Category: Features

By Samantha James FIRST gold pour at the Thunderbox gold mine in WA was achieved ahead of schedule in mid-February 2016, with ramp up set to double Saracen Mineral Holdings’ annual gold production to more than 300,000 ounces. Saracen owns the producing Carosue Dam open pit and underground gold operations, the Thunderbox open pit mine and recently refurbished Thunderbox carbon in leach (CIL) plant, as well as gold and nickel exploration and development projects in WA. The company is completing several studies into the viability of developing underground projects to extend the life of mine at Carosue Dam. In early February 2016, Saracen announced that commissioning of the Thunderbox CIL plant and the first mining of the Thunderbox open pit...

By Samantha James THE inevitable mothballing of coal mines around the world will force the industry to question who is responsible for the rehabilitation of the abandoned sites, and what best practices can reduce the long term impact on native environments. When left untended, open pits below groundwater level fill with rain and groundwater to become pit lakes, and large regions with abandoned, un-reclaimed areas turn into lake districts. Above groundwater, pits are left as large holes in the landscape known as final voids; they prevent rehabilitation of native plants and animals or reuse as agricultural land. NSW is feeling the impact of final voids keenly, with more than 500 derelict mines across the state. Further issues are anticipated with the...

By Rachel Seeley AS the world’s second largest zinc resource, the McArthur River Mine (MRM) is a key operation in Glencore’s portfolio. Rachel Seeley spoke to MRM general manager Sam Strohmayr about the environmental challenges being met at the operation. Q. Please provide a brief overview of the McArthur River Mine. Glencore’s McArthur River Mine (MRM) is located in the remote Gulf of Carpentaria, 900km southeast of Darwin. MRM is a world-class zinc-lead mine with a long future ahead of it. It is an important part of the Territory’s resources history and continues to make a big contribution to the Territory and the nation. Originally discovered in 1955, the Here’s Your Chance zinc-lead deposit was not commercially mined for 40...

By Rachel Seeley 2015 was a year of change for North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation, as it responded to tough trading conditions faced by customers by becoming more cost competitive. Ready access to transport corridors and shipping channels, as well as its close proximity to the state’s mining, industrial and agricultural sectors and Asia’s growing markets, means that North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation’s (NQBP) is ideally positioned for sustainable growth. Already accounting for more than half of the state’s tonnage and with a total asset base of $626 million, NQBP’s seaport facilities handle a range of bulk cargoes including coal, bauxite, sugar, molasses, grain, petroleum, fertiliser and general cargo. NQBP is one of Australia’s largest port authorities, responsible for the...

By Samantha James DIATREME Resources is relying on a forecast increase in mineral sands demand and the weak Australian dollar to aid its flagship Cyclone project, in WA’s Eucla Basin, on the road to production. According to UK-based industry forecaster Artikol, mineral sands demand is expected to expand by up to 4.1 per cent per annum through 2020, with the weak Australian dollar set to aid Australian producers. At the 2015 Informa Mineral Sands Conference, Artikol predicted estimated mineral sands demand growth based on growing demand from Asia, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Iluka Resources – the world’s largest mineral sands producer and Diatreme’s main competitor in the Eucla Basin – also indicated that positive demand fundamentals included urbanisation trends, increasing consumption...

By Reuben Adams THE Port Pirie smelter once faced an uncertain future, but a $563 million redevelopment is set to give the South Australian institution and its namesake town a new lease on life. The Port Pirie smelter has been in constant operation on the eastern shore of the Upper Spencer Gulf for an incredible 125 years. The histories of the smelter and the town are inextricably linked; the discovery of silver, lead and zinc at Broken Hill in 1883 facilitated the development of a railway connecting it with Port Pirie in 1888, and the subsequent construction of a lead smelter in 1889 to treat Broken Hill ore. Broken Hill Proprietary began constructing its own smelter from 1892, which was soon acquired...

By Samantha James CUDECO is among only a handful of companies to have solely steered a major Australian project from discovery to production. The Rocklands Group copper project near Cloncurry in Queensland has been a long-term investment for CuDeco, following the discovery of a previously-unknown zone within historical workings in 2006. Under CuDeco’s direction the newly discovered copper, cobalt and gold mineralisation at Las Minerale quickly grew, with the project soon taking in the Central Rocklands and Southern Rocklands areas, together referred to as the Rocklands Group. The ore exhibited large zones of high-grade coarse native copper ore co-mingled with oxide, supergene, transitional and primary copper ores, making it unique and the first of its kind discovered in Australia. CuDeco began...

By Samantha James THE resources industry in South Australia is supported by government initiatives that are helping the state remain one of Australia’s top mineral exporters. Once known as the ‘copper kingdom’ thanks to large discoveries made in the seventeenth century, South Australia also lays claim to the first commercial metalliferous mine in Australia, producing silver-lead ore from 1841. In the years since, exploration and development of additional commodities including uranium, iron ore, gold, silver, zinc, mineral sands, zircon and graphite have put South Australia on the world’s resources map. The state is the largest producer of uranium in Australia, hosting 80 per cent of the country’s reserves and 25 per cent of the world’s known uranium, and is home to...

By Reuben Adams A successful mining hub for more than 90 years, Mount Isa reigns as the administrative, commercial and industrial centre for Queensland’s vast north-western region – a region which is not connected to the National Electricity Market (NEM). While the NEM interconnects the eastern states and South Australia – the closest NEM connection point for North West Queensland (NWQ) is in Townsville, about 1000km away. The Queensland Government released the Sims Review of North West Queensland Energy Delivery in May 2009, calling on energy providers and major regional energy users to find a commercially viable, long-term solution to meet the needs of key regional energy users. “The current source of local generation, the CS Energy-owned Mica Creek power station,...

By Courtney Pearson Working on exciting new technology to pave the way for a future of automation in mining is all in a day’s work for CSRIO principal research engineer Dr Mark Dunn. Q. When did your journey with the CSIRO begin? I started with CSIRO in early 2008 with no domain knowledge of mining technologies or processes. My background was in technology and automation in agriculture, and that translated well into the mining industry and the types of projects that we undertake. I have a strong background in machine vision and software and hardware systems that can be used in very practical applications. I have been fortunate to be involved with a very strong team in the coal mining...

By Samantha James FOLLOWING first heavy mineral concentrate production at Keysbrook, MZI Resources is ramping up with the aim of becoming the world’s largest primary producer of leucoxene. WA has a long history of mineral sands mining and processing, providing MZI and the Keysbrook project with experienced employees and established community and regulatory operating models. Smooth construction and commissioning assisted production to begin three weeks ahead of schedule in October 2015, with first concentrate from the nearby Picton mineral separation plant – owned by Doral Mineral Sands – achieved in early November. MZI is targeting full capacity of 95,000 tonnes per annum of leucoxene and zircon by the end of the calendar year, to coincide with its first sales. Keysbrook...