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MAY 2013 • E&MJ 1

MAY 2013 • VOL 214 • NUMBER 5

A pit-wall failure at Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper’sBingham Canyon mine released an estimated 150million tons of material, filling the pit bottom andburying a number of trucks and shovels. The com-pany had been aware of and was monitoring groundslippage long before the slide, and evacuated themine in advance. For details of the event and itsaftermath, please turn to p. 4. For a closer look at themethods used to detect and monitor the slide, turn toour coverage of slope-stability technology on p. 32.(Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper)

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FEATURESMinistro Hales Approaches ProductionCodelco will soon commission the next great Chilean copper mine ..............28Careful Monitoring: The Key to Pit-wall SafetyAs mines get deeper, and economic pressures provide an incentive forsteeper pit walls, the potential for instability increases. E&MJ looks atsome of the systems that can help mine engineers keep an eye out forsigns that all may not be well within the wall. ..............................................32Mine Water Management: No Simple RecipeMining must become more adept at finding acceptable water-sourcesolutions in an increasingly complex, thirsty world ........................................42Cost-efficient Transport for Open-pit MinesAn innovative technological approach to skip haulage could optimizecosts and energy efficiency in hard rock mines..............................................48Is Your Business Safe from Metal Accounting Risks?An automated, systematic approach is required to deliver comprehensive,timely and validated information ..................................................................54Vale Creates Super Hubs for Iron Ore LogisticsUsing deep-water ports Valemax vessels will lower iron ore shippingcosts for Asian, Middle Eastern and European customers..............................58Mine Utility Vehicles: Function Dictates FormFrom tiny tracked machines no taller than a table to heavy haulerswith light-touch ground pressure, a wide selection of vehicles isavailable for moving workers and supplies where they’re needed,underground or in rough terrain ....................................................................62Designing Superior Weighing Systems to Improve Safety and Control CostsWhat design engineers need to know about measuring weight or forcewith load cells, load pins and tension links ..................................................70Special Report: Mining in MozambiqueCapturing a resource blessing ......................................................................77

LEADING DEVELOPMENTSHuge Landslide Halts Ore Production at Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon Mine......4Glencore, Xstrata Merger Set Following Approval..............................................5Sundance Terminates Agreement with Hanlong................................................5Troy to Take Over Gold Producer Azimuth ..........................................................6Coeur Moving its Headquarters to Chicago ......................................................6

AROUND THE WORLDU.S. & Canada: Vale Commits to Underground Mine at Voisey’s Bay ................8Latin America: Barrick Suspends Construction on Chilean Side ofPascua-Lama ................................................................................................14Australia/Oceania: Newcrest Ramping-up Two Major Projects ......................16Africa: Ivanplats Secures Power Boost for Kamoa Project..............................18Asia: Kaloti Building New Gold and Precious Metals Refinery in Dubai..........20Exploration Roundup: Pilot Gold Launches Drill Program in Turkey ..............22

DEPARTMENTSCalendar ......................................................26Classified Advertisements ........................118Equipment Gallery......................................114From the Editor ..............................................2Markets ......................................................120Operating Strategies ....................................98People ..........................................................12Processing Solutions ..................................110Suppliers Report ........................................106This Month in Coal........................................24

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During April 2013, the mining business suffered somesetbacks. As can be seen on the cover of this month’sedition, the miners at Kennecott Utah Copper’sBingham Canyon mine now face an uncertain future.Prices for most metals declined during the month, butit was the falling price of gold that garnered the mostattention. Many new mining CEOs were preparing firstquarter earnings reports, announcing their plans forthe future, deciding what paths to pursue, and whichprojects to table. Scaling back ambitious plans is

never easy for mining engineers. Sometimes the market or natural forces makethe decision for them.

Bingham Canyon symbolizes the advances the open-pit copper mining andprocessing industry has made over the last century. Starting with Daniel C.Jackling, who was a visionary as far as the approach to mining and processinga massive low-grade porphyry deposit, the engineers that earned their stripesat the mine and the Copperton mill revolutionized the copper industry. That’swhy it should come as no surprise that the engineers knew it was going to hap-pen and they were able to prepare for it.

The management team organized a press conference to discuss the situa-tion (See Leading Developments, p. 4). The best news to come of this is thatno loss of life or injuries were sustained. Widely considered the largest man-made excavation, the pit wall failure brought more than 100 years of collec-tive mining expertise to its knees. The recovery plan will have to be equallyambitious. You can rest assured that the mining engineers at Rio Tinto andKUC are looking at all available options. One of the recovery options might bea new approach to haulage (See Open-Pit Skips, p. 48). Pit wall failures arethe sort of things that keep mining engineers awake at night. Many mines haveinvested heavily in pit monitoring systems specifically for this reason (SeeCareful Monitoring: The Key to Pit-wall Safety, p. 32).

A few days after the events unfolded in Utah, the price of gold felldramatically on two consecutive trading days as hedge fund managers beganliquidating gold holdings in exchange traded funds. At the beginning ofApril, gold stood at $1,580/oz. It dropped below $1,350/oz, before recover-ing to $1,460/oz by month’s end (See Markets, p. 120). All of the metalprices lost ground in April, silver fell to $23.65/oz and copper fell from$3.45/lb to $3.15/lb. The traders that buy and sell based on daily prices hadan exciting month.

So is it the end of the world? No, not hardly, but it does mean that min-ing companies will have to be more vigilant about costs. The weakness inmetal prices will have a ripple effect through the ranks from engineers look-ing at production strategies to CEOs looking at future investments to eithersustain and grow the company’s position. Once again the industry finds itselfin a situation where it has to be prepared to hit the accelerator or apply thebrakes. Hopefully, when we look back a few years from now, the dip in metalprices will be a blip on an upward path that continues for a long time. Whatwe will remember about April 2013 will be the landslide at Bingham Canyon.

Steve Fiscor, E&MJ Editor-in-Chief, [email protected]

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ENGINEERING ANDMINING JOURNAL

Engineering & Mining Journal, Volume 214, Issue 5, (ISSN 0095-8948) is publishedmonthly by Mining Media, Inc., 10 Sedgwick Drive, Englewood, Colorado 80113 (mining-media.com). Periodicals Postage paid at Englewood, CO, and additional mailing offices.Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40845540. Canada return address: Station A,PO Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5, Email: [email protected]. Current and backissues and additional resources, including subscription request forms and an editorial cal-endar, are available on the World Wide Web at www.e-mj.com.

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An April for the Archives

2 E&MJ • MAY 2013

FROM THE EDITOR

Editor-In-Chief—Steve Fiscor, [email protected]

Managing Editor—Russ Carter, [email protected]

European Editor—Simon Walker, [email protected]

Latin American Editor—Oscar Martinez, [email protected]

South African Editor—Gavin du Venage, [email protected]

Australian Editor—John Miller, [email protected]

Associate Editor—Gina M. Tverdak-Slattery, [email protected]

News Editor-Mining—Joe Kirschke, [email protected]

Assistant Editor—Jennifer Jensen, [email protected]

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Steve Fiscor/Editor-in-Chief


4 E&MJ • MAY 2013 www.e-mj.com

NEWS-LEADING DEVELOPMENTS

Operations at Rio Tinto’s flagship coppermine, the Kennecott Utah Copper Bing-ham Canyon complex near Salt Lake City,Utah, USA, have been severely curtailed bya massive pit-wall failure that occurredApril 10. Latest estimates from the com-pany indicate the slide, which took place inthe northeast corner of the pit, involved atleast 150 million tons of material andfilled the bottom of the pit to a depth of300 ft (91 m) in some areas. The landslidewas described by KUC’s president andCEO, Kelly Sanders, as one of the largest inmining history.

KUC said it had been aware of increas-ing ground movement in the area of theslide and was monitoring the rate of slip-page closely for weeks before it occurred.By the time the slide took place, the mine’svisitor-center facility had been closed andremoved, employees had been evacuated,control facilities had been relocated andmobile equipment had been shifted tolocations considered safe. Even with theseprecautions, the unexpected magnitude ofthe slide resulted in burial or damageinvolving three shovels, 14 haul trucks,and some ancillary equipment includingdrills, bulldozers and graders.

KUC had previously notified the U.S.Mine Safety and Health Administration(MSHA) of the impending slide, and saidMSHA personnel were on-site both beforeand after the slide occurred. MSHA grant-ed KUC permission for limited access tothe mine after the slide had stabilized, andthe company said its geotechnical special-ists were carefully examining the slidearea, using remote-controlled equipment.

Considered the largest excavated hole inthe world, Bingham Canyon is one of the topproducing copper mines in the industry with2012 output of 163,200 tons of refinedcopper, along with 279,000 oz of gold and9.4 tons of molybdenum. Its annual pro-duction accounts for between 1% and 2%of the world’s mined copper production andrepresents about a quarter of annual copperconsumption in the United States.

Although an inevitable productionshortfall from the mine isn’t expected tosignificantly affect world copper supply in2013, the financial impact of reducedoperational levels and possible workforce

adjustments could quickly reverberatethroughout the northern Utah economy.The mine employs 2,500 people and spentmore than $1.2 billion in the state in2011, including $270 million in wages,benefits and pensions and $765 million inpurchases from Utah firms.

Days after the slide occurred, KUCasked its 850 mine employees to considertaking vacation or unpaid time off until itcould assess the situation; it later expand-ed the request to include the entire KUCworkforce. Workers who chose to report forwork were assigned to jobs, as available,outside the pit. The event also affected anumber of contractors working at the mine;for example, Cementation USA Inc., whichwas conducting underground work in thepit as part of the company’s long-term planto extend mine life, had to lay off 45 work-ers after its work area and equipment werecompletely buried by the slide.

Sanders, at a press conference held onApril 25 at an observation point on the pitrim, said early assessments indicated that90% of the mine’s production equipmentwas unaffected by the slide, including thein-pit crusher and conveyor-system tunnelthat transports 10,000 t/h of crushed ore

through a mountainside to the Coppertonconcentrator. He said that within 48 hoursafter the slide occurred, workers hadrestarted operations to excavate and removeoverburden from the mine’s Cornerstonelayback area, located high on the pit rimand roughly opposite the area of the slide.

Nevertheless, KUC warned that if geo-technical investigation shows that workersmay re-enter the pit safely to resume oper-ations, 2013 production is estimated toamount to only 50% of predicted output,and it will take at least a year for the mineto again achieve full production.

Emphasizing that KUC was still in thevery early stages of assessing the damageto the mine and investigating geotechnicalaspects of recovery, Sanders said the oper-ation faces numerous short-term chal-lenges and decisions before it recoversfrom the slide. He did not directly addressthe possibility of worker layoffs at the pressconference, but said the company wouldconsult with its unions and hoped to mini-mize any impact on workers, yet had toclosely control its cost structure against thebackdrop of reduced production.

He outlined a four-month plan that thecompany mapped out to return to produc-

Kennecott Utah Copper President and CEO Kelly Sanders, speaking at a news conference following a massive pit-wall landslide at the company’s Bingham Canyon copper mine, said he expects KUC’s “employees and organiza-tion will rise to the occasion and rewrite history” as the mine recovers from the effects of the slide, estimated tobe one of the largest in mining history. (Photo courtesy Kennecott Utah Copper).

Huge Landslide Halts Ore Productionat Rio Tinto’s Bingham Canyon Mine

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MAY 2013 • E&MJ 5www.e-mj.com


tion. Over the next 30 days, KUC will com-plete an assessment of pit conditions inregard to safe return of workers for limitedore production. In 60 days, it will developa strategy for mining-plan recovery andstaffing levels, and over the next 120 dayswill develop a long-term plan to increasemining output from 50% to full production.

(For details of the equipment and tech-nology used by Rio Tinto to monitor groundmovement at Bingham Canyon prior to theslide, see “Careful Monitoring: The Key toPit-Wall Safety,” on p. 32.)

Glencore, Xstrata MergerSet Following ApprovalGlencore International announced on April16, 2013, that the Ministry of Commerceof the People’s Republic of China hadapproved the merger of Glencore andXstrata, originally proposed in February2012. Regulatory approval from China wasthe last obstacle standing in the way of themerger, and with the approval in hand,Glencore said it expected the merger tobecome effective May 1, 2013, with Xstratashares to be delisted on May 2 and “NewGlencore” shares to begin trading May 3.

The approval under China’s anti-monop-oly law came with conditions, includingpost-merger sale of Xstrata’s Las Bambascopper project in southern Peru to a buyerapproved by the China Ministry of Com-merce and commitments from Glencoreregarding supply of copper, lead and zincconcentrates to Chinese customers.

The sale of the Las Bambas projectmust take place before September 30,2014 for not less than a pre-determinedprice (unless otherwise agreed byGlencore), with completion of the sale byJune 30, 2015. Glencore will make a pub-lic announcement of its offer to sell its

ownership interest in Las Bambas withinthree months of April 16, 2013, and willthereafter keep the Ministry of Commerceregularly updated regarding its search forpotential purchasers.

If Glencore fails to enter into a bindingsale and purchase agreement for LasBambas by September 30, 2014, or failsto complete the transfer of its ownershipinterest by June 30, 2015, then, unless,otherwise agreed by the Ministry of Com-merce, Glencore must appoint a divestituretrustee to sell by way of auction its owner-ship interest in one of the following pro-jects: Tampakan in Peru, Frieda River inPapua New Guinea, or El Pachón orAlumbrera in Argentina, at no minimumprice, within three months from October 1,2014, or July 1, 2015, as the case may be.

The Las Bambas project is currently infull construction mode and is expected toproduce 400,000 mt/y of copper in con-centrates, plus significant gold, silver andmolybdenum by-products, for at least itsfirst five years of operation beginning in2015. Capital cost to develop the project isestimated at $5.2 billion.

As of year-end 2012, almost 65% of theLas Bambas’ construction capital costs hadbeen committed, including costs for processplant equipment, bulk materials handlingequipment, mining fleet, EPC/CM services,and third-party engineering and site con-struction contracts. All major process plantequipment was committed and either inPeru or in transit from global suppliers.

Regarding concentrate sales to Chinesecustomers, the Chinese regulatory approvalmandates that for an eight-year periodfrom January 1, 2013, Glencore will con-tinue to offer to supply Chinese customerswith a minimum of 900,000 dry mt/y ofcopper concentrate under long-term con-

tracts. The price for a minimum of200,000 dry mt/y will in accordance withthe applicable annual benchmark priceagreed between major miners and majorsmelters, and the price for the remaining700,000 dry mt/y of copper concentratewill have reference to that applicable annu-al benchmark price.

During the eight-year period and begin-ning January 1, 2014, if there is anincrease or reduction in Glencore’s forecastcopper concentrate production, the mini-mum volume of copper concentrate to beoffered for supply to Chinese customerswill be adjusted pro rata.

Also for an eight-year period fromJanuary 1, 2013, Glencore will continue tooffer to supply Chinese customers withzinc concentrate and lead concentratethrough long-term and spot contracts.

Glencore’s April 16 announcement alsoreported that Xstrata CEO Mick Davis hadagreed not to take a six-month role as CEOand executive director of the combinedcompany following completion of the merg-er, as had previously been contemplated.Instead, Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenbergwill assume the role of CEO of the com-bined Glencore/Xstrata from the effectivedate of the merger.

Sundance TerminatesAgreement with HanlongSundance Resources announced in earlyApril that it had terminated its SchemeImplementation Agreement (SIA) withHanlong (Africa) Mining Investment Ltd.under which Hanlong was to have acquired100% of Sundance. The termination wasbased on failure by Hanlong to meet afunding condition in the SIA and notifica-tion from Hanlong that it was unlikely tomeet other required conditions.

As part of an agreement to obtain approval of a pending merger between Glencore and Xstrata, Glencore pledged to sell, post-merger, Xstrata’s Las Bambas copper projectin southern Peru to a buyer approved by the China Ministry of Commerce. Construction and pre-mining activities in the pit are reported to be currently well under way at the$5.2-billion project. (Photos courtesy of Xstrata)




Sundance is an Australian junior com-pany based in Perth that is developing theMbalam-Nabeba iron ore project, whichspans the border between Cameroon andRepublic of Congo in central-west Africa.The project includes development of twomines, construction of a 510-km rail linededicated to iron ore transport to theCameroon coast, and construction of adeep-water port capable of servicing bulkiron ore carriers. Targeted productioncapacity is 35 million mt/y.

In the news background of Sundance’stermination of the Hanlong bid was thereported detention in late March ofHanlong CEO Liu Han in connection with amurder investigation involving his brother(E&MJ, April 2013, pp. 10 and 14). As oflate April, no further news had developedwith regard to that story.

Hanlong’s takeover bid was firstannounced and agreed to by Sundance inOctober 2011. With that proposal nowterminated, Sundance will focus its effortson discussions with other parties thathave expressed strong interest in theMbalam-Nabeba project, Sundance Chair-man George Jones said.

The Sundance statement noted thatsubstantial progress has been made on theMbalam-Nabeba project over the past 18months. Ore reserves and resources haveincreased, with probable ore reserves nowtotaling 436 million mt at 62.6% iron;high-grade direct shipping ore indicatedand inferred resources totaling 775.4 mil-lion mt at 57.2% iron; and indicated andinferred itabirite resources totaling 4 bil-lion mt at 36.3% iron.

Troy to Take Over GoldProducer Azimuth Troy Resources and Azimuth Resources,both headquartered in Australia, haveagreed to an all-share takeover of Azimuthby Troy. Troy has two producing gold oper-ations: the Casposo gold and silver mine inSan Juan province, Argentina and theAndorinhas mine in Para state, Brazil.Azimuth has more than 8,700 km2 of goldexploration permits and licenses inGuyana, including its advanced WestOmai project.

The Casposo mine produced 70,989 ozof gold and 937,208 oz of silver duringTroy’s 2011-2012 financial year endingJune 30, 2012. The Andorinhas mine pro-duced 48,632 oz of gold during the year.Azimuth’s West Omai project has aninferred gold resource of 1.65 million oz at

an average grade of more than 3 g/mt gold,and the company expects its engineeringstudies of the project to reach the pre-fea-sibility stage by the end of 2013.

The Troy offer values Azimuth at A$188million and has been unanimously recom-mended by the directors and the CEO ofAzimuth. Following implementation of theoffer, current Troy and Azimuth sharehold-ers will hold 55% and 45%, respectively,of the enlarged Troy. Troy will remain head-quartered in Perth, Western Australia andwill maintain its primary listing on theAustralian Stock Exchange and its second-ary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Troy has agreed to provide Azimuth withbridge funding of up to A$10 millionthrough a convertible note facility, with theproceeds to be used by Azimuth to advanceinfill drilling and provide working capital toprogress engineering and other studies.

Coeur Moving itsHeadquarters to ChicagoCoeur d’Alene Mines announced in Marchthat it will move its corporate headquartersfrom Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to a location indowntown Chicago, Illinois, USA. The com-pany expects to complete the move in thethird quarter of 2013 and to hire at least60 employees at its new Chicago head-quarters by the end of 2014.

Coeur also announced that it intends tochange its name to Coeur Mining followingits annual meeting in mid-May.

The city of Coeur d’Alene has beenCoeur’s home since 1985. The company

has 65 employees at its Coeur d’Aleneheadquarters. About 20 of these employeeswill move to Chicago with the company.

Coeur is the largest U.S.-based primarysilver producer and a growing gold pro-ducer. The company produced 18 millionoz of silver in 2012. The bulk of this pro-duction came from three wholly ownedmines: The Palmarejo mine in Mexico(8.2 million oz), the San Bartolomé minein Bolivia (5.9 million oz), and the Ro-chester mine in Nevada (2.8 million oz).The company also owns the Kensingtongold mine in Alaska and conducts ex-ploration in Mexico, Argentina, Nevada,Alaska, and Bolivia.

“Relocating our headquarters to Illinoiswill improve our access to key stakeholdersand to our operations,” Coeur presidentand CEO Mitchell J. Krebs said.

Subsequent to Coeur’s announcementof its planned move to Chicago, the com-pany announced on April 11, 2013 that ithad agreed to sell its interest in the silverproduction and reserves of the Endeavormine in Australia and a royalty on produc-tion from the Cerro Bayo gold and silvermine in southern Chile to XDM RoyaltyCorp. for up to $67 million in total cashand XDM equity.

And, on April 16, 2013, Coeur an-nounced completion its acquisition of OrkoSilver Corp. for approximately $350 mil-lion in cash and Coeur shares. Orko isdeveloping one of the world’s largest un-developed primary silver deposits, LaPreciosa, near the city of Durango, Mexico.

Drill rig at the Hick Prospect, West Omai, Guyana project of Azimuth Resources. (Photo courtesy of Azimuth Resources)



REGIONAL NEWS - U.S. & CANADA

Vale Commits to Underground Mineat Voisey’s BayThe government of Newfoundland andLabrador and Vale have agreed to amend-ments to Vale’s Voisey’s Bay developmentagreement, the centerpiece of the amend-ments being a commitment by Vale todevelop an underground mine at Voisey’sBay. Vale currently operates an open-pitnickel-copper-cobalt mine and concentra-tor at Voisey’s Bay near Labrador’s eastcoast about 1,200 km north-northwest ofSt. John’s, the provincial capital.

The underground mine will have capac-ity to produce approximately 40,000 mt/yof nickel in concentrate and will extendmine life at Voisey’s Bay by at least 15years. The underground mine will extractthe Reid Brook and Eastern Deeps nickeldeposits adjacent to the current open-pit.Mine development will begin in 2015, andore production will continue beyond 2030.

Newfoundland and Labrador PremierKathy Dunderdale said, “The new mine willprovide many hundreds of constructionjobs after sanction in 2015 and even moreoperational employment than the currentmine after first ore is achieved in 2019.”

The amendments to Vale’s developmentagreement also extended the permittedconstruction and start-up schedule for the

company’s hydrometallurgical nickel pro-cessing plant at Long Harbour, Newfound-land and Labrador. The deadline for com-pletion of construction had been Febreuary28, 2013. (See related story on p. 108.)

Current plans are to start operations atthe Long Harbour plant in the second halfof 2013, initially processing importednickel matte, with Voisey’s Bay concentratebeing introduced gradually in 2014 onceall of the impurity-removal circuits are fullyoperational. The plant will not be ready tohandle all of Voisey’s Bay nickel concen-trate production until 2015.

Capital cost for the Long Harbour plantis estimated at C$4.25 billion. Approxi-mately 5,000 people are currently em-ployed at the site.

Under the amended agreements, thegovernment also will collect approximatelyC$100 million in additional revenue fromVale over a period of three years.

Regarding the amended agreement, JeffMcLaughlin, Vice President of Vale’s New-foundland and Labrador Operations, said,“Underground mining is the next natural evo-lution in our operations at Voisey’s Bay, andthis announcement allows us to unlock addi-tional value in this world-class operation.”

Dominion Diamond AcquiresBHP Billiton’s Ekati InterestDominion Diamond Corp. (formerly HarryWinston, Inc.) has completed its acquisi-tion of the interests of BHP Billiton CanadaInc. and its various affiliates in the Ekatidiamond mine in Canada’s Northwest Terri-tories, as well as the associated diamondsorting and sales facilities in Yellowknife,Canada, and Antwerp, Belgium. The Ekatidiamond mine consists of the Core Zone,which includes the current operating mineand other permitted kimberlite pipes, aswell as the Buffer Zone, an adjacent areahosting kimberlite pipes having both devel-opment and exploration potential.

On March 26, Dominion Diamond hadannounced the sale of its luxury brand dia-mond jewelry and timepiece division,Harry Winston, Inc., to The Swatch GroupLtd. As part of the transaction, the com-pany changed its name to DominionDiamond Corp. from Harry Winston Dia-mond Corp. The sale and name changecompleted the transformation of the com-pany into a focused diamond mining com-pany. With the acquisition of BHPBilliton’s Ekati interest, Dominion Dia-mond now holds an 80% operating inter-est in Ekati and a 40% interest in theDiavik diamond mine, which is also locat-ed in the Northwest Territories.

Commenting on the Ekati purchase,Dominion Diamond Chairman and CEORobert A. Gannicott said, “We are verypleased to be able to bring our northernmining background and diamond market-ing skills to bear on a project that is wellconstructed, well-operated and well-endowed with resources that represent apromising future for shareholders, employ-ees and northern stakeholders.”

The total purchase price for BHPBilliton’s Ekati interest was $553 million.Dominion Diamond said it would soonissue a detailed mine plan for Ekati.

The Ekati diamond mine is located 310km northeast of Yellowknife and includesboth open-pit and underground operations.It was Canada’s first diamond mine, havingbegun production in 1998, and remainsCanada’s largest diamond mine. The mineis located near the Diavik diamond mine,where Rio Tinto is 60% owner.

Vale, which currently operates an open-pit nickel-copper-cobalt mine and concentrator at Voisey’s Bay, Labrador,will develop an underground mine adjacent to the open pit and process ore from the new mine at the existing con-centrator, shown here. (Photo courtesy of Vale)



REGIONAL NEWS - U.S. & CANADA

U.S. Mine Fatalities atAll-time Low in 2012The U.S. Mine Safety and HealthAdministration (MSHA) reported in earlyApril 2013 that preliminary data indicatethat the mine fatality rate in 2012 was thelowest in the history of U.S. mining, with0.0107 deaths per 200,000 hoursworked. The rate of reported injuries was2.56 per 200,000 hours worked, also thelowest rate on record.

“While one death is too many, andthere are still improvements needed toreduce injuries, it is important to take amoment and acknowledge progress towardthose goals,” the MSHA statement said.“These improvements are the result ofthe work and dedication of all in the min-ing community, including MSHA, mineoperators, miners and their representa-tives, and others.”

Although the number of mines in theUnited States decreased slightly to 14,058in 2012 from 14,176 in 2011, the num-ber of miners employed in the industryincreased to 387,671 from 381,209.

Thirty-five miners died on the job in2012, two fewer than in 2011 and equalto the record low number of mining deathsset in 2009. With the increase in employ-ment compared to 2009, this resulted in arecord low fatality rate.

The number of citations and ordersMSHA issued fell 11% from 157,052 in2011 to 140,007 in 2012. “These de-creases in deaths, injuries, and safety andhealth violations reflect improved compli-ance by operators and safer working envi-ronments for miners,” MSHA said.

The metal and nonmetal mining indus-tries established a record low fatality rate

of 0.0080 deaths per 200,000 hoursworked in 2012. Sixteen miners died inon-the-job accidents, equaling the recordlow set in 2011. The reported injury rate of2.19 per 200,000 hours worked was alsoa record low.

Metal and nonmetal mines experienceda continued reduction in citations andorders, dropping from 63,601 in 2011 to60,680 in 2012, a 5% reduction.

While the number of metal and nonmetalmines remained steady in 2012 at 12,193,the number of miners increased from237,772 in 2011 to 250,310 in 2012.

In coal mining, 19 miners died in on-the-job accidents, the second fewest ever.The fatality rate was 0.0151 deaths per200,000 hours worked, also the secondlowest ever recorded. The rate of reportedinjuries was 3.15 per 200,000 hoursworked, the lowest injury rate ever record-ed in coal mining.

The number of citations and ordersissued to coal mine operators declinedfrom 93,451 in 2011 to 79,327 in 2012,a 15% reduction.

The coal mining industry saw somedecrease in the number of mines, from1,973 to 1,865, and in coal production,from 1,095 million to 1,017 million st,between 2011 and 2012. While the num-ber of coal miners also decreased, from143,437 in 2011 to 137,361 in 2012,the number of coal miners was still thesecond highest for any year since 1994.

Veris Enters into Two TollMilling AgreementsVeris Gold has entered into toll millingagreements with Atna Resources andKlondex Mines to process ores from their

nearby operations at Veris’s Jerritt Canyonmill in Elko county, Nevada. The agree-ments are structured such that Atna andKlondex will pay toll milling fees for theprocessing of their ores, and all doré pro-duced from the ores will remain the prop-erty of the mining companies.

Veris announced its toll milling agree-ment with Atna on March 27, 2013. Theagreement has a one-year term. Ore pro-duced from Atna’s Pinson mine inHumboldt county, Nevada, will be deliv-ered to the Jerritt Canyon mill, and Atnawill pay Veris a toll milling fee that will beadjusted on a quarterly basis to reflect anychanges to input costs associated with pro-cessing the ore.

All doré produced will remain the prop-erty of Atna throughout the process, andVeris will treat the associated toll millingfee charged to each ton as a credit to JerrittCanyon operating costs.

James Hesketh, president and CEO ofAtna Resources, said, “This agreement pro-vides additional processing flexibility, witha smaller lot size for Pinson and an outletfor our oxide-sulphide transition ores.”

Veris announced its agreement withKlondex on April 2, 2013. Veris willprocess non-refractory gold ore producedfrom Klondex’s Fire Creek project in Landercounty, Nevada, with Klondex paying Verisa toll milling fee of $148.50/st, includingtrucking, that will be adjusted on a quar-terly basis to reflect any changes to inputcosts associated with processing the ore.The Klondex agreement includes an addi-tional up-front pre-payment, to be deduct-ed from future toll milling charges, toassist Veris in refurbishing the wet mill cir-cuit at Jerritt Canyon.

All doré produced from Klondex oreremains the property of Klondex through-out the process, and, as with the Atnaagreement, Veris will treat the associatedtoll milling fee as a credit to Jerritt Canyonoperating costs. Veris expects to begin pro-cessing ore from Fire Creek in the thirdquarter of 2013.

“This second toll milling agreementadds to our third-party ore processing rev-enue stream and provides an excellentadditional source of ore as the Klondexteam ramps up their Fire Creek miningoperations into 2014,” Reichert said.

Veris also reports that it has begun pro-duction at its Starvation Canyon under-ground gold mine on its Jerritt Canyonproperty. The mine will ramp up to 600st/d averaging 0.24 oz/st by the end June.The U.S. mining industry’s fatality rate in 2012 was the lowest in history, according to data compiled by MSHA.



NEWS - PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

BHP Billiton recently announced its new senior manage-ment team. The Group Management Committee (GMC)will comprise: CEO, Andrew Mackenzie; President,Copper, Peter Beaven; President, Petroleum and Potash,Tim Cutt; President, Coal, Dean Dalla Valle; Chief LegalCounsel, Geoff Healy; President, HSEC, Marketing andTechnology, Mike Henry; CFO, Graham Kerr; President,Aluminum, Manganese and Nickel, Daniel Malchuk;President, Governance and Group Company Secretary,

Jane McAloon; President, Iron Ore, Jimmy Wilson; and President, People andPublic Affairs, Karen Wood. Mike Yeager will retire from the GMC and thecompany on July 1. Cutt will join the GMC as president, petroleum and potashand will retain responsibility for the potash development option. AlbertoCalderon, previously chief executive, aluminum, nickel and corporate devel-opment will leave the GMC but remain as an adviser to the CEO. MarcusRandolph, previously chief executive ferrous and coal, is currently on sickleave and is not expected to return to the company until the middle of this cal-endar year. Wilson will retain his responsibilities for the Iron Ore business;Beaven’s role as president, copper, will include all of his current responsibili-ties for the assets under the former Base Metals business; Valle, formerly pres-ident, energy coal, will assume responsibility for the whole of BHP Billiton’scoal assets with the consolidation of the metallurgical and energy coal busi-nesses; Malchuk, formerly president, minerals exploration, will assumeresponsibility for the assets that form part of the aluminum, manganese andnickel businesses; Cutt, currently president, diamonds and specialty productswill re-join the petroleum business as president following Yeager’s retirement.Geoff Healy will join the GMC as chief legal counsel and Jane McAloon willjoin the GMC as president, governance and will retain her responsibilities asgroup company secretary. Tom Schutte, currently president, manganese andGlenn Kellow, currently president, aluminum and nickel will work withMalchuk on the consolidation of these businesses. Hubie van Dalsen current-ly president, metallurgical coal will retire from the company.

Lonmin Plc has appointed Ben Magara CEO and a director.

Teck Resources Ltd. has appointed Dr. Mark Edwardsvice president of community and government relations.

Codelco recently approved a new management schemefor its divisions following the resignation of FranciscoCarvajal general manager of Radomiro Tomic lastMarch. Juan Medel, currently general manager of theMinistro Hales Division, has been appointed to the same

post at the Radomiro Tomic Division; Claudio Olguin, currently general man-ager of the Gabriela Mistral Division, has been appointed general managerof Ministro Hales; and Oscar Jimenez Medina has been appointed generalmanager of the Gabriela Mistral Division.

The Mosaic Company has promoted Karen Swager tovice president of phosphate mining operations.

Zinco do Brasil Inc. has appointed Fernando Croccoageologist.

PMI Gold Corp. has appointed James Askew chairmanand non-executive director. Executive Director ThomasEnnison will not be seeking re-election at the 2013annual general meeting, but will continue as the com-

pany’s Ghanaian legal counsel.

Lucara Diamond Corp. has appointed Paul Day COO.

Tonogold Resources, Inc. has appointed Mark Ashley CEO.

Goldrock MinesCorp. has appoint-ed Michael Hoff-man, Dean Mus-satti and DavidGuerrero to itsrecently estab-lished a TechnicalAdvisory Commit-

tee that will assist in advancing the development of its 100% owned Linderoheap leach gold project, located in northwestern Argentina. The company alsoannounced that Bassam Moubarak has been appointed CFO.

DeZURIK, Inc. has appointed Bryan Burns president and COO.

Damian D’Aguiar has beenappointed director, safety, healthand environment of AECOM’s NorthAmerican minerals and metalsbusiness. AECOM also announcedthat Serge Clement has beenappointed director, sustaining cap-ital services, Northern Ontario.

New Millennium Iron Corp. has appointed Gino Lévesque senior vice presi-dent of Tata Steel Minerals Canada Ltd.

Allied Nevada Gold Corp. announced Bob Buchan, the company’s currentexecutive chairman, will assume the additional positions of president andCEO, replacing Scott Caldwell as president and CEO.

Jonathan Price, former director of the Nevada Bureau ofMines and Geology at the University of Nevada, Reno andstate geologist emeritus, recently received a Gold Medalfrom the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America(MMSA). The highest honor awarded by the society, theGold Medal is presented to individuals who have madesignificant contributions to the mineral industry. Priceretired from his position in the University of Nevada,Reno’s College of Science in July and is now an independ-

ent mining consultant. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology and Germanat Lehigh University and worked at the Mineralogisch-Petrographisches insti-tute at the University of Heidelberg in Germany before getting his master’s anddoctorate degrees in geology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Cleveland Mining Co. Ltd. has appointed Rod Campbell an adviser to assistwith the company’s acquisitions program.

The Mining Foundation of the Southwest educates the public on the impor-tance of mineral resources in everyday life. The officers for 2013 were elect-ed at the foundations recent Annual Meeting. Corolla (Cori) Hoag has beenelected president; Mark Baker has been elected vice president and Hall ofFame chair; William H. Dresher has been elected treasurer; and Robert Metzhas been elected secretary.

Jackson Kelly PLLC recently expanded its legal services capabilities with thehiring of attorneys Robert D. Comer, Michael T. Jewell, Susan V. Andersonand Steven M. Nagy.

The Nickel Institute has appointed Nigel Ward director of promotion andmarket development.

TRIO Engineered Products, Inc. has appointed Alberto Lopez regional salesmanager for Mexico.

The Wits School of Mining Engineering announced thatlate Professor Danie Krige recently passed away. His workwas recognized by such varied sources as Moscow StateMining University, which awarded him an honorary doc-torate, and the United States National Academy ofEngineering, where he was the first South African ever tobe elected a Foreign Associate in Earth ResourcesEngineering. As recently as last year, he received theOrder of the Baobab (Silver) from the South African

President, for exceptional and distinguished contributions in business and theeconomy, science, medicine and technological innovation and community serv-ice. In a seminal 1951 paper published in the Journal of the Chemical,Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, he pursued a statisticalexplanation of the conditional biases in ore block valuations—the basis for thepractice of kriging. He retired from the private sector in 1981, taking up thepost of Professor of Mineral Economics at the School of Mining Engineering atWits University until 1991. His research continued unabated—especially intopractical applications of geostatistics in ore evaluation—leading to his pub-lication of some 90 technical papers world-wide over the course of his career.

Ben Magara

Corolla (Cori) Hoag

Damian D’Aguiar

Danie Krige

Jonathan Price

Karen Swager

Serge Clement

Mark Baker William H. Dresher Robert Metz

Michael Hoffman Dean Mussatti David Guerrero

Andrew Mackenzie



REGIONAL NEWS - LATIN AMERICA

Barrick Suspends Constructionon Chilean Side of Pascua-Lama

Barrick Gold announced on April 10, 2013,that construction work on the Chilean sideof its cross-border Chile/Argentina Pascua-Lama gold-silver project had been suspend-ed while the company worked to addressenvironmental and other regulatory require-ments to the satisfaction of Chilean author-ities. In the interim, activities deemed nec-essary for environmental protection werecontinuing as authorized.

Construction activities were not affectedin Argentina, where the majority of Pascua-Lama’s critical infrastructure is located,including the processing plant and tailingsstorage facility. Barrick said it was too earlyto assess the impact, if any, on the project’soverall capital budget and schedule.

Prior to the announcement, Barrickwas targeting first gold production fromthe Pascua-Lama project in the secondhalf of 2014.

Suspension of construction on theChilean side of the project was based on acourt order calling for the suspension. Thecourt was responding to claims of indigenouscommunities and environmental groups thatthe project was causing environmental dam-age to glaciers and water supplies.

News reports from a number of sources,including Reuters, suggested the suspen-sion could last for several months, and pos-sibly up to a year.

In its year-end 2012 Pascua-Lamaproject update, dated February 14, 2013,

Barrick noted that the project is based onresource of nearly 18 million oz of provenand probable gold reserves, with 676 mil-lion oz of silver contained within the goldreserves. Mine life is estimated at 25years. The project is expected to producean average of 800,000 to 850,000 oz/y ofgold and 35 million oz/y of silver during itsfirst five full years of operation at all-in sus-taining cash costs of $50 to $200/oz ofgold and total cash costs of $0 to negative$150/oz, including by-product credits.

Total capital cost to develop thePascua-Lama project was estimated to bein the range of $8 billion to $8.5 billion.

As of December 31, 2012, approxi-mately $4.2 billion had been spent onPascua-Lama project development, andconstruction was approximately 40% com-plete. The 4-km-long tunnel that will con-vey ore from Chile to Argentina was approx-imately 70% complete. In Argentina, con-struction of the processing plant wasadvancing, with 60% of structural steelerected; and in Chile, construction of theprimary crusher began in January 2013.

Project DevelopmentResumes at AntucoyaAntofagasta plc announced on March 27,2013, that Minera Antucoya, owned 70%by Antofagasta and 30% by Marubeni, willresume development of its Antucoya copperproject in Chile’s Antofagasta region. The

decision followed completion of a full reviewof the project announced in December2012, when project development was tem-porarily suspended. The review includedrenegotiation of principal construction con-tracts, additional detailed engineering, andan updated resource model following furtherdrilling of the deposit.

Development costs for the Antucoyaproject now are expected to total $1.9 bil-lion, of which $0.5 billion had been spentwhen development was suspended inDecember. Operations are expected tobegin during 2015, with production fore-cast to average 85,000 mt/y of coppercathodes over the first 10 years of themine’s life.

Centaurus Secures Licensefor Jambreiro ProjectCentaurus Metals, an Australian companyheadquartered in West Perth, Australia,secured the installation license for itsJambreiro iron ore project in Minas Geraisstate, Brazil, in early April 2013, clearingthe way for on-site construction to proceed.The license includes all water permits andvegetation clearing authorizations requiredfor project development. The license allowsCentaurus to operate at a production rateof 3 million mt/y of final iron ore concen-trate product; however, current plans are toproduce 2 million mt/y at startup.

Total measured, indicated, and inferredresources at Jambreiro currently stand at116.5 million mt grading 26.8% iron,including both near-surface friable mineral-ization (67 million mt) and underlying com-pact mineralization (49.5 million mt).Based on the friable component of theresource base, Centaurus has established aproven and probable ore reserve for the pro-ject of 49 million mt grading 28.2% iron.

Initial mine life is planned at 8.5 yearsat a strip ratio of 0.94:1. A 66%-iron con-centrate will be produced by a wet mag-netic separation process. Pre-productioncapital cost is estimated at A$132 million.

Centaurus will market Jambreiro con-centrate production to Brazilian steel mills.The project is located approximately 130km from the steel-making region ofIpatinga, where Usiminas has a 4.5-mil-lion-mt/y steel mill.

Barrick has ceased construction work on facilities located on the Chilean side of its Pascua-Lama project, shownhere, pending resolution of environmental and other regulatory issues with the Chilean government. (Photo cour-tesy of Barrick Gold)



Newcrest Ramping-up Two Major Projects

REGIONAL NEWS - AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA

Newcrest Mining reported in late March2013 that production ramp-ups of both itsCadia East panel cave mine in New SouthWales and its Lihir Million Ounce PlantUpgrade (MOPU) on Niolam island, NewIreland province, Papua New Guinea wereprogressing in line with expectations.

The Cadia East panel cave mine begancommercial production on January 1,2013, and ongoing drawbell developmentwas ahead of schedule. As of the date ofthe announcement, 58 drawbells had beenfired, and a further 24 had been drilledand were ready to fire, which was ahead ofthe 75 drawbells planned to be opened bythe end of June 2013.

The primary underground crusher forpanel cave 1 at Cadia East had operated atrates exceeding 1,000 mt/hr and had beenhanded over to operations in March,enabling increased material movementfrom Cadia East and higher-grade feed tothe Cadia plant. Development of panelcave 2 continued according to plan, withthe excavation of transfer stations anddevelopment of extraction drives currentlythe major activities.

Newcrest’s board of directors approveddevelopment of the Cadia East panel cavemine in April 2010 as the next major oresource for its Cadia Valley operations. Theconstruction schedule included under-

ground mine development, modifications tothe existing processing plant to increasecapacity from 24 million mt/y to 26 millionmt/y, and further development of bulk under-ground mining technologies, including theapplication of automated remote loaders.

The Cadia East orebody is one of theworld’s largest gold deposits, with an orereserve at the start of construction of 961million mt grading 0.61 g/mt gold and0.33% copper and containing 18.7 millionoz of gold and 3.16 million mt of copper.Indicated and inferred resources total 2.3billion mt grading 0.44 oz/mt gold and0.28% copper for 33 million oz of gold and6.59 million mt of copper.

The panel cave mine is expected tounderpin Newcrest’s Cadia Valley productionfor at least the next 30 years. The provision-al mine schedule calls for production ofabout 4 million mt/y by year three of opera-tions and buildup to a design production rateof 27 million mt/y in year nine of operations.

In Newcrest’s financial year endingJune 30, 2012, its Cadia Valley operationsproduced 473,195 oz of gold and 44,778mt of copper. The company has a medium-term objective of increasing Cadia Valleyproduction to 800,000 oz/y of gold and90,000 mt/y of copper.

At Lihir, the new MOPU plant washanded over to operations in February. All

aspects of the planned ramp-up weremeeting or exceeding expectations.

In Newcrest’s financial year ending June30, 2012, Lihir produced 604,336 oz ofgold. With the MOPU in production, Newcresthas a medium-term objective of increasingLihir production to 1.2 million oz/y.

The MOPU project was a complex,multi-system expansion of the existingLihir processing facility. The major compo-nents of the new system (a 450-mt/hrautoclave and a 70-mt/hr oxygen plant)have performed well and operated at fulldesign capability. All other major systems,including crushing, conveying and grindingcircuits, were also in full operation.

The gold deposit at Lihir is locatedwithin the Luise Caldera, an extinct vol-canic crater that is geothermally active,and is one of the largest known golddeposits in the world. Most of the ore isrefractory and is treated using pressure oxi-dation before the gold is recovered by aconventional leach process, followed byproduction of gold doré.

Newcrest also reported that one of thefour autoclaves in the existing Lihir plantwould be shut down for five to seven weeksto repair damaged internal brickwork. Theother three autoclaves and the rest of theprocessing plant were continuing to oper-ate to capacity.

Koniambo Produces FirstNickel MetalXstrata Nickel’s Koniambo laterite nickelproject in the North Province of NewCaledonia tapped its first nickel metalin early April 2013. The start of produc-tion marked a key milestone for the com-plex, $5-billion greenfield project, whichhas been under construction for the pastsix years.

Xstrata Nickel holds a 49% interest inthe Koniambo project. Société Minière duSud Pacifique, the development arm of theNorth Province of New Caledonia, is its51% joint venture partner.

Ian Pearce, chief executive of XstrataNickel, said, “All components of the min-ing and smelting process have now beensuccessfully tested, leading to production

Newcrest says its Lihir mine's Million Ounce Plant Upgrade (MOPU) is now operational and meeting or exceedingexpectations. (Photo courtesy of Newcrest Mining)

(Continued on p. 26)



REGIONAL NEWS - AFRICA

Ivanplats Secures Power Boostfor Kamoa Project Ivanplats has signed a memorandum ofunderstanding with the DemocraticRepublic of Congo’s state-owned powercompany, La Société Nationale d’Electricité(SNEL), to upgrade a third hydroelectricpower plant, Nzilo 1, to secure an addition-al supply of sustainable electricity forIvanplats’ underground Kamoa copper pro-ject in Katanga province. The proposedNzilo 1 upgrade is in addition to plannedupgrades by Ivanplats of the Mwadingushaand Koni hydroelectric plants. The threeplants could produce a combined 200 MWof long-term, clean electricity for the grid,

which would be more than sufficient tolaunch production at Kamoa.

The Nzilo 1 plant is on the Lualaba Riverapproximately 40 km from the Kamoa pro-ject. The plant was commissioned in 1952to supply power to nearby copper mines inthe Kolwezi region, but now it is only partlyoperational due to the age of the installedgenerating equipment. Ivanplats and SNELplan to conduct a feasibility study to assessthe scope of work and cost of restoring Nzilo1 to its design capacity of 111 MW.

Ivanplats is currently working on anupdate to the Kamoa preliminary economic

assessment (PEA) released in September2012. The PEA was for the construction andoperation of a long-term underground mine,concentrator, smelter and associated infra-structure. Initial capital cost to develop theproject was estimated at approximately $2billion. The mining rate and concentratorfeed capacity were established at 5 millionmt/y, producing an average of 143,000 mt/yof payable copper during the first 10 yearsof operation at an estimated cash cost, netof by-product credits, of 95 cents/lb. Theproduction scenario scheduled 299 millionmt of material over 61 years, producing 7.8million mt of blister copper.

Ivanplats intends to issue the up-dated PEA around the end of second quar-ter of 2013.

The Kamoa project is located approxi-mately 25 km west of the town of Kolweziand about 270 km west of Katanga’sprovincial capital of Lubumbashi. The pro-ject contains indicated mineral resourcesof 739 million mt grading 2.67% copper,containing 43.5 billion lb of copper, andinferred mineral resources of 227 millionmt grading 1.96% copper, containing 9.8billion lb of copper. Both estimates use a1% copper cut-off grade and a minimumvertical mining thickness of 3 m.

GWMG Reports PositivePEA for SteenkampskraalGreat Western Minerals Group (GWMG) hasreported positive results from a preliminaryeconomic assessment (PEA) of its Steen-kampskraal rare earth element (REE) pro-ject in Western Cape province, South Africa.The project includes an underground mineand future reprocessing of tailings, a rareearth chloride plant that produces mixedrare earth chloride, and a solvent extractionseparation plant that produces separatedrare earth oxides (REOs). Thereafter,GWMG’s business model includes installa-tion of metal-making capacity and expan-sion of current alloy production capacity atLess Common Metals Ltd., a GWMG sub-sidiary in the United Kingdom.

GWMG is a Canadian company head-quartered in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Drilling at Ivanplats Ltd.’s Kamoa copper project in Katanga province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kamoa isplanned as an underground mine, concentrator and smelter. (Photo courtesy of Ivanplats) (Continued on p. 26)



REGIONAL NEWS - ASIA

Kaloti Building New Gold andPrecious Metals Refinery in DubaiKaloti Jewellery Group, one of the world’slargest gold and precious metals refinersand trading houses, has begun constructionof one of world’s largest gold and preciousmetal refineries in the Jumeirah LakesTowers Free Zone, Dubai. The refinery isexpected to be completed in late 2014.

The new refinery will cost $60 million;will cover an area of about 15,000 m2; willhave capacity to produce up to 1,400 mt/yof gold and 600 mt/y of silver and other pre-cious metals; and will include a mint depart-ment to produce gold ingots and coins.

The new plant will triple the size ofKaloti’s current refinery capacity and willemploy the latest gold electrolysis technolo-gy from Italy and Switzerland, as well as theaqua regia process for gold refining. It willhave two assaying laboratories for fire andICP (inductively coupled plasma) assaying.

Kaloti Group Chairman Munir Kalotisaid, “This represents a major investment inexpanding and upgrading our refining facili-ties. This will be a state-of-the-art refinery torival the best in the world.”

Landslide Buries Workers’Camp in TibetEarly in the morning of March 29, 2013, amajor landslide engulfed a worker’s camp ofChina Gold International’s Jiama copper-goldmine 68 km northeast of Lhasa, Tibet. A totalof 83 workers were buried under the rubble,and 66 bodies were recovered within a weekof the disaster. No survivors were found. Themineworkers buried in the landslide wereemployed by four external independent con-tractors engaged by Tibet Huatailong MiningDevelopment Ltd., a wholly-owned sub-sidiary of China Gold International.

The workers were housed in tents in acamp located about 10 km from the Jiamamine site. The slide originated at the top ofa valley above the camp. The crown of theslide was 5,359 m above sea level, and thetoe was at 4,535 m, a drop of 824 m.Investigators attributed the slide to compli-cated local geological structures and melt-water seepage that weakened the geotech-nical competence of the mountain side.

The mine site was not impacted by theslide, and there was no evidence that min-ing operations had directly contributed tothe initiation of the slide.

China Gold International is headquar-tered in Vancouver, British Columbia, andis listed on the Toronto and Hong Kongstock exchanges. State-owned ChinaNational Gold Group, China’s largest goldproducer, is its largest shareholder, with anapproximate interest of 39%. About 40%of the shares are publicly held.

The Jiama mine is a surface copper-molybdenum-gold-silver-lead-zinc minewith current processing capacity of about6,000 mt/d. Commercial production be-gan in September 2010. A prefeasibilitystudy completed in October 2012 propos-es an expansion to 40,000 mt/d, with oredrawn from both surface and undergroundmining operations.

Indonesia May Ease SmelterRequirements for MajorProducersIn another twist to the controversy sur-rounding Indonesia’s ban on raw mineralexports, officials are allowing major minersextensions to build their own smelters—orsign pacts with smelters already under con-struction—before the 2014 regulationtakes effect.

Acknowledging the strong objectionsthe law has received from foreign investorsand Indonesians alike, Mining MinisterMohamad S. Hidayat said, “We can givethem extra time, and if at the end of 2014the smelters are not ready, we can talkabout them later.”

Most foreign miners say next year is fartoo soon to develop smelters in ASEAN’slargest economy. Indonesian mining indus-try groups also object to the measure, cit-ing potential annual export losses at $10

billion. The mining companies affected bythe law are PT Vale Indonesia, a subsidiaryof Brazilian iron ore giant Vale; PT FreeportIndonesia, a unit of Freeport McMoRan;and Newmont Nusa Tenggara.

Regarding the rule itself, however,Jakarta remains steadfast. “One thing is forsure, contract holders must build theirsmelters soon,” said Hidayat. “They haveto follow our rules and regulations—noexception.”

Indonesia is enjoying one of the world’sbiggest mining-driven economic booms, inno small part from massive industrialgrowth on mainland China, the largest con-sumer of its thermal coal and other metals.Indonesian government officials now saythey want a bigger slice of the profits.

But Jakarta’s 2009 mining law, and itslack of clarity, has led to confusion and dis-appointment among mining companiesthat have already invested billions, whilescaring off many others. In April, Indonesiawas ranked the world’s least attractiveplace for mining by the Fraser Institute, aCanadian think tank.

Frontier Mining to ExpandBenkala SX-EW Plant Officials at Frontier Mining Ltd., a privatecopper producer in Kazakhstan, announcedfurther $17.9 million in financing fromSberbank Kazakhstan, allowing for expan-sion at its Benkala solvent extraction/elec-tro-winning (SX-EW) plant. A further $6million in capital expenditures will bringcapacity to 10,000 metric tons per year.

In 2013, work will bring Benkala’sexploration activities to Baitemir, a possi-ble copper gold porphyry deposit with asso-ciated molybdenum in the northeast ofKazakhstan, a former Soviet Republic.Frontier has a 100% stake in Baitemir viaits 100%-owned subsidiary FML.

Frontier Mining is a copper companywith production, development and explo-ration operations in Kazakhstan and primaryactivity at Benkala, an open-pit mine andSX-EW production facility in the Urals cop-per gold ore belt in northwest Kazakhstan.With a technical office in Almaty, the formerKazakh capital city, it also maintains officesin Aktyubinsk and Semipalatinsk, nearBenkala and Baitemir operations.



Pilot Gold has initiated a 30,000-m drillingcampaign at the TV Tower property on theBiga peninsula in northwestern Turkey. Thecampaign includes 15,000 m of drilling onthe property’s KCD target and 7,500 meach on the Kayali and Columbaz targets.Three diamond core drills are now in oper-ation, and an additional reverse circulationdrill may be activated later in the season.

TV Tower is a joint venture between PilotGold (40%) and Teck Madencilik SanayiTicaret A.S. (60%), a Turkish subsidiary ofTeck Resources. Pilot Gold is the projectoperator and can increase its interest in theproject to 60% through sole funding ofexploration over a three-year period.

TV Tower drilling in 2012 and early2013 focused entirely on testing the high-grade KCD target. Drilling confirmed thepresence of a 250-m by 400-m gold zonethat remains open down-dip to the northand established the presence of a 400-mby 600-m stratabound silver zone thatoverlies the gold zone and is open to thewest and northwest.

The 2013 KCD drill program includesdown-dip holes on the gold zone within thefootprint of previously drilled mineralizationand aggressive step-out drilling to the northand west, primarily on the silver zone. Apermit application has been submitted toallow for drill access to areas up to 1.5 kmwest of the presently defined KCD target,with plans for intensive drilling over an areaextending up to 500 m to the west. (www.pilotgold.com)

Exploration BriefsAlacer Gold has budgeted A$36 million forexploration during 2013 on tenements inthe areas of its Higginsville and SouthKalgoorlie gold operations in WesternAustralia. Alacer produced 136,687 oz ofgold at its Higginsville operations 125 kmsouth of Kalgoorlie during 2012. Explora-tion in the region during 2013 is budgetedat A$16 million and is targeting discover-ies that will extend the currently plannedgold production of more than 150,000 oz/ybeyond 2016. Work during 2013 is focus-ing on targets generated by Alacer’sHigginsville 2012 exploration, whichincluded an extensive anomaly generationprogram across the Higginsville tenure.

Alacer’s South Kalgoorlie operations 15km south of Kalgoorlie produced 40,406oz of gold during 2012. Exploration onthese tenements during 2013 is budgetedat A$20 million. In late 2012, Alacerbegan drilling high-potential conceptualtargets identified by an in-depth targetingexercise based on extensive explorationdata for the tenements. Three key areaswith the highest probability of delivering alarge gold discovery were identified—Location 48, the Mt. Marion Complex, andthe SBS28 Complex—and these areas arebeing targeted by exploration during 2013. (www.alacergold.com)

New Gold announced in early April that itincreased the measured and indicated goldresources at it Blackwater gold project 160km southwest of Prince George, BritishColumbia, to 8.6 million oz at a grade of0.88 g/mt from the previous total of 8 mil-lion oz at a grade of 0.85 g/mt reported atyear-end 2012.

The Blackwater mineral resource esti-mate now draws on data from 1,002 holestotaling 309,509 m. The updated resourceestimate will be used for the Blackwaterproject’s feasibility study.

New Gold will now shift its explorationfocus to the broader Blackwater land pack-age, where multiple targets were identifiedduring 2012 through a systematic surfacesampling program. The company currentlyhas four drills active on the property. Duringthe second and third quarters of 2013, itplans to move the drills to the Capooseexploration prospect on the property and tonew prospective areas identified within itsgreater 1,000 km2 of mineral claims. (www.newgold.com)

Stornoway Diamond Corp. reported theresults of an independent valuation ofbulk-sample diamonds recovered from theRenard 65 kimberlite pipe on its Renarddiamond project in north-central Quebec.The sample was undertaken with a view tothe potential conversion of material cur-rently classified as inferred mineralresource to indicated mineral resourceand, if warranted, to mineral reserve. Thevaluation has confirmed a high-quality dia-mond population at Renard 65 that

Stornoway anticipates will allow the addi-tion of a substantial quantity of new, open-pit resources to the project’s mine plan.

The Renard mine plan currently con-templates mining a 17.9-million-caratmineral reserve from the Renard 2, 3 and4 pipes from a combined open-pit andunderground operation at a processing rateof 6,000 mt/d. The mine plan does notinclude any inferred mineral resources.The addition of new open-pit resources atRenard 65 is expected to allow an increasein processing capacity to 7,000 mt/d andthe extension of the project’s reserve life.

Within the larger Renard resource inven-tory, Renard 65 contains an inferred resourceof 3.7 million carats in 12.9 million mt at anaverage grade of 29 carats/100 mt to adepth of 290 m. Exploration potential for thepipe is estimated at between 6.8 million and13.7 million carats in 29.5 million to 41.6million mt at between 23 and 33 carats/100mt from 290 m to 775 m in depth.(www.stornowaydiamonds.com)

Lara Exploration signed a Letter of Intentwith Antofagasta Minerals for an optionand joint-venture agreement on Lara’sSami gold-copper project in Ayacucho andHuancavelica departments in southernPeru. Under the terms of the letter ofintent, Antofagasta can invest $6 million inexploration over four years to earn an initial55% interest in the project, of which thefirst-year expenditures of $500,000 wouldbe a firm commitment.

Thereafter, Antofagasta can elect toearn an additional 5% interest over twoyears by completing a preliminary econom-ic assessment and a further 15%, for atotal of 75%, by completing a feasibilitystudy within nine years. Antofagasta will bethe project operator, and Lara will providecontinuity and support in community rela-tions and permitting.

The Sami project has approximately50,000 ha of mineral rights. Lara has com-pleted exploration work that has outlined20 gold-copper targets associated withhigh- and low-sulphidation epithermal andporphyry style alteration assemblages, withquartz veining, siliceous bodies, hydrother-mal breccias, and oxidized vein stockworks.(www.laraexploration.com)

REGIONAL NEWS - EXPLORATION ROUNDUP

Pilot Gold Launches Drill Programin Turkey



NEWS-THIS MONTH IN COAL

Morien Resources Corp. is determined tobring big time coal mining back to NovaScotia even if it has to do much of theheavy lifting itself. The company, spun offfrom Erdene Resource Development Corp.late last year, was negotiating this spring tobuy Xstrata Coal Donkin’s 75% ownershipstake in the $500 million Donkin coal pro-ject proposed for Cape Breton on theCanadian province’s northeast coast.

Morien already controls a 25% interestin Donkin that it acquired from Erdene,based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, justacross a bay from Halifax, the largest city inAtlantic Canada. Purchasing Xstrata’s sharewould give Morien full control over the fateof Donkin, an underground mine that wouldproduce about 3.6 million tons of high-quality steam and coking coal annually afterit begins commercial operation in 2015.

Xstrata announced plans about a yearago to sell its portion of Donkin, saying, inessence, that the project was not largeenough to suit its business strategy. At thetime, Xstrata said it expected to announcea transaction by the end of 2012. But lastyear came and went with no Donkin sale.Now, more than a quarter of the waythrough 2013, Morien, eager to move thecoal mine project along, has decided tostep up and fill any sales void Xstrata maybe encountering.

“Morien continues to stand ready to takeon a more active role with its potential part-

ners should the Xstrata sale process fail toproceed in a favorable conclusion,” MorienCEO John Budreski said in late March.

That “active role” includes negotiationswith Xstrata to buy Donkin, according toKenneth MacDonald, vice president ofbusiness strategy and CFO for Erdene anda Morien executive. “From the beginning,we have been looking at a strategy to coverall options, including acting on our own oracquiring the interest” of Xstrata.

Morien is not going in totally alone,however. Sources close to the project saidMorien is working with a number of coalpurchasers and financiers to assemble agroup that would actually enter into a saleagreement with Xstrata. Whether that isMorien’s first preference is uncertain. Butclearly Morien is getting impatient whilewaiting on Xstrata to find a buyer.

After unofficially launching the saleprocess in April 2012, Xstrata is believedto have talked to several potential pur-chasers. Still, no deal had been reached bylate March. “Somebody could come backin,” a source said. “Any sale processalways leaves the door open.”

So far, Xstrata’s lingering sale processhas not affected Donkin’s timetable,MacDonald said. “No, I don’t think any-thing is insurmountable yet,” he said. “Youcan always expedite things later on.”

Morien is anxious to have a final answeron Donkin. “Right now, it’s a work in

progress,” MacDonald said. “Our timetableis as soon as possible but, unfortunately,we’re at [Xstrata’s] mercy.”

Most likely, Morien would look to sellDonkin’s coking coal overseas, probably inEurope. The steam coal would be market-ed domestically, possibly to NB Power, for-merly New Brunswick Power, or NovaScotia Power.

Once a major coal producer, most min-ing in Nova Scotia these days is done byPioneer Coal, with headquarters in Anti-gonish, about 30 miles from Cape Breton.Donkin would change that, in a big way.

D.C. Appellate Court Rules inFavor of Permit RevocationThe National Mining Association has con-demned a ruling by the U.S. Court ofAppeals for the D.C. Circuit allowing theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency offi-cials to “clearly and unambiguously”revoke Clean Water Act 404 (c) permitsafter prior issuance by the U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers. The move reversed a lowercourt ruling annulling the EPA’s authorityto void the Spruce No. 1 permit held by theMingo Logan Coal Co., an Arch Coal sub-sidiary in West Virginia.

Arch Coal and the NMA expressedsound disapproval. “As a result, uncer-tainty now hangs over any project andcompanies will no longer have the assur-ance to encourage investments, growour economy and create U.S. jobs,”NMA President and CEO Hal Quinn saidin a statement.

The court did not determine whetherthe EPA’s action in the particular casewas permissible, however, and it has beenremanded to the district court. MingoLogan, for its part, may also pursue an“en banc” review of the latest decision,or petition for certiorari to the U.S.Supreme Court on the issue of the EPA’sSec. 404 authority.

The NMA represents more than 325businesses in all aspects of coal and solidminerals production including metal andindustrial mineral producers, processors,manufacturers, state associations, engi-neering firms, financial institutions andother companies that supply goods andservices to the mining industry.

Morien Wants to Move Forward withDonkin Coal Project

Morien Resources, which already controls a 25% interest in the Donkin coal project, is looking to buy the remain-ing 75% from Xstrata Coal and bring coal mining back to Nova Scotia.



NEWS-CALENDAR OF EVENTS

NEWS-CONTINUED

MAY 11–12, 2013: Geominetech 13th Annual Symposium on New Equipment New Technology Management and Safety,Bhubaneswar, India. Contact: JK Hota, editor and organizing secretary;Email: [email protected] or [email protected]; Web: www.geominetech.webs.com.MAY 19–22, 2013: Haulage & Loading, Litchfield Park, Arizona, USA.Contact: Tanna Holzer; Tel: 303-283-0640; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.mining-media.com.MAY 25–JUNE 1, 2013: ALTA 2013 Nickel-Cobalt-Copper, Uranium & GoldConference and Exhibition, Perth, Western Australia. Contact: Alan Taylor,ALTA Metallurgical Services; Tel: 61 (0)418 126 284; Fax: 61 (0)3 9686 3008;Email: [email protected]; Web: www.altamet.com.au.JUNE 11–13, 2013: Longwall USA Exhibition & Conference, Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, USA. Contact: Tanna Holzer; Tel: 303-283-0640; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.mining-media.com.JUNE 17–21, 2013: Exponor, Antofagasta, Chile. Contact: AntofagastaIndustrial Association; Tel: 55-454300; Web: www.exponor.cl.JULY 28–AUGUST 2, 2013: Mercury 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland.Contact: Marcus Pattison; Tel: 44 (0) 1727 858840; Fax: 44 (0) 1727840310; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.mercury2013.com.AUGUST 11–15, 2013: 23rd World Mining Congress, Montreal, Canada.Contact: Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum; Tel:514-939-2710, ext. 1309; Email: [email protected];Web: www.cim.org.AUGUST 20–23, 2013: AIMEX 2013 Asia-Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition, Sydney, Australia. Contact: Reed ExhibitionsAustralia; Tel: 61 2 9211 7544; Email: [email protected];Web: www.aimex.com.au.SEPTEMBER 4–6, 2013: China International Mining Expo 2013, Beijing,China. Contact: Beijing Hiven Exhibition Co. Ltd.; Tel: 86-10-6863 8450;Email: [email protected]; Web: www.bjminexpo.com.

SEPTEMBER 11–12, 2013: EuroMining 2013, Tampere, Finland.Contact: Tampere Trade Fairs/Mikael Wänskä; Tel: 358 207 701 230;Email: [email protected]; Web: www.euromining.fi.SEPTEMBER 16–20, 2013: Extemin, Lima, Peru. Contact: El Instituto de Ingenieros de Minas del Perú; Tel: (51 -1) 349 4262, ext 352; Email:[email protected]; Web: www.iimp.org.pe.SEPTEMBER 16–20, 2013: XV International Congress for MineSurveying, Aachen, Germany. Contact: RWTH Aachen, Institute for Mine Surveying; Tel: 49 241 80 95687; Fax: 49 241 80 92150; Web:www.ism-germany-2013.de.SEPTEMBER 23–26, 2013: Exposibram, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.Contact: Kallman Worldwide Inc.; Tel: 201-251-2600 ext. 127 or 56 2 843 3300 ext.3303; Web: www.kallman.com.SEPTEMBER 25–27, 2013: IX Colombia Minera-Feria InternacionalMinera 2013, Medellín, Colombia. Contact: Carmen Henríquez Brugés;Asociación Nacional de Empresarios de Colombia–ANDI; Tel: 57 43265100 ext. 1154; Email: [email protected] 1–3, 2013: Minex Russia 2013, Moscow, Russia. Contact:Irina Yukhtina; Tel: 44 (0)207 520 9341; Fax: 44 (0)207 520 9342; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.minexrussia.com.OCTOBER 31–NOVEMBER 2, 2013: Mining 2013 Myanmar, Yangon,Myanmar. Contact: Shaun White, Allworld Exhibitions; Tel: 44 2078402130;Email: [email protected]; Web: www.miningmyanmar.com.NOVEMBER 27–29, 2013: IX International Heavy Minerals Con-ference 2013, Vishakapatanam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Contact:Mining Engineer’s Association of India; Tel: 08942-283755; Email:[email protected]; Web: www.meai.org.AUGUST 2–8, 2014: 10th Mine Ventilation Congress, Sun City, SouthAfrica. Contact: IMVC 2014 Congress Secretariat; Tel: 27 (0)21 6832934; Fax: 27 (0)21 683 0816; Email: [email protected]; Web:www.imvc2014.org.

of metal from Line 1. The production offirst nickel metal at Koniambo after sixyears of complex design and constructionis a huge achievement and a source ofgreat pride for all of our employees. We areon track to deliver the full productionrate of 60,000 mt/y by the end of 2014as scheduled.”

Once construction is complete, theKoniambo project will include a mine, apyrometallurgical nickel smelting plant, a

power plant, and other complementaryinfrastructure, including a deep-water pri-vate port and an 11-km overland conveyor.

Toro’s Wiluna Uranium ProjectReceives EnvironmentalApprovalToro Energy has received Australian feder-al government environmental approval forits Wiluna uranium project in centralWestern Australia. Announced on April 2,2013, the federal environmental approvalwas the last major approval required to

clear the way for the proposed A$269-mil-lion Wiluna mine to become Australia’ssixth uranium producer and the first inWestern Australia.

The Wiluna mine plan calls for surfacemining of two deposits. The conventionalalkaline tank leach processing plant isdesigned to process 1.3 million mt/y of oreand to produce 780 mt/y of U3 O8 con-centrate over a 14-year mine life. Headgrade to the plant is estimated at 716ppm. Cash operating costs are estimatedat $37/lb U3 O8.

(Regional News - Australia/Oceania - from p. 16)

The planned Steenkampskraal mineand rare earth chloride plant are locatedabout 350 km north of Cape Town, SouthAfrica. The project is based on a high-grade, narrow-vein underground mine thatwas successfully operated by AngloAmerican to recover thorium between1952 and 1963. The planned mine is esti-mated to hoist approximately 165 mt/d ofrun-of-mine material.

The PEA is based 278,000 mt of in-ferred mineral resources at an average gradeof 15.2% total REOs and 176,000 mt ofindicated mineral resources at an averagegrade of 18.2% total REOs, each using a1% total REOs cut-off grade. The resourceestimates included the historic mine areaand exploration areas to the east and west ofthe mine, as well as historic tailings.

Capital costs are estimated atC$175.55 million, including pre-produc-tion and post-production capital costs for

the mine and rare earth chloride plant, cap-ital costs for the separation plant, sustain-ing capital, and a contingency.

Production is projected to start within24 months of the completion of requiredproject financing at a design capacity of5,000 mt/y of contained REOs. Productionof separated REOs is projected to startwithin 12 months of the commencementof rare earth chloride production at a de-sign capacity of approximately 5,000 mt/yof separated REOs.

(Regional News - Africa - from p. 18)


The world’s largest copper miner, Cor-pración Nacional del Cobre (Codelco),has committed to building another worldclass mine: Ministro Hales. The Chileanstate-owned copper company is invest-ing a total of $3.1 billion—its largestmining investment ever. The project willextract copper from an orebody that con-tains more than 1.3 billion metric tons(mt) of ore with an average grade of0.96% copper. When División MinistroHales is commissioned later this year, itwill yield an average annual productionfor the first five years (2014-2018) of200,000 mt of fine copper and 350 mtof silver.

Construction on División MinistroHales began in September 2010 andthe orebody is still under development.The ore deposit was formerly known asMansa Mina. It is located roughly 5 kmnorth of Calama in the Antofagastaregion. The project is named forAlejandro Hales, a former Chilean min-ister of mines. The investment anddevelopment strategy was based on a36-month timeframe, followed by astart-up stage, scheduled to take placeduring the third quarter of 2013.

Although the operation begins as atraditional open-pit development over aperiod of 14 years, the business model

applied by División Ministro Hales fore-cast a mine life of more than 50 years.And, if developed according to plan,the mine would also begin undergroundmining in year 50. Codelco is one ofonly a few mining companies that hassuch a long-term vision.

When it comes online, MinistroHales will allow Codelco to maintain itsproduction levels in the medium term.The mining and mineral processingtechniques will yield a nice return oninvestment for Codelco as well asimproving the company’s competitiveposition in the copper market.

When E&MJ visited the operation(February 2013), Paulo Delgado,Codelco communications specialist,said the overall progress of the entireproject, both pre-stripping and plantconstruction, currently stood at 82%.“The pre-stripping involves mobilizing288 million mt of overburden, andsince April 2011, we have completed76%. Today, the mine is moving around240,000 mt per day.

“This progress is a result of unifiedwork between División Ministro Halesand the project vice presidency ofCodelco, the latter being in charge ofbuilding the plant facilities of the divi-sion,” Delgado said.

Community InvolvementThe infrastructure at the south end of theopen pit covers an area of approximately126 hectares. The facilities will providetruck maintenance services, machineshop, lubrication pits, equipment wash-ing bays, tire yard and warehouses, aswell as management and engineeringfacilities: warehouses, contractor facili-ties, staff services and light vehicle petrolstation. The design includes a neighbor-hood development close to the site.

“División Ministro Hales representsa joint effort of managers, employeesand the neighboring community aimedto develop a world-class project, withnew management models, the bestpractices in the market, state-of-the-arttechnology, and respect to life and envi-ronment as a first priority,” Delgadosaid. “This professional, collaborativeand concentrated work will be donepursuing the respect for the life anddignity of everyone involved in the oper-ation, which are considered essentialvalues set by Codelco.”

División Ministro Hales tried to hirelocal manpower to complete every task.Calama is a copper mining communityof about 150,000. Nearly 60% ofMinistro Hales workforce has beenhired from Calama and the surrounding


MINISTRO HALES

Ministro Hales Approaches ProductionCodelco will soon commission the next great Chilean copper mineBy Oscar Martinez Bruna, Latin American Editor

A panoramic view of the pit shows a mammoth earth-moving project.

EMJ_pg28-31_EMJ_pg28-31 5/2/13 11:18 AM Page 28

areas, and around 70% come from theAntofagasta region. About 12% of theminers are women.

“The división has stated its strongcommitment of growing together withthe community and making this opera-tion and business a great opportunityfor the social and economic growth anddevelopment of Calama,” Delgado said.

For that purpose, the company hasdefined its relationship with the commu-nity as a shared, collaborative and com-municated work that provides consistencyand sustainability to the CommunityDevelopment Plan set by the división.This plan embraces work streams associ-ated with active participation of the com-munity, education and culture, creation ofnew job skills development, wealth gener-ation, profitability and social investment.

Developing a World-classDepositMinistro Hales will be the largest pre-stripping operation in the history ofChilean mining, moving more than 238million mt of waste rock to constructthe open-pit mine. Pre-stripping com-menced in April 2011 and continuestoday. The open-pit mine plan calls for370,000 mt/d of material to be movedby truck-shovel mining techniques. Theore will be processed in a stand-aloneconcentrator, whose design production

is expected to be 50,000 mt/d, with theoutput material being fed to a primarycrushing line and a SAG milling line,selective flotation through the use ofoversized cells, a roasting process, acidplant and arsenic abatement. The con-centrate and/or calcine will be toll-smelted to produce high purity coppercathodes. It also features an oxide pro-cessing line rated at 20,000 mt/d, andthe solutions will be treated by conven-tional electrowinning in Chuquicamata.

The mining equipment itself will be acombination of Cat electric shovels andKomatsu PC8000 hydraulic shovels withdipper capacity of 100 mt and bucket

capacity of 80 mt, respectively, loading360-mt-capacity Cat 797F haul trucks,all utilizing the latest mining technology.

“By the end of the constructionphase there will be six mining shovelsand one supporting shovel (four shovelsare currently operating), and 35 haultrucks, and we have 19 operating now.The mine will also employ four blast-hole drill rigs, which are expected todrill 12.25-in. holes. Three of the drillshave been erected. Along with the min-ing fleet there will be a supporting fleetof seven bulldozers, four wheel loaders,three motor graders and three wateringtrucks,” said Delgado.


MINISTRO HALES

Electric shovels load haul trucks in what is believed to be Chile’s largest pre-stripping operation.

A 58,000-mt stockpile facility will feed a new concentrator.


The primary crusher, a 63 x 89-in.(1,600 x 2,260-mm), 1,341-hp Thyssen-Krupp machine, will allow the mine tocrush ore at a rate of 4,400 mt/h. Thehaul trucks discharge directly into theprimary crusher and the dump zone area,which has been engineered as a confinedfacility to control dust emissions. Thefacility has a fairly sophisticated dustsuppression system.

Mineral ProcessingOre passing the primary crusher reportsto an 80-m long, 2.8-m wide conveyor,an ST 1800. It transfers ore to a 3- to 5-km-long, 54-in. wide (1,372-mm) wideoverland conveyor, which dumps onto a58,000-mt stockpile. The capacity forthe entire material handling system israted at 50,000 mt/d. To control thedust emissions, the overland conveyorsfeeding the stockpile will be enclosed.

Adding breakthrough technology inthe mining processes and the overalloperation is one of the concepts high-lighted by División Ministro Hales ineach one of its areas. This particularmine applies the latest technologyavailable in the market for both thecrushing circuit and the overland con-veyor, and it is also remarkable in thecontrol of dust emissions. All of thetruck loading zones are confined andenclosed, with water nebulizer systemsto abate dust particles.

“It is important to mention thatsince Ministro Hales is located nearCalama, it will be necessary to maxi-mize our dust suppression efforts in thecrushing process due to sustainabilityaspects such as quality of life, whichmust be present in every phase of ouroperation,” Delgado said. “We are con-vinced that we are constructing miningfor the 21st century.”

The heap leaching project forMinistro Hales includes a waterproofbase static pile where nearly 600,000mt of ROM ore grading 0.22% totalcopper and 0.13% soluble copper willbe contained in three heap modules.

After passing through these ROMmodules some in situ oxide (OIS) willalso be placed in heaps. The gradesidentified for this OIS are 0.6% totalcopper and 0.3% soluble copper. Theore will be previously crushed in pri-mary and secondary crushers to obtaina grain size between 0.75 to 1 in. (19to 25 mm), and an acid curing shouldgenerate a 65%+ copper recovery.

The life expectancy for this heap isthree years and the mine hopes torecover around 70,000 mt of fine cop-per coming from 21 million mt of oreheaped on four 8-m lifts. The solutionobtained from this process will contain4 to 5 grams per liter copper concen-trations, and they will be transferred toa solution recovery plant at the neigh-boring Chuquicamata mine, to furtherjoin the SX-EW process and then obtaincopper cathodes.

Copper concentrate, which containsarsenic, will be processed at a newroaster and will produce a calcine witha low arsenic content and high copperconcentration. It will be processed toobtain a high-purity cathode in thesmelter and refinery.


MINISTRO HALES

A 5-km-long conveyor moves ore from primary crushing installations to a stockpile facility.

Today, the miners at Ministro Hales are moving about 240,000 mt/d.


On Friday, April 11, Rio Tinto issued apress release that read: “At 9:30 p.m.local time on April 10, 2013, KennecottUtah Copper’s Bingham Canyon mineexperienced a slide along a geotechnicalfault line of its northeastern wall.Movement on the northeastern wall hadaccelerated in recent weeks and preemp-tive measures were taken to relocatefacilities and roads prior to the slide. Allemployees are safe and accounted for.”

Speaking a few days later when pre-senting the company’s first-quarter oper-ational review, CEO Sam Walsh expandeda little on the effect that this may haveon Rio Tinto’s copper production for therest of this year. “At Bingham Canyon,last week’s pit-wall slide will have a sig-nificant impact on our copper productionthis year,” he said. “A recovery plan isbeing implemented to minimize the eco-nomic impact.

“Based on an early assessment ofinformation currently available, it is esti-

mated that 2013 refined copper produc-tion at Kennecott Utah Copper will beapproximately 100,000 metric tons (mt)less than previously anticipated,” hesaid. To put this into context, during2012 Bingham Canyon contributed163,200 mt to the company’s total of548,800 mt of mined copper, and162,700 mt of refined copper.

Early estimates suggested that around150 million mt of material slid into thepit. The most important outcome of theincident, of course, was that no one wasinjured. The material damage, however,was significant, with the principal accessramp out of the pit now unusable in thearea of the slide. In addition, three of themine’s 13 shovels were damaged, aswere 14 of its 100-truck haulage fleetand some ancillary equipment.

Imagine, though, the impact hadthere been no monitoring procedures inplace, and the company was unaware ofthe increasing instability in this section

of the mine. The consequences couldindeed have been catastrophic.

And, to be fair, today’s sophisticatedmonitoring systems are a relatively newaddition to the mine engineer’s toolkit.Until high-sensitivity radar, surveying andlaser systems became available for thismarket sector only a few years ago, pit-wall inspection was essentially a visualexercise, requiring personnel access intopotentially hazardous wall areas to enabledetailed assessment to be carried out.

Radar Systems ProvideLong-range AccuracyAfter the slide, Rio Tinto was quick toissue a fact sheet that explained in somedetail the various systems used atBingham Canyon to monitor the walls ofthe 1,200-m-deep pit. “Our monitoringsystem includes the trained eyes of morethan 800 employees, regular document-ed inspections of all areas of miningactivity by geotechnical engineers, and


SLOPE MONITORING

An SSR radar scanning system installed at one of PT Adaro’s surface coal operations in Indonesia. (Photo courtesy of GroundProbe)

Careful Monitoring:The Key to Pit-wall Safety

As mines get deeper, and economicpressures provide an incentive forsteeper pit walls, the potential forinstability increases. E&MJ looks at someof the systems that can help mine engineerskeep an eye out for signs that all may not bewell within the wall.

By Simon Walker, European Editor

As mines get deeper, and economicpressures provide an incentive forsteeper pit walls, the potential forinstability increases. E&MJ looks at someof the systems that can help mine engineerskeep an eye out for signs that all may not bewell within the wall.


state-of-the-art equipment,” the compa-ny noted.

Bingham Canyon uses GroundProbeand IBIS slope-stability radars, extenso-meters, robotic theodolites, time-domainreflectometry and microseismic monitor-ing, all of which feed data to the mine’sgeotechnical department to help improveunderstanding of how the pit walls arereacting to continuing excavation of oreand waste rock.

According to Australia-based Ground-Probe, the concept of using radar to meas-ure pit-wall movements began as aUniversity of Queensland research pro-ject in 1997. The company launched itsSlope Stability Radar (SSR) system in2001, and more than 150 units havesince been put to work in 20 countries,with more than 500 wall failures detected.

Mounted on a four-wheel trailer, anSSR unit monitors a pit wall from theopposite side of the mine, scanning theentire face in repeated cycles. With a900-mm-diameter dish, the system hasa range of between 30 and 1,400 m,while using a 1,800-mm dish increasesthis to 3,500 m. At this range, the com-pany said, a unit can detect a failuremeasuring 30.5 m (100 ft) square, evenin operations where there is high humid-ity or rainfall.

GroundProbe said its advanced analy-sis tools allow for long-term trending andhazard identification, while photographsof the scan area allow user-friendly iden-tification and interpretation of slopemovements. The system will also recallpreviously stored data if a unit has to bemoved temporarily and, most important-ly, it will raise an alarm if it detectsaccelerated slope movement that can bea precursor to wall failure.

While SSR is designed to operate as abroad area monitoring system, continu-ously collecting data over time and pro-viding high-precision data, sophisticatedtrending information and advanced alarmcapabilities, GroundProbe’s Work AreaMonitor (WAM) is used to warn workcrews of wall movement using visual andaudible alerts. Its range and slope cover-age make it ideal for applications close tothe wall, the company claims, noting thatthe two systems have distinct, but highlycomplementary applications and that forthe ultimate solution in slope stabilitymonitoring, its clients use both.

As well as being able to monitor pitwalls for purely safety reasons, the com-

pany pointed out that its systems canalso help producers to optimize theirresource utilization. In one example, itsaid that Indonesia’s PT Bayan was ableto recover coal worth perhaps up to$8 million by monitoring potentiallyunstable pit wall and floor areas, relyingon real-time movement data to scheduleits mining sequence.

A division of Reutech Radar Systems,the South African company that develops

and manufactures ground and navalradar systems, Reutech Mining servicesthe open-pit mining industry with itsMSR movement and surveying radar. Thecompany offers three versions of its sys-tem, the MSR 200, 300 and 060.

Reutech has reported on the use ofone of its MSR200 units at Codelco’sAndina operation in 2008. During thefirst 15 days of monitoring a suspect areaof pit wall at a distance of 575 m, very


SLOPE MONITORING

Using laser scanners and limited visual observation, Rio Tinto’s initial estimate was that some 150 million mt ofmaterial slid into the Bingham Canyon pit on April 10. (Photo courtesy of Rio Tinto)


little movement was noted. However, asudden increase in movement was thenidentified, with subsequent accelerationleading to the final wall slide some 30minutes later. The ability to use the sys-tem to provide a warning of the impend-ing collapse allowed the mine to with-draw personnel and equipment in time.

Last year, E&MJ cited another appli-cation of Reutech’s system at EldoradoGold’s Ki!lada" mine in Turkey (May2012, pp. 28-32). Localized failures hadoccurred along sections of the pit wall, sothe MSR system provides close monitor-ing, taking between 5 and 10 minutes tocomplete a scanning cycle across theentire opposite wall.

According to Reutech, the MSR pro-vides real-time, all-weather surveying andslope movement measurements usingstate-of-the-art radar and surveying tech-nology. Real-time capabilities are given byits ability to carry out stability and survey-ing measurements simultaneously, withdata being exported via high-speed links.The system uses not only radar but alsoan integrated Leica Geosystems total sta-tion. Maximum distances for the units are1,200 m for the MSR200 and 2,500 mfor the 1,200-mm-dish MSR300, withthe company claiming that the MSR 300is the only slope radar system currentlyavailable that can resolve a 15 m benchfailure at 2,500 m.

Meanwhile, the MSR060 is a modularversion of the equipment that can be fit-ted into the back of a pickup for greatermaneuverability. In each case, the sys-tems are capable of detecting sub-milli-metric movements on the slopes beingmonitored, with measurements beingfully geo-referenced to an accuracy that

allows for seamless integration with stan-dard digital terrain mapping tools.

As an alternative to dish-type sys-tems, Italian-domiciled IDS Corp. offersinterferometric mine slope radars. ItsIBIS-FM provides sub-millimetric meas-urement capabilities at distances of up to4,000 m, IDS said, with just two-and-a-half minutes needed to complete a fullresolution scan from 2,000 m. A numberof these units, either fixed or mobile, canbe linked around the perimeter of a pit toform an FPM360 system—which in turncan provide complete coverage of all thepit walls in real time. The company point-ed out that each system is custom-designed to meet an operation’s specificneeds, and can be scaled to accommo-date future pit expansions.

Speedy Laser Scanning In the U.K., 3-D Laser Mapping has beenone of the pioneers in the use of Lidarsystems for monitoring open-pit mines.Development of its SiteMonitor systemwas driven by the need for a mapping andmonitoring solution that takes full advan-tage of the benefits of laser scanningwhile remaining easy to use, the compa-ny pointed out.

A state-of-the-art laser measurement-based system for monitoring rock facesand landslips, SiteMonitor was developedin partnership with mining surveyors toprovide a simple-to-use, reliable and flexi-ble solution. Using non-contact laser hard-ware, the system makes range measure-ments on a pre-defined grid on a selectedcycle, with a software suite that incorpo-


SLOPE MONITORING

Two SSR radar units providing comprehensive coverage of the opposite pit wall. (Photo courtesy of GroundProbe)

A SiteMonitor laser scanning system set up on a pit bench. The system does not need prisms installed on the slopebeing monitored. (Photo courtesy of 3-D Laser Mapping)


rates an analysis module for displayingand analyzing time-series monitoring data.

According to 3-D Laser Mapping, Site-Monitor’s key advantages include the factthat no prisms have to be placed in the sur-vey area, with the system providing rapidmonitoring of thousands of points ratherthan single prism locations. It gives com-plete coverage of the visible surface, with ameasurement range of up to 6,000 m. It isalso portable, so it can be set up in areaswhere access is limited.

Slope stability monitoring is just oneof the tasks now being given to a Riegl VZ1000 laser scanner that the companyrecently supplied to Exxaro Resources for

use at its Grootegeluk coal mine in SouthAfrica. In addition, the equipment isbeing used to survey stockpiles for vol-ume verification, provide height analysison earthworks and blasting, and to col-lect highly accurate measurements forterrain mapping and modeling.

The mine’s chief surveyor, Thys Smith,noted that the system “allows us to man-age risk, minimizing surveyor contact withmoving equipment and potential falls ofground. The work we do includes benchsurveying, volume verification, heightanalysis, as-built surveys, terrain mappingand modeling, and ground control andcontouring,” he said.

3-D Laser Mapping describes theRiegl VZ 1000 as a high-speed laserscanner with a wide range of view thatutilizes unique echo digitization andonline waveform analysis to achievesuperior performance and accuracies ofmeasurement, even under adverse weath-er conditions. Achieving accuracies of5 mm at ranges of up to 1,400 m, it canmeasure up to 122,000 points per sec-ond with a 100 ! 360° field of view.

Also British-based, Measurement De-vices Ltd. (MDL) has been supplyinglaser-based, time-of-flight measurementsystems to users in the mining, quarryingand other industries since 1983. ItsQuarryman Pro mining-industry laser pro-filing system is now used by most majorsurface mining and quarry service compa-nies worldwide, according to the company.

The company recently introduced along-range version of the system, theQuarryman Pro LR, which can measure atranges of up to 1,200 m to nonreflectivesurfaces and also has a vertical spot sizeapproximately 10 times smaller than itspredecessor. The increase in range andsmaller spot size allows the operator tocollect more detail at longer ranges, thusminimizing equipment set-ups and timeon station.

Designed for operation from a stan-dard surveying tripod, the unit weighsjust 8.1 kg (18 lb). It has a 250-point-per-second scan rate in automated mode,or can be used as a point-and-shoot sys-tem in manual mode. Data are recordedto compact flash cards for later process-ing using either MDL or other industrysoftware to give 3-D face profiles that canbe compared over time to identify areasof potential instability.

Total Stations are Another OptionConventional pit-wall monitoring hasrelied on visual inspection, often sup-ported by detailed surveying, to generatea record over time. There is no questionthat this approach still has a valuablerole to play, and the development of lat-est-generation total stations has helpedto maintain its position in this respect.

As an example, Switzerland-basedLeica Geosystems reported that its spe-cialist surveying equipment has been inuse at one of PT Adaro’s coal operationsin Kalimantan, Indonesia, since 2004.Here, the company said, 11 LeicaGeosystems’ total stations are installed


SLOPE MONITORING

Setting up a microseismic monitoring unit at an Australian open pit. (Photo courtesy of ESG Solutions)



SLOPE MONITORING

at the Tutupan mine, with hundreds ofmonitoring prisms on the pit slopes pro-viding the means for carrying out slope-stability monitoring.

The prisms are installed on the pit-wall surfaces at 100–150 m intervals,with the total stations measuring dis-tances of 800–2,500 m in a nearly con-tinuous cycle. There are also six meteor-ological sensors within the mine thatautomatically measure the atmosphericconditions. All of the data gathered aretransmitted by radio link to a LeicaGeoMoS control system, with softwareused to generate long-term deformationinformation. Leica noted that since themonitoring system has been installed,the geodetic and geotechnical sensorscontrolled by the monitoring softwarehave been able to detect some slope fail-ures in advance, with other techniquessuch as inclinometers, crack-meters andvisual inspections adding to the informa-tion resource.

In Poland, meanwhile, a Leica Geo-systems’ slope monitoring system hasbeen in use at the Be"chatów lignite minefor the past four years. Comprising twototal stations and a global navigationalsatellite system (GNSS) reference net-work to known stable points, and alsocontrolled by GeoMoS software, the sys-tem provides the mine operator withslope-stability displacement data in alocal coordinate system. One of the totalstations works continuously and ismounted inside an air-conditioned con-tainer, equipped with a hydraulic levelingsystem. Both units measure continuouslymore than 50 monitoring points locatedon the pit walls around them.

Not all stability issues arise in openpits, of course, and the company has

supplied the Polish copper producer,KGHM, with a monitoring system for asection of its huge Zelazny Most tailingsdam near Lubin in the west of the coun-try. Having relied on traditional monitor-ing techniques for decades, in 2008KGHM began using a Leica Geosystemstotal station and prisms, with data beingsent for processing and interpretation viaLAN and WiFi links. Leica Geosystemssaid its monitoring solution, whichincludes the SyZeM geological software,has helped give a major improvement ingenerating and analyzing data, withslope-failure predictions now being donein real time.

U.S. company Trimble’s 4D Control isan automated monitoring system used inreal-time slope-stability monitoring. Itprocesses and stores data from optical,GNSS, geotechnical sensors and weatherstations, which are then are visualized,analyzed, alarmed and reported via apowerful, user-friendly web interface.

Trimble said the heart of the system isits S8 total station, capable of measuringup to 2,500 m with a precision of betterthan 1 mm in distance and 1 arc secondin bearing. It includes several industry-leading technologies that contribute tomeeting the demands of slope stabilitymonitoring including frictionless Mag-Drive servo technology for faster meas-urement and FineLock technology forflexibility in proximity and density ofprism targets. The network of total sta-tions, reference prisms and monitoringprisms is augmented with NetR9 GNSSreference receivers. These receivers maybe used as independent displacementsensors or may be combined with refer-ence prisms and total stations located inpotentially unstable areas to provide

updated locations during a combinedadjustment process.

The company notes that 4D Controlsupports a broad variety of geotechnicaland meteorological sensors. For example,Trimble REF TEK accelerometers can beused to monitor the magnitude of blastshock waves on high walls and surround-ing infrastructure, since their effects canresult in vibrational stress fracturing ofthe rock mass, ultimately leading to rock-falls or more complex failures.

Data from all instruments and sen-sors are processed by the server compo-nent of the software, and are stored in aunified monitoring database for subse-quent visualization or complex compara-tive analysis. Velocity and inverse veloc-ity facilities are available for highwallstability monitoring, addressing thechallenges of both slow and acceleratedmovements, which are one of the indica-tors of a potential failure.

Alarms may be configured on datafrom any combination of GNSS, optical,geotechnical or weather sensors. Variouslevels of alarm can be set and the currentstatus of the system can be viewed on theweb interface in real time.

Trimble states that the combination ofGNSS sensors, prisms and the angularaccuracy of the total station are suitablefor the detection of both toppling andslumping failures on a highwall. Suitableplacement of prisms across a suspectedfault line, combined with a dedicated com-putational feature on the 4D Control soft-ware, enables the prisms to simulate a wireextensometer, so differential movementbetween adjacent rock masses can bemonitored with a high level of accuracy.

Trimble offers several technologies toprovide terrain mapping and volumetricmeasurements, including unmanned aeri-al systems and spatial imaging systems,that can be used in slope failure analysis.Its Gatewing X100 is an unmanned aerialsystem used for fast and accurate map-ping and analysis of hard-to-reach andhazardous areas, while the VX spatial sta-tion integrates optical surveying, metricimaging and 3-D-scanning technologiesfor precise measurement at ranges up to5,500 m in long-range mode.

With an Ear to the GroundMicroseismic monitoring is used in open-pit mines to monitor the rockmassbehind pit walls in order to detect behav-ior that may cause slope instability at the

Monitoring a slope failure at Anglo Platinum’s Mogalakwena mine in South Africa using a Gatewing X100 UAV.(Photo courtesy of Gatewing)



SLOPE MONITORING

surface. As the Canadian equipment sup-plier ESG Solutions pointed out, seismic-ity behind a pit wall may be caused by anumber of factors, but in all cases knowl-edge of the location of microseismicevents can help operators plan minedevelopment and mitigate risk.

The primary applications for microseis-mic slope monitoring include the evalua-tion of fractures generated during miningapplications, activation of known orunknown geological structures in the rockmass, stress changes behind the slopesand evaluation of vibration thresholds ofthe slope structure. A microseismic systemdetermines the location and magnitude ofseismicity in real time, potentially actingas an early-warning system by detectingabnormal seismic activity weeks beforedisplacements are observed at the surface.

The company explained that as in-situstresses change in the rock mass duringopen-pit operations, rock failure in theform of cracks or fractures is common.Some fractures may propagate to the pitwalls, while the removal of large volumesof rock during mining may release orreduce in-situ stresses, enabling move-ment along natural faults or joints.

Sensitive monitoring equipment isdeployed in an array around the zone of

interest to “listen” to the sounds of rockas it cracks and fractures. Seismic ener-gy released in the form of waves can bedetected by the sensor array. The originor source of the “event” can then belocated and mapped in 4-D (x, y, z +time). Sensor arrays consisting of uniaxi-al and triaxial 15 Hz geophones aredesigned to provide good coverage of themonitoring zone, with most open-pit

monitoring systems relying on sensorsdeployed from the surface.

Seismic signals picked up by thearray are transmitted to Paladin acquisi-tion units, then on for processing usingESG’s Hyperion Seismic Software (HSS)suite to determine the size of each eventas well as its location in 3-D. The soft-ware is used to visualize results withrespect to the slope geometry for agreater understanding of rock-massbehavior behind the slope wall, with datafrom inclinometers and other instru-ments also being used to detect varia-tions in tilt or surface deformation con-sistent with slope instability.

ESG said one application for itsequipment involved a 36-channel micro-seismic array consisting of nine triaxialand nine uniaxial 15 Hz omni-directionalgeophones to investigate slope instabilityin a large open-pit mine in SouthAmerica. Over a four-month period, closeto 1,000 microseismic events were de-tected to a positional accuracy of 28 m.Evaluation of this seismicity revealedthat mining operations had activatedlocal geological structures, with themajority of the seismicity occurring alongtwo trends behind and parallel to theeastern wall of the pit. The mine operatorwas able to integrate this knowledge intoits planning activities to help mitigatethe risk of subsequent instability.

Aerial Imaging:The UAVs ArriveAs noted in the article on digital solu-tions for mine mapping in the January

Trimble S8 Total Station observes a network of prisms or suitable reflective surface targets as part of the Trimble4D Control system. (Photo courtesy of Ian du Toit and Optron Pty Ltd.)

Trimble 4D Control chart shows prism displacement over one month on unstable slope. (Image courtesy of Ian duToit and Optron Pty Ltd.)



SLOPE MONITORING

edition of E&MJ (pp. 40-43), miningcompanies are increasingly making useof unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—ormicrodrones—to undertake photographicsurveying that can then form the basis forhighly detailed topographical imagery.The article cited the Gateway X100 UAVfrom Trimble, although this is just one ofmany competitive models now available.The major benefits of this type of equip-ment is that they are light-weight, simpleto use, and can be programmed to fly aspecific path, at a stipulated elevation,over areas that would take days to surveyor photograph manually.

Thus far, UAV use has typically beenrestricted to tasks such as mine, stock-pile or waste dump overviews, rather thancarrying out the high-precision surveysneeded to monitor pit walls. However, asthe CEO of the Swiss software companyPix4D, Dr. Christoph Strecha, noted,there is no technical reason why thisshould remain the case. “We can alreadydo oblique 3-D-modeling up to a veryhigh resolution,” he said.

Dr. Strecha explained that the accu-racy achieved depends largely on theelevation at which the UAV flies abovethe surface being scanned. “For a UAVflying at 50 m, he said, each image pixelrepresents about 20 mm. Fly nearer thesurface, and you can reduce this toabout 5 mm. The closer the UAV is tothe surface, the more images are takento cover a specific area, the longer ittakes and the better the accuracy—soit’s a trade-off between the time taken todo the survey and the number ofimages,” he said.

“The technology for processing imagedata like this has only been around forless than 10 years, but already some ofthe major mining companies are keen tomake use of it to carry out regular in-spections on site while the UAV is con-trolled remotely from the survey office—which could be somewhere else com-pletely. What it can’t do yet is providereal-time data; for that you still need tohave radar or some other similar sys-tem,” Dr. Strecha said.

As Andrew Blogg of the British com-pany, Digital Mapping & Survey, pointedout, stability monitoring is indeed possi-ble using UAVs. The company is current-ly working on an iron ore developmentproject in West Africa where, he said, theoperating company is actively evaluatingtheir use to monitor steep, inaccessible

spoil piles formed during the construc-tion of railway lines.

The bottom line is that pit-wall failurescan be very costly indeed in terms of lostproduction, equipment and infrastructuredamage, and in the potential risk to per-sonal safety. Monitoring technology hascome a long way in a relatively short time,with mining companies realizing real bene-fits from using combinations of systems to

get a better understanding of what is reallyhappening out of sight, behind the pit wall.

The Bingham Canyon slide has demon-strated just how effective monitoring hasbecome, and perhaps one comment onthe operation’s Facebook page summedup its success on a personal level. “Youguys did a great job,” said Jennifer LoderHeaps. “My husband was working lastnight. Thanks for getting him home safe!”



WATER MANAGEMENT

Water and gasoline generally don’t getalong well together, but these two com-modities have more in common than manypeople realize. When used in large volume,both must be managed carefully to controlcosts and ensure adequate supply. In thefuture, demand for both is expected togrow dramatically, driven by expandingpopulation levels and lifestyle expectationsfrom new middle-class consumers in rapid-ly developing countries. Consequently,both are also expected to become moreexpensive, inflated by heightened demandand limited supply. And, both have incen-diary properties that can be useful ordestructive: Gasoline is volatile, yet neces-sary to power much of the world’s vehicu-lar motion; while water—or more often,lack of it—has the ability to inflame civilunrest that can halt an industrial or miningproject in its tracks.

Although the gasoline/water analogyfalters a bit when applied to mining—which mostly runs on diesel fuel—expertspredict that water issues will generate a lotof heat for the global mining industry inthe coming years.

Perhaps the most vivid recent exampleof water’s ability to incinerate carefully laid

plans is the controversy surrounding the$4.8-billion Conga gold/copper project inPeru, a property held by Minera YanacochaS.R.L., in which Newmont Mining owns a51.35% interest. Conga is an importantelement for Newmont, which concedesthat failure of the open-pit mining projectto advance to production could have anadverse effect on its future growth if it wereunable to replace Conga’s anticipated out-put, which is in the range of 600,000–700,000 oz/y of gold and 160,000–240,000 lb/y of copper.

But Conga, located 24 km away fromthe joint venture (Newmont/Buenaventura)Yanacocha gold mine, has been the targetof local political and community ire, lead-ing to suspension of construction activitiesat the Conga site in late 2011 at therequest of Peru’s central government fol-lowing increasing protests by anti-miningactivists led by the regional president.

At the core of the controversy are con-cerns about water. The initial plan calledfor draining of four high mountain lakes,with one to be used as a slag pit.Opponents claim the project would harmthe water supply, both in quantity andquality. Protests led the government to

seek an independent assessment of theproject’s environmental impact study, lead-ing to recommendations that two of thelakes be left intact and that water storagecapacity of the reservoirs be increased.However, the local opposition is convincedthat the water supply will be adverselyaffected even with that revised approach.

In the wake of the protests and mine-construction shutdown, Minera Yanacochahas adopted a “water first” philosophy thatis focused on building water reservoirs priorto the development of other project facili-ties. Newmont said the project’s plans for2013 call for spending about $150 millionin capital expenses, including approxi-mately $110 million on equipment, own-ers’ costs and engineering support; $20million to complete reservoir construction;and another $20 million or so for commu-nity costs, roads and water systems.

However, Newmont also warned thatdevelopment of Conga is contingent upongenerating acceptable project returns andgetting local community and governmentsupport. Should it be unable to continuewith the current development plan atConga, Newmont said it “may in the futurereprioritize and reallocate capital to devel-

By Russell A. Carter, Managing Editor

Mine Water Management: No Simple RecipeMine Water Management: No Simple Recipe

Mining must become more adept at findingacceptable water-source solutions in anincreasingly complex, thirsty world

By Russell A. Carter, Managing Editor

Mining must become more adept at findingacceptable water-source solutions in anincreasingly complex, thirsty world

EMJ_pg42-47, 70-71_EMJ_pg42-47, 70-71 5/3/13 1:15 PM Page 42


WATER MANAGEMENT

opment alternatives in Nevada, Australia,Ghana and Indonesia, which may result inan impairment of the Conga project.”

Fighting the BattlesNewmont also has conducted a runningbattle of words against what it sees as mis-leading or incomplete accounts of the pro-ject and its approach to water managementin the world press (see below). And, look-ing beyond the Conga conflict, it’s quiteclear that industry adversaries will contin-ue their efforts to increase pressure onpublic-land stewards to suspend or curtailmining projects in other areas of the worldas well, based on water concerns.

For example, a report released on May1 by Earthworks—a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that describesitself as “dedicated to protecting commu-

nities and the environment from theimpacts of irresponsible mineral and ener-gy development while seeking sustainablesolutions”—claims that existing U.S. hardrock mines will pollute up to 27 billion gal-lons of fresh water per year, and cost asmuch as $67 billion per year to clean, inperpetuity. The study, titled Polluting theFuture: How mining companies are pollut-ing our nation's waters in perpetuity, alsoclaims that four proposed new mines couldannually pollute billions of gallons more.

The study lays blame on acid rockdrainage (ARD), which can occur when sul-phide-bearing materials are excavated,exposed to air and water, and then reactwith oxygen and water to create sulphuricacid. The press release accompanying therelease of the Earthworks study quoted Dr.Glenn Miller, a professor of environmental

science at the University of Nevada—“Nohard rock open pit mines exist today thatcan demonstrate that acid mine drainagecan be stopped once it occurs on a largescale”—and went on to state that “be-cause acid mine drainage can’t bestopped, once started it must be treateduntil the acid generating material runs out.As acknowledged in government mine per-mitting documents, this can take hundredsor thousands of years.”

In addition to listing existing U.S. minesthat “are known to generate perpetualwater pollution,” the study also identifieswhat it terms “existing mines likely to gen-erate perpetual water pollution,” as well asfour proposed mines at which it says per-petual water pollution is predicted or con-sidered at high risk (see table, p. 44).These mines, according to the study, could

Newmont Completes the Conga PictureFrom Newmont Mining Corp.’s website:

On February 13, 2013, Bloomberg Markets magazine pub-lished a story about conflicts in South America related to naturalresource development projects. The story featured Newmont’s pro-posed Conga copper and gold project in Northern Peru, near ourexisting operations at Yanacocha.

There were a number of features of the article that neglectedto provide a complete picture. Below, we detail some of thoseomissions and provide additional information that was left out ofthe story.

Totoracocha Lake—The story prominently featured stark images ofTotoracocha’s drying lakebed, falsely claiming the lake was dryingdue to blasting at Yanacocha. What the story neglected to mentionis that drying and shrinking lakes are a natural occurrence at thiselevation and location in Peru during the dry season. The photosused in the story were taken right at the beginning of the wet sea-son, not enough time for Totoracocha Lake to naturally refill fol-lowing a six-month dry season.

Four Lagoons, Four Reservoirs—The story discussed the Conga pro-ject’s plan to replace four lakes, which contribute minimally todown gradient stream flows during the six-month dry season, withfour engineered reservoirs. The reservoirs provide two benefits overthe lakes. First, the reservoirs will more than quadruple existingwater storage capacity. Second, the reservoirs will provide year-round water availability to downstream users. The lakes only pro-vide a source of water for downstream users when water overflowsinto the receiving streams, which is limited to the rainy season.During the dry season, the natural geologic materials underneaththe lakes severely restrict the amount of water that seeps into theground and re-emerges as water flow available to downstreamusers. Hence, the lakes are a very limited source of water during thedry season when downstream users need it the most. In addition toincreasing the overall water storage capacity, the reservoirs will sig-nificantly improve the provisioning of water to communities sinceflows from the reservoirs will be regulated by engineered outletsthat provide for the controlled and safe release of water, year-round.

Mine Water Use—The story stated that Conga will consume 2 mil-lion cubic meters of water a year. The vast majority of this amountwill be recycled or treated and tested to meet applicable water qual-ity standards before being released to downstream users. The waterneeded for the proposed processing operations will be repeatedlyrecycled and reused. The recycled water will be stored separatelyfrom rain water captured by the upper reservoir, which will have acapacity of 7,600,000 cubic meters. Fresh water in the upperreservoir will be utilized as “make-up” water for the limited lossesand consumption associated with the processing operations andwill also be used to fulfill community and social development com-mitments during operations. Water availability shortages in theCajamarca region are the result of inadequate water storage facili-ties to capture and store water during the rainy season for use dur-ing the dry season. This is in part why we are pursuing a water-firstapproach focused on building reservoirs that will more than quadru-ple water storage capacity in the area. The first of these reservoirs,Chailhuagon, is expected to be complete during the second quar-ter of 2013 and will have a capacity of 2,600,000 cubic meters,more than double the current capacity of Chailhuagon lake.—www.newmont.com/south-america/press-releases/newmonts-response-bloomberg-markets-magazine-story.

In Peru, public protests over water issues associated with a proposed mine resultedin suspension of construction at the mine, pending a satisfactory resolution of thelocal population’s concerns about future water quantity and quality.



WATER MANAGEMENT

generate an estimated 16 billion gallons ofcontaminated water per year.

The 52-page report, downloadable athttp://www.earthworksaction.org/files/pub-lications/PollutingTheFuture-FINAL.pdf,makes several policy recommendations:• The U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) should use Section 404c of the Clean Water Act to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay, which it identifies as “the nation’s most productive and valuable wild salmon fishery,” facing possible degradation from development of the proposed Pebble mine.

• Reform federal law to require hardrock mines to demonstrate, at the outset, that the mine can meet water quality stan-dards without perpetual treatment.

• Reduce perceived risk by restoring feder-al regulations to prohibit mine waste dis-posal in waters of the U.S.

• Hold corporations accountable by put-ting the cost of AMD cleanup on the in-dustry, not on taxpayers.

Looking at the ProblemThe foreword to the International Councilon Mining and Metals’ (ICMM) 2012 reporttitled Water Management in Mining: ASelection of Case Studies, spells out, inbroad terms, the future of the global miningindustry and its relationship to water man-agement: “In mining, water is used within abroad range of activities including mineralprocessing, dust suppression, slurry trans-port and employee requirements. Over thelast several decades, the industry has mademuch progress in developing closed-circuitapproaches that maximize water conserva-tion. At the same time, operations are oftenlocated in areas where there are not onlysignificant competing municipal, agricul-tural and industrial demands, but also very

different perspectives on the role of waterculturally and spiritually.

“Together, these characteristics lead totough challenges and there is no simplerecipe for water management in mining,particularly because the local environ-ments of mines range from extremely lowto the highest rainfall areas in the world.Regardless, responsible management ofwater by mining companies is a key ingre-dient in ensuring their contribution to sus-tainable development is positive over thelong term.”

Left unsaid is the fact that responsiblemanagement of water by mining compa-nies also is a key ingredient in profitableproduction: flooded pits can’t be mined,processing effectiveness can be reducedby poor-quality water, and sloppy heapleach operations may draw regulatory finesthat could affect bottom lines, for example.Savvy mine operators understand the dualnature of water’s value. It can be an assetor a liability, depending on its location anduse: water residing within a managed sys-tem can generally be regarded as an assetor resource; while water leaving the systemcan often be considered a liability.

In the U.S., Nevada is the driest stateof all, averaging less than 10 in. (250 mm)of rain per year. It is also regarded as prob-ably the most extensively mineralized statebased on current geological information,containing in addition to its gold and silverdeposits other commodities such as cop-per, lithium, vanadium, molybdenum,tungsten, niobium and 17 rare earth min-erals, among others.

With its robust mining industry, rapidlyexpanding population centers, and compe-tition for scarce water supplies by industry,agriculture and municipalities, Nevadacould serve as a bellwether for the global

industry in recognizing and, hopefully,finding ways to resolve water managementissues in resource-limited regions. Theannual meeting of the Nevada WaterResources Association, held January 29-31 in Reno, confirmed the state’s mineoperators are cognizant of the challengesand are actively seeking solutions to slakethe industry’s thirst.

Allan Biaggi, former director of Neva-da’s Department of Conservation andNatural Resources and administrator of theNevada Division of Environmental Protec-tion, listed a number of the challenges fac-ing the industry in his presentation at theNWRA event.• Water is not going to be any less scarce

or less precious;• New and existing uses of water will com-

pete with mining for Nevada’s water resources;

• The cost and value of water will increase;• Water will become more politicized;• Mineral extraction/production will in-

crease and concurrently water demand will increase;

• Litigation over water issues will increase;• Public land managers will have a greater

say over water within their jurisdictions;• The environmental impacts of mine de-

watering will continue to be of concern;• Post mining features such as pit lakes will

face increased scrutiny and focus; and• Bonding and other financial assurances

will play a greater role in the long-term protection of water resources.Given these prospects, there are specific

steps that can be taken to accommodatethem and ensure the health of the state’smining industry in the coming decades,Biaggi noted, and suggested a few, including:• State water policy must be adaptable

and capable of responding to changing

Proposed Mines Predicted to Generate Perpetual Pollution, or at High Risk of Perpetual PollutionMine Location Annual volume of Annual treatment Status Land ownership Resource at risk

water requiring costs (operatingtreatment and maintenance)

Donlin Creek Alaska Estimated: 1.7 Estimated: $1.9 Proposed Native Kuskokwim(Donlin Gold) billion gallons million corporation River watershedPebble Alaska Potential, Unknown Proposed State of Alaska Bristol Bay(Pebble Partnership) estimated: 13.8 salmon fishery

billion gallonsNorthmet Project Minnesota Potential, Unknown Proposed National Forest St. Louis River Basin,(Polymet Mining) estimated: 83 aquatic organisms and

million to 256 wildlife, wild rice,million gallons wetlands, groundwater

Rock Creek Montana Estimated: 1.2 Estimated: $1.2 Proposed Forest Service Clark Fork River(Revitt [sic] Silver) billion gallons million and privateSource: “Polluting the Future: How mining companies are contaminating our nation’s waters in perpetuity,” Earthworks, May 2013.


demands, economics and technologies for all users.

• Mining should undertake an effort of long-term water planning in conjunction with other users. The goal: optimize water use and consumption.

• Mining will continue to pursue the reuse and recycling of process waters.

• When possible, low-quality water should be used for mining production.

• Mining will develop technologies to re-duce volumes of water extracted as mines go deeper.

• Mining will continue to innovate on the reinjection/restoration of dewatered aquifers.

• Federal and state agencies must ensure consistent, fair and predictable water allocation requirements and permitting processes.

• Renewed policy direction to recognize mining as being valuable to Nevada.

Taking StepsIf the importance of water managementin the long list of a mine’s typical eco-nomic and regulatory issues is accepted,then how is it defined? According toMatthew Setty, senior project managerand global mining client manager forengineering firm CH2M HILL, it compris-es “the sourcing, conveyance, diversion,storage, reuse, treatment, and/or dispos-al of all water associated with the mineand mill operation, regardless of use, andadapting to flow and quality changesboth seasonally and throughout the minelife cycle.”

It’s an important part of any sustain-ability program, said Setty, noting that acompany’s mine water management mustbe structured to deal with the harsh reali-ties of today’s operating environment; i.e.:• “No water, no mine.”• Lower grade ores increase water con-

sumption.• Climate change and population growth

are increasing competition for water.

• Water and environmental issues must be addressed to obtain or maintain a social license to operate.Setty said close attention to water man-

agement will be necessary to comply withincreasingly stringent water-dischargerequirements coming from a variety of reg-ulatory sources, such as conductivity limitsproposed by the U.S. EPA, new water qual-ity criteria (e.g., selenium, sulfate, nitrates)proposed by the EPA and Canadian author-ities, and whole effluent toxicity (WET)requirements from both the EPA andCanadian agencies.

Water issues change at each stage ofthe mining life cycle, and the water man-agement plan must adapt accordingly, heexplained, and starting out with a compre-hensive plan is necessary for success. Aplan would typically involve:• An accounting of all water inputs and

outputs and changes in storage.• Attention to evaporation and transpira-

tion factors.• Initial development as part of the En-

vironmental Impact Assessment.• Realization that corporate reporting of

company-wide water balance is becom-ing more common.The plan would ideally be subject to

ongoing refinement and redefinition, andused throughout the life cycle of the mine.

Marek Mierzejewski, CH2M HILL’sWater in Mining sector lead and co-pre-senter with Setty of the NWRA paper,wrote in the company’s Access Water bloglast year said, “As sustainability and envi-ronmental concerns have escalated, themining industry faces increasing public,media, and regulatory scrutiny regardinghow it sources, treats, and manages water.To comply with more stringent regulationsand maximize efficiency, mining compa-nies now face the need for greater techno-logical and strategic approaches to watermaintenance, treatment and reuse. Con-cerns of how water is used, recycled,waste is disposed of and residuals are

managed, are boardroom issues for miningcompanies these days.

“So water, once considered a readilyavailable and manageable resource, is nowa major business concern, and frequently adeciding factor as to whether or not a mineis developed. This is particularly challeng-ing as mining often takes place in arid andsemi-arid regions, like Chile and Peru,where water is a limiting factor for thedevelopment and continuation of miningoperations. Many of the papers and pre-sentations at [a recent] conference provid-ed solid data on the benefits of desalina-tion in these areas to increase water sup-ply—important because a remarkable 40%of global mining projects over the next fiveyears will be located in Chile and Peru.”

Mierzejewsk, along with four otherstaffers at CH2M HILL, authored a report in2012 that examined the changing value ofwater in five industrial sectors: semiconduc-tor manufacturing, thermal power genera-tion, mining, chemicals, and oil and gas.The mining section focuses on the approachtaken by two mining divisions within RioTinto to adopt water management strategies.

The examples presented in the paperillustrate what seems to be an emergingwillingness among major mining compa-nies to step outside the confines of theirvarious operations, look around and engagewith organizations, regulators, other stake-holders and even competing companies toidentify and resolve water-related concerns.It’s a strategy endorsed by a growing num-ber of mining advisory groups; the ICMMreport referenced above, for example,states that “engagement with stakeholdersis essential tor each consensus and agree-ment on the many water issues that affectthe mining sector and the communities inwhich it operates.

“The industry’s engagement needs tobe undertaken at global, regional and oper-ational levels, to ensure that it is a con-structive voice in the emerging policydebate,” it concludes.


WATER MANAGEMENT

Gauging the Value of WaterEngineering firm CH2M HILL released the report The ChangingValue of Water to the U.S. Economy: Implications from FiveIndustrial Sectors in 2012, compiled for the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency as part of its initiative titled “The Importance ofWater to the United States Economy.” The report, authored byMike Matichich, Marek Mierzejewski, Bill Byers, Dan Pitzler andSartaz Ahmed of CH2M HILL, examines the critical role waterplays in industrial production and how the value of water is chang-ing in certain major industrial sectors. The information pertainingto the mining industry is excerpted here.

—Mining companies in the United States, and globally, are explor-ing proactive approaches to water that consider how to demon-strate the value of water, taking into account not only economics,but also considering social and environmental factors as well.

At many sites, the operations make use of non-potable water,thereby avoiding the use of high-quality (potable) water and help-ing to conserve local water supplies. Although the minerals andmetals industry is a small user of water on a national scale, it can

(Continued on p. 70)



OPEN-PIT SKIP SYSTEMS

Open-pit metal mines are often shapedlike an inverted cone, with the ore andoverburden being drilled and blasted,then loaded and transported by shovel-and-truck systems. Mine trucks thatweigh between 106 and 260 tons, andcarry payloads from 136 to as much as400 tons, transport these materials fromthe pit bottom along unpaved, slowly ris-ing, winding haul roads to dumping areasoutside the pit, or to a primary crusherstation several hundred meters from thepit rim. Having run through the primarycrusher, in larger operations the ore isthen often transported via overland con-veyors to the concentrator at rates of10,000 mt/h and more.

The German company ThyssenKruppFördertechnik (TKF)—which supplies min-ing, crushing, processing and materials-handling systems to operations around theworld—is now in the process of developinga system that allows hard rock ore and

overburden to be transported more effi-ciently and with significantly lower envi-ronmental impact. Already being patented,it centers on an integrated conveying and

processing system that does away with theneed for heavy truck transport in this typeof open-pit mine, which is where much ofthe world’s copper, iron ore, gold and othercommodities is produced today.

In overview, a rope-driven conveyorsystem is used to transport completetruckloads of material in track-mountedskips that run from a loading station inthe pit bottom to the primary crusher onthe pit rim. Inclined at up to 75°, it takesthe shortest route possible up the pitwall. Like a freight elevator, as oneloaded skip moves upward, an empty skipmoves in parallel downward to the pitbottom. The two skips are connected viaa rope system, pulleys and a traction-sheave drive system at the pit rim, suchthat the dead weight of the skips is fullybalanced at all times and no unnecessarylifting power is needed.

This article describes the new sys-tem, and provides technical and costcomparisons with conventional heavy-truck transport. It highlights the system’smajor advantages with a concrete exam-ple, with the aim of giving open-pit oper-ators food for thought when they are plan-ning or redesigning mines in the future.

Cost-efficient Transport forOpen-pit Mines An innovative technological approach to skip haulage could optimize costsand energy efficiency in hard rock minesBy Dr. Franz Wolpers

Figure 1—The steep, circuitous path traveled by haul trucks at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold’s Grasberg minein Indonesia is typical of open-pit operations in its layout with high walls and winding haul roads. Grasberg minesand processes around 220,000 mt/d of ore in a shovel-and-truck operation. (All photos courtesy of TKF)

Figure 2—As shown in this illustration, TKF’s innovative transport system consists of a dump station at thefoot of the pit wall; two skips running in opposite directions on a ropeway system, each with an average payloadof 136 mt of ore or overburden; and a track system for the two skips.




The Conventional Approachto Open-pit TransportFreeport McMoRan Copper & Gold’sGrasberg mine in Indonesia is typical inits layout with steep walls and windinghaul roads. One of the world’s largestcopper-gold mines, Grasberg mines andprocesses around 220,000 mt/d of ore ina shovel-and-truck operation. In Figure 1,it can be seen that the heavily ladentrucks move up and out of the mine in atrain-like formation on ramped haulroads, traveling at average speeds ofaround 15–20 km/h.

Carrying ore from the pit bottom to theprimary crusher, as well as overburden todumping areas outside the mine, the lineof trucks works its way upward on largelyunpaved roads with gradients of up to9%, until it reaches the top of the pit.After dumping at the crusher or in a wastearea, the empty trucks drive back downinto the pit by a separate route, with onetruck cycle in an average pit typically tak-ing between 20 and 40 minutes.

Grasberg runs six crusher lines in par-allel, with TKF having supplied the oper-ation with three of the world’s largest (63! 114 in.) gyratory crushers. The mineuses a fleet of up to 220 trucks to trans-port its ore and overburden, with thetrucks’ individual payload capacity rang-ing between 240 and 400 tons. For amaximum payload of, say, 240 tons, thedead weight of the truck will be around160 tons, although the precise figuredepends on the specific truck manufac-turer. In essence, however, 160 tons of

dead weight has to be moved in order tocarry 240 tons of payload.

Across the world, open-pit mines aregetting deeper and haul distances everlonger, so operators are using largertrucks with payloads of up to 400 tonsto reduce the size of their truck fleetsand the associated investment, laborand operating costs. Trucks of thiscapacity typically have a dead weightof some 260 tons, with an installeddiesel-engine output of up to 3,000 kW(4,000 hp).

TKF’s AlternativeWith rising fuel prices and increasinglystringent environmental constraints likelyto have a long-term impact on traditionalopen-pit mine operations, TKF has devel-oped its new system for quasi-direct ore

transport of ore and waste from the pitbottom or an intermediate level to a pit-rim crusher station. This system can thenlink in with overland conveyors for onwardtransport of both the ore and overburden.

To make a technical and financialcomparison, the pit wall is assumed tohave a 45°–55° slope, with a 200-m ver-tical rise for transporting the overburdenor ore from the pit bottom (or an inter-mediate level) to the crusher station atthe top.

The conveying and processing systemconsists of an HLT (Heavy Load Truck)tipping station at the bottom of the pitwall, two skips running in opposite direc-tions on a ropeway system, each with anaverage payload of 136 tons of ore oroverburden, and a track system for thetwo skips (See Figure 2). The crusher sta-tion, with a headframe and dischargeequipment for the crushed material, issituated at the top of the pit wall. Theelectro-mechanical rope-drive system isarranged separately from the skip empty-ing and crushing stations.

In this scenario, trucks shuttle to andfro over short distances between theloading points in the pit and the skip-conveyor feed station, where loadedtrucks reverse alternately into the tip viaan access ramp. The skips are designedto take a full truck load, plus a 10%weight tolerance. Dynamic loads causedby rock impacts and other factors areabsorbed by the skip being suspended bythe rope system, while impacts on theskip discharge flap are cushioned safelyby stationary pneumatic-tired buffers.During skip loading, the rope sag over thetransport distance decreases and theropes undergo additional extension. The

Figure 3—Overhead-view schematic of the skip loading and transport system.

Figure 4—The skip headframe, together with the rope sheaves and steel structure, is an integral part of a semi-mobile or stationary gyratory crusher station, with a feed bin, crusher and discharge conveyor.


resultant positional change of the skip, ofup to 900 mm, is limited by a stop andis accommodated by the size of the open-ing of the feed chute.

Figure 3 shows a schematic of the skiploading and transport system, as seenfrom above. Once a skip has been filledby a truck dumping directly into it, it ispulled up the track to the crusher stationby a rope hoist, over the 200-m verticalrise. As one loaded skip moves upward,the empty skip moves in parallel, down-ward to the loading station. The two skipsare connected though the rope system,the rope sheaves and a traction-sheavedrive system, such that their dead weightis fully balanced all the time.

Once it arrives at the pit rim, theloaded skip moves into the crusher-sta-tion emptying position with a predefinedtime lag. At the same time, the emptyskip is positioned in the loading stationbelow. The skip headframe, together withthe rope sheaves and steel structure, isan integral part of a semi-mobile or sta-tionary gyratory crusher station, with afeed bin, crusher and discharge conveyor(See Figure 4).

When the skip moves into the highestconveying point above the crusher feedbin, the discharge flap opens automati-cally or under remote control, with thefull load being discharged into the binover a period of roughly 25 seconds.Loading of the empty skip takes placesimultaneously.

The crusher station also has an emer-gency or redundant truck-loading system,a crane for maintenance work and a

hydraulic breaker for breaking up oversize,with a discharge conveyor below the gyra-tory crusher continuously feeding a con-ventional overland conveyor with crushedore or overburden for onward transport.

The Rope-drive SystemThe rope-drive system is anchored in aseparate station roughly 30 m away fromthe crusher and the pit rim. The overallheight of the crusher station, with theheadframe, is roughly 50 m—which is fair-ly tall but not unusually so. For compari-son, the three 10,000-mt/h TKF crusherunits at Grasberg stand 47 m high, whichis nearly the same as the height of thecrusher/skip system described.

To reduce the rope load and limit thedrive moments, each skip is suspended in

a hoist. In this example, the rope has adiameter of 54 mm and runs over six,4,320-mm-diameter sheaves on eachskip. The two rope ends are firmly an-chored in the headframe by means of anadjustable length-compensation system.

The rope leading from the hoist in theheadframe runs over a diverter sheave inthe drive station and is led over two dou-ble-groove traction sheaves and a furtherdiverter sheave to the second skip hoist(See Figure 5). The drive moments ofthe two 1,300-kW-rated motors are trans-mitted with virtually no slip through atotal loop of 540° by the two yellow trac-tion sheaves.

A top view of the two identical driveunits is shown in Figure 6. Each drivetrain consists of a variable-frequencyasynchronous motor, a disc service brake,a helical gear unit, a flexible couplingand a double-groove rope sheave that isclamped to the drive shaft.

The diameter of the rope and tractionsheaves is determined, among otherthings, by the German TAS mining stan-dard, which covers technical require-ments for shaft and inclined haulage sys-tems. This requires the ratio of thesheave diameter to the rope diameter tobe greater than or equal to 80, so TKFhas chosen a sheave diameter of 4,320mm for a 54-mm rope. The rope safetyfactor is greater than seven. In additionto the service brakes in the drive train,each traction sheave is fitted with safetyor holding brakes.

The two-sheave drive system de-scribed here is not new, of course, and ithas proved successful in numerous


Figure 5—The rope leading from the hoist in the headframe runs over a diverter sheave in the drive station andis led over two double-groove traction sheaves and a further diverter sheave to the second skip hoist.

Figure 6—Layout and major components of the system’s two identical drive units.



heavy-duty elevators and ropeway sys-tems. A typical rope drive system from aninstallation in Switzerland, for which thedrive power is 2 ! 1,150 kW, the ropediameter is 58 mm and the sheave diam-eter is 4.6 m is shown in Figure 7.

The Skip DesignIn this example, the skip for a 136-tontruck-load of ore—equivalent to 75 m3—is 4 m wide, roughly 13 m long and hasa fill height of 5 m. The skip has a designcapacity of 90 m3 and needs a dead

weight of around 90 mt to guaranteepower transmission in the rope drive sys-tem. The number and size of the bogiesare determined by the steepness of thetrack, the rail profile and the allowablewheel-contact pressure. In this case, atwo-wheel bogie with 710-mm wheels ismounted at each skip corner, matchingthe A100 rail. Side guide rollers are alsofitted on each bogie.

Ore is fed into the skip through anopening below the rope sheave system.When the skip moves into the dump sta-tion, the discharge flap opens automati-cally. The skips have a locking mecha-nism on either side for unlocking andlocking the discharge flap. Once a skipreaches the topmost conveying position,the flap is unlocked by an external mech-anism and is then opened in a controlledmanner by a hydraulically operated sup-port carriage with thrust rollers. Once theskip is empty and the trip down hasbegun, the flap is closed by the supportcarriage and is safely locked.

In a typical work cycle from skiploading to unloading, for a rise of 200 mon an incline of 45°–55°, the skipshave to cover a total distance of 285 m.With a maximum rope speed of around



Figure 7—TKF’s two-sheave drive system is not new, having proved successful in numerous heavy-duty elevatorand ropeway systems. This photo shows a typical rope drive system from an installation in Switzerland.


11 m/s and six-part reeving, the skipspeed is 1.9 m/s (around 6.9 km/h).Skip loading takes 25 seconds, as doesemptying at the top station, while skipacceleration and deceleration eachrequire 5 seconds.

A complete conveying cycle, fromloading to unloading, therefore takes 180seconds or 3 minutes, so trucks with 136tons of payload can drive into the tippingstation at the bottom of the mine every 3to 5 minutes.

Economic ComparisonAs a way of illustrating the advantages ofTKF’s system over conventional truckhaulage, a number of assumptions havebeen made to provide the basic parame-ters for the comparison. In this case, thesystem handles ore with an average den-sity of 1.8 mt/m3, trucks with an averagepayload of 136 mt are used to load theskips, and the vertical rise is 200 m overa 45°–55° incline.

Using 2 ! 1,300-kW drive power, therope and drive systems are designed for20 cycles per hour and a handling capac-ity of 2,720 mt/h. It can be assumed thatthis design will be capable of handlingmore than 2,000 mt/h of ore or overbur-den on average. Table 1 compares typicalparameters of the skip-conveying andtruck haulage systems.

For an average handling rate of 2,000mt/h of ore, seven trucks, each with apayload of 136 mt, must travel 2 !2,500 m on a haul road with an 8%(4.6°) incline to overcome a vertical riseof 200 m. If the payload being moved isset in relation to the dead weight of atruck, which must be multiplied by twobecause of the empty trip back into thepit, the transport efficiency for the trucks

is just 37%. The ratio of payload to truckweight is a very unfavorable 1.2:1.

With the skip system, by contrast, thedead weight of the skips is balanced com-pletely, so the drive system does not haveto expend additional energy to transportthe empty skip. A comparison of theinstalled power shows 7 ! 1,082 kW(7,574 kW) for the truck fleet but just2,600 kW for the skip system, giving aninstalled power ratio, in this case, of near-ly 3:1. Ratios are typically between 2:1and 3:1, according to TKF’s calculations.

If we compare the use of manpower—excluding crusher and maintenance person-nel—20 to 25 truck drivers per day will beneeded for multi-shift mine operation, plusone driver each for a water-spray truck and agrader for road upkeep. Being fully automat-ic, the skip system has no labor requirement,thereby saving the cost of up to 27 operators.

Another significant advantage for theskip conveyor is its lower CO2 footprint. Ifa skip conveyor is used instead of trucksto handle 2,000 mt/h of ore, TKF hascalculated that CO2 emissions can bereduced by up to 29 mt/d.

The Financial AdvantageWith its combination of tested technolo-gies, a skip conveyor system offers sig-nificant advantages compared with atruck haulage system, including:• In-mine transport cost savings of up

to 50%;• The shortest transport distance by

using a steeply inclined system;• Energy savings, since energy only

needs to be expended for transporting the payload. The dead weight in the system is completely counterbalanced;

• The crusher station can be positioned at the pit rim or at an intermediate level; and

• The mine’s CO2 footprint can be cut sig-nificantly through reduced truck traffic.TKF’s skip-conveyor system repre-

sents environmentally friendly technologywith minimal noise and dust emissions.It also has the potential to provide high-er transport availability, since it remainsfully operational in conditions such assnow, fog or rain.

In addition, mines can cut their costsfor haul-road upkeep, and for the mainte-nance of the fewer trucks that are neededto move the ore from the pit shovels to theskip-loading system. Having fewer trucksalso means lower operating and personnelcosts. Last but not least, mines will belooking at lower investment costs becausetruck fleets can be cut significantly.

TKF is now developing this innovativeskip-conveying system with integratedore and overburden crushing. The com-pany is studying the design of the driveand conveying components, as well asinvestigating technical implementationat a suitable mine. A system like this will,of course, have to be adapted to actualmine conditions, and the technical andfinancial aspects of using the system willhave to be clarified in advance, workingtogether with the mine-operating compa-ny involved.

TKF believes that many open-pit mineoperators who are faced with rapidly ris-ing production costs while using conven-tional transport concepts now have a gen-uine, cost-effective alternative.

Dr. Franz Wolpers is the executive vicepresident for TKF’s materials-handlingbusiness unit, and head of the com-pany’s central R&D division. He can bereached at +49 6894 599 434 or [email protected].



Skip Conveying System Truck FleetSystem 2 skips, 136 tons each 7 trucks, 136 tons each

Transport Distance 0.29 km, 55° slope 2!2.5 km, 4.6° (8%) slope

Transport Efficiency 100% 37% (136/(2!113.5+136)(moved payload/moved power-effective total load)

Ratio of Payload to Truck Weight - 1.2 (136/113.5)

Total Installed Power 2!1,300 = 2,600 kW 7!1,082 = 7,574 kW

Installed Power Ratio (truck traffic : skip system) 1 2-3

Manpower 0 20–25 truck drivers per day, plus 1(without crusher operations and maintenance staff) water truck driver and 1 motor grader

driver for haul road maintenance

CO2 Reduction (compared with truck system) 29,000 kg CO2 per day —

Assumptions: 2,000 mt/h ore handling; 200 m vertical rise

Table 1—Comparison between conventional truck traffic and the new skip-conveying system in an open-pit mine.


Rigorous corporate governance requirements and turbulenteconomic conditions have put intense pressure on miningorganizations to improve their metal accounting practices.Inaccurate estimates of metals inventory and processingplant performance pose huge risks including undetected loss-es, lack of market responsiveness, and ultimately lost profits.

Times are tough for mining companies. The global eco-nomic outlook is bleak, and even China is no longer immunefrom the slowdown. With several recent reports of profitslumps, the world’s largest mining companies are starting tostruggle in this environment. In addition, Sarbanes-Oxley andother similar regulations make senior management personal-ly responsible for accounting figures, while any whiff ofpotential wrong-doing will result in a severely damaged repu-tation. Organizations must have efficient business processesto maximize production and exemplary financial accountsthat can stand up to intense scrutiny.

The importance of spotless metal accounting was under-lined when a group of six companies including BHP Billitonand Anglo American developed a set of rigorous yet practicalmetal accounting guidelines (AMIRA P754 code). Theseguidelines stress the importance of “mine to product” state-of-the-art metal accounting solutions, which improve thecredibility and transparency of the reporting process.

Accounting for the transformation of raw materials intoconcentrates and finished metals is a very unique, complexand time consuming undertaking. Without a “mine to prod-uct” solution providing an accurate, single view of metalcontent, product grade and production data, how can com-panies truly know the financial health of their business, andbe sure they are safe from metal accounting risks?Nevertheless, many mining organizations continue to rely oninadequate manual and rudimentary solutions to managemetal accounting.


METAL ACCOUNTING

An automated, systematic approach is required to deliver comprehensive,timely and validated information

Is Your Business Safe from MetalAccounting Risks?

By Kate Lothian


By adhering to the following 10 Best Practices ofMetallurgical Accounting and implementing a powerful enter-prise metal accounting software solution, organizations canreduce risk, maximize profitability and ensure compliancewith the AMIRA code.

10 Best Practices ofMetallurgical Accounting1. Straight-Through Processing: Completeness and Integration

Best practice metal accounting requires Straight-Through Processing (STP)1 of data throughout the entire accounting cycle to ensure a single, accurate and auditable view of pro-duction. There should never be any need for re-keying of data or manual intervention; all data should be automatical-ly processed in one metal accounting system and integrated into the business via mine, process, laboratory and enter-prise resource planning systems.

2. Measurement AccuracyThe foundation of any metal accounting strategy is the input of good quality data. Plants must ensure that sampling equipment is fully functional by performing on-going main-tenance tests to identify any source of bias.

3. Data Redundancy and ValidationTo increase the accuracy and reliability of data, organiza-tions must ensure sufficient redundancy and adequate recon-ciliation of their mass balancing data. Without data redun-dancy mass balances have to be performed on non-validated data, which means inconsistencies cannot be checked and rectified. Once redundancy is established, organizations must be able to reconcile their data by turning inconsistent data into coherent and reliable mass balances. Effective redundan-cy and reconciliation can only be achieved by a mass balanc-ing engine that is fully integrated into an enterprise metal accounting solution, which can take data from multiple sourcesto rectify errors and improve data accuracy and reliability.

4. Target Accuracy Best practice is considered to be setting targets to define acceptable levels of accuracy for each input and output stream, assessing whether targets are met, and in cases where they are not, identifying and correcting the problem. Attempting to achieve this without a statistical data recon-ciliation engine is impossible; how can accuracy be meas-ured from non-redundant data? A data reconciliation engine that is integrated into an enterprise metal accounting solu-tion ensures that all corrections and investigations are re-corded and assessable throughout the accounting cycle.

5. Provisional DataReporting deadlines often require the use of provisional data before reconciliation and error detection has been complet-ed. To effectively manage this process, organizations need to rely on a system that outputs provisional production num-bers in a consistent and auditable way, showing how and when these numbers become finalized.


METAL ACCOUNTING

1 Straight-Through Processing (STP) is a mechanism that automates the end-to-end processing of metal accounting data without the need for re-keying or manualintervention. It involves use of a single system to process or control all elements ofthe accounting workflow from initial raw data to final transformation into officialproduction figures. The concept originated in the financial industry but its ability toreduce systemic and operational risk has extended its reach into other sectorsincluding oil, gas and now mining.


6. In-process Inventory In-process inventories can represent a significant amount of money; their estimation is essential in order to value an operation. Inventories need to be verified by regular physical stock-takes with clear procedures for stock adjustments and ultimately unaccounted losses or gains. A solution is need-ed that can reconcile differences in measurement results, ensuring any changes to in-process inventories are both transparent and auditable.

7. TimelinessOne of the most time-consuming and tedious tasks dedicat-ed to metallurgical engineers is the computation of produc-tion numbers. This process must be timely to ensure there are no gaps in financial records. Organizations need to have an automatic system of reporting that delivers timely pro-duction information for financial reporting cycles.

8. AuditabilityAny accounts that do not have a record of exactly how num-bers were achieved, who provided them, and how particular adjustments were arrived at will not satisfy auditors and lead to serious questions over corporate governance. Effective metal accounting solutions are those that not only transform process data into coherent accounting figures but crucially do so in a fully auditable way.

9. Transparency Best practice in this area requires users to understand the entire metal accounting system. What is required is a cen-tralized metal accounting solution that provides full trans-parency and enables drill down into each accounting figure to see exactly where the data came from, how calculations were made, and conclusions reached.

10. DocumentationA fully documented solution is required that clearly de-scribes, with words and diagrams, how the metal accounting process works. This should be made available to all current and new users.

Enterprise Metal Accounting Solution A successful metal accounting strategy must ensure compliancewith the 10 Best Practices of Metallurgical Accounting. The onlyway to do this, as recommended by the AMIRA code, is to havea “mine to product” state-of-the-art metal accounting solution.

Failure to effectively account for the concentration andextraction of metal poses huge risks. Undetected losses, lackof market responsiveness, lost profits, and failed corporategovernance will not only be perceived by shareholders andauditors as irresponsible, but could ultimately lead to organi-zational collapse.

By putting in place an enterprise metal accounting solution,companies will enhance decision making to maximize efficien-cy, drive profits and significantly reduce the risk of non-compli-ance with corporate governance policies.

Forward thinking organizations that want to survive intoday’s turbulent conditions should follow in the footsteps ofcompanies like Vale, Xstrata, ArcelorMittal and Rio Tinto, andinstall enterprise metal accounting solutions.

Lothian is director of product business development at TriplePoint Technology, a leading global provider of on-premise andin-cloud commodity management software that deliversadvanced analytics for optimizing end-to-end commodity andenergy value chains.


METAL ACCOUNTING

Effective metal accounting solutions are those that not only transform process data into coherent accounting figures but crucially do so in a fully auditable way.



Vale Creates Super Hubsfor Iron Ore LogisticsUsing deep-water ports, Valemax vessels will lower iron ore shipping costs for Asian,Middle Eastern and European customers By Dave Gambrel

On December 29, 2012, Vale Sohar, oneof the largest bulk carriers in the world,was welcomed to Oman by members ofthe North Al Batinah community, headedby H.E. Sheikh Hilal bin Ali Al Habsi,Wali of Sohar. With the capacity to trans-port 400,000 mt of mineral cargo, thevessel docked at Vale’s deep-water jettyin the Port of Sohar to unload iron ore onits first voyage from Brazil. In November2012, Vale Liwa was the first Omani-owned Valemax to call.

First Super Hub: The Portof Sohar, OmanIn mid-July 2012 three loaded Valemaxvessels were on their way to the Port ofSohar in Oman. This was one of the firststeps in operating a new super hub forVale’s Brazilian iron ore. Before Valebegan ordering the first of its Valemaxfleet in August 2008, they realized therewere only a few deep-water ports in the

world where they could unload them, andthey began taking steps to secure them.The Port of Sohar in Oman was one ofthem. Vale would build super hubs basedon three key elements: ideal location,iron ore pelletizing plant, and port facili-ties capable of discharging a Valemax.

As a result of business collaborationwith Vale, the Sultanate of Oman invested$12 billion on the development of SoharIndustrial Port, and has built the first superhub in Sohar. In May 2008, Vale and SoharIndustrial Port Co. signed a 50:50 jointventure agreement between the govern-ment of the Sultanate of Oman and thePort of Rotterdam to construct a produc-tion facility and distribution center for ironore pellets in the Port of Sohar. This wasVale’s first iron ore venture outside Brazil,and its total commitment would amount to$1.356 billion. From this super hub inOman, Vale is now poised to reach cus-tomers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and India.

With two of the four Valemaxes builtfor Oman Shipping Co. now in service,the world is witnessing the start of a newlogistics era for the region. The first ves-sel to arrive in Oman was Vale Liwa,which unloaded its shipment of iron orein November. Vale Sohar sails from Brazilto Oman, carrying the history and pride ofthe Omanis to unveil it to the wholeworld. It is currently en route to the Portof Tubarao in Brazil for reloading. Thetwo remaining vessels, Vale Shinas andVale Saham, are currently in the finalstages of construction, and were sched-uled to be handed over during the firstquarter of 2013.

Due to the large capacity of Valemaxvessels, the shipments create a virtualiron ore mine in Oman, ultimately allow-ing Vale to serve its growing network ofclients in the Middle East, North Africaand Indian subcontinent faster and moreefficiently. So far nine ports around theworld have received Valemax ships—Dalian (China), Villanueva (the Phili-ppines), Tubarão and Ponta da Madeira(Brazil), Taranto (Italy), Rotterdam (theNetherlands), Sohar (Oman) and Kimitsuand Oita (Japan)—as well as a floatingore transfer station in Subic Bay in thePhilippines. China could easily addanother three by mid-2013 if it sodesires. (See China’s Deep Water Ports,Coal Age, December, 2012). By the endof 2013, 35 ships each capable of trans-porting 400,000 metric tons (mt) will beavailable to carry iron ore for Vale—19 ofthem owned by Vale and 16 chartered byVale through long-term contracts.

Vale has achieved full productioncapacity of 9 million mt/y of direct-reduc-tion pellets at its industrial complex inthe Port of Sohar. Vale’s Industrial Com-plex comprises two pelletizing units, eachwith a nominal production capacity of 4.5million mt of direct-reduction pellets peryear, and a distribution center with athroughput capacity of 40 million mt/y.

Vale Liwa, the first of four Valemax vessels built for Omani Shipping, was welcomed to the Sultanate by members of thecommunity in North Al Batinah, led by Sheikh Said bin Humaid al Harthy, Wali of Liwa. The remaining three vessels, ValeSohar, Vale Saham and Vale Shinas are a tribute to seafaring coastal cities and Omani leadership’s way of showcasingOman to the world. (Photo courtesy of Oman Daily Observer)

SUPER HUBS


Vale has also invested $40 million intechnologies to reduce the project’s envi-ronmental impact, such as electrostaticprecipitators and a 3,150-m-long windfence to control particulate matter emis-sions. The site has a continuous emis-sions monitoring system and 100% of thewater used is recycled.

The Second Super Hub:Teluk Rubiah, MalaysiaVale has devised a masterful strategicplan. It was working on the constructionof two super hubs long before most of theworld ever heard of Valemax vessels. TheSohar pelletizing plant was operational inMarch, 2011; the Teluk Rubiah pelletiz-ing plant and terminal are still underconstruction.

Vale will set up an iron ore pelletizingplant in Lumut, Malaysia, after its $1.3billion maritime terminal in Teluk Rubiahis completed in the first half of 2014.Total capital expenditures are expected toreach $5 billion before the distributioncenter is complete. It will serve customersin the Asia-Pacific. From an initial capac-ity of 60 million mt, it is expected to in-crease to 200 million mt when complete.

Vale’s loading docks in Brazil are threetimes further away from Asian marketsthan its Australian competitors. TheValemax vessels, costing much less perton to operate than smaller vessels, willeven the playing field somewhat. Once theTeluk Rubiah distribution center beginsoperating, iron ore from Brazil will betransported to Teluk Rubiah in Valemaxvessels. From here, the blended ore will

be distributed to customers in China,Japan and Taiwan using smaller vessels.

If we count the two floating transferterminals, Ore Fabrica and the under-con-struction Ore Sessogo, it works out to betwo super hubs and two mini hubs underdirect Vale control. The vessel OreSossego arrived at Chengxi Shipyard justupriver from Shanghai on November 1,2012. It is the sister vessel of OreFabrica, which was converted from an orecarrier to a floating transfer station duringthe end of 2011 and beginning of 2012.Like the Ore Fabrica it will be strategical-ly placed for transferring Valemax iron orecargoes to smaller vessels for final deliv-ery to customers in shallow draft ports.

Once Vale’s second floating ore trans-fer station begins operating, which wasplanned for the first quarter of 2013,Vale will be fully prepared to serve Asianmarkets on an equal footing with its com-petitors based in the region. This entirelogistics solution, encompassing ships,transfer stations and distribution centers,is expected to be in place by the start of2014. Vale is truly changing the world ofiron ore logistics.

The Key to the Strategy:Valemax VesselsPerhaps the first time the average ironore marketer heard of Valemax vessels,Vale’s gigantic 400,000-ton iron ore car-riers, was in connection with China refus-ing to unload them in 2012 due to safe-ty concerns. No doubt competitors every-where silently cheered. The typical reac-tion among the maritime community was,

“What is Vale going to do now? Theyhave ordered 35 of these giants, and theyhave nowhere to unload them.” In fact, itwas recently reported that “they havebeen drifting aimlessly since May lastyear.” [SteelGuru.com, December 8,2012]. Valemax vessels have actuallymade more than 31 deliveries and haveexperienced none of the safety problemsthat are China’s source of concern.

They are slightly longer than the air-craft carrier USS Enterprise. Vale had 20of the Valemax vessels working by year-end2012. The 14 Valemax vessels operatingin September had made 31 deliveries: 10to Sohar (Oman); 10 to Subic Bay(Philippines); six to Taranto (Italy); two toRotterdam; and one each to Oita (Japan);Villanueva (Philippines); and Dalian(China). The Port of Tubarão in Vitória,Brazil, received the Vale Espírito Santo onOctober 30th. Named for the state that ishome to the company’s most importantiron ore export port, the ship was to beloaded with ore before sailing to the Port ofSohar in Oman. This would be the ship’sfirst loading operation and the tenth timea Valemax vessel has docked at Tubarão.

The Vale Espírito Santo is one of 18ships already operating, out of a totalorder for 35 ships owned or chartered byVale, placed with Chinese and SouthKorean shipyards, to be delivered by2013, and to operate exclusively for thecompany. In July, five loaded Valemaxvessels were headed for its Ore Fabricatransloading facility in Subic Bay,Philippines. All were loaded to the maxi-mum draft of 23-23.2 m at Vale’s Sao


Vale Sohar, the second of four Valemax Vessels to be delivered to Omani Shipping. (Photo courtesy of Rongsheng Heavy Industries)

SUPER HUBS



SUPER HUBS

Luis Terminal in Ponta da Madeira,Brazil. The 280,000-mt Ore Fabrica,previously a crude oil tanker, has beenreconfigured to serve as a platform forunloading the Valemax vessels and load-ing the ore into smaller vessels that canunload without question at Chinese ironore terminals.

For anyone that might have thoughtthe Chinese port ban would stop theValemax building program in its tracks,take a look at what is happening now.Clearly, Vale had mad backup plans tounload their vessels at deepwater termi-nals closer to the Middle East and Asia,and was not totally reliant on China’sability to unload them. Vale knew allalong there were a few significant deep-

water terminals outside China, and madeplans to use them. Nevertheless, Vale hasalso done everything in its power to makeits logistics system work for the Chinese.Eventually, the Chinese will permit theirdeep water terminals to take theValemaxes directly, but in the meantime,the Valemax vessels will keep working tominimize shipping costs for Asian,Middle Eastern and European customersthat do business with them.

Perhaps it is time for China to startopening a few of its deep-water terminalsto Valemax vessels. Not only has Valeproven Valemax safety with 18 vesselsmaking over 31 deliveries to seven differ-ent terminals, they have done so at greatexpense to the company. The Chinese

ban on unloading Valemax vessels costsVale $2/mt to $3/mt of ore, because Valehas built the transfer vessel Ore Fabricato transfer ore to smaller vessels in SubicBay, Philippines. Vessels that should besaving $6/mt in shipping are actuallycosting Vale money, all for the sake ofnurturing its best customer, China.

Dave Gambrel is the president ofLogisticon, a transportation consultancy.He was director of transportation forPeabody Coal Co., and was in charge of thecompany’s global shipping program. Hewas a member of the U.S. negotiating teamfor the LAXT terminal, and a member ofthe DTA management committee. He maybe reached at [email protected].

Valemax Fleet of Ultra Large Ore Carriers (ULOCs)Name Builder Year Draft, m Load Port Destination ETA IMO Comments

Vale Brasil Daewoo 2011 23.0 Sao Luis Oita 1/14/13 9488918Vale Rio de Janeiro Daewoo 2011 11.5 Sao Luis 2/1/13 9572329 Left Singapore 12/27/12Vale Italia Daewoo 2011 22.9 Sao Luis Subic Bay 1/29/13 9572331Vale Malaysia Daewoo 2012 15.0 Tubarao 12/15/12 9572343Vale Carajas Daewoo 2012 12.5 Sao Luis 12/24/12 9593919Vale Qingdao STX 2012 14.1 Sao Luis 12/30/12 9575450Vale China Jiangsu 2011 19.1 Tubarao Sohar 1/17/13 9522972Vale Dongjiakpou Jiangsu 2012 19.4 Tubarao 12/30/12 9532513 Armed guards onboardVale Dalian Jiangsu 2012 11.0 Tubarao 12/31/12 9532525Berge Everest Bohai 2011 18.0 Rotterdam 1/1/13 9447536 At anchor 1/1/13Berge Aconcagua Bohai 2012 13.5 Sao Luis 12/20/12 9447548Berge Jaya Bohai 2012 10.9 Sao Luis 12/13/12 9447550Berge Neblina Bohai 2012 9447562 Not yet in serviceVale Indonesia STX 2012 19.1 Tubarao Subic Bay 1/29/13 9575474Vale Fujiyama Jiangsu 2012 13.5 Sao Luis 1/7/13 9575486Vale Minas Gerais Daewoo 2012 19.1 Rotterdam 12/25/12 9593957Vale Beijing STX 2011 22.9 Sao Luis Subic Bay 12/16/12 9575448 Repaired by STXVale Espirito Santo STX 2012 13.5 Tubarao Subic Bay 9575462 Placed in service 10/30/12Vale Hebei Jiangsu 2012 23.0 Tubarao Subic Bay 12/31/12 9532537Vale Shandong Jiangsu 2012 11.3 Sao Luis 1/19/13 9532549Vale Jiaangsu Jiangsu 2012 9532551 Launched, but not in serviceVale Caofeidian Jiangsu 2013 9532575 Estimated Delivery-3/13Vale Shanghai Jiangsu 2013 9532587 Estimated Delivery-6/13Vale Korea Daewoo 2013 9593969 Estimated Delivery-7/13Vale Majishan Jiangsu 2013 9532599 Estimated Delivery-9/13Vale Tianjin Jiangsu 2013 9532604 Estimated Delivery-12/13Vale Rizhao Jiangsu 2014 9532616 Estimated Delivery-3/14Vale Ningbo Jiangsu 2014 9532628 Estimated Delivery-7/14Unnamed STX 9575498Unnamed STX 9575503Unnamed STX 9575515

OMANI SHIPPING VESSELSVale Liwa Jiangsu 2012 10.3 Tubarao 12/5/12 9566514 First Omani vessel to

unload at SoharVale Sohar Jiangsu 2012 19.4 Tubarao Sohar-Oman 12/14/12 9565065 Second Omani Shipping vesselVale Saham Jiangsu 2013 9566526 Estimated delivery 1/13Vale Shinas Jiangsu 2013 9566538 Estimated delivery 2/13Italicized vessels were placed in service after mid-July. (Data informatiron as of 1-2-13)


MINExpo 2012 offered a rare opportunityfor manufacturers of all types of miningvehicles to display their product lines tothe global mining industry at one venue.Interspersed with the heavyweight OEMsexhibiting at the show, such as Cater-pillar, Komatsu, Hitachi and others, weremid-tier and smaller vendors that special-ize in designing and building utility vehi-cles and equipment—the often-ugly buttough, no-nonsense machines that per-form a wide range of jobs necessary tokeep surface and underground mines sup-plied with the materials, manpower andsupport needed to maintain production atoptimal levels.

E&MJ looks at products recently intro-duced in this sector—both at MINExpoand in the months following—ranging fromgo-anywhere personnel carriers and carry-all transporters to specialized haulers andhandlers designed to accommodate theoversized components commonly found onmine production equipment.

Low-Profile CementTransporter Germany-based Putzmeister Group hasbeen designing, developing and producingconcrete spraying equipment for miningand tunneling for more than 30 years.

Following the launch of its Mixkret 4 low-profile concrete mixer, Putzmeister hasfurther expanded its concrete transportrange by adding a low-profile cement anddry mix transporter for mine applications,the Cemkret 8.

According to Putzmeister, the Cemkret8 is intended to expedite ground-control

work processes commonly used in under-ground mining. The transporter has a dry-bulk transport capacity of 8.25 metrictons, and can offer a speedy dischargerate of 50 mt/h due to its four-electricvibrator, dual hydraulic auger design. Anoptional 120-liter-capacity additive tankalso is available.

It features a 6-cyliner, 130-kW (174-hp) turbocharged diesel engine, providingsufficient power to give the vehicle a 20-km/h (12.5 mph) top speed and strongtractive capacity up to a 30% grade, aswell as the ability to work at high altitudes.The unit has a hydrostatic transmissionwith continuous variation (ICVD), which,according the company, ensures an idealtorque-to-speed ratio.

Compact design and state-of-the-artaxles provide mobility and maneuverabilityin narrow galleries and tunnels. The cabin,mounted in-line with machine direction,along with a night-vision camera at therear, give the operator a high level of visi-bility and control when operating in tight


UTILITY EQUIPMENT

Mine Utility Vehicles: FunctionDictates FormFrom tiny tracked machines no taller than a table to heavy haulers with light-touchground pressure, a wide selection of vehicles is available for moving workers andsupplies where they’re needed, underground or in rough terrain

Putzmeister’s Cemkret 8 can carry more than 8 tons of cement or dry mix, and offers an optional 120-liter additivetank. Discharge rate is 50 mt/h.

Atlas Copco’s Chargetec UV2 multidirectional ANFO charging truck is the latest in a line of charging trucks origi-nally developed by the underground products division of GIA Industri AB, acquired by Atlas Copco in 2012.


spaces. The Cemkret 8 also features anautomatic speed control system for safemovement down-ramp while fully loaded atthe maximum secure speed.

Quick-Charging, High-Capacity ANFO TrucksAmong the many items of utility equipmentintroduced at MINExpo 2012 were two newexplosives charging trucks for undergroundproduction blasting operations.

Atlas Copco launched its new multi-directional ANFO charging truck, theChargetec UV2, designed to offer high-speed charging capacity of 286 lb/min(130 kg/min) with high density. This modelis the latest generation of charging trucksoriginally developed by the undergroundproducts division of GIA Industri AB,acquired by Atlas Copco in 2012.

The single-boom truck is equipped withone or two vessels for optimized chargingof a full drill pattern with fixed carrier posi-tioning. The vessels are available in vol-umes of 300, 500, 750 or 1,000 liters(537, 895, 1,342 or 1,790 lb).

The heavy-duty carrier has articulatedframe steering and four-wheel drive, givingit flexibility and high maneuverability innarrow drifts. It may be equipped withdiesel or electric hydraulics. The operatoris provided with a FOPS-II approvedcanopy or cabin, and a comfortable seatwith arm rests. A passenger seat is alsostandard, and both seats come with a two-point safety belt.

Also at MINExpo, Finnish mine equip-ment manufacturer Normet introduced theCharmec MF 605 D, powered by a 110-kW Tier 3 diesel engine that provides amaximum speed of 15 mph (25 km/h) onthe flat and 5 mph (8 km/h) up a 1:7

ramp. The unit features a new layout pro-viding space for ANFO or emulsion unitsin the center of the machine, and its mod-ular structure makes it easy to convert anANFO charger to emulsion charger andvice versa if necessary, said Normet. Anoperator’s work stand behind the ANFOvessels makes filling the unit more con-venient, while an optional vacuum extrac-tor mechanizes ANFO filling, allowing

prills to be loaded directly from ANFObags to the vessels.

According to Normet, the machine’sstandard 2 x 500-liter ANFO vessels pro-vide enough explosive capacity to chargemost tunnel faces without need for refillduring charging. Optional 2 x 250 / 360 /720-liter vessels are available if desired.

Dedicated storage spaces for stick pow-der boxes, primers and detonators allow


UTILITY EQUIPMENT

Normet’s Charmec MF 605 D ANFO truck provides sufficient tank capacity to eliminate the need to refill during most charging operations.

Oldenburg’s SV-11 small-heading scaler was introduced at MINExpo 2012.


workers to bring all needed explosives to theworkplace at once and eliminate the needfor an additional explosive service vehicle.

The Charmec MF 605 D is equippedwith a NBB 3XS boom, carrying a two-per-son-capacity basket and providing a liftingcapacity of 500 kg, that is specially de-signed for charging work in stopes. Themachine can be fitted with a safety bar or ahydraulic FOPS-approved safety canopy toprotect the operator. Using the basket boom,a maximum 28-ft-high by 28-ft-wide (8.5m) face can be charged from one setup.

Normet points out that a new turntabledesign has resulted in a compact boomstructure providing a shorter length intramming position and better maneuver-ability in narrow tunnels. Accordingly, theCharmec MF 605 D can turn a 90° cornerin 14-ft-wide (4.2-m) tunnels. Duringtramming, the basket rests on the rear plat-form, which protects the basket from colli-sion and damage. With the basket restingon the platform, there is less load on theboom cylinders and pins.

Among the many options available is acompressor that enables self-poweredcharging in areas where reticulated air isnot available. An optional enclosed cabinreduces the noise level to less than 75 dB.Manual or automatic fire suppression sys-tems, and an automatic lubrication sys-tem, are also available.

Safety at a Smaller ScaleU.S.-based Oldenburg Mining unveiled asmall-heading scaler claiming to have thesmallest minimum heading width in itsclass, giving operators the ability to navi-

gate low heading mines with optimumsafety, speed and precision.

“The SV-11 was built in response to agrowing emphasis on mine safety in opera-tions around the world,” said John Howard,general manager at Oldenburg Mining. “It’sspecifically engineered to improve how oper-ators see and navigate low heading mines,boosting productivity while putting a keenemphasis on operator safety and comfort.”

The purpose-built SV-11 scaler featuresa slanted design for optimum visibility withheadings as low as 14 ft, and the smallestminimum heading width in its class at 11ft 2 in. (3.41 m). A boom extension of 5 ft10 in. (1.8 m) enables the SV-11 to hit amaximum scale height of 24 ft 8 in. (7.5m) and a minimum pick height of 4 ft 1 in.(1.2 m). At 32 ft 3 in. (9.8 m) long and 6ft 9.5 in. (2.07 m) wide, it has an inside

turning radius of 13 ft 3 in. (4 m) and anoutside turning radius of just more than20 ft 8 in. (6.32 m).

The low-reach scaler combines an artic-ulated chassis and independent boomswing to achieve optimum setup coverage.Additional features include a ROPS/FOPS-certified enclosed cab, bulletproofLexguard shield, standard scaling pick thatprovides high breakout force, dual joystickoperating, slanted design for optimumscaling view, standard air filtration, air con-ditioning and heat. In addition, an option-al hydraulic hammer can be added to fur-ther enhance scaling abilities.

Heavy Lifting, HighManeuverabilityStellar Industries unveiled what it claims isthe industry’s largest truck-mounted OTRtire manipulator. The TM20165 is capableof changing the largest OTR tire on the mar-ket today, the 59/80R63. The TM20165can handle tire and rim combinationsweighing up to 20,000 lb (9,100 kg) andhas more than 24 ft (7.3 m) of reach capa-bility. The unit’s capacity rating also allowsit to mount and dismount outside as well asinside duals without repositioning the tiremanipulator truck. The TM20165 has aclamping span of 44–165 in. (112–419cm), with continuous manipulator pad rota-tion and 315° body rotation. It comes stan-dard with a fully proportional radio remotecontrol system and also has a low-profilequad stabilizer package, and a hydraulicallyextendable foldover rear stabilizer set thatprovides high stability when lifting largemounted OTR tires.

Badger Equipment’s new CD4415rough terrain crane is compact—slightly


UTILITY EQUIPMENT

Featuring high lifting capacity and long reach, Stellar’s TM20165 manipulator can handle the largest OTR tires—at both inside and outside position on duals—without repositioning.

Badger Equipment’s CD4415 rough-terrain crane has four-wheel drive/steering for high maneuverability.


more than 11 ft (3.35 m) tall—but offers anumber of features including four-wheeldrive/steering for maneuvering in tightspaces, multiple boom configurations, anergonomically engineered two-door cabwith joystick controls and integrated safetyfeatures such as steps and handrails. Instandard configuration, the crane offers athree-section hydraulic actuated boomreaching from 24 ft to 62.5 ft (7.3 to 19m) and boom elevation angle range of0°–70°. An optional configuration providesa one-section, 20-ft (6-m) jib giving maxi-mum tip height of 85.5 ft (20 m).

Carriers for All Seasons,and SurfacesIllinois, USA-based Rig Source offers theTerramac RT9 rubber-tracked multipurposecarrier, featuring 18,000-lb (8,200-kg) car-rying capacity, powered by a 230-hp (170-kW) Cummins diesel engine, and availablein both open cab and closed cab options.The unit has rollover protective structure(ROPS) as well as falling object protectivestructure (FOPS) components. The Terra-mac RT9 is slightly more than 17.5 ft (5.3m) long, almost 8.5 ft (2.6 m) wide, 9.25 ft(2.8 m) high and provides 20 in. (500 mm)of ground clearance. The unit has a 10-ftturning radius and travel speed is in therange of 4.7 mph to 7 mph (7.5-11 km/h).Ground pressure when fully loaded is only4.9 psi (0.3 bar). Ease of maintenance wasa primary design consideration, according to

the company, and consequently the RT9has bolt-on cylinder mounts, front and rearattachment plates and pivot shaft blocks foreasy replacement. It also features conven-ient cleanout points to help clear mud andwater from the frame rails.

Core Industrial, based in Alabama,USA, has served the underground mining,

steel and recycling industries since 2004by rebuilding, servicing and providing partsfor a wide range of mobile industrial equip-ment. The company now offers ruggedwheeled vehicles under the Extreme DutyVehicles (EDV) label, designed for rough-duty utility or personnel-carrier applica-tions. The company’s CoreMax utility vehi-cle includes a long list of standard externaland internal features for off-road usage,ranging from special engine and transmis-sion shielding, remote suspension lubrica-tion, and a Lexan windshield; to suspen-sion-equipped seating for driver and frontpassenger, stainless steel instrument paneland convenient handholds and foot bracesfor occupants, to name just a few. Optionalequipment includes air conditioning, solid-fill tires and a fire suppression system. TheCoreMax is powered by a CumminsQSB4.5 turbocharged diesel rated at 110hp, mated to a Dana T20000 power shifttransmission. The vehicle is 204 in. longwith a 144-in. wheelbase, offers more than12 in. of ground clearance, and weighsslightly less than 12,000 lb.

EDV’s mining personnel carrier offerssimilar features and is equipped with dualcoil over suspension on each wheel.According to the company, a patent-pend-ing axle mounting system allows it to usethe most durable axles available while free-ing customers from maintenance head-


UTILITY EQUIPMENT

The Terramac RT9 carrier from Rig Source is shown here outfitted with a dump body. It’s available in both open-and closed-cab models.

Core Industrial’s diesel-powered CoreMax utility vehicle and personnel carrier, shown here, is designed to operatein rough terrain. Many options are available for customization to meet job requirements.


aches associated with external braking sys-tems and leaf spring suspensions.

Prinoth AG, based in Italy, builds a com-prehensive line of tracked carriers and spe-cial-purpose machines. It exhibited its new

Panther T6 carrier at the Prospectors andDevelopers Annual Conference held earlierthis year in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Prinoth had the T6—the smallestunit in the Panther line, featuring a pay-

load capacity of 12,000 lb (5,443 kg)—on display at PDAC fitted with a core drillto demonstrate how it can be a versatileand reliable tool in mineral explorationactivities.

The Panther T6 is part of a family thatincludes the Go-Tract series of low-ground-pressure, tracked vehicles andTrooper personnel carriers. With a maxi-mum payload of 46,000 lb (20,865 kg),a Go-Tract can carry drilling rigs up to171 ft (52 m) in height. Go-Tract vehi-cles, according to Prinoth, can operate inthe most extreme conditions, includingtemperatures as low as 45°C (-49°F) oras high as 52°C (125°F).

Prinoth also markets the Trooper seriespersonnel carriers, featuring extremely highstability and gradeability capacity on bothuphill and side hill terrain. The standardcabin holds four to five people. An addi-tional six-person cab can be added for larg-er work crews. The standard cabin is ROPS(roll-over protective structure) certified andis climate controlled. Despite a maximumpayload rating of 3,000 lb (1,360 kg), theTrooper remains lightweight and can betowed on a trailer by a pickup truck, elimi-nating the need for tractor-trailers.


UTILITY EQUIPMENT

Prinoth’s Go-Tract line of tracked carriers offers payload capacities up to 46,000 lb (20,865 kg).


On Track, On BalanceBrokk AB, headquartered in Sweden, hasbeen a leading manufacturer of remote-controlled carrier-type machines andattachments for three decades. The com-pany recently introduced its model 100tool carrier, a tracked unit featuring amore compact design and 35% greaterbreaking power than the model 90.Although primarily designed for demoli-tion operations, the 100 is a versatiledevice adaptable for many uses—includ-ing drilling in small stopes. Its low-profileshape, featuring a three-piece boomdesign, is less than 4 ft high and offers alow center of gravity for stability in manytypes of environments. A new load-sens-ing hydraulic system with improvedhydraulic capacity helps generate superiorbreaking power when paired with theincluded Atlas Copco SB152 breaker.Maximum horizontal reach is 12 ft (3.6m), with vertical reach of 14 ft (4.2 m).

According to Brokk, the new machine isthe first to deliver the flexibility of true360° working performance, without com-promising stability, productivity or reliabili-ty. The 100 is powered by a 32-amp, 20-hp electric motor and weighs 2,183 lb

(990 kg) excluding attachments. Recom-mended maximum weight of attachments,such as breakers or drills, is 331 lb (150kg). Additional improvements and featuresinclude upgraded cooling capacity, impact-resistant steel covers, improved rubberpads on the outriggers and LED lights withvirtually unbreakable covers.

In addition to the new 100, Brokkoffers eight models, ranging in size fromthe 50, at 1,100 lb, up to the 800,weighing 11 tons. The company also engi-neers and builds custom machines withspecial equipment such as cameras,extended arms, side-angling devices andcable drums.


UTILITY EQUIPMENT

The Brokk model 100 can handle a range of attachments weighing up to 331 lb (150 kg).



WATER MANAGEMENT

be a large user at a local level. Some sites are located in water-scarce locations where mining companies compete with otherwater users, including local communities, agriculture and otherindustries, while in some locations companies need to manage sig-nificant water flows resulting from precipitation or groundwatersources. Many mining operations recycle significant amounts ofwater onsite, and water management, discharge, and use are sub-ject to comprehensive regulatory and legal requirements.

Rio Tinto adopted a water strategy that provides a frameworkfor managing water and improving business performance acrossthe social, environmental, and economic aspects of water man-agement. The strategy has three main components: improving per-formance, accounting for the value of water, and engaging withothers on sustainable water management.

A key focus is to identify ways to minimize the amount ofwater removed from the environment, reusing it when possible,and returning it to the environment while meeting, at a minimum,regulatory limits.

Rio Tinto has decided to invest in water conservation (for exam-ple, by making processes more efficient or using poorer-qualitywater in place of potable water) because it understands the valueof water. The company looks beyond the cost of water to take intoaccount nonmonetary aspects such as social and environmentalvalues. Rio Tinto has observed that perceptions of value may alsochange; for example, communities, governments and businessplace great importance on water conservation during droughts.

This concern often quickly diminishes when the drought ends. Alonger-term approach that takes the full value of water into accountwould support decision-making on sustainable water use. Whilethese approaches are still being developed and tested, two of RioTinto’s companies are taking creative approaches to valuing water.

Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Utah Copper operations are located nearSalt Lake City, Utah, where its business has been operating for110 years. Increasing population and other factors are placing

more pressure on water resources within the region, making sus-tainable water management critical to Kennecott. Greater than90% of the water used at Kennecott is characterized as poor-(low)quality water, and an average of 60% of the water withdrawn isrecycled to minimize importing additional water resources.

The largest water user at Kennecott is the concentrator.However, more than 90% of the water used at that concentrator isfrom recycling. To drive water performance improvements,Kennecott is developing a water management approach that rec-ognizes that different waters have varied benefits and costs thatsupport using different waters for different purposes. This waterhierarchy approach recognizes the need to balance a number ofconsiderations including availability of water and water quality; thelocation and type of infrastructure required to transport or treatwater; energy use; and regulatory or legal requirements.

Kennecott’s water hierarchy approach aims to do the following: • Use poorer-quality water first in operations to minimize the

amount of new, clean water required for use.• Recycle process water where practicable.• Separate waters of different quality to optimize water use with-

in the process. Maintain direct involvement and support with the scientific community in advancing technologies and education in improving best practices and methodologies.

• Educate the workforce in best water management practices.For example, when a groundwater source used by the concen-

trator became unavailable, Kennecott applied the water hierarchyapproach to select a replacement source. Kennecott assessedseveral possible alternative sources, including: potable qualitygroundwater; surface water suitable for irrigation, and recycledwater sources from its operation. The three replacement sourceseach carried distinct costs and benefits. No source was adjacentto the concentrator, so each source carried transportation infra-structure and operational costs, which differed according to rela-tive proximity.

Although recycling required transportation across 13 milescompared to 3 miles for potable groundwater, existing infrastruc-

By year end 2011, Resolution Copper had delivered nearly 2 billion gallons of treated underground mine water from the closed Magma mine to the New Magma Irrigation andDrainage District for crop irrigation. The Resolution copper mine will be one of the largest underground copper mines in the world. (Photo courtesy Resolution Copper Project)

(Gauging the Value of Water - from p. 46)



WATER MANAGEMENT

ture was available for recycling. The need for new infrastructure forthe groundwater and surface water sources increased the “costs”of these water sources. Additionally, using recycled water pre-served potable groundwater to meet existing and future culinarypurposes and saved the surface water for agricultural use.

Capital and operational costs, however, were not the only con-siderations. Poor water quality can impact metals recovery duringthe milling process; therefore process changes were also needed tolimit inhibited metal recovery. Kennecott ultimately replaced theoriginal groundwater source with the lower quality recycled water.The decision considered tradeoffs among operational needs, ener-gy requirements, new infrastructure, and the economics of eachoption. However, the water hierarchy approach was the primaryguide that led to the decision to use the recycled water source.

The Resolution Copper project is located near Superior, Ari-zona. The large world-class copper resource lies one or more milesbelow the surface where a previous mine had been developed andlater closed in the mid-1990s. A proposed underground mine isprojected to produce more than 1 billion lb of copper per year overapproximately 34 years. A 2011 economic and fiscal impact studyestimated that the total economic impact of the Resolution proj-ect on the state of Arizona will be over $61.4 billion.

To begin developing the new mine, more than 2 billion gallonsof water that naturally accumulated in the old mine had to beremoved. Resolution constructed a $20-million water treatmentfacility to prepare the water for discharge once it is pumped to thesurface. Initial draining of the old mine took nearly three years tocomplete. One of the challenges was determining where theremoved groundwater should go once treated, to ensure the wateris fully used and the environment is not negatively affected.

Resolution worked with the New Magma Irrigation andDrainage District (NMIDD) to supply the extracted water for agri-cultural use in Arizona. The project involved constructing a 44-kmpipeline to transport the water from Resolution’s treatment facili-ty in Superior to Magma Junction. NMIDD will combine this waterwith Central Arizona Project (CAP) water for irrigation purposes.CAP delivers water from the Colorado River by canal to central andsouthern Arizona so surface water can be used instead of deplet-ing groundwater for agricultural, municipal, and industrial uses.

In parallel with draining the old mine, Resolution has had toplan for operational needs of up to 20,000 acre feet (approxi-mately 6.5 billion gallons) per year, principally for the flotationprocess used to separate the valuable ore from the waste miner-als. While groundwater is the most readily available and leastexpensive water source for the mine, the company sought alterna-tive, more sustainable resources. In total, Resolution identified 25potential sources and ranked them according to social, environ-mental, and economic criteria.

Resolution identified three sources as future supply optionsfor water:• Groundwater that was previously affected by mining: this would

only satisfy about 10% to 20% of the new mine’s ultimate need.• Banked water with the CAP: Resolution is purchasing and

“banking” excess CAP water with the irrigation districts for future use, minimizing its impact on water supply.

• Treated municipal wastewater effluent: Resolution is working with the Science Foundation Arizona, the University of Arizona and Freeport-McMoRan on technology to use treated municipal effluent in the flotation process, thereby lessening demand on other sources, such as groundwater.


In industries from mining and manu-facturing to construction, transpor-tation and agriculture the need toweigh or measure inputs, outputs, andapplied force has grown in recentdecades to improve production safetyand control costs.

“Design engineers are responding ascomplex systems, which may havelacked weight or force sensing capa-bility in the past, are being upgradedto include load pins, load cells andtension cells,” said Riley Phillips, amechanical designer at Massload, aSaskatoon, Canada-based manufac-turer of quality weighing systems.

“These sophisticated weight and forcesensing devices can help maximize pro-duction load efficiency while offeringsome of the enhanced safety featuresthat are increasingly required by regula-tion, such as automatic shutdown if aload exceeds capacity.”

What follows is a quick primerdetailing the vital information designengineers need to know about measur-ing weight or force with load cells, loadpins and tension links (also known astension cells), and why working andconsulting with the right vendor part-ner can be a critical choice in theprocess.

The BasicsA load cell is a transducer that changesforce into a measureable electrical out-put. There are many varieties of loadcells, of which strain gauge-based vari-eties are the most common. Load cellscan range from versatile single-endedshear beam, which can be used inweighing applications such as blenders,hoppers and floor scales, to double-ended shear beam that can be used inapplications such as tank weighing andlarge capacity platforms.

“Load pins and tension links areactually subcategories of load cells,”said Phillips. “Load pins can be substi-


LOAD MEASUREMENT

Designing Superior Weighing Systemsto Improve Safety and Control CostsWhat design engineers need to know about measuring weight or force with load cells,load pins and tension linksBy Del Williams


tuted anywhere there is a structural pinand there’s a need to know the shearforce on it. Tension links are a type ofload cell that measures force in tensionapplications such as cables, chains andpulleys. These are often used in lifting,pulling and winching applications suchas for cranes, line wire tension and mansafety cages in mines.”

Standard load cells and tensionlinks are typically used if the system isstandard or an engineer can adapt thesystem to an off-the-shelf item. Thistends to occur in applications wherethere’s some design flexibility in theearly stages of design. Most load cells,load pins, and tension links are customwhen they must be adapted to fit exist-ing systems. Additionally, designersshould consider the benefits of customload cell solutions for new designswhere their use enhances the overallsystem integrity, safety or performance.

Avoiding PitfallsPlanning a weighing system or retro-fitting an old one on existing equipmentcan present challenges to even veterandesign engineers. Bringing in a weighingsystem vendor during the planning stagecan allow design engineers to improvesafety and control costs while meetingany code requirements.

“There are a lot of issues,” saidNathan Heppner, mechanical engineer-ing team lead at Massload, which hasrefined its standard and custom designprocess over the past decade. The impor-tant thing is to look at the design processupfront to maximize reliability and man-ufacturability while minimizing cost.

“For instance, fit is critical on loadpins because they normally have tointerface with tight tolerances,” saidPhillips. “Depending on where the loadis applied, if the supports, loading area,pin diameter, or other factors are off,the load pin may not work as expected.”

To avoid pitfalls, engineers shouldinsist on a regulatory-approved qualitymanagement system that traces theload cell manufacture at each criticalstep from start to finish. Engineersshould also request a design flowchecklist from any weighing systemvendor to ensure that nothing critical oreven desirable is missed.

“CAD modeling is not alwaysstraightforward, and sometimes youhave to think beyond software’s presen-

tation,” said Phillips. “A stress concen-tration in the CAD modeling may lookartificially high in one area, but may bemasking a stress pattern in anotherarea. You need accurate data on stresspatterns throughout the component.”

Design engineers would benefit fromasking their weighing system vendor tovalidate the output of their load cellcomponent against simulated real world

conditions. This could be done by sim-ply requesting a digital photo of the testset up, when possible, for enhancedaccountability.

“The design specifications, loading,testing and application must bealigned,” said Heppner. It’s critical toget accurate CAD modeling and testdata to predict how the product willperform but it must be backed up by


LOAD MEASUREMENT


actual testing. A mistake as simple asmodeling with the wrong supporting

restraints could artificially strengthenload pin CAD results. If testing doesn’t

catch it, the component may not per-form at its stated capacity.”

To ensure output stability, engineersalso need to know how the load cell out-put may vary depending on materialstrain over time, according to Phillips.Conducting a creep test to determinehow stable the output is over time canalso be important.

Because the accuracy of any load cellis only as good as its calibration, it is vitalthat the reference cells in any testing sys-tem be traceable to a trusted standardsuch as that of The National Institute ofStandards and Technology (NIST). Toguarantee that a supplier complies withthe Verified Conformity AssessmentProgram (VCAP), a program proposed bythe National Conference on Weights andMeasures, it is also a good idea to ask fora copy of the VCAP auditor’s report.

“When warranted, it’s advisable for avendor to cross check their resultsagainst an independent, third-party engi-neering firm as an added layer of reliabil-ity and quality assurance,” said Phillips,whose company sometimes does this formore complex components or situationsto ‘bulletproof’ the end product.


LOAD MEASUREMENT

A load pin measures the forces on this hoisting system.


The right vendor partner will alsopay attention to small details that willstreamline manufacture of the weighsystem component, according toPhillips, such as bonding, grounding,sealing, and gauge selection to ensurelasting performance and resistance towater intrusion.

Phillips points to the importance ofknowing the correct location where loadcells, load pins, or tension links aresupported “because if you over-supporta load cell it won’t have the outputyou’d expect.” Placement of internalelectronic components such as bond-able or trimmable resisters can alsoaffect device performance, he said.

Details such as the types of boltsused should not be overlooked. “Thecustomer may require a countersunkbolt arrangement to hold lids on, if dur-ing operation bolt heads could besheared off because they’re close towalls or equipment.”

“Even details such as putting scribelines on where to place components canease manufacturing,” said Phillips.“When these sorts of details are over-looked, they can require the manufac-

turer to rebuild a load pin or load cellbefore it’s done right.”

According to Phillips, the rightweigh system vendor partner will alsoconsider finer points that will affectfield performance and maintenance.

“It’s important to include loadingdirection arrows because once a productlike a load pin is sealed and symmetrical,the customer won’t know which way toplace it in their equipment otherwise,”said Phillips. To enhance field perform-ance, it’s also necessary to specify theright type of connector, whether hardwired, wireless, or quick disconnect.”

As design engineers respond to thegrowing need to weigh or measureinputs, outputs, and applied force toimprove production safety and controlcosts, working and consulting with theright vendor partner can be a criticalchoice in designing weigh systems withthe optimum load cells, load pins, ortension links.

Williams is a technical writer based inTorrance, California. For more informationabout Massload’s services, please visitwww.massload.com.


LOAD MEASUREMENT

Shear pins measure tension loads.



OPERATING STRATEGIES

Gold Mines and GravestonesHow one mining company found the answer to an intractable problem When an African gold mining operation ranup against unusual rock formations that,according to local rumors, might be humangraves, a religious ruling forced expansionplans to be put on hold. However, WardellArmstrong International devised anapproach to help resolve the problem witha unique combination of geological, geo-forensic and legal expertise. The U.K.-headquartered company is a well-knownindependent engineering consultancy spe-cializing in mineral resource developmentand management.

Planned expansions to existing mineshave to be undertaken with the same level ofcare as the original development. The envi-ronmental impacts of noise and dust causedby construction and the potential effects onwater and soil all need to be consideredcarefully—as do social and cultural issuesand their impact on local communities.

Tailings dams in particular needdetailed design and planning to ensurethey meet best international practice. Butone thing that planners may not expect toencounter is anthropogenic features on theground surface that might be humangraves. This was the situation faced by amining company operating in the SaharaDesert when they planned to build addi-tional dams for cyanide tailings needed fortheir rapidly expanding gold production. Atthe end of 2008 they hit a major problem.Six unusual rock formations that couldhave been nomadic graves were discoveredby workers within the area of the mine.

Sensitive to local customs and tradi-tions, the mining company asked ChristineBlackmore, principal environmental geolo-gist at Wardell Armstrong International, tooffer an opinion, as Blackmore was carry-ing out geotechnical and environmentalwork for the mining company at the time.Her initial assessment indicated that someof the rock formations might prove to begraves as rumored by the local nomadicmine workers, who were concerned that thesites might not be respected.

“There were strong grounds for believ-ing that at least some of the unusual rockformations were genuine nomadic humangraves,” said Blackmore. “Several had thedistinctive headstone and footstone, andwere clearly orientated toward Mecca.”

The mining company faced a quandary:It wanted to maintain the trust of theirworkforce and neighbors by respectinglocal families and traditions, while advanc-ing their mining program and building newtailings facilities—without which, produc-tion would stop. They made a request toproceed at national government level,which was rejected by the Ministry ofReligious Affairs.

In 2010, they turned again to WardellArmstrong International for advice, eventhough it seemed unlikely that the religiousruling could be overturned or changed. Butsomething else had changed in the mean-time. Additional piles of stones had beendiscovered, possibly prompted by offers ofcompensation by the mining company.Now there were 30 sites that needed to beinvestigated—not just the original six.

“It was clearly important to treat all 30rock formations with the same degree ofcare and respect, so we made some logicalfirst steps,” said Blackmore. “These in-cluded a site survey to plot all 30 sites, aphotographic record for each and a studyof their formation and orientation. This wassupported by a petrographic assessment ofthe area—looking at the rock strata wherethe formations were found in order togauge whether the rocks that had beenused were local or had been imported.”

A conceptual geological model for thegraves was developed by Dr. LauranceDonnelly, a forensic geologist at WardellArmstrong, who is experienced in similarsearches for graves and burial artifacts.This showed primarily a variable amount ofsilt, sand and gravel, which may have beendeposited by a combination of geomorpho-

logical processes including aeolian, fluvialor colluvial desert processes. These cov-ered bedrock comprising fractured igneousand metamorphic granitic rocks. The depthof the superficial cover was not known.

The area had for centuries been a fertilewadi and a busy camel-trading post regular-ly used by nomads. From talking to localpeople and elders, it appeared likely thatany genuine nomadic graves would pre-datethe copper and gold mining operations. Inthe 1960s, a smallpox epidemic had causedmany deaths. The shallow graves dug at thattime would have been made with hand toolsand in reasonably soft ground. This knowl-edge also provided some useful early cluesas to which of the 30 piles might be genuinesites of human remains.

The conceptual geological modelenabled a methodology to be developed foreach grave. There were basically threeoptions under consideration by the miningcompany: an exhumation of each location,the development of a full geoforensicsearch strategy by Wardell Armstrong, or alegal approach.

A direct invasive investigation andexhumation would clearly be the simplestand most obvious option, using a combina-tion of probing or trenching techniques todetermine the presence of any humanremains such as skeletonized bone, mum-mified human remains, clothing and otherassociated objects or items. It would becritical, however, to conduct these proce-dures in compliance with Islamic laws andcultural traditions.

The forensic geology option wouldinvolve the geological and geomorphologi-cal mapping of the alleged grave locations,

A Wardell Armstrong mining client had to proceed cautiously when enigmatic stone arrangements similar to these werediscovered in an area marked for expanded tailings storage. Some were determined to be nomadic-tribe grave markers.




sampling the soils and conducting ananalysis of the volatile organic compounds,the design and deployment of a geophysi-cal survey and the possible deployment ofspecially trained cadaver dogs. Any posi-tive indications or anomalies would thenneed to be verified by probing, trenching ordigging. Although this option would delivera high assurance search, it was relativelymore expensive, time consuming andwould clearly disturb the graves.

The third option—involving the assess-ment of legal, religious and cultural issuesrelevant to the removal of any human re-mains—was the one chosen to be taken asthe first step. For this, Wardell Armstrongcalled on the highly specialized services ofProfessor Mohamed El-Hacen ould Lebatt,a professor of Islamic law and a specialistin Islamic culture and traditions.

Professor Lebatt subsequently lookedinto Islamic law and holy scriptures. Healso visited scholars and Erudites who hadbeen involved in similar cases and rulingsin a number of African countries. Hefound that in certain limited circum-stances involving public interest it can bepermissible to remove graves. He was alsoable to determine that it was culturallypossible to move a grave since the bodybelongs to Allah after death, rather than tothe family of the person who has died.These findings proved to be decisive inchanging the governmental ruling, whichhad earlier stood in the way of allowing themining company to proceed with the con-struction of new tailings dams. There wasa clear interest in this for the local Islamicpeople, since it would enable several hun-dred to keep their jobs.

With the government ruling changed, acommittee was formed to visit all 30 sitesand make a determination about each ofthem. It was made up of seven dignitariesincluding local Hakim and W!li elders, ascholar, a local Erudite, a representativefrom the mining company and a localnational of Islamic faith from WardellArmstrong. The committee agreed that sixof the unusual rock piles should be inves-tigated further by exhumation. On the dayof the exhumation, four of the sites werefound to be graves containing the remainsof bodies. Two bodies were carefullyremoved under the supervision of the com-mittee, placed in coffins and transportedto a local cemetery where they werereburied with all due reverence. It wasagreed that the remaining two couldremain in place in undisturbed ground

with earth bunds around them, safe fromexpansion activities.

This case highlighted the complexity ofissues in which technical and culturalaffairs overlap. Although it took time,patience, multi-disciplinary study and agreat deal of expertise to resolve, the out-come proved to be satisfactory for all theparties involved. Islamic law was consultedand followed with attention to correct pro-tocol. The families of those who had been

buried at least 50 years earlier saw theremains of their ancestors treated withrespect and dignity. The mining companywas able to continue with the constructionof new tailings dams and expand its goldmining operations, securing the livelihoodsof many local people. The legal case hasalso created a significant milestone inIslamic law, and identified one acceptableway forward for mining companies facingsimilar situations in other countries.


International mining executives are bracingfor the negative impact the lack of a skilledworkforce will have on their organizations,according to new research published byBDO, an international network of account-ing firms. Of the mining executives sur-veyed, 79% feel the lack of a skilled work-force will have a negative impact on theirbusiness this year. While environmentalpolicy tops executives’ domestic regulatoryconcerns, with 34% citing it as a potentialissue in the year ahead, labor and employ-ment issues are a close second, with 30%of executives noting it as a major concern.

The survey, part of BDO’s 2013 Inter-national Resources Study, sought insighton regulatory affairs, employment and theenvironment from 130 C-Level and seniorfinancial executives at mining companiesin the United States, South Africa, UnitedKingdom, Australia and Canada.

While executives around the globe grap-ple with labor and employment issues,63% of South African executives note thisis their primary concern—twice the survey

average—due in large part to high regionalunemployment rates and sustained laborunrest driven by working conditions relatedto wages and social issues.

Mining executives are facing labor short-ages head-on with technology. The industryhas an opportunity to be at the forefront ofinnovation, improving both production andprospecting with new technologies that willincrease efficiency and produce greaterreturns. In fact, 50% of executives believethat substituting technology for labor willhave a positive impact on their business in2013, creating a new intersection in theindustry of old and new techniques.

“We are in the midst of a transition in themining industry from a blue collar to a whitecollar workforce,” said Charles Dewhurst,Global National Resources leader, NaturalResources industry group at BDO. “Withadvancements in technology from new soft-ware that makes prospecting easier, toadvancements in mineral transportation, theindustry is at a critical juncture. Technology,and the individuals who are skilled in devel-

oping and utilizing these tools, is now moreimportant than ever as demands for greaterreturns and increased productivity are forc-ing the industry to innovate.”

Despite their broader concerns surround-ing labor and employment, 42% of miningexecutives believe their total number ofemployees in 2013 will remain about thesame, and 38% feel the size of their work-force will increase throughout the year.

While 34% of international miningexecutives are concerned about domesticenvironmental policies, where they willdirect their resources to address these con-cerns varies. Water pollution, includingacid mine drainage and runoff, is the mostfunded environmental initiative at 48%.Australia bucks this trend, with only aquarter of its executives citing it as a majorproject (25%). Instead, 38% of Australianexecutives indicate that they are focusedon ecosystem disruption, the second mostprominent area of funding globally (23%).

CO2 emissions round out the top threeenvironmental concerns for mining execu-



Mining Industry Embraces Technology as SkilledWorkforce Diminishes, According to BDO Study


tives, with one in five citing it as a majorissue. In fact, South Africa recently begandiscussions on taxing carbon emissions,potentially making it one of the largestsources of tax revenue in the country.

Other key findings from the surveyinclude:• Corporate social responsibility programs

focus on employees, local communities. Forty-six percent of mining executives surveyed say their corporate social

responsibility plans invest most heavily in employee health and safety programs. Community outreach (30%) and environ-mental stewardship (18%) rank second and third among investment areas for the industry.

• The United Kingdom cites anti-bribery/corruption legislation as a top domestic regulatory concern. Of executives sur-veyed in the U.K., 23% cite this legisla-tion as a worry—triple the survey average

of 7%. This reflects the fact that the U.K. implemented strict new anti-bribery laws with extra-territorial reach in late 2010. With much of the U.K.’s is mining operations occurring beyond its borders, executives are closely monitoring regula-tory developments that may impact the way they do business.

• Resource nationalism impacting mining companies around the globe. Of execu-tives surveyed, 61% note that resource nationalism will have an impact on their businesses in 2013. Their concern also extends to tax imposition and increases: 67% anticipate an impact on their busi-ness this year as Australia’s Super Tax takes shape and countries like South Africa plan for similar tax burdens.



Natural Resource Executives’ PreferredStrategy to Improve Profitability.

Natural Resources Executives’ TopEnvironmental Concerns.



ABB to Deliver Hoist Systems toRussian, Canadian Potash Sites

SUPPLIERS REPORT

ABB reported in April that it had won twomajor hoist-delivery contracts for largepotash operations in Russia and Canada.

ABB said it will provide 12 minehoists—nine double and three single drumsystems—as well as related shaft equip-ment to Uralkali, one of the world’s largestpotash producers. The hoist systems willbe installed at Solikams and Polovodova inthe Perm region of Russia.

ABB’s delivery package includes themechanical hoists, skips, cages, four feedingconveyors for loading the skip hoists, andelectrical equipment such as medium andlow voltage drives, control system and shaftsignal system. The deliveries are scheduledto take place between 2014 and 2018.

Installation of the new hoists, said ABB,will reduce energy consumption per ton byup to 30% compared with the performanceof the older hoists that will be replaced.ABB had previously installed two minehoists for the company, and the customer’sexperience with those systems contributedto selection of ABB for the recent order, saidthe Baden, Switzerland-based company.

ABB also reported it had been selectedby BHP Billiton to supply mine hoistingsystems for the Jansen potash project,located 130 km east of Saskatoon, in theprovince of Saskatchewan, Canada.

The contract includes the overalldesign, manufacturing, supply and instal-

lation of four complete mine hoist systemsto be delivered between 2015 and 2018.This includes mechanical components aswell as the electrical systems includingACS6000 AC drive systems and the high-power, low-speed synchronous motors.

According to ABB, the 6-m-diameter fric-tion hoists to be supplied for the productionshaft will be the largest mine hoists everdesigned and manufactured, each with a totalconnected motor power of almost 14,000kW. Nearly as impressive are the service shafthoists, which are electrically identical to theproduction hoists but will carry smaller pay-loads. The company said the complexity andultra-high performance requirements of thebrake systems on these massive hoisting sys-tems required the development of new minehoist brake system technology.

“BHP Billiton and ABB agreed to jointlydevelop a project safety plan that meets thehigh safety standards required by both com-panies,” said Gabe Azeroual, vice presidentof ABB Process Automation in Canada.

Once the four hoisting systems at theBHP Billiton Jansen mine are installed,ABB will have an installed base of 11 fric-tion hoisting systems in Saskatchewanalone. Overall, ABB said it has suppliedmore than 700 mine hoist and automationprojects and more than 100 stand-alonehoist brake system projects in more than30 countries worldwide.

Wenco to Install Systems atKoniambo and Damtshaa Wenco International Mining Systemsrecently announced it had won a contractto supply Fleet Management Systems tothe Koniambo mining project in NewCaledonia and Debswana’s Damtshaa dia-mond mine in northeastern Botswana.

A joint venture of Xstrata Nickel and theSociété Minière du Sud Pacifique (SMSP)is managing development of the Koniamboproject. The mine covers approximately745 hectares, has an expected annualnickel production of 60,000 mt, and a pro-jected life of 50 years.

Wenco said its technology will beinstalled on nine shovels and 44 trucks atthe mine site over the next two years.Situated atop a coastal mountain range,the Koniambo mine has rugged terrain, acomplex geology and very specific blendingrequirements. Koniambo will use Wenco’sBenchManager high precision GNSS sys-tems on its shovels to further optimize themining operations, and the Wenco systemwill interface with a custom software pack-age to ensure the most up-to-date gradeand quality information is used by the dis-patching algorithms.

Koniambo also will employ Wenco’sMobile Supervisor Terminal technology, pro-viding supervisors in the field with real-timedata and the ability to control operationsfrom their vehicle.

Construction of the main processingfacilities has been completed and produc-tion at Koniambo mine is slated to beginin 2013.

The Damtshaa mine is a joint venturebetween De Beers Corp. and the Govern-ment of Botswana. Damtshaa opened in2003 and is expected to produce 5 millioncarats of diamonds from 39 million metrictons of ore over its projected 31-year life.

“The Wenco system is currently utilizedat the larger Orapa and Lethakane opera-tions and the Debswana management teamsaw the value of bringing the system to thesmaller Damtshaa mine,” said WencoRegional Director Jayson Bebek. “This willallow consistent operational methodologyfor all of their mines in the region and theycan take advantage of the same real-timetools and reporting.”

These 4.88-m double drum hoists installed by ABB at Impala Platinum are similar to those the company will deliv-er to Russian potash producer Uralkali.



SUPPLIERS REPORT

Installation is expected to be complet-ed within the first half of 2013 and willinvolve nine vehicles at the mine.

Firms Seek Improved DriverSafety—on and off the SiteUtah, U.S.-based inthinc Technology Solu-tions, a provider of telematics, fleet man-agement and driver safety products,announced recently that drilling equipmentand services company Boart Longyear hadselected inthinc’s waySmart solution to sup-port the company’s fleet safety initiative.

waySmart, according to inthinc, allowsBoart Longyear to track fuel usage, viewGPS-based trip details and provide its driv-ers with real-time, in-cab verbal coachingand alerts for speeding, seat belt use, exces-sive idling and aggressive driving behaviors.

Boart Longyear selected waySmart fol-lowing a pilot project conducted at multipleBoart Longyear sites. After seeing signifi-cant improvements in driver safety—includ-ing a 92% reduction in speeding, 88%reduction in aggressive driving events, and76% increase in seatbelt use, according tointhinc—Boart Longyear decided to deploywaySmart throughout its Europe, MiddleEast and Africa operations.

With the system in place, BoartLongyear will have real-time insight intofleet activity and performance through aWeb portal. Using integrated GPS trackingand telematics capabilities, fleet managerscan see, for example, where each vehicle islocated, where drivers stopped, the dura-tion of the stop, and how long it takes eachdriver to get from one location to anotherthroughout the entire route. This allowsBoart Longyear to respond quickly to anyemergencies and communicate any poten-tial delays to customer sites in a timelymanner. The portal also shows any safetyalerts during the route such as speeding,hard braking or other risky driving behavior.

According to inthinc, waySmart is well-suited for global mining or drilling corpora-tions because of its Iridium-based satellitecommunications connectivity, available forworkers in remote areas. inthinc technolo-gy also allows these companies to cre-ate smartZones—customized geo-fences—around mining sites, blast zones or drillrigs alerting drivers when they approach ahazardous area.

“Global organizations like Boart Longyearneed a solution that fits the unique needs oftheir industry in terms of fleet accessibilityand driver performance,” said Skip Kinford,executive vice president, inthinc.

Earlier this year, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.-based Guardvant said it had capped offsignificant sales growth in 2012 with sev-eral orders awarded by Codelco (Corpora-ción Nacional del Cobre de Chile) for oper-ator fatigue and alertness monitoring sys-tems and proximity awareness systems.According to the company, more than 500of its OpGuard and ProxGuard systems willbe in operation once installation is com-pleted at two Codelco mines in Chile. TheCodelco orders will add to Guardvant’s

global install base in Africa, SouthAmerica, North America and Australia.

Guardvant said it also will implement itsMobile Server (GMS) as part of the Codelcoprojects. GMS allows multiple on-boardapplications to run on a common hardwareplatform. Guardvant’s development of GMShas been driven by customers’ desire toreduce the in-cab clutter of multiple monitorsand hardware needed to run various systems.

Guardvant’s OpGuard and ProxGuardsystems monitor operator behavior for signs


of fatigue and distraction and improveequipment operator’s visibility to seeobjects in blind spots. The systems aredesigned to alert the operator and supervi-sor before an accident occurs.

Flowserve Receives ValveOrder for Hydromet Plant Flowserve Corp. has received orders total-ing more than $9 million for a range ofvalves installed in a new nickel ore pro-cessing facility located in Long Harbour,Newfoundland, Canada.

At Long Harbour, Vale NL is construct-ing a large plant to process nickel-cobalt-copper concentrate using an innovativehydrometallurgical process. The plant is anintegral part of the company’s Voisey’s Bayproject development, which also includes amine and concentrator in Labrador, as wellas the Long Harbour facilities.

In the hydromet process developed byVale for sulphide concentrate, a finelyground nickel-cobalt-copper concentratewill be processed in a pressurized vesselwhere it will react with oxygen and sul-phuric acid to produce an impure solutionof nickel, cobalt and copper. This solutionwill pass through a number of chemicalpurification steps ending with removal of

impurities and separation of nickel, copperand cobalt. The copper and cobalt will berecovered as by-products. The nickel willbe recovered by electrolysis as high-qualityelectronickel product suitable for market.The waste solids from the process will beneutralized with lime and will be depositedin a specially designed disposal facility.

Vale expects the $2.8-billion LongHarbour plant to begin production by theend of this year. Interestingly, it will notinitially process Voisey’s Bay material;instead, the company will process nickelfeed sourced from Indonesia in the earlystages of plant startup because that ore

has less impurities. It anticipates transi-tioning to Voisey’s Bay ore in 2014.

Booked in 2012, the Flowserve prod-ucts included in the Long Harbour orderinclude Worcester 44 series ball valves,Durco T4E lined plug valves, Atomac linedball valves and McCanna top-entry ballvalves. In addition, Flowserve provided anumber of valves with customized designsand specialized materials.

South African ConveyorTraining ProgramA recent report from South Africa’s Con-veyor Manufacturers Association (CMA)


SUPPLIERS REPORT

A nighttime view of Vale’s $2.8-billion Long Harbour, Newfoundland, nickel hydrometallurgical plant.


said the organization, recognizing a lack ofsuitably trained conveyor and belting tech-nicians and engineers in that country, hasplaced increasing emphasis on providingskills training and education to the materi-als handling industry by offering a numberof workshops and courses to remedy thesituation. These include a six-day diplomacourse on the design and operation of beltconveyors; the CMA Beltsman certificatecourse; the CMA conveyor certificatecourse; the conveyor belt splicing certifi-cate course; and an intensive belt splicingaccreditation course, all running from oneto five days each.

According to CMA, the effect that thesecourses have had on the South Africanconveyor industry has drawn internationalattention, with a Turkish mine being thefirst foreign operator to request the CMArun training courses at its site. A secondrequest has been received from Botswanafor training later this year.

Ki!lada" is part of the Tüprag Group,owned by Canada-based Eldorado Gold,which has interests in Turkey, China, Greece,Brazil and Romania. It is situated in an iso-lated area of U!ak Province in western Tur-key, and is expected to become the largestgold mine in Turkey in the near future.

The mine is an open-pit operation pro-ducing low-grade bulk tonnage and usingheap leaching for gold recovery. It hasundergone constant expansion since 2003,and recently added considerable capacityto the crushing and conveying circuits.

The mining and beneficiation processrelies heavily on a complex conveyor sys-tem, with minimal downtime a high priori-ty. It was essential that all personnel in-volved with the conveyors and ancillary sys-tems be adequately trained. Alan Exton,CMA member and conveying engineer, pre-sented two three-day CMA conveyor certifi-cate courses and two one-day CMA Belts-man’s certificate courses over a period of

eight working days at the end of 2012 inTurkey. A total of 52 students participated.

Training notes for the students weretranslated into Turkish after a confidentiali-ty agreement with the mine had beensigned. For some courses, a great deal ofinterpretation was necessary as many stu-dents had no command of the English lan-guage; consequently, the mine’s materialcontrol engineer, Erkan Annak, was appoint-ed as interpreter and translator and workedclosely with Exton to facilitate the transferof information. According to CMA, trainingresults were excellent, with a 100% passrate for the three-day course and an 84%pass rate for the one-day course.


SUPPLIERS REPORT

Eldorado Gold’s Kis#ladag $ mine, shown here, relies on a complex conveyor system. It recently arranged for its em-ployees to receive conveyor operation and maintenance training from personnel provided by South Africa’s Con-veyor Manufacturers Association.


Comparing the Cost of Dust Collector Bagsvs. Cartridge Filters for Mining Applications By David Stock


PROCESSING SOLUTIONS

There are two primary types of dry dustcollection systems used to control dust atmine sites, mill transfer points and simi-lar locations: baghouse collectors that userows of large filter bags and cartridge-style collectors that use much smallerpleated filter elements. Though baghous-es have been the traditional choice, car-tridge collectors have gained popularityover the past decade because they offerseveral advantages over baghouses.

A cartridge collector has a muchsmaller footprint than a conventional(i.e., nonpleated) baghouse and operatesat lower pressure drop. It can alsoachieve significantly higher filtration effi-ciencies—a potentially important advan-tage since, if emissions are too high, reg-ulators may curtail production.

An important difference between bag-houses and cartridge collectors is filtercost. There are many factors beyond ini-tial price that must be considered in for-mulating a true cost comparison betweenthe two types of filters. By understandinghow to make that evaluation, miningengineers and mine managers looking toupgrade dust collection equipment will

be in a better position to make informedequipment buying decisions.

The first step in a bag vs. cartridgecomparison is to match filters by air flowor cubic feet per minute (cfm) of throughthe system. It is important to base thecomparison on cfm and not on the cost ofan individual bag vs. an individual car-tridge. Why? Because it typically takessomewhere between eight and 20 bags toachieve the same cfm as a single car-tridge. The exact number will depend onthe length and diameter of the bag.

Another consideration is how muchtime it will take to replace the filters. Insome mining processes, the governmenthas imposed regulations through permit-ting which state that any time a dust col-

lector is shut down, the process that thedust collector serves shall be shut downconcurrently.

Also, to make an evaluation, we needto consider the production run rate atthe time of the filter change-out; theaverage head grade of the mining ore;the selling cost of the product at thetime of the downtime; and the cost toproduce 1 lb (or in some instances, 1 oz)of the product.

As an example, a large mining com-pany was looking at upgrading the dustcollector used to serve a fine ore crush-ing and screening plant. The existingequipment was a 47,000-cfm baghouse.The following analysis compares thechange-out costs for the existing filterbags with projected costs for the sameapplication substituting high efficiencycartridge filters.

The existing bags were 5.75 in. indiameter by 10 ft in length with a poly-ester filter media with efficiencies rangingfrom 99% to 99.9% on particles largerthan 1 to 3 microns. Typically, small par-ticles below this size range are not effec-tively captured with bag filters. The car-tridges used in the comparison were high-efficiency pleated filters with an open-pleat design that allows better utilizationof the media surface for longer filter lifeand more energy-efficient performance.The cartridge filter media is pleated mois-ture resistant paper with a maximum ofseven pleats per inch and a double gasketfor leak protection. The filters are verti-cally mounted and do not require anexternal wire or expanded metal cage. Thecartridge filters are 99.99% efficiency on0.5 micron or larger particles by weight,and are guaranteed to produce collector

Cartridge dust collection system used for a fine ore crushing application.

Figure 1: Bag vs. cartridge cost comparison for a 47,000-cfm dust collector.




outlet emissions of 0.005 g/ft3 or less.The air to cloth ratio on the dust collec-tors is below 2:1.

The 47,000-cfm dust collector used544 bags, while a cartridge collectorserving the same process would onlyrequire 72 cartridges as shown in Figure1. At the time of this evaluation, the costper bag was $32, compared to an indi-vidual cartridge cost of $234. The totalcost of filtration using bags is therefore$17,408 (544 x $32), in comparison tototal cartridge cost of $16,848 (72 x

$234). That amounts to a savings of$560 in initial filter cost—while achiev-ing significantly higher filtration efficien-cy with the cartridges as an added bonus.

Even more important in this evalua-tion is that mine maintenance personnelhad to schedule two 10-hour “down”

days to replace the 544 bags inside theunit, or 20 hours of lost production. Witha cartridge dust collector sized for thesame cfm, change-out of the 72 car-tridges would only take an estimated fourhours, recouping 80% of the lost produc-tion time.

Figure 2: Costs of one hour lost production.

Figure 3: Filter change-out downtime cost comparison.


The costs of one hour of lost produc-tion are shown in Figure 2. If the poten-tial production run rate is 3,500 dry tonsper hour (dtph), the average head gradeof the ore is 0.45%/ton, and the ultimaterecovery of the product is 80%, the minewould lose 25,200 lb of copper. If cop-per is selling on the market for $3.65/lband the production cost to produce 1 lbof copper is $2.50, the lost revenue dueto that shutdown would be $28,980.

As mentioned previously, change-outof the baghouse filters required two 10-hour down days or 20 hours of lost pro-duction. Applying the hourly cost param-eters from Figure 2, over 20 hours themine would lose 504,000 lb of copper,equaling $579,600 in lost revenue dur-ing bag filter changeout compared to onlyfour hours of downtime with cartridge fil-ters, totaling a loss of 100,800 lb of cop-per for $115,920 in lost revenue (See

Figure 3). There is a difference of$463,680 between changing out bagsand cartridges when factoring in thecosts of lost production.

Energy cost is another important areaof concern. The next step in the analysisis to compare the operating horsepowerrequirements of the 47,000-cfm bag-house with a 47,000-cfm cartridge col-lector. This analysis is based on a localutility rate of $0.8/kWh and an operatingschedule of 24 hours a day, 313 daysout of the year or 7,512 hours (allowingfor scheduled downtime). The resultscan be found in Figure 4. The existingbaghouse used a 200-hp motor, result-ing in an annual operating cost of$89,663.23/year. In comparison, thecartridge collector could run with a 150-hp motor for the same 47,000 cfm, atan annual cost of $67,247.42. That’s adifference of $22,415.81/year in sav-ings on electrical costs.

In some areas of the world where it isdifficult to get electrical power to a minesite, there may be another important ben-efit of using cartridge filtration. Theresulting savings in horsepower and elec-trical consumption might allow a mine to



Bag filters for mining applications.

High efficiency cartridge filter.


install another piece of processing equip-ment, e.g. a larger crusher or additionalcrusher or screen, depending on the

number of dust collectors used and totalhorsepower saved. This in turn may gen-erate more revenue for the company.

The total annual savings (downtimeplus electrical) achieved by using car-tridges in place of bags amount to$486,096—a significant difference.Adding in the initial filter cost differen-tial of $560, the grand total comes to$486,656 saved with cartridge filters.

It is not the cost of one bag vs. onecartridge that matters when evaluatingdust collector filter costs: It is all of theother factors that come into play duringdust collector operation and change-out.One could take the exercise even furtherby analyzing savings in manpower costsand filter shipping, storage and disposalcosts. Whatever factors one chooses toevaluate, a dust collection supplier canhelp you use this data to compare thereal costs of operating baghouse and car-tridge dust collectors. It will prove wellworth the time it takes to prepare a costanalysis that can save time, money andenergy for years to come.

David Stock is mining market manager forCamfil Air Pollution Control. For moreinformation, call 800-479-6801 or 870-933-8048; Email: [email protected];Web: www.camfilapc.com/mining.



Figure 4: Energy cost and savings comparison for a 47,000-cfm baghouse and cartridge motor.


114 E&MJ • MAY 2013

EQUIPMENT GALLERY

www.e-mj.com

Boart Longyear has released its next gen-eration exploration drill, the LF120A sur-face coring rig. The semi-automated rigfeatures a hands-free operating systemand self-monitoring technology, with criti-cal information displayed on a large LCDscreen that leads operators through start-up, drilling and troubleshooting proce-dures. According to the company, com-mon mistakes are avoided when the sys-tem alerts operators whenever definedparameters are exceeded. The LF120Aalso features a “hands-free” rod handlingsystem comprising a rod handler, an auto-adjusting breakout tool an innovative hoistplug spinner, and a wireless remote thatallows the operator to control the processfrom a safe position. The rod handler pro-vides 270° pick-up capability, 2-m heightadjustment, 180° rollover and 100°slew—a level of flexibility that allows thehandler to access the rod supply regard-less of where rods are located around thedrill. The LF120A also introduces anopen-face mast design, which enclosesrotating parts and applies unified guardingat the operator’s level. Rig depth capacityis 1,200 m NQ with a pullback capacity of16,000 kg (35,872 lb) and a hoist capac-

ity of 9,071 kg (20,000 lb). The rig canbe jack, skid, truck or crawler mounted tomatch the portability needs of the user. www.boartlongyear.com

Production ManagementSoftware UpdateGEOVIA has released the latest version ofInSite mine production management andreconciliation software. InSite 4.3, accord-ing to the company, provides users withmore operational visibility through new andimproved tools for data analysis and

advanced tools to reconcile production out-puts and activities against what wasplanned. Identifying variances and thecauses behind them is now made easierwith a new Variance Analysis module;future variances can be reduced by provid-ing the justification required to updatemodels, plans and schedules. Users willalso benefit from the ability to see produc-tion activities as they happen, to ensurethey are performing efficiently at all times.Users may quickly drill down into the dif-ferent recorded details of an activity toinvestigate the impact of compoundingvariance on different contributors such asemployees, equipment, material types andothers. Activity information in InSite com-ing from real-time-data integration fromexternal applications such as fleet man-agement, or InSite’s Data Entry module,can be monitored as soon as data is cap-tured by the system. GEMS users whoimport vector maps into InSite’s CentralMonitoring module now have automatedfunctionality for location allocation. www.3ds.com/products/geovia

Excavator is Stronger andmore Fuel EfficientHyundai Construction Equipment Ameri-cas’ newest crawler excavator, theR260LC-9A, offers a certified Interim Tier4 engine upgrade, improved hydraulics,increased operator comfort and more dura-bility, according to the company. TheR260LC-9A, part of Hyundai’s new line of9A series excavators, has an operatingweight of 56,880 lb, a bucket digging

Coring Rig Monitors Itself forEfficiency and Safety



EQUIPMENT GALLERY

force of 38,290 lb/ft and maximum dig-depth of more than 22 ft. The 178-hpCummins QSB6.7 engine powering theR260LC-9A features the Cummins DirectFlow air filter, and the new model carriesother innovations such as variable speedfan clutch, two-stage auto decel system,and a new economy mode to conservefuel and reduce environmental impact.Operators can choose between threeengine modes—power, standard and econ-omy—which enable the machine to switchbetween full power and reduced fuel con-sumption according to the user’s prefer-ence. Hyundai says it has improved thestructure strength of the 9A series cabswith stronger, slimmer tubing for optimumsafety and visibility. High-strength steelforms a more durable upper and lowerframe. In addition, the enlarged cab comeswith a see-through upper skylight; a largerone-piece right-side glass; safety glass win-dows on all sides that won’t scratch orfade; a closeable sunshade; and a reducedfront window seam—features that worktogether to improve visibility. www.hcamericas.com

Tough, Versatile NotebookComputerGammaTech Computer Corp. is set to intro-duce the model SA14 Durabook ruggednotebook, offering a choice of Intel Coreprocessors, battery life of up to 11 hours,and flexible options for wireless connectiv-

ity. It comes standard with a high-defini-tion, 14-in. LCD display and can be con-figured with either an Intel Core i5-3360Mor Core i7-3520M processor. It also offers

a choice of mobile Intel Express chipsets,either of which provides integrated USB3.0 protocol on a single-chip architecture.Wireless connectivity options include an



EQUIPMENT GALLERY

integrated Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Link 6235 series combo, aswell as Intel mini-express Wireless LAN 802.1. Other optionsinclude GPS support and WWAN module. The SA14 comes stan-dard with a 9-cell lithium ion Smart Battery pack. When combinedwith the optional 6-cell battery pack, the unit can function for upto 11 hours. It offers security features such as TPM 1.2 data secu-rity technology, a Kensington lock connector, Computrace assetmanagement and data protection, and a fingerprint scanner. ASmartCard reader is also available. The non-glare HD LCD displayhas an optional touch panel and a sunlight-readable touch panelwith high-brightness enhancement. www.GammaTechUSA.com

Flowmeter Family Expandsto Include DP TechnologyABB Measurement Products’ business has extended its line of com-pact flowmeters to include four DP technologies: orifice, wedge,averaging pitot and integral orifice. The FPD500 OriMaster has nowbeen extended in size range to cover pipe sizes from ! in. to 12 in.NB (15 to 300 mm). The new FPD550 PitoMaster brings the Torbaraveraging pitot tube into the compact DP family, offering simpleone-hole installation in many cases, making its use in existingpipework both simple and low-cost. The FPD570 WedgeMaster isan updated compact Wedge flowmeter for pipe lines from 1 in. to6 in. NB (25 to 150 mm). The FPD510 IOMaster is suited for lowflowrates in small pipelines. Compact construction of these unitsenhances both performance and safety by offering only a minimalnumber of leakage points compared with many potential sources ofleaks found in conventional DP flow installation. The compact fam-ily close-couples the transmitter and the primary measurement

device, which eliminates the requirement for long lengths of small-bore impulse piping and reduces the risk of installation errors. Theunits come fully assembled and tested, and are delivered with a fac-tory acceptance test certificate at no extra charge. This documentprovides key data concerning the meter, including visual inspectionand critical dimension inspection results, a material traceabilityrecord, pressure test results and more. www.abb.com/measurement

Tophammer Rig is Safe and Stablein Rough TerrainAtlas Copco’s new FlexiROC T30 R radio remote control topham-mer drill rig—designed for quarry or specialized, light-duty mineapplications—can be equipped with either a COP 1240 or COP1640 drill for 2- to 3.5-in.-diameter holes. The standard hydrauliccarousel-type rod handling system uses 12-ft rods and can handleup to four rods for a maximum drilling depth of 57 ft. The


FlexiROC T30 R comes with an interim Tier4 Cummins QSB4.5 turbo charged engineproviding improved diesel consumptionover its predecessor, the ROC D3 RRC. Alow center of gravity and high ground clear-ance provide mobility when working inchallenging terrain. The FlexiROC T30 Rcan handle specialized tasks such asinstalling self-drilling anchors, drillingblastholes in hard rock and dimensionalstone quarrying. According to the company,the rig’s extended boom coverage of 14 ftthrough an 80° radius was designed tosave time and money by delivering moreholes from fewer set-ups. Radio remotecontrol comes standard, allowing the oper-ator full control of drilling, tramming andboom controls from a safe working distanceon confined sites or unstable terrain.Automatic RPM reduction, adjustable fanspeeds and interim Tier 4 emissions offersavings and improved efficiency. www.atlascopco.com

Metal DetectorsAvailable in seven models to handle a widerange of applications, Eriez Model 1200metal detectors detect both ferrous andnonferrous tramp metal—even when con-

veyed on steel-cord belts. The system iscapable of detecting medium and largerferrous and nonferrous particles travelingat speeds up to 1,200 fpm (363 m/min).It operates by measuring the change inreceived electromagnetic signal of materialbeing conveyed through the sensor area.Since the magnetic properties of a materi-al are completely independent of conduc-tivity, both magnetic and nonmagnetictramp metals are consistently detected. www.eriez.com

LED Fixture Requires LessMaintenanceDialight, a manufacturer of LED lightingtechnology, unveiled its new stainless steellinear LED fitting that is designed specifi-cally to reduce maintenance needs in haz-ardous areas as a replacement for conven-tional fluorescent fittings. Available in both32W and 64W versions (2 x 18W and 2 x36W fluorescent equivalents) and carryingIECEx/ATEX Zone 1 certification, the 316grade stainless steel linear LED fitting is DShock compliant to MOD specificationBR8470 to Grades C and D. Durable andresistant to shock, vibration and corrosion,the fitting incorporates a replaceable inte-

grated power supply that is guaranteed togive maintenance-free performance for atleast five years and, unlike the fluorescentsit replaces, will not suffer from end of lifefailures. According to the company, itsglare-free advanced lens design allows thenew linear LED to replicate fluorescentlight distribution pattern while simultane-ously improving light output and dramati-cally reducing the impact area of the tradi-tional polycarbonate diffuser. The SafeSiteLED Linear is T4 temperature rated for reli-able performance from -20°C to 60°C andL70 lumen maintenance at 25°C for100,000 hours. The units are IP66/67(pending) rated for superior ingress protec-tion and are sealed at the end caps, limit-ing the surface area compared to conven-tional fluorescents. www.dialight.com


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ABB ..................................................................21Agru America ..................................................117Agua Terra ........................................................95AIMEX................................................................67ALL Erection & Crane Rental Corp ..................102Andritz Separation Inc ......................................71Applied Industrial Technologies ........................15Atlas Copco ......................................................47Baobab Resources Plc ......................................83Barclays............................................................97BCI....................................................................79BDM ..................................................................82Bearing Man Group (BMG) ................................89Bell ..................................................................92Boart Longyear ................................................BCCamfil APC..........................................................9China Coal & Mining Expo 2013 ......................76Cummins Inc ....................................................17DRA ..................................................................78Ferry Capitain ..................................................57FLSmidth MAAG Gear ........................................37GE Oil & Gas - SPS ..........................................31Geometrica........................................................23Global Business Reports (GBR) ........................88Gondwana ........................................................87Hannay Reels ....................................................55Hilliard Corp....................................................108Hitachi Construction Machinery Co, Ltd ..........IFCIDS - Ingegneria Dei Sistemi ............................74Impacto ............................................................81Intec Video Systems, Inc ................................113J.D. Neuhaus ....................................................25Joy Global..........................................................45Kal Tire............................................................100Komatsu............................................................61Longwall USA 2013 ................................103-105Lubriplate Lubricants......................................107

Metso ..............................................................IBCMineSight (Mintec, Inc) ....................................68Mining Media Int’l ............................................72Mining Media Int’l - Social Media ..................112Minopex ............................................................84Nidec Motor Corp ..............................................19Norco ................................................................82Normet ............................................................109Park Inn by Radisson ........................................96Pathway Polymers ............................................75Perumin (Extemin) ............................................65Putzmeister ......................................................51Reutech Mining ................................................13Robit Rocktools ..............................................111Rockmore Int’l ................................................116Röhlig-Grindrod Logistics ................................90Sal & Caldeira ..................................................81Sandvik Mining ..................................................3SEL....................................................................41Siemens Energy & Automation..........................11Soclima ............................................................86Spinner II (T.F. Hudgins Inc) ............................115Sprung ..............................................................73SRK Consulting ................................................85Stellar Industries Inc ........................................27Sulzer Pumps ....................................................53Target Logistics ................................................39Tayanna ............................................................93TerraSource Global ..........................................117Trak Auto (Komatsu) ........................................94ThyssenKrupp Resource Technologies ..............69United Rentals ..................................................35UTi ....................................................................91Vazal Logistics ..................................................89Weir Minerals ......................................................7World Mining Equipment (WME)......................101Xylem ................................................................99

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There is an old expression that says “sellin May and go away.” Gold investors eithergot a head start in April or the worst is yetto come. Gold did manage to claw backhalf of its April losses by the end of themonth. On May 1, gold prices closed at$1,458.10/oz. As a point of reference,E&MJ’s Price Index in the April editionlisted the gold price as $1,595.80/oz(March 28, 2013). Month-to-month, thatwas a $137.70/oz loss (or 8.6%), butthere is much more to the story.

Looking at the market from a half-fullperspective, gold prices are up 7.8% fromthe 26-month low the markets witnessedduring mid-April. On April 15, gold closedat $1,352.60. On both April 12 and April15, gold prices fell 13%.

Analysts have credited the partialbounce back to bullion and jewelry pur-chases in India and China. Similar tomany religious cultures in the northernhemisphere, May is also the peak forHindu weddings, where gold is often pur-chased for brides. Physical gold buyinghas been high during this period of softprices, but it hasn’t been high enough tooffset investor selling exchange tradedfunds (ETFs).

The gold held by ETFs declined sharplyas investors sold shares. Similarly, indica-tors with sales activities regarding futurescontracts are signaling that investor inter-est is cooling. With all of the ETF goldcoming onto the market, gold investors areworried about an overhung market. As ofApril 26, ETFs held 73.4 million oz ofgold, which was down more than 5% sincethe two-day mid-month plunge in prices

and more than 13% since the beginningof the year.

Meanwhile, treasuries are reportingrecord gold coin sales in the U.S., Canada,Great Britain and Australia. Analystsattribute this divergent demand trend tothe difference between individual invest-ors who buy and hold gold as opposed tolarge hedge funds that are liquidatingpositions in the gold ETFs.

MARKETS


(May 1, 2013)

Precious Metals ($/oz) Base Metals ($/mt) Minor Metals ($/mt) Exchange Rates (U.S.$ Equivalent)

Gold $1,458.10 Aluminum $1,788.50 Molybdenum $25,000 Euro (!) 1.3186

Silver $23.65 Copper $6,875.00 Cobalt $27,600 U.K. (£) 1.5557

Platinum $1,482.00 Lead $1,970.00 Canada ($) 0.9930

Palladium $688.00 Nickel $14,975.00 Iron Ore ($/dmt) Australia ($) 1.0338

Rhodium $1,150.00 Tin $19,775.00 Fe CFR China $133.75 South Africa (Rand) 0.1112

Ruthenium $85.00 Zinc $1,803.50 China (¥) 0.1611

Gold and silver prices provided by KITCO Bullion dealers (http://www.kitco.com). Platinum group metals prices provided by Johnson Matthey (http://www.platinum.matthey.com). Non-ferrous base and minor metal prices provided by London Metal Exchange (http://www.lme.co.uk). Iron ore prices provided by Platts Iron Ore Index. Currency exchange rateswere provided by the GoCurrency.com.

Gold Market Regains Footing afterBeing Routed in AprilBy Steve Fiscor, Editor-in-Chief

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