BRC – Mining & Geology Overview

The mining resources within the Sustainable Minerals Institute have been merged under BRC Mining and Geology. This new mining research initiative has effectively brought together significant intellectual and operational skills which offers integrated thinking across the mining value chain. Notably the JKMRC mining and the SMI Mining skills are now incorporated and this extends the centres expertise to include Mass Mining, blasting fundamentals, geotechnical engineering, ore body modelling, optimisation in mine design and planning as well as applied blast engineering. The BRC’s strategy is to focus on providing solutions for complex, large scale mining operations and in conjunction with the six SMI research centres is ideally positioned to offer an integrated and highly skilled service to the mining industry.
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BRC Research / Project Information

The Mass Mining Technology forum

The Mass Mining Technology (MMT) project as was its predecessor, the International Caving Study (ICS), has become an acknowledged Research and Technology Exchange Forum for companies investing in large scale caving methods such as block, panel, sublevel caving and their variants. Since the ICS, the collective understanding of caving methods by member companies has significantly increased in particular as they are applied to strong rock masses. This is largely attributed to the creation of a common pool of knowledge and experience-base developed and shared within member companies.

The MMT has enabled the effective development of:

1. An industry consortium where member company representatives openly share and peer review both technical and operational experiences associated with caving methods
2. A source from which member companies seek value (technologies to reduce costs) for their respective corporations
3. A mechanism through which fundamental and industrial scale research associated with caving methods is conducted using caving specialists and research providers from international centres of excellence in mining and other related disciplines
4. A forum through which new opportunities associated with caving methods or enabling technologies are collectively identified, discussed and prioritised

The current sponsors of the MMT are:

De Beers Group Services , South Africa

Rio Tinto Technological Resources Pty Ltd

Newcrest Mining Ltd

Codelco Chile,

Xstrata Queensland Ltd

Sandvik Tamrock, Finland

LKAB, Sweden,

BHP Billiton Nickel West

BHP Billiton Diamonds

Orica Australia Pty Ltd

CVRD (Vale) / INCO

Anglo American Chile Limitada (Base Metal division of Anglo American)

Given the new challenges likely to be faced by the new generation block, panel and sublevel caves, the next phase of the MMT (2008 – 2011) is now under development. The focus of the research will continue to be fundamental research on the key areas associated with the caving process.

The Hybrid Stress Blasting Model (HSBM)

The Hybrid Stress Blasting Model (HSBM) is a modelling framework that links an ideal and non-ideal explosives detonation code (Vixen I & N) to a geomechanical rock model. The HSBM represents the state-of-the-art in blast modelling for commercial explosives in mining. The model is being developed as part of an international collaborative research project funded by De Beers, Debswana Diamond limited, Codelco IM2, Rio Tinto, Anglo Base Metals, Dyno Nobel, African Explosives Limited (AEL), Sandvik and LKAB.


Coal – Longwall Mining - Load Cycle Analysis

The software is capable of handling the large quantity of data emanating from a modern longwall with in near real time, accurately delineating load cycles and extracting the critical load cycle features essential for interpreting how the support and strata are interacting. This enables real time modifications to be made to set pressures and mining strategies which will lead to a reduction or elimination of roof control problems.

Participation in the AMIRA GEM Project

The BRC is a research participant within the AMIRA P843 Geometallurgical Mapping and Mine Modelling research project. The BRC’s role is to deliver effective geostatistical methods for distributing mineral processing performance attributes into orebody modelling and their technical integration to mine planning optimisation.

Slope Stability Research

This research is being developed as an extension of the LOP project and is a collaborative initiative with the CSIRO. The emphasis of the fundamental research is to shift focus from the ‘Design Stability” to the ‘Mined Stability’ of large open pits. The key areas of research that will be developed during the project:

1. Improved Rock Characterisation
2. Blast Damage Modelling
3. Rock Mass Response to Pore Water Pressure
4. Impact of damage to pit wasl stability


SEE Project (Sustainability and Extraction Efficiency)

The aim of the initiative is to develop a single software platform and integrated technology for the strategic design and operational management of mining operations on the basis of Sustainability & Extraction Energy (SEE). The objective is to “Change the Way Mineral Deposits are Valued and Operated.” This process optimisation project will extend the traditional mine to mill model into a holistic analysis of energy consumption and the sustainability footprint on a mining operation

Strategic Planning using Multi-Parametric Models

Traditional open pit mine design and optimisation has been limited by the amount of detailed geotechnical and geometallurgical information available in the block model. A conceptual study is being undertaken to prove the value of the development of a multi-parametric (‘GeoMetallurgical’) model, which once incorporated into the mine planning model will considerably improve the accuracy of the mine plan. The product will be a mine planning model where each model cell has unique mining and processing costs as well as recovery. This model will then be used to undertake a new pit optimisation and schedule to provide more representative metal content, cost and cash flow information

Risk - Cost - Benefit (RCB) Decision Support Tool

A joint initiative between MISHC and the BRC proposes to develop a “Risk - Cost - Benefit (RCB) Decision Support Tool” so that a quantitative assessment of the complex risks, costs and benefits associated with safety interventions can be determined. This tool can then be used to select and motivate the most appropriate safety solution. The semi-quantitative “Bow Tie Analysis” risk assessment technique will be utilised.

Ore Conditioning – New Economic Model for Mine and Process Design

Technology improvements require the economic balance between blasting, mining and processing to be reviewed. The traditional mine to mill economic model is constrained by a narrow range of operating conditions. An MSc project will research a “Conceptual Economic Model for Deriving the Optimum Value from an Integrated Mining and Comminution Process”. Supervision will be through the BRC and JKMRC. The results of this study will provide a business case for validation research.