11th AusIMM Underground Operators' Conference 2011

291 Pages·2011·28.84 MB·English

11TH AUSIMM UNDERGROUND
OPERATORS' CONFERENCE 2011
21 - 23 MARCH 2011
CANBERRA, ACT
The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Publication Series No 3/2011
Published by:
The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Ground Floor, 204 Lygon Street, Carlton Victoria 3053, Australia
© The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 2011
All papers published in this volume were refereed prior to publication.
The Institute is not responsible as a body for the facts and opinions advanced
in any of its publications.
ISBN 978 1 921522 41 3
Desktop published by:
Olivia Tet Fong and Kylie McShane
The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
Compiled on CD ROM by:
Visual Image Processing Pty Ltd
PO Box 3180
Doncaster East VIC 3109
CONTENTS
Keynote Address
A Carpenter’s Journey through Forty Years of Underground Mining, J N ixon 3
Leaders and Leading
Application and Evolution of Mining Methods
The use of the Main Ramp as a Mine Exhaust at the Kencana Mine, D J B rake and C J ones 13
Indonesia
Strip and Line versus Blind Sink Shaft Sinking – The Ernest Henry C J C arr and A E A N orthcote 19
Decision
Development of the Presink System for Raise Boring at Xstrata G C hitumbura, T B rebner and 29
Copper’s Mount Isa Copper Operations S Wright
Ernest Henry Underground Mine – Access and Support Infrastructure P C hristen and C J C arr 35
Design
Unique Coal Mine Drift Construction Method C D onnelly, G R amage and 45
W R angi
The Development of ‘Radial-in-Reef’ Stoping at the Tasmania Gold R G oddard and P B H ills 55
Mine, Beaconsfi eld, Tasmania
Mining Reconciliation in Long Hole Open Stopes at George Fisher Mine J J G robler 63
Resue Mining with eDev™ Electronic Detonators at Stawell Gold Mines C H amilton and B D egay Jr 73
Construction of the Seven Thousand Tonne per Day – Big Gossan N H erault, E S mith and 81
Production Shaft I A gustian
Trident Underground Gold Mine – The First Three Years J H oward and T J ames 91
Developing the Ridgeway Deeps Project with an Operations Attitude C J ones and G D unstan 103
Use of a Crane Mounted Auger for Presink Construction at Fosterville P J ones and L K rois 107
Gold Mine
Mine Shafts – Planning, Optimising and Constructing D J K ilkenny and J M D ennis 115
Fast, Safe and Fully Mechanised Installation of High-Tensile V L ouchnikov, S B rown and 127
Chain-Link Mesh for Underground Support R B ucher
Implementing and Improving the Mine Plan at the Mt Wright Project D Mackay 135
Development of the Ernest Henry Underground Mine – The Challenges T P urvis and C J C arr 143
and the Solutions
Starting-Up the Ernest Henry Underground Mine – Thermal and O v an Baalen and C S tewart 151
Occupational Hygiene Challenges
Perimeter Control Utilising Electronic Detonators at Mount Wright Mine J W all and L B ottomley 159
Mining at the Redross and Mariners Nickel Mines D W ill and M P oepjes 167
Geomechanics for General Practice
Simulation Aided Engineering – Integration of Monitoring, Modelling D B eck and C L illey 181
and Planning
Quality Control Aspects of Shotcrete in Mining – The Round P M D ight and R M cKenzie 187
Determinate Panel Test
Case Study – Underhand Cut and Fill Stoping using Cemented J F oster, S J essop and 191
Tailings Paste Fill at the Lanfranchi Nickel Mine P A ndrews
Ground Support Design and Application for Developing in Pastefi ll at J L i, J K T odd and 201
BHP Billiton – Cannington Mine A C ampbell
Bored Reinforced Piles for Raise Bore Support – Four Case Studies and P M arlow, S W ebber, 207
Guidelines Developed from Lessons Learnt P M ikula and M F Lee
Fine-Tuning Raise Bore Stability Assessments and Risk W A P eck, B C oombes and 215
M F L ee
What Have we Learnt About Managing Rock Burst Risks? Y P otvin 227
Mine and Infrastructure Planning/Implementation
Alternative Underground Ore Transport Systems for the Jaguar Base W P D arcey, E K C handa and 235
Metal Deposit M D K uruppu
Improved Technology – Selection of a Suitable Underground Concrete S M itchell, T F inn and 245
Transport Vehicle D J Kilkenny
A Comparison of Skip Loading Systems from an Operational, A E A N orthcote 251
Maintenance, Safety and Capital Cost Estimate Perspective
Sustainability
Sustainable Minerals Education – We Care, But do You? D Laurence and B Hebblewhite 261
Underground Mining and Water Management C J M oran, S V ink and G G reig 267
How Leadership Can Create an Enduring Safety Culture J R oss 275
Technology and its Application
Benefi ts of Advanced Technology in Underground Mining M Edhammer and S Topalovic 283
Accurate Underground Wireless Ranging and Tracking M H edley and I G ipps 293
The Status of Implementation of Proximity Detection Systems in D K ent, C F ischer and 299
Underground Mines W S chiffbauer
Case Study Comparison of Teleremote and Autonomous Assist G B S mith, R J B utcher, 305
Underground Loader Technology at the Kanowna Belle Mine A U zbekova, E M ort and
A C lement
Author Index 313
A Carpenter’s Journey through Forty
Years of Underground Mining, Leaders
and Leading
J N ixon1
ABSTRACT
I have to say that my story is not too much different to many others who grew up and worked in
the great mining fi elds like Broken Hill, Mt Isa, Rosebery, Kalgoorlie or Kambalda and any one of
them could have stood up here and spun you a good yarn.
What does my paper offer you in this volume? By sharing my experiences I want to encourage you
to consider your own experience with leadership, taking on change, learning from and contributing
to the development of others.
I have been very fortunate to be part of many new innovations into underground mining over
the past 40 or so years; most of it with Conzinc Rio Tinto Australia (CRA)/Rio Tinto operations.
 From hand-held drills and a homemade single boom Jumbo mounted on an old Airtrak, to
the sophisticated twin boom jumbos with high speed drifters all controlled by an on-board
computer;
 from a Scraper winch and a Wagner 2D loader to fully automated electric LHDs that navigate
to the tipple, empty the bucket and return to where they come from;
 from hand-held cut-and-fi ll and timber stoping in Broken Hill to the bulk mining methods of a
block cave where at Northparkes we mined more ore in a month than we mined in the total fi ve
years of operations at Currawang;
 from hand-held scaling and bolting with no skin protection to installing ground support with
Jumbos and sophisticated Cable Bolters and the introduction of in cycle shotcrete;
 from hand-held ladder rising and shaft sinking to Box Hole rigs, Raise Bore Machines and
Blind Hole shaft sinking; and
 from Gelignite based AN60 stick explosives, ANFO, fuse fi ring and half second detonators to
Powergel, Emulsions and electronic computer programmed detonators that can somehow be
initiated by ‘Blast Ped’ travelling through the rock.
INTRODUCTION
I was born and bred in Broken Hill and went to the local high Now the ZC carpenter’s shop was where I met my fi rst
school. When I was in fourth form a teacher asked me what I leaders and they had a big impact on how I shaped my career.
was going to do next year, I thought what a stupid question, There were upwards of 20 people in the crew including fi ve or
and said to him ‘I will be continuing at school to get my Higher six apprentices and a storeman with a wooden leg.
School Certifi cate then head off to Uni’. The shop was run by the foreman ‘Cyril’, an honest chap who
He said I should have thought of that over the past four did not suffer fools lightly, let alone smart arse apprentices.
years and done some work instead of playing footy and acting I learnt a very valuable lesson in my second year when it
the fool. He said ‘You really should be thinking about a trade’. came around to appraisal time. Cyril’s version of inclusion
And so it was, I began in the mining industry in Broken Hill in was to fi ll out the appropriate form without any consultation,
1967 as an apprentice Carpenter at the Zinc Corporation Pty
call you into the offi ce and say ‘sign here’.
Ltd Mine.
After a quick look I said ‘no’. ‘Sorry Cyril, I can’t sign that
I went to the mine for employment as that was what most
form as it is not correct.’
lads my age aspired to with the knowledge that if I got a start
up ‘the mine’ I would be set for life. He then proceeded to tell me it was time to pull my head in
or I would end up a no hoper like ‘Westie’ and ‘Crow’. ‘You
As an apprentice I was a reasonably steady toiler and
churned out some good stuff, not counting the half a forest of have to sign it, everyone does.’
timber I cut short and hid under the bench or the rack. That I refused again and was led off to the chief engineer, a
said, wood working is a great trade and is still my passion in Scotsman with a broad accent and a fearsome reputation. I
life and my escape from targets, schedules, rock bolts and don’t have to tell you I was crapping myself and wishing I had
grizzling miners. just signed when I was asked to.
1. Manager – Underground Development, Rio Tinto Copper Projects, 4700 Daybreak Parkway, South Jordan, Utah 84095, USA. Email: jef
J NIXON
I was surprised when he gave me a fair hearing and sent me was sent to the 19 level Zinc Corp where I worked for the next
back to work but sure enough the next day I was called back nine years.
up to Cyril’s ‘spy hut’. He had made a few changes to the form,
I duly signed and thought I had a victory. 19 LEVEL ZC
Some victory; two years later I was shown the door. I went to I started off kicking the level which was all the dirty work,
work in town and in the bush for six or seven different builders digging drains and helping out the timber runners. I soon
in about 18 months. The last guy I worked for was great but his
learnt that the shift boss was God as he organised your job
cheques were bouncing every pay day. So being just married
and set your pay rate each day.
and having purchased a house, we needed a regular income,
At the time there were over 60 shift bosses up at the Zinc
so I put my name down ‘up the mine’.
end, with four or fi ve on each level for each shift, and of course
Five years later, after I had started underground, I was
there were good ones and bad ones.
involved in the rescue of a couple of lads that turned into a
There was every leadership type you could think of; some
double fatality.
quiet ones, some loud ones and the odd intimidator. Unlike
I thought, geez this underground caper is a bit full on, so I
the supervisors of today, who actually lead and coach their
applied for a vacancy back in the carpenters shop. After not
teams, the job of the shift bosses of the time was there to
hearing anything for a month I ran into the foreman of the
ensure compliance, get ‘the plod’ and visit each party twice
paint shop, old Freddie Lehman. ‘Fred, old mate’, ‘how did I
a shift.
go with my application for the job in the carp shop?’ ‘Not good
Nicko. I spoke to Cyril and he said that you, Westie and Crow
GETTING INTO FIFTY-ONE PARTY AND
were never to be re-employed’.
So here I am 40 years on talking to you about underground TRACKLESS MINING
mining; not building houses! The mining crews were known as a Party, and 51 Party was
one of the top earners on the 19 level.
UP THE MINE In the party were ‘Ginger’ Rontauney, ‘Jap’ Pirak, ‘Box
Getting a start at the mine turned out to be no sure thing. I Head’ Lehman and ‘Coddy’ Bevan. As I knew Ginger from the
was interviewed by Mick O’Leary who I guess must have been mighty North Broken Hill footy club, I was lucky enough to get
the underground manager (Mick later went on to become a scout shift when Jap went on holidays and ended up with a
a Director of Hamersley Iron, Argyle Diamond Mine and permanent job when he resigned.
Dampier Salt). The interview was pretty basic, then Mick I was very fortunate to get a start in 51 Party, because
noticed on my application form that I had done my trade at unknown to any of us, our stope had been selected to trial the
the mine. ‘We have a problem here son’, ‘we don’t employee fi rst load haul dump (LHD) machine in cut and fi ll stoping at
ex-apprentices who are working in their trade’, ‘we did not put the Zinc Corp.
all that money into you to see you wasting your training’.
At the time we were a hand-held cut-and-fi ll stope with a
I quickly told him I was not working in my trade as I was
75 hp scraper to fi ll the dirt, it was hard manual labour working
working with a builder as a plasterer. Just as quick he said:
on top of the rill with hand scaling, drilling and bolting.
‘OK you look like a fi t young bloke, you start Monday at the
The machine was a Wagner 2D and it was stripped down
NBHC’ (New Broken Hill Consolidated).
into small pieces and winched up a 6’ × 6’ haulage way and
At the time (1973), there were about 4000 people employed
re assembled by the fi tters. We then taught ourselves how to
on the Broken Hill ‘Line of Load’, more than 1500 at the Zinc
operate it after a lot of trial and error and put it to work.
end and probably nearly as many again down at the NBHC,
I think this was about 1975 and over the next few years we
so it was pretty daunting to show up at the mine to start my
got a Tamrock twin boom pneumatic jumbo and eventually a
job as a miner (peak employment on Broken Hill mines was
Tamrock hydraulic Jumbo and the Wagner 2D was replaced
in 1953 with 6441 people employed, it now it has about 500
by a tethered cable, electric Horwood Bagshaw 5 yd LHD and
people employed).
we became a fully trackless cut and fi ll stope.
I don’t recall much of an induction. There were about a
dozen of us and I think we met at the training centre and were We became known as the Hollywood stope, as many visitors
told what clothes to buy down at Army Disposals and the next came to take pictures and movie footage of the new fangled
day we were given a hard hat, miner’s belt and a pair of lace way of mining.
up leather boots. By this time the Party had expanded to three on each shift
All too quickly, we were in the cage and heading down to the with ‘Box Head’ Lehman, ‘Coddy’ Bevan and Terry ‘Tex’ Dwyer
8 level to the ‘learner’s stope’. It was a square set timber stope on one shift and Bruce Thomas, Rick ‘Bert’ McBain and myself
and I felt more like I was in a cubby house than a mine. on the other shift.
We pulled up a rock and ‘Cowboy’ Hurley and his mate It was not all smooth sailing with a lot of strife with the unions
Ronnie Cuy explained what was going to happen in the regarding the one man-one machine rule, as they believed we
learner’s school, and if you want to get ahead, you would do should only operate one machine at a time. There were quite
well to take notice of them and not piss them off. a few bitter and twisted fellow workers who would dob us in
The safety message was more about being told all the things ‘down the corner’ if they caught us using the machinery at the
we could not do and to keep away from the chute. same time.
After a couple of weeks lumping timber around and boring We did have a small golden goose period where we made
holes all over the place, we were then given the option to put some good money as the contract had not been adjusted to suit
in for what type of work we would prefer. I did not know much the higher productivity levels, but our underground manager
about open stoping but I did work out pretty quickly that at the time Vince Gauci, was pretty sharp and soon had the
timber stoping was hard work, so I chose the fi rst option and time and motion study guys onto us.
4 11TH UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE / CANBERRA, ACT, 21 - 23 MARCH 2011
A CARPENTER’S JOURNEY THROUGH FORTY YEARS OF UNDERGROUND MINING, LEADERS AND LEADING
We used the machines as they were meant to be used and as no opportunities were coming my way as far as a shift boss’s
it took some bitter union meetings to get it all sorted out. Try job, so I bit the bullet and decided to resign to enable me to
standing up in front of a couple of thousand ‘brothers’ and take the position.
admit that by working effi ciently we had to break Union rules,
When I told the guys in my Party what I had done they said
it’s quite daunting!
I was crazy and how could I even consider leaving ‘the mine’
with all the security it offered. I was then starting to think
LEADERS ‘what have I done?’, but I was not going to pass up the chance
The general manager at the Zinc when I started was Jack to better myself and my career.
Liebelt, then George Connor or ‘Big Ugh’ as he was known, So in early 1982, with my wife and three kids under seven
took over. He was well respected but never actually spoke years old, we took off from Broken Hill airport for our fi rst
to the men unless he came down to the Marble Arch at shift time on an aeroplane, a Fokker Friendship F27, for our big
change about twice a year. He must have retired in the early adventure.
1970s, as Bob LeMessurier took over from him.
We had various underground managers; Brian Drew, Vince BOUGAINVILLE
Gauci, Grant Brock, Simon Solomans, Rino Zanette and John
The Bougainville Copper mine is high in the Crown Prince
Gooding to name a few.
mountain range and was one of the largest open pit mines in
Our foremen were John Bee, Bill Taylor and ‘Rhubarb’ the world. The mine receives an inch of rain almost every day
Hebard and the shift bosses I can recall were Max Schuster, and with such a huge catchment area enormous amounts of
Charlie Byrnes, George McGann, Joe Blackwell, Ian Brooke, water accumulate at the bottom of the pit.
Jack Mills and Ronny O’Loughlin.
Despite extensive catch benches that divert a lot of water
No doubt the two shift bosses who had the greatest impact from the higher walls of the pit, large diesel driven pumps are
on me were George McGann and Joe Blackwell. George was constantly removing water from the pit.
our boss for a number of years and was in the old fi rm but fair
One of the legends of CRA, Sir Frank Espie, came up with
category. He would always encourage me to have a go and was
the idea of a 6 km tunnel from the Jaba river valley that would
always around for advice. Joe was the level boss who looked
terminate 200 m below the pit and be connected by a shaft
after the truckers but we always liked it when he came into
that would allow the water from the base of pit to travel by
our stope because he could sniff out where the good mineral
gravity out to the Jaba river and on to the sea.
specimens were.
The tunnel was 3.5 m × 3 m with a slight up grade; it was
Looking back now I realise the reason I looked up to these
constructed by miners from Broken Hill and all over place
guys was because they treated everyone the same way, they
employed as working supervisors and trainers with a crew of
were level-headed and measured in a crisis and when they
PNG nationals. I was employed as a face foreman and had a
said something, you took notice.
crew of six nationals. It was a boy’s own adventure learning a
It was the shift boss’s job to ensure we worked safely and
new language, gaining new skills as a tunneller and fi shing in
the message was all given on the job. It came as a real surprise
an island paradise on the weekend.
when after working underground for about fi ve years, that
It was here that I worked for the most inspirational leader I
Rino Zannette called us into the ZC Theatrette for a safety
have ever worked for, our superintendent, Tony Brown. Tony
meeting!
epitomised the lead by example boss who would think nothing
of pushing you off of the bogger or taking over on the jumbo if
TIME TO MOVE
you weren’t cutting the mustard.
Around the early 1980s I had been working as a miner for
He was a fi rm disciplinarian and some of his methods of
about seven or eight years doing shaft work on weekends and
dishing out what we call today ‘performance management’
had become the ‘pencil man’ in our Party.
were legendary. I played footy with Browny towards the end
One day George told me he had nominated me for a shift of his career and it is no exaggeration to say us young blokes
boss’s job. Each year a number of miners were nominated and stood a lot taller with him in the side.
put into the mix to replace the older guys as they retired (very
Of course some of Tony’s methods did not go down well up
few actually left). There was no interview process unless you
at carpet castle but he was a doer who was fi ercely loyal to
made the short-list and if one of the foremen put the ‘black
those who had won his trust and simply got rid of those who
alley’ in on you it was all over.
didn’t.
I failed to get the nod because I was told I did not have
I worked in Bougainville from 1982 to 1984 and reluctantly
enough experience in timber stoping. Fair enough I thought
had to ring Vince Gauci to see if I could get my job back as the
and battled on, and although I did aspire to becoming a shift family was ready to return home. I suspect Vince felt a little
boss I realised there were plenty of other guys around who had bit guilty that I had to resign to go to the tropics so he gave
seniority over me. me the nod and it was back home to the Silver City after the
It was then when Simon Solomans spoke to me and said they adventure of a lifetime.
were looking for blokes with my level of experience to go up to
Bougainville and work on a tunnel job as leading hand miners. BACK HOME
I thought I might as well have a go and spoke to Tony Brown,
When ex-Broken Hill miners do get out into the real world,
the superintendent on the tunnel job. I had played footy with
we are notorious for the statement ‘back home we would do
Tony so that made it a lot easier, and he said ‘you’re hired, get
this’ or ‘back home we would do that’ and we became known
up here as soon as possible’.
as ‘back home boys’. You see, if you are born in Broken Hill,
There were the issues with getting a secondment and there are only two types of people: ‘A groupers’ (born locally) or
keeping continuity of employment with the pension fund so it those from ‘away’ and it goes without saying that we considered
was all called off. By this time I was getting bitter and twisted ourselves up there with the best miners in the county.
11TH UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE / CANBERRA, ACT, 21 - 23 MARCH 2011 5
J NIXON
I was fi rmly in the ‘we are good’ camp until I got out into the receive job satisfaction by gaining new skills and a career path
world and found that there were some great ideas out there, to supervisory roles if they so desired.
and that we had not thought of everything, so after a couple
With this background, I jumped on the company air plane
of years of off-shore education I returned to my old job at the
with three other shift bosses and my mate Randall ‘Boot Head’
Zinc Corporation. What a mistake!
Oehme, who was applying for an accountancy role, and we
I was placed back in 51 Party as a ‘scout’ as someone was fl ew down to Goulburn for an interview.
on annual leave and it was as if time had stood still. I was full
To cut to the chase I somehow got the job and now we had
of bright ideas and told the guys I had been using the jumbo
to make a real move and leave Broken Hill for good. So after
to put in rock bolts in Bougainville, it was twice as quick and
an initial three months in Goulburn we moved up to Canberra
much safer.
and set up camp for the next ten years.
‘It will never catch on here’ was the reply. ‘We will be using
As the underground project superintendent I reported to Ian
the tried and true way with the stoper’, ‘ you really did learn
Price who was the feasibility manager and he was backed up
some strange things up there Nicko’, ‘don’t think you can
by mining engineers John ‘J B’ Burgess and Gavin Woodward.
come back here and teach us anything you Lard Head’.
The decline was completed successfully and the fi rst stope
Within two weeks I was in to see ‘Rhubarb’ Hebbard, the
silled out to provide a bulk sample of ore.
foreman down on the 20 level and asked him for a job. He put
me into 20 Party with Graham Murgatroyed, Sid Colley and The underground mine got the go ahead and we convinced
‘Vegie’ Caldwell in a development crew. a heap of experienced miners from Broken Hill and Tasmania
to come over as supervisors and trainers to teach a complete
We were the only Party down there and we were opening
greenhorn work force how to be underground miners.
up the 20 level for future stoping. We had all our own gear
including a new jumbo and a new Horwood Bagshaw 8 yd We had people like Kevin Hendry, Trevor Emmerton, Mick
Loader and even our own fi tter, Trevor ‘Pasty Foot’ Griffi ths. Brown, John Shorrock, Bernie Smith, Wally Ford, Ray Furness,
The lads were open to trying some of the strange methods I Gary Phillips and Bob Ormsby. All of these guys were top class
had learnt in PNG including making up some steel sets to get supervisors, most of whom had cut their teeth on hand-held
through some crook ground. It was a breath of fresh air for me mining and were in at the cutting edge of mechanised mining.
working with these guys and I continued on the learning path
Ground conditions at Woodlawn were pretty trying with
about trackless development.
steeply dipping orebodies surrounded by talc and it was quite
One day we were out in the ‘long drive’ taking another round an effort to train new miners in such conditions, but the lads
when John Gooding came to visit. During our chat we asked rose to the challenge and within a few years we had our fi rst
him ‘where was this drive going?’ ‘What do you mean?’ he level 1 miner that we had trained from scratch.
replied. ‘Well we come in here day after day, take cut after cut,
With Vince Gauci as general manager and Cob Johnstone
but what is it for and where is it going?’ He said ‘has nobody
as underground manager, before Gary Davison took over
told you?’ ‘Get your coats and come to the surface, we will get
from him, we had a good solid team of leaders backed up by
the plans out and show you’.
some bright young mining engineers in Jamie Dennis, Mark
So there we were in the offi ce looking at the keel of the lower Le Messurier, Grant Michl, Simon ‘Action’ Jackson and Phil
lead lode orebody and the layout of the proposed stopes, and Bremner.
the development work that would be required. After ten years I would have to say, that whether he knew it or not, Vince
on the mine this was the fi rst time someone had taken the was my mentor and I learnt many techniques in managing
time to give us some context behind our work and we went people from him, even the small things like fi nding out what
back to it with a new-found enthusiasm for the task.
the guys names were before we visited their heading and
ensuring there was no communication vacuum between other
TIME TO MOVE, AGAIN! departments.
I was doing shaft work one weekend in 1985 when I saw a He is a man of his word, and had a fi rm belief in the power
memo on the shift bosses notice board calling for applicants of the team; you had a better chance of a job with Vince if
for a superintendents role at Woodlawn Mines. Woodlawn you played any type of team sport rather than being the local
was an open pit operation that was constructing a new decline tennis or squash champion.
access from inside the pit as part of a feasibility study to
Just as this was all coming together, CRA decided to off-load
determine if the mine should go underground or be closed. the mine to a small company named Denehurst who were a
Although the orebodies were not large, at around 12 million bunch of chemists and technocrats who grew beta carotene
tonnes it was a very high-grade deposit but with a history of and believed that they had developed a process to recover the
low recovery from the mill, the mine had never made money metal left in the tailings dams. Although they only wanted the
in its life to date. tails dumps they ended up with an underground mine as well.
The mine was set up as a fl agship of CRA by a guy named Denehurst convinced most of the current management team
Mike Blackwell, with coordinators and team leaders instead of to jump ship from CRA and the rest of us were terminated
shift bosses and foremen and it was planning to head into the and all but a few rehired. We were required to sign a secrecy
brave new world of a multi-skilled workforce. agreement and we continued on.
Sadly Mike passed away before he fully realised his vision By this time Mike Menzies had taken over from Vince and it
but Vince Gauci was appointed to the role as general manager was soon realised that the new company could not survive on
to continue on the same path. His vision was to get Woodlawn the Woodlawn mine and retreating the dumps alone so some
up as a profi table underground mine where operators would of the other prospects in the district were dusted off.
be trained to work in all aspects of underground mining.
I was given a project role to develope two satellite mines,
The idea was for the company to have the operational one at Cowley Hills only, 3 km from the mill, and Currawang
fl exibility of a multi-skilled workforce and for the workers to 12 km from the mill.
6 11TH UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE / CANBERRA, ACT, 21 - 23 MARCH 2011
A CARPENTER’S JOURNEY THROUGH FORTY YEARS OF UNDERGROUND MINING, LEADERS AND LEADING
CURRAWANG AND COWELY HILLS MINES North Ltd was a diverse company who under the leadership
of Campbell Anderson had reinvented itself and had interests
In 1989 I was put in charge of developing and mining the
in iron ore, gold, uranium and copper as well as North Forest
Currawang deposit with an owner operator work force and
products and Warman pumps.
mining the smaller Cowely Hills deposit with a contractor.
A young buck named Mike Spreadborough had been plucked
Cowely Hills had very diffi cult ground conditions and only
from Broken Hill to lead the underground project assisted
lasted about 18 months but still paid its way with the help of a
by Anthony Allman doing the planning and Sam Roesler as
parcel of high-grade Chalcocite (over 20 per cent Cu) that was
senior mining engineer. It was a world class orebody that had
direct shipped to the smelter.
been discovered by a joint venture with Delta Gold and the
Currawang has a signifi cant historical place in mining in
mine was being planned with the latest technology.
Australia, for it was here in 1866 that the Currawang Copper
I was offered the role of senior underground supervisor with
Mining Company Ltd was formed to mine the rich Copper
a brief to look after mining contractor Eltin to construct the
lode. It is reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on 15 July
decline, then recruit an owner operator work force, select the
1868 that the Mine Captain S E Richards has ‘more than
equipment and make it all work.
accomplished all the works proposed by him’ and that ‘The
I accepted the role and off we went to the west for fi ve years.
Engine shaft had been sunk to a depth of 154 feet and they
were mining 1000 tons of ore a month’. I think Spready and I made a good team. He was a meticulous
planner, a forward thinker and a workaholic, and I made it
In the mid-1970s an exploration company named Jododex,
happen, most of the time.
using the tried and true method of drilling holes where
there was an old mine, discovered a high grade complex Once again there were a lot of learning opportunities
volcanogenic massive sulfi de orebody. The grade was excellent looking after mining contractor, Eltin, who were employed to
at 14 per cent Zn, 1.8 per cent Pb and around 1.7 per cent Cu construct the main decline and vent shafts. At the time Eltin
and 100 ppm Ag. The only problem was that there was only had become the leading mining contractor in the west and the
half a million tonnes. underground division was led by Bob Graham with Paul Myles
and Eddie Willis as site managers during the project.
This was a great little mine as I was able to hand pick 16
highly-motivated miners and fi tters and we just got stuck into After the decline development came the huge task to employ
it. Each shift consisted of a shift supervisor who was also the an owner operator workforce. There was plenty of interest as
jumbo operator, two operators and a fi tter, and between them it was a residential based job with a long-term mine life and
they did whatever was required to operate the mine. state-of-the-art equipment. We had over 3000 applicants to
fi ll about 150 roles, as well as a prominent representation from
The shift supervisors were all trained at Woodlawn and had
locals and Western Australian FIFO workers. We also had a
shown the necessary initiative to get to level 1. They were Neil
cross-section from across Australia including a contingent
Bell, Phil ‘BA’ Breeze, Keith ‘Bear’ Price, Ray ‘Fingers’ Tapper,
from Woodlawn as the mine had just shut down.
George ‘The Fox’ Kirk and Craig ‘Duck’ Day.
Our supervisors were mostly from the west; people such as
Even though it was a salaried workforce I don’t ever recall
Danny Renton, Greg Hunter, Kimbo Hosking, Jim ‘Booka’
having to rev the guys up to have a go, they were forever
O’Donnell and the trainers were led by Paddy Barrs from Mt
trying to better their last record and dreaming up inventions
Isa and Ian ‘Suitcase’ Primmer from Woodlawn.
to improve the process. Of course there was a fair bit of peer
After an induction and orientation program the crews
group pressure as there is nowhere to hide on a four man crew.
slipped into their roles very quickly and the mine was up and
This was also a personally gratifying time for me as I watched
running, trucking 3000 tonnes per day up the decline with a
these young men grow and improve their skills and hone their
fl eet of Atlas Copco MT5000 trucks.
leadership style. I guess at the time I did a fair bit of leading
North was a very good company to work for and ran
by example and getting in and helping out. I would sometimes
many courses such as Leadership Development, Effective
run a truck while one of the guys had a crib break or keep the
Supervision and the ‘North Way’. They also had an excellent
surface stockpile pushed up on our yard bogger.
graduate program with guys like James Davison, Troy
I soon learnt that playing on the bogger or the grader was
Newman and Rob Urie coming through the ranks and learning
good fun but it was more important to keep up to speed with
from the ground up.
the planning and report writing and ensuring that the guys
I really enjoyed being involved in the development of these
only had to worry about the shift in front of them and looking
young blokes and helping to shape their futures. They were
out for each other.
encouraged to come to my offi ce and talk while I listened but
Over a fi ve year period we put in over 6 km of development I have to say that I had to restrict ‘Professor’ Urie to three
and mined 530 000 tonnes of high grade ore that topped up questions a day. I am proud to say 12 years on they have all
the grade over at Woodlawn. gone on to management positions within our industry and are
making a good go of it.
KANOWNA BELLE Mid-way through 1999, North sold out to their share of the
In late 1994 I went back over to Woodlawn and took over Kanowna Belle gold mine to their JV partner Delta Gold, all
again as the underground superintendent while Currawang those who wanted to stay were given a new start but a few
was winding down. Woodlawn was becoming increasingly chose to go for a small retrenchment payment. I had been
offered a transfer with North to the Northparkes block cave
diffi cult to mine and costs were starting to bear down on us.
copper mine where they were planning a large project to
In early 1995 I received a call from a ‘head hunter’ to ask
develop the Lift 2 Cave.
me if I would be interested in a job over in Western Australia
where North Ltd where building the new Kanowna Belle Gold
NORTHPARKES
mine just out of Kalgoorlie. I knocked it back on the spot but
when he called back a week later I became increasingly more I started at Northparkes Mine (NPM) in February 2000,
curious and ended up on-site for an interview. just three months after the terrible air blast tragedy that
11TH UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE / CANBERRA, ACT, 21 - 23 MARCH 2011 7
J NIXON
claimed the lives of four people. I took over as the production His next lesson was during an underground visit to conduct
superintendent in the Lift 1 block cave and I guess at the time some safety interactions. We came across a jumbo drilling a
they needed an experienced mining man to help lift morale round and signalled for the operator to stop and climb down
and assist the crews to get back to some sort of normality. and talk to us. The operator stopped but then proceeded
to climb down the ladder way face fi rst. Keith took the
The mine had been set up with specifi c goals of high
opportunity to discuss his ‘unsafe act’ and asked him why he
productivity from small teams and the training and preparation
would do such a thing.
put in before production commenced was starting to pay off
and by mid-year we had set a new monthly production record Quick as a fl ash, Dennis the operator replied, ‘Mate, I was
of 530 000 tonnes. in the New Zealand army for a number of years and we were
taught never to turn our back on the enemy!’
During this time there were rumours that Rio Tinto was
Needless to say, Keith’s disciplined management style was
sniffi ng around North Ltd, mainly for the iron ore assets.
what was required at the mine at the time and gave me a
A guy named Tom Albanese came to site and during his
further insight into the many different leadership styles I have
underground visit he met with Geoff Stapylton and myself
encountered along the way.
and asked us ‘if Rio buys North, why should they keep hold
of NPM?’ By this time I was in my mid-50s and I guess my management
style was well and truly locked in, I had learned to think on
We told him all about productivity levels, future potential
my feet and speak in front of large and small groups, with
and the opportunity for Rio to get in on the ground level with
individuals I had learnt to coach and encourage, and tried to
block cave technology, but most of all there was a committed
give people the confi dence to get the best out of themselves.
team of highly skilled workers that were also a great asset.
One time we had a visiting professor from the prestigious
So Stapo and I are running with the story that we talked
London Business College where many of today’s leaders had
Tom Albanese into buying North.
studied. He had come out to see what underground mining
When the deal was done, the Lift 2 proposal was thrown back was all about and as usual I was the tour guide. When I was
into the mix and had to compete with all other Rio mines for introduced to him he said, ‘… and what do you do here Jeff?’.
$200 million to enable it to continue. The project was given I replied, ‘Same as you; train managers!’.
the nod and we commenced development in March 2001.
To top it off, when Steve Powell left and moved on to
The project was led by Richard Dosser with Steve Powell as Newcrest, Troy Newman was appointed as the Lift 2
development manager, Troy Newman and James Davison as underground project manager to fi nish the job and write up
project engineers and I was lucky enough to get a role as the the ‘lessons learned’ papers. So here we were seven years after
senior underground supervisor looking after our contractor Troy reported to me as a graduate mining engineer, I was now
Henry Walker Eltin (HWE). reporting to him. I’m not sure who was more proud!
HWE did a quality job for us; they had good people and were After the completion of the Lift 2 project I spent a year or so
led at the face by ‘foreman fi ve’ Ray Furness. Ray was the fi fth working in a project role to install air blast plugs and recover
guy to pull on the role in quick succession but soon settled in the two huge Krupp jaw crushers from the Lift 1 cave. At this
and stayed on until the end of the project. time I had an offsider, John Kovacs, who was one of the best
The Lift 2 project was completed successfully and took three jumbo operators going around, that I had moved into a role as
years of hard slog. It had its fair share of problems, including a ‘snoozer’ (my term of endearment for a supervisor).
rock bursts and seismicity issues, but techniques such as John had boundless energy but a short fuse, however, with
in cycle shotcrete and a seismic monitoring system were ongoing coaching and encouragement he became a very
developed to control these issues. We also claimed a world accomplished supervisor who has moved on to bigger and
record for square metres broken in the advanced undercut, better things with a national explosives company. I like to
not that there are many undercuts around, but it was well think I helped him on his way.
planned and executed with Tony Silviera and Craig ‘Duck’ Day
looking after this area.
E48 BLOCK CAVE
At this time a new managing director, Keith Calder, was
The E48 deposit at NPM had been on the books for some time
appointed by Rio Tinto to run Northparkes. Keith, a Canadian,
with a resource of about 50 million tonnes 0.8 per cent Cu.
had come to NPM from the Palabora block cave mine in South
As part of the prefeasibility study, it was decided to excavate
Africa and was one of the new breed of younger management
an exploration drive across the orebody to enable some more
professionals that Rio were grooming for the future.
diamond drilling and to test the suitability of hydro fracturing
He was of course very bright and committed but a bit dour, for preconditioning the orebody.
he had an early lesson in the humour of the Australian miner
I was put in charge of a small team, made up from some
when he was doing an opening address for the re-induction
of our production crew personnel and our on-site contractor
process. There were about 50 or more HWE employees in the
Pybar. The E48 Exploration Drive project was in truth an early
room when Keith got down to the issue of our safety statistics
start to the E48 Project before approvals had been granted.
and the poor LTI frequency rate, and said that when he was
working at his last operation there were over 2000 employees, With limited resources and preloved equipment, we
most of whom were nationals and they had an LTI rate of struggled to meet our targets. By this time I was reporting to
just 0.3. the E48 Project general manager, Craig Stegman, who was
very keen on continuous improvement and we tried a lot of
Things went quiet for a fraction of a second while the room
initiatives but we lacked a vehicle to drive the process.
digested this statement, but before Keith could draw breath
to continue, a voice was heard at the back of the room ‘ What! This problem was solved when we introduced the LEAN
Did ya work in a pillow factory??’ The whole room broke out management tool to our development processes after a couple
in raucous laughter and Robbie went down as a legend with of fact fi nding missions up to Coal and Allied in the Hunter
his mates. Valley. Those of you who use LEAN will agree it is an integral
8 11TH UNDERGROUND OPERATORS’ CONFERENCE / CANBERRA, ACT, 21 - 23 MARCH 2011