Open Cut Mining Priorities
IMPROVED HEALTH AND SAFETY
The industry is looking for direct or indirect improvements in health and safety
across all mining and exploration operations. Areas of focus and interest for open
cut mining are:
- Investigation of key open cut health and safety issues and management practices,
including legislative best practice alternatives. Improved risk management tools/approaches
(this applies also to the exploration, coal preparation).
- Personal back and joint damage. A number of improvements have been achieved but
new approaches are required to further reduce injuries of this type.
- Protection and removal of personnel from hazardous situations such as those around
the ground stability in the vicinity of voids and excavations, particularly during
truck loading.
- General improvement to the health and safety of mining and maintenance operations
through novel procedural, operating, or equipment changes.
- Manual handling aids for operational and maintenance activities including elimination
of human intervention through automated technologies.
- Innovative processes to assist in the management of operator fatigue. This applies
equally to the coal preparation, underground and exploration areas.
- Improving equipment operator interfaces and collision avoidance, improved automation
and remote control.
- Development of systems and equipment that leads to the reduction of noise at the
source and operators noise exposure.
INCREASE THE PRODUCTIVITY OF MINING SYSTEMS
A reduction in unit costs of production is a key driver for the industry. Some specific
issues are:
- Implementation of semi-automation or automation of production systems.
- Enhancements to major mining equipment to enable decreased cycle times, increased
utilisation or maximise pay load.
- Innovations in operating techniques.
- Lower cost ways of fragmenting ground for optimum diggability and bucket filling.
- Development of innovative methods to improve coal recovery.
- Improvements in mine planning optimisation and visualisation tools.
- Development of efficient mine site communication networks.
IMPROVEMENT IN THE EFFICIENCY and RELIABILITY OF EQUIPMENT and SERVICES
The industry believes that working with OEMs is of significant value and would also
welcome projects that are supported by, or integrate with, OEMs:
- The application of alternative materials to high maintenance areas.
- Reliability engineering, including whole of asset approaches.
- Condition monitoring and its effective and useful integration.
- Innovations that help mine operators improve tyre life.
- Advances that help relate duty to work done across a range of equipment to define
maintenance needs.
- Improved methods for reducing catastrophic equipment failures.
- Technologies that improve energy efficiency across the mine.
IMPROVED GEOLOGICAL DEFINITION AND GEOTECHNICAL ASSESSMENT OF COAL DEPOSITS
For economic assessment, it is essential that the industry has the best possible
understanding and definition of the resources and reserves underpinning all mining
operations
- Detection and characterisation of hazards in the de-stressed and de-watered zones
ahead of mining.
- Better resolution of geological features in the undisturbed zone from surface to
100m depth including the cost benefit analysis of geophysical and geotechnical techniques.
- Minimisation of geotechnical risk with a particular focus on deeper excavations
and higher spoils; including the improved understanding, modelling and management
of the representation of principal hazards.
- Investigation of material properties and implications on dump design and stability
of alternative methods of tailings disposal in spoil.
- Improved assessment and evaluation of hydrogeology on mining including:
- Impacts on wall stability and degradation of material properties.
- Impact of mining on groundwater including aquifer interaction.
- Practical methods for increasing confidence in estimation and classification of
resources and reserves.
- Research to improve regional understanding of Australia’s coal basins.
- Improved processes for the derivation of additional value from downhole geophysical
surveys, specifically in the areas of:
- Identification and evaluation of discontinuities.
- Improved rock mass characterisation.
- Derivation of credible coal quality estimates from geophysical logs.
- Establishment of ‘best practice’ work practices.
- Options for the standardisation and improved management of exploration data.
- Identify and ameliorate risks associated with working an open cut above old underground
workings.
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