Tag Archives: Australia

MES dual- and tri-fuel tech to equip miners with decarbonisation tools

Environmental, Mining equipment, Mining services, Power supply for mines, Sustainable mining, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leading mining contractor Thiess is looking at diesel abatement options across its fleet of haul trucks, which is where the company’s recent agreement with Australia-based Mine Energy Solutions comes into play.

This tie-up will see the use of locally sourced methane gas to displace significant proportions of diesel in large mining trucks using MES’ “currently available and proven” dual-fuel technology.

The agreement to bring lower emission, dual-fuel technology to Thiess’ mining fleet represents a first for a mining services provider in the industry, according to the company.

The partnership has commenced with the planned conversion of a fleet of six 240-t class mining trucks and seeks to source coal seam gas from coal seams on site in the Bowen Basin of Queensland to allow the removal of the equivalent B Double diesel deliveries from local highways. Thiess said that, longer term, it and MES will seek to expand to full fleet conversion before exploring further opportunities both within Australia and Internationally.

MES’ CEO, Adrian Abbott, said in the announcement last year: “We’re proud to partner with Thiess and apply this technology in the Bowen Basin. Our focus is to use locally-sourced gas through the capture and use of fugitive methane contained in the coal resource to enable the average mine site to reduce their greenhouse gas footprint by more than 550,000 t of CO2-e per annum.”

MES’ High Density Compressed Natural Gas (HDCNG®) technology was previously trialled at the New Acland coal mine in Queensland, Australia, with help from New Hope Group and well-known heavy equipment specialists, Hastings Deering Group. This saw a Cat 789C haul truck converted from diesel use to dual-fuel operation using natural gas as the dominant fuel through sequential gas injection.

Graham Box, Business Development and Project Facilitation Lead at MES, says the project at New Acland enabled the company to develop an “industry-ready product” that was safe, reliable and delivered equivalent performance to full diesel operations while also driving reductions in the carbon footprint of the truck.

“There are a number of process and procedures taken from almost two years of the New Acland work related to safe and efficient operations as well as regulatory compliance that have formed the basis for establishing an execution plan for this Thiess project,” he told IM.

“The equipment we are using has evolved to a further level of sophistication resulting in a most efficient and robust solution.”

While the truck and engine models might have changed compared with the work carried out at New Acland – Thiess and MES are installing the dual-fuel technology on Cat 793F trucks with C175-16 engines, while the New Acland trial involved Cat 789s and Cat 3516B haul trucks and engines, respectively – the objectives remains the same.

“We’re continuing to demonstrate the pathway to decarbonisation and the steps that can be achieved with current technology,” Box said.

The plan with the Thiess project is to have a “familiarisation truck” up and running in August to allow all site personnel to get trained on the new system, with the five follow-on trucks coming online before the end of the year.

At the same time as Thiess and the mine site owner are familiarising themselves with this technology, MES will be running haul truck engine simulations with tri-fuel technology.

This solution – which incorporates diesel, methane and hydrogen – will see the “green” hydrogen blended into the methane, providing a “zero emission component” of the gas blend, Box said. With both tri- and dual-fuel, more than 70% of energy will be derived from non-diesel sources.

The company plans to start running simulations with this technology on its 3,500 hp (2,610 kW) dynamometer fitted to a large-format engine in the September quarter.

Image capture of an operating dyno simulating mine circuit operations using a circuit data file provided by one MES client

Box expanded on this: “We have a state-of-the-art dyno facility where we are able to operate the engine to its full rated power as if someone is physically operating the truck. We oversee that from a control room and run simulations based on actual circuit data that our mining clients provide us. This includes the haulage cycles their trucks are running, the grades and declines experienced, load profiles and many other operating parameters and conditions.

“All of our development work is carried out with this circuit simulation capable dyno and we then put it into a field-operations environment as we are about to do with Thiess.”

MES intends to field test its tri-fuel program in the first half of 2023.

Barminco to help Evolution go underground at Cowal gold mine

Mine operation news, Mineral project development, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , ,

Perenti’s Barminco underground mining business has been awarded the contract for all underground development and production works for Evolution Mining’s Cowal Underground project in New South Wales, Australia.

Barminco, a leading global underground mining services business, is currently developing an exploration decline and conducting diamond drilling services at Cowal.

Last year, the board and regulators approved the development of the Cowal Underground Mine, which is set to provide a higher-grade ore source that will be blended with the current E42 open pit and stockpile ore. The development is part of the group’s goal of Cowal producing 350,000 oz/y of low-cost gold and extending the operation’s mine life.

Perenti said the award of this new contract significantly expands Barminco’s scope at the site to include the development of a second portal, all underground development and production works, and associated underground mining services required to support the continued mill feed of underground ore.

Mark Norwell, Managing Director and CEO of Perenti, said the award of the Cowal contract aligns with Perenti’s strategy of increasing its earnings in top-tier regions and with top-tier clients.

“The Cowal contract represents one of the largest underground mining projects in Barminco’s history, generating revenue of nearly A$520 million ($373 million) with an initial term of four years, from a contract commencement date in early July 2022,” Norwell said.

“This contract award represents not only a significant expansion and continuation of our first underground contract in New South Wales but is also a fantastic opportunity for Perenti to build on our strong working relationship with Evolution, one of Australia’s premier gold mining companies.”

Norwell explained that, between now and the end of Perenti’s 2022 financial year, the company will commence investing the capital required for this project with revenues and earnings ramping up in the 2023 financial year and beyond.

“The project represents a significant improvement to our Australian underground earnings base and will generate strong project cash flows and returns in support of our capital allocation and investment,” he added.

FLANDERS AC system retrofit boosts dragline productivity at BHP South Walker Creek

Coal technology, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mining safety, Mining services, , , , , , , , ,

After retrofitting an aged DC 8050 dragline with a safer AC power system, a multi-dragline coal mine operating in Queensland experienced a major boost in productivity and power efficiency, substantially diminished operating costs and a positive return on the investment within 18 months, FLANDERS says.

In 2018, senior management of BHP’s South Walker Creek coal mine was developing a plan for the DRE28 DC 8050, a nearly 40-year-old dragline on which the DC rotating equipment and DC control system had reached the end of their operating service life. The dragline was still operating with the original Westinghouse DC motors and generators, which had also reached their end of service lifespan.

At a minimum, the DRE28 motors and generators needed to be replaced. They could upgrade to new DC equipment that would maintain productivity for another 25-plus years with similar operating costs. However, the DC system required regular maintenance and was at a high risk of extended periods of machine downtime due to waiting for parts and maintenance techs, both of which were harder and harder to find, FLANDERS says.

Another option was to retrofit the DRE28 with an AC system. AC dragline systems were already known to have safety advantages and reduced maintenance costs compared with DC systems, according to FLANDERS. They also had the same service life expectancy of 25-plus years.

The team decided to move forward with an AC retrofit from FLANDERS. In July 2019, the boom was lowered on DRE28 DC 8050 and the on-site retrofit began. After 90 days, the DRE28 AC 8050 was back online.

“AC systems are designed with safety built in,” FLANDERS said. “Hardware compatibility, simpler and safer operating mechanisms and scalability are benchmarks of FLANDERS’ AC system design.”

One of the key features of the AC system is the unique, easy-to-access drive cabinet designed to replace DC motor-generator sets, FLANDERS says. Water-cooled semiconductors remove heat, so the cabinets keep parts protected from debris. This results in a substantial reduction in noise, dust, heat, and rotating parts, and reduced exposure of employees and maintenance technicians to these safety hazards associated with DC systems.

The drive cabinet also eliminates the need for on-site machining to blow out dust, balance parts, clean brushes and other regular maintenance DC systems require.

AC hoist/drag motors

The 690 V AC hoist/drag motors are designed to fit in the same size box as the DC motor, with the same footprint, allowing for easy drop-in installation. No modification to brakes, gearing, or coupling is necessary. Class H insulation and high-output blowers help the motors safely produce a 25% higher kilowattage than the DC motor can achieve.

Arc flash safety system

The FLANDERS AC system design mimicked the DC design in generating low- and medium-voltage interactions. The motors and drive cabinet have a category zero arc flash rating, requiring little intervention with specialists or the need to manually isolate systems within the machine.

There are several systems in place to ensure safety from arc flashes:

  • Metal doors safely hide high-power components, and all doors use Fortress Interlocks to ensure appropriate isolation of high-voltage before access is gained;
  • Electronic control boards can be separated into low voltage panels, nullifying the need to access high-powered areas;
  • Arc flash optical relays installed in each drive cabinet monitor for arcs and trip high-voltage VCBs to reduce potential energy below arc venting requirements; and
  • Fast-acting fuses are located on a) the secondary drive transformer and, b) bridge cabinets feeding to drive line-ups, and the DC bus in drive line-ups.

Ground fault detection

The built-in Bender IRDH265 Ground Fault Monitor eliminates the risk of electric shock, providing a system shut down override at the sign of a catastrophic event. Each drive line-up has a manual ground fault test function to supplement the auto test function of the Bender. This allows electricians to manually verify functionality of the ground fault monitoring system, FLANDERS explained.

The system is programmable logic controlled, which prevents the circuit from operating while the drive is in operation.

Opportunities for optimisation

Where the DC commutator is limited in output, AC capability is expanding and growing for draglines. There is still potential to be unlocked by analysing machine data and implementing optimising upgrades, according to FLANDERS.

AC conversion delivers results

From September 2019 through June 2021, the DRE28 AC 8050 operated at the previous DC 8050 electrical, mechanical and structural settings. In July 2021, after system optimisation, the AC 8050 surpassed the limits of DC 8050 machines, reaching output levels closer to the 8200 DC draglines models, and continued to bank gains in reduced maintenance costs, increased productivity and improved energy efficiency.

A side-by-side comparison of DC and AC dragline operations over 12 months and including three months of data reported after the July 2021 upgrades, shows the results.

The DRE28 AC 8050 is – operationally and electrically – the safest dragline in its fleet, according to FLANDERS, with the drive cabinets and motors maintaining a category zero arc flash rating since installation.

“The overwhelming response from our client was related to the safe and easy operation of the AC system,” Owen Uebel, Strategic Business Development Manager for FLANDERS, said. “Operators were vocal with management about the improved work conditions.”

In terms of productivity, the low-maintenance design of DRE28 AC system has resulted in reduced machine downtime and proportional gains in machine availability. A twelve-month comparison study confirmed that, compared with the DC 8050, the AC 8050 moved an additional 2 million bank cu.m (BCM).

With the July 2021 optimisation, the AC dragline is expected to reach a minimum of 15 million BCM annually in 2022, setting a record for this mine.

An independent study confirmed an 11% boost in power efficiency over the DC 8050 dragline over an operating period of January 1 to December 31, 2020, meanwhile.

“As previously mentioned, one of the major benefits of the AC system is its scalability,” FLANDERS said. “The 2021 optimisation increased the system’s peak power, resulting in a 4.5 second reduction in cycle time with no additional structural or mechanical stress on the machine. This finding was verified independently by MineWare reports and outside consultants.”

The AC system’s solid-state components have substantially reduced the amount of mechanical wear on dragline parts, extending savings across the lifecycle of the machine, according to FLANDERS. Maintenance costs are down over 55% on average (and potentially upwards of 65% based on available data since July 2021 upgrades).

Additionally, the AC dragline’s efficiency translates to 4.5 kilotons of CO2 offset, with major implications. To put that into perspective, at a global price of $200 per ton, that’s $450,000 annually and $900,000 over the two years of this study.

The AC retrofit achieved a return on investment within 18 months of being online, making it the lowest-cost pre-strip solution on the market, according to FLANDERS.

As of October 2021, the mine’s overall electrical and mechanical maintenance expenditures bottom line decreased by 60%.

Bis to haul bauxite for Rio Tinto at Gove operations

Base metals, Mine operation news, Mining services, , , , , , ,

Bis says it has signed a multi-year bauxite haulage contract with Rio Tinto for its Gove operations in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Bis will deploy an efficient, high payload haulage solution to Gove, enabling a day shift only approach, which will also provide a strong foundation for managing employee attraction, it said.

Bis Chief Executive Officer, Brad Rogers, said the new contract is testament to the company’s focus on innovation and safety.

“I’m very proud we are able to offer a tailored and efficient haulage solution to Rio Tinto in a way that is conducive to a compelling employee value proposition.

“Given the remoteness of the operation – Gove is 1,000 km from Darwin – the ability to meet Rio Tinto’s production requirements in a cost efficient manner, with day shift only operations, will help to deliver a safe and reliable operation. We are excited to commence at Gove and look forward to supporting Rio Tinto at this important operation.”

The haulage and road maintenance contract will see Bis provide off-road haulage of bauxite, road grading, dust suppression and associated support services.

Assets include 230 t haulage combinations, loaders, graders, a water cart and other support equipment. Mobilisation of the new Gove contract begins immediately.

Bis has a long history of providing haulage, material handling and site services in the Northern Territory across a variety of commodities including manganese, iron ore and bauxite, it said.

This latest contract award comes only weeks after the company announced it had also secured a project with new customer, Stanmore Resources, at its Bowen Basin operation in Queensland.

Orica’s 4D bulk explosives tech gains traction in Australia

Coal technology, Explosives and blasting, Mining services, , , , , , , , , ,

Having launched its 4D™ bulk explosives technology at MINExpo 2021 in Las Vegas, in September, Orica is now demonstrating the innovation to coal customers on Australia’s East Coast.

The 4D bulk system enables the real-time tailoring of explosives energy to geology across a blast, delivering improvements in fragmentation, on-bench productivity and an overall reduction in drill and blast costs, according to Orica. It is designed to enable customers to, the company says, seamlessly match a greater range of explosives energy across a mine’s geology and target specific blast outcomes in real time.

Back in September, the company said the first release of 4D would begin with Australia from the end of 2021, and it appears Orica has stuck with that schedule.

“We are happy to share that, in Australia, we are currently demonstrating 4D to customers in the East Coast’s coal mines, each with a unique focus to their needs,” the company told IM. “For example, with one customer, we are demonstrating how 4D technology can reduce their overall drill and blast cost through lower explosives consumption, as well as better manage vibration in specific areas of their operation.”

With another customer, Orica is applying the 4D technology to its Fortis™ Clear range of bulk explosive products – formulated for use in applications where the generation of post-blast fume could be experienced – to demonstrate the reduction of fume risk in soft and wet ground, it added.

The technology is also being developed across Orica’s Fortan™ and Aquacharge™ bulk systems but will eventually be applied across Orica’s full suite of bulk systems.

4D is being delivered to these customers through Mobile Manufacturing Units (MMU™) equipped with LOADPlus™, Orica’s proprietary in-cab smart explosives delivery control system that, it says, enables accurate and efficient delivery of formulated explosives products to plan.

By combining emulsion blended with ammonium nitrate porous prills, 4D supports both pumped and augered loading methods across dry, wet and dewatered hole conditions. An outcome of this capability is greater on-bench productivity by Orica’s fleet of 4D-enabled, without the need to change raw materials in the MMU, Orica says.

Delivering up to 23% more relative bulk strength for hard-rock applications and up to 43% reduction in soft-rock applications, 4D will enable a broader range of applications, according to Orica.

Orica said in its half-year results to the end of March 31, 2022 that it was expecting to roll out the 4D technology to more sites in the second half of its financial year.

Rajant and Acubis BreadCrumb solution solves Stanwell Meandu comms issues

Communications in mining, IoT, Mining services, , , , , , , , , ,

Rajant Corporation, the pioneer of Kinetic Mesh® wireless networks, and Acubis Technologies, a Kinetic Mesh Premier Partner in Australia, have delivered what they say is the first FE1 series BreadCrumbs® – Rajant Peregrine and Hawk – at Stanwell’s Meandu mine in Queensland, Australia.

Stanwell was battling the ever-evolving data and application requirements of its operational technology (OT) network, which supports CCTV, access control, in-vehicle fleet management and autonomous haulage, and needed the additional throughput that Peregrine and Hawk provide, Rajant said.

Chris Acton, Acubis General Manager, said: “Stanwell owns Tarong power stations, one of Queensland’s largest electricity-generating sites, and the stations receive coal from the Stanwell-owned Meandu Mine via a conveyor. Dependency on sustained operations and critical infrastructure security are paramount.

“Industrial conditions are harsh and towering ridges surround the mine. Running multiple applications, video streams, real-time data transfer, and edge devices required Rajant for unfailing networking with high throughput and low latency. The Peregrine and Hawk are robust and secure. Moreover, these BreadCrumb radio nodes can grow with the capacity needs for future applications and deliver cost-saving efficiencies to Stanwell’s thermal power production.”

Stanwell’s Manager of Business Improvement and Technology, Julio Romani, said: “The Meandu Technology Roadmap highlighted that a prerequisite for Meandu to accelerate and realise the value provided by technology advances was the establishment of suitable networks and communications platforms. The Rajant Peregrine & Hawk are an integral OT infrastructure component. These BreadCrumb nodes maximise the use of the fleet management system, enable telemetry and high precision GPS technologies, and provide connectivity for CCTV, environmental and control systems that operate across our Rajant wireless network.”

Thiess to trial Plotlogic’s OreSense tech at Anthill copper project

Base metals, Environmental, Mine operation news, Mining equipment, Sustainable mining, , , , , ,

Thiess says it is taking another step to be at the forefront of sustainable mining with a technology trial involving Plotlogic’s OreSense solution at the Anthill copper project in Central Queensland, Australia.

With the promise of reduced environmental impact, improved safety and increased productivity the OreSense technology scans rock to distinguish high-grade resources from waste, Thiess explains. The technology provides real-time information, eliminating the need for a week or more waiting for testing results.

The technology is also expected to create environmental benefits through lower fuel usage and machinery consumables and a more optimised heap leaching process, according to Thiess.

Group Executive Growth & Strategy, Abdul Jarrah, said the trial aligned with Thiess’ commitment to use technology to drive sustainable improvements for our clients.

“Investing in technology such as OreSense further enhances our inhouse capability and allows us to offer our clients greater value across the safety, cost, productivity and environmental spectrum,” Jarrah said. “Importantly, our focus on innovation will support our clients to achieve their environmental goals as Thiess continues to establish itself as a leader in sustainable mining practices.”

Group Manager, Geology and Geotechnical, Donna Sheehy, said applications for the technology were far-reaching.

“The machine takes around three minutes to scan a wall or mine face area of 15 m by 50 m – if the trial proves successful there is potential to scan dig faces and stockpiles to determine grade,” she said.

“From machine learning we can use OreSense to give us real time assay – saving lengthy lab processing wait times.

“This allows us to increase the average grade of material fed to the heap leaching process which means we haul less waste, reducing our use of fuel and machinery consumables.”

The trial, set to begin at the Anthill copper project, owned by Austral Resources, on April 27, will run for around four weeks.

Austral says CSA Global completed an updated mining study in April 2021 on Anthill resulting in a JORC 2012 compliant ore reserve of 5.1 Mt grading 0.94% Cu containing 47,700 t of copper. This study outlined that ore will be mined from two pits over a 40-month period. Total recovered copper from the heap leach process will be 40,400 t over a 44-month period.

Monadelphous Group banks work with Rio, Tronox and Newcrest

Mine operation news, Mining maintenance, Mining services, , , , , , , , ,

Monadelphous Group has announced several new contracts and contract extensions in the resources and energy sectors in Australia and Papua New Guinea, including work with Rio Tinto, Tronox Mining Australia and Newcrest Mining.

The awards totalled some A$230 million ($172 million).

One of the contracts the engineering firm has secured is with Rio Tinto for the provision of shutdown works at the Greater Tom Price operation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The work includes upgrades and modifications to existing process plant infrastructure at the Western Turner Syncline Phase 2 project (pictured), with work expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

In New South Wales, Monadelphous has secured a multi-disciplinary construction services contract with Tronox Mining Australia in Broken Hill, where the mineral sands producer processes its heavy mineral concentrate from other operations in Australia. The work is expected to be completed in the second half of 2022.

Finally, in Papua New Guinea, Monadelphous has been awarded a contract with Newcrest to provide engineering, procurement and construction services on the CCD 3 & 4 Refurbishment Project at Lihir Island. The work, which includes the major overhaul of two tanks associated with the gold production facilities, is expected to commence onsite in July 2022 and be completed in mid-2023.

RME supplies Northern Star’s Thunderbox mine with 500th Mill Relining Machine

Comminution of minerals, Equipment maintenance, Mine operation news, Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining safety, Mining services, Precious metals, , , , , , , , ,

In what it says is a major milestone, Russell Mineral Equipment (RME) has designed and completed production of its 500th Mill Relining Machine (MRM) for Australia-based gold producer Northern Star Resources Ltd.

This custom-made RUSSELL MRM will be accepted by Northern Star at a ceremony at RME’s global headquarters in Toowoomba, Queensland, this month. This MRM will service Northern Star’s new SAG mill at its Thunderbox project in the Goldfields of Western Australia.

RME and Northern Star began their relationship at the Kanowna Belle Operations, some 30 years ago with the purchase of RUSSELL MRM number five (MRM005). Northern Star owns six RUSSELL MRMs, including the 400th RUSSELL MRM, commissioned in 2018 at Kanowna Belle. Thismachine replaced a RUSSELL MRM that had been in operation at Kanowna Belle for 25 years.

The 500th RUSSELL MRM is a RUSSELL 7-axis, 6,000-kg capacity machine. The RUSSELL 7 is RME’s signature model sold globally, and this unit also comes with advanced RME INSIDEOUT™ technologies. These proprietary new technologies, developed by RME, enable placement and removal of grinding mill liners without any crew working on the charge inside the mill, greatly reducing exposure of personnel to significant hazards, the company says.

Since the introduction of the very first RUSSELL 7-axis MRM in 1992, traditional mill relining times have been quartered and many health and safety hazards have been eliminated, RME says.
Chief Customer Officer, Cherylyn Russell, says RME is a proud supplier to the hard-rock mining and mineral processing industry, primarily those processing gold and copper.

“This milestone is a chance to acknowledge the technology and safety advances of the RME Mill Relining System that enable giant grinding mills to get back to work quicker after regular relining,” she said. “Mill relining is the most specialised maintenance task in the mineral concentrator process and often dictates the length of shutdowns. RME’s innovative, customised, robust equipment helps increase mine site profitability, all while improving the safety of the working environment.”

EnviroGold Global to reprocess Hellyer Gold Mines tailings in Tasmania

Mineral processing, Mining equipment, Mining services, Precious metals, Sustainable mining, Water management, , , ,

EnviroGold Global has executed a binding definitive agreement with Hellyer Gold Mines Pty Ltd to reprocess the tailings owned by HGM at its namesake mine in Tasmania, Australia.

The execution of the transaction cements a major growth catalyst for EnviroGold Global, paving the way for finalisation of project financing negotiations and materially advancing the company’s accelerated pathway towards commercial production of precious metals (gold and silver), clean energy metals and battery metals (copper, lead, zinc) in 2022, it said.

The Definitive Agreement provides for a multi-stage tailings reprocessing project wherein EnviroGold Global will add its mineral processing technology to the currently operational and permitted Hellyer Gold Mine. EnviroGold Global and HGM believe this partnership will result in operational synergies and, in conjunction with EnviroGold Global’s independently validated, proprietary metallurgical solution for the Hellyer VMS tailings, will drive significantly increased metal recovery rates for the gold, silver, zinc, lead and copper contained in the Hellyer tailings.

EnviroGold Global CEO, Dr Mark Thorpe, said: “The execution of the definitive agreement with HGM is a testament to the quality of our world-class team and the commitment of HGM’s management and team to establish a working partnership for success. It represents the achievement of a strategic milestone for EnviroGold Global on our journey to producing precious, critical, and strategic metals at seven major projects by 2025.

“We are pleased to continue to deliver on our commitments to our shareholders and stakeholders while establishing circular-economy leadership through the production of Metals Without Mining. We look forward to announcing the execution of additional major growth catalysts in the near-term including finalisation of project financing negotiations for the Hellyer Tailings Project, establishment of a strategic operating partnership with a global EPCM company, publishing the Buchans Tailings Project resource estimate and advancing the development of our global tailings reprocessing project portfolio.”

Hellyer is owned by NQ Minerals, with the company having a plan to increase its financial year production to 1.5 Mt of tailings reprocessing in 2022, from the estimated 1.4 Mt in 2021.