Tag Archives: Australia

Grange Resources plots underground move at Savage River with electric mining equipment

Automation, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining equipment, Power supply for mines, Steel and iron ore, , , ,

A completed definitive feasibility study looking at the potential for underground mining below the North Pit and its integration with Grange Resources’ current open-pit mine at Savage River, in Tasmania, Australia, has showcased not only “robust financial outcomes”, but the potential for reducing carbon emissions by 80% at the mine, with the application of electric mining equipment and material handling systems underground.

This DFS development is in line with company’s environment, social and governance (ESG) initiatives to develop Green Pellet Production from the mine.

The study, according to Grange, presents a technically achievable and financially favourable underground mine at Savage River, with integration with the current open-pit mining operation to deliver “excellent” projected financial returns and sustains a mine life of 15 years. In line with this, the Savage River ore reserve is increasing by 12.5 Mt to 109 Mt with integration of the underground operation.

The new life-of-mine-plan will deliver a substantial reduction of 30% in operating costs with underground mining costs at an average of A$13/t ($8.4/t). It also delivers an internal rate of return of 34% based on an average product price of approximately A$177/t. The ore delivery of 64 Mt of ore produces 28 Mt of concentrate with an iron grade of over 66% over 15 years, Grange said.

A sub-level caving (SLC) transition mine to recover ore left in the walls of the North Pit provides early access to ore and contingency production during the establishment and ramp-up of the block cave mine. Over 2 km of exploration decline has been completed, which reduces the risk for many technical and cost elements of the project, with a further commitment for additional decline development and geotechnical investigation drives in 2024, the company said.

The prefeasibility study for this project considered several haulage options with associated underground configurations and underground and surface infrastructure. The underground crushing and inclined conveying option was chosen as the go forward case for DFS for the following reasons:

  • Significant reduction in emissions and ability to meet the long-term requirements of the updated Safeguard legislation;
  • Lower operating costs by the removal of production trucks and significant reduction in diesel;
  • Better future proofing with higher ore production levels possible allowing the option of higher concentrate production;
  • Improvement to the underground operating environment with improved air quality;
  • Increased options for future automation.

In addition, the single gyratory crusher that was presented in the prefeasibilty study has been replaced with two eccentric roll crushers, which provides redundancy in the material handling system. Crushed ore is transferred to the inclined conveyor system via apron feeder and conveyors.

Another PFS change saw the extraction level layout changed from ‘El Teniente’ diagonal to an offset herringbone to enable the use of tethered electric loaders and to mitigate effects of potential inrush events.

A board decision for Grange to move forward with execution planning and permitting will occur over 2024 with final construction decision in the second half of 2024, the company said.

RHI Magnesita to use MCi Carbon’s CCUS technology at refractory operations

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MCi Carbon, an Australian clean technology platform, has commenced preliminary engineering work for its first industrial large-scale plant in collaboration with refractories leader RHI Magnesita.

Alongside an additional multi-million-dollar investment from RHI Magnesita, this accelerates MCi Carbon’s mission to scale-up and commercialise its carbon capture and utilisation technology, the company said.

“This investment marks a pivotal moment for MCi Carbon and underscores the trust our partners place in our transformative technology,” Marcus Dawe, Founder and CEO of MCi Carbon, said. “With RHI Magnesita’s support, we are poised to accelerate our global commercialisation efforts and address the challenges faced by heavy industries in achieving decarbonisation.”

Stefan Borgas, CEO of RHI Magnesita, said: “The partnership with the Australian cleantech startup MCi Carbon is forward-looking and their technological approach is particularly interesting because it combines carbon capture storage and carbon utilisation. This is currently the most promising way for the refractory industry to reduce process emissions.”

Previously, RHI Magnesita signed a long-term strategic cooperation agreement with MCi to decarbonise components of its operations. This partnership was formed alongside an initial multi-million-dollar investment made in February 2023 in MCi’s carbon capture and utilisation technology. RHI Magnesita will be MCi Carbon’s first global commercial customer.

The investment will facilitate completion of the Myrtle facility, which is currently being constructed in Newcastle, Australia. Once complete, Myrtle will abate over 1,000 t/y of CO2 through customer-focused trial campaigns. The company is scaling its technology to provide decarbonisation pathways for hard-to abate sectors including steel, cement, lime, mining, chemicals and manufacturing.

Thiess turning autonomous mining opportunities into reality

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Thiess may have deliberately started small with autonomy, however, 10 years into its journey, the company is now being recognised as a mine automation leader in the ever-competitive mining services space.

Whether it is drilling, dozing or haulage, Thiess has plenty of autonomy expertise to offer.

The company started off in 2013 with maintenance and service work on the autonomous haulage fleet a major producer had assembled at its iron ore operation in the Pilbara. This has since broadened out to semi-autonomous tractor system (SATS) operations at major coal mines in Australia, autonomous drilling advances using Epiroc and Caterpillar platforms and, most recently, autonomous haulage and drilling operations at Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Complex greenfield operation in Queensland.

Trent Smith, Head of Autonomy and Operations Technology at Thiess, says the company seeks to involve itself early on with autonomy projects to ensure benefits can be realised.

He explains: “We like to help identify the opportunity for automation, which initially involves answering two big questions: is the application suitable? And does it deliver a financial benefit to the project? If there are positive answers to both questions, we try to work with those potential clients on how to bring the vision to life.”

Thiess’ involvement in this process is extensive, looking at network options, OEM selection, the “people element” and more, according to Smith.

“Our strategy was a bit different to others, where, aside from the work at our first autonomy project in the Pilbara, we started with small pilot projects on drills and dozers,” he told IM on the side lines of IMARC 2023 in Sydney earlier this month. “This enabled us to establish some solid foundations, understand the significance of the required changes, understand what the key enablers like networks were and put support models behind those aspects.”

To date, the mining services provider has worked closely with OEMs Epiroc and Caterpillar on modifying their autonomy platforms to fit its clients’ operations to improve safety and efficiency.

“With Caterpillar, we were able to take an emerging technology platform like Cat® MineStar™ Command for drilling and ensure it was fit for purpose for the coal environment we were planning to deploy it in.

“With Epiroc’s solution, we took a mature and proven product from the iron ore environment – equipped mainly for single pass, vertical drilling in competent ground with big and open drill pads – and tailored it for a coal application. This application required the introduction of autonomous rod changing and angle drilling for drilling in varied ground within tighter working areas.

“We worked hand-in-hand with Epiroc to understand the complexities of translating the solution for this environment, utilising all of the on-board data in the early trial stages and filtering that down to identify areas of waste and opportunity that could be used by the OEM and ourselves to realise an improvement in performance within that new environment.”

This evidently worked, with the companies, earlier this year, achieving the significant milestone of drilling more than one million lineal metres at the Lake Vermont coal mine in Queensland.

Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Complex has become the world’s first mining operation to deploy Command for hauling and Command for drilling solutions simultaneously

Thiess is also expecting to later this year reach the same autonomous drilling milestone with Cat’s Command for drilling platform; this time at a major coal mine in New South Wales.

The company has also helped achieve an industry first at Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Complex, with it becoming the world’s first mining operation to deploy Command for hauling and Command for drilling solutions simultaneously.

This assignment, which moved from concept to implementation of autonomous trucks and drills within a matter of 18 months, will ultimately include the deployment of 21 haul trucks (15 Cat 794 ACs and six Cat 793Fs) and three drills (Cat MD6310s) fitted with autonomous technology. Additionally, Thiess has established a private LTE network on Pembroke’s on-site communication infrastructure, enabling the safe operation of more than 85 connected assets within the autonomous operating zone. It has also upskilled more than 280 team members to, Thiess says, support the delivery of autonomous operations at Olive Downs to enable improvements in safety, operating hours, cycle efficiency and cost.

There is potential to add Command for dozing at Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Complex in future years, according to Smith.

“We have built the network and control room with the anticipation that this will be used,” he said. “We are already the first company in the world to have all three Caterpillar autonomy products running at operations, but Pembroke Resources’ Olive Downs Complex would be the first operation in the world to have all three Cat autonomy products operating at one mine.”

Thiess now has six autonomy projects out in the market, all of which are performing well against industry automation benchmarks, according to Smith, who says this capability is being recognised within the mining company community and OEM space.

The company has already announced its first automation project outside of Australia – at a coal mine in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, where it will deploy autonomous drilling operations – and Smith says the company is exploring further autonomous drilling opportunities in Latin America.

As well as continuing to engage with the wider OEM market on automation options, Thiess is working on different automation applications for existing products.

“With the SATS Command for dozing product, for instance, we are looking to take the platform and work with Caterpillar to move it towards a rehabilitation application,” Smith said, referencing the Thiess Rehabilitation business the company launched last year. “The requirements in mine rehabilitation are somewhat different to standard dozer push and stockpile applications, with multi-push vectors and the ability to potentially control several small-scale projects from one centralised hub.

“This is an example of where we work with an OEM, bring our knowledge of working with the product, identify a new application for the product, and then lay out what new set of capabilities need to be addressed to meet the requirements and fulfil that market opportunity.”

The company has a track record of proposing and advancing such autonomous dozing opportunities in certain niche applications, Smith said, adding that it recently achieved the 10 million cubic metres push mark with SATS.

The first rehabilitation application for SATS could end up being at a project in central Queensland – a project the Thiess Rehabilitation team started work on last year.

Thiess recently achieved the 10 million cubic metres push mark with SATS

Against this advancing autonomy backdrop, Smith says the company continues to be asked about combining the “decarbonisation” and autonomy pieces of the mine operating puzzle, with a staged approach typically being recommended.

“At the moment, these two (autonomy and decarbonisation) are a little bit separate, but they will converge at some point,” he said. “I imagine artificial intelligence and predictive capabilities will play a role in that – evaluating when the truck might run out of charge, when is best to pull that truck out of service for a 30-minute fast charge, etc.

“What I would say is if you have taken a step in either direction (autonomy or decarbonisation) already, you are well placed for this convergence.”

Smith offered up one last piece of advice to any company looking to take its next automation step: “Don’t forget the people and process part.”

He explained: “Most organisations know how to deliver a technology project, but I think the real value in automation is bringing the people and process along with that. Automation is a business transformation.

“We worked with Pembroke Resources’ at their Olive Downs Complex to ensure the appropriate change management process to enable automation was implemented across all business functions. Each function was reviewed to understand what needed to change to bring in automation and create a cohesive environment.

“It’s already starting to pay off at that project, where we exceeded our target of 6,500 annualised hours within two months of commencing autonomous haulage operations.”

BMA completes SABR Hay Point coal terminal project

Coal technology, Mineral project development, Steel and iron ore, , , , ,

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA)’s Hay Point team recently celebrated the completion of the Shiploader and Berth Replacement Project, nicknamed SABR, in Queensland, Australia.

In operation since 1971, the Hay Point Coal Terminal has undergone multiple expansion projects over its lifespan. It is a critical piece of infrastructure in BMA’s logistics portfolio and enables the BMA team to deliver high quality metallurgical coal for steelmaking to customers all around the world, quickly and reliably, BHP says.

These vital replacement works, requiring 15,000 tonnes of steel, will reinforce Hay Point’s ability to deliver coal to customers into the future. As Gaia Antoniucci, Head of Asset Projects, said at Thursday’s celebration: “The completion of the SABR project will improve the terminal’s cyclone immunity and ensure its long-term sustainability.

“I’m so proud of all of the teams who worked tirelessly day-in, day-out – both on-site during construction, as well as behind the scenes, and of the fantastic integration between the various parts of the different organisations to ensure the project ran without any major issues, and with the utmost focus on safety and the best outcomes for project delivery.”

SABR has been designed with a safety mindset – most of the project infrastructure has been built in controlled environments, minimising the exposure of front-line workers to the danger of high-risk work activities such as working over water environments. Over three years, the project absorbed more than 250,000 work hours during construction, and supported almost 700 BMA and contractor personnel working over the life of the project to carry out the transformation.

Linda Murry, General Manager at Hay Point for BMA, acknowledged at the celebration that the project has not just been an investment for BMA, but for Central Queensland more broadly.

“The terminal is a very busy place, which is constantly working for our customers,” she said. “It needs to be at its best to ensure BMA remain the world’s largest exporter of seaborne metallurgical coal.

“This has not just been an investment for BMA, but for Central Queensland more broadly. Hay Point’s increased capacity will drive economic growth throughout the region well beyond this port. We’re hugely proud of our ongoing contribution to Central Queensland.”

BHP to install Metso cone crushers at Whaleback iron ore mine

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BHP has awarded Metso an order for three high-capacity Nordberg® MP Series™ cone crushers to be installed at its Whaleback iron ore mine in Western Australia, according to the OEM.

Vinicius Vilela, Vice President, Mining Crushers at Metso, said the MP800™ cone crushers will replace the long-serving MP cone crushers.

“The robust and high-capacity MP Series crushers are a step change in the crushing process, enabling maximum operator safety and easy maintenance, as the key components can be accessed from the top of the crushers,” he explained. “They provide a more sustainable solution, delivering high crushing force with relatively low energy consumption.”

Metso’s cone crusher offering includes four product families for different applications and operations. The Nordberg MP Series cone crushers feature high capacity and high crushing force for size reduction with good energy efficiency.

Just last month, Rio Tinto awarded Metso an order for 10 HP500™ cone crushers to be installed at the company’s Tom Price iron ore mine in Western Australia, replacing  the long-serving Symons cone crushers at the operation.

DRA Global to carry out works for Whitehaven’s Vickery Extension project

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DRA Global says it has secured the contract for a major design package for Whitehaven Coal’s Vickery Extension project located in New South Wales, Australia.

As the preferred supplier, the DRA team will execute the detailed engineering and design and post Whitehaven’s Financial Investment Decision provide technical and project support services during the tendering, construction and commissioning phases for the Vickery Coal Handling and Preparation Plant, it said.

DRA Global APAC Executive Vice President, Darren Naylor, said the contract award underscores the company’s recognised technical expertise and capabilities in the market.

“Led by the APAC team in Brisbane, the works will continue to build the EPCM delivery capabilities for process plants and infrastructure, leveraging our proven track record of success,” he said. “We are pleased this award strengthens our long-standing partnership with Whitehaven Coal and further solidifies our presence within the broader New South Wales and Queensland resources market.”

The Vickery Extension project is a proposal to construct an open-cut coal mine and associated on-site infrastructure about 25 km north of Gunnedah, Whitehaven says. The mine will produce a majority metallurgical coal for steel-making, with the balance being high quality thermal coal destined for premium export markets in our region. The proposal builds upon, and further optimises, an already-approved mine, on a site that has already been extensively and safely mined over many years.

In August 2020, Vickery was approved by the Independent Planning Commission NSW.

Perenti books exploration, development and production work with Australian miners

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Perenti says it has secured new work and contract extensions with the likes of Regis Resources, BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) and Catalyst Metal in Australia representing nearly A$150 million ($97 million) of revenue across its 2024 and 2025 financial years.

It has booked a A$70 million, six-month contract for the continuation of underground development and production works at the Regis Resources Garden Well and Rosemont underground gold mines. Barminco and Regis continue to progress collaboratively towards further and material contract extensions at these two mines, it says.

It has also sealed a A$27 million, 24-month contract for exploration surface drilling services at the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance in Queensland, while a A$14 million, 24-month contract has been awarded for underground diamond drilling works at Catalyst Metal’s Plutonic underground gold mine in Western Australia, subject to finalisation of contract terms.

Furthermore, AUMS (through UMA, a joint venture with Rocksure International) received a limited notice to proceed related to the initial underground development works at the Newmont Akyem underground gold mine in Ghana. The finalisation of contractual negotiations continues, however, once finalised it is forecast that the contract could represent circa-A$32 million of revenue over an initial term of 11 months, with a capital structure that is likely to be similar to that adopted for Newmont’s Subika project.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Perenti, said: “The award of these contracts and the limited notice to proceed across both our underground and surface mining businesses demonstrates the diversity of our service offering and the strength of the relationships we share with our clients. Collectively these three contracts and the limited notice to proceed represent nearly A$150 million of revenue across FY2024 and into FY2025 and come after the recent announcement in which Perenti secured circa-A$360 million of revenue at the Sandfire Resources A4 project in Botswana.”

Flender furthers Australia growth ambitions with new service hub

Equipment maintenance, Mining consumables, Mining equipment, Mining services, , , ,

Germany-based drivetrain specialist Flender has further expanded its production and service capacities in Australasia by opening a new facility in Sydney, New South Wales.

With its Winergy brand for wind turbine drives, the company has one of the largest installed bases in Australia aiming to scale up the local presence and be close to customers. The same is the case for the industrial drive portfolio with a track record in Australian industries such as mining, cement, harbour equipment and more. The new facility sets the industry standard for customer service in these branches, it says, while Flender’s gearboxes and couplings continue to power some of Australian industries’ heaviest machines.

Flender Group CEO, Andreas Evertz, said: “For both our wind and industrial business we see enormous growth potential on the continent. To reach the goals from the Paris climate agreement we must not only ramp up renewable energy capacities but also transform our industries towards sustainability. This includes recycling and establishing a circular economy. Our workshops are perfectly equipped for servicing and refurbishing the existing installed base, not only for our own fleet but all gearbox types in the market.”

The new Sydney facility will be over 1,800 sq.m and has the structural capacity for a 50 t crane. It will have all equipment required to deliver the OEM standard to customers, Flender says. The company will be able to repair gearboxes up to 40 t, as well as equipment like main shafts for wind turbines, lube systems, fluid couplings and brakes.

Sydney is Flender’s fourth service hub in Australia besides the locations in Rockhampton, Perth and Melbourne.

Kareem Emara, Managing Director of Flender Australia and New Zealand, said: “It is important to be close to our customers. With the new facility in Sydney, we are continuing to be more agile and respond to their needs as quickly as possible. We have been in the industry for many years. Using our OEM knowledge and technical expertise we can provide proactive support.”

Flender says its facilities are set up to support the entire lifecycle of a product from installation to decommissioning and refurbishment. With the digital drivetrain intelligence AIQ, Flender also provides digital services that allow preventive maintenance and maximise plant availability.

MACA to replace Gruyere open-pit surface drilling fleet with Sandvik rigs

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Leading Australian mining, civil and minerals processing contracting group, MACA, has selected Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions to supply nine new surface drill rigs as a complete replacement for an ageing mixed fleet at the Gruyere open-pit gold mine in the Western Australian Goldfields, where it was recently awarded a five-year contract extension.

The order, which was booked in the June quarter of 2023, includes six Sandvik DR410i rotary blasthole drills, two Leopard™ DI650i down-the-hole (DTH) drill rigs and a Pantera™ DP1500i top hammer drill rig. Deliveries began in July and will continue through April 2024.

MACA, part of Thiess, has specialised in mining, crushing, civil construction, infrastructure and mineral processing for more than 20 years. It employs more than 3,000 people across operations in Australia and internationally.

MACA has provided various services at Gruyere, a joint venture between Gold Fields and Gold Road Resources, since the contractor initiated bulk earthworks in 2017. Gruyere is expected to produce an annual average of 350,000 oz of gold through a current mine life of at least 2032.

Sandvik DR410i rotary blasthole drill rigs (pictured) are compact, powerful and technologically advanced, the OEM says. They are designed for rotary and DTH holes up to 254 mm, with a mast offering a first pass capability of 14 m and a maximum depth of 32.3 m.

The Leopard DI650i is a self-contained, crawler-mounted, intelligent DTH drill rig designed for demanding high-capacity production drilling applications, Sandvik says, while the Pantera DP1500i is a hydraulic, self-propelled top hammer drill rig, ideal for production or pre-split drilling in large quarries or open-pit mines and construction sites.

TAKRAF successfully delivers DELKOR tailings thickeners to Moolarben CHPP

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TAKRAF Australia says it has successfully supplied, delivered and commissioned a 30-m diameter DELKOR tailings thickener for the Moolarben Coal Handling & Preparation Plant (CHPP) in New South Wales, Australia.

The Moolarben complex, on Australia’s East coast, is operated by Moolarben Coal Operations Pty. Ltd., which is a joint venture between Moolarben Coal Mines, Yancoal Moolarben Pty. Ltd. and a consortium of Korean power companies. The complex consists of four approved open-pit mining areas, three approved underground mining areas and other mining-related infrastructure.

Notwithstanding challenging global conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project kicked off in late 2021. Despite a variety of challenges surrounding the pandemic, the thickener was delivered in mid-2022, with installation taking place a few months later, TAKRAF explained. A few months after installation, and the thickener was successfully commissioned in early 2023, with continued and successful operation ever since, it says.

Raymond Leung, Sales Manager, DELKOR, said: “Our DELKOR thickener is a proven performer across a variety of applications. The benefits of our DELKOR thickeners include their low capital cost, smaller footprint, effective use of flocculants and advanced automation.

“One of the standout features of this project is the great collaboration between our DELKOR Product & Service Center in Bengaluru, our DELKOR specialists both at our client and at our various TAKRAF Australia office locations, and our committed suppliers. I would like to thank all stakeholders for their commitment in overcoming all challenges related to this project.

“This project again serves to underline our group’s global solutions capabilities and our ability to deliver, and will serve us in good stead as an important future thickener reference in Australia.”