SEP2020australianminingreview.com.au A product of Publications & Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd NEW STANDARDS FOR TAILINGS MANAGEMENT P08 PUSHING THE DRILLING BOUNDARIES P64 ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR ADANI P36 RRP $10.00 incl GST GET THE RIGHT TRANSPORTABLE THE FIRST TIME (08) 8995 6500 enquiries@northerntransportables.com www.northerntransportables.com.au #1 IMAGE: Minerals Council of Australia P06-07 | SHINING A LIGHT ON WINDROWS Line boring is an essential part of machinery upkeep. Every large machine that mine operators depend on, from dozers to excavators, haul trucks to cranes, will require a pin bore refurbishment during its life cycle. Read our 13-page special on some of the best line borers in the business. FEATURE P65-77 THE HOLE HOGTHE SAFETY KNIFE SPECIALISTS For information on this and the complete MARTOR range: martoraustralia.com.au +61 3 5940 4476 Automatic Blade Retraction Exceptional ergonomics Very High Safety The ultimate in design and innovation. 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Features include: Durable aluminium handle Ergonomic blade action lever Large blade extension for versatile cutting Easy, tool-free blade changeGENERAL MANAGER Trevor Pickett 0429 916 282 trevor@australianminingreview.com.au EDITOR Ray Chan ray@australianminingreview.com.au ACCOUNTS MANAGER Teresa Sabatino accounts@australianminingreview.com.au CONTENTS 06 08 SHINING A LIGHT ON WINDROWS NEWS 04 NEWS 24 22 27 32 38 36 42 FEATURES RISK AND INSURANCE INDUSTRY FOCUS MINING LIFESTYLE TECHNICAL TALK COMMODITIES SNAPSHOT MINING IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA UNDERSTAND, BUILD TRUST AND EDUCATE PROMINENT HILL NEW ACLAND ELIWANA PROJECT ADANI AUSTRALIA BHP SOUTH FLANK 45 52 53 57 80 60 82 63 86 20 21 COMPANIES GEARING UP ENGINEERING IN MINING DRILLING SERVICES SAFETY PRODUCTS TRENCHLESS TECHNOLOGY ABRASIVE BLASTING SAFETY IN MINING 4WD TRAINING IN THE SPOTLIGHT NEW LIFE FOR OLD TYRES GLASS BLOWS THE MIND 64 67 DIRECTIONAL DRILLING LINE BORING IN THE SPOTLIGHT P86 RISK AND INSURANCE IN MINING P 22 PROMINENT POSITION P27 JOURNALISTS Kathleen Southway, Kate Christian RESEARCH Jason Strydom, Wayne Dyson ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER Biliana Harman SALES EXECUTIVES Cal Christelow, Chrissy Nurthen, Donna Orton DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER Matthew Pickett matt@australianminingreview.com.au DESIGNER Jeremy Pickett jeremy@australianminingreview.com.au PRINTER Australian Community Media The Australian Mining Review is a free publication to all mine sites and mining companies in Australia. Its value is $11 an issue. (Includes GST, postage and handling). The copyright is vested in the Proprietors of The Australian Mining Review; neither whole nor any part of this issue may be reproduced without permission. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Publications & Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd and its staff, but are those of the respective author who accepts sole responsibility and liability for them. NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS: The Trade Practices Act, 1974 came into force on the 1st October 1974. All advertisers and advertising agents are directed to carefully study the provisions of the Act, which contain strict regulations on advertising. It can be an offence for anyone to engage, in trade or commerce, in conduct deemed “misleading or deceptive”. Specifically s53 of the Act contains prohibitions from doing any of the following in connection with the promotion, by any means, of the supply or use of goods or services: (a) falsely represent that goods are of a particular standard, quality, value, grade, composition, style or model or have had a particular history or particular previous use; (b) falsely represent that goods are new; (c) represent that goods or services have sponsorship, approval, performance characteristics, accessories, uses or benefits they do not have; (d) represent that the corporation has a sponsorship, approval or affiliation it does not have; (e) make a false or misleading representation with respect to the price of goods or services; (f) make a false or misleading representation concerning the need for any goods or services; or (g) make a false or misleading representation concerning the existence, exclusion or effect of any condition, warranty, guarantee, right or remedy. PENALTIES: For an individual — $10,000 or six months imprisonment For a corporation — $50,000. It is not possible for this company to ensure that advertisements published in this newspaper comply with the Act and the responsibility must, therefore, be on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertising for publication. In case of doubt, consult your lawyer. A product of Publications & Exhibitions Australia Pty Ltd PUBLISHED BY ABN 28 112 572 433 CONTACT US P (08) 6314 0301 F (08) 9481 7322 160 Beaufort Street, Perth, WA 6000. PO Box 8023, Perth BC, WA 6849 E-mail the editor at editorial@australianminingreview.com.auAMR SEP2020 4COMMODITIES SNAPSHOT 49.60 70 52.49 50 30 10 60 40 20 2 June 2 July 1 Aug MAJOR COMMODITIES SNAPSHOT Uncertainty continues to drive the gold price, with concerns about economic growth and whether central banks have enough firepower to fix the problems, and how long COVID-19 will last. Iron ore prices have hit six-and-half year highs, as Chinese furnaces, where more than half the world’s steel is forged, roll out crude steel at a never before seen pace. Copper prices rose as stockpiles in the London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouse system fell below 100,000t for the first time since 2007, and the approval of a coronavirus treatment in the USA boosted equities. Demand has been good, particularly from Asia where demand for hybrid batteries, catalysts and machine tools has been robust, but also from OECD markets where super alloys, particularly in aerospace, has been strong. The world aluminum market is expected to slip into a deficit of about 100,000 - 200,000t by year-end, based on a stronger than expected Asian recovery and healthy US and European economies, according to analysts. Prices are threatened by soft demand in major importers India and China. The coal market is set to continue its downtrend pressured by growing natural gas-powered production and rising share of renewable energy generation. Prices continue to rise as supply-side worries, compounded by mines closing because of COVID, support the market. The nickel price neared the $14,500 mark s development in coronavirus treatment and vaccines boosted market sentiment. * Prices as at the 1st August 2020 GOLD $US/oz IRON ORE $US/t 62% Fe CFR China COPPER $US/t COBALT LME Price $US/t LME Price ALUMINIUM $US/t COAL LME Price $US/oz LME Price LEAD $US/t NICKEL LME Price $US/t LME Price 1800 1825 1850 1875 2 June 2 July 1 Aug 1954.00 1948.56 1769.60 1725 1750 1775 1900 1950 1975 6457.80 6200 5200 5400 5600 5800 6000 6016.65 6559.00 6600 6400 2 June 2 July 1 Aug 1720.72 1500 1550 1600 1650 1700 1621.00 1772.00 51.00 1750 1800 2 June 2 July 1 Aug 1841.65 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 1976.00 1763.25 2000 2 June 2 July 1 Aug 98.74 108.05 90 95 100 105 85 122.57 2 June 2 July 1 Aug 110 115 120 125 130 29000 30000 31000 32000 33000 34000 28000 33045.00 28500.00 28750.04 2 June 2 July 1 Aug 13762.00 12757.50 12500 13000 13500 14000 14478.00 14500 15000 2 June 2 July 1 AugNEWS6 AMR SEP2020 M ost mine operators will agree that a strong correlation exists between well-constructed and maintained roads and safe, efficient mining operations. The haul road design and subsequent road management forms a critical component of mining transport operations. One of the key safety features for haul roads in open pit mines is windrows, also referred to as a safety berms or safety bunds. What Are Windrows? Why Are They Critical? Windrows are typically trapezoidal mounds used to redirect drifting vehicles back towards the haul road or to absorb the impact energy if any vehicle hits the windrow. SHINING A LIGHT ON WINDROWS They are established on haul roads, dumps and in proximity to highwalls where there is potential for mobile equipment to drive off an edge. Windrows are an effective guard against the severe consequences of a runaway vehicle and their standard design provides enough strength and height so that a serious accident may be avoided. Well-designed and maintained haul roads are the key to reducing truck haulage on- road hazards and costs, as well as increasing productivity. However, practically designing and managing a haul road for optimal performance is often difficult to achieve. The continuing increase in truck size, combined with recent powered haulage accidents and incident analyses, has warranted further development of mine road design guidelines. Several studies have shown that the major sub-standard surface mine road design factors were geometric and functional design issues, with a lesser, but still significant, contribution from inadequate structural design. While improved mine haul road design reduces accidents, due consideration needs to be given to human factors which are a significant contributor to haulage accidents. Certain external factors may also affect vehicle control, such as fog, sunlight, slippery roads, dust, obstructions that affect lines of sight and wildlife. To prevent an accident or reduce the severity of its consequences, a road should be more accommodating to human error. The more that is known about human error in the context of mine haulage, the better a road can be designed to accommodate those actions that would, on a poorly designed road, invariably escalate an error into an accident. Challenges and Recommendations From Mine Regulators Mine operators are required by work health and safety legislation to manage and controls risks associated with roads and other vehicle operating areas. Overlay of haul road product on draped orthomosaic. Windrows were assessed with minimum height and width 2m and 6.5m; roads were assessed with width 35m and slope 10%. Overlay of haul road product on a hillshaded DEM surface. DEM has been colourised to 25cm vertical changes. Profile lines generated by the Aerometrex Windrow Analysis Tool have been laid on the surface and colour-coded for compliance values. Here we can see passing (green) and failing (red) windrows above a high eroded drop off.7NEWS SEP2020 AMR Assessing risks helps mine operators to take the necessary action to eliminate or minimise the risk. In recent years however, regulators have identified concerns over management of risk associated with windrow construction standards, maintenance, and reliability. Some critical aspects of windrow management are linked to alignment, inspection, and training of operators responsible for windrow construction to necessary standards. LiDAR and How it Can Assist in Windrow Management? LiDAR systems allow scientists and mapping professionals to examine both natural and manmade environments with a high level of accuracy, precision, and flexibility. While traditional survey methods are known to be slow and result in low resolution sampling, airborne LiDAR surveys can acquire millions of points within each square kilometre of a survey within a much quicker timeframe. This density creates a robust data set for volume calculations, geomorphology and structural geology, design of road corridors, slope analysis and run off surface modelling for feasibility studies and environmental impact studies. What Does Aerometrex LiDAR Offer for Windrow Management? Through discussions with mine operators, aerial surveying company Aerometrex has identified the potential to utilise LiDAR datasets to provide value added analysis of haul road characteristics such as safety windrows. An industry-accepted method of analysing the height and width compliance of these features is by a method of placing regularly spaced elevation profiles perpendicular to haul road centrelines. To this end, Aerometrex has developed a workflow and toolset to derive and analyse these elevation profiles and generate a compliance report. The Aerometrex Windrow Analysis Tool is designed to enhance windrow monitoring. Given only a two-dimensional road centreline and a recent LiDAR dataset, the tool creates profiles at set intervals and scans each profile for elevation changes, testing them for criteria matching windrow tops and toes. Key metrics including height, width, and slope are calculated from these points. Each profile is classified using pass or fail criteria and attributed with calculated values. The tool relies on a simple arrangement of rise-over-run analysis over perpendicular hairs to detect slope changes. These are then filtered further to check for potential windrow and mini-windrow shapes. This output is taken through a quick result sampling (to check detection success) and reporting is run using client parameters. Aerometrex provides clients a full report that includes a brief, shapefile attribute key, and images. Reporting for each road individually is also included. Additionally, the company provides shapefiles of: • Road segments - a newly calculated adjusted centreline for the road, broken into interval segments, with elevation and slope information for each segment. • Windrow lines - contains elevated lines for each windrow including width, height, and compliance • Road profiles - contains elevated lines for each road section (road edge to road edge, exclusive of any mini windrows detected), with road width information and compliance (plus some other beta information) Driving efficiencies and increased productivity begins with accurate and real time measurement throughout plant and process, which can be achieved with the use of technologically adaptable solutions. Measuring and managing windrows with LiDAR survey data analytics helps save both time and money and prevent mistakes and rework. The Aerometrex Windrow Analysis Tool removes the need for manual digitisation of desired features, hence saving numerous man-hours and reducing the risk of manual errors. These improvements result in cost per unit produced savings and an enhanced focus on health and safety. It takes the guesswork out of trying to achieve operational efficiencies and productivity in mine windrow management. The tool can also be paired with external point cloud data - or by incorporating it into a regular flight, giving mine operators the best of both worlds. AMR Aerometrex Windrow Analysis Tool output in an active pit of a Qld coal mine. In this example, line size has been expanded to enhance visibility. Profile view of an ideal road structure.AMR SEP2020 NEWS8 T he International Council on Mining and Minerals (ICMM) and the United Nations (UN) have introduced a set of global standards for safe mine tailings management. The Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management was developed by a multi- disciplinary expert panel, with input from a multi-stakeholder advisory group, following the tragic tailings facility collapse at Brumadinho, Brazil, in January 2019. The review involved extensive public consultation with affected communities, government representatives, investors, multilateral organisations and mining industry stakeholders and is informed by existing best practice and findings from past tailings facility failures. The Standard strives to achieve the ultimate goal of zero harm to people and the environment with zero tolerance for human fatality. Underpinned by an integrated approach to tailings management, it aims to prevent catastrophic failure and enhance the safety of mine tailings facilities across the globe. It embodies a step-change in terms of transparency, accountability and safeguarding the rights of project-affected people. Comprising six Topic areas, 15 Principles and 77 auditable Requirements, the Standard will ultimately be supported by implementation protocols that will provide detailed guidance for certification, or assurance as applicable, and for equivalence with other standards. The Standard is directed at operators and applies to tailings facilities, both existing and to-be-built. It makes clear that extreme consequences to people and the environment from catastrophic tailings facility failures are unacceptable. Operators must have zero tolerance for human fatalities and strive for zero harm to people and the environment from the earliest phases of project conception. To be compliant with the Standard, operators must use spe¬ci¬fied measures to prevent the catastrophic failure of tailings facilities and to implement best practices in planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, monitoring, closure and post closure activities. Overall, conformance is expected where there is no conflict with the legislative requirements of the jurisdictions where tailings facilities are located. It is important to note that future development of implementation protocols would clarify expected levels of performance. The Standard’s structure is logical, not chronological, and is underpinned by an integrated approach to tailings management, which was the overarching objective of the Panel. Topic Area I focuses on project-affected people: In order to respect human rights, including the individual and collective rights of indigenous and tribal peoples, a human rights due diligence process is required to identify and address those that are most at risk from a tailings facility or its potential failure. To demonstrate this respect, project- affected people must be afforded opportunities for meaningful engagement in decisions that affect them. NEW STANDARDS FOR TAILINGS MANAGEMENT The requirements within this Topic are intended to be cross-cutting in terms of being addressed across all operational activities and ongoing throughout the tailings facility lifecycle. Topic Area II requires operators to develop knowledge about the social, environmental and local economic context of a proposed or existing tailings facility: It asks for a multi-disciplinary knowledge base to be developed and used by the operator and key stakeholders in an iterative way to enable all parties to make informed decisions throughout the tailings facility lifecycle. These decisions will arise in the context of the alternatives analyses, the choice of technologies and facility designs, emergency response plans, and closure and post- closure plans, amongst others. Topic Area III aims to lift the performance bar for designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, monitoring, and closing tailings facilities. Operators are asked to demonstrate the ability to upgrade a facility at a later stage to a higher consequence classification. For existing facilities, where upgrading is not feasible, the operator must reduce the consequences of a potential failure. Recognising that tailings facilities are dynamic engineered structures, Topic Area III requires the ongoing use of an updated knowledge base, consideration of alternative tailings technologies, the use of robust designs and well-managed construction and operation processes to minimise the risk of failure. A comprehensive monitoring system must support the full implementation of the Observational Method and a performance- based approach must be taken for the design, construction and operation of tailings facilities. Topic Area IV focuses on the ongoing management and governance of a tailings facility. It provides for the designation and assignment of responsibility to key roles in tailings facility management, including an accountable executive, an engineer of record and a responsible tailings facility engineer. Further, it sets standards for critical systems and processes, such as the Tailings Management System and independent reviews, which are essential to upholding the integrity of a tailings facility throughout its lifecycle. Cross-functional collaboration and the development of a learning organisational culture that welcomes the identification of problems and protects whistle-blowers are also included. Topic Area V covers emergency preparedness and response in the event of a tailings facility failure. Operators must avoid complacency about the demands that would be placed on them in the event of a catastrophic failure. The Standard requires operators to consider their own capacity in conjunction with that of other parties, and to plan ahead, build capacity and work collaboratively with other parties, in particular communities, to prepare for the unlikely case of a failure. Topic Area V also outlines the fundamental obligations of the Operator in the long-term recovery of affected communities in the event of a catastrophic failure. Topic Area VI requires public disclosure of information about tailings facilities to support public accountability, while protecting operators from the need to disclose confidential commercial or financial information. The Standard concludes by requiring that Operators commit to transparency, and participate in global initiatives to create standardised, independent, industry-wide and publicly accessible information about tailings facilities. Minerals Council Response The Minerals Council of Australia says the Standard will help support the safe management of tailings facilities around the world. Australian companies actively contributed to the development of the Standard, which reflects Australian leading practice, standards and guidance. MCA chief executive Tania Constable said the safety and health of the country’s people and communities is the minerals industry’s number one priority. “While current tailings management practices in Australia are advanced and highly regulated, the industry is committed to continuous improvement as part of its culture of safe and responsible resource development,” she said. “The standard and forthcoming guidance will be reviewed in line with the Australian minerals industry’s commitment. “The industry is supporting the development of advanced tailings specific training courses, which include among others the Future Tails program at the University of WA, backed by MCA members BHP and Rio Tinto.” Ms Constable said these efforts will help ensure Australia has ongoing access to the high-quality expertise needed to ensure continued safe operation of tailings facilities into the future. AMRgroundwavedrilling.com Anytime, anywhere, any method - call us today to find out how we can help. Duncan Black +61 428 615 327 duncanb@groundwavedrilling.com Shaun Kelly +61 427 859 515 shaunk@groundwavedrilling.com Paul Griffiths +61 425 769 219 paulg@groundwavedrilling.com GROUNDWAVE DRILLING SERVICES GROUNDW DRILLING SERVICES GROUNDW DRILLING SERVICES GROUNDW DRILLING SERVICES GROUNDW DRILLING SERVICES GROUNDW DRILLING SERVICES GROUNDWDRILLING SERVICESGroundwave Drilling Services is a drilling company with a difference. We possess the skills and experience to tackle the most difficult tasks in the most remote locations. Safety, environment and culture matters to us. Not only is our equipment cutting edge, it is safe, modern and meticulously maintained. We specialise in mine rehabilitation and tailings dam investigations for Tier 1 clients to ensure each project’s footprint is kept to a minimum. We are the sonic drilling experts and provide world-class niched drilling services to our clients using diverse and innovative techniques. Groundwave has the largest and most versatile Sonic Drilling Rigs in the Asia Pacific Region. With drills also utilizing DTH, Diamond and Mud Rotary techniques, we can provide a drill for jobs large and small. Sonic Drilling applications: •Tailings dam investigations •Environmental studies •Sonic/CPT combination •Waste rock piles •Leach pads •Mineral exploration •Water Wells installations •Piling and Micro Piling ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ANY METHODNext >