JKMRC Friday Seminars 2020

Integration across the many disciplines that have a role to play in mine closure, particularly Life of Mine planners, is critical to realise value through leading practice closure planning and execution.

Strategic mine planning is essential to maximise the value of the mineral resource and consider the long-term sustainability of the environment and community where we operate. This presentation will focus on the working relationships and integration between technical disciplines, to manage a broad range of mining related risks. Through examples of strategic mine planning, the presenters will highlight the coordination and deliberate connection between multiple technical themes and disciplines, focusing on the core technical activities and inputs, which align to essential business process and, incorporate external sustainability drivers.

This presentation will cover three aspects: 1) Who is Hexagon and what is their role in mining; 2) Hexagon mine monitoring and how they change how mining operations work; 3) Thoughts on technology direction in mining, and some consideration for current HDR students in developing rewarding careers.

Neville Plint will interview current and former staff members to revisit JKMRC’s history, to look at where we are now, and look forward to how the centre might look in another 50 years.

Current flash flotation test techniques are targeted at operating plants. A laboratory batch test technique for greenfields operations was developed and will be described. Finding geometallurgical relationships to proxy data is often difficult and relationships mediocre. A slightly unusual method was followed to select samples for geomet testing and may have helped in developing exceptionally strong predictive relationships for almost all metallurgical parameters.

The Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau is the type example of continent-continent collision systems. Suturing of Indian and Eurasian continents and the subsequent rise of Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau have exerted an impact on climate, ocean circulation, biological processes, and resource accumulation. This talk will bring the audience to the Ladakh region in NW India where the suture zone and southern Eurasian Plate are exhumed to the surface.

Accurate prediction of environmental issues from pre-emptive rock studies is the aim. Successes are heart-warming, but the lessons (best not to call them failures) can be most instructive, and this webinar will cover both. Southern NZ has 150 year history of gold mining, both placer and hard-rock. The biggest issue for placer mining has always been downstream suspended sediments. This issue is affected by geology and is partly predictable and manageable, but subtle features can lead to large negative effects.

An Interoperable technology stack promotes innovation and provides choice to select better suited technology for your mine.

This webinar will elaborate on how to relate different analytical and data types to solve pressing issues facing the mining industry.

There is increasing debate about the ‘circular economy’ and the role that mining could play in such a scenario, especially linked to the world’s efforts such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As always, when it comes to mining and its current status and future prospects, it’s still, and will always be about the physical and social environment.

Taking research out of the lab and into a live environment is always an extensive learning process yet, what if your lab is a live environment? Community based living labs are not new although only starting to emerge in Australia now with some importance. What if Australia had region based living lab that encompasses the traditional community aspects but also the surrounding industry and support business?

This webinar will present how mining companies can prepare for, and accelerate, the industry transformation to a more sustainable future.

The presentation deals with the question from which condition onwards soil starts to show soil-like properties and how they relate to potential failure mechanisms for Tailings Storage Facilities. Special attention will be given to an emerging monitoring technology based on the electromagnetic measurement method dielectric spectroscopy.

The current global tensions between China and the West have the potential for leading to major disruptions in metal supply. This presentation will consider the latest data on supply security based on recent research conducted on resource efficiency, recycling, remanufacturing and frontier sources of metals. The presentation will also explore what role technical mineral processing research can play in relieving some of the stresses created by such geopolitics.

This seminar will highlight awareness of environmental commitments in all mining-related work or projects.

‘New economy minerals’ is an umbrella term for a range of metals and mineral elements used in many emerging technologies including electric vehicles, renewable energy products, low-emission power sources, consumer devices, and products for the medical, defence and scientific research sectors. As Queensland is potentially rich in these minerals, it is well-placed to meet rapidly expanding domestic and international demand. This presentation will introduce the importance of New Economy minerals to Queensland, and the steps being taken by Government to support and boost exploration for these commodities in the state.

A successful geomet project requires planning and experimental design. Consistent and methodical test work allows for amazing data analysis. The magic is in the data relationship between the various technical areas. This seminar will discuss the design and implementation of a geometallurgical program.

There is always potential to innovate and improve a gadget or process, no matter how mature the technology may seem to be.

Improvements in productivity, efficiency and safety always rate in the top 10 trends, risk or opportunities from mining industry surveys. One area of focus to achieve productivity improvements over the past few years has been through the application of technology, automation and data analytics primarily focussed on existing mining equipment. This presentation will look at the current development of an automated system to enable precision mining by providing spatially dense knowledge of the rock, beyond grade, for short interval control – improving blast outcomes, material control and downstream processes.

Cashflow grade modelling is a major component of the strategic planning process. It combines geology, metallurgy, mine planning, marketing, environment, finance and a number of other aspects of an operation or potential operation to provide information crucial to the strategic planning process.

There is great opportunity to expand the depth and breadth of relationships between the METS and Research communities. Global pressures in mining present both opportunity and threat to METS companies looking to grow. The pace of change is fast, challenges are becoming more complex and competition is fierce. New partnership models provide the potential for quicker pathways to commercialisation for research and vital new innovation opportunities for METS companies.

This webinar aims to convey the catalytic power and diversity of the microbial biosphere in transforming Earth surface environments; highlighting the broader, as yet unrealised potential to develop biotechnological processes for the mining industry.

The Complex Orebodies Program is now into its third year of operation. This presentation will cover progress to date on the program, showcasing a range of the exciting projects, outputs, impacts and collaborations which have resulted so far.

In March 2020 the Federal Government announced a new $130 million Cooperative Research Centre on Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC TiME). The University of Queensland, through the Sustainable Minerals Institute, led the development of this cooperative research centre in partnership with The University of Western Australia.
This presentation will outline: the basic components of CRC TiME; the game changing value proposition which positions the mining industry as an agent of regional development; and the unique partnership that has drawn in mining companies, technology and service suppliers, state and local governments and groups representative of regional and community interests.

Real time measurement is essential for improved plant control. Bulk ore sorting is automated grade control between the mine and mill and sensing data can be used concurrently for multiple purposes (ore blending, diversion, reconciliation, metal accounting, feed forward control, etc).

Climate change accountability plays a critical role in ensuring the security of the future of minerals supply. Mining has an important position in enabling our modern lifestyle and the development of infrastructure for green technologies; and, therefore, it is important to acknowledge and point out the risk of climate change on mining infrastructure. A comprehensive carbon accounting framework, that takes into consideration all mitigation opportunities, is required to implement climate change mitigation strategies within mining supply chain.

There are a host of non-technical issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully commercialise technology in the resources industry. Today we will talk about a range of actions which can greatly assist your technology to be implemented in industry.

Process water can potentially be reused in flotation, particularly in the reverse cationic flotation of magnetite concentrates – the Kryvyi Rih (Ukraine) case study concludes that unwanted silica content reporting to the magnetite concentrate during reverse flotation can significantly be restricted following the proposed methodology for reusing process water.

Tailings dam failures are unfortunately common, with recent failures having catastrophic consequences in terms of loss of life and environmental damage. David will present an overview of recent dam failures, technical causes and new methods of monitoring, failure prediction and closure practices that will reduce the frequency of tailings dams failures in the future.