Safety, OH&S for his QDS Duckbill Ejector, and Innovative Mining Solution for his Drill Water Capture System, both of which were designed primarily for underground mine sites.

The former is a duckbill for underground loading and carrying that sets itself apart from the competition by incorporating hydraulic pusher plates that can help to retrieve and eject palettes in a safe and efficient manner. The latter is designed to provide a drier working environment

during vertical drilling in underground mines by collecting and separating dirty drill water from fines via a simple-yet-effective pump system with no moving parts.

Goldspink admits he was somewhat surprised when he won the awards, especially since his company Custom Mining Products had launched in 2014.

“I felt it was a bit of an achievement to receive the awards because generally the attitude within the mining industry is that if something could have been done, someone would have done it by now,” he tells Australian Mining.

“I went out on a limb to chase these ideas in terms of both time and finances during a mining downturn.”

It was a risk that paid off. Goldspink hasn’t rested on his laurels since the awards, continuing to expand his company with several new products. Notable among these is his collaboration with Enerpac, the Underground Intensifier Pump, designed for tensioning of cable bolts and mega bolts at speeds of up to six times faster than regular pumps.

Alongside the QDS Duckbill

Ejector, it has become one of Custom Mining Products’ most popular products.

The company is planning to launch a lightweight tensioner head that is significantly lighter than typical tensioner heads next.

“The guys at the sites are lifting these things up above them all the time, every five to 10 minutes, and they can weigh 19 or 20kg,” Goldspink explains.

“We’ve now reduced the weight down to around 12kg. That jack was in the system for years and years and nobody actually looked at how to improve that. We also reduced the tail length of the bolt that hangs from the roof, which is normally about 150 to 200mm, and we’ve reduced that from 60 to 80mm.

“What that means is that in areas with low roofs in a coal mine you don’t have this bolt hanging down that people can hit.”

Custom Mining Products is also developing a new range of roofsupporting props designed to rival current acrow prop standards. Called Flexiprop, it has been patented in 12 countries and has generated

THE QDS DUCKBILL EJECTOR IS ONE OF GOLDSPINKS’ BEST-KNOWN CREATIONS.

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significant international interest, particularly from the building industry, which is one of Custom Mining Products’ next areas of expansion.

“We’re moving into the building industry as well as mining now,” says Goldspink, “and starting to look at international markets for that.

China, the US, Russia and Canada are the countries we are looking at in particular.”

For the moment, however, mining remains at the company’s heart.

Goldspinks believes the industry needs to show more support for new ideas. In the wake of the shift away from the mining downturn in the second half of 2016, mining companies are still cautious.

“They’ve been bitten once before with prices being so high, and there’s always that air of caution,” says Goldspink.

“What I find is that no matter how good your product is, it often depends on who you know. Even though there’s a lot of benefits to it, it’s the culture that is the hardest thing to change.” AM Visit prospectawards.com.au/ nominations/

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GEOBANK MOBILE INTEGRATION A BOOST FOR GEOLOGISTS MICROMINE HAS INTEGRATED GEOBANK MOBILE WITH THE TERRAPLUS KT-10V2 DEVICE TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCIES AND ADD VALUE FOR EXPLORATION COMPANIES. AUSTRALIAN MINING WRITES.

GEOBANK MOBILE NOW HAS MORE REAL-TIME CAPABILITIES.

M

ining software company MICROMINE is now delivering instant collection and management of magnetic susceptibility readings with Geobank Mobile.

MICROMINE’s data acquisition and management solution has been enhanced to integrate directly to the Terraplus KT-10 Magnetic Susceptibility device.

The Terraplus KT-10 is used by global exploration companies to assist in providing key data relating to magnetic susceptibility of different rocks and minerals.

Understanding the magnetic susceptibility of rocks and minerals is important for identifying ore zones, rock contacts and specific minerals in a rock.

This is seen in gold ore deposits where ferromagnetic sulphide minerals, such as pyrite and pyrrhotite can be indicators of gold mineralisation.

Being able to plot a trace of magnetic

susceptibility values next to other observations, measurements and values greatly assists in defining and understanding the ore deposit.

MICROMINE’s Geobank Mobile development team views the integration with KT-10 as a key strategy in the direction it is taking to help exploration companies in this area, according to product strategy manager Mark Gabbitus.

“Our mission is to make Geobank Mobile the first choice in geoscientific data collection and adding integration to the end devices is a key component of achieving our aim,” Gabbitus says.

The KT-10 integration with Geobank Mobile is simplifying and optimising the collection of exploration data, particularly in remote areas of poor connectivity. Instead of storing and analysing magnetic susceptibility data in the cloud or a proprietary database, users have the ability to do this on-site and in near real time.

Gabbitus says the connectivity challenge with devices such as the KT10 is that they store data on-board, in a AUSTRALIANMINING

proprietary database or in a siloed cloud database.

“For the data to be useful, it needs to be merged into a single location for analysis, which takes time,” Gabbitus says.

“By collecting this data from the end devices at the point of collection we not only reduce the effort required to merge data later on, but also present the data to the geologist in the field as they are working instead of weeks later.

“This gives the geologist the ability to make near real-time decisions that

add value to a drilling program.”

Integration is an important strategy within the MICROMINE framework to provide holistic solutions and flexibility. MICROMINE solutions are also agnostic with third-party products.

Having the magnetic susceptibility value automatically recorded with the correct location or drillhole ID, and at the correct drillhole interval, is then achieved, thus increasing the data workflow efficiencies.

Gabbitus says the integration not only saves time for geologists, but also adds value for exploration companies using a KT-10 device.

“They can use the observations and measurements collected during drilling to plan the next hole to be drilled; that will add the most value to the business,” he says.

“We can only do this effectively if we can integrate the data at the point of capture and present it to the geologist there and then.”

The additional benefit of the integration is that all readings and measurements are automatically uploaded to the master database where they are merged with the laboratory assay results to produce a full geoscientific database for use in 3D modelling software, such as Micromine.

Geobank Mobile is also able to connect to Barcode, GPS and Scale devices and on-board cameras, Gabbitus adds.

“We are working with our clients and a number of hardware vendors to add further integrations,” he says.

“Integrating with devices like Imdex’s IQ-Logger, Olympus’ pXRF and DSLR cameras will happen in the next few versions.” AM

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HASTINGS DEERING TALKS TECH JASON SMITH, GENERAL MANAGER FOR MINING SALES AT QUEENSLAND-BASED CAT DEALER HASTINGS DEERING, DISCUSSES THE LATEST EQUIPMENT AND TECHNOLOGY TRENDS WITH AUSTRALIAN MINING.

T

he mining equipment sector experienced a lift in optimism in 2017 that has gathered momentum so far this year.

Buoyed by the increasing health of coal and base metals prices, Queensland has shown considerable growth.

Strong international demand for coking and thermal coal, and the relative stability of prices for both, has led to a spike in operational activity.

Queensland coal royalties soared to a record-breaking $3.8 billion in the 2017–18 financial year in a sign of the turnaround.

Base metals, meanwhile, are enjoying a revival of their own in Queensland.

Activity around mineral-rich areas like Mt Isa have increased to levels not seen since the mining boom as operators capitalise on surging prices.

Zinc, for example, has hit 10-year highs in 2018.

For Cat dealer Hastings Deering this shift has been palpable, with a host of new product offerings arriving over the past year to help meet renewed demand.

Jason Smith, Hastings Deering general manager for mining sales, says the momentum has definitely

continued since this time last year.

“We’ve certainly seen that across all our products from new equipment to used equipment, to parts and service.

It’s across the board, really, we’re not seeing a spike in one particular area,” Smith tells Australian Mining.

Caterpillar has launched several new or updated machines over the past year, including the R1700 hard rock loader in June.

The loader boasts improved productivity, payload and fuel consumption when compared with the previous model. It has also been designed for improved modularity, which makes the vehicle easier to service.

Two hydraulic mining shovels, the 6015B and 6020B, have also performed well since their launch earlier this year, while the updated 6060 hydraulic mining shovel is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Smith says higher volumes of both overburden and coal being shipped in the open cut space have driven renewed demand for machinery.

The increased volumes have, in turn, increased the ancillary need for trucks, graders, dozers and other earthmoving equipment, including the D11T, the largest dozer Hastings Deering offers.

AUSTRALIANMINING

“Once you have to move more dirt obviously you have requirements for trucks and shovels, and once you get that requirement for trucks and shovels you’ll will obviously then need ancillary for all the trucks, graders and dozers to support that equipment,” Smith says.

“So that’s why we tend to see the whole market lift as the demand lifts for the truck and shovel fleets.”

Another notable area for Hastings Deering has been the growing prevalence of early adopters of the latest technologies, with companies looking to invest more as the mining cycle has improved.

Autonomous technology, in particular, has become more accessible to operators.

The release of Cat Command for Dozing, part of the autonomous tech suite Cat MineStar, has attracted considerable attention at the equipment company.

Command for Dozing, which allows workers access to both remote line-ofsight (LOS) and non-LOS operation for dozers, finished production trials this year.

The interest in automation has led to a renewed focus on safety, Smith adds.

“I think we’re seeing increased

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demand in relation to monitored driver fatigue systems that we can offer from a safety point of view,” explains Smith.

“We’re seeing more customers take up the optionality of engaging Hastings Deering to utilising our equipment care advisors, who can do remote monitoring for customers, monitor machine performance remotely and advise customers of any potential issues with their machines and technology.”

It is a trend that lends credence to a memorable (and seemingly prophetic) keynote address by Cat longwall automation and engineering manager Sebastian Mundry at a conference in 2015.

Mundry stated that innovation through technology was a key catalyst for boosting the bottom line for businesses.

These signs have been present at Hastings Deering over the past year, indicative of both returning health and increasing interest in technology.

However, Smith says spending remains somewhat tempered compared with the height of the mining boom due to a more cautious breed of mining company.

“While miners are continuing to invest in the market, said investment

TECHNOLOGY

CAT CONTINUES TO INTRODUCE NEW AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGIES. IMAGE: HASTINGS DEERING.

remains considered,” explains Smith. “They’re not just throwing caution to the wind with the current investment cycle.”

And while safety is the most important factor for workers at modern mine sites, productivity is also at the forefront of customers’ minds.

Smith has found that some mine operators have a preference for running machines for longer than their planned maintenance periods since they don’t like to

perform machine maintenance to a set schedule. This preference has led to increased interest in remote monitoring among customers.

“They are actually purchasing the machines with that technology so that they can be tech ready — they’re not necessarily putting the machines to work as semi-autonomous units, but they will have the option to do that in future if they choose to,” he explains.

“Essentially it’s being driven from a safety point of view and a productivity point of view, so with

Hastings monitoring the equipment can pick up major events or potentially catastrophic failures prior to it occurring, and the customer is able to then take that info and action something on a piece of equipment prior to a catastrophic failure.

“Obviously that means the machine is down for a shorter period, it’s more cost-effective to do it prior to a failure, so from that point of view the customer benefits. The customer can then schedule their downtime around it.” AM

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ENERGY

AES 2018: A SHOWCASE OF ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES THE AUSTRALIAN ENERGY STORAGE CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION (AES 2018) EXPLORED HOW ENERGY STORAGE CONTRIBUTES TO OVERALL SUSTAINABILITY. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

T

he fifth edition of the Australian Energy Storage (AES) Conference and Exhibition, held in Adelaide during May, brought together experts and leading companies in energy storage to showcase new technologies and processes in the sector.

More than 60 leading companies in the Australian and global energy storage industry exhibited their newest technologies.

The conference sessions focused on the latest developments in lithium batteries, flow batteries, hydrogen storage, silicon thermal storage, compressed air storage, flywheel energy storage, inverters, lead acid batteries, pumped hydro, hybrid system providers, and energy management.

A dominant message at the conference was the need to prepare Australia for the inevitable transition to renewable energy and the available solutions to do so in the most sustainable way.

Sanjeev Gupta, chairman of the GFG Alliance and majority shareholder of SIMEC ZEN Energy, delivered the keynote presentation, which touched on his company’s investment plans in various sectors in Australia, including more mining acquisitions, establishing a bank for the mid-corporate companies and expanding the scrap steel and scrap aluminium recycling businesses (Green Steel and Green Aluminium).

He highlighted the need to tackle high energy costs in Australia by investing in renewables, noting that energy consumption in Australia

is expected to grow with the evolution of domestic economy and the flow of foreign investments in various sectors.

In the last year, Gupta’s company acquired Arrium Mining and Arrium Steel and invested in upgrading Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia. Gupta also purchased a majority stake in ZEN Energy through his father’s energy company, the SIMEC Group – renaming the company SIMEC ZEN. In an interview with Australian Mining, Gupta says his company has invested heavily in iron ore beneficiation in the existing Arrium mines.

“Through the investment, we have now started making 61 per cent Fe iron ore. This is a considerable improvement over the 58 per cent Fe

iron ore previously produced, both in terms of price and yield of steel,” he says.

“While the process had started before we bought Arrium, we extended the process so that almost all of our iron ore now is of high grade. There is a little bit left which is also in the transition, so that we will be producing only high-grade iron ore in the near future.”

Gupta says his company also plans to invest in acquiring magnetite mines in South Australia, calling it “the future of iron ore” for his company.

“South Australia has an abundance of magnetite and we are planning big investments in this area. Even though [extracting] magnetite is not as easy as haematite, the process consumes less energy compared to

GFG ALLIANCE ACQUIRED THE WHYALLA STEELWORKS IN 2017.

AUSTRALIANMINING

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ENERGY

haematite and I think it’s the future of iron ore for us,” he says.

He also mentions plans by his company to invest in graphite mining and copper refining in South Australia and to expand the recycled steel smelting operations in Whyalla.

Noting that all those businesses are highly energy-intensive, he says investments in renewable energy e-generation and storage are an underpinning aspect of his company’s investments in Australia.

“Energy is a great cost in all of our business sectors. Energy costs account for 25 per cent of our costs in iron ore palletising and a third of over all steel production costs,” Gupta says.

To address the high energy costs, he says the company is pursuing

three sets of strategies: firstly, taking control of its own energy generation through large-scale and small-scale solar projects and co-generation of energy; secondly, pairing energy generation with load balancing mechanisms including battery storage and pumped-hydro storage; and thirdly, developing renewable energy solutions for the wider society – such as the long-term energy supply contract between SIMEC ZEN and the South Australian Government.

SIMEC ZEN Energy is in the process of constructing a 120MW/140 MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility – world’s largest – in Port Augusta. Gupta says his company is also exploring possibilities for a pumped hydro energy storage

GFG ALLIANCE CHAIRMAN SANJEEV GUPTA.

plant with estimated capacity of 90MW/390MWh, as well as utilising depleted mine pits for pumpedhydro storage.

While GFG Alliance has earlier committed to building 1GW of large-scale solar plus storage in and around Whyalla in South Australia, he says GFG’s investments in renewable energy across Australia could increase to as much as 10GW – keeping in line with the company’s industrial growth.

Flow batteries as a sustainable solution

The AES conference sessions focused on sustainable energy storage solutions, with Simon Hackett, non-executive director and technology evangelist – Redflow, highlighting the merits of adopting flow batteries, which are constructed from recyclable or reusable components.

Flow batteries offer benefits over traditional battery chemistries such as lead-acid and lithium-based batteries – by providing 100 per cent daily depth of discharge and retaining their full energy storage capacity throughout their warranted life.

Redflow offers ZBM2 (zinc bromide module) flow batteries for telecommunications, commercial, industrial and grid-scale applications, and ZCell for home energy storage.

While flow batteries have been used for years in large-scale applications, such as to power telecommunication towers in remote locations, Hackett says Redflow is the first company to introduce flow batteries in a scalable, smallscale format for commercial and residential applications.

“This is the only flow battery you can get in through the door,” Hackett tells Australian Mining.

But the small size does not mean limitations in storage capacity, as Redflow’s batteries can be arrayed in any number to meet the required storage capacity.

An example of this is demonstrated by Redflow at its ‘battery lab’ in Adelaide, where an array of 60 Redflow ZBM3 batteries are installed in a container-size unit, creating the capacity to store 660kWh of energy.

New battery inverter-charger

by Victron Energy Victron Energy showcased its latest battery inverter-charger, the MultiPlus-II, at AES. AUSTRALIANMINING

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The MultiPlus-II is a 48-volt inverter-charger that readily connects with a wide range of energy storage systems, from lead-acid and lithium-based batteries to zincbromine flow batteries. The unit is easier to install than earlier models with AC connections accessible via a single plate on its base.

The 18kg MultiPlus-II draws just 11 watts of standby power, less than half that used by the model it supersedes.

Victron Energy sales manager, Philip Crotty, says that the MultiPlus-II converters use old, long-proven design methodology, but offer that at competitive costs through adoption of modern manufacturing methods and new components.

“We have designed this model specifically for on-grid energy storage systems, but it can also be used in off-grid and micro grid connections,” he tells Australian Mining.

As with all Victron inverterchargers, the MultiPlus-II is a transformer-based system, which can immediately deliver backup power if the grid drops out, including startup supply for high-demand devices such as air conditioners and freezers.

Another popular application, according to Crotty, is in optimising the work of diesel generators.

“Diesel generators are used in many remote sites, such as in the mining applications. The diesel generators are built for the maximum load, but quite often the load is way below the maximum. In this situation, the efficiency is very low and it causes quicker wear-out,” he says.

“If you have a battery, instead of running the generator 24 hours a day, you can run it for two to three hours a day at peak efficiency and fill up the battery. And then, those variable loads can be taken out of the battery.”

Other exhibitors launched new products, allowing delegates to be the first to see the latest technologies in the market. Tesla showcased its Powerwall 2 battery storage, while ESS featured its iron flow battery system.

Another major highlight was the opportunity to tour the Hornsdale Wind Farm/Power Reserve, Adelaide HS and the Tonsley Innovation Precinct, and Redflow and the Highbury Pumped Hydro Energy Storage site. AM

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CASE STUDY

SCREENING MEDIA INSTALLATION SYSTEM REDUCES PROCESSING PLANT INJURY RISK GLENCORE AND METSO HAVE WORKED TOGETHER TO DELIVER A MAJOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENT AT THE RAVENSWORTH COAL OPERATION IN THE HUNTER VALLEY.

R

avensworth open cut operation is located in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, between the towns of Muswellbrook and

Singleton.

It incorporates the open cut mine and a coal handling and preparation plant (CHPP). The mine is a joint venture between Itochu Corporation (10 per cent) and Glencore (90 per cent). The CHPP assets are owned by the joint venture and operated by Glencore.

Mining was established at Ravensworth in the early 1970s. The open cut operation was originally a domestic concern, but has grown into a large export-producing site, processing around 14 million tonnes a year (Mt/y).

Coal is moved from the mining areas via internal coal haul roads. It is then crushed by rotary sizers before being transported by conveyor belt systems to the Ravensworth CHPP. While most of the plant’s production is destined for export, mainly to Asia, some thermal coal is also delivered to the Bayswater and Liddell Power stations for domestic power generation.

Ravensworth produces both thermal and semi-soft coking (metallurgical)

coal. The thermal coal product is highly volatile with strong combustion characteristics and is widely used for power generation as well as for general industrial use.

The facility’s metallurgical coal is used in steelmaking blast furnaces as a component in the coke blend. The semi-soft coal is low in ash and sulphur with attractive coking properties.

Safety — the highest priority

Mining and quarrying can be very hazardous activities, so companies involved in these industries are extremely focused on ensuring the health and safety of their people.

Ravensworth Operations employs around 800 people and according to operations manager Tony Morris, the safety of its employees is the company’s top priority.

“We continue to investigate and implement new safety systems and controls to minimise the risk to our employees. The ultimate goal of Glencore’s ‘SafeCoal’ program is the production of coal with the certainty that there will be no fatalities or injuries to people working in or around our operations,” he said.

As CHPP manager with overall responsibility for Glencore’s AUSTRALIANMINING

Ravensworth coal preparation facility, Phil Enderby takes worker safety very seriously.

A veteran of the coal mining industry, Enderby has been with Glencore since it merged with Xstrata in 2013, and in the coal preparation industry for about 22 years. Having started with BHP at the steelworks as an electrician, he also studied electrical engineering.

Enderby moved into coal preparation in 1996 at Dartbrook Coal then moved to Bulga, and finally to Ravensworth.

He has extensive experience in all aspects of coal preparation, including electrical engineering, electrical and mechanical maintenance, as well as process engineering, and has been the manager of the Ravensworth CHPP for almost five years.

“One of our main safety concerns are the risks involved with the amount of maintenance that is required,” he said. “There are many tasks that involve a lot of planning, assessment and control of risk, and we like to get the guys to think about why they are being safe.

“It’s not just about compliance – we want them to think about what they value in life outside of their work, so that these thoughts are with

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them when they are doing their risk assessments.

“They may have kids, be looking forward to a holiday with the family, etc. and you can only do that if you are healthy. We encourage the guys to think about these things and remember that there is always a good reason to keep safety front of mind.”

Hammers a major risk

Due to the hands-on nature of much of the maintenance work in industrial facilities such as coal preparation plants, hand injuries are the most common injury encountered, and of these a significant proportion comes from the use of hammers.

As a result, senior management at Glencore set a challenge, beginning at CHPPs, to eliminate the use of hammers at all of its facilities. Phil Enderby took on the challenge.

“It is no mean feat to eliminate the use of hammers,” he said. “It’s a big challenge because hammers are used everywhere.

“Where was one of our biggest risk with hammers? Maintaining the screen media. When you look at the positions the guys are in – using hammers when maintaining the screens – you can see that there are significant safety risks.”

CASE STUDY

The importance of the screens

Because the raw coal from the mine contains impurities such as sand and rock, and often has a significant variability in terms of size, it must be washed and crushed to product specification. Screens play an important role in grading (size separation) and dewatering the coal.

“At the end of the day, in coal preparation screening is very important,” said Enderby. “We have 22 screens here. If they are not working efficiently and effectively, product can be misplaced to reject and vice versa, affecting yield, product quality and revenue, so it is very important that every screen is doing its job.”

The screens in use at the Ravensworth CHPP range in size from 4.2m wide by 7m long, down to smaller machines 1.8m wide. Each screen has decks made up of removable screening media panels 300 x 600mm in size.

Screen maintenance is currently scheduled every two weeks.

Technicians are required to get onto the screen decks to examine every single screen panel and assess the aperture size. The panels are replaced according to the wear of the apertures so that Ravensworth can optimise the life of the panels without compromising screening efficiency.

The maintenance involves from six to eight people every maintenance day, and can take between eight and

10 hours to complete. If the panels are not checked correctly, there is a chance of panel failure in the following two weeks, causing poor efficiency, lower plant yield and plant downtime.

Ergonomics and safety risk

The removal and replacement of screen panels typically involves the use of a 3lb (1.25kg) hammer to drive the tip of a demolition screwdriver between panels to lever them out, thus allowing technicians to clean, inspect and replace them.

Panels are then hammered back into place. All this is done while the technician is lying in narrow areas on the screen deck. Ergonomically, the job is quite challenging and physically exertive.

“The biggest problem is the ergonomics of crawling around in a small space over the screen deck,” said Enderby. “The risk is associated with the use of hammers and other tools in an awkward position.”

Reducing the need for hammers Enderby has been involved in the Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP), totally funded by the black coal industry, for over 12 years. “ACARP is all about enabling researchers to identify opportunities to improve the way we do business,” he said.

“In relation to coal preparation, the

GLENCORE RAVENSWORTH COAL MINE CHPP MANAGER PHIL ENDERBY.

research includes projects to improve efficiency and safety, as well as looking at environmental and community concerns.”

Enderby approached Metso to find out if it was possible to develop a system that didn’t rely on hammers for the installation and removal of screening media. Metso responded with an initial design.

“It was only a prototype at that stage,” he said. “When they first showed us the prototype, my mechanical engineer Mark Prosser and I had a few concerns, so we had

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some discussions about different aspects of the system and how it could be improved. Metso took our comments on-board and redesigned the prototype.”

The implementation involved an extensive change management process.

“First and foremost, we had to make sure the hammerless system didn’t introduce any new risks for personnel.

We also had to ensure that it didn’t impact screen efficiency, and that the screen itself was not compromised and its life reduced,” he explained.

Once Metso had refined its

CASE STUDY

THE SYSTEM IS THE PRODUCT OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN GLENCORE AND METSO.

prototype, the system was initially tested at the CHPP on the operating deck of a vibrating screen that wasn’t in use for production at the time, where it performed well for three to four weeks.

Traditional screening media panels are held in place by the compression of their polyurethane surrounds. These clip onto a mounting strip, hence the necessity to lever them out using a demolition screwdriver which is driven in between the panels with a 3lb hammer.

With the new system, the polyurethane surrounds of the panels have been modified with a recess that fits around a locating block on a newly-designed mounting strip. A tapered bottom on the polyurethane edge allows the panels to slip easily into place.

A 1220mm-long top protection cover strip locks the panels into place with M16 hex head bolts. The bolt heads are protected from impact from the coal by deflectors built into the strip.

Screening media panels are simply removed by unscrewing the retaining bolts with a battery-powered rattle gun, lifting off the protection strips, and lifting out the panels.

This procedure is reversed for the installation of replacement panels.

According to Enderby, the tests on the offline screen were encouraging.

“The panels stayed in place, which gave me the confidence to install the system in a live section of the plant

where we were putting coal over the top. We first installed the trial mounting system in the low-wear areas of the deck,” he said.

“It wasn’t all plain sailing — we had some challenges, and Metso had to do more R&D to fix some issues, but at the end of the day it worked very well.”

Measuring success

The Ravensworth facility has implemented the new screening media across 16 of its 22 screens in two sections of the plant. A third section is undergoing a general upgrade, which will include the new media if it continues to perform well in the other sections.

Enderby set three criteria to determine if the new screen media was a success: improved safety, no compromise in efficiency, and no impact on screen integrity.

“We had to assess whether it has had a positive impact on safety, and it categorically has. We have virtually eliminated the use of hammers in screen maintenance, which is a very positive safety outcome for the guys,” he explained.

“The efficiency hasn’t been compromised either. In fact, although it is hard to quantify, it is incrementally better than before, because each screen panel has a slightly more open screen area.

“So far, there has also been no impact on screen integrity. The time AUSTRALIANMINING

taken to change a single screen panel may be about 30 seconds longer, but in the end the cost of, say, one extra manhour over 100 panels is well worth it to ensure greater safety for our workers.”

Success through partnership

The development of this new, safer, screen media fixing system is the product of a strong, enduring partnership between Metso and Glencore.

In working together, they have eliminated the risks associated with hitting a demolition screwdriver with a hammer during screen maintenance activities.

“Metso has been absolutely instrumental in the development of this system, taking on board comments from Mark Prosser and I about challenges with different methods of attaching the screen media,” said Enderby.

“It hasn’t all been plain sailing of course — there have been various challenges along the way, especially in the testing phase.

“We had to be very patient, and Metso was very proactive in dealing with issues that arose. It was challenging for me — and the business — to continue to support it, but when I looked at the end goal of eliminating hammers, it encouraged me to persist.

“At the end of the day it has worked very well. Metso was open and honest with us all the way through the process.”

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A leap forward for the industry

In the end, what Glencore and Metso have achieved together is something that can benefit the entire industry.

“Metso’s people have been excellent from the beginning,” said Enderby. “Their knowledge and their passion to look at this new screen media mounting system demonstrates that the Metso guys want to improve our industry.

“And while it is a business opportunity for Metso, in the big scheme of things it is improving the safety of coal processing.

“At Glencore, we’re always looking for opportunities to improve safety and to have a supplier that is on the same page as us — means that we can go a long way working in partnership with them. I am only too happy to offer my team’s advice to help suppliers like Metso develop safer systems.”

Keith Blair, Metso’s screen media solutions technical manager – East Coast, summed up the impact of the new system: “What we’ve created in this hammerless screen media system is so simple, that it can readily adapt to almost any modular screen in the mining industry.

“We see huge potential for improving safety, by reducing both hammer strike and fatigue-related injuries during screen media changeouts for workers across all mining sectors.” AM

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T

he ability to provide a broad end-to-end solution as a supplier or mining services company has come to the fore in the years since the commodities downturn.

Mining companies responded to these challenging conditions by changing their approach from the historical norm where they were more inclined to operate with a variety of industry providers.

Collaboration had not traditionally been a trusted strategy, meaning strong relationships with suppliers and mining services companies across a range of disciplines were often rare.

Encouragingly for the companies that support the miners, this attitude has gradually transitioned as operational strategies have focused on improving productivity.

Results of this shift are now being conveyed by the miners, particularly the major companies as they reveal outcomes to stakeholders.

Diversified miner Rio Tinto has identified more than $2 billion in productivity improvements in recent years through optimisation of maintenance strategies, partnerships with suppliers and improvements in mine processes.

As the industry moves further into a collaborative direction, many supplier and services companies have enhanced their offering to satisfy this demand.

Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group, for example, has expanded in Australia through a focus on building a market position beyond the typical on-site tyre services business.

The Canadian company targets long-term partnerships with mining companies where improving their maintenance strategies and tyre management processes complements the traditional supply model.

As a recognised specialist in the tyre industry, Kal Tire has the advantage of being able to offer a range of products and brands for all wheel, tyre and supporting system requirements by tapping into a network of suppliers it partners with.

Kal Tire vice president, Australia, Darren Wilson says this network

gives the company a unique level of independence to provide an end-toend solution tailored for the specific needs of each mine site.

“By working closely with mining companies in more of a partnership relationship we are able to identify which product, or which brand, works best for them,” Wilson explains.

“It may be a product that the company might not otherwise know about or have access to. We think this independent approach adds value opposed to them being locked in to one supplier that provides a particular tyre, or wheel rim for that matter.”

Kal Tire balances this position

as a supplier with growing on-site tyre services and tyre management presence, tyre repair facilities, training offering (registered training organisation) and various other options around operational consultation and support that adds further value to the end user.

Kal Tire has established a collaborative partnership with a leading iron ore miner in the Pilbara, Western Australia that incorporates several of these initiatives.

Four years after starting at the mine with just a small team providing onsite services, Kal Tire’s presence has grown significantly.

A KAL TIRE TEAM MEMBER USES A PNEUMATIC IMPACT GUN TO REMOVE WHEEL NUTS.

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Aside from providing the onsite tyre services and management capability, they also are completing tyre repairs, sourcing new products and providing on-site consultation to the mine to help continually improve their tyre and wheel performance.

Kal Tire has not only improved the performance of the iron ore miner’s tyres, but has also maintained a strong safety record at the mine, with no lost time injuries since it started at the operation.

Wilson believes mining companies are increasingly looking to introduce collaborative partnerships like this at their operations.

“If you look at the rationalisation of this approach, they want to reduce the number of suppliers and services companies because there is an efficiency gain in doing that,” Wilson says.

“There is a lot of movement in the mining industry and companies want to maintain a relationship with fewer suppliers.”

Kal Tire also benefits from its international presence in Australia.

Through its established network, the company communicates on issues affecting its mining clients.

The transparent nature of this globalised network provides a platform where multi-national customers in South America, Canada or Africa can share experiences with their Australian counterparts.

Kal Tire hopes to grow this collaborative approach by integrating its services even further, according to Wilson.

“We want to continue move away from the traditional, transactional type of relationship that doesn’t really value the benefits of collaboration,” Wilson says.

“As we become entrenched with customers and that relationship builds we gain the trust of that particular customer and we become part of that operation. Our aspiration is to be an extension for their operation and provide a value that is reflective of the miner’s qualities.”

If the growth of Kal Tire’s offering on an international scale is any guide then the company is on track to achieve this goal in Australia. AM

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ORE SORTING

SORT IT OUT ORE SORTING IS AN IMPORTANT FACET OF THE MINING INDUSTRY AND IT’S ON THE UP. AUSTRALIAN MINING LOOKS AT TWO AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES THAT ARE COLLABORATING ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF THE INDUSTRY.

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re sorting is an increasingly prominent way for mine sites to maximise uptake.

In recent years, a wide array of sensor technologies has emerged, each tailored to a different mineral or sorting application.

X-Ray Transmission technology (XRT), LASER, near-infrared (NIR), colour scanning and electromagnetic sensors (EM); these and other technologies are at the forefront of mineral separation technology.

Typically, high-performance ore sorters of the type found at modern sites work by scanning passing material via a belt or chute feeding system and identifying mineral properties with the scanner of choice.

Material that passes one or more selection criteria is identified by the scanner and separated into two chambers via a precise burst of air.

XRT scanning, possibly the most common type of ore scanning technology in mining applications, scans the internal mineralogy of the rock in minute detail, with X-ray penetration with the unique ability to show the makeup of particles within the rock.

LASER scanning is another popular method, particularly for the identification and subsequent grading of quartz or gold-bearing quartz via the diffusion, dispersion and diffraction of the LASER light through the material.

TOMRA Sorting Solutions, an ore sorting-focused subdivision of the company TOMRA, is constantly pushing such technologies further.

In the last few years its XRT technology has evolved from being able to scan rocks down to a detail of just 0.8mm, when just a few years ago 4mm was considered an impressive feat for the technology.

Anthony Sacca, managing director of

TOMRA Sorting Solutions Australia, compares the speed of the sensor and ore sorting technology’s evolution to the likes of smartphones, digital cameras and computer hardware, which all tend to see large leaps in capability in a relatively short time frame.

“In terms of development we’re starting to push our LASER and XRT tech, getting higher and higher resolutions of material as it goes through the machine at higher and higher speeds,” Sacca tells Australian Mining.

“It gives us an amazing ability to be very selective and discriminating, which gives our customers great capacity and throughput on the machine with a very high degree of recovery and selectivity of what gets pulled out.”

TOMRA is one of the leading ore sorting providers in the country, offering full-scale indoor test centres

for prospective customers to get a hands-on for the company’s machines and learn more about the process.

“We can actually run full-scale demonstration — real, full-size mining machines in our test centre,” he says.

“We don’t scale them down. We could pull them out of the test centre, put them in the field and they would run.”

When implemented well, ore sorting machines can greatly improve plant efficiency, reducing downstream crushing requirements and costs, and resulting in much improved grades.

It can even benefit the operator’s carbon footprint since waste is rejected at an early stage, which in turn reduces the need for tailings treatment.

TOMRA Sorting even includes a ‘green counter’ on its website that measures the levels of carbon dioxide saved through the adoption of its machines at mine sites in metric tonnes. From January 1, 2018 to the time of writing, it stands at just over

ORE SORTING AUSTRALIA IS UNIQUELY PLACED TO DELIVER MOBILE SORTING AT REMOTE MINE SITES.

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ORE SORTING

KEEP IT SAFE KEEP IT CLEAN During planned plant maintenance and shutdowns, conveyor belt cleaners, skirts, impact beds and other conveyor accessory maintenance is often overlooked, or service is performed by people who are not trained to service the equipment. Unless conveyor accessories perform at optimal levels, belt damage, carry-back and spillage can result.

A TOMRA SORTING FULL-SCALE INDOOR TEST CENTRE.

56 million tonnes (Mt), roughly 9.3Mt a month.

“We have the ability to remove and clean up legacy issues associated with high sulphide and acid forming and partially acid forming waste ores,” says Sacca. “We can help clean up all those areas as well. One of the nice things we’re also looking at today is because of all those that we are giving mining operations a much smaller carbon footprint.”

Over the past three years, the company has developed a solid working relationship with Ore Sorting Australia (OSA), a company that grew from Crushing Services Solutions (CSS) in 2015 as a uniquely placed mobile platform for site-to-site ore sorting.

OSA carried out its first large project in December 2016 and has continued to grow since, firmly establishing itself as a turnkey, cost-per-tonne provider of ore sorting solutions, particularly for low-grade stockpiles that might otherwise be ignored.

“If the ore sorting is applied to deposits, there may be an opportunity to lower cut off grades therefore increasing the overall return and/or make lower grade deposits profitable,” explains Darren Tarrant, operations manager at OSA. “OSA has developed a business model in which we can provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for companies, either for treatment of low-grade stockpiles

that may not be otherwise cost effective to process, or development and installation of ore sorting into existing plants to improve performance on a short-term contract basis.”

Together, TOMRA Sorting and Ore Sorting Australia, while separate companies, have worked together to keep abreast of the times, communicating on upcoming projects and assisting clients in ways that are of mutual benefit to each others’ operating strategy.

“We have had a very strong working relationship with the CSS and OSA guys over the last couple of years,” explains Sacca. “We built that on an open and honest relationship where we looked at applications jointly and where they fit in nicely to our business models.

“We are quite complementary to each other; OSA’s model is unique in its ability to mine the material, haul it, crush it, screen it, wash it, sort it and then dispose of, stockpile or treat material.”

Both companies have noted an upward trend regarding consumer interest in ore sorting technology in the last year to 18 months. It seems the word is getting out.

Ore Sorting technology has come a long way in the past five to seven years and is becoming more accepted within the industry — “It’s an exciting time,” concludes Tarrant. AM

ESS provides competency-based technicians to specifically monitor and maintain Conveyor Belt Cleaning, Sealing and Support systems.

ESS technicians are able to inspect conditions and produce a condition report and maintenance plan that can be actioned by plant staff, contracting companies or ESS technicians.

ESS offers a range of flexible maintenance, monitoring and training services to ensure optimum performance from the plants conveying systems.

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MINERALS PROCESSING

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE TWO BOSCH REXROTH VETERANS DISCUSS THE DIVERSITY AND VERSATILITY OF THE COMPANY’S MINERALS PROCESSING PORTFOLIO OF COMPONENTS AND SOLUTIONS AND HOW TO FIND A BALANCE BETWEEN HIGH POWER AND FINE CONTROL. AUSTRALIAN MINING WRITES.

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osch Rexroth’s ‘topto-tail’ approach to minerals processing draws on the precision of its parent company’s experiences as a supplier in the demanding German automotive industry.

It made its name there as an endto-end service provider noted for its precision, enabling the company to partner with others throughout the entire lifecycle of a project or operation.

Nothing has changed for Bosch Rexroth since its emergence as a major supplier of hydraulic systems for minerals processing within the mining industry.

Mine site servicing incorporates not just repairs, but predictive maintenance integration, site analysis and future proofing, operational aspects Bosch Rexroth can work closely with both OEM’s and mine site operators to improve performance.

Laurence Smithers, an applications engineer at Bosch for 18 years, cites an example of this holistic approach when discussing a well-known Australian mine that needed help.

The site, which has been operating for 15 years, required continual repairs on brake calipers for numerous conveyor take-up winches.

“There were lots and lots of dollars involved in it,” Smithers tells Australian Mining.

“We got involved with our service technicians, looking at what was going on and through a couple of site meetings with the mine site reliability engineers, divulged that the calipers had been poorly specified for the application from day one.”

“We got together and selected a suitable brake from a fully affiliated Bosch Rexroth third party company that we do a lot of work with. We were able to engineer a complete solution to suit the existing winches, put in place a new hydraulics system and provided sensors so the mine would not encounter problems in future. A critical part to this was the phasing of the installation/ commissioning that had to be completed during mine operations and maintenance shuts.

Bosch Rexroth’s minerals processing applications are found in a number of different industries, running the gamut from factory/ automation, agriculture to construction to quarries.

When it comes to the latter, typical applications where the company’s drives are found include crushers, thickeners, filter presses, bucket wheels, conveyors, ball and SAG mills and take-up winch systems.

Given the variety of applications, there is a palpable need to offer the mining industry a solution that maintains a careful balance of toughness and user control.

“You don’t want a Mini for the job of a V8 supercar,” Smithers explains.

“We need to give customers something that’s fit for purpose, and that involves sourcing the correct Bosch Rexroth product for longevity — it’s all about understanding the application and customers, expectations from day one and getting that process right.”

Bosch Rexroth incorporates an extensive service team that is experienced with mining applications.

The team includes over 80 technicians in Australia alone, ensuring that mining companies find the right fit for their minerals processing applications.

The service culture extends overseas as well, Smithers explains.

“We can’t cover everything in Australia but we do have a really good support network with a number of key distributors who are fully affiliated with Bosch Rexroth and who will support our customers with our backing,” he says. “We’re customer focused and people give us the work, so we give them the interest.”

Hägglunds, a direct drive manufacturer integrated into Bosch Rexroth since 2011, is an important element of the company’s minerals processing success.

Its primary focus as a Large Hydraulic Drive (LHD) is on direct drives, designed for general operations; and inching drives, which are primarily used for slow-speed operation to investigate problems and facilitate maintenance and repair of objects like conveyors and mill liner plates.

According to Bosch Rexroth New South Wales sales and service AUSTRALIANMINING

A BOSCH REXROTH ENGINEER CHECKS A DRIVE.

WE’RE CUSTOMER FOCUSED AND PEOPLE GIVE US THE WORK, SO WE GIVE THEM THE INTEREST.” manager Peter Hopewell, the company’s design engineers have a thorough understanding of such applications to properly tailor designs for each mine site.

“Certainly one of our biggest strengths in that area is our external service department,” says Hopewell.

“If you don’t understand the application, you’ll end up with a machine that doesn’t work or is down all the time.”

A 28-year veteran of the company, Hopewell considers the Bosch Rexroth service team to be among the most well equipped service technicians in the industry when it comes to minerals processing expertise.

“These guys can handle anything from a minor issue with a particular piece of mine equipment, through to major breakdowns, to entire modernisation projects,” he says.

And modernisation is a key phrase

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for Bosch Rexroth. Industry 4.0 integration, connected hydraulics and predictive maintenance technology are all areas in which the company endeavours to improve mine site processing.

“At the moment we’re putting sensors into every solenoid valve, so in the future we can monitor how many cycles the valve has done,” he says.

“We know when it’s going to fail, when it’s energised and so on – that’s all information the mine sites can use to produce a much more efficient system.”

Hopewell concludes: “Our design engineers have to understand the application and they design around that understanding. If you don’t understand the application, you’ll end up with a machine that doesn’t work or is down all the time. It’s all about having the right tool for the right job.” AM

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THE MINING INDUSTRY HAS MOVED TO A NEW PHASE FOLLOWING THE MINING BOOM, ONE WHERE PRODUCTIVITY, INNOVATION AND SAFETY HAVE EMERGED AS ITS KEY PRIORITIES

AUTOMATION MAINTENANCE VOLUME 110/7 | AUGUST 2018

MINING EQUIPMENT

NEW TARGETS

OPPORTUNITIES EMERGE OUT WEST

Established in 1908, Australian Mining continues to lead and inform the Australian mining industry of the latest innovations in mining technology and equipment.

Australian Mining’s promotional features provide organisations with a forum to showcase the role each mining sector plays in helping the industry achieve its modern-day targets.

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SERVING THE MINING INDUSTRY SINCE 1908

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TECHNOLOGY

PLAYING IT SAFE: BOOSTING SAFETY AND PROFITS SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC SENIOR TECHNICAL SALES CONSULTANT PROCESS AUTOMATION PETER BRAUN GIVES AUSTRALIAN MINING FIVE WAYS THAT TECHNOLOGY CAN BE USED TO HELP COMPANIES.

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raditionally, safety and profitability have seemed to be diametrically opposed for many manufacturing and production operations.

Although no-one disputes the value of investing in safety, the primary objective for a manufacturing or production business is to drive profitability, and protecting the safety of the plant’s people, assets and environment have often been viewed as somewhat necessary evils to achieve the bottom line.

However, the safety of a business can have a direct, positive impact on the operational profitability of the plant. A safe operation is one where production isn’t forced to stop due to downtime, repair, or – even worse – an injury caused by incident.

Less-than-compliant conditions that cause production stoppages will have a direct effect on revenue. Such occurrences, along with potential worker compensations costs or regulatory penalties, can add up to far more than the cost of prevention, i.e., the expense of installing safety systems and equipment.

The potential for increased operational profitability that can be realised through more effective safety management is really starting to turn heads, and is truly bringing safety and environmental integrity into the mainstream of industrial business processes.

The recent technological revolution and the proliferation of devices to be connected to the internet or a cloud has resulted in Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)-related technologies across industries. This technology influx has changed industrial work execution processes which, in turn, may require modifications to the way safety is managed, especially in high hazard industries.

The five steps for integrating new IIoT technologies to better manage risk and hazards and to avoid costly unscheduled asset downtime are as follows: 1. Digitise and connect A first step in the process is to capture the data flowing from the various safety related tools such as

Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS), Safety Instrumented Functions (SIF), Layer of Protection Analysis systems (LOPA), Process Hazards Analysis tools (PHA), and Hazard and Operability tools (HAZOP).

By digitally connecting to existing systems and data sources, the need for manual data collection and data handling is minimised and the new real-time information can then complement the safety information gleaned from existing reports.

Newer software offerings such as SIF Manager from Schneider Electric provide persistent monitoring, validation, and documentation of all aspects of SIF performance for the life of the plant. Automatically tracking SIF key performance indicators (KPIs) and SIS device metrics can reduce manual efforts by as much as 90 per cent. Over the operating life of an asset, this might represent savings of from $1 million to $2 million.

2. Analyse Safety analytics can be descriptive, diagnostic, predictive or prescriptive.

Once the data is collected and the type of analysis required is determined, this analytical data

crunching can help plant personnel determine the optimal production and maintenance activities across multiple assets to reduce cumulative risk and to minimise downtime.

3. Deploying the cloud Using the cloud for digital safety design, analysis and validation makes it easily accessible to everyone, anywhere and at any time. Safety data and its context is available to experts anywhere in the world. Such a solution also drives transparency throughout the organisation and removes the traditional barriers and silos within departments, management structures, assets and/ or fleets of assets.

4. Simulation Virtual models referred to as “digital twins” analyse the gathered data and then use it to run simulations and to benchmark performance, allowing plant operators to pinpoint where efficiency gains can be made.

By pairing both virtual and physical worlds (the twins), problems can be actively averted before they occur, preventing potentially threatening safety situations.

5. Integrate a cybersecurity strategy Digitisation of course comes with

its own risks, namely the threat of cyberattacks. Safety teams must examine whether it makes sense to enable safety systems for internet connectivity at all and, if so, under what conditions. In some cases, a tool such as the plant historian might require access to safety-related data or information.

In summary, IIoT has the potential to be transformative when applied correctly to process safety and there are instances where IIoT tools and techniques can deliver profitable safety.

Safety is not simply a compliance program or an add-on. It’s a corporate value – a way of respecting and caring for the people that keep the company running. Continuous improvement and investment in safety demonstrate that you’re committed to protecting them on the job, and ensuring that they can go home to families, friends, and loved ones at the end of every day. So each safety decision must adequately protect the functioning and lives of your workers and contractors, as well as the community. Unsafe production costs money, while safe production makes money. AM THE DRIVE FOR SAFETY AND PROFITS CAN WORK HAND IN HAND.

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METS

METS DRIVE TOWARDS THE SMALL FOOTPRINT MINE THE NEED TO CHANGE MINING’S IMPACT ON THE WORLD IS APPARENT AND PRESSURE CONTINUES TO MOUNT FOR OPERATIONS TO TRANSFORM. AUSTMINE DISCUSSES THE METS SECTOR’S ROLE.

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ustralian METS (mining equipment, technology and services) companies are leading the charge towards the ‘small footprint mine’, focusing their effort on unique technologies and procedures that will forge a better future for our sector.

Christine Charles, managing director, Design4Growth is a renowned expert in the area of sustainability and has been involved in strategic conversations about mining’s future, including playing a central role in Austmine’s Small Footprint Mine Co-lab series.

Charles provides a quick glimpse into why change is needed.

“In a world which is increasingly connected, and where location does

not mean remoteness, the mining industry is under close scrutiny from communities, government and investors,” Charles says.

“The benefits from mining can be immense, but access to land, operational security and successful closure is dependent on how we manage the impacts. The future of the industry is inextricably linked to our ability to minimise footprint and maximise benefits.

“It is not surprising that there is a growing focus on how to achieve small footprint and low impact mining through creative technology, innovation, increased productivity and greater understanding of impacts.

It is good business, leading to sustainable approaches to resource development which could deliver an overall positive outcome for

communities and where they live.”

Many other leaders in the METS sector share this similar outlook, believing in a future mining industry transformed by innovation, powered by renewable and reliable energy; creating less waste and pollution, having a low impact on the environment and forging mutually beneficial relationships with local communities and all stakeholders.

While the ‘small footprint mine’ is generally regarded as a vision for the future, Kristy Duffy believes we need to focus more energy on what we can do today.

Duffy is a mineral process engineer at Hatch and a leading mind in the eco-efficient mining space. She has worked with a range of mining companies to optimise

MINING AND METS COMPANIES ARE PLAYING THEIR PART IN THE SMALL FOOTPRINT MINE.

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operations, boost efficiency and use fewer resources.

Speaking about the current challenges, Duffy comments on the methodology miners should be looking to implement.

“Today, our industry is facing growing challenges associated with the cost and supply of energy, limited water resources and declining feed grades,” Duffy says.

“Compounding this, more stringent environmental legislation and societal pressure to reduce the impact of our operations. We need to think about improving resource efficiency — how to do more with less.

“We can already make a difference, with technologies and practices available today. Many strategies for improving the efficiency and sustainability of mining operations

METS

are not new, but rather involve novel application of existing technologies and tailored solutions based on detailed knowledge of the particular ore and process.

“Understanding the impact of each stage on subsequent stages allows the optimisation of the whole operation. Every orebody and mining operation is different.”

Duffy believes the key resource and eco-efficient opportunities for the mining sector include: • Higher Intensity Selective Blasting to improve fragmentation and reduce energy.

• Pre-concentration using screening, particle or bulk ore sorting and/or gravity concentration.

• New comminution circuits may include alternative energy efficient and dry technologies such as vertical roller mills (VRM) or high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) and air classifiers.

• Developments in coarse particle flotation may allow targeting of coarser grind sizes for preliminary separation, thus reducing the amount of material requiring fine grinding.

• Dry stacking of filtered tailings

THE METS SECTOR IS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR ITS IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.

offers increased water recovery compared to traditional tailings dams, reduces the size of tailings storage, facilitates progressive rehabilitation and eliminates the risk of tailings dam failure.

There is certainly a range of technologies now available to boost efficiency and reduce footprint. But how do we recognise our environmental footprint and manage this?

Alisa Starkey, co-founder, Ozius is part of an exciting team that has revolutionised the way organisations measure, monitor and manage the landscape in which they operate.

Ozius set out to achieve this by fusing AI-enabled analytics and earth observation satellite data to help organisations discover the past, predict future trends and seize opportunities.

Starkey finds that knowledge gaps are key when it comes to recognising and managing environmental and social impacts in mining.

“Conflict with stakeholders will always occur where there are information or knowledge gaps,” Starkey says.

“Disparate or incomplete datasets relating to the environmental and social influences from a mining operation cause gaps in knowledge, and those gaps are filled with the best assumptions and knowledge

Engineered for Safety. Trusted by Professionals.

available at the time.”

Through Starkey’s work with Ozius, she sees three key benefits derived from improving the quality of information for mining decision makers and the community: 1. Reduction of conflict between stakeholders, because you are reducing the assumptions and misinformation; 2. Increased operational efficiency through improved currency and quality of information; and 3. Decreased burden of regulatory requirements through improved communication and reporting.

Achieving the ‘small footprint mine’ is not beyond us and it requires embracing the innovations found in the Australian METS sector.

To detail this pathway forward and showcase the innovative ideas in this space, Austmine recently released a Small Footprint Mine eBook, featuring our expert METS leaders such as Christine Charles, Kristy Duffy and Alisa Starkey.

The book also features an innovation spotlight sections that highlights two key technologies from Kinetic Group and New H2O Resources set to change the game in mining. AM Get your copy by contacting Sheldon.varcoe@austmine.com.au

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Protect your workforce and the public from hazardous areas around mining projects with Skipper™. As well as attaching to Skipper’s posts, you can attach the 9m retractable Skipper unit to any standard traffic cone.

Skipper’s wide range of accessories also allow you to wrap around pillars, attach to magnetic surfaces, screw to walls, clamp to racking, and suction to high gloss and glass surfaces.

Contact Skipper™ or visit our website for information, and delivery across Australia & New Zealand.

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email sales@skippertm.co.uk AUSTRALIANMINING

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RISK MANAGEMENT

HOW TO MANAGE RISK IN A RESURGENT RESOURCES INDUSTRY FM GLOBAL AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND CLIENT SERVICES MANAGER ANDREW STAFFORD DISCUSSES THE EMERGING RISKS IN A MINING INDUSTRY ON THE REBOUND.

FORTESCUE HAS ANNOUNCED A NEW IRON ORE PROJECT THIS YEAR. IMAGE: FORTESCUE METALS GROUP.

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ustralia’s resources sector has bounced back in 2018. This is great news for a cyclical industry that’s been through a tough spell, but the upswing has an impact on risk profiles that must be taken into account. Equipment failure is the most obvious example as machinery is put under greater strain.

Analysts at BIS Oxford Economics predict mining production growth will accelerate by 5.5 per cent in 2017-2018 – up from 2.5 per cent in the ABS National Accounts Data for 2016-17. Mining investment activity is also expected to deliver a positive economic impact.

Large projects mooted or already under way include Fortescue Metals’ $1.7 billion investment in the Eliwana mine and rail project in Western Australia and Talison Lithium’s proposed expansion of the Greenbushes lithium mine in the state’s south-west. This would allow Talison to service growing demand from battery and car manufacturers.

With output capacity and utilisation of equipment and associated infrastructure becoming tighter from increased production, all mining businesses need to review risk exposures and minimise the potential

for costly breakdowns.

During the past 20 years, electrical and mechanical breakdowns have contributed 44 per cent of gross losses for FM Global’s mining clients.

Factors to be considered include the age and maintenance history of equipment, operating conditions and environment, the training and experience of operators, the fitting of safety devices and contingency planning.

The likelihood and severity of loss increases sharply when three or more of these equipment factors are deficient. Maintenance, the lack of safety devices and insufficient operator training have been most frequently involved in large losses during the past four years.

In a complex and ever-changing mining landscape, analytics helps mining businesses predict the future, avoid costly outages and make decisions with confidence.

With millions of data points from engineering visits combined with loss history, FM Global helps clients see risk more clearly.

Predictive analytics is used to determine the likelihood of loss, predicting what can go wrong and where it’s most likely to happen.

Out of 60,000 locations visited every year, we identified the top 1000 most AUSTRALIANMINING

likely to suffer a loss. Mining locations within the top 1000 locations most predisposed to loss contributed 82 per cent of our gross risk loss in dollars.

Key mining equipment that contributed to mining losses included grinding mill gears, crushers and drum hoists. Mechanical and electrical breakdown was the leading cause of loss but these often start fires that multiply costs. For example, if a seized bearing overheats and ignites a rubber conveyor belt.

Keeping your business up and running depends on how your equipment is designed, installed, operated, maintained and protected.

By assessing your equipment against factors proven to reduce the frequency and severity of equipment breakdown, you can identify the equipment most at risk. This improves integrity and reliability.

More boom, less bust

Failing to invest in operational resilience and risk management makes your business more vulnerable to boom and bust cycles. This is obvious when your business is managing high production costs during periods of falling commodity prices.

Insights generated through analytics will help you decide exactly where to direct comparatively scarce risk

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management dollars.

But in some respects it becomes even more important during a boom.

When demand spikes, your business has a finite window of opportunity to make hay while the sun shines.

This is where your business delivers its greatest returns so an equipment failure is even more costly.

During these periods of high demand, when your equipment is running around the clock, the impact of a breakdown or incident increases.

If you haven’t made the necessary investment, you’ll be less prepared to deal with the consequences and what should have been a relatively small incident may well become a major disruption.

There are many variables used by insurers to determine how to price your insurance and risk transfer needs.

Organisations that have invested in strong risk management practices over the years and have limited exposure to natural catastrophe events will experience fewer losses. They will also see greater stability in their insurance program pricing, terms and conditions.

Brokers and insurers have a shared responsibility to ensure mining companies budget appropriately for insurance costs. This means anticipating the boom and bust stages of a mining cycle and prudently working with clients to anticipate changes before they occur.

If your business anticipates a step change in revenue via increased demand, organic growth or acquisition, then it’s prudent to review your organisation’s risk appetite and put a strategy in place to deal with risk transfer or retention needs.

At FM Global, we look to partner with mining companies that share our belief that most losses are preventable.

Our clients typically understand what needs to be done and are prepared to make the necessary investments.

That’s good for business and helps to minimise the likelihood of nasty surprises. AM Andrew Stafford has more than 16 years’ experience in insurance. He is responsible for ensuring the profit and growth of business written and serviced from FM Global’s operations in Australia and New Zealand.

MAINTENANCE

GATHERING DUST AT MINE SITES THE LATEST PULSE VALVE FROM SMC PROMISES BETTER AND MORE EFFICIENT CLEANING OF DUST COLLECTORS. AUSTRALIAN MINING REPORTS.

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ust can be a problem at mining operations.

Particles from various sources such as cement, coal, silica, bricks, sawdust, sand and rocks can quickly pile up. Dust-collecting baghouses can be used to mitigate this, capturing dust produced during plant processes that would otherwise be emitted into the environment through the use of large filtration systems.

To mask inefficient operation of the bag house cleaning process, a common practice is to increase air pressure to the pulse valve system, which in turn increases air consumption (i.e. energy) and the potential for mechanical failure.

“This compressed air comes at a cost and this cost can be multiplied when you think there can be as many as eight to 10 valves on one dust collector bag house,” says Chris Tandy, Western Australia state

IT RELIES ON THE DIAPHRAGM MATERIAL TO ACT LIKE A SPRING, WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY INCREASES THE WORKING LIFE OF THE UNIT.” Over time these filters become saturated with dust and form what’s known as ‘dust cake’ on the outer surface of the bag. While there are several ways to remove the filters of collected dust, one of the most popular involves the use of pulse valves. Pulses of compressed air injected into the filter bag that dislodge the dust cake, which then drops to the bottom of a hopper or bin for discharge.

This process can involve a great deal of compressed air; generally, these pulses are generated via a 2/2way air pilot or solenoid valve, which can supply between 17,000–40,000L per minute.

manager for SMC Australia | New Zealand.

SMC offers a range of products designed to provide the end user with an efficient and reliable bag house. SMC’s current VXF2 range of pilot and solenoid valves have been a proven winner in this application, offering reliable operation over millions of cycles.

SMC has released a new valve, the JSXF, a 2/2-way pulse valve, currently available in Japan and undergoing testing in Australia.

On account of an improved design that allows the valve to operate at peak pressure for longer

than previous models, the JSXF is also capable of reducing overall air consumption by up to 35 per cent, while increasing peak impact pressure by 15 per cent.

The main point of difference that allows for this improved performance is the valve’s use of a high-strength elastomer diaphragm that helps to give it a service life of two to three times longer than the competition (estimated at around 10 million cycles). Most pulse valves use springs in addition to diaphragms, which can cause unwanted vibration and bouncing. This leads to increased wear and consequently, a greater need for replacement.

The elimination of springs from the JSXF is a design decision that has the potential to bring a host of improvements for baghouse cleaning efficiency.

“Unlike the opposition’s valves, the JSXF doesn’t have a spring inside it,” explains Tandy. “It relies on the diaphragm material to act like a spring, which subsequently increases the working life of the unit. This method provides cost and energy savings, and because compressed air is an expensive medium in terms of electricity generation, you can save on electricity costs down the line.”

By making use of a diaphragm system that doesn’t require springs — in combination with an increased

W: www.braemac.com.au P: (02) 9550 6600 AUSTRALIANMINING

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orifice size and shorter stroke — the new system can reduce energy consumption considerably. The JSXF also comes with more mounting options, including the introduction of a dresser nut connection to complement the usual British Standard Pipe (BSP) and National Pipe Thread (NPT) connections.

Designed as an eventual successor to SMC’s current VXF2 solenoid valves, the JSXF pulse valve is set for general Australian release in the fourth quarter of 2018 or first quarter of 2019.

“Anywhere where there’s dust collection, or dust can be collected, the VXF2, or in future, the JSXF, can be used,” concludes Tandy. AM

SMC’S FLANGE TYPE VXF2 SOLENOID VALVE.

MATERIALS HANDLING

NO CHAIN, NO PAIN: MAKING THE JUMP TO SYNCHRONOUS BELTS AUSTRALIAN MINING LOOKS AT GATES AUSTRALIA’S LATEST POLYCHAIN GT CARBON SYNCHRONOUS BELT, WHICH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO OUTPERFORM CHAIN DRIVES.

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oller chain drives are commonly used in the mining industry, finding their way in everything from drill rigs to reclaimers to feeders. What they aren’t however, is infallible.

Rust is a notable issue affecting roller chain drives however, and care must be ensured to maintain efficient protection from corrosion across the product lifecycle. Maintaining lubrication and re-tensioning of the chain leads to costly downtime, which adds to operational costs.

Belt drive conversions are becoming an increasingly popular alternative at mine sites, a factor power transmission specialist Gates Australia is eager to capitalise on.

The company’s latest generation PolyChain GT Carbon synchronous belt, a state-of-the-art polyurethane with wear resistant nylon fabric composite, features a carbon tension cord constructed belt that eliminates the maintenance costs of roller chain completely.

Touted as Gates’ most powerful synchronous belt yet, it is particularly well optimised for the high torque, low speed drives often seen in industrial applications.

The original PolyChain product first appeared in 1985 and was positioned by Gates as a potential replacement for roller chain drives, and the company has focused on improving the concept ever since.

“It was really quite radical for that time,” explains Tony Sculpher, Gates product sales manager – power transmission. “Gates engineers introduced the then-new PolyChain into specialised applications within our own customer base for real world experience, trials and feedback; the benefits of changing to PolyChain were well proven before we introduced it to market.”

Metal roller chains are put under incredible stresses through day-today work life. Upkeep can be costly, with re-tensioning, lubricating and replacing chain parts, all facets that can lead to downtime.

Gates’ latest PolyChain GT Carbon belt is well positioned as a highly

efficient option over metal roller chains in terms of both operation and cost. It combines a Polyurethane constructed belt with wear-resistant, nylon-fabric coated teeth and carbon tensile cords.

It has been utilised in diverse mining applications, including a drive belt for coal mining dewatering pumps and slurry pumps, portable piston pumps, roller screens, conveyors, crushing equipment, and vibrating screens. In one case, while being used as the drive for a Weir Warman medium-density slurry pump at a coal wash plant, the belt’s implementation resulted in energy savings of 5 per cent over a 24-month lifespan.

“The advanced tooth design, the Carbon tensile cords and the Polyurethane construction all enhance the ultimate strength and the performance of the PolyChain GT Carbon belts,” says Sculpher.

“PolyChain GT Carbon belts do not require any re-tensioning at all, which is a major advantage over existing belt drive alternatives.

PolyChain GT Carbon belts easily cope with wet and wash down applications, especially when compared to roller chain drives. The PolyChain GT Carbon belt is both compact and light weight, and this reduces the total weight of the drive components, reducing the loads on the bearings supporting the shafts, and extending the bearing life.”

The belt was also used at another coal wash plant as a replacement for its duplex roller chains — which under the previous system saw 39 chain replacements required in a year. Using Gates’ belt resulted in a 24-month period with no required maintenance whatsoever.

The PolyChain GT Carbon’s construction works well in both wet and washdown work environments, and can easily endure the oil baths previously reserved for the duplex chains without problems when first installed, despite lubrication not being necessary to the essentially maintenance-free upkeep of the belt.

Short length versions of the belt in 5M and 8M are suitable for mining applications requiring a short centre AUSTRALIANMINING

distance but high-density power and offer all the benefits listed above.

PolyChain GT Carbon is now also available as a 19M pitch to handle longer drive centre distances, while delivering high-power capability, long life and freedom from maintenance. The new 19M PolyChain GT Carbon can replace extra large roller chains of up to 2.12” pitch Duplex sizing, as well as a massive 96 per cent weight saving versus traditional, comparable transmission roller chains.

Gates is proud of the belt’s development, which went through an

intensive R&D period. The newest iteration of the PolyChain GT Carbon boasts power ratings up to 30 per cent higher than earlier versions, with a service life up to three times greater than normal roller chains.

“Our customers’ feedback is very positive regarding the new belts,” says Sculpher. “The compact design, efficiency, light weight, and high power density (power and torque) are superior to the older belts and roller chains. Further to this feedback is the much reduced production downtime, and extended life and reliability of PolyChain GT Carbon.” AM

GATES’ POLYCHAIN GT CARBON BELT REQUIRES NO RE-TENSIONING.

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SAFETY

ESS TALKS THE IMPORTANCE OF CONVEYOR SAFETY IT PAYS FOR MINE SITE STAFF TO BE SAFE AROUND CONVEYORS, A FACT ESS ENGINEERING KNOWS TOO WELL. AUSTRALIAN MINING FINDS OUT MORE ABOUT THE COMPANY’S EXTENSIVE CONVEYOR SAFETY TRAINING PROCESS.

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arryback, spillage and hang up of materials are all issues that plague the safe running of conveyors at mine sites.

While safety training is important across all aspects of a mine site, conveyors can be particularly dangerous, especially when unguarded.

Material fines from conveyor return runs can also cause mistrackings and blockages in head chutes, leading to an increased chance of accidents.

Bulk handling and conveyor safety specialist ESS Engineering is well aware of the dangers surrounding conveyors.

The company has established extensive training services to ensure operators remain compliant and aware of any issues that could arise.

ESS training allows operators to recognise and address the root cause

of issues surrounding conveyors that contribute to the escape of material from the system, whether it’s an issue with skirting, tracking, belts, ploughs or a combination of different things.

According to ESS accounts development manager and training instructor Tom Stahura, there are usually some telltale signs to look (or sometimes listen) for.

“If we can eliminate headaches in one area, then that maintenance team at a plant can focus its energies and resources on other issues that are making the plant work at less than optimum efficiency,” Stahura says.

“Operators look out for indicators like spillage, belt centralisation and unusual noises like squeaks to try and systematically work their way through to the root cause of what’s going on.

“Certain signs can help to determine

MATERIAL SPILLAGE FROM CONVEYOR BELTS CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS AND REQUIRES SPECIAL CARE.

AUSTRALIANMINING

what’s causing the spillage; whether it is on the walkway, underneath the conveyor, in a single localised area, or spread along the entire length of the conveyor, for example.”

Stahura delivers conveyor training courses at mine sites alongside colleague Ken Minch, a fellow account development manager and trainer.

Typically ranging in duration from a half-day to two days, these courses cover a variety of modules, with safety typically being the first topic of conversation. The longer courses incorporate site visits for trainees to firmly establish the tenets of best practice. The training can also be tailored around the knowledge of the trainees in question, whether they’re newbies or old hands.

“It’s a great thing to be able to do these site walks with the trainees and actually have a look at these issues that they have raised in the classroom in person,” Minch explains. “This allows us to conduct a brainstorming session so they can apply what they’ve learnt and solve the issue onsite.

“We’ll have conversations with the staff over some of the ways to find the root cause of conveyor problems.”

Conveyor safety levels have improved over the last decade but injuries and fatalities can still occur and there’s always room for improvement. An American mine safety report by the Mine Safety and Health Administration

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found that 91 fatalities were recorded in the United States between 2002 and 2012. At home, the mining industry averages out to around nine fatalities a year, according to a 2013 report by Safe Work Australia.

“We look at inefficiencies that may be there and try to come up with some scenarios on how to solve those,” adds Stahura. “As with anything, it takes a good bit of input and background to identify the true root cause without relying on knee jerk reaction that you may have when you first see something off.”

While site safety is of paramount importance, training mine site staff to recognise maintenance and safety issues with conveyor systems isn’t just beneficial for worker health and safety, but for the bottom line as well.

Instilling the ability in staff to correctly identify prospective maintenance issues with conveyors reduces the prospect of downtime through both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance shutdowns.

As Minch puts it, better performing conveyor systems not only improve production but also lead to happier and more productive maintenance and production personnel.

“They’re not having to clean up the same mess every shift or the same broken piece of equipment that’s been regularly damaged through material loss and poor performance,” Minch says. AM

DRILL AND BLAST

MORE BME BLASTING TECHNOLOGY TO COME TO AUSTRALIA BME IS THE CREATOR OF THE AXXIS DIGITAL DETONATION SYSTEM THROUGH ITS NOW WHOLLY-OWNED ENTITY, ADVANCED INITIATING SYSTEMS (AIS).

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ME has already become well established in Australia through distributing the leading AXXIS digital detonation system by its now wholly owned entity Advanced Initiating Systems (AIS).

“Since AIS was established in Australia five years ago, we have had considerable success in serving the mining sector with the Axxis system – mainly in Queensland and also in New South Wales,” says AIS director Brad Bulow, who has also been general manager of BME Australia Asia since South Africa-based BME took full ownership of AIS at the end of 2017. The Axxis system has been used to initiate a number of worldrecord sized blasts in Australia and more recently in Zambia.

He says the company is actively expanding its geographical market presence in Australia, while substantially augmenting the diversity of its offering. While Axxis has been traditionally used in the country’s surface mining sector, for instance, it can now be applied in underground operations through BME’s innovative Centralised Blasting System (CBS). The Axxis CBS allows multiple blast areas to be detonated from a single point on surface. it also features real-time local monitoring with remote access monitoring capabilities with cloud based data storage, greatly improving the pre-blasting and post-blasting decision-making process “We plan to make the complete range of BME’s technologies, products and services available to

the Australian mining industry over time,” says Bulow.

Established in South Africa in 1984 and a member of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed Omnia Group, BME’s selection of robust Innovex emulsion explosives is well known across Africa and abroad. The company supplies these explosives, as well as offering their respective bulk supply and manufacturing systems in the Australian market.

In addition to the Axxis digital initiation system, BME Australia-Asia will also market the non-electronic Viperdet delay detonators and the complementary Viperboosters – used in the explosive initiation sequence between an initiator or primer and the main charge.

BME anticipates high demand for its new Xplolog system. It is a

THE BME AIS TEAM FROM L-R - DILLON GRANT, BLAST TECHNICIAN; TOM DERMODY, TECHNICAL SERVICES MANAGER; PAUL LIGHTBODY, PRODUCT MANAGER; KRYSTEN ODENDAAL, LOGISTICS OFFICER; BRAD BULOW, AIS DIRECTOR AND BME’S GENERAL MANAGER AUSTRALIA ASIA.

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fully integrated and real-time blast data management system, which is complementary to existing Blastmap III optimisation software and the Axxis digital initiation system. It enables user-friendly data capture in the field, paper-free with real time or instant data synchronisation available. Data storage is centralised and readily available for analysis through cloud-based application software. It will enable blast crews, engineers and management to be fully connected at all stages of the blasting process.

Bulow says BME Australia-Asia will continue to apply its customer service philosophy to back the new products and technologies, in line with BME’s commitment to providing customers with sustainable solutions that improve their bottom line. AM

BME’S XPLOLOG IS A FULLY INTEGRATED AND REAL-TIME BLAST DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

DATA MANAGEMENT

WEIR MINERALS ANNOUNCES INNOVATIVE IIOT PLATFORM SYNERTREX

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WEIR MINERALS’ SYNERTREX PROMISES TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE MINING INDUSTRY. eir Minerals has launched Synertrex, an advanced IIoT technology that it hopes will transform the mining industry.

Complementing Weir Minerals’ existing portfolio of mining equipment, the Synertrex platform is now available globally. Delivering an advanced level of understanding, it allows operators to monitor every aspect of their equipment’s operation, prevent problems and increase throughput.

“We believe our Synertrex platform will have a significant impact on the mining industry, transforming customer operations through improved productivity and safety. Working with technology market leaders Microsoft and Dell has enabled us to develop sophisticated predictive software and hardware which is robust enough to operate in extreme conditions across the globe,” Ricardo Garib, minerals division president states.

IIoT is a network of equipment that connects to the internet and shares data which can be converted into unique insights. Demand for IIoT enabled products is growing rapidly, particularly in the mining industry where it is being used in a number of areas including analytics, machine learning, and robotics.

Synertrex is a cutting-edge IIoT platform, which harnesses the latest digital technology to transform productivity, foresee risk and enhance performance, according

to Weir Minerals. Utilising cloud computing, it involves placing smart sensors on an array of Weir Minerals’ products, which gather critical operating data for advanced analysis. The data is transformed into powerful insights, which are relayed to the customer through a digital interface. It can identify problems before they occur, reducing downtime, and optimise equipment performance across an entire circuit.

Remote management allows for simplified maintenance. Wear and tear can be easily monitored, and trouble spots detected before they escalate into major issues. Whether it’s a drive system, structural or lubrication issues, Synertrex provides the tools to keep mining equipment at its most profitable.

With Synertrex, the guesswork is removed. Through the platform, customers will have detailed real-time insight into how their equipment is performing, and machines will be able to learn over time. Information is displayed on a simple, easy-to-understand dashboard, which can be accessed via any device or integrated into existing operational systems. It will convey real-time, fact-based insights into machine performance and health, remaining useful life and other crucial indicators.

“Synertrex makes the complex simple, better insight and control of equipment enables customers to make accurate, condition-based decisions. This platform will redefine field service standards and lead to greater performance, reliability and

AUSTRALIANMINING

A CG IMAGE OF WEIR’S NEW TECHNOLOGY.

ultimately return on investment,” Fred Bradner, vice president of global strategy, sales and marketing, says.

At this stage, the platform can be paired with Warman pumps, Cavex hydrocyclones, GEHO PD pumps, Enduron HPGR, Enduron screens and Enduron crushers; however there are plans to expand the range of compatible products. Customers with existing Weir Minerals’ products who wish to enable Synertrex will be able to retrofit sensors to equipment.

“This technology is backed by our 147 years of experience and unrivalled service support. Our team

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travel to the customers’ site to install the sensors, connect to the cloud and provide training to ensure they fully understand how the Synertrex platform works and what it can do,” John McNulty, vice president of global engineering and technology, says.

“The data gathered from Synertrex combined with our indepth product knowledge, provides unique insights on performance that only the OEM can deliver.

Our extensive service network can quickly act on the outputs from Synertrex to provide unrivalled onsite support to our customers.” AM

MINING EQUIPMENT

WILL EPIROC MEET ITS AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR GROWTH? WITH ITS STOCK MARKET LISTING, EPIROC HAS NOW CUT THE APRON STRINGS WITH ATLAS COPCO AND IS ON A PATH OF GROWTH AND CONSOLIDATION.

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mbitious targets have been set

by Epiroc’s new board in particular to attain global leadership in automation and digitisation of surface and underground mining equipment.

And not just the company’s own equipment but by integrating data from the whole mixed fleet on a mine site, incorporating miners and their contractor fleet plus personnel.

The aim is for Epiroc to provide a real-time, single-user interface for the entire mine.

With its recent investments in Mobilaris MCE AB and partnership with SAAB Combitech the OEM agnostic capability is possible.

On the surface side, Epiroc has already made huge inroads with its fully autonomously-operated Pit Viper fleets in the Pilbara. On the underground side Mobilaris Mining Intelligence software is providing real time data in 3D so tracking, planning and monitoring of people, vehicles and objects is possible.

The savings for knowing where people, machines and material are for a mine can be huge. Ventilation, for example, if it only comes on when a person comes into the space, much like lights turning on and off automatically when you enter a room can drastically lower energy bills.

Epiroc is also investing in its customer service centres, in Australia the new Perth head office is expected to open in the fourth quarter.

Roughly four times the size of the current building, apart from vast undercover workshops, dedicated R&D teams and specialised communications systems, there are also substantial areas earmarked for expansion.

Splitting off from Atlas Copco was a bold move in a highly competitive mining and natural resources market.

“Time will tell whether the combination of investing in our dedicated staff, a focus on automation and staying close to our customers will deliver the dividends

hoped and planned for. With the split we in Epiroc Australia have been re-energised and from where I sit I think we are on the right track,” Epiroc Australia general manager Terry Browne says.

EPIROC AUSTRALIA’S NEW PERTH HEAD OFFICE ARTISTS IMPRESSION.

New world standard: CO2 free, digitised and autonomous Epiroc has partnered to set a new world standard for sustainable mining at great depth, joining forces with LKAB, ABB, Combitech and AB Volvo the partnership is starting a unique testbed in the orefields of northern Sweden.

The testbed, SUM, Sustainable Underground Mining, will be created in LKAB’s underground mines in Kiruna and Malmberget and will also take the form of a virtual mine. Here, new technology will be developed and tested in a real mining environment to ensure that the Swedish mining industry can remain competitive and create jobs and growth.

This requires new control systems, new and improved mining equipment, as well as complex and efficient management systems that meet future demands for a sustainable industry. Reaching that goal will demand a new type of collaboration, a digital ecosystem in which the partners’ digital systems and operations are linked.

After 2030 LKAB needs to be ready to mine at greater depth in both mines. This is one of Sweden’s biggest industrial investments ever, so decisions have to be taken in the mid-2020s. For the required technology shift and reduction in climate impact, LKAB, Epiroc, Combitech, ABB and AB Volvo have joined forces to find solutions that will entail a major leap in technological development.

Within the framework of the SUM testbed the best means of building an efficient autonomous production system that is carbon-dioxide-free and has the highest conceivable level of safety will be studied and implemented.

Epiroc and its partners vision for the future is autonomous and digitalised mine where people and

AUSTRALIANMINING

machines will work side by side.

Implementation of the project will not only require very significant investment by the partners but open collaboration with researchers,

governments, customers and other suppliers.

For Epiroc this is exactly the type of collaboration model it is working on globally in big and small projects. AM

EPIROC WILL INCREASE FOCUS ON AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGY.

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PRODUCT SHOWCASE

BRAEMAC BRINGS THE LATEST SMART CAMERA TECH TO AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIAN MINING LOOKS AT THE LATEST ADLINK SMART CAMERAS AVAILABLE IN AUSTRALIA FROM BRAEMAC.

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illed as the most powerful smart camera on the market, the Adlink x86 NEON1020, NEON-1021 and NEON-1040 are the latest in Taiwanese company Adlink Technology’s series of smart cameras.

Working in the field of industrial Internet of things (IIoT) applications and smart connectivity, Adlink is considered a leader in the field of machine vision products. Braemac, who has a long-standing relationship with Adlink, serves the company in the Australian and New Zealand markets.

Established in Sydney in 1984

vision applications without the need for complex programming.

The line also boasts 1.91GHz quad core Intel Atom processors and is available with the choice of either 16GB or 32GB solid state drives (SSDs). In tests, the Atom processor is shown to provide up to six times the computing power of other smart cameras on the market, which tend to still use single-core processors such as the earlier 1.6GHz Intel Z530. M4 mounting holes allow for easy installation and M12 connectors guarantee rugged connection and extra protection from dust and moisture.

The small size of the 1020, 1021

THE SMALL SIZE OF THE 1020, 1021 AND 1040 TRANSLATES TO A SMALL FOOTPRINT, ALLOWING FOR EASY INTEGRATION INTO SYSTEMS.” as a technical engineering services and supply chain provider, Braemac now sports offices around the globe, including Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, China, HK, Vietnam and Singapore.

Braemac has secured a place as a valued provider across a wide body of industries, including computing, RF, electromechanical and machine vision components. In addition to its robust product suite, Braemac is also able to draw on its experience in the industry by offering engineering and other value added services tailored to meet the requirements of customers and companies.

Adlink’s x86 NEON-1020, 1021 and 1040 line feature a variety of leading edge technical specifications. The primary point of difference between the 1020 and 1040 is their resolution and framerate: the 1020 includes a two megapixel (MP), 120 frames per second (fps) global shutter sensor while the 1040 has a 4MP, 60fps global shutter sensor. The 1020’s sensor resolution and size are 2048 x 1088 and 2/3” (1.7cm). The 1040 has a 2048 x 2048 resolution, one-inch (2.54cm) sensor.

The Adlink x86 NEON-1021 meanwhile uses a 2MP, 60fps monochrome global shutter sensor and MVTec MERLIC integration, an easy-to-use machine vision software designed for quick building of machine

and 1040 (127.3mm x 68.5mm x 65.2mm) translates to a small footprint, allowing for easy integration into systems without the need for extensive configuration. Built-in pulse width modulation (PWM) lighting control eliminates the need for external lighting components, saving time and increasing efficiency.

The 1020, 1021 and 1040 incorporate open x86 architecture that allows for development in a single language; third-party software support includes Teledyne Dalsa Sherlock, Adaptive Vision Studio, Euresys Open eVision, COGNEX VisionPro and MVTec HALCON. Optional accessories include 5m GigE cables, VGA and USB cables, IP67-certified lens protectors and 16mm C-mount lenses, all of which are available in Australia and New Zealand through Braemac.

This combination of features makes the cameras ideal for advanced image processing applications, particularly in the area of industrial automation.

Built to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) IP67 standards — including lens protectors — the 1020 and 1040 are rugged bits of kit, coming equipped with both water resistance and dust protection, making them highly adaptable to the harsh climatic conditions common to Australia’s mine sites. AM AUSTRALIANMINING

ADLINK’S PRODUCTS FEATURE A VARIETY OF TECHNICAL SPECS.

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PRODUCTS

BENTLEY OPENPLANT CONNECT EDITION PLANT DESIGN

ENERPAC CORDLESS PUMP AND SYNC GRIP PULLER COMBO

Bentley Systems’ OpenPlant CONNECT Edition is the latest plant design that offers users a collaborative, intelligent 2D and 3D plant design environment. The first one to use Bentley’s cloud service iModelHub, the OpenPlant CONNECT Edition gives users the ability to design and manage plant data through a web-based interface, while supporting reliable and asynchronous project visibility anytime and anywhere. Its new cloudbased capabilities also make querying, reporting and monitoring of the health of users’ projects easier, as it tracks and notifies users of all changes made to project designs. Using the iRING/ISO 15926 as an intrinsic data model, OpenPlant enables users to coordinate and share information across multiple disciples and the infrastructure lifecycle.

Enerpac’s pump-and-puller combination is designed for speedy removal of bearings, bushings, gears, sleeves, wheels, fly-wheels, sprockets and other shaftmounted items. The highly-portable combination incorporates new Enerpac SG hydraulic pullers in capacities up to 45t; it is actuated by go-anywhere XC cordless pumps that offer the performance capabilities of an electric or pneumatic-powered pump with the convenient portability of a hand pump. The new Sync Grip Pullers also feature synchronised movement of their locking jaws for simultaneous engagement and optimised safety, enabling one person to do two persons’ jobs.

It promotes operator safety by removing trip hazards associated with traditional powered pumps.

• www.bentley.com

• www.enerpac.com

OLYMPUS IPLEX G LITE INDUSTRIAL VIDEOSCOPE

SANDVIK RH560 DOWN-THE-HOLE HAMMER

The IPLEX G Lite videoscope provides users working in challenging environments with a remote visual inspection tool that has powerful imaging capabilities and ease of use. The IPLEX G Lite is small and lightweight, making it easy to use with one hand. Its touch panel monitor and electrically operated scope tip bending also make it ideal for tasks such as periodic maintenance or inspecting a component’s quality. As it boasts twice the brightness of its predecessor, the videoscope can be used to capture images inside piping or other equipment in the dark. The videoscope also includes new features such as recording and playback functions, constant video recording and the ability to add bookmarks to quickly find critical moments. To conduct inspection in oily environments, the grooves on its oil clearing tip adaptor are able to drain unnecessary oil quickly, keeping images clean and visible.

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• www.rocktechnology.sandvik/ • www.rocktechnology.sandvik/

• www.olympus-ims.com

AUSTRALIANMINING

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PRODUCTS

SIEMENS SIMATIC HMI PRO

SCHNEIDER TELEMECANIQUE CONTACTLESS SAFETY SENSOR

Siemens has extended its system family of all-round protected HMI (Human Machine Interface) devices for machine-related, cabinet-free visualisation and automation: Simatic Thin Client PRO operator terminals.

Equipped with 15-, 19- and 22-inch screen sizes and all-round IP65 degree of protection, the new thin clients can be extended by mountable components (extension units) such as mounting adapter, keyboard tray and keyboard. It has new expansion options which are operator controls with USB interfaces and an extension box with adjustable handles for easy operation of the panels on the machine. The device is also complemented with equipment options such as cameras, Bluetooth, wireless and internal RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) readers. The device is suitable for use in extreme temperatures ranging from -40C to +65 degrees Celsius.

The XCSR contactless RFID safety sensor is programmed with a highlevel of coding, making it easier to protect employees in dangerous industrial areas. It is certified with a Cat4/PLe – SIL3 rating, which is the highest rated safety level that effectively seal off areas in the work zone that are dangerous. The contactless safety sensor also uses a ready-touse transponder and reader that is factory-paired and sold together with a unique, high-level coding, where, once in place, its functionality can’t be altered. The sensor allows different mounting configurations, and comes with different connection types – standalone, series and single – to fit any type of industrial environment.

• www.schneider-electric.com.au

• www.siemens.com

KOMATSU ARTICULATED DUMP TRUCKS HM300-5 AND HM400-5

SCHAEFFLER SPLIT SPHERICAL ROLLER BEARINGS

Komatsu has released two new articulated dump trucks: the 28t capacity HM300-5 and 40t capacity HM400-5. Powered by low-emission Tier-4 Final engines, they cut nitrous oxide and particulate matter emissions by 90 per cent and deliver up to 14 per cent lower fuel consumption compared with previous models. The Tier 4 engines also monitor and transmit far more detailed data about engine conditions and operation, giving unmatched visibility into the health of equipment. Meanwhile, its Komatsu Traction Control System ensures maximum machine performance in soft and slippery grounds, providing unrivalled traction, braking power and safety in all types of operation. The vehicles use sensors to perform high-speed processing of all signals and provide drivers total control of equipment in all conditions of use.

Schaeffler reinvented spherical roller bearings with split technologies, simplifying the long-winded process and complications involved in solid bearing replacement with no decrease in bearing life. The result is increased safety, as there is reduction in the amount of heavy disassembly and assembly tasks typical of maintenance on machinery by at least 50 per cent compared with using solid bearings. Split bearing technologies are also particularly applicable on shafts supported at several points and locations that are difficult to access. It also removes additional costs associated with removal of gears or couplings, dismounting of drives and dismantling of shaft power trains. The split spherical roller bearings can be applied to a wide range of machinery such as bucket wheel excavators, belt conveyors, mixing and stirring plant and transmission shafts.

• www.komatsu.com.au

• www.schaeffler.com.au

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EVENTS

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

GMG FUTURE MINING FORUM, BRISBANE, AUGUST 21-22 GMG, Austmine, AusIMM and METS Ignited will join together to identify a new way for sustainable and safe mining. The forum will focus on the most pressing topics in the industry and demonstrate excellence through operator case study presentations and thought-provoking technology stories.

It will address themes surrounding mine interoperability, autonomous mining and underground innovation.

• www.austmine.com.au/Events/category/queensland/gmsg-future-miningforum-21st-22nd-august-2018 8th WOMEN IN ENERGY & RESOURCES LEADERSHIP SUMMIT, BRISBANE, AUGUST 29–30 Liquid Learning is presenting its 8th Women in Energy and Resources Leadership Summit. In times of continuous change and disruption, exceeding expectations is imperative for leadership success.

Liquid Learning is bringing together some of the most accomplished leaders from across Australia to reflect on their greatest achievements. With speakers from BHP, Rio Tinto, Energy Queensland and more, they’ll offer advice and insight to help exceed expectations and achieve professional greatness.

Liquid Learning will host the event at the Mercure Brisbane on August 29– 30. Seats can be reserved to attend this transformational leadership summit via the Liquid Learning website.

• liquidlearning.com AUSTMINE MINING INNOVATION ROADSHOW, PERTH, SEPTEMBER 13 The Austmine Mining Innovation Roadshow plans to continue the conversation in Perth after huge success in Brisbane and Newcastle. It will feature miners who represent the nation’s best in innovation, including Austmine’s Australian Mining, Equipment, Technology and Services (METS) members who are leading the

charge in exciting new technologies.

The major themes to be explored include digital mining, next-generation mine design, innovation in plant optimisation, leveraging workforce for innovation implementation and the modern mine. Participants will have an opportunity to be part of case study presentations, panel sessions and interactive think tank discussions.

• www.austmine.com.au/Events/category/western-australia/austmine-mining-innovation-roadshow-perth MINING THE TERRITORY 2018, DARWIN, SEPTEMBER 5–6 The Mining the Territory Conference is one of the leading mining conferences in Northern Australia. Dedicated to resources development in Northern Australia, the event is held annually as part of NT Resources Week. Industry experts and leaders will join to debate the current state of mining exploration and development within the Northern Territory, and Northern Australia generally. This year the event will

take place at the Darwin Convention Centre, where it promises a revamp of the conference format, with deeper exploration of key regional areas through newly implemented regional spotlights, bringing further value to this premier networking event from the ‘Top End’.

• ntresourcesweek.com.au/mining-theterritory-conference PROSPECT AWARDS, SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND, SYDNEY, OCTOBER 18 Celebrating its 15th year in October, the Australian Mining Prospect Awards has firmly established itself as one of Australia’s premier mining industry events. Nominations are now open for the 2018 Awards, which celebrates the best of the industry.

Previous winners have included a large range of companies, from SMEs and start-up ventures to the industry’s biggest hitters, such as Atlas Copco, BGC Contracting and Roy Hill. Last year also saw iron ore mogul Gina Rinehart receive the award for Contribution to Mining.

• www.prospectawards.com.au IMARC 2018, MELBOURNE, OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 1 The International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) has become Australia’s largest mining conference that connects global mining leaders with technology, finance and the future. The conference is bringing together over 5000 decision makers, mining leaders, policy makers, investors, commodity buyers, technical experts, innovators and educators from over 90 countries. The IMARC 2018 program covers all aspects of mining, from exploration to investment, production to optimisation through to new technologies.

This year’s confirmed speakers are leaders from Anglo American, Newcrest Mining, Roy Hill, Gold Fields, Oceana Gold, Evolution Mining, Centennial Coal, Newmont and Teck. The free exhibition will also feature the latest innovations from over 150 leading companies such as Caterpillar, Scania, Thiess, Sandvik and HATCH. The IMARC 2018 will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from October 29 to November 1.

• imarcmelbourne.com/

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NOMINATIONS NOW

OPEN For more information, please go to

www.prospectawards.com.au Sponsors

KNOWING TODAY WHAT TO EXPECT TOMORROW – AND BEYOND

Bosch Rexroth drives and control systems are ready for Condition Monitoring, Predictive Maintenance, and Industry 4.0 including management right from the start. They can be flexibly adapted to the most diverse requirements and manu-facturing environments.

A great range of performance equipment such as intelligent sensors, controls and drives form the basis for comprehensive Predictive Analytics. For the ex-tended acquisition of operating conditions Bosch Rexroth offers a wide range of additional sensors as an upgrade solution.

Service Agreements

7/24

75.000 24/7 service available

More than 75,000 spare parts

Bosch Rexroth Pty Ltd Tel: 1800 REXROTH Email: info@boschrexroth.com.