News Archives - Page 16 of 20

David Plowman – MEC’s Experienced and Versatile Principal Mining Engineer

NewsNovember 29, 2016

With more than 20 years’ experience in the coal, copper and gold-mining industries, David is a highly experienced and versatile mining operations and technical professional. He joined MEC in February, 2015 as a Principal Mining Engineer and is highly adept at delivering successful mining projects. Prior to joining MEC, David has held high-level operations and technical roles such as Mining Superintendent at CST Minerals Lady Annie Pty Ltd and Operations Manager and Superintendent Operations Planning at BHP Billiton.

MEC Delivers UG Coal LOM Strategies

NewsNovember 24, 2016

Life of Mine design, scheduling and financial reviews have recently been completed by MEC for two major underground coal resources in the Bowen Basin. The critical success factor was timely completion to meet business requirements and our Senior Mining Consultant Geoff Watson delivered the optimised production scenarios in around 3 weeks. In addition, capital and operating cost models were reviewed and updated to generate LOM financial evaluations.

Insourcing Vs Outsourcing: What’s Best For Your Business?

NewsNovember 23, 2016

Lately I’ve noticed an increase in the market trend of insourcing and outsourcing. What is the difference in value creation for your organisation? Which one will serve you best? These are the questions companies need to ask themselves in the current cost-pressurised environment. Will it work best for you to insource, by bringing in a third party to work from within your company? Or will you be better off outsourcing, by transferring portions of work to outside suppliers, rather than completing it internally?

Benefits of Bulk Dozer Push for Open Cut Coal

NewsNovember 21, 2016

With the recent spike in the coal price many open cut coal mines are looking at bulk dozer push as a strategy to increase the overall stripping and uncover more coal. Bulk dozer push can be applied in most situations where the coal dip is less than 20 degrees and has the following advantages:

Geoff Watson – MEC’s Underground Coal Expert

NewsNovember 2, 2016

With a birthplace in the heart of the Yorkshire Coalfield (UK), Geoff has over 33 years experience in the operational, technical and financial aspects of the mining industry. He has managed and mentored mining and technical personnel from coal developments, longwall operations through to technical services and major contracts.

Mining Contracts – Project Maker or Expensive Failure

NewsOctober 6, 2016

The mining industry can have a very short memory when commodity prices rise and bad habits from the mining boom glory days can easily creep back into the industry.

Top 3 Nickel Uses – The Power Metal

NewsOctober 5, 2016

Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. It belongs to the transition metals category and it is hard and malleable. The metal is extracted from its ores by heating and reducing the ore.

They Tried To Make Me Go Do Some Rehab. I Said No No Yes!

NewsSeptember 27, 2016

When Amy Winehouse wrote her song about rehab I am sure she didn’t have mine site rehab in mind. The principals of having a sustainable future and minimising harm however are still the same. Over the past decade the level of Financial Assurance (FA) held by the QLD Government for mining activities has increased to $6 Billion an almost 500% increase over the 10 year period.

Longwall Production Trends – Benchmarking the Future

NewsSeptember 14, 2016

It’s interesting when you glance at the peaks, troughs and trends in Australian Longwall production. In just less than 20 years we have seen between 2 and 3 fold increases in total ROM tonnes with obvious economic-driven flat spots. In a recent industry update (July 2016), “Queensland coal – mine and advanced projects” reported a 2014 – 2015 saleable coal increase of 14.7Mt to 243.6Mt compared to the previous financial year for all mining operations. The underground component - 42.6Mt, was won from 13 mines.

MEC Underground Coal Delivers Mine Planning Solutions

NewsAugust 29, 2016

Faced with tight customer deadlines, MEC recently delivered multiple mine planning and production scenarios for a major underground coal producer. The scope included a “first principles” mine design and bottom-up productivity review for Continuous Miners and Longwall operation. Coal reserving and production scheduling of multiple scenarios were executed with XPAC which delivered the required inputs to financial modelling.

Silver – The World’s Most Versatile Metal

NewsAugust 24, 2016

Silver – that precious, shiny white metal – has traditionally been highly prized for its symbolism of wealth and prestige and its associated use in jewellery and coins. However, silver is currently much more commonly used for industrial, medical and electrical purposes, such as in household goods, solar panels and mobile phones.

Fast Facts About Aluminium

NewsAugust 15, 2016

The modern world owes much to aluminium, a silvery-white, soft, non-magnetic, ductile metal. Indeed, the aviation, construction, electronic, automotive, energy and food industries – just to name a few – would all be unsustainable without aluminium.