Author: The AMR

COAL IN-SITU CONVERSION (ISC) A Commercial Challenge Review Introduction In-situ conversion (ISC) of coal, also referred to as underground coal gasification (UCG) and in-situ coal gasification (ISG), is an industry process by which a coal seam is converted into a product gas, by combusting, pyrolysing and gasifying the coal in-situ in the presence of an oxidant, after the coal is ignited. The product gas is typically referred to as synthesis gas or syngas and can be used as a feedstock for various applications, including fuels, fertilisers and chemicals production, including power co-generation or power only generation. A coal seam having injection and production wells with a substantially horizontal wellbore linking the two is typically referred to as an in-situ coal…

Imagine having to machine a bucket wheel excavator so big it needed to have the surrounding shed walls torn down to move it for servicing. But that sort of task is all in a day’s work for Victoria-based rotary welding and line boring specialist Metro Machining, a small engineering company that has earned a big reputation. Bucket wheels combine robustness with outstanding speed and high throughputs and are used worldwide in the handling of bulk materials such as coal, iron ore, petroleum coke, limestone, bauxite, lignite, phosphate, and other kinds of ore. These excavators are the largest machines found on mine sites, and it’s no surprise that one of them is the largest land vehicle built in human history, measuring…

OZ Minerals has allocated an additional $6m-$9m in capital expenditure for its Prominent Hill mine this year, after deferring funding earlier in 2020 due to uncertainties posed by COVID-19. Located in one of the world’s most mining-friendly locations, Prominent Hill possesses highly competitive fundamentals. The large copper-gold mine, located 650km north west of Adelaide and 130km south-east of Coober Pedy in South Australia, delivers a high grade resource, with the ore processed using conventional methods. The underground decline development at Prominent Hill will allow OZ Minerals to begin mining the western side of the Malu orebody in a bottom-up sequence. It will also open up the pathway to bottom-up mining from deeper underground from mid to late 2021. According to…

The most notable trend related to the transition to electric vehicles over the last 12 months is the acceleration in electric car sales in Europe. EV car sales in Europe now outstrip China and other Asian countries that have been active in developing lithium-ion batteries. In a recent article published by The Driven, European auto market analyst Matthias Schmidt was referenced in relation to his European Electric Car Report for the seven months to July 2020. Schmidt noted that during this period there were more plug-in electric car sales in Western Europe than in China, a country that in previous years had been considered the world’s largest electric car market by volume. It should be noted China’s electric vehicle market…

Supporting mining projects throughout the Bowen Basin and Queensland, Emerald-based Centurion is a major provider of mobile cranes for all applications. Its fleet of cranes range from 20t to 250t and are operated by a team of highly skilled and experienced operators. Centurion is a full logistics solutions provider delivering a comprehensive range of distribution, warehousing, and specialised services. The company’s extensive transport fleet of more than 2000 vehicles and specialised equipment, coupled with an unsurpassed branch network in key centres across Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland, ensures a flexible and reliable supply chain solution. Its fleet of cranes service local mines as well as agriculture, building and construction and railway industries. The Centurion depot in Emerald holds cranes for all mining…

Water scale is a major issue in mining operations affecting equipment as diverse as cooling towers to fire hydrant systems. Limescale build-up is a major cause of decreased performance for a wide range of critical mining infrastructure and can lead to costly equipment failures and increased risks of safety incidents such as boiler overpressures and explosions. Triple7 EnviroScale Plus is a unique and highly concentrated limescale and calcium remover designed to meet the challenges of the mining, oil and gas industry. Limescale is a hard chalky deposit, consisting mainly of calcium carbonate and builds up inside tanks and piping especially in hot water systems. Deposits from when the water evaporates leave the mineral behind. It is also often found as…